in the route from York Factory. On the 14th of October we reached the
settlement, consisting of a number of huts widely scattered along the
margin of the river; in vain did I look for a cluster of cottages,
where the hum of a small population at least might be heard as in a
village. I saw but few marks of human industry in the cultivation of
the soil. Almost every inhabitant we passed bore a gun upon his
shoulder and all appeared in a wild and hunter-like state. The
colonists were a compound of individuals of various countries. They
were principally Canadians, and Germans of the Meuron regiment; who
were discharged in Canada at the conclusion of the American war, and
were mostly Catholics. There was a large population of Scotch emigrants
also, who with some retired servants of the Hudson's Bay Company were
chiefly Protestants, and by far the most industrious in agricultural
pursuits. There was an unfinished building as a Catholic church, and a
small house adjoining, the residence of the Priest; but no Protestant
manse, church, or school house, which obliged me to take up my abode at
the Colony Fort, (Fort Douglas,) where the 'Charge d'Affaires' of the
settlement resided; and who kindly afforded the accommodation of a room
for divine worship on the sabbath. My ministry was generally well
attended by the settlers; and soon after my arrival I got a log-house
repaired about three miles below the Fort, among the Scotch population,
where the schoolmaster took up his abode, and began teaching from
twenty to twenty-five of the children.

Nov. the 8th.--The river was frozen over, and the winter set in with
severity. Many were harnessing and trying their dogs in sledges, with a
view to _trip_ to Pembina, a distance of about seventy miles, or to the
Hunters' tents, on the plains, for buffaloe meat. The journey generally
takes them a fortnight, or sometimes more, before they return to the
settlement with provisions; and this rambling and uncertain mode of
obtaining subsistence in their necessity, (the locusts having then
destroyed their crops,) has given the settlers a fondness for
_tripping_, to the neglect of improving their dwellings and their
farms. The dogs used on these occasions, and for travelling in carioles
over the snow, strongly resemble the wolf in size, and frequently in
colour. They have pointed noses, small sharp ears, long bushy tails,
and a savage aspect. They never bark, but set up a fierce growl, and
when nume