The journey to and from the lake occupies five days, and every sledge requires a driver.

About three thousand fish, averaging three pounds a piece, were caught by the Hudson's Bay fishermen last season; in addition to which a few sturgeon were occasionally caught in Pine Island Lake; and towards the spring a considerable quantity of moose meat was procured from the Basquiau Hill, sixty or seventy miles distant.

The rest of our winter's provision consisted of geese, salted in the autumn, and of dried meats and pemmican, obtained from the provision posts on the plains of the Saskatchawan.

A good many potatoes are also raised at this post, and a small supply of tea and sugar is brought from the depot at York Factory.
The provisions obtained from these various sources were amply sufficient in the winter of 1819-20; but through improvidence this post has in former seasons been reduced to great straits.
Many of the labourers, and a great majority of the agents and clerks employed by the two Companies, have Indian or half-breed wives, and the mixed offspring thus produced has become extremely numerous.
These metifs, or as the Canadians term them, _bois brules_, are upon the whole a good looking people, and where the experiment has been made, have shewn much aptness in learning, and willingness to be taught; they have, however, been sadly neglected.

The example of their fathers has released them from the restraint imposed by the Indian opinions of good and bad behaviour; and generally speaking, no pains have been taken to fill the void with better principles.