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Les diagrammes suivants illustrant la mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 3s "A SKIN FOR A SKIN." 878 mm "A SKIN FOR A SKIN." Br JULIAN RALPH. ii'"^ rpHOSE who go to the newer parts of X Canada to-day will find that several of those places which their school geog- raphies displayed as Hudson Bay posts a few years ago are now towns and cities. In them they will find the trading sta- tions of old now transformed into gener- al stores. Alongside of the head offices of the great corporation, where used to stand the walls of Fort Garry, tliey will see the principal store of the city of Win- nipeg, an institution worthy of any city, and more nearly to be likened to White- ley's Necessary Store in London than to any shopping - place in New York. As in Whiteley's you may buy a house, or anything belonging in or around a house, so you may in this great Manitoban estab- lishment. The great ret. a emporium of Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, is the Hudson Bay store ; and in Calgary, the metropolis of Alberta and the Cana- dian plains, the principal shopping-place in a territory beside which Texas dwin- dles to the proportions of a park is the Hudson Bay store. These and many other shops indicate a new development of the business of the lujt of England's great chartered monop- olies, but instead of marking the manner in which civilization has forced it to aban- don its original function, this merely demonstrates that the proprietors have taken advantage of new conditionf while still pursuing their original trade. It is true that the huge corporation is becom- ing a great retail shop-keeping company. It is also true that by the surrender of its monopolistic privileges it got a conso- lation prize of money and of twenty mill- ions of dollars' worth of laud, so that its chief business may yet become that of de- veloping and selling real estate. But to- day it is still, as it was two centuries ago, the greatest of fur-trading corporations, and fur-trading is to-day a principal source of its profits. Reminders of their old associations as forts still confront the visitor to the mod- ern city shops of the company. Tlie great shop in Victoria, for instance, which, as a fort, was the hub around which grew the wheel that is now the capital of the province, has its fur trade conducted in a sort of barn -like annex of the bazar; but there it is, nevertheless, and busy among the great heaps of furs are men who can remember when the Hydahs and the T'linkets and the other neighboring tribes came down in their war canoes to trade their winter's catch of skins for guns and beads, vermilion, blankets, and the rest. Now this is the mere catch- all for the furs got at posts farther up the coast and in the interior. But up- stairs, abov^ the store, where the fashion- able ladies are looking over laces and purchasing perfumes, you will see a col- lection of queer old guns of a pattern fa- miliar to Daniel Boone. They are relics of the fur company's stock of those fa- mous "trade guns" which disappeared long before they had cleared the plains of buffalo, and which the Indians used to deck with brass nails and bright ])aint, and value as no man to-day values a walch. But close to the trade guns of romantic memory is something yet more highly suggestive of the company's for- mer position. This is a heap of unclaim- ed trunks, "left," the employes will tell you, " by travellers, hunters, and explor- 3T041 Pncific N. W. History Dept. PROVINCIAL L-IBRARV - VICTORIA, a O. 374 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. ors who never camo back to inquire for tliom." It was not long ago that conditions ex- isted sucli as in that region rendered Die disappearance of a traveller more than a possibility. The wretclied, squat, bow- legged, dirty laborers of that coast, who now dress as we do, and earn good wages in the salnion-lishing and canning indus- tries, were not long ago very numerous, and still more villanous. They were not to be compared with the plains Indians as warriors or as men, but they were more treacherous, and wanting in high qualities. In the interior to-day are some Indians such as they were wlio are ac- cused of cannibalism, and who have ne- cessitated warlike defences at distant trading -posts. Travellers who escaped Indian treaciiery risked starvation, and stood their chances of losing their reck- oning, of freezing to death, of encounters with grizzlies, of snov/ - slides, of canoe accidents in rapids, and of all the other casualties of life in a territory which to- day is not half explored. Those are not the trunks of Hudson Bay men, for such wo.ld have been sent home to English and Scottish mourners; they are the lug- gage of chance men who happened along, and outfitted at the old post before going farther. But the company's men were there before them, had penetrated the re- gion farther and earlier, and there they are to-day. carrying on the fur trade un- der conditions sti'ongly resembling those their jjredecessors once encountered at posts that are now towns in farming re- gions, and where now the locomotive and the steamer are familiar vehicles. More- over, the status of the company in British Columbia is its status all the way across the North from the Pacific to the Atlantic. To me the most interesting and pic- turesque life to be found in North Amei*- ica, at least north of Mexico, is that which is occasioned by this jjrincipal phase of the company's operations. In and around the fur trade is found the most notable relic of the white man's earliest life on this continent. Our wild life in this country is, happily, gone. The frontiersman is more difficult to lind than the frontier, the cowboy has be- come a laborer almost like any other, our Indians are as the animals in our parks, and there is little of our country that is not threaded by railroads or wagon- ways. But in new or western Canada this is not so. A vast extent of it north of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which hugs our border, has been explored only as to its waterways, its valleys, or its open plains, and where it has been trav- ersed much of it remains as Nature and her near of kin, the red men, had it of old. On the streams canoes are the velii- cles of travel and of commerce; in the forests" " trails" lead from trading-post to trading-post, the people are Indians, half- breeds, and Esquimaux, who live by hunt- ing a .d fishing as their forebears did ; the Hudson Bay posts are the seats of white po])ulation; the post factors are the ma- gistrates. All this is changing v/ith a rapidity which history will liken to the sliding of scenes before the lens of a magic-lantern. Miners are crushing the foot-hills on ei- ther side of the Rocky Mountains, farm- ers and cattle-men have advanced far northward on the prairie and on the plains in narrow lines, and railroads are pushing hither and thither. Soon the limits of the inhospitable zone this side of the Arctic Sea, and of the marshy weakly wooded country on either side of Hudson Bay, will circumscribe the fur- trader's field, except in so far as there may remain equally permanent hunting- grounds in Labrador and in the moun- tains of British Columbia. Therefoi'e now, when the Hudson Bay Company is laying the foundations of widely differ- ent interests, is the time for halting the old original view that stood in the stere- opticon for centuries, that we may see what it revealed, and will still show far longer than it takes for us to view it. Tlie Hudson Bay Company's agents were not the