Fort Garry--Origin of the Red River Settlement--The First Settlers--Their Sufferings--The North-Westers--The Grasshoppers--The Blackbirds--The Flood--The Colony in 1862--King Company--Farming at Red River--Fertility of the Soil--Isolated Position of the Colony--Obstructive Policy of the Company--Their Just Dealing and Kindness to the Indians-- Necessity for a proper Colonial Government--Value of the Country--French Canadians and Half-breeds--Their Idleness and Frivolity--Hunters and Voyageurs--Extraordinary Endurance-- The English and Scotch Settlers--The Spring and Fall Hunt-- Our Life at Fort Garry--Too late to cross the Mountains before Winter--Our Plans--Men--Horses--Bucephalus--Our Equipment-- Leave Fort Garry--The “Noce”--La Ronde’s last Carouse-- Delightful Travelling--A Night Alarm--Vital Deserts--Fort Ellice--Delays--Making Pemmican--Its Value to the Traveller-- Swarms of Wild-Fowl--Good Shooting--The Indian Summer--A Salt Lake Country--Search for Water--A Horse’s Instinct--South Saskatchewan--Arrive at Carlton. Fort Garry--by which we mean the building itself, for the name of the Fort is frequently used for the settlement generally--is situated on the north bank of the Assiniboine river, a few hundred yards above its junction with Red River. It consists of a square enclosure of high stone walls, flanked at each angle by round towers. Within this are several substantial wooden buildings--the Governor’s residence, the gaol, and the storehouses for the Company’s furs and goods. The shop, where articles of every description are sold, is thronged from morning till night by a crowd of settlers and half-breeds, who meet there to gossip and treat each other to rum and brandy, as well as to make their purchases.