XIV 



INTRODUCTION. 



under Divine Providence, the preservation 

 of the lives of some of the party. 



I ought, perhaps, to crave the reader's 

 indulgence towards the defective style of 

 this work, which I trust will not be refused 

 when it is considered that mine has been a 

 life of constant employment in my profes- 

 sion from a very early age. I have been 

 prompted to venture upon the task solely 

 by an imperious sense of duty, when called 

 upon to undertake it. 



In the ensuing Narrative, the notices of 

 the moral condition of the Indians as in- 

 fluenced by the conduct of the traders to- 

 wards them, refer entirely to the state in 

 which it existed during our progress through 

 the country ; but lest I should have been 

 mistaken respecting the views of the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company on these points, I gladly 

 embrace the opportunity which a New Edi- 

 tion affords me of stating that the junction 



