No Ordinary Man. Lois Winslow-Spragge

      Vegetables {also} form a principal part of the food of man.

      They also form the principal part in his manufactures.

      May 17th 1860

      Rivers <and how>

      Rivers are those large <masses> bodies of water which flow from the land to the sea. The cause of rivers is the drainage of the water of the land, which water is caused from rain which is evaporated from the sea up into the clouds and which again fals to fertilize the ground.

      The names of some of the principal rivers are these the Amazon the largest which was so named from companies of armed women on its banks the Mississippi one of the principal tributaries {of it} is the Missouri, the St. Lawrence with its tributary the Otawa, {the} Dneiper, Drvina, Don, Volga, Danube, Indes, Ganges, Lena, Obi, Nile {and the} Niger the beginning of the Nile has not been yet explored.¹⁵ Fish and many other water animals inhabit rivers though not of the same kind that live in salt water: in many tropical rivers Crocadiles and Aligaters shelfish also inhabit rivers but not of <so> {such} beautiful colours as those which live in the sea though some especially in tropical rivers are very pretty. Salt water fish such as the Salmon and Herring come up rivers to spawn. There are many waterfals and rapids and some rivers are so obstructed with them that they are not navigable but most rivers of sufficient depth are navigable The kind of steamboats which sail on large rivers are not suited for the boistrus navigation of the sea: many rivers are obstructed with shifting sandbanks which make their navigation very difficult.

      27 Feb 1861

      The Indian antiquities (of Montreal)

      There have been lately discovered by accident in montreal remains of a extinct species of indians the {indians} were first discovered by Cartier 3 hundred years ago and the present antiquities are suppposed to be of about that date. Some of the principle things found I will now mention There were five or six skeletons found the bowl of a pipe two stones for gringing their corn with some very pretty pieces of pottery of very preety patern several boan implements, such as knives, piercers, and things to mark their potery the remains of a broken stone ax a bone needle, worn smothe by use.

      The principle animals we find remains of are the Deer, Dog, Beaver, Martin, several kinds of fish, Bear, & Muskwash.¹⁶

      April 10th. 1861

      Europe

      Europe is divided into 16 kingdoms, namely Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, France, Holland, Belgium, Denmark, Prussia, Germany, Norway and Sweden, Russia, Austria, Turkey, Grease {Greece}, Italy, Switserland. Great Britain is the chief naval power in the world and is a great manufacturing country Portugal is a great wine making country Spain <a> the same France makes a good deal of wine also and is the next naval power to England and has a larger army Holland is a very flat country and is diked to keep out the sea and is next to Great Britain in commerce Belgium is famed for lace which is manufactured at Brussels Denmark is a very much cut up country Prussias soldiars are very good Germany is famed for <its good> {excellent system of} education Norway and Sweden for its timber Russia is the largest country in Europe Austria has a great many mineral products Turkey is the only Mohamedan {Mahomedan} country in Europe and the only one governed by a sultain Greece is famed for its early civilization Italy is the great seat of the Roman Catholic religion and, Switzerland for the Alps and its generally mountainous character.

      Europe is the great and most ancient seat of civilasation and also is the the seat of the most powerful nations in the world.

      May 8 1860

      The Lion

      The lion is called the king of beasts from its superior strength and cunning.

      The {African} lion is by some naturalists divided into two species the brown and the black the black lion is by far the fiercest another very dangerous kind is those who have tasted human blood, as they take a liking for it which induces <it> {them not} to seek for any other kind of food.

      The lion <is of> {has} a very fierce look with <its> {his} dark <main a> {mane} its {his} glaring eyes and his majestic step.

      Lions gain their food by combined strength and cunning as they lie in ambush near some path which they know to be frequented by cattle and when they see any they give a great bound or spring at them which knocks them quite over when he devours them at his <leasure> {leisure} if the lion fails in {the length of} his leap and the object of it escapes he tries it over and over again till he attains perfection.

      As an instance that the lion does not attack unless he requires <it for> food (he attacks however when he does not need food for revenge) I may mention this incident: A gentleman in Africa going out to hunt alone on his way home came upon a large flat rock <he saw> purposed to sleep there accordingly lay down: when he awoke he saw a large lion sitting at his feet he {he raised himself up a little and} attempted to reach his gun which was beside his legs upon this the lion uttered savage growls and advanced a few paces he continued in this manner for two days all this time the gentleman was <sufering> {suffering} intense pain on account of the heat reflected from the rock till on the second day the lion seeing some deer in the distance left <the> him and went after them, by this time his feet were so scorched by the sun that he could not walk but crept along on his knees till some of the <servents> {servants} coming to seek for him found him and conveyed him home.

      I could say much more about the lion but I find I have {not much} room left so I think I will stop here.

      26 April 1860

       George Dawson as a Child, date unknown.

       Dawsons Parents, Margaret and J.W Dawson, March 19,1847 & 1897.

       The Dawson Sons (from left): Rankine, George, and William Bell.

       Anna Lois Dawson, 1871.

       At the Dawson Summer Home, Métis , Québec. (from left): Bernard Harrington, George Dawson, Bernard Hanington (son), J. W Dawson, Anna Harrington, Ruth Harrington, Clare Harrington, Lois Harrington, Eva Harrington, Margaret Dawson, Conrad Harrington.

      ¹⁵ Dawson’s assertions about the Nile are correct in that, though the British explorer John H. Speke had been the first European to discover Lake Victoria in 1858 and the outlet of what he conjectured to be the White Nile four years later, the Nile’s source remained in doubt until 1875-76 when Charles Gordon followed the river to the lake.

      ¹⁶Probably muskrat, Ondatra zibethicus (L.).

      A BOYHOOD DIARY

       The following entries were taken from one of George’s boyhood diaries written in 1861 at age twelve, when the Dawson family lived on the McGill campus in downtown Montreal. The diary for the most part refers to his studies and his governess whom he is pleased to call “Miss.” There are also a number of references to his health and the simple pastimes that boys engaged in before the advent of television!

      March 1st. 1861