Part 20

The island of Montreal is about twenty-eight miles in length and ten in breadth; it is the largest of several islands which are situated in the St. Lawrence, at the mouth of the Utawa River. Its soil is luxuriant, and in some parts much cultivated and thickly inhabited. It is agreeably diversified with hill and dale, and towards its center, in the neighbourhood of Montreal, there are two or three considerable mountains. The largest of these stands at the distance of about one mile from the town, which is named from it. The base of this mountain is surrounded with neat country houses and gardens, and partial improvements have been made about one third of the way up; the remainder is entirely covered with lofty trees. On that side towards the river is a large old monastery, with extensive inclosures walled in, round which the ground has been cleared for some distance. This open part is covered with a rich verdure, and the woods encircling it, instead of being overrun with brushwood, are quite clear at bottom, so that you may here roam about at pleasure for miles together, shaded, by the lofty trees, from the rays of the sun.

[Sidenote: FUR TRADE.]

The view from hence is grand beyond description. A prodigious expanse of country is laid open to the eye, with the noble river St. Lawrence winding through it, which may be traced from the remotest part of the horizon. The river comes from the right, and flows smoothly on after passing down the tremendous rapids above the town, where it is hurried over huge rocks with a noise that is heard even up the mountain. On the left below you appears the town of Montreal, with its churches, monasteries, glittering spires, and the shipping under its old walls; several little islands in the river near the town, partly improved, partly overgrown with wood, add greatly to the beauty of the scene. La Prarie with its large church on the distant side of the river, is seen to the greatest advantage, and beyond it is a range of lofty mountains which terminates the prospect. Such an endless variety and such a grandeur is there in the view from this part of the mountain, that even those who are most habituated to the view always find it a fresh subject of admiration whenever they contemplate it; and on this part of the mountain it is that the club which I mentioned generally assembles. Two stewards are appointed for the day, who always chuse some new spot where there is a spring or rill of water, and an agreeable shade: each family brings cold provisions, wine, &c.; the whole is put together, and the company, often amounting to one hundred persons, sits down to dinner.

The fur trade is what is chiefly carried on at Montreal, and it is there that the greater part of the furs are shipped, which are sent from Canada to England.

This very lucrative trade is carried on, partly by what is called the North West Company, and partly by private individuals on their own account. The company does not possess any particular privileges by law, but from its great capital merely it is enabled to trade to certain remote parts of the continent, to the exclusion of those who do not hold any shares in it. It was formed originally by the merchants of Montreal themselves, who wisely considered that the trade could be carried on to those distant parts of the continent, inhabited solely by Indians, with more security and greater profit, if they joined together in a body, than if they continued to trade separately. The stock of the company was divided into forty shares, and as the number of merchants in the town at that time was not very great, this arrangement afforded an opportunity to every one of them to join in the company if he thought proper. At present these shares have all fallen into the hands of a few persons.

[Sidenote: CANOES.]

The company principally carries on its trade by means of the Utawas or Grand River, that falls into the St. Lawrence about thirty miles above Montreal, and which forms, by its confluence with that river, “Le Lac de Deux Montagnes et le Lac St. Louis,”—the lake of the Two Mountains and the Lake of St. Louis, wherein are several large islands. To convey the furs down this river, they make use of canoes, formed of the bark of the birch tree, some of which are upon such a large scale that they are capable of containing two tons, but they seldom put so much in them, especially on this river, it being in many places shallow, rapid, and full of rocks, and contains no less than thirty-two portages.

The canoes are navigated by the French Canadians, who are particularly fond of the employment, preferring it in general to that of cultivating the ground. A fleet of them sets off from Montreal about the month of May, laden with provisions, consisting chiefly of biscuit and salt pork, sufficient to last the crews till their return, and also with the articles given in barter to the Indians. At some of the shallow places in the river, it is sufficient if the men merely get out of the canoes, and push them on into the deep water; but at others, where there are dangerous rapids and sharp rocks, is it necessary for the men to unlade the canoes, and carry both them and the cargoes on their shoulders, till they come again to a safe part of the river. At night they drag the canoes upon shore, light a fire, cook their provisions for the following day, and sleep upon the ground wrapped up in their blankets. If it happens to rain very hard, they sometimes shelter themselves with boughs of trees, but in general they remain under the canopy of heaven, without any covering but their blankets: they copy exactly the Indian mode of life on these occasions, and many of them even wear the Indian dresses, which they find more convenient than their own.

