Table of Contents.
| [CHAPTER I.] |
| Embarked at Fort Chepewyan, on the Lake of the Hills, in company
with M. Le Roux. Account of the party, provisions, etc. Direction of
the course. Enter one of the branches of the Lake. Arrive in the
Peace River. Appearance of the land. Navigation of the river.
Arrive at the mouth of the Dog River. Successive description of
several carrying places. A canoe lost in one of the Falls. Encamp on
Point de Roche. Course continued. Set the nets, etc. Arrive at the
Slave Lake. The weather extremely cold. Banks of the river
described, with its trees, soil, etc. Account of the animal
productions, and the fishery of the Lake. Obliged to wait till the
moving of the ice. Three families of Indians arrive from Athabasca,
Beavers, geese, and swans killed. The nets endangered by ice.
Re-embark and land on a small island. Course continued along the
shores, and across the bays of the Lake. Various successes of the
hunters. Steer for an island where there was plenty of cranberries
and small onions. Kill several reindeer. Land on an island named
Isle a la Cache. Clouds of mosquitoes.
... [193] |
| [CHAPTER II.] |
| Landed at some lodges of Red-Knife Indians: procure one of them
to assist in navigating the bays Conference with the Indians. Take
leave of M.
Le Roux, and
continue the voyage. Different appearances of the land; its vegetable
produce. Visit an island where the wood had been felled. Further
description of the coast. Plenty of rein and moose-deer, and white
partridges. Enter a very deep bay. Interrupted by ice. Very blowing
weather, Continue to cross the bay. Arrive at the mouth of a river.
Great numbers of fish and wild-fowl. Description of the land on
either side. Curious appearance of woods that had been burned. Came
in sight of the Horn Mountain. Continue to kill geese and swans, etc.
Violent storm.
... [211] |
| [CHAPTER III.] |
| Continued our course. The river narrows. Lost the lead.
Passed a small river. Violent rain. Land on a small island. Expect
to arrive at the rapid. Conceal two bags of pemmican in an island. A
view of mountains. Pass several encampments of the natives. Arrive
among the islands. Ascend a high hill. Violence of the current. Ice
seen along the banks of the river. Land at village of the natives.
Their conduct and appearance. Their fabulous stories. The English
chief and Indians discontented. Obtain a new guide. Singular customs
of the natives. An account of their dances. Description of their
persons, dress, ornaments, buildings, arms for war and hunting,
canoes, etc. Passed on among islands. Encamped beneath a hill, and
prevented from ascending by the mosquitoes. Landed at an encampment.
Conduct of the inhabitants. They abound in fabulous accounts of
dangers. Land at other encampments. Procure plenty of hares and
partridges. Our guide anxious to return. Land and alarm the natives,
called the
Hare
Indians, etc. Exchange our guide. State of the weather.
... [224] |
| [CHAPTER IV.] |
| The new guide makes his escape. Compel another to supply his
place. Land at an encampment of another tribe of Indians. Account of
their manners, dress, weapons, etc. Traffic with them. Description
of a beautiful fish. Engage another guide. His curious behaviour.
Kill a fox and ground-hog. Land at an encampment of a tribe called
the Deguthee Denees, or Quarrellers. Saw flax growing wild. The
varying character of the river and its banks. Distant mountains.
Perplexity from the numerous channels of the river. Determined to
proceed. Land where there had been an encampment of the Esquimaux.
Saw large flocks of wild-fowl. View of the sun at midnight.
Description of a place lately deserted by the Indians. Houses of the
natives described. Frequent showers. Saw a black fox. The
discontents of our hunters renewed, and pacified. Face of the
country. Land at a spot lately inhabited. Peculiar circumstances of
it. Arrive at the entrance of the lake. Proceed to an island. Some
account of it.
... [248] |
| [CHAPTER V.] |
| The baggage removed from the rising of the water. One of the
nets driven away by the wind and current. Whales are seen. Go in
pursuit of them, but prevented from continuing it by the fog. Proceed
to take a view of the ice. Canoe in danger from the swell. Examine
the islands. Describe one of them. Erect a post to perpetuate our
visit there. The rising of the water appears to be the tide.
Successful fishing. Uncertain
weather.
Sail among the islands. Proceed to a river. Temperature of the air
improves. Land on a small island, which is a place of sepulture.
Description of it. See a great number of wild fowl. Fine view of the
river from the high land. The hunters kill reindeer. Cranberries,
etc., found in great plenty. The appearance and state of the country.
Our guide deserts. Large flight of geese; kill many of them. Violent
rain. Return up the river. Leave the channels for the main stream.
Obliged to tow the canoe. Land among the natives. Circumstances
concerning them. Their account of the Esquimaux Indians. Accompany
the natives to their huts. Account of our
provisions.
... [268] |
| [CHAPTER VI.] |
| Employ the towing line. Description of a place where the
Indians come to collect flint. Their shyness and suspicions. Current
lessons. Appearance of the country. Abundance of hares. Violent
storm. Land near three lodges. Alarm of the Indians. Supply of fish
from them. Their fabulous accounts. Continue to see Indian lodges.
Treatment of a disease. Misunderstanding with the natives. The
interpreter harangues them. Their accounts similar to those we have
already received. Their curious conduct. Purchase some beaver skins.
Shoot one of their dogs. The consequence of that act. Apprehensions
of the women. Large quantities of liquorice. Swallows' nests seen in
the precipices. Fall in with a party of the natives killing geese.
Circumstances concerning them. Hurricane. Variation of the weather.
Kill great numbers of geese. Abundance of several kinds of berries.
State of the river and its bank.
