Part 2 (1/2)

For some time, however, he was not able to carry out this intended visit to the Mandans. The death of his nephew La Jemeraye, followed soon after by the murder of his son Jean, upset all his plans for a time. Further, he had great difficulty in keeping peace among the Indian {46} tribes. The Chippewas and the Crees, who had always been friendly to the French, were indignant at the treacherous ma.s.sacre of the white men by the Sioux, and urged La Verendrye to lead a war party against this enemy. La Verendrye not only refused to do this himself, but he told them that they must on no account go to war with the Sioux.

He warned them that their Great Father, the king of France, would be very angry with them if they disobeyed his commands. Had they not known him so well, the Indians would have despised La Verendrye as a coward for refusing to revenge himself upon the Sioux for the death of his son; but they knew that, whatever his reason might be, it was not due to any fear of the Sioux. As time went on, they thought that he would perhaps change his mind, and again and again they came to him begging for leave to take the war-path. 'The blood of your son,' they said, 'cries for revenge. We have not ceased to weep for him and for the other Frenchmen who were slain. Give us permission and we will avenge their death upon the Sioux.'

La Verendrye, however, disregarding his personal feelings, knew that it would be fatal to all his plans to let the friendly Indians have {47} their way. An attack on the Sioux would be the signal for a general war among all the neighbouring tribes. In that case his forts would be destroyed and the fur trade would be broken up. In the end, he and his men would probably be driven out of the western country, and all his schemes for the discovery of the Western Sea would come to nothing. It was therefore of the utmost importance that he should remain where he was, in the country about the Lake of the Woods, until the excitement among the Indians had quieted down and there was no longer any immediate danger of war.

At length, in the summer of 1738, La Verendrye felt that he could carry out his plan of visiting the Mandans. He left one of his sons, Pierre, in charge of Fort St Charles, and with the other two, Francois and Louis, set forth on his journey to the West. Travelling down the Winnipeg river in canoes, they stopped for a few hours at Fort Maurepas, then crossed Lake Winnipeg and paddled up the muddy waters of Red River to the mouth of the a.s.siniboine, the site of the present city of Winnipeg, then seen by white men for the first time. La Verendrye found it occupied by a band of Crees under two war chiefs. He landed, {48} pitched his tent on the banks of the a.s.siniboine, and sent for the two chiefs and reproached them with what he had heard--that they had abandoned the French posts and had taken their furs to the English on Hudson Bay. They replied that the accusation was false; that they had gone to the English during only one season, the season in which the French had abandoned Fort Maurepas after the death of La Jemeraye, and had thus left the Crees with no other means of getting the goods they required. 'As long as the French remain on our lands,' they said, 'we promise you not to go elsewhere with our furs.' One of the chiefs then asked him where he was now going. La Verendrye replied that it was his purpose to ascend the a.s.siniboine river in order to see the country.

'You will find yourself among the a.s.siniboines,' said the chief; 'and they are a useless people, without intelligence, who do not hunt the beaver, and clothe themselves only in the skins of buffalo. They are a good-for-nothing lot of rascals and might do you harm.' But La Verendrye had heard such tales before and was not to be frightened from his purpose. He took leave of the Crees, turned his canoes up the shallow waters of the a.s.siniboine river, and ascended {49} it to where now stands the city of Portage la Prairie. Here he built a fort, which he named Fort La Reine, in honour of the queen of France.

[Ill.u.s.tration: An Indian encampment. From a painting by Paul Kane.]

While this was being done, a party of a.s.siniboines arrived. La Verendrye soon found, as he had expected, that the Crees through jealousy had given the a.s.siniboines a character which they did not deserve. With all friendliness they welcomed the strangers and were overjoyed at the presents which the French gave them. The most valued presents consisted of knives, chisels, awls, and other small tools. Up to this time these people had been dependent upon implements made of stone and of bone roughly fas.h.i.+oned to serve their purposes, and these implements were very crude and inferior compared with the sharp steel tools of the white men.

While La Verendrye had been occupied in building Fort La Reine, one of his men, Louviere, had been sent to the mouth of the a.s.siniboine to put up a small post for the Crees. He found a suitable place on the south bank of the a.s.siniboine, near the point where it enters the Red, and here he built his trading post and named it Fort Rouge. This fort was abandoned in a year or two, as it was {50} soon found more convenient to trade with the Indians either at Fort Maurepas near the mouth of the Winnipeg, or at Fort La Reine on the a.s.siniboine. The memory of the fort is, however, preserved to this day. The quarter of Winnipeg in the vicinity of the old fort is still known as Fort Rouge. The memory of La Verendrye is also preserved, for a large school built near the site of the old fort bears the name of the great explorer.

