304 THE POLAR WORLD. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



THE FUR-TRADE OF THE HUDSON'S BAY TERRITORIES. 



The CoUfcur (les liois. — Tho Voyai^eur. — Tlie Hirdi-bark Canoe.— The Canadian Fur-trade in the last 

 Century. — 'Ilie Hudson's Bay Company. — 151oody Feuds between the Nnrth-west Company of Can- 

 ada and the Hudson's IJay Company. — Tlieir Amalframation into a new Company in 1821. — Recon- 

 struction of tlie iluilson's Bay Company in 18(13. — Forts or Houses. — The Attihawmet;. — Influence 

 of tlie Conij)any on its savage Dependents. — The Blaclc Bear, or B.irib.il. — Tin Brown B^ar. — The 

 Grizzly Bear. — The Uaceoon. — The American Glutton. — The Pine Marten. — The Pekan, or Wood- 

 shock. — The Chinga. — The Mink. — The Canadian Fish-otter. — The Crossed Fox. — The Black or 

 Silvery Fo.\. — The Canadian Lynx, or Pishu. — The Ice-hire.— The Beaver. — The ]\Iusquash. 



AS tlic desire to reach India by the shortest road first made tlie civilized 

 world acquainted with the eastern coast of North America, so the exten- 

 sion of the fur-trade has been the chief, or rather the only, motive ■wliich origi- 

 nally led the footsteps of the white man from the Canadian Lakes and the bor- 

 ders of Hudson's Bay into tho remote interior of that vast continent. 



The fii-st European fur-traders in North America were French Canadians — 

 coiirevrs des bois — a fitting surname for men habituated to an Indian forest- 

 life. Three or four of these " irregular spirits " agreeing to make an expedi- 

 tion into the backwoods Avould set out in their birch-bark canoe, laden with 

 goods received on trust from a merchant, for a voyage of great danger and 

 hardshii), it might be of several years, into the wilderness. 



On their return the merchant who had given them credit of course received 

 the lion's share of the skins gathered among the Hurons or the Iroquois ; the 

 small portion left as a recompense for their own labor was soon spent, as sailors 

 spend their hard-earned wages on their arrival in port ; and then they started 

 on some new adventure, until finally old age, infirmities, or death prevented 

 their revisitiui; the forest. 



The mcxleru " voyageiir,^'' who has usurped the place of the old " coureurs,^'' 

 is so like ihem in manner.s and mode of life, that to know the one is to become 

 acquainted with the other. In short, the voyageur is merely a coureur subject 

 to strict law and serving for a fixed pay ; while the coureur was a voyageur 

 trading at his own risk and peril, and acknowledging no control when once 

 beyond tla- ])ale of European colonization. 



The camel is frequently called the " ship of the desert," and with equal jus- 

 tice tlie birch-bark canoe ii.ight be named the " camel of the North American 

 wilds." For if we consider the rivers which, covering the land like a net-work, 

 are the only arteries of communication ; the frequent rapids and cataracts ; the 

 shallow watei's fiowing over a stony ground whose shai"p angles would infalli- 

 bly cut to i)ieces any boat made of wood; and finally the surrounding deserts, 

 where, in case of an accident, the traveller is left to his own resources, we must 

 come to the conclusion that iu such a country no intercourse could possibly be 



i 



