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ABOUT the last of May the ice
went off the lake, and navigation was open, and we made up * another bee to
go to raft our timber down. Father sent William and I one day ahead of the
party, in order that we might set nets for sturgeon, which we did; and when
father and men came up next day, we had fourteen large sturgeon to begin
with. While white-fish is the staple food in that north country, these
sturgeon come in at seasons as an extra luxury; indeed, they are the beef
and bacon of the northern Indian. Sturgeon oil is both lard and butter for
these people, and blessed is the wife and mother who has many vessels full
of it.
We made a big raft of our
timber, and both wind and current favoring us, we soon had it hauled out and
piled up on the beach near the church, and the sawing of the timber was gone
into by the Indians in turn, each doing his share. This we carefully piled,
to season, and in the autumn the Hudson's Bay Company, as per offer and
promise, sent their carpenters, and the enlargement went on, and there was
great rejoining and a grand reopening when the work was finished.
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