first hunters and fur-traders in British America, ancient as was their foundation. The French, from the Can- adas, preceded them no one knows how many years, though it is said that it was as early as 162 T that Louis XIII. char- tered a company of the same sort and for the same aims as the English company. What ever came of that corporation I do not know, but by the time the English- men established themselves on Hudson Bay, individual Frenchmen and half- breeds had penetrated the country still farther west. They were of hardy, ad- venturous stock, and tliey loved the free roving life of the trapper and hunter. Fitted out by the merchants of Canada, they would }. ursue the watcx-ways which ■if 'V .. ^' I- • A SKIN FOR A SKIN." 376 there cut up tho wilderness in every di- rection, tiieir canoes laden with goods to tempt the savages, and their guns or traps forming part of their burden. They would be gone the greater part of a year, and always returned with a store of furs to be converted into money, which was, in turn, dissipated in tho cities with devil- may-care iollity. These were the cour- riers du dots, ai l theirs was the stock from which came the voyageurs of the next era, and the half-breeds, who joined the service of the rival fur companies, and who, by-the-way, reddened the his- tory of the Northwest territories with the little bloodshed that mars it. Charles II. of England was made to believe that wonders in the way of dis- covery and trade would result from a grant of the Hudson Bay territory to certain friends and petitioners. An ex- peri; i en tal voyage was made with good results in 1668, and in 1672 the king granted the charter to Avhathe styled "the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay, one body corporate and politique, in deed and in name, really and fully forever, for Us, Our lieirs. and Successors." It was indeed a royal and a wholesale charter, for the king declared, "We have given, granted, and confirmed unto said Gov- ernor and Company sole trade and com- merce of those Seas, Streights, Bays, Riv- ers. Lakes, Creeks, and Sounds, in what- soever latitude they shall be, that lie within the entrance of the Streights com- monly called Hudson's, togetlier with all the Lands, Countries, and Territories upon the coasts and confines of the Seas, etc., . . . not already actually possessed by or granted to any of our subjects, oi- pos- sessed by the subjects of any other Chris- tian Prince or State, with the fishing of all sorts of Fish, Whales, Sturgeons, and all other Royal Fishes, .... together with the Royalty of the Sea upon the Coasts within the limits aforesaid, and all Mines Royal, as well discovered as not discov- ered, of Gold, Silver, Gems, and Precious Stones, .... and that the said lands be henceforth reckoned and reputed as one of Our Plantations or Colonies in Amer- ica called Rupert's Land." For this gift of an empire the corporation was to pay yearly to the king, his heirs and succes- sors, two elks and two black beavers whenever and as often as he, his heirs, or his successors "shall happen to enter into the said countries." The company was empowered to man ships of war, to reate an armed force for security and defence, tc make peace or war with any people tint were not Christians, and to seize any British or other subject who traded in their territory. The king named his cou.sin. Prince Rupert, Duke of Cumberland, to bo first governor, and it was in his honor that the new territo: y got its name of Rupert's Land. In the comi)any were the Duke of Al- bemai'le. Earl Craven, Lords Arlington and Ashley, and .several knigl.tf and baronets, Sir Philip Carteret among ,liem. There were also live esquires, or giintle- nien, and John Portman, "citizen and goldsmith." They adopted the witty sen- tence, '^ Pro pelle CHieni'" (A .skin for a skin), as tlieir motto, and established as their coat of arms a fox sejant as the crest, and a shield showing four beavers in the quarters, and the cross of St. George, the whole upheld by two stags. The "adventurers" quickly established forts on the shoi-es of Hudson Bay, and began trading with the Indians, with such success that it was rumoi-ed they made from twenty-five to fifty per cent, profit every year. But they exhibited all of _ that timidity w'mcIi capital is ever said to possess. They were nothing like as en- terprising as the French courriers du hois. In a hundred years they were no deeper in the country than at first, ex- cepting as they extended their little sy.s- tem of forts or " factories" up and down and on either side of Hud.so'i and James bays. In view of their ])roflts, perhaps this lack of enterpi-ise is not to be won- dered at. On the other hand, their char- ter was given as a reward for the efforts they had made, and were to make, to find "the Northwest passage to the Southern seas." In this quest they made less of a trial than in the getting of furs; how much less we shall see. But the com- pany had no lack of brave and hardy followers. At first the officers and men at the factories were nearly all from the Orkney Islands, and tho.se islands re- mained until recent times the recruiting- source for this service. This was because the Orkney men were inured to a rigor- ous climate, and to a diet largely com- posed of fish. They were subject to less of a change in the company's service than must have been endured by men from almost any part of England. i i 376 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. I am pfoing', later, to i ;sk the reader to visit Rupi'i't's TjUiuI when the coTnpany liad shaken off its timidity, overcoino its obstacles, and dotted all British America witli its posts and forts. Tlien we shall see the interiors of the forts, view the strange yet not always hard or uncouth life of the company's factors ami clerks, and glance along the trails and water- con r.ses, mainly unchanged to-day, to note the work and surroundings of the Indians, the voyageurs, and the rest wlio inhabit that region. But, fortunately, I can first show, at least roughly, mucli that is interesting about the company's growth and methods a century and a half ago. The information is gotten froju some English Parliamentary papera forming a report of a committee of the House of Commons in 1749. Arthur Dobbs and others petitioned Parliament to giv^e them either the rights of the Hudson Bay Company or a simi- lar charter. It .seems tliat England had offered £20,000 reward to whosoever should find the bothersome passage to the Southern seas r/d the North Pole, and that these petitioners had sent out two ships for that purpose. Tliey said that when others had done no more than this in Charles II. 