Chapter I: Preface

The writer's main object in first committing to writing the following Notes was to while away the many lonely and wearisome hours which are the lot of the Indian trader;--a wish to gratify his friends by the narrative of his adventures had also some share in inducing him to take up the pen.

While he might justly plead the hacknied excuse of being urged by not a few of those friends to publish these Notes, in extenuation of the folly or presumption, or whatever else it may be termed, of obtruding them on the world, in these days of "making many books;" he feels that he can rest his vindication on higher grounds. Although several works of some merit have appeared in connexion with the subject, the Hudson's Bay territory is yet, comparatively speaking, but little known; no faithful representation has yet been given of the situation of the Company's servants--the Indian traders; the degradation and misery of the many Indian tribes, or rather remnants of tribes, scattered throughout this vast territory, is in a great measure unknown; erroneous statements have gone abroad in regard to the Company's treatment of these Indians; as also in regard to the government, policy, and management of the Company's affairs;--on these points, he conceives that his plain, unvarnished tale may throw some new light.

Some of the details may seem trivial, and some of the incidents to be without much interest to the general reader; still as it was one chief design of the writer to draw a faithful picture of the Indian trader's life,--its toils, annoyances, privations, and perils, when on actual service, or on a trading or exploring expedition; its loneliness, cheerlessness, and ennui, when not on actual service; together with the shifts to which he is reduced in order to combat that ennui;--such incidents, trifling though they may appear to be, he conceives may yet convey to the reader a livelier idea of life in the Hudson's Bay Company's territories than a more ambitious or laboured description could have done. No one, indeed, who has passed his life amid the busy haunts of men, can form any just idea of the interest attached by the lonely trader to the most trifling events, such as the arrival of a stranger Indian,--the coming of a new clerk,--a scuffle among the Indians,--or a sudden change of weather. No one, unaccustomed to their "short commons," can conceive the intense, it may be said fearful, interest and excitement with which the issue of a fishing or hunting expedition is anticipated.

Should his work contribute, in any degree, to awaken the sympathy of the Christian world in behalf of the wretched and degraded Aborigines of this vast territory; should it tend in any way to expose, or to reform the abuses in the management of the Hudson's Bay Company, or to render its monopoly less injurious to the natives than hitherto it has been; the writer's labour will have been amply compensated. Interested as he still is in that Company, with a considerable stake depending on its returns, it can scarcely be supposed that he has any intention, wantonly or unnecessarily, to injure its interests.

GUELPH, CANADA WEST,
_1st March, 1849._

CONTENTS

OF

THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAPTER I.

The Hudson's Bay Company and Territories

CHAPTER II.

I enter the Hudson's Bay Company's Service--Padre Gibert

CHAPTER III.

On Service--Lake of Two Mountains--Opposition--Indians--Amusements at the Posts

CHAPTER IV.

Portage des Chats--Tactics of our Opponents--Treachery of an Iroquois--Fierce yet ludicrous nature of the Opposition

CHAPTER V.

Arrival at the Chats--Installed as Bourgeois--First Trading Excursion--Bivouac in the Woods--Indian Barbarity

CHAPTER VI.

Trip to Fort Coulonge--Mr. Godin--Natives

CHAPTER VII.

Superseded--Feelings on the Occasion--More Opposition--AE. Macdonell--Tactics--Melancholy Death of an Indian

CHAPTER VIII.

Activity of our Opponents--Violent Conduct of an Indian--Narrow Escape--Artifice--Trip to Indian's Lodge--Stupidity of Interpreter

CHAPTER IX.

Expedition to the Bear's Den--Passage through the Swamp--Cunning of the Indians--A Scuffle--Its Results

CHAPTER X.

Pere Duchamp--Mr. S.'s Instructions--Unsuccessful--Trading Excursion--Difficulties of the Journey--Lose our way--Provisions fail--Reach the Post--Visit to an Algonquin Chief--His abusive Treatment--Success

CHAPTER XI.

Success of the Iroquois Traders--Appointed to the Charge of the Chats--Canadian disputes Possession--Bivouac without a Fire--Ruse to baffle my Opponents--Roman Catholic Bigotry

CHAPTER XII.

Journey to Montreal--Appointment to Lac de Sable--Advantages of this Post--Its Difficulties--Governor's flattering Letter--Return from Montreal--Lost in the Woods--Sufferings--Escape

CHAPTER XIII.

Narrowly escape Drowning--Accident to Indian Guide--Am nearly Frozen to Death--Misunderstanding between Algonquins and Iroquois--Massacre at Hannah Bay

CHAPTER XIV.

Fall through the Ice--Dangerous Adventure at a Rapid--Opponents give in--Ordered to Lachine--Treatment on my Arrival--Manners, Habits, and Superstitions of the Indians--Ferocious Revenge of a supposed Injury--Different Methods of the Roman Catholic and Protestant Missionary--Indian Councils--Tradition of the Flood--Beaver Hunting--Language

CHAPTER XV.

Embark for the Interior--Mode of Travelling by Canoes--Little River--Lake Nipissing--French River--Old Station of Indian Robbers--Fort Mississaga--Indians--Light Canoe-Men--Sault Ste. Marie--Lake Superior--Canoe-men desert--Re-taken--Fort William--M. Thibaud--Lac la Pluie and River--Indians--White River--Narrow Escape--Conversation with an Indian about Baptism

CHAPTER XVI.

Continuation of the Voyage--Run short of Provisions--Dogs Flesh--Norway House--Indian Voyageurs--Ordered to New Caledonia--Lake Winnipeg--McIntosh's Island submerged--Cumberland House--Chippewayan and Cree Indians--Portage La Loche--Scenery--Athabasca--Healthiness of the Climate

CHAPTER XVII.

Arrival of Mr. F. from Caledonia--Scenery--Land-slip--Massacre at Fort St. John's--Rocky Mountain Portage--Rocky Mountains--Magnificent Scenery--McLeod's Lake--Reception of its Commander by the Indians

CHAPTER XVIII.

Arrival at New Caledonia--Beautiful Scenery--Indian Houses--Amusements at the Fort--Threatened Attack of Indians--Expedition against them--Beefsteaks--New Caledonian Fare--Mode of catching Salmon--Singular Death of native Interpreter--Indian Funeral Rites--Barbarous Treatment of Widows

CHAPTER XIX.

Indian Feast--Attempt at Dramatic Representation--Religion--Ordered to Fort Alexandria--Advantages of the Situation--Sent back to Fort St. James--Solitude--Punishment of Indian Murderer--Its Consequences--Heroic Adventure of Interpreter

CHAPTER XX.

Appointed to the Charge of Fort George--Murder of Mr. Yale's Men--Mysterious Loss of Mr. Linton and Family--Adventures of Leather Party--Failure of Crops--Influenza

CHAPTER XXI.

Climate of New Caledonia--Scenery--Natural Productions--Animals--Fishes--Natives--Their Manners and Customs--Duelling--Gambling--Licentiousness--Language

NOTES

OF A

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS' SERVICE

AT THE

HUDSON'S BAY TERRITORY.