32 ALL AFLOAT 



eaters ' or mangeurs de lard, who had 

 nothing worse to face than well-known rapids. 

 The others were a finer breed, the true and 

 daring coureurs de bois, or pioneers of the 

 bush, who went west in comparatively light 

 canoes, each carrying not more than a ton and 

 a half, who hunted their own game, risked a 

 fight with the Indians, and were to the duller 

 ' pork eaters ' what a charger is to a cart- 

 horse or a frigate to a barge. The regulation 

 portage load was one hundred and fifty pounds, 

 and many a man was known to carry this 

 weight the whole ten miles and back within 

 six hours. 



There was need to hurry. Supplies were 

 going west to Lake Winnipeg, up the Saskat- 

 chewan, and even on to Athabaska ; while furs 

 were coming down for the autumn trade to 

 Europe. As a rule the traders were Scottish 

 and the voyageurs French Canadian. Indians 

 and half-breeds were fairly common; they 

 manned the canoes in the farther wilds, 

 guided the pioneers, and did the actual trap- 

 ping. To speak in terms of modern trans- 

 portation: the Indians and their bark canoes 

 produced the raw material and worked the 

 branch lines ; while the voyageurs met them 

 at the junctions and took the goods down to 