Having ascended the Utawas River for about two hundred and eighty miles, which it takes them about eighteen days to perform, they then cross by a portage into Lake Nispissing, and from this lake by another portage they get upon French River, that falls into Lake Huron on the north-east side; then coasting along this last lake they pass through the Straits of St. Mary, where there is another portage into Lake Superior; and coasting afterwards along the shores of Lake Superior, they come to the Grand Portage on the north-west side of it; from hence by a chain of small lakes and rivers they proceed on to the Rainy Lake, to the Lake of the Woods, and for hundreds of miles beyond it, through Lake Winnipeg, &c.

[Sidenote: M‘KENZIE’S EXPEDITIONS.]

The canoes, however, which go so far up the country, never return the same year; those intended to bring back cargoes immediately, stop at the Grand Portage, where the furs are collected ready for them by the agents of the company. The furs are made up in packs of a certain weight, and a particular number is put into each canoe. By knowing thus the exact weight of every pack, there can be no embezzlement; and at the portages there is no time wasted in allotting to each man his load, every one being obliged to carry so many packs.

At the Grand Portage, and along that immense chain of lakes and rivers, which extend beyond Lake Superior, the company has regular posts, where the agents reside; and with such astonishing enterprize and industry have the affairs of this company been carried on, that trading posts are now established within five hundred miles of the Pacific Ocean. One gentleman, indeed, a partner in the house at Montreal, which now holds the greatest part of the shares of the company, has even penetrated to the Pacific Ocean itself. The journal kept by this gentleman upon the expedition is, it is said, replete with information of the most interesting nature. That it has not been laid before the public long ago, together with an accurate map of his track, is to be imputed solely to an unfortunate misunderstanding which took place between him and a noble lord high in the confidence of government.

In the first attempt which this adventurous gentleman, a Mr. M‘Kenzie, made to penetrate to the ocean, he set out early in the spring from the remotest of the posts belonging to the company. He took with him a single canoe, and a party of chosen men; and after passing over prodigious traits of land, never before traversed by any white person, at last came to a large river. Here the canoe, which was carried by the men on their shoulders, was launched, and having all embarked, they proceeded down the stream. From the course this river took for a very great distance, Mr. M‘Kenzie was led to imagine that it was one of those rivers he was in quest of; namely, one which emptied itself into the Pacific Ocean; but at the end of several weeks, during which they had worked their way downward with great eagerness, he was convinced, from the gradual inclination of the river towards another quarter, that he must have been mistaken; and that it was one of those immense rivers, so numerous on the continent of North America, that ran into Baffin’s Bay, or the Arctic Ocean.

[Sidenote: M‘KENZIE’S EXPEDITIONS.]

The party was now in a very critical situation; the season was far advanced, and the length of way which they had to return was prodigious. If they attempted to go back, and were overtaken by winter, they must in all probability perish for want of provisions in an uninhabited country; if, on the contrary, they made up their minds to spend the winter where they were, they had no time to lose in building huts, and going out to hunt and fish, that they might have sufficient stores to support them through that dreary season. Mr. M‘Kenzie represented the matter, in the most open terms, to his men, and left it to themselves to determine the part they would take. The men were for going back at all hazards; and the result was, that they reached their friends in safety. The difficulties they had to contend with, and the exertions they made in returning, were almost surpassing belief.

The second expedition entered upon by Mr. M‘Kenzie, and which succeeded to his wishes, was undertaken about three years ago. He set out in the same manner, but well provided with several different things, which he found the want of in the first expedition. He was extremely well furnished this time with astronomical instruments, and in particular with a good time-piece, that he procured from London. He took a course somewhat different from the first, and passed through many nations of Indians who had never before seen the face of a white man, amongst some of whom he was for a time in imminent danger; but he found means at last to conciliate their good will. From some of these Indians he learned, that there was a ridge of mountains at a little distance, beyond which the rivers all ran in a western direction. Having engaged some of them therefore for guides, he proceeded according to their directions until he came to the mountains, and after ascending them with prodigious labour, found, to his great satisfaction, that the account the Indians had given was true, and that the rivers on the opposite side did indeed all run to the west. He followed the course of one of them, and finally came to the Pacific Ocean, not far from Nootka Sound.

[Sidenote: HUDSON BAY.]

