eath on the plains; and a Meuron settler returning to the colony
with a horse sledge of provisions perished also from the severity of
the winter.

FEB. 14.--Times do not yet wear a more favourable aspect, and most of
the settlers are upon an allowance of a pint of wheat each a day.
Sometimes a few fish are taken with nets, from under the ice, which are
put down by making holes at the distance of about fifteen or twenty
feet from each other, and affixing the net line to a pole of this
length, by which the net is drawn in the water from one opening to the
other, till it is easily set. The fish that are caught, are pike,
perch, and a species of herring, called gold-eyes, and for which an
exorbitant price is frequently paid. The northern Indians angle for
fish in winter, by cutting round holes in the ice about a foot or two
in diameter, and letting down a baited hook. This is always kept in
motion to prevent the water from freezing, and to attract the fish to
the spot. Immediately they take a fish, they scoop out the eyes and
swallow them, thinking them as great a delicacy as the European does
the oyster.

My professional duties calling me to Pembina, I left the Farm in a
cariole on the 20th, and was sorry to find on my arrival many Swiss
families suffering from the want of a regular supply of provisions from
the plains. This was occasioned in a great measure from the
irregularity and eagerness with which the hunters pursued the buffaloes
immediately they made their appearance. Had they suffered some of the
leading bands to have passed in the direction they were going towards
the Settlement, instead of pursuing and turning them as soon as they
were seen in the horizon, others would probably have followed, and
plenty of provisions had been obtained. But the fugitive supplies of
the chase are generally a poor dependance; and the colony will be
greatly encouraged should the domestic cattle that have been purchased
arrive from the United States. The difficulties which the Swiss
emigrants have had to encounter, and the severity of the climate have
disheartened many of them from settling in the country, and they have
determined on going to a settlement on the Ohio in the Spring. They
attended divine service on the Sabbath during my stay, and expressed
much gratitude for my reading to them the French Testament and the
ministerial duties I performed among them.

I returned to the Farm, where a report reached me, which was in
ci