roceed generally after the manner of
the "frightful porcupine." The other tale told by the pere was of a more
tragical nature. During a storm in the prairies near the South Branch of
the Saskatchewan a rain of fire suddenly descended upon a camp of Cree
Indians and burned everything around. Thirty-two Crees perished in the
flames; the ground was burned deeply for a considerable distance, and
only one or two of the party who happened to stand close to a lake were
saved by throwing themselves into the water. "It was," said my informant,
"not a flash of lightning, but a rain of fire which descended for some
moments."

The increasing severity of the frost hardened into a solid mass the
surface of the Saskatchewan, and on the morning of the 14th November we
set out again upon our Western journey. The North Saskatchewan which I
now crossed for the first time, is a river 400 yards in width, lying
between banks descending steeply to a low alluvial valley. These outer
banks are some 200 feet in height, and in some by-gone age were doubtless
the boundaries of the majestic stream that then rolled between them. I
had now a new-band of horses numbering altogether nine head, but three of
them were wild brood mares that had never before been in harness, and
laughable was the scene that ensued at starting. The snow was now
sufficiently deep to prevent wheels running with ease, so we substituted
two small horse-sleds for the Red River cart, and into these sleds the
wild mares were put. At first they refused to move an inch--no, not an
inch; then came loud and prolonged thwacking from a motley assemblage of
Crees and half-breeds. Ropes, shanganappi, whips, and sticks were freely
used; then, like an arrow out of a bow, away went the mare; then suddenly
a dead stop, two or three plunges high in air, and down flat upon the
ground. Againthe thwacking, and again suddenly up starts the mare and off
like a rocket. Shanganappi harness is tough stuff and a broken sled is
easily set to rights, or else we would have been in a bad way. But for
all horses in the North-west there is the very simplest manner of
persuasion: if the horse lies down, lick him until he gets up; if he
stands up on his hind-legs, lick him until he reverts to his original
position; if he bucks, jibs, or kicks, lick him, lick him, lick him;
when you are tired of licking him, get another man to continue the
process; if you can use violent language in three different tongues so
m