Volume 1

430 SEASON OVER—BRIGADE OFF—GRASSHOPPERS.
nal lading. i6th. I sent off six carts drawn by two horses
each, for the 40 kegs of sugar. Began to plow for sowing.
lyth. Began to sow potatoes, corn, pease, oats, etc. igth.
One canoe arrived from Leech lake ; the other two were
entirely worn out and had been abandoned. 2^th. I made
a strong oak battery for mounting my cohorn. 2^th. The
boat was finished and launched. The men returned with
the 40 kegs of sugar and other baggage, equal to nine pieces
per cart ; several of the kegs weighed 100 lbs. 26th. My
people from Dead river arrived in a boat with their baggage,
and made up the remainder of my packs. 28th. Finished
all our work for this season. 2gth. I settled the men's
accounts, hired those whose engagements were expired, and
gave them a treat of rum, sugar, and tobacco.
June ist. Sent off the brigade,^ and took an inventory
of property on hand. 2d. Embarked in my own canoe,
and overtook the brigade ; met a Lake Winipic canoe at
Riviere aux Gratias, and in the evening of the 3d arrived
at the Forks. loth. Sent off the brigade for Fort William.
24.th. Mr. McDonell embarked for Fort William ;
and I, on my return to summer at Panbian river. 25th.
Took horse at Riviere Sale, and set out for my fort. The
weather was excessively hot ; both myself and horse suffered
intolerably from the burning rays of the sun. The
thermometer must have been at least 104°. At dark I
arrived at Panbian river, scarcely able to crawl. Swarms
of grasshoppers [the Rocky Mountain locust, Caloptenus
spretus] have destroyed the greater part of the vegetables
in my kitchen garden—onions, cabbages, melons, cucumbers,
carrots, parsnips, and beets. They had also attacked
the potatoes and corn, but these were strong enough at the
root to sprout again. The swarms appear about the 15th
of June, generally in clouds from the S., and spread
destruction; the very trees are stripped of their leaves.
Grasshoppers pass northward until millions are drowned in
*
See beyond, end of this chapter, for the manning and lading of the brigade
now sent from Pembina.