426 THRILLING ADVENTURES. 



"As the valuable furs soon became scarce in the neighbor- 

 hood of the settlements, the Indians of the vicinity were stimu- 

 lated to take a wider range in their hunting expeditions ; 

 they were generally accompanied on these excursions by some 

 of the traders or their dependants, who shared in the toils and 

 perils of the chase, and at the same time made themselves ac- 

 quainted with the best hunting and trapping grounds, and 

 with the remote tribes, whom they encouraged to bring their 

 peltries to the settlements. * * 



" A new and anomalous class of men gradually grew out 

 of this trade. These were called coureurs des bois, rangers 

 of the wood; originally men who had accompanied the In- 

 dians in their hunting expeditions and made themselves ac- 

 quainted with remote tracts and tribes ; and who now became, 

 as it were, pedlars of the wilderness. These men would set 

 out from Montreal with canoes well stocked with goods, with 

 arms and ammunition, and would make their way up the mazy 

 and wandering rivers that interlace the vast forests of the 

 Canadas, coasting the most remote lakes, and creating new 

 wants and habitudes among the Indians. Sometimes they 

 sojourned for months among them, assimilating to their tastes 

 and habits with the happy facility of Frenchmen ; adopting 

 in some degree the Indian dress, and not unfrequently taking 

 to themselves Indian wives. 



" Twelve, fifteen, or eighteen months would elapse without 

 any tidings of them, when they would come sweeping their way 

 down the Ottawa in full glee, their canoes laden down with 

 packs of beaver skins. Now came their turn for revelry and 

 extravagance. ' You would be amazed,' says an old writer, 

 already quoted, ' if you saw how lewd these pedlars are 

 when they return ; how they feast and game, and how prodigal 

 they are not only in their clothes, but upon their sweethearts. 

 Such of them as are married have the wisdom to retire to 

 their own houses ; but the bachelors act just as East India- 

 men and pirates are wont to do ; for they lavish, eat, drink, 