's lime, that monarch had given them "the greatest privileges as lords proprietors " of the Hudson Bay territory, and that those recipients of royal favor were bounden to attempt the discovery of the desired passage. In- stead of this, they not only failed to search effectually or in earnest for the passage, but t:iey had rather endeavored to conceal tlie same, and to obstruct the discovery thereof by others. Tliey had not possessed or occupied any of the lands granted to them, or extended their trade, or made any plantations or settle- ments, or pei-mitted other British sub- jects to plant, settle, or trade there. They had established only four factories and one small trading -house; yet "^hey had connived at or allowed the French to encroach, settle, and trade within their limits, to the great detriment and loss of Great Britain. The petitioners argued that the Hudson Bay charter was monop- olistic, and therefore void, and at any rate it had been forfeited " by non-user or abuser." In the cour,se of the hearing upon both sides, the "voyages upon discovery," ac- cording to the company's own showing, were not undertaken until the corpora- tion had been in existence nearly fifty years, and then the search had only been pro.secuted duri>,f eighteen years, and with only ten expeditions. Two .sliijjs sent out from England never reached the bay, but those which succeeded, and were then rejidy for adventurous cruising, made exjjloratory voyages that lasted only between one month and ten weeks, so that, as we are accustomed to judge sucli exj)editions, they seem farcical and mere pretences. Yet their largest shij) was only of 190 tons burden, and the oth- ers were a third .smaller — vessels like our small coasting .schooners. The most par- ticular instructions to the captains were to trade with all natives, and persuade them to kill whales, .sea-horses, and seals; and, subordinately and incidentally, "by God's permission," to find out the Strait of Annian, a fanciful sheet of water, with tales of which that irresponsible Greek sea-tramp, Juan de Fuca, had dis- turbed all Christendom, .saying that it led between a great island in the Pacific (Vancouver) and the mainland into the inland lakes. To the factors at their forts the company sent such lukewarm messages as, "and if you can by any means find out any discovery or nuitter to the northward or elsewhere in the company's interest or advantage, do not fail to let us know evei-y year." The attitude of the company toward discovery suggests a Dogberi*y at its head, bidding his servants to "comprehend" the Noi'thwest passage, but should they fail, to thank God they were rid of a vil- lain. In truth, they were traders pure and simple, and were making great profits with little trouble and expense. They brought from England about £4000 worth of powder, shot, guns, fire- steels, flints, gun -worms, powder-horns, pistols, hatchets, sword blades, awl blades, ice -chisels, files, kettles, fish-hook.s, net lines, burning-glasses, looking-glasses, to- bacco, brandy, goggles, gloves, hats, lace, needles, thread, thimbles, breeches, ver- milion, worsted sashes, blankets, flannels, red feathers, buttons, beads, and " shirts, shoes, and stockens." They spent, in keeping up their posts and ships, about £15,000, and in return they brought to England castor um, whale fins, whale oil, deer horns, goose quills, bed feathers, and skins — in all of a value of about £26,000 per annum. I have taken the average I le ■k > V H W > o n ss o o o n D M >• &! ►3 Vol. LXXXIV— No. DOl.— 37 378 IIAUl'KUS Ni:\V MONTHLY MAOAZINK. for several years in tlmt period of the company's liislory, uiid it is in our money as if tliey spent ?iS»(),()()() and mti \>nck i?i;iO,UUU, anil tins iis their own showin^f under such eircunislances as lo iiutkc it the course of wisdom not to boast of tlieir prollts. 'liiey liad three limes trehh'd their stock and otherwise increased it, so that havinj,'' l)een lO.riOO shares at tlie out sot, it was now lO.'J.Kr)!) sliares. And now that we liuvo seen iiow nat ural it was tliat tliey shouUl not then botlier with exploration and nV('s (half breeds), whose success afterward led to the fortmi- tion of rival comuanies, had be;,fun a inos- (luito warfare, by canoeinjf the waters that led to Tlud.son Hay, and had penetrated 1(100 miles farther west than the Knylish. One Thomas Barnett, a smith, said that the French intercepted tin* Indians, for cinjf them to trade, " when they tak<' what they ))loaHo, jfiviii}; them Toys in Exchanfre; and frijfht them into Compli- ance by Tri(dss, who sfiid that the way to meet it was "by .seiidinjif some Englinh with a little Brandy." A {gallon to certain chiefs and a gallon and a half to others would certainly induce the natives to come down and trade, l:o thought. But while the testimony of the English was valuable as far as it went, which was mainly concerning trade, it was as no- thing regarding tiie life of the natives compared with tluit of one .Joseph La France, of Missili-Mackinack (Mackinaw), a traveller, hunter, and trader. He had been sent as a child to Quebec to learn French, and in later years had been from Lake Nipissing to Lake Champlain and the Great Lakes, the Mississii)pi, the Mis- soiM'i, the Ouinipigue (Winnipeg) or Red River, and to Hudson Bay. He told his tales to Arthur Dobbs, who made a book of them, and imrt of that became an ap- pendix to the committee's report. La France said : " Tliat tiio liigh price on European Goods dis- courages the Natives .so inncli, that if it were not tinit tliey are nuder a Necessity of liaviiig Guns, Powder, Shot, Hatchets, and other Iron Tools for tlieir Hunting, and Tobacco, Brandy, and some Paint for Luxury, they would not go down to till- I'actory witli whiit tlicy now carry. 'I'lu'y leave j;reat nnniln'iH of Furs and Hklrm liidiiiid theni. A good Hunter nniong tlie linliiitiH cini kill lino Heavers in a Nrason, and carry dow n ImU jlin" ( liecauso tlieii- canoes were HMuill); "the rest lie uses at Inline, or liaii^rM llieiii upon llriinclies of Trees upon liie Death of llicjr Cliildren, as an OH'criiig to tlieiii ; or use iliein lor Itedding and ('ovcriii;(s: tliev sonietiincN liiirii otl'tlie I'm, and niiisl llie Heavers, like Pi);s, upon anv Kiilci'taininents; and lliey often let tlicui rot, liaxiiig no fiiiilier Cse of tlieiii. Tlie Heavers, lie says, are of Three Colours - I he Hrowni'eddisli (.'oloiir, the Hlack,and tln^ While, [lie HIaek is must val- ued liy the Cuinpany, and in i'lKjliiiid ; the White, t liougli most \ allied in ('axtuUi, is hlown U|n(n liy tlie ('(Unpany's Factors at I he Hay, t hey not allow ing HO III lie li lor these as for liio oIIii'im; ami tliercfori^ the lutiinuH use them at home, or 'nun oil' tlii< Hair, when they roast the lieavers, like ri)>s, tit an Kntertainnieiit when they feast together. The Heaxers are deliciinis t'ood, but the Tongue and Tail the iiiohI delicious Parts of I he whole. They multi- ply \ery fast, and if they can empty a I'oiid, and take the whole Lodge, they generally leave a Pair to breed, so tinit they are tiilly stocki'd iigiiin in Two or Tlirre Years. 'I'lie Amcriciiii Oxen, or Heeves, h.' says. Iia\e a large linncli niion their Itaeks, which is liy far the most de!leioi!;< j'art of them for 1''ooil, it be- ing all as sweet as Alarrow, Juicy and rich, and \vei>{lis seveiiil Pounds. "The Natives are so discoiu'aged in their Trade with tli(( Company that no Peltry is wortli tlie Carri.'ige; iiiid the finest Furs are sold for very little. They gave but a Pound of Gunpowder lor 4 Hi^avers, a l''atlioiii of To- biicco for 7 Heavers, a Pound of Shot for 1, an Kll of coarse Cloth lor 1,5, a Hlanket for Vi, Two Fisli-liooks or Three Flints for 1 ; a Gun for 25, a Pistol for 10, a, connuon Hat with wliitfi Lace, 7; auAx,'l; a Jiillhook, 1; a Gallon of Brandy, 4; a clieipier'd Shirt, 7; all of which are sold at a namstrons I'rolit, even to yoOO jut Cent. Not- withstanding this diseoura>;ement, ho com- puted that there were lirou<>lit to the Factory in 174-2, in all, nO.OOO Beavers and above 9000 Martens. "The smaller Game, got by Traps or Snares, are generally tlie Employment of the Women and Children; such as the Martens, Squirrels, Cats, Ermines, &.c. 