* 



A 



GENERAL HISTORY 



OF THE 



FUR TRADE 



PROM 



'CANADA TO THE NORTH-WEST. 



A HE fur trade, from the earliest settlement of Canada* 

 was considered of the first importance to that colony. The 

 country was then so populous, that, in the vicinity of the es- 

 tablishments, the animals whose skins were precious, in a 

 commercial view, soon became very scarce, if not altogether 

 extinct. They were, it is true, hunted at former periods, 

 but merely for food and clothing. The Indians, therefore, 

 to procure the necessary supply, were encouraged to pene- 

 / trate into the country, and were generally accompanied by 

 some of the Canadians, who found means to induce the re- 

 motest tribes of natives to bring the skins which were most 

 in demand, to their settlements, in the way of trade. 



It is not necessary for me to examine the cause, but ex- 

 perience proves that it requires much less time for a civiliz- 

 ed people to deviate into the manners and customs of savage 

 life, than for savages to rise into a state of civilization. Such 

 was the event with those who thus accompanied the natives 

 on their hunting and trading excursions ; for they became 

 so attached to the Indian mode of life, that they lost all re- 

 lish for their former habits and native homes. Hence they 

 derived the title of Coureurs des Bois^ became a kind of ped- 



