Under
the wing upon the body of each grasshopper was to be found one or more
scarlet red parasites which drew all the juices from the body of the
insect and produced death. For a third of a century they have been
almost unknown, and the area of cultivated ground in the States of North
and South Dakota, where they may supply their hunger renders it likely
that Manitoba will know them no more. It cannot be wondered at that such
continuous disasters made the settler whether Scottish, De Meuron, or
Swiss, extremely discontented. During the period of the scourge, the
only resource was to winter at Pembina in reasonable distance from the
buffalo-herds. In one of these years a number of the Selkirk Colonists
did not return to their farms but emigrated to the United States. As we
shall see in a few years after the grasshopper scourge the flood of the
Red River took place, when the De Meurons and Swiss, with one or two
exceptions, disappeared from the Colony and became citizens of the
United States.
CHAPTER XIII.
ENGLISH LION AND CANADIAN BEAR LIE DOWN TOGETHER.
That such violence and bloodshed as that about Fort Douglas, should be
seen by British subjects under the flag which stands for justice and
equal rights made sober-minded Britons blush.
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