'i'lie Elks, Stags, Kein- Deer, Bears, Tygers, wild Beeves, Wolves, Foxes, Beavers, Otters, Corcajen, «&c., are the employment of the Men. The Indians, wlieu they kill any Game for Food, leave it where they kill it, and send their wives next Day to carry it home. They go homo in a direct Line, never missiiig their way, by observations they make of the Coiu'se they take upon their going out. The Trees all lieud towards the South, and the Branches on that Side are larger and stronger than on the North Side; as also the Moss upon the Trees. To let their T "A flklN FOK A SKIN." 381 WiveH know llOW to t'Olllr til tlir killctl (illinr, tlit>_v from I'liirr to I'likcii lirrak oil' ItruiiclirH and lav tlii'iii in tlM> Unad, point iii^; tlii'ni lhi< Way llh'y mIioiiIiI i;o, atni .sonictiincs Momn; .ho that tlh'y iii'vcr nuMH liinlin;; it. "In Wintrr, wht'ii thry j{o aln'oiiil, wliicli tliry innHt, do in all VVcatlK'is, liclnir llo'y drt'MM, they rnli thcniMrlvi'M all over with llcaiH On^a/t' or Oil of Ilea vers, \vlii<'h dot-H not I'lrc/.i' ; ami also in I mi 1 1 lli<^ l''nrot'llicir Itravi-r CouIh, and thru |Mit. Ilit'in on; they liavit al.so a kind ot' HoolH or Slocki, KN ol' llcavt'r's Skin, well oili'd.witli tlic I' ur inwards ; and aliovr Ihriii tlioy lia\<-an oili^d Skin laced aliout tlioir I'l'iM, which keeps ont the ( 'old, and a! Water ; and liy this means they never freeze, nor snlVerany- thin;; l>y Cold. In Summer, also, when they j;o naked, they rnl> themselves with lliese Oils or (iieasi', ami expose Ihemsidves to the Hull withonti liein};' scorched, tht^ir Skins al- ways hidii^ kept, soft and snppic l>y il ; nor do any FlicH, Mn^s, or Musketoes, or any noximis Insect, <^ve^ molest them. When they want lo fjet rill of it, they j^o into the Water, .•ind rnh themselves all o\er with Mud oi' ('lay, and let it dry npon them, and I hen riili it olf; linl whenever they are free from the Oil, the I'lies and .Mnsketoes immediately attaidi thitm, and olili;;o them ai;ain to anoint themselves. I'liey are innidi afraid of the wild Hnmhle Hee, they goin^ naked in Summer, that they avoid them ns much as they can. They use no .Milk from the lime I hey are weaned, and they all 'atit to taste (.'heese, having; taken up an Opinion lliat il is made of Dead Men's l''at. They love I'lnnes and KalN'iis, ami will ^ive a Meaver- skin for Twelve of them, to cairj to their Children; and also for a Trniii|) or ilew's Harp. The Women have all line Voiees, hut have never heard any Musical instrnmeiit, They are very fond ol all Kinds id' I'icliires or I'lints, ' ivinjf a Heaver for Hie leas I'linl; and all Toys are like Je\\c|s to I hen.." He I'i'porlcd that " l\H-.'fti,''<'t (Jauio lortlieir J"'o(h1, and nu'ct ajjain at Nijjlit, after huvinf; killed 'li lo nniiiitaiii tlieiii for that Day. Wlieii tliey Mud Scarcity (d'Oanic, tiicy rcniovo a liCUffiic or Two farther; and tiiiiH they traverse tin'oiifrli woody Countries and Uof^s, scarce inissinj^ One Day. Winter ov Suunner, fair or foul, in tlie yreutest Storms of Snow.'" I* '"'.s been often said tliut the greut -,-:::^-,!c"- ■* , .. HfSKIE DOGS FIGHTING. \ 382 HARPERS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. '!,;■■■,: i/lr- l'A)ATIXi; THE UOHK. Peace River, wliicli rises in British Co- lumbia and flows through a pass in the Rocky Mountains info tlie northern plains, was named ''i^x^. Unchaga," or Peace, "because" (to'V^uote Captain W. F.Butler) "of the stubborn resistance otfered by the all-conquerinrr Crees, which induced that warlike tribe to make peace on the banks of the river, and leave at rest the beaver- hunters "^ — that is, the Beaver tribe — upon the river's banks. There is a se'.itence in La France's story that intimates a more probable and last- ing reason for the name. He says that .some Indians in the southern centre of Canada sent frequently to the Indians along some river near the mountains "with presents, to confirm the peace with them." The story is shadowy, of course, and yet La France, in the same narrative, gave other information which proved to be correct, and none which proved ridiculous. We know that there were "all-conquering" Crees, but there were also inferior ones called the Swam- pies, and there were others of only inter- mediate valor. As for the Beavers, Cap- tain Butler himself offers other proof of their mettle berides their "stubborn resist- ance." He says that on one occasion a young Beaver chief shot the dog of another brave in the Beaver camp. A hundred bows were instantly drawn, and ere night eighty of the best men of the tribe lay dead. There was a parley, and it was rer:olved that the chief who slew the dog should leave tbe tribe, and take his friends with him. A century later a Beaver Indian, travelling with a whits man, heard his own tongue spoken by men among the Blackfeet near our bor- der. They were the Sarcis, descendants of the exiled band of Beavers. Tliey had become the most reckless and valorous members of the warlike Blackfeet con- federacy. La France said that the nations Avho ' ' go up the river" with presents, to confirm the peace with certain Indians, were three months in going, and that the Indians in question live beyond a range of moun- tains beyond the Assiniboins (a plains tribe). Then he goes on to say that still farther beyond those Indians "are nations wlio have not the use of fire-arms, by which many of them are made slaves and sold " — to the Assiniboins and othei'S. These are plainly the Pacific coast Indians. And even so long ago as that (about 1740), half a century before Mackenzie and Van- couver met on the Pacific coast. La France had told the storj- of an Indian who liad ^itei^SijttKlMI A SKIN FOR A SKIN. 383 3Tfe„ camp. A fi'awx), and "en of tlje ai"'ej', and "Jio slew . and take ry later u ^ a wJiita Joken by our bor- iceiidants f'ey ])ad valorous eet con- ons wlio confirm re three Jians in niouii- plains lat still nations -'which 1 sold " Tliese idians. 1740), 1 Van- ''rance o had gone at the liead of a band of tl)irty bravos and tlioir families to make war on tlio Flatheads "on tiie Western Ocean of America." Tbey were from autumn un- til the next April in making tlie joiu'- ney, and they "saw many Black Fish spouting up in the sea." It was a case of what the Irish call " spoiling for a fight," their wildest period were tremendous. Far up in the wilderness of British Amer- ica there are legends of visits by the Iro- quois. The Blackfeet believe that their progenitors roaaied as far .south as Mex- ico for horses, and the Ci'-es of the plains evinced a correct knowledge of the coun- try that lay beyond the Rocky Mountains rm^c ^?;ri COURRIER DU BOIS. for they had to journe.y fifteen hundred miles to meet " enemies" whori they nev- er had seen, and wlio were peaceful, and inhabited more or less permanent villages. The ]:ilainsmcn got more than they sought. They attaclced a village, were outnumber- ed, and lost half their force, besides hav- ing several of their men wounded. On the way back all except the man who told the story died of fatigue and famine. The journeys which Indians made in in their conversations with the firet whites who traded with them. Yet those white men, the founders of an organized fur irade, clung to the scene of their first operations for more than one hundred years, while the bravest of their more enteri)rising rivals in the Northwest Com- pany only reached the Pacific, with the aid of eight Iroquois braves, one hundred and twenty years after the English king chartered the senior company ! The 884 harpp:r's new monthly magazine. r. French were the true Yuiikees of that country. They and their half-breeds were always in the van as explorers and traders, and as early as 17.']1 M. Varennes de la Verandrye, licoised by the Canadian {government as a trader, ])enetrated the West as far as tlie Rockies, leadinjj Sir Alexander Mackenzie to that extent l)y more than sixty years. But