CHAPTER XXX.
THE LIFE OF THE TRADERS.
Lonely trading posts--Skilful letter writers--Queer old Peter Fidler--Famous library--A remarkable will--A stubborn Highlander--Life at Red River--Badly-treated Pangman--Founding trading houses--Beating up recruits--Priest Provencher--A fur-trading mimic--Life far north--"Ruled with a rod of iron"--Seeking a fur country--Life in the canoe--A trusted trader--Sheaves of letters--A find in Edinburgh--Faithful correspondents--The Bishop's cask of wine--Red River, a "land of Canaan"--Governor Simpson's letters--The gigantic Archdeacon writes--"MacArgrave's" promotion--Kindly Sieveright--Traders and their books 283