58 CREES. 



Factory; but the distance is too great, and the 

 inland navigation too difficult, to admit of agricul- 

 tural produce being carried down profitably in 

 return. Hence most of the half-breed settlers, en- 

 couraged by some of the colonial merchants and 

 Roman Catholic priests, have made strenuous at- 

 tempts to share the fur trade with the Hudson's 

 Bay Company, who at present have the monopoly 

 of that traffic ; and the Company do not seem to 

 possess a force adequate to prevent their even- 

 tually succeeding in their object. 



Of late years, a communication has been formed 

 between the colony and the United States by way 

 of the plains and St. Peter's River. This furnishes 

 a channel for the disposal of peltry without detec- 

 tion; and through the relationship existing between 

 the half-breeds of the colony and the various tribes 

 of Indians as far north as Methy Portage, no great 

 difficulty is experienced by them in withdrawing a 

 considerable quantity of the most valuable furs 

 from the Company's trade. 



In the winter of 1848 a half-breed was summoned, 

 before the Recorder of Osnaboya for a breach of 

 the Company's regulations in this respect, and on 

 the day of trial, five hundred of his class, armed to 

 the teeth, surrounded the court-house. The Re- 

 corder was obliged to secrete himself, and the 

 matter was finally compromised by the Company's 