to return to the first serious trouble the Hudson Bay Company met. Tiie in- vcstiffation of its affairs l)y Parliament produced iiothiii{;f more tlum the i)i('ture I have presented. The committee rejjort- ed that if the original cliarter bred a mo- nopoly, it would not help matters to f>ive the same privileges to others. As the questioned legality of the charter was not competently adjudicated upon. they would not allow another company to invade the premises of the older one. At this time the great company still hugged the shores of the bay, fearing the Indians, the half-breeds, and the French. Their posts were only six in all, and were mainly fortified with palisaded enclosiu'os, with howitzers and swivels, and with men trained to the use of guns. Moose Fort and the East Main factory were on either side of James Bay, Forts Albany, York, and Prince of Wales followed u]) the west coast, and Henley was the southernmost and most inland of all, being on Moose River, a tributary of James Bay. The French at first traded beyond the field of Hudson Bay operations, and their castles were their canoes. But when their great profits and fan,iliarity with the trade tempted the thrifty French capitalists and ent'-rprising Scotch nu'rchants of U))per Canada into the fornuitiou of the rival Northwest Trading Com])any in 178.3, fixed trading-posts began to be establish- ed all over the Prince Rupert's Laiul, and even beyond the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia. By 1818 there were about foi'ty Northwest posts as against about two dozen Hudson Bay factories. The new company not only disputed but ignored the chartered rights of the old conipaiiy, holding that the charLei had not been sanctioned by Parliament, and was in every way unconstitutional as creative of a monopoly. Their French partners and engages .shared this feeling, especially as the French crown had been fii'st in the field with a royal charter. Growing bolder and bolder, the North- west Company resolved to drive the Hud- son Bay Company to a legal test of their rights, and so in 1.S().'}-4 they establi.sh- ed a Northwest fort under the eyes of the old com|)any on the shore of Hudson Bay, and fitted out shii)s to trade with the mitives in the strait. But the English- men did not accept the challenge: for the truth was they had tlieir own doubts of tiu^ strength of their charter. They pursued a difl'ereut and for them an equally bold course. That hard-headed old nobleman the fifth Earl (>f Selkirk came npi)ermost in the company as the engineer of a plan of colonization. There was identy of land, and some wholesale evictions of Higlilauclers in Sutherland- shire, Scotlantl, had reiulered a great force of hardy men honieIes.s. Selkirk saw in this situation a chance to ])lay a long but certainly triumphant ganu? with his rivals. His ])lan was to plant a col- ony Avhich .should produce grain and horses and men for the old com])any, saving the imjjortation of all three, and building u]) not only a nursery for men to match the coitrricvn dn bois, but a stronghold and a seat of a future govern- ment in the Hudson Ba\' interest. Thus was ushered in a new and important era in Caiuuliun history. Tt was the opening of that part of Caiuula; by a looi)-hole rather than a door, to be sure. Lord Selkirk's was a ])ractical soul. On one occasion in animadverting against the Northwest Com])any he spoke of them contemptuously as fur-traders, yet he was the chief of all fur-traders, and had been known to barter with an Indian himself at one of the forts for a fur. He held uj) the opposition to the scorn of the world as profiting upon the weakness of the Indians by giving them alcohol, yet he ordered distilleries set up in his colony afterwards, saying, " We grant the trade is iniquitous, but if v.e don't carry it on others will; so we may as well put the guineas in our own jjockets." But he was the man of the moment, if iu)t for it. His scheme of colonization was born of desperation on one side and distress on the other. It was pursued amid ter- I'ible liardslii|), and again.st incessant vio- lence. It was consummated through bloodshed. Tiie story is as interesting as it is important. The facts are obtained mainly from " Papers relating to the Red River Settlement, ordered to be printed by the House of Commons, July 12, 1819." Lord Selkirk owned 40,000 Jtest of their Vy establisli- K'e.vesof (he fliKlsoii Ba}', with the ]'l«^ Ell". Tliere |e wliolesalo putlierJand- ed a f.reat PS. Selkirk e to i)Iay a tffanie widi plant a c^ol- 8"i"aiii and foin])any, three, and '■y for men ^ois, but a lire 8"overn- fest. Tims poHant era '•'t- opening,'- a h)op-ljole ctical soul, ''iipra^'ainst ^'•e of them yet ]ie was d liad been an liimself He ]iel(l f the woi-hl ?s.s of tlie |<>1, yet he lis colony ' the trade '•'■'•y it on " put tlie But lie f not for was born i distress amid tor- ssant vio- through iteresting- obtained r to the :1 (o be )ns, July d 40,000 886 HAHPEirS NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. ■ ) i'li ill y- If J if of the £105,000 (or shares) r the Hudson Bay Coiupiiiiy ; then- fore, since 25,000 were liclcl by wonu'ii and cliildren, he lield hair of all that cari'ltid votes. He ffot from the coiiipaiiy a yrant of a larj^ti tract around what is now Winnipcff, to form an affricultiiral setlleiiienl lor siip- plyinjLf th(^ company's posts wilii provi- sions. We have .seen how little dispo.sed its oilicers were to open the huid to sel- tler.s, or to test ils aj;ricultiir;il capacities. No one, tlierefore, will wonder that vviien this grant was made .several members of the f^overninff committee rcsij^ned. But a queer development of the moment was a strong opposition from liohlers of Hud- son Bay stock who were also owners in that company's great rival, the North- west Company. Since the enemy per- sisted m prospering at the expense of the old company, the moneyed men of tiie senior corporation had taken stock of their rivals. The.se doul)ly interested per- sons were also in Tiondon, so that the Northwest Company was no ionger pure- ly Canadian. The opponents within the Hudson Bay Company declared civiliza- tion to be at all times unfavorable to the fur trade, and the Northwest people ar- gued that the colony would form a nur- sery for .servants of the Bay Companj'', enabling them to oppo.se the Nortlnvest Company more effectually, as well as af- fording such facilities for new-comers as must dcsti'oy their own monopoly. The Northwest Company denied the legality of the charter rights of the Hudson Bay Company becauo Parliament had not conlirmed Charles II. 