he occupied an
easy chair.
The writer was then quite a young man fresh from College, and with a
simple introduction, after the easy manner of Western Canada, proceeded
to hear the story of old Andrew McDermott, the patriarch of Winnipeg.
"Yes," said Mr. McDermott, "I was among those of the first year of Lord
Selkirk's immigrants. We landed from the Old Country, at York Factory,
on Hudson Bay. The first immigrants reached the banks of the Red River
in the year 1812.
"I am a native of Ireland and embarked with Owen Keveny--a bright
Hibernian--a clever writer, and speaker, who, poor fellow, was killed by
the rival Fur Company, and whose murderer, De Reinhard, was tried at
Quebec. Of course the greater number of Lord Selkirk's settlers were
Scotchmen, but I have always lived with them, known them, and find that
they trust me rather more than they at times trust each other. I have
been their merchant, contractor, treaty-maker, business manager,
counsellor, adviser, and confidential friend."
"But," said the writer, "as having come to cast in my lot with the
people of the Red River, I should be glad to hear from you about the
early times, and especially of the earlier people of this region, who
lived their lives, and came and went, before the arrival of Lord
Selkirk's settlers in 1812." Thus the story-telling began, and patriarch
and questioner made out from one source and another the whole story of
the predecessors of the Selkirk Colonists.
[Illustration: MOUND BUILDERS' ORNAMENTS, ETC.
A. Ornamental gorget of turtle's plastron.
B. Gorget of sea-shell (1879).
C. Gorget of buffalo bone.
D. Breast or arm ornament of very hard bone.
E. String of beads of birds' leg bones. Note cross X.
F. One of three polished stones used for gaming.
G. Columella of large sea couch (tropical, used as sinker for fishing).]
AN EXTINCT RACE.
"Long before the coming of the settler, there lived a race who have now
entirely disappeared. Not very far from the Assiniboine River, where
Main Street crosses it, is now to be seen," said the narrator, "Fort
Garry--a fine castellated structure with stone walls and substantial
bastions. A little north of this you may have noticed a round mound,
forty feet across. We opened this mound on one occasion, and found it to
contain a number of human skeletons and articles of various kinds. The
remains are those of a people whom we call 'The Mound Builders,' who
ages ago lived here. Their mounds sto
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