56 THE CARIBOO TRAIL

her nose so deep in the soft mud of the river-
bank that it required all the crew and most of
the passengers to shove her off. But every-
body was jubilant. This was the first navi-
gation of the Red River by steam. The
Queen’s Birthday, the 24th of May, was cele-
brated on board the vessel pottle-deep to the
tune of the bagpipes played by the governor’s
scottish piper. But the governor’s wife was
heard to lament to Bishop Taché that the
International’s menu consisted only of pork
and beans alternated with beans and pork,
that the service was. on tin plates, and that
the dining-room chairs were backless benches.

The arrival of the steamer at Fort Garry
(Winnipeg) was celebrated with great rejoic-
ing. Indians ran along the river-bank firing off
rifles in welcome, and opposite the flats where
the fort gate opened, on what is now Main
street, the company’s men came out and fired
a royal salute. The people bound for Cariboo
camped on the flats outside Fort Garry. Here
was a strange world indeed. Two-wheeled
ox-carts, made wholly of wood, without iron
or bolt, wound up to the fort from St Paul in
processions a mile long, with fat squaws and
whole Indian families sitting squat inside the
crib-like structure of the cart. Men and boys