's charter. The colonists came, and were met by Miles McDonnell, an ex-captain of Cana- dian volunteers, as Lord Selkirk's agent. He style d himself '"captain" and "gov- ernor," t'lougli he admitted he had no warrant tc do .so. The innnigrants land- ed on the shore of Hudson Bay, and passed a forlorn \vinter. They met some of the Northwest Company's people under Alex- ander McDonnell, a cousin and brother- in-law to Miles McDonnell. Althougli Captain Miles read the grant to Selkirk in token of his sole right to the land, the settlers were hospitably received and well treated by the Northwest people. The settlers reached the place of colonisation in August, 1812. This place is wlut was known as Fort Garry until Winnipeg was built. It was at first called "the Forks of the Eed River," because the Assiniboin there joined tlie lied. Lord Selkirk out- lined his policy at the time in a letter in wiiicli he bade Miles McDonnell give the Northwest peoi)le .solemn warning that tne lands were Hudson Bay prv>perty, and they must remove from them; that tlie^- must not lish, and that if they did their nets were to be seized, their buildings were to be destroyed, and they were to be treated "as you would poachers in England." The trouble began at once. Miles ac- cused Alexander of trying to inveigle colonists away from liim. He trained his men in the use of guns, and uniformed a number of them. He forbade the expor- tation >f any supplies from the country, and when some Nortiiwest men came to get butfalo meat they had hung on lacks in the open air, according to the custom of the country, he .sent armed men to send the others away. He intercepted a l)and of Northwest canoe-men, stationing men with guns and with two lield-pieces on the river; and he .sent to a Northwest post lower down the I'iver demanding the pro- \ isions stored there, which, when they were refused, were taken b^^ force, the door being smashed in. For this a Hud- .son Bay clerk was arrested, and Captain ^liles's men went to the rescue. Two armed forces met, but happily slaughter was averted. Miles McDonnell justified his cour.se on the ground that the colo- nists were distressed by need of food. It transpired at the time that one of his men while making cartridges lor a can- non remarked that he was making them "for those Northwest rascals. They have run too long, and shall run no longer." After tliis Captain Miles or- dered the stoppage of all buffalo-hunting on horseback, as the practice kept the buf- falo at a distance, and drove them into the Sioux country, where the local Indians dared not go. But though Captain McDonnell was aggressive and vexatious, tlie Northwest Company's people, who had begun the mischief, even in London, were not now passive. They relied on setting the half- breeds and Indians against the colonists. They urged that the colonists had stolen Indian I'eal estate in settling on the land, and that in time every Indian would starve as a consequence. At the forty- fifth annual meeting of the Northwest Company's officers. August, 1814, Alexan- der McDonnell said, "Nothing but the A SKIN FOR A SKIN." .(.rd Selkirk out- fiie in H letter in JoiuieJl «ivG the 'I wuniing. that ly pi-.jKTfy, ..iiid i<''»>; tliat they f tJiey (|i,l their "'611' hiiildiiig..^ d tliey \vere to Jtl poiicJiors ill '"'''• Miles ac- to iiiveig-Ie He trained ids 'y force, the 1" tliis a Hud- «>h1 Captain ;escue. Two ily slaugliter 'i«'I justided liat tlie coJo- of food. It one of ]iis s foi- a can- lakincr tjjem cals. They ^^1 •■1111 JIG 1 Miles or- ilo-liunting- eptthebuf- Pni into the -»' Indians •luieJI was Nor til west ^^gnn the 3 not now r tlie haif- colonists. 'ad stolen the land, ^n would lie forty Northwest , Alexan- l>ut the 387 complete downfall of the colony will sat- isfy some, by fair or foul means— a most desirable ol)ject, if it can be accomplished ; so here is at it with all my heart and en- ergy." In October, J814, Captain McDon- nell ordered tlie Northwest Company to re- move from the territory witliin six months. The Indians, (irst and last, were the friends of the colonists. They were be- servanls doing' a trifling service for Cap- lain Miles McDonnell, he .sent him upon a joinne,y for which every nigafjt' of the Northwest Company bound himself liable in joiniiifj the comi)any ; that was to make the trip to Motitreal, a vo^af^e held in tor- rovem over every servant of the corpora- tion. More than that, he confiscated four hoi'ses and a wagon belonging to this ■* ,-[i:-»?«t®^ii*' /«i»r»(fliv/».- r(« BUFFALO MEAT FOR THE POST. friended by the whites, and in tnrn they gave them succor when famine fell upon them. Many of Captain Miles McDon- nell's orders were in their interest, and they knew it. Katawabetay, a chief, was tempted with a big prize to destroy the settlement. He refused. On the opening of navigation in 1815 chiefs were bidden from the country around to visit the Northwest factors, and were by them ask- ed to destroy the colony. Not only did they decline, but they hastened to Captain Miles McDonntll to acquaint him with the plot. Duncan Cameron now appears foremost among the Northwest Company's agents, being in charge of that company's post on the Red River, in the Selkirk grant. He told the chiefs that if they took the part of the colonists " their oamp fires should be totally extinguished." When Cameron caught one of his own man, and charged him on the company's books with the sum of 800 livres for an Indian squaw, -whom the man had been told he was to have as his slave for a pi'esent. But though the Indians held aloof from the great and cruel conspiracy, the half-breeds readil.y joined in it. They treated Captain McDonnelTs orders with contemi)t, and arrested one of the Hud- son Bay men as a spy upon their hunt- ing with horses. There lived along the Red River, near the colony, about thirty Canadians and seventy lialf-breeds, born of Indian squaws and the servants or officers of the Northwest Company. One- quarter of the num'jer of " breeds" could read and write, aim were tit to serve as clerks; the resst were literally half sav- age, and were employed as liunters, ca- noe-men, "packers" (freighters), and i 1 lb, r |S1 iili! < ; [I 388 HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. guides. They were naturally inclined to .side with the Norlhwest Company, and in time that eorporation sowed dissension among the colonists themselves, picturing to tliem exaggerated danger from the Indians, and offering thein free ])assage to Upper Canada. They paid at least one of the leading colonists £100 for fur- thering discontent in the settlement, and four deserters from the colony stole all the Hudson Bay iield-j)ieces, iron swiv- els, and tlie howitzer. Thei-e was con- stant irritation and friction between the factions. In an alYray far up at Isle-a-lu- Crosse a man was killed on either side. Half-breeds came past the colony singing war - songs, and notices were posted around Fort Garry reading, " Peace Avith all the world except in I-ted River." The Nor til west people demanded the surren- THK INDIAN HUNTER OK 1V50. der of Captain McDonnell that he might i)e tried on their charges, and on June 11, 1815, a band of inen fired on the colonial buildings The captain afterward sur rendered iiim.self, and the remnant of the colony, thirteen families, wei.t to the head of Lake Winnipeg, The half l)reeds l)urned the buildings, and divided the liorses and etl'ects. But in th(! autumn all came back with Colin Robertson, of the Bay Company, and twenty clerks and servants. These were joined by Governor Robert Semple, who brougiit 160 settlers from Scotland. Semple was a man of con.sequence at home, a great traveller, and the author of a book on travels in Spain. But he came in no conciliatory mood, and the fo- ment was kept up. The Northwest Com- pany tried to starve the colonists, and Gov- ernoi- Sem])le destroyed the enemy's fort below Fort Gai-ry. Then came the end — a decisive battle and massacre. Sixty-five men on hoi'ses, and with some carts, were sent by Alexander McDonnell, of the Northwest Compa- Jiy, up the river toward the colony. They Avere led by Cuthbert Grant, and included six Canadians, four Indians, and fifty-four half-breeds. It was af- terward said they went on innocent business, but every man was armed, and the "breeds" were naked, and painted all over to look like Indians. They got their i i it of the Northwest ofHcers. Moreover, there had been ru- mors that the colonists were to be driv- en away, and that "the land was to be drenched Avilh blood." It Avas on June 19, 1816, that runners notified the col- ony that the