564 WASHINGTON IRVING*S ASTORIA. 



Hunt, 'of New Jersey. On June 23, 1810, articles were drawn 

 up between Mr. Astor and these four gentlemen, constituting 

 them the " Pacific Fur Company," with a stock divided into a 

 hundred shares, half of which were to be the merchants', half to be 

 divided between the adventurers and any associates chosen by them ; 

 Mr. Astor to pay every expense of outfit, &c. and to bear all losses 

 for five years. 



Two expeditions were "deemed necessary to the success of this 

 great commercial scheme ; one by sea, the other by land. The 

 latter, which was to proceed up the Missouri and over the Rocky 

 Mountains, was headed by Mr. Hunt. For the former a fine ship 

 called the Tonquin was provided and well fitted out for its peculiar 

 employment, and the services of Lieutenant Thorn, of the United 

 States navy, were engaged as her commander. His'strict views of naval 

 discipline, so much at variance with the self-sufficiency and love of 

 ease expressed by Messrs. M'Kay and M'Dougal (men who, accord- 

 ing to their account, " cared for neither wind nor weather, could live 

 hard, lie hard, sleep hard, eat dogs"), led to some amusing 

 scenes of bickering, described wilh the naivete and quaintness so pe- 

 culiar to the excellent Mr. Knickerbocker.* As servants in the 

 naval expedition there were twelve clerks, several artizans for the 

 supply of the projected colony, and thirteen Canadian voyageurs, of 

 whose manners we offer a part of Mr. Irving's own graphic de- 

 scription. 



" The ' voyageurs ' form a kind of confraternity in the Canadas, like the 

 arrieros or carriers of Spain, and, like them, are employed in long internal 

 expeditions of travel and traffic : with this difference, that the arrieros travel 

 by land, the voyageurs by water ; the former with mules and horses, the latter 

 with batteaux and canoes. 



" The dress of the people is generally half-civilized, half-savage. They 

 wear a capot or surcoat, made of a blanket, a striped cotton shirt, cloth trou- 

 sers, or leather leggings, moccasins of deer skin, and a belt of variegated 

 worsted, from which are suspended the knife, tobacco pouch, and other im- 

 plements. Their language is of the same piebald character, being a French 

 patois, embroidered with Indian and English words and phrases. 



* We cannot better explain the cause of difference between the parties than by stating 

 the character of each in the author's own words: "Captain Thorn was an honest 

 straight-forward commander, who, having been nurtured in the system of a ship-of-war, 

 was disposed to be absolute lord on board his ship. He appears, moreover, to have had 

 no great opinion from the first of the persons embarked with him. He had stood by 

 with surly contemptjwhile they vaunted'so bravely of all they could undergo. how they 

 could face all weathers, put up with all kinds of fare, and even eat dogs with a 

 relish. He had set them down as a set of land lubbers and braggadocios, and was 

 disposed to treat them accordingly. Mr. Astor was in'his eyes his only real employer, 

 who furnished all funds and bore all losses. The others were mere agents and sub- 

 ordinates. He evidently had but a narrow idea of the scope of the enterprise, limiting 

 his views merely to his part of it every thing beyond the ship was out of his sphere, 

 and any thing that interfered with his nautical duties put him in a passion. The part- 

 ners, on the other hand, had been brought up in the service of the North-west Company, 

 and in a profound idea of the importance of a partner. They already hegan to con- 

 sider themselves on a par with the magnates of the North-west, and they were, per- 

 haps, a little disposed to wear their suddenly acquired honours with some air of pre- 

 tension. Mr. Astor, too, had put them, on their mettle with respect to their captain, 

 describing him as a gunpowder fellow, who would command his ship in fine style, and, 

 in case of any fighting, would blow all out of the water." Vol. i. pp. 73 75. 



