Hudson's bay company. 395 



of iny incaution, by finding myself over head and 

 hands m soft mud, the water being unexpectedly 

 shallow : I was fortunate in escaping suffocation. 



There can scarcely be found a more wonderful 

 instance of the combination of ingenuity, perseverance 

 and endurance, in the search after commercial 

 prosperity, than is aff'orded by the Hudson's Bay Fur 

 Trading Company, instituted so early as the reign of 

 Charles II. In the earlier stages of its existence, 

 only a few positions were established on the shores of 

 Hudson's Bay, but the range of operations was 

 gradually widely extended, and in North America 

 alone they now hunt over an immense territory, and 

 give occupation to numerous persons, — Whites, 

 Indians, and half-castes. From the shores of Hudson's 

 Bay in the Atlantic, to Vancouver's Island and the 

 Columbia River District on the Pacific, and from the 

 borders of Canada to the dreary Arctic circle, 

 isolated stations of the Company are established, often 

 amid dense forests, and cheerless solitudes. In many 

 of these, not more than from two to six men pass 

 long winters of monotonous occupation ; to cut wood 

 and bring home provisions on sledges are their 

 principal avocations, and their diet is in many 

 instances fish, uninterruptedly, or varied by dried meat, 

 whose excellence I have already remarked upon. The 



