306 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



and the kettle simmering on the fire. While the passengers — perhaps some 

 chief trader on a voyage to some distant fort, or a Back or a Richardson on his 

 way to the Polar Ocean — are warming or drying themselves, the indefatigable 

 " voyageurs" drag the unloaded canoe ashore, turn it over, and examine it care- 

 fully, either to fasten again some loose stitches, or to paint over some damaged 

 part with fresh resin. Under the cover of their boat, which they turn against 

 the wind, and with a flaming fire in the foreground, they then bid defiance to 

 the weather. At one o'clock in the morning "Leve! leve ! leve !" is called; 

 in half an hour the encampment is broken up, and the boat reladen and launched. 

 At eight in the morning a halt is made for breakfast, for which three-quarters 

 of an hour are allowed. About two in the afternoon half an hour's rest suffices 

 for a cold dinner. Eighteen hours' work and six hours rest make out the day. 

 The labor is incredible ; yet the " voyageur " not only supports it without a 

 murmur, but with the utmost cheerfulness. Such a life requires, of course, an 

 iron constitution. In rowing, the arms and breast of the " voyageur " are ex- 

 erted to the utmost ; and in shallow places he drags the boat after him, wading 

 up to the knees and thighs in the water. Where he is obliged to force his way 

 against a rapid, the drag-rope must be pulled over rocks and stumps of trees, 

 through swamps and thickets ; and at the portages the cargo and the boat 

 have to be carried over execrable roads to the next navigable water. Then 

 the " voyageur " takes upon his back two packages, each weighing 90 j^ounds, 

 and attached by a leathern belt running over the forehead, that his hands may 

 be free to clear the way ; and such portages sometimes occur ten or eleven 

 times in one day. 



For these toils of his wandering life he has many compensations, in the 

 keen appetite, the genial sensation of muscular strength, and the flow of spirits 

 engendered by labor in the pure and bracing air. Surely many would rather 

 breathe with the " voyageur " the fragrance of the pine forest, or share his rest 

 upon the borders of the stream, than lead the monotonous life of an artisan, 

 pent up in the impure atmosphere of a city. 



During the first period of the American fur-trade the "coureurs des bois " 

 used to set out on their adventurous expeditions from the village " La Chine," 

 one of the oldest and most famous settlements in Canada, whose name points 

 to a time when the St. Lawrence was still supposed to be the nearest way to 

 China. How far some of them may have penetrated into the interior of the 

 continent is unknown ; but so much is certain, that their regular expeditions 

 extended as far as the Saskatchewan, 2500 miles beyond the remotest European 

 settlements. Several factories or forts protected their interests on the banks 

 of that noble river ; and the French would no doubt have extended their do- 

 minion to the Rocky Mountains or to the Pacific if the conquest of Canada by 

 England, in 1*761, had not completely revolutionized the fur-trade. The change 

 of dominion laid it prostrate for several years, but our enterprising countrymen 

 soon opened a j^rofitable intercourse with the Indian tribes of the west, as their 

 predecessors had done before them. Now, however, the adventurous " coureur 

 des bois," who had entered the wilds as a semi-independent trader, was obliged 

 to serve in the pay of the British merchant, and to follow him, as his " voya- 