The completion of Fort La Reine freed La Verendrye to make preparations for his journey to the Mandans. He left some of his men at the fort and selected twenty to accompany him on his expedition. To each of these followers he gave a supply of powder and bullets, an ax, a kettle, and other things needful by the way. In later years horses were abundant on the western prairie, but at that time neither the French nor the Indians had horses, and everything needed for the journey was carried on men's backs.

Three days after leaving Fort La Reine, La Verendrye met a party of a.s.siniboines travelling over the prairie. He gave them some small presents, and told them that he had built in their country a fort where they could get all kinds of useful articles in {51} exchange for their furs and provisions. They seemed delighted at having white men so near, and promised to keep the fort supplied with everything that the traders required.

A day or two afterwards several other Indians appeared, from an a.s.siniboine village. They bore hospitable messages from the chiefs, who begged the white travellers to come to visit them. This it was difficult to do. The village was some miles distant from the road on which they were travelling and already they had lost much time because their guide was either too lazy or too stupid to take them by the most direct way to the Mandan villages on the banks of the Missouri. Still, La Verendrye did not think it wise to disappoint the a.s.siniboines, or to offend them, since he might have to depend upon their support in making his plans for further discoveries. Accordingly, although it was now nearly the middle of November, the very best time of the year for travelling across the plains, he made up his mind to go to the a.s.siniboine village.

As the party drew near the village, a number of young warriors came to meet them, and to tell them that the a.s.siniboines were greatly pleased to have them as guests. It is {52} possible that the a.s.siniboines had heard of the presents which the French had given to some of their countrymen, and that they too hoped to receive knives, powder and bullets, things which they prized very highly. At any rate, the explorer and his men received vociferous welcome when they entered the village. 'Our arrival,' says La Verendrye, 'was hailed with great joy, and we were taken into the dwelling of a young chief, where everything had been made ready for our reception. They gave us and all our men very good cheer, and none of us lacked appet.i.te.'

[Ill.u.s.tration: An a.s.siniboine Indian. From a pastel by Edmund Morris.]

The following day La Verendrye sent for the princ.i.p.al chiefs of the tribe, and gave to each of them a present of powder and ball, or knives and tobacco. He told them that if the a.s.siniboines would hunt beaver diligently and would bring the skins to Fort La Reine, they should receive in return everything that they needed. One of the chiefs made a speech in reply. 'We thank you,' he said, 'for the trouble you have taken to come to visit us. We are going to accompany you to the Mandans, and then to see you safely back to your fort. We have already sent word to the Mandans that you are on your way to visit them, and the Mandans are delighted. We shall travel {53} by easy marches, so that we may hunt by the way and have plenty of provisions.' The explorer was not wholly pleased to find that the entire village was to accompany him, for this involved still further delays on the journey.

It was necessary, however, to give no cause of offence; so he thanked them for their good-will, and merely urged that they should be ready to leave as soon as possible and travel with all speed by the shortest road, as the season was growing late.

On the next morning they all set out together, a motley company, the French with their Indian guides and hunters accompanied by the entire village of a.s.siniboines. La Verendrye was astonished at the orderly way in which these savages, about six hundred in number, travelled across the prairies. Everything was done in perfect order, as if they were a regiment of trained soldiers. The warriors divided themselves into parties; they sent out scouts in advance to both the right and the left, in order to keep watch for enemies and also to look out for buffalo and other game; the old men marched in the centre with the women and the children; and in the rear was a strong guard of warriors.

If the scouts saw buffalo ahead, they signalled to the rear-guard, {54} who crept round the herd on both sides until it was surrounded. They killed as many buffaloes as were needed to provision the camp, and this completed the men's part of the work. It was the women who cut up the meat and carried it to the place where the company encamped for the night. The women, indeed, were the burden-bearers and had to carry most of the baggage. There were, of course, dogs in great numbers on such excursions, and these bore a part of the load. The men burdened themselves with nothing but their arms.

