310 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



taken from the very beginning, would have saved them both a great deal of 

 treasure and many crimes. Instead of continuing to swing the tomahawk, 

 they now smoked the calumet, and amalgamated in 1821, under the name of 

 the " Hudson's Bay Company," and under the wing of the charter. The Brit- 

 ish Government, as a dowry to the impoverished couple, presented them with a 

 license of exclusive trade throughout the whole of that territory which, under 

 the name of the Hudson's Bay and ISTorth-west territories, extends from Lab- 

 rador to the Pacific, and from the Red River to the Polar Ocean. This license 

 was terminable in 21 years, but in 1838 it was renewed again for the same pe= 

 riod. The good effects of peace and union soon became apparent, for after a 

 few years the Company was enabled to pay half-yearly dividends of five per 

 cent., and the Indians, to whom brandy was now no longer supplied unless as a 

 medicine, enjoyed the advantages of a more sober life. 



About 1848 the Imperial Government, fearing that Vancouver's Island 

 might be annexed by the United States, resolved to place it under the manage- 

 ment of the Hudson's Bay Company. This was accordingly done in 1849. A 

 license of exclusive trade and management was granted for ten years, termina- 

 ble therefore in 1859 (the time of expiration of the similar hcense over the 

 Indian territory). 



These were the palmy days of the Hudson's Bay Company. They held 

 Rupert's Land by the royal charter, which was perpetual ; they held Vancou- 

 ver's Island and the whole Indian territory to the Pacific by exclusive licenses, 

 terminable in 1859 ; and thus maintained under their sole sway about 4,000,000 

 square miles — a realm larger than the whole of Europe. 



For the ten years ending May 31, 1862, the average net annual profits of the 

 Company amounted to £81,000 on a paid-up capital of £400,000, but a portion 

 only of this income was distributed as dividend. 



In 1863 the Company was reconstructed, with a capital of £2,000,000, for the 

 purpose of enlarging its operations — such as opening the southern and more 

 fruitful districts of the Saskatchewan or the Winipeg to European coloniza- 

 tion ; but the northern, and by far the larger portion of the vast domains over 

 which, after the dismemberment of British Columbia and the Stikine territory, 

 it still holds sway, have too severe a climate ever to be cultivated, and, unless 

 their mineral wealth be made available, must ever be what they are now — a 

 fur-bearing region of gloomy pine-forests, naked barren - grounds, lakes, and 

 morasses. 



Over this* vast extent of desert the Company has established about 150 trad- 

 ing-posts, called " houses^'' or forts which, however, consist merely of a few 

 magazines and dwelling-houses, protected by a simple wall, stockade, or palisade 

 sufiiciently strong to resist any sudden attack of the Indians. Among the tribes, 

 with whom a friendly intercourse has long subsisted, and whose fidelity may 

 implicitly be trusted, no guard is ever kept, and it is only in forts more recent- 

 ly built in remote parts that precautions are taken. 



These forts are always situated on the borders of a lake or river, both for fa- 

 cility of transport and for the purpose of catching fish, particularly the species 

 of Coregonus, or white-fish, which, from its importance to all the natives of 



