198 THE STORY OF THE TRAPPER 



Winnipeg and St. Paul. More than 1,500 Hudson s Bay 

 Company carts manned by 500 traders with, tawny 

 spouses and black-eyed impish children, squatted on 

 top of the load, left Canada for St. Paul in August and 

 returned in October. The carts were made without 

 a rivet of iron. Bent wood formed the tires of the two 

 wheels. Hardwood axles told their woes to the world 

 in the scream of shrill bagpipes. Wooden racks took 

 the place of cart box. In the shafts trod a staid old ox 

 guided from the horns or with a halter, drawing the 

 load with collar instead of a yoke. The harness was 

 of skin thongs. In place of the ox sometimes was a 

 &quot; shagganippy &quot; pony, raw and unkempt, which the 

 imps lashed without mercy or the slightest inconve 

 nience to the horse. 



A red flag with the letters H. B. C. in white dec 

 orated the leading cart. During the Sioux massacres 

 the fur caravans were unmolested, for the Indians rec 

 ognised the flags and wished to remain on good terms 

 with the fur traders. 



Ox-carts still bring furs to Hudson s Bay Company 

 posts, and screech over the corduroyed swamps of the 

 MacKenzie; but the railway has replaced the caravan 

 as a carrier of freight. 



Hudson s Bay Company steamers now ply on the 

 largest of the inland rivers with long lines of fur-laden 

 barges in tow; but the canoe brigades still bring the 

 winter s hunt to the forts in spring. Five to eight 

 craft make a brigade, each manned by eight paddlers 

 with an experienced steersman, who is usually also 

 guide. But the one ranking first in importance is the 

 bowman, whose quick eye must detect signs of nearing 

 rapids, whose steel-shod pole gives the cue to the other 



