g them together with the hands. The pemmican is then firmly
pressed into leathern bags, each capable of containing eighty-five
pounds, and being placed in an airy place to cool, is fit for use. It
keeps in this state, if not allowed to get wet, very well for one year,
and with great care it may be preserved good for two. Between three and
four hundred bags were made here by each of the Companies this year.

There were eight men, besides Mr. Prudens and his clerk, belonging to
Carlton House. At La Montee there were seventy Canadians and
half-breeds, and sixty women and children, who consumed upwards of seven
hundred pounds of{31} buffalo meat daily, the allowance per diem for
each man being eight pounds: a portion not so extravagant as may at
first appear, when allowance is made for bone, and the entire want of
farinaceous food or vegetables.

There are other provision posts, Fort Augustus and Edmonton farther up
the river, from whence some furs are also procured. The Stone Indians
have threatened to cut off the supplies in going up to these
establishments, to prevent their enemies from obtaining ammunition, and
other European articles; but as these menaces have been frequently made
without being put in execution{32}, the traders now hear them without
any great alarm, though they take every precaution to prevent being
surprised. Mr. Back and I were present when an old Cree communicated to
Mr. Prudens, that the Indians spoke of killing all the white people in
that vicinity this year, which information he received with perfect
composure, and was amused, as well as ourselves, with the man's
judicious remark which immediately followed, "A pretty state we shall
then be in without the goods you bring us."

The following remarks on a well-known disease are extracted from Dr.
Richardson's Journal:--

"Bronchocele, or Goitre, is a common disorder at Edmonton. I examined
several of the individuals afflicted with it, and endeavoured to obtain
every information on the subject from the most authentic sources. The
following facts may be depended upon. The disorder attacks those only
who drink the water of the river. It is indeed in its worst state
confined almost entirely to the half-breed women and children, who
reside constantly at the fort, and make use of river water, drawn in the
winter through a hole cut in the ice. The men, being often from home on
journeys through the plain, when their drink is melted snow, are less
affect