... [287] |
| [CHAPTER VII.] |
| Voyage continued. Suspect the integrity of the interpreter.
Stars visible. Springs of mineral water, and lumps of iron ore.
Arrive at the river of the Bear Lake. Coal mine in a state of
combustion. Water of the river diminished, Continue to see Indian
encampments, and kill geese, etc. Hunting excursions. A canoe found
on the edge of the wood. Attempt to ascend a mountain. Account of
the passage to it. See a few of the natives. Kill a beaver and some
hares. Design of the English chief. Kill a wolf. Changeable state
of the weather. Recover the pemmican, which had been hidden in an
island. Natives fly at our approach. Meet with dogs. Altercation
with the English chief. Account of the articles left by the
fugitives. Shoals of the river covered with saline matter. Encamp at
the mouth of the river of the mountain. The ground on fire on each
side of it. Continue to see encampments of the natives. Various
kinds of berries. Kill geese, swans, etc., etc., etc. Corroding
quality of the water. Weather changeable. Reach the entrance of the
Slave Lake. Dangers encountered on entering it. Caught pike and
trout. Met M. Le Roux on the lake. Further circumstances till our
return to Fort Chepewyan. Conclusion of the voyage.
... [306] |
| [CHAPTER VIII.] |
| Leave Fort Chepewyan. Proceed to the Peace River. State of the
Lakes. Arrive at Peace Point. The reason assigned for its name. The
weather cold. Arrive at the Falls. Description of the country. Land
at the Fort, called The Old
Establishment. The
principal building destroyed by fire. Course of the river. Arrive at
another fort. Some account of the natives. Depart from thence.
Course of the river continued, It divides into two branches. Proceed
along the principal one. Land at the place of our winter's residence.
Account of its circumstances and inhabitants, etc. Preparations for
erecting a fort, etc., etc. Table of the weather. Broke the
thermometer. Frost sets in. Description of birds.
... [339] |
A GENERAL HISTORY OF THE FUR TRADE FROM CANADA TO THE NORTH-WEST.
The fur trade, from the earliest settlement of Canada, was considered of the first importance to that colony. The country was then so populous, that, in the vicinity of the establishments, the animals whose skins were precious, in a commercial view, soon became very scarce, if not altogether extinct. They were, it is true, hunted at former periods, but merely for food and clothing. The Indians, therefore, to procure the necessary supply, were encouraged, to penetrate into the country, and were generally accompanied by some of the Canadians, who found means to induce the remotest tribes of natives to bring the skins which were most in demand, to their settlements, in the way of trade.
It is not necessary for me to examine the cause, but experience proves that it requires much less time for a civilized people to deviate into the manners and customs of savage life, than for savages to rise into a state of civilization. Such was the event with those who thus accompanied the natives on their hunting and trading excursions; for they became so attached to the Indian mode of life, that they lost all relish for their former habits and native homes. Hence they derived the title of Coureurs des Bois, became a kind of pedlars, and were extremely useful to the merchants engaged in the fur trade; who gave them the necessary credit to proceed on their commercial undertakings. Three or four of these people would join their stock, put their property into a birch-bark canoe, which they worked themselves, and either accompanied the natives in their excursions, or went at once to the country where they knew they were to hunt. At length, these voyages extended to twelve or fifteen months, when they returned with rich cargoes of furs, and followed by great numbers of the natives. During the short time requisite to settle their accounts with the merchants, and procure fresh credit, they generally contrived to squander away all their gains, when they returned to renew their favourite mode of life: their views being answered, and their labour sufficiently rewarded, by indulging themselves in extravagance and dissipation, during the short space of one month in twelve or fifteen.
This indifference about amassing property, and the pleasure of living free from all restraint, soon brought on a licentiousness of manners which could not long escape the vigilant observation of the missionaries, who had much reason to complain of their being a disgrace to the Christian religion; by not only swerving from its duties themselves, but by thus bringing it into disrepute with those of the natives who had become converts to it; and, consequently, obstructing the great object to which those pious men had devoted their lives. They therefore exerted their influence to procure the suppression of these people, and accordingly, no one was allowed to go up the country to traffic with the Indians, without a license from the government.
At first these permissions were, of course, granted only to those whose character was such as could give no alarm to the zeal of the missionaries: but they were afterwards bestowed as rewards for services, on officers, and their widows; and they, who were not willing or able to make use of them (which may be supposed to be always the case with those of the latter description), were allowed to sell them to the merchants, who necessarily employed the Coureurs des bois, in quality of their agents; and these people, as may be imagined, gave sufficient cause for the renewal of former complaints; so that the remedy proved, in fact, worse than the disease.
At length, military posts were established at the confluence of the different large lakes of Canada, which, in a great measure checked the evil consequences that followed from the improper conduct of these foresters, and, at the same time, protected the trade. Besides, a number of able and respectable men, retired from the army, prosecuted the trade in person, under their respective licences, with great order and regularity, and extended it to such a distance, as, in those days, was considered to be an astonishing effort of commercial enterprize. These persons and the missionaries having combined their views at the same time, secured the respect of the natives, and the obedience of the people necessarily employed in the laborious parts of this undertaking. These gentlemen denominated themselves commanders, and not traders, though they were entitled to both those characters: and, as for the missionaries, if sufferings and hardships in the prosecution of the great work which they had undertaken, deserved applause and admiration, they had an undoubted claim to be admired and applauded: they spared no labour and avoided no danger in the execution of their important office; and it is to be seriously lamented, that their pious endeavours did not meet with the success which they deserved: for there is hardly a trace to be found beyond the cultivated parts, of their meritorious functions.