LS94-95.] THE FUR TRADE. 77 



become almost forgotten until Robertson declared his intention of 

 returning that way to Quebec when relieved from his command. 



In August Mackinac M'as unexpectedly menaced by an attack from 

 the Ottawas, and the commandant was obliged to summon the traders 

 to his assistance. They naturally complied with alacrity, as there were 

 4,000 packs of furs in store, 800 of which belonged to the North-west 

 Company. 



About the same time the merchants at Detroit, having a large quan- 

 tity of valuable peltry on hand, asked leave to forward it to Schlosser 

 in three small private sailing vessels, then afloat upon Lake Erie, while 

 the King's .ships were otherwise employed, a request which was readily 

 granted by Lieutenant-Governor Hay, immediately after his arrival 

 there. 



"The commerce of this place," Hay wrote to Mr. Nepean, "is becom- 

 ing more and more considerable. The peltry sent from it this year will 

 amount to i^ioo,ooo sterling, all of which is the produce of English 

 manufacturers except a small portion of rum, and I think, if the post is 

 not given up, it will increase, for the Spaniards cannot send coarse 

 woolen manufactures up the Mississippi so cheaply as the English can by 

 this communication, a part of which they have this year bartered for 

 their commodities, and in short cannot carry on their trade without them 

 while we keep possession of the lakes." 



The North-west Company executed their project of exploration by 

 sending a large canoe to examine the north shore of Lake Superior, 

 "navigated by six Canadians under Mr. Edward Umfreville, who has 

 been eleven years in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, and Mr. 

 Venance St. Germain, both of them men who speak the language of the 

 natives, and who are in other respects very well qualified to execute the 

 Company's intentions. 



" Their instructions were to proceed to Lake Alempigon, and thence 

 in a west direction by the best road for transportation of goods and 

 canoes to the River Ouinipique (Winnipeg) at or as near as may be to the 

 Portage de L'Isle, and by letters received from them at Lake Alem- 

 pigon, 30th June, it appears that they had met with innumerable difficul- 

 ties from the want of Indian guides, but they then had one who had 

 undertaken to conduct them to Lake Eturgeon, and they expressed the 

 most sanguine hopes of getting forward from thence to the River 

 Ouinipique." 



In anticipation of the discovery which this party was expected to 

 make, the Company applied for the " exclusive right to the passage they 



