12 



of the French by a trader of the name of Perrault, about the 

 year 1740, and named by him Pointe dn Nord. It was after- 

 wards called Riviere aux Brochet, or *Pike River, from the 

 abundance of these fish found in its waters ; from which cir- 

 cumstance, also, the first establishment here was named Fort 

 Broshet, and bore that name until a few years ago, when it 

 was changed from Fort Brochet to Norwegian Point. A 

 number of Norwegians were hired by the late Earl of Sel- 

 kirk, and were sent to that point for the purpose of clearing 

 the woods and making a winter road to York Factory, but 

 the project was found to be impracticable, and was, there- 

 fore, abandoned ; hence the place was called Norwegian Point 

 and from Norwegian Point the factory is called Norway 

 House. 



During the year the place was, by accident, burned to the 

 ground, and at the time of my writing it lay in ashes. Pre- 

 parations were in progress for rebuilding it on a more exten- 

 sive scale a little further down the river on a rocky point, 

 near to the place called Play Green Lake. I should not be 

 surprised if another name is given to the new establishment, 

 for the people of this country are whimsical in giving new 

 names to old places, and think little of changing them. Vege- 

 tation here dare hardly raise its head ; the gleams of summer 

 — if, in these forlorn regions, there be any summer — are 

 rapidly chased away by the blasts of autumn, which again 

 as rapidly flee before the storms of winter. The soil seldom 

 produces anything to perfection. 



Norway House is a place of considerable business and 

 bustle during the summer season. It is the great inland 

 revenue rendezvous of the fur trade in this quarter. Here 

 the people and returns of all the trading posts belonging to 

 the company, from Lake Superior on the south, the Rocky 

 Mountains on the west, and the frozen ocean on the north, 



*Commonly known in the troubles of 1813-16 as Jack Fish River.— G. B. 



