proof of this the Crees at this time used horses on
the plains. The horse was an importation brought up the valleys from the
Spaniards of Mexico. Seeing his value as a beast of burden, more fit
than the dog which had been formerly used, they coined the word
"Mis-ta-tim," or big dog as the name for the horse. Their Chiefs were,
with their names translated into pronounceable English, "the Premier,"
"the Black Robe," "the Black Man," while seemingly Mache Wheskab--"the
Noisy Man"--represented the Assiniboines. The Crees, so well represented
by their doughty Chiefs, are a sturdy race. They adapt themselves
readily enough to new conditions. While the northern Indian tribes met
the Colonists, yet in after days, as had frequently taken place in days
preceding, bands of Sioux or Dakotas, came on pilgrimages to the Red
River. Long ago when the French Captain Verandrye voyaged to Lake of the
Woods, his son and others of his men, were attacked by Sioux warriors,
and the whole party of whites was massacred in an Island on the Lake.
The writer in a later day, near Winnipeg, met on the highway, a band of
Sioux warriors, on horse-back, with their bodies naked to the waist, and
painted with high color, in token of the fact that they were on the
warpath. On occasion it was the habit of bands of Sioux to find their
way to the Red River Valley, and the people did not feel at all safe, at
their hostile attitude, as they bore the name of the "Tigers of the
Plains."

With Saulteaux, Crees, Assiniboines, and Sioux coming freely among them,
the settlers had at first a feeling of decided insecurity.

[Illustration: Osoup, Agent, Atalacoup, Kakawistaha, Mistawasis
FOUR CREE CHIEFS OF RUPERT'S LAND]

THE MONTREAL MERCHANTS AND MEN.

But the fur trade paid too well to be left alone by the Montrealers who
knew of Verandrye's exploits on the Ottawa and the Upper Lakes. When
Canada became British, many daring spirits hastened to it from New York
and New Jersey States. Montreal became the home of many young men of
Scottish families. Some of their fathers had fled to the Colonies after
the Stuart Prince was defeated at Culloden, and after the power of the
Jacobites was broken. Some of the young men of enterprising spirit were
the sons of officers and men who had fought in the Seven Years' War
against France and now came to claim their share of the conqueror's
spoils. Some men were of Yankee origin, who with their proverbial
ability to see a good