TJie Home of the Wohciriic and Beavej'. 27 



course the merchants took no steps to check such 

 Hcense, for the sooner poor Baptiste had spent his 

 money, the sooner he would be ready to start afresh 

 into the wilderness. 



But there were a class of men in Canada to whom 

 the licentious manners of the coiirciirs des bois 

 gave great offence ; these were the Roman Catholic 

 missionaries, who laboured unceasingly to convert 

 the natives, and beheld their efforts brought to 

 nought and their teachings held up to ridicule by 

 men who professed themselves to be members of the 

 Christian faith. They accordingly exerted their 

 influence for the suppression of the coiLreurs, and 

 so far succeeded that no one was allowed to go up 

 country and traffic with the Indians Avithout a 

 license from the Government. 



At first these permits were only granted to men 

 of good character, but gradually they came to be 

 bestowed as rewards on officers and their widows, 

 who, if unwilling to use them themselves, were 

 allowed to sell them to the merchants, who in turn 

 supplied them to the coiireiirs des bois, whom they 

 employed as agents ; thus the evil again sprang up 

 in greater force than ever, and not until military 

 posts were established at the confluence of the 

 large lakes, was the license of the wood-rangers 

 checked, and trade protected from the consequences 