Here he was given to understand by the natives, and their account was confirmed by the sight of some little articles they had amongst them, that an English vessel had quitted the coast only six weeks before. This was a great mortification to Mr. M‘Kenzie; for had there been a ship on the coast, he would most gladly have embarked in it rather than encounter the same difficulties, and be exposed to the same perils, which he had experienced in getting there; however there was no alternative; he set out after a short time on his journey back again, and having found his canoe quite safe under some bushes, near the head of the river, where he had hid it, together with some provisions, left on going down to the coast the natives might have proved unfriendly, and have cut off his retreat by seizing upon it, he finally arrived at one of the trading posts in security. When I was at Montreal Mr. M‘Kenzie was not there, and I never had an opportunity of seeing him afterwards. What I have here related respecting his two expeditions is the substance, to the best of my recollection, of what I heard from his partners.

Many other individuals belonging to the North West Company, before Mr. M‘Kenzie set out, penetrated far into the country in different directions, and much beyond what any person had done before them, in order to establish posts. In some of these excursions they fell in with the agents of the Hudson Bay Company, who were also extending their posts from another quarter: this unexpected meeting between the two companies, at one time gave rise to some very unpleasant altercations, and the Hudson Bay Company threatened the other with an immediate prosecution for an infringement of its charter.

By its charter, it seems, the Hudson Bay Company was allowed the exclusive privilege of trading to the Bay, and along all the rivers and waters connected with it. This charter, however, was granted at a time when the northern parts of the continent were much less known than they are now, for to have the exclusive trade along all the waters connected with Hudson Bay was, literally speaking, to have the exclusive trade of the greater part of the continent of North America. Hudson Bay by a variety of rivers and lakes, is closely connected with Lake Superior, and from that chain of lakes, of which Lake Superior is one, there is a water communication throughout all Canada, and a very great part of the United States; however, when the agents of the North-west Company were fixing trading posts upon some rivers which ran immediately into Hudson’s Bay, it undoubtedly appeared to be an infringement of the charter, and so indeed it must strictly have been, had not the Hudson’s Bay Company itself infringed its own charter in the first instance, or at least neglected to comply with all the stipulations contained therein. A clause seems to have been in the charter, which, at the same time that it granted to the company the exclusive privilege of trading to Hudson’s Bay, and along all the waters connected with it, bound it to erect a new post twelve miles farther to the westward every year, otherwise the charter was to become void. This had not been done; the North-west Company therefore rested perfectly easy about the menaces of a prosecution, satisfied that the other company did not in fact legally possess those privileges to which it laid claim.

[Sidenote: TRADING COMPANIES.]

The Hudson’s Bay Company, though it threatened, never indeed attempted to put its threats into execution, well knowing the weakness of its cause, but continued nevertheless to watch the motions of its rival with a most jealous eye; and as in extending their respective trades, the posts of the two companies were approximating nearer and nearer to each other every year, there was great reason to imagine that their differences, instead of abating, would become still greater than they were, and finally, perhaps, lead to consequences of the most serious nature. A circumstance, however, unexpectedly took place, at a time when the greatest enmity subsisted between the parties, which happily reconciled them to each other, and terminated all their disputes.

A very powerful nation of Indians, called the Assiniboins, who inhabit an extended tract of country to the south-west of Lake Winnipeg, conceiving that the Hudson’s Bay Company had encroached unreasonably upon their territories, and had otherwise maltreated a part of their tribe, formed the resolution of instantly destroying a post established by that company in their neighbourhood. A large body of them soon collected together, and breathing the fiercest spirit of revenge, marched unperceived and unsuspected by the party against whom their expedition was planned, till within a short distance of their post. Here they halted according to custom, waiting only for a favourable moment to pounce upon their prey. Some of the agents of the North-west Company, however, who were scattered about this part of the country, fortunately got intelligence of their design. They knew the weakness of the place about to be attacked, and forgetting the rivalship subsisting between them, and thinking only how to save their countrymen, they immediately dispatched a messenger to give the party notice of the assault that was meditated; they at the same time sent another messenger to one of their own posts, desiring that instant succour might be sent to that belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, which the Indians were about to plunder. The detachment arrived before the attack commenced, and the Indians were repulsed; but had it not been for the timely assistance their rivals had afforded, the Hudson Bay people were fully persuaded that they must have fallen victims to the fury of the Indians.

This signal piece of service was not undervalued or forgotten by those who had been saved; and as the North-west Company was so much stronger, and on so much better terms with the Indians in this part of the country than its rivals, it now evidently appeared to be the interest of the latter to have the posts of the North-west Company established as near its own as possible. This is accordingly done for their mutual safety, and the two companies are now on the most friendly terms, and continue to carry on their trade close to each other.

