RECEPTION AT FORT RUPERT. 161 
faces and bodies painted in most fantastic pat- 
terns, with red and white. Keeping steadily 
along with us, they continually relieved their 
feelmgs by giving utterance to the most wild 
and fiendish yells that ever came from human 
throats. 
As we neared the landing, I could see the chief 
trader of the Hudson’s Bay Company, conspicu- 
ously white amidst a group of redskins, waiting 
to receive us. The boat grated on the shingle 
some distance from the beach, white with spray. 
‘Surely you don’t expect me to go ashore like 
a seal?’ I appealingly enquired of the captain. 
Before he had time to reply, four powerful 
savages, up to their waists in water, fisted me out 
of the boat; and two taking my heels, and two 
my shoulders, they bore me safely to the shore. 
Having handed my letters of introduction from 
his Excellency the Governor to the chief trader, 
I was presented to the chiefs as a Hyas tyee 
(great chief), one of ‘ King George’s’ men. So we 
shook hands, and I attempted to move towards 
the fort; it was not to be done. To use the 
mildest term, | was ‘mobbed;’ old savages and 
young savages, old squaws and young squaws, 
even to boy and girl savage, rushed and scrambled 
to shake hands with me. Had I been a ‘ pump’ 
VOL. I. M 
