Previous entries of Henri Julien's Diary
July 19th - We found ourselves at Mouse River. We have just been one month on the march, and have just passed the last house between Dufferin and Fort Ellice, 175 miles from the former place. It was a fair month's work that we had done and we rested contented on the Lord's Day.
The country about. us teemed with ducks,
prairie chickens and prairie plovers, the latter resembling the pleuvier
de gruyere of Lower Canada. One duck is generally considered a full meal
for a hungry man at a civilized table. but, out on the prairie I have thought
nothing of eating three and four at a stretch. I was not ashamed of my voracity,
but rather prided in it, after the Indian fashion. I must own however. that
I had some qualms of conscience at killing so many inoffensive things. They
lay moulting and helpless in the marshes and along the grassy margins of
the rivers. 
.The
men would go down with big sticks, knock them over the head, and catch
them by the leg in their feeble attempts to fly away. and bring back a dozen
of them in the course of half an hour. It was butchery. There was no romance
about it. Unfortunately, one cannot afford to be sentimental on the plains
when he is worn with constant riding and half-starved on government rations.
We, therefore, made no scruples to devour as many ducks as we could kill.
In the environs of Mouse Valley, I made a closer study of the mosquito. I took the trouble to measure some of the larger specimens. Length 1/2 an inch. not counting the snout. Hind legs about an inch. Fore legs about two-thirds of an inch. Snout about one-fifth of an inch. Colour light drab. These big fellows are not as wicked as the small black variety, which is more active and stings more painfully. This was a famous hunting ground formerly, but it is pretty well depleted. Buffaloes especially must have been abundant 10 or 12 years ago. Their trails are deep and numerous and their bleached bones are found at every step. The interpreters informed us that we would soon be among the cabris, a species of mountain goat (antelope), so fleet that no horse can follow it. The buffalo robe with the fur turned inside is an effectual bar against cold, but the skin of the cabri for sled voyages, or for bivouacking when journeying on horseback is still preferable. It is made into sacks with hair interiorly, and the outside lined with canvas. You get into this, draw a hood of the same material over your head, and you may be dragged by days through the coldest regions, or sleep at night quite securely with the mercury down to the forties.
Souris
or Mouse Valley impressed us all very favourably. It seems admirably
adapted for cultivation, and, in years when the frost is not too severe
ought to grow wheat easily. It stands 1,500 feet about the level of the
sea. The soil is black loam with sandy bottom and white oak is plentiful
along the banks of the river.
The men had a good rest there and
felt very jolly. The camp resounded with 
songs. Blacksmiths, saddlers, wheelwrights,
were 
all
busy repairing and making ready for the march. The usual run of men
are pretty much like animals. Feed them well, keep their stomachs full,
and they will work cheerfully.
We struck our tents early in the morning, and halted at eleven for dinner. being overpowered by the heat. Our beasts suffered much. The men began to complain of diarrhoea (sic) due to the excessive quantity of water which they drank - not the quality certainly. because we had had running streams of late. Another cause was the fresh meat served out to the men once a week. We also suffered a great deal from blistered and cracked lips due to the dry state of the atmosphere and the high head winds constantly sweeping over us. Glycerine we found no preventative. The best treatment was the immediate application of caustic.
July 22nd-We crossed South Antler Creek, were it joins North Antler to fall into the Souris. Then we crossed the second ford of the Souris, forty-six miles from the first, having travelled 221/2 miles by the odometer. We had a very hard time here. There was a bridge at the first ford, but none at this. The banks were quite steep, and the wagons of "C" troop having got entangled with the bull carts, the one retarded the other. The consequence was that several wagon-boxes were smashed. Our two pieces of artillery were the most difficult of all to manage, weighing 4,400 Ibs. Not being a soldier, I never saw the use of these two nine-pounders. They were always in the way, retarded our march, took up the time of several men and the service of several good horses. They were not fired off even once at an enemy, and, in fact, had hostilities been encountered, would have been of less use than the rifles which the gunners should have carried. But, I suppose, they looked military, and had therefore to be dragged on along wtih us, as much for show as for anything else.
After leaving Souris, we found the ground getting poorer and poorer, the grass all destroyed by the heat and want of rain, and the ravages of grass hoppers. The bleached skulls and bones of buffalo got more common as we proceeded. The Boundary Commission had a post of five men in the neighbourhood. While employed in making hay. on the opposite side of the line. some Sioux came to them and levied blackmail in the way of crackers, pork and other eatables. We had to put on double thickets to guard our horses against these cowardly marauders.
July 23rd-We camped on the near side of
Riviere des Lacs. On the opposite side is the historic Butte Marquee. Some
sixty of seventy years ago, the Crees were at war with the Mandans, a tribe
frequenting the hunting grounds of the Missouri. A party of each was on
the war path about this part of the country. One morning before sunrise,
when the mist was not yet off the ground, a Cree left the camp to examine
the surrounding country from the highest point of land in the vicinity.
This was Butte Marguee, as it was afterwards called by the French Métis,
or in English Murdered Scout Hill. There he perceived a Mandan in a sitting
posture also anxiously looking about him for enemies, his back turned to
the Cree. The latter took a large round stone weighing about 15 Ibs., crawled
silently up to his enemy, and killed him. To memorialize the place with
his tomahawk he dug out the form of a man Iying on his back, his legs spread
out and arms stretched back of his head. 
The figure measures about 12 feet
in length. The approach is also marked out for some 60 feet by dug out
foot marks. Such is the story as related to me by old hunters on these grounds.
After leaving Souris River, we passed through a rather barren country and suffered a great deal from heat. Our skin felt as if on fire from the combined effects of hot winds, dust and mosquito bites. We were also frequently short of good water. At one place we dug a well in a "coulee" or ''run" and put a barrel in it to prevent the sides from crumbling.
The water was ice cold and sweet. We got sufficient quantity for 300 horses and all the men. Had we acted otherwise we should not have had water before night. By such little acts of attention on the part of Col. French, much hardship was spared the force.
July 24th-We had pemmican for the first time and found it very good. It is made by roughly pounding dried meat placed in a bag of raw buffalo skin with the hair outside. Boiling tallow is next pounded in. It then hardens and will keep for years. It is much improved by mixing cherries in it, and using marrow instead of tallow.
Dried meat, the jerked meat of South America, is prepared by cutting three slices of the flesh along the grain and drying them in the sun. on willow or dogwood scaffolding. This will also keep very well. Both pemmican and dried meat are very wholesome.
Indians and Métis will live on either for days and weeks and prefer it to any other prepared meats.
The marrow (in Pemmican) is prepared by breaking
the bones and boiling them. The marrow floats and is poured into bladders.
On cooling it hardens to the consistency of butter, and protected from the
action of the air in bladders, it keeps very well. It is used instead of
butter 
in the kitchens and on the tables
of the Métis throughout the North-West. Pounded meat is dried
meat pounded till the fibre is all separated. It looks for all the world
like short tow. Eaten with marrow I found it delicious .
In Roche Percee Valley is a third branch of the Souris, which goes by the name Riviere Courte.(Short Creek) We camped a few yards from it. and found good feed, wood and water. I saw a large flock of vultures on reaching the valley, being drawn thither by the carcasses of buffalo which strewed the environs. On the roadside we stumbled over a buffalo skull to which the hair still adhered.
It was here decided that Troop "A", under command of Col. W. D. Jarvis should pass by Fort Ellice and push on to Fort Edmonton. He was to take along all extra baggage and stores to Ellice. We are to go as far as Bow River.
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