22 The Home oj the ]Voh>ereiie and Beaver. 



lay before the reader a sketch of the North Ameri- 

 can fur trade, with which is embodied the history 

 of the Hudson's Bay Company. Concerning 

 the latter opulent body but little is known 

 to the world at large, for it has never been their 

 policy to court publicity. Such fragments as have 

 from time to time appeared are fraught with interest, 

 and if I am somewhat minute in my description, it 

 is because the subject has been but little handled, 

 and is of a nature to repay the reader. 



In the year 1670, King Charles II. granted a 

 charter to Prince Rupert, Christopher Duke of 

 Albemarle, William Earl of Craven, Henry Lord 

 Arlington, Anthony Lord Ashley, Sir John 

 Robinson, Sir Robert Viner, Sir John Griffith, Sir 

 Philip Carteret, James Hayse, John Kirke, P>ancis 

 Millington, William Prettyman, John Fenn, and 

 John Portman and their successors. Its purpose 

 was to encourage the associates to search for the 

 north-west passage, and to establish a trade in furs, 

 minerals, and "other considerable commodities." 

 It conveyed to the Company a grant of "the sole 

 trade and commerce of all those seas, straits, bays, 

 rivers, lakes, creeks and sounds, in whatever latitude 

 they shall be, that lie within the entrance of the 

 straits commonly called Hudson's Straits, together 

 with all the lands and territories upon the countries, 



