308 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



the plains and the mountains, for the purpose of establishing new trading-sta- 

 tions at all convenient points. 



The most celebrated of these pioneers of commerce, Alexander Mackenzie, 

 reached, in the year 1789, the mouth of the great river which bears his name, 

 and saw the white dolphins gambol about in the Arctic Sea. In a second voy- 

 age he crossed the Rocky Mountains, and followed the course of the Fraser 

 River until it discharges its waters into the Georgian Gulf opposite to Van- 

 couver's Island. Here he wrote with perishable vermilion the following in- 

 scription on a rock-wall fronting the gulf : — 



A. Mackenzie 

 arrived from Canada by land, 

 22 July, 1792. 



The words were soon effaced by wind and weather, but the fame of the ex- 

 plorer will last as long as the English language is spoken in America. 



The energetic North-west Company thus ruled over the whole continent 

 from the Canadian Lakes to the Rocky Mountains, and in 1806 it even crossed 

 that barrier and established its forts on the northern tpbutaries of the Colum- 

 bia River. To the north it likewise extended its operations, encroaching more 

 and more upon the privileges of the Hudson's Bay Company, which, roused to 

 energy, now also pushed on its posts farther and farther into the interior, and 

 established in 1812 a colony on the Red River to the south of Winipeg Lake, 

 thus driving, as it were, a sharp thorn into the side of its rival. But a power 

 like the North-west Company, which had no less than 50 agents, 70 interpret- 

 ers, and 1120 voyageurs in its pay, and whose chief managers used to appear 

 at their annual meetings at Fort William, on the banks of Lake Superior, with 

 all the pomp and pride of feudal barons, was not inclined to tolerate this en- 

 croachment ; and thus, after many quarrels, a regular war broke out between 

 the two parties, which, after two years' duration, led to the expulsion of the 

 Red River colonists and the murder of their governor, Semple. This event 

 took place in the year 1816, and is but one episode of the bloody feuds which 

 continued to reign between the two rival companies until 1821. At first sight 

 it may seem strange that such acts of violence should take place between 

 British subjects and on British soil, but then we must consider that at that 

 time European law had little power in the American wilderness. 



The dissensions of the fur-traders had most deplorable consequences for 

 the Redskins; for both companies, to swell the number of their adherents, 

 lavishly distributed spirituous liquors — a temptation which no Indian can re- ' 

 sist. 



The whole of the hunting-grounds of the Saskatchewan and Athabasca 

 were but one scene of revelry and bloodshed. Already decimated by the 

 small-pox, the Indians now " became the victims of drunkenness and discord, 

 and it was to be feared that if the war and its consequent demoralization con- 

 tinued, the most important tribes would soon be utterly swept away. 



The finances of the belligerent companies were in an equally deplorable 

 state ; the produce of the chase diminished from year to year with the in- 



