Brown, one of the Glasgow clerks."
(Signed) H. MacD.
The expedition left York Factory for the interior on the 6th of July,
1812.
CHAPTER V.
FIRST FOOT ON RED RIVER BANKS.
The weary winter passing at Nelson Encampment had its bright spots.
Miles Macdonell in the building erected for himself, on the south side
of the Nelson River, kept up his mess, having with him Mr. Hillier,
Priest Bourke, Doctor Edwards, and Messrs. John McLeod, Whitford and
Michael Macdonell, officers and clerks. Those Immigrants who took no
part in the rebellion fared well. True, the scurvy seized several of
them, but proved harmless to those who obeyed the orders and took
plentiful potations of spruce beer. With the opening year a fair supply
of fresh and dried venison was supplied by the Indians. In April upwards
of thirty deer were snared or shot by the settlers. Some three thousand
deer of several different kinds crossed the Nelson River within a month.
"Fresh venison," writes Macdonell, "was so plenty that our men would not
taste salt meat. We have all got better since we came to Hudson Bay."
But as in all far northern climates the heat was great in the months of
May and June, and Governor and Colonists became alike restless to start
on the inland journey.
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