A General History of the Fur Trade. 



53 



ed Frog-Skin, to the Missinipi. The waters already de- 

 scribed discharge themselves into Lake Winipic, and aug- 

 ment those of the river Nelson. These which we are now 

 entering are called the Missinipi, or great Churchill River. 



All the country to the South and East of this, within the 

 line of the progress that has been described, is interspersed 

 by lakes, hills, and rivers, and is full of animals, of the fur 

 kind, as well as the moose-deer. Its inhabitants are the 

 Knisteneaux Indians, who are called by the servants of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company, at York, their home-guards. 



The traders from Canada succeeded for several years in 

 getting the largest proportion of their furs, till the year 1793, 

 when the servants of that company thought proper to send 

 people amongst them, (and why they did not do it before is 

 best known to themselves) for the purpose of trade, and 

 securing their credits, which the Indians were apt to forget. 

 From the short distance they had to come, and the quanti- 

 ty of goods they supplied, the trade has, in a great measure, 

 reverted to them, as the merchants from Canada could not 

 meet them upon equal terms. What added to the loss of 

 the latter, was the murder of one of their traders, by the 

 Indians, about this period. Of these people not above 

 eighty men have been known to the traders from Canada, 

 but they consist of a much greater number. 



The Portage de Traite, as has been already hinted, re- 

 ceived its name from Mr, Joseph Frobisher, who penetrat- 

 ed into this part of the country from Canada, as early as the 

 years 1774 and 1775, where he met with the Indians in the 

 spring, on their way to Churchill, according to annual cus- 

 tom, with their canoes full of valuable furs. They traded 

 with him for as many of them as his canoes could carry, and 

 in consequence of this transaction, the Portage received and 

 has since retained its present appellation. He also deno- 

 minated these waters the English River. The Missinipi 

 is the name which it received from the Knisteneaux, when 

 they first came to this country, and either destroyed or drove 

 back the natives, whom they held in great contempt, on ma- 

 ny accounts, but particularly for their ignorance in hunting 

 the beaver, as well as in preparing, stretching, and drying 

 the skins of those animals. And as a sign of their derision, 

 they stretched the skin of a frog, and hung it up at the Por- 

 tage. This was, at that time, the utmost extent of their 

 conquest or warfaring progress West, and is in latitude 55. 

 25. North, and longitude 1Q3|. West. The river here, 