[Sidenote: FUR TRADE.]

About two thousand men are employed by the North-west Company in their posts in the upper country. Those who are stationed at the remote trading posts lead a very savage life, but little better indeed than that of Indians: some of them remain far up in the country for four or five years together. The head clerk or principal agent generally marries an Indian girl, the daughter of some eminent chief, by which he gains in a peculiar manner the affections of the whole tribe, a matter of great importance. These marriages, as may be supposed, are not considered as very binding by the husband; but that is nothing in the opinion of an Indian chief, who readily brings his sister or daughter to you; at the same time he can only be appeased by blood if a person attempts to take any improper liberties with his wife. Amongst no people are the wives more chaste, or more devoted to their husbands.

Besides the furs and pelts conveyed down to Montreal from the north-western parts of the continent, by means of the Utawas River, there are large quantities also brought there across the lakes, and down the River St. Lawrence. These are collected at the various towns and posts along the Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario, where the trade is open to all parties, the several posts being protected by regular troops, at the expence of the government. Added likewise to what are thus collected by the agents of the company, and of private merchants, there are considerable quantities brought down to Montreal for sale by traders, on their own account. Some of these traders come from parts as remote as the Illinois Country, bordering on the Mississippi. They ascend the Mississippi as far as Ouisconsing River, and from that by a portage of three miles get upon Fox River, which falls into Lake Michigan. In the fall of the year, as I have before mentioned, these two rivers overflow, and it is then sometimes practicable to pass in a light canoe from one river to the other, without any portage whatsoever. From Lake Michigan they get upon Lake Huron, afterwards upon Lake Erie, and so on to the St. Lawrence. Before the month of September is over, the furs are all brought down to Montreal; as they arrive they are immediately shipped, and the vessels dispatched in October, beyond which month it would be dangerous for them to remain in the river on account of the setting in of winter.

Furs are also shipped in considerable quantities at Quebec, and at the town of Trois Rivieres. These furs are brought down the rivers that fall into the St. Lawrence, on the north side, by Indians.

+LETTER + XXIII.

_Voyage to Quebec down the St. Lawrence.—A Bateau preferable to a Keel Boat.—Town of Sorelle.—Ship-building there.—Description of Lake St. Pierre.—Batiscon.—Charming Scenery along the Banks of St. Lawrence.—In what respects it differs from the Scenery along any other River in America.—Canadian Houses.—Sketch of the Character and manners of the lower Classes of Canadians.—Their Superstition.—Anecdote.—St. Augustin Calvaire.—Arrive at Quebec._

Quebec, August.

[Sidenote: SORELLE.]

WE remained in Montreal until the first day of August, when we set off in a bateau for Quebec, about one hundred and sixty miles lower down the St. Lawrence. A bateau is a particular kind of boat, very generally used upon the large rivers and lakes in Canada. The bottom of it is perfectly flat, and each end is built very sharp, and exactly alike. The sides are about four feet high, and for the convenience of the rowers, four or five benches are laid across, sometimes more, according to the length of the bateau. It is a very heavy awkward sort of vessel, either for rowing or sailing, but it is preferred to a boat with a keel for two very obvious reasons; first, because it draws less water, at the same time that it carries a larger burthen; and secondly, because it is much safer on lakes or wide rivers, where storms are frequent: a proof of this came under our observation the day of our leaving Montreal. We had reached a wide part of the river, and were sailing along with a favourable wind, when suddenly the horizon grew very dark, and a dreadful storm arose, accompanied with loud peals of thunder and torrents of rain. Before the sail could be taken in, the ropes which held it were snapped in pieces, and the waves began to dash over the sides of the bateau, though the water had been quite smooth five minutes before. It was impossible now to counteract the force of the wind with oars, and the bateau was consequently driven on shore, but the bottom of it being quite flat, it was carried smoothly upon the beach without sustaining any injury, and the men leaping out drew it up on dry land, where we remained out of all danger till the storm was over. A keel boat, however, of the same size, could not have approached nearer to the shore than thirty feet, and there it would have stuck fast in the sand, and probably have been filled with water. From being fitted up as it was, our bateau proved to be a very pleasant conveyance: it was one of a large size, and over the widest part of it an oilcloth awning was thrown, supported by hoops similar to the roof of a waggon: thus a most excellent cabin was formed, large enough, to contain half a dozen chairs and a table, and which, at the same time that it afforded shelter from the inclemency of the weather, was airy, and sufficiently open to let us see all the beauties of the prospect on each shore to the greatest advantage.