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CHAPTER IV

THE MANDAN INDIANS

It was towards the end of November when La Verendrye and his party reached the point where the Mandans had promised to meet them. When he arrived no one was on the spot; but presently, after he had encamped, a Mandan chief appeared with thirty followers. This chief advanced to La Verendrye and presented him with Indian corn in the ear and with a roll of Indian tobacco. These were tokens of friends.h.i.+p. He told La Verendrye how glad he and his countrymen were to welcome him to their villages, and begged him to consider the Mandans as his children.

La Verendrye was surprised to find the appearance of the Mandans very much like that of the other tribes he had met. Stories told by the Crees and the a.s.siniboines had prepared him to find them of a different type, a type like that of the white men. In reality they looked like the a.s.siniboines and dressed {56} in the same fas.h.i.+on. Their clothing was scanty enough, for it consisted of only a buffalo robe worn from the shoulders. It was clear now that the Indians had been telling him not what was true but what they thought he would like to hear. 'I knew then,' he says shrewdly, 'that a heavy discount must be taken off everything that an Indian tells you.'

The Mandan chief invited La Verendrye to be his guest in the nearest village, and the whole party made ready to continue their journey to that point. Then the chief made a speech to the a.s.siniboines, very friendly in tone, but artfully intended to make them uneasy and send them back home. He was really anxious to have the white men as his guests, but he was not at all anxious to have as guests and to be obliged to feed an entire village of a.s.siniboines; and so, thinking to get rid of them, he played on their well-known fear of the fiery Sioux.

'We thank you,' he said to them, 'for having brought the French to see us. They could not have arrived at a better time. The Sioux are on the war-path, and may be here at any moment. We know the valour and courage of the French, and also of the a.s.siniboines, and we hope that you will both help us to defend ourselves from the Sioux.'

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La Verendrye was at first as much imposed upon by this story as were the a.s.siniboines, but with a very different effect. They were dismayed, while he rejoiced at the opportunity of having at last a fair chance to avenge the cruel death of his son. After the speech, the Mandan chief took him aside, and explained that the alarm was merely a trick to get rid of the a.s.siniboines. They had not food enough at the village, he said, to satisfy such a hungry horde. But, to the surprise and disgust of the chief, the a.s.siniboines swallowed their fears and decided to go forward. At first, in their terror, the majority of the tribe had thought it better to turn back; but one of their old chiefs shamed them into a different course. 'Do not think,' he said, in scornful accents, 'that our Father [La Verendrye] is a coward,' and he looked about him at the young a.s.siniboine warriors until each felt that he himself was branded as a coward. 'I know him,' he continued, 'better than you do, and I tell you that the Sioux cannot frighten him or any of his men. What will he think of us? At our request, he went out of his way to visit our village. We promised to conduct him to the Mandans, and to bring him safely back to his fort. And now you talk of {58} abandoning him, because you fear the Sioux. This must never be.

Let those of you who are faint-hearted remain here in camp with the women; but let those who are without fear follow our father.' After this scornful eloquence there was no further talk of turning back.

Early on the following morning the camp broke up, and the whole party, French and a.s.siniboines and Mandans, marched across the plains towards the Mandan village. One can imagine the striking picture made up by the little party of white men in their picturesque costumes, surrounded by hundreds of half-naked savages. Had the Indians cared to exercise their power, they might have overwhelmed the French at any moment, but apparently they had no thought of doing so. Indeed it is quite true that the Indians of North America, when first they met white men, treated them in nearly every case with the utmost friends.h.i.+p. Only after the Indians had been deceived or betrayed by some rascals among the white men did they learn to look upon them as enemies and become cruel and treacherous in dealing with them.

When La Verendrye had travelled some distance from the camp, he found that the bag {59} containing his papers and many other things that would be required at the Mandan villages had been stolen by one of the a.s.siniboines. The thief, he also learned, had made off with his spoil.

Instantly he sent two young warriors to secure him. The culprit was overtaken on the following day and the bag was recovered. The pursuers, however, instead of bringing it back to La Verendrye, carried it on to their village to keep for him until his return. This singular conduct was due to their fear of the Sioux. The white man's bag would be safe at the a.s.siniboine village, but if they ventured to carry it back to La Verendrye they were not so sure that either it or their own scalps would be safe at the Mandan village, with the ferocious Sioux hovering about. They did not know, of course, that the story of the Sioux was nothing but a hoax.