306 PASSAGE OF PELTRIES TO ENGLAND. 



transport of goods and peltries to and from the 

 numerous stations must impress one with a feehng of 

 admiration at the indomitable energy and laborious 

 perseverance which overcomes every difficulty and 

 braves so many dangers to attain its ends. Mountain 

 and forest, torrent and shallow, extremes of cold, heat 

 and privation, are encountered and set at defiance by 

 the enterprising " voyageur ; " where force avails not, 

 patience and stratagem are successfully resorted to, 

 disaster only seems to create a new spm', and point out 

 some new method for the next enterprise. Furs which 

 are brought from some of the most distant parts in 

 the Northern Department — of which York Factory in 

 Hudson's Bay is the head-quarters — traverse between 

 3,000 and 4,000 miles ere they reach that post, 

 whence they are shipped for England, and occupy 

 nearly a year in their transit, in which they undergo 

 extraordinary mutations of travel. The furs are made 

 up into parcels or " packs," weighing eighty-four to 

 ninety pounds, and pressed by wedges or screws into 

 the smallest possible compass ; the body of the pack 

 is generally composed of the smaller and finer skins, 

 such as muskrat, martens, and otters, of which from 

 300 to 600 are required ; these are enclosed by 

 skins of the bear, wolf, and reindeer. The packs are 

 all made of a certain size and shape, and securely 



