CANADA. 



339 



Fur trade. 



of 20,000 annually } and is most of all entitled, 

 from its uaturv, to a more particular description in 

 this place. In this trade, the French settlers en- 

 gaged with great eagerness, at the first establishment 

 of the colony ; and, as the Indians were not then ac- 

 quainted with the value of the articles, large quan. 

 tities of the richest furs were procured, in exchange 

 for the most trifling wares. The accumulation of 

 kins in tin- maga/ines soon became so immense, and 

 tlu- demand so inadequate to carry off the supply, 

 that the merchants were unwilling to purchase more, 

 and the abundance of the article nearly ruined the 

 trade in Canada. The adventurers, who explored the 

 Indian territories in quest of furs, and who were 

 stiled Conn-Mrs i/c Hois, naturally sought a market 

 among the English settlers in the neighbouring co- 

 Ionics, and many of them fixed their residence in the 

 country of New York. The attempts, which were 

 made by the governors of New France to prevent 

 such desertions, and to recal those fugitives, were 

 long attended with little success. Many of them 

 became attached to a wandering life, and took up 

 their abode among the savages, from whom they 

 could be distinguished only by their superior licen- 

 tiousness of manners. As the conduct and example 

 of such characters occasioned the greatest obstacles 

 to the exertions of the Catholic missionaries, an or- 

 der was at length procured, that no one should be 

 permitted to traverse the country for the purpose of 

 trafficking with the Indians, without a license from 

 government. These permissions were at first grant- 

 ed only to persons of known respectability, to offi- 

 cers or the army, or to their widows. Such, how- 

 ever, as did not choose to make use of the licences 

 personally, were allowed to sell them to the mer- 

 chants, who again employed the Coureurs de Bois 

 in quality of agents, and these again soon furnished 

 occasion for renewed complaints from the mission- 

 aries. Military forts or settlements were at length 

 established at the confluence of the rivers with the 

 larger lakes, which served at once to protect the 

 trade, and to check the improper conduct of the 

 more profligate adventurers ; while, on the other 

 hand, a number of respectable men, who had retired 

 from the army, prosecuted the trade in person, un- 

 der their respective licences ; and, with the assist- 

 ance of the missionaries, extended their excursions 

 as far as 53 north latitude, and, 102 west longitude. 

 For some time after the conquest, the fur trade 

 was in a great measure suspended, partly because the 

 conquerors were not sufficiently acquainted with the 

 country, and with the language of the agents; and 

 partly, because they were exposed to great personal 

 hazard a "ong the Indians, whom the French had 

 inspired with the utmost hatred against the British. 

 But these obstacles were gradually surmounted ; and 

 a very keen competition was excited among the 

 traders. This spirit of rivalry, however, gave rise 

 to endless contests and innumerable irregularities ; 

 and, with the exception of a very few individuals, the 

 agenta M general conducted themselves in so impru- 

 dent and disorderly a manner, as to draw upon them- 

 selves the determined hostility of the Indians. A 

 resolution waa actually adopted by the principal 

 tribes to free themselves from such troublesome 



neighbours, by a general massacre of the trader* ; 

 ana they were prevented from putting their plan in- 

 to execution only by one of the most dreadful cala- *' ttr 

 mities, that could have befallen a people; by th 

 tal ravages of the small-pox, which raged among 

 them with the fury of a pestilence, spread its baneful 

 influence with the rapidity of a conflagration, swept 

 away whole tribes at once, and rendered immense 

 tracts of country entirely desolate. 



The country being thus depopulated, and the 

 traders also reduced in number, the merchants in Ca- 

 nada formed a junction of interests in the year 1784, 

 under the denomination of the North West Company; 

 the traders forgot their animosities, and engaged 

 with great spirit in the service of the new establish- 

 ment ; but it was not till the year 1799, when the 

 demand for furs, as an article of dress, became more 

 general, that the speculation was productive of mucli 

 profit. The number of persons who hold shares in 

 this company amounts to more than forty; and the 

 clerks, voyageurs, and Indians employed in their ser- 

 vice are upwards of three thousand. The business 

 in the north-west territory is conducted by young 

 men in the service of the company, who are chiefly- 

 composed of adventrous young Scottish Highlanders, 

 and who have under them a body of Canadians, hun- 

 ters, and canoemen. These repair to the country of 

 the Indians, and establish trading posts among them, 

 frequently at so great a distance, that it requires 

 more than one summer to send them the goods, with 

 which they are to traffic, and to procure the furs, 

 which they have collected. In these distant regions 

 they remain for several years, subject to numberless 

 privations, and subsisting in a great measure by hunt- 

 ing; while those who manage the concerns of the 

 company, and who have the principal shares in the 

 undertaking, generally reside at Montreal. To these 

 posts more than fifty canoes are sent annually, loaded 

 with merchandise, and navigated by nearly 1000 

 people. The persons, employed for this purpose, 

 styled voyageurs, are a very peculiar set of mortals, 

 or a most robust nature and thoughtless character, 

 and said in these respects to bear a striking resem- 

 blance to British seamen. Though they know, that, 

 for the space of 2000 miles, their exertions must be 

 unremitting, and their living miserably poor, yet they 

 pursue their tedious and toilsome occupation with 

 the utmost chearfulness. Sometimes they save their 

 wages, and, returning to their native parishes, spend 

 the remainder of their days in the labours of agricul- 

 ture ; but they generally acquire habits of dissipa- 

 tion, squander their gains as speedily as possible, and 

 are thus compelled to set out upon a new excur- 

 sion. 



In this trade, the capital, which is employed in 

 goods alone, is said to exceed 100,000. The goods 

 are made up in packages, about SOlbs. each, for the 

 purpose of being more easily removed and carried, 

 when the loaded canoe is not able to pass along the 

 stream. The canoes in which these goods are con- 

 veyed to such a distance, are exceedingly light and 

 frail, but constructed with wonderful ingenuity. The 

 frame is formed of thin slips of wood, covered with 

 the bark of the birch tree, sewed together with the 

 filaments of a particular root, and rendered water- 