others Avere coming. Semple Avas at Fort Douglas, near Fort Garry. When apprised of the close approach of his assailants, the gov- ernor seems not to have appreciated his danger, for he said, "We must go and meet those people ; let t\A'enty men follow me." He put on his cocked hat and sash, his pistols, and shouldered his double-barrelled foAvling-piece. The others carried a Avretched lot of guns- some Avith the locks gone, and many that Avere useless. It Avas marshy ground, and they straggled on in loose order. They met an old .soldier who had served in the army at home, and who said the enemy was very numer- ous, and that the governor had better bring along his tAVO field-pieces. "A SKIN FOR A SKIN." 889 I tliiit lio niigliL "'«' on June J 1 "'.' tlM^ colo.iiai ••♦'I'liiaiitof the a„"'7-' st.s,andGov- ^ "le enemy's 'Jit'ii came the :i ina.s.sacre. ^es, and with y Alexander "est Compa- tlie colony. '' Grant, and onr Indians, Jt was af- on innocent was ai-med. Jiaked. and '^e Indians. * NortliAvest ad heen ru- ' to he driv- el was to be as on June ed the col- 3 coming-, near Fort tlie close the g-ov- jpreciated - must go «'tymen f'cked hat dei-ed his t^e. The 'f g-uns- id many marshy in loose ier who me, and numer- I better "No, no," said tlie governor; ' occasion. I utn only n'oiny' to spca Ntivertlieless, after u nionicnt's ho (lid send buck for one of the gre saying it was well to iiiivts it in < need. They liailed u siiorl lime fo cannon, and then perceived the Nor west party ])ressiiig toward them on tiieir horses. ]iy a common im- |)',ilse the governor and liis fol- lowers began a retreat, \va lining backwards, and at the sanii time spreading out a single line to present a longer front. Tlie enemy con- tinued to advance at u hand - gallop. From out among them rode a Canadian named Boucher, the rest forming a half- moon behind him. Waving liis hand in an insolent way to the gover- nor,Bouclier call- ed out, "What do you want?" "Whatdo//o?( I want?" said Gov- i ernor Semple. " We want our fort," said Bou- cher, meaning the fort Semple had destroyed. "Go to your fort," said the governor. " Why did you destroy our fort, you rascal?" Bou- cher demanded. "Scoundrel, do you tell me so f the governor re- plied, and ordered the man's arrest. Some say he caught nt Boucher's gun. But Boucher slipped otf his horse, and on the instant a gun was fired, and a Hudson Bay clerk fell dead. Another shot wounded Governor Semple, and he called to his followers, "Do what you can to take care of yourselves." Then there was a volley from the Northwest force, and with the clearing of the smoke it looked as though all the iei'(( IS no INDIAN HUNTER HANGINO DEER OUT OF THE REACH OF WOLV'ES. governor's party were killed or wounded. Instead of taking care of themselves they had rallied around their wounded leader. Captain Rogers, of the governor's party, who had fallen, rose to his feet, and ran toward the enemy crying for mercy in English and broken French, when Thomas McKay, a "breed" and Northwest clerk, shot him through the head, another cut- ting his body open with a knife. Cuthbert Grant (who, it was charged, ft^tm I 390 HAKIMOirS NKW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. had shot Govfrnor Sciii))!*') now wciil to the frovcnior, while tlie others desptitchrd tlie woiiii(h'd. Scjiiplc siiid, " Are you not Mr. Grant (" " Yes," suid tlic otlicr. "I iini not mortally wounded," said the {Governor, "aiid if you eoiild >;et nie conveyed to the fort, f think I should live." Hut when Grant left his side an Indian named ?»Ia-chi-ea-taou shot him, some say throu<;h the breast, and some have it that he ])ut a i)istol to the governor's head. Grant could not stoj) the .savages. The bloodshed had crazed them. They slauy'h- tered all the wounded, and, worse yet, they terribly nuiltreated the bodies. Twenty-two Hudson Bay men were kill- ed, and one on ihv other side was wounded. There is a story that Alexander McDon- nell shouted for joy when ho heard the news of the massacre. One witne.ss, who did not hear him shout, reports that he exclaimed to his friends: " Sacre nom de Dien! Bonnes noiiveUos : vingt-denx Anglais tuesr ( ! Good news; twen- ty-two Enprlisli .slain!) It was afterwai'd alleged that the slaughter was ap])roved by every officer of tlie Northwest Com- pany whose comments were recorded. It is a sayiuf^ up in that country' that HAKINQ THE SNOW-SHOE. twenty six out of tiie sixty-five in the at- tackintr party dieil violent deaths. The record is only valuabh! as indicatintJ the nature and perils of the lives the hunt- ers and half-breeds led. First, a French- man drojjped dead while crossinjf the ice on the river, his son was slabbed by a <'omrade, his wife was shot, and his ciiil- dren were burned; " Bij; Head," his bro- ther, was shot In- an Indian; ('outonobais dropped dead at a dance; Hattosh was mysteriously shot; Lavij^ne was drowned; Fraser was run throujrh Ww body by a Frenclnnan in Paris; Ba])tiste Moriiile, while drunk, was thrown into a fire by inebriated comijanions and bui-ned to i'<'d to death by a bntfalo. The rest of the twenty-six died by beings frozen, by drowninj:^. by drunkenness, or by shameful disease. It is when things are at their worst that they begin to mend, .says a sil- ly old proverb; but when history is studied these desperate situa- tions often seem part of the mend- ing, not of themselves, but of the broken cause of progress. There was a little lialt here in Canada, as we shall see, but the seed of .settlement had been planted, and thence- forth continued to grow. Lord Selkirk came with all speed, reaching Canada iu 1817. It was now an English, colony, and when he asked for a body-guard, the govei-n- ment gave him two sergeants and twelve soldiers of the ^^»^'^\|*\* "A SKIN FOR A SKIN.' 391 Reffimeiit do Mcurou. He made those tliu nucleus of a considerable I'orce of Swiss and (leruians who had for- merly served in that rejfi- incnt, and Ik; pursued a Irl- luiiphal projjress to what ho called his territory of Assinihoin, caplurin^ all the Northwest Company's forts on the route, irni)ris- onin^ the factors, and send- ing to jail ill Canada all the accessaries to the massacre, on charfjes of arson, nuir- der, rohbery, and " liigh misdemeanors." Such was the prejudice against the Hudson Bay Company and ^ the regard for tlio home corporation that all were acquitted, and suits for very heavy damages were lodged against liim. Selkirk sought to treat with the Indians for his land, which they said be- longed to the Chippeways andtheCrees. Five chiefs were found whose right to treat was acknowledged by all. On July 18, 1817, they deeded the territory to the king, " for the i)eneht of Lord Selkirk," giving liim a the company bought and settled there, strip two miles wide on either side of forming the aristocracy of the place— a the Red River from Lake Winnipeg to queer aristocracj' to our minds, for many Red Lake, north of the United States of the women were Indian squaws, and A HUDSON BAY MAN (QUAKTER BREED). boundary, and along the Assinihoin from Fort Garry to the Muskrat River, as Avell as within two circles of fix miles radius around Fort Garry and Pembina, now in Dakota. Indians do not know what miles ai-e; they measure distance the children were " l)reeds." Througli the per.s(!veranco and tact of the Right Hon. Edward Eilice, to whom the government had appealed, all differ- ences between the two great fur-trading companies were adjusted, and in 1821 a by the movement of the sun while on a coalition was formed. At Ell ice's sug- journey. They determined two miles in this case to be "as far as you can see daylight under a horse's belly on the level prairie." On account of Sel- kirk's liberality they dubbed him ''the silver chief." He agreed to give them for the land 200 pounds of tobacco a year. He named his settlement Kildonan, after that place in Helmsdale, Sutherland- shire, Scotland. He died in 1821, and in 1836 the Hudson Bay Company bought the land back from his heirs for £84,000. The Swiss and Germans of his regiment remained, and many retired .servants of gestion the giant combination then got from Parliament exclusive privileges be- yond the waters that flow into Hudson Bay, over the Rocky Mountains and to the Pacific, for a tei-m of twenty years. These extra privileges were surrendered in 1838, and were renewed for twenty years longer. Then, in 1858, it happen- ed that they expired, and the rush for gold occurred in New Caledonia (now British Columbia). That territory then became a crown colony, and it and Van- couver Island, whicli had taken on a co- lonial character at the time of tlie Call- 892 IIARPEIl'S NEW MONTIIIiY MAGAZINE. fornia jjold f<'v<'r (IHIO), wcro united in 18C6. Tiio cxtni j)iMvilp>,'os of tin; fur tradors vver« thorofow not njfjiin ronowod. In 1H71 all the colonics of Canada won^ confedoraUid, and whatovor piTsuinptivo rifflits tlio Ilud.sou Bay Company got un- doi" Cliarlt'S If.'s cliartci' \vfr<> vacat«>d in (•oiisid(M'ation of a paynusnt hy Canada of (ill, 500, 000 cash, luiif of all surveyed lands within tho fortilo holt, and RO.OOO acres surroiindin','' the <'<)nipany's posts. It is estimated that the land (rrant amounts to seven millions of acres, worth twenty millions of dollars, exclusive of all town sites. Thus we rea<'h the present condition of the compiiuy, 2.'{() years old, nuiintainiiiK' 200 central j)osts and unnumhered depend- ent ones, and tradin^f in Lahrador on the Atlantic; at Massett, on (.^ueen Charlotte Island, in the Pacifhr; and deep within the Arctic Circle in the North. Tiie company was newly capitalized not lonjif ago with 100,000 .shares at £20 (ten millions of dol- lars), hut, in addition to its dividends, it has paid hack .seven pounds in every twen- ty, reducing its capital to i) I, .'500,000. The stock, however, is (juoted at its original value. The supreme control of the company is vested in a governor, de])uty governor, and live directors, elected hy the stockholders iri London. They dele- gate their powers to an executive resident in this country, who was until lately call- ed the "Governor of Rupert's Land," hut now is styled the chief commissioner, and is in absolute charge of the company and all its operations. His term of ofHce is unlimited. The pre.sent incumbent is Mr. J. Wrigley, and the president is Sir Don- ald A. Smith, one of the foremost spirits in Canada, who worked nis way up from a clerkship in the company. The busi- ness of the company is managed on the outfit system, the most old-fogyish, yet by its officers declared to be the most per- fect, plan in use by any corporation. The method is to charge against each post all the supplies that are sent to it between June 1st and June 1st each year, and then to set against this the product of each post in furs and in cash received. It used to take seven years to arrive at the fig- ures for a given year, but, owing to im- proved means of transportation, this is now done in two years. Almost wherever you go in the newly settled parts of the Hudson Bay territory you find at least one free ♦rader's shop set up ill rivalry with the old company's post. These are someliint's inert* stor«'liouseH for the furs, and .sometimes they look like, and are partly, general counlry stores. There can he no doubt that (his rivalry is very detrimental to the fur trade from the stand-point of the future. The great <'om- pany can ail'ord to miss a dividend, and can lose at some points while gaining at others, but the free traders must profit in every district. The coiisetiueiice is such a reckless destruction of game that the plan adopted by us for our seal-fisheries — the leasehold system — is envied and advo- cated in (^aiiada. A greater proportion of trapping and an ultcu- unconcern for the destriiclion of the game at all ages are now ravaging the wilderness. Many dis- tricts return as many furs as they ever yielded, but the quantity is kept up at fear- ful cost by the extermination of the game. On the other hand, the fortilied wall of posts that opposed the development of Canada, and sent the surplus jjopulation of Europe to the United Slates, is rid of its palisades and tield-jHeces, and the main strongholds of the ancient comjiany and its rivals have become cities. The old fort on Vancouver Island is now Victoria; Fort Edmonton is the seat of law and commerce in the Peace River region; old Fort William has seen Port Arthur rise by its side ; Fort Garry is Winnipeg; Cal- gary, the chief city of Alberta, is on the site of another fort; and Sault Ste. Marie was once a Northwest post. But civilization is still so far off from most of the " factories," as the company's posts are called, that the day when they shall become cities is in no man's thought or ken. And the communication be- tween the centres and outposts is, like the life of the traders, more nearly like what it was in the old, old days than most of my i-eaders would imagine. My Indian guides we.-'j battling with their paddles against the mad current of the Nipigon, above Lake Superior, one day last summer, and I was only a few hours away from Factor Flanagan's post near the great lake, when we came to a port- age, and might have imagined from what we saw that time had pushed the hands back on the dial of eternity at least a century. Some rapids in the river had to be avoided by the brigade tliat was being sent with supplies to a post far north at the lieadof Lake Nipigon. A cumbrous I Vol. LXXXlV.-No. BOl.— 88 894 HARPKU'S NKW MONTH. MAGAZINE. l)i(f-tiinl)«rod liltio m-hooiioi', liko a Niirf Ixxit willi a Mail, iiiiil a s<|iiair rut liatcaii had bi'Dlliflit llic iiicii aii* of old, and liiid limiiulif aloii;; thrir wo iiK'ii and cliildi-cii lN|)ii>d on a hliill' ••lose l»y ; a typical <'aiiip, with lln! Idniik (>t.s liiiM^^ on tlic Ixislics, tlio slatternly wonion and half naked <-hil(lrcii H(|iiat- tiMt; or riinnint; .iliuiit. and snind^^'c tires Ninokinj,^ hctwccn tin' tents to iiK heai'ds. Kacii m.'in carried a tonip line, or !(>n<; .stout strap, whicii he tied in Biicli a way around what h« meant to crown of his head. Thus they "packed" tlio jyoods over the jjortajfe, their heads sustaining,'' tlio loads, and tlu'ir backs merely stcadyin;,^ them. When one had tlirown his i»ur(l(!n into place, he trotted oil' up the tniil witii sprinyiu}.'' feot, though the freight was pa<'ked so that lUO pounds should form a load. For bravado on« carried JiOO pounds, and then all the others tried to pack as mn"h, and most succeeded. All a;;reed that i)m>, tile smallest and least muscular looking; one anions tliem, could pack 4<)() pounds. Ah tli(> men (gathered around theii* "sniudire" to talk with my party, it was seen that of all the parts of th(< pictu resi|ue costume «»f the rnj/, and have tents ami ;,''ood food jfiven to them. We will not follow them, nor moot, as thoy did. tho York boat cominff down from the n()rt]i with last winter's furs. In anotlier article I will endeavor to lift tho curtain from heforo tho jrreat fur <'ountry beyond them, to pive a tjlimps' of the habits and conditions that ))rt>vai throughout a niajostic territory whore " rivers and lakes aro tho only roads, ai. anoes and dog sleds are tlio only ve ^ie.s.