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THE HOME

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WOLVERENE AND BEAVER.

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THE BEAVER’S HOME.

Frontispiece. Page 67.

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WOLVERENE AND BEAVER;

Hur-hunting in the Gailds of Canada.

BY

CHARLES HENRY EDEN,

Author of “ Australia’s Heroes,” “* The Fortunes of the Fletchers,”
Ge, Ge.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF
THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAI LITERATURE AND EDUCATION,
APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTIISG
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

LONDON :
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.-C. 3
97, WESTBOURNE GROVE, W.3 43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.
BRIGHTON : 135, NORTH STREET.
New York: E. & J. Bb. YOUNG & CO.

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PREFACE,

N the following pages I have en
deavoured to give an account
of the various methods em-
ployed by Fur-hunters for the
capture of the animals whose
skins form so important an
article of commerce in the
three continents of Europe,

Asia, and America; and whilst
so doing I have given a brief outline of the appear-
ance and habits of the animals themselves, together
with such anecdotes as I thought would prove
interesting to the general reader. As a couple of
hundred pages devoted to trapping alone must of
necessity be somewhat dull, I have attempted to
lighten the volume by some account of the Settle-
ment on the Columbia River founded by Mr. John
Jacob Astor, making use of the two most authentic

4 Preface.

records, namely, Washington Irving’s “ Astoria,”
and Mr. A. Ross’s “Adventures on the Oregon
River.” For the natural history portion of the
book I have also followed the best authorities,
namely, Messrs. Audubon and Bachman, Sir John
Richardson, and Mr. Samuel Hearne.

My original intention was to change the scene
from the Canadian forests to the prairie land of the
Far West, with its wandering bands of warlike
Indians and larger /awna—the buffalo and the
grizzly bear, but the space at my command pre-
vented this, and I have confined myself solely
to forest hunting and trapping. Whether the
reception accorded to this little volume will justify
me in supplementing it with another, remains to
be seen.

C.. Hy EVEN:

THE

HOME OF THE WOLVERENE AND BEAVER:

OR,

Hur-hunting im the Cdilds of Canada,

CHAPTER’ f.
* 70 SHE keeper said the ice was dangerous
©, ¢ ‘ towards the head of the mere; and
Ry Y, Ch you know I told Mrs. Marshall I

“> would bring you back in safety, so
: don’t venture too far in that direction,
Cy George,” cried Paul Gresham to his com-
; panion, as both lads, having buckled on
their skates, prepared to enjoy a good
forenoon’s amusement on the fine sheet of frozen
water that stood within the boundary of Mr.
Marshall’s park.
“Never fear, old Paul. You know I am only a
feather-weight,” laughed George, launching himself
upon the smooth surface, which had been swept

6 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

free of all obstructions by a small boy from the
village, closely followed by Rover, a pet retriever,
whose anxiety to keep near his master throughout
the mazes and twirlings of his course often brought
the faithful animal to dire grief.

“The dog is a nuisance,” muttered Paul, who, less
experienced in the art of skating than his younger
companion George Marshall, had nearly fallen
headlong over Rover in one of his unexpected
turns; “he'll knock me off my pins in a minute.
Can’t you keep him on the bank, George,” he
cried, raising his voice and pointing to the dog.

“All right; I’ll amuse him until you feel your
ice-legs under you,” replied the latter, and making
for the bank he provided himself with a stick,
which he threw far away towards the head of the
lake for the dog to retrieve. Either the animal
was disobedient or instinct warned him that the
ice in the part where the stick had stopped was
unequa! to even his light weight, for he paused,
whining, and looked back beseechingly at his
master, who, unable to account for such strange
conduct, was skating towards him at speed.

“Oh, please come back, George,” shouted Paul,
on seeing the direction his companion was taking ;
“even the dog has got sense enough to know
the ice is too thin there.” But his warning was

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 7

either unheard or unheeded ; with lightning speed
the reckless lad dashed on—there was a sudden
cracking, a crash, a dull plunge, a smothered cry,
and Paul Gresham was alone upon the mere!

¥ * * * * *

“Doctor, you must tell me the whole truth.
Are they both in danger? Tell me, I entreat
you,’ said poor Mrs. Marshall, wringing her hands
in the deepest grief and agitation.

“Your son, madam, will do well enough. How
matters will turn out with young Gresham I am
unable yet to say. But I must lose no time now.
Be good enough to order more hot water to the
lads’ room immediately.”

“Certainly, doctor, certainly,” said the anxious
mother, glad of any occupation, however trivial,
that tended to the relief of the sufferers; “but
may I not see George ?”

“To be sure you may the moment he awakes,
but he is in a sound sleep at present, and must not
be disturbed.” :

When George Marshall opened his eyes some
six hours after the preceding short conversation, he
found his mother seated by his pillow and anxiously
awaiting his earliest movement.

“My darling, are you better now ?”

8 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

“Never mind me, mother, I’m all right. How
is Paul?”

“Paul is very ill, my dear, and must be kept
perfectly quiet.”

“Then I must go and see him,” and the lad
made an effort to rise, but fell back exhausted in
the bed. “He has saved my life,” he murmured,
“and Iam unable even to nurse him. You know
that it is through me that Paul got under the ice,
don’t you, mother?” he ran on impetuously, not-
withstanding Mrs. Marshall’s efforts to restrain him.
“T saw him coming towards me, pushing a hurdle
before him and shouting to me to keep quiet for a
moment, and not break the rotten edge any more
by my struggles. In my fright I paid no attention
to his advice, and, clutching at the hurdle too sud-
denly, the ice gave way all round. Paul managed
to get the hurdle out of the water again, and had
helped me on to it, when his hands became numbed
and he sank. Remember, mother, he could have
saved himself had he liked, but he had promised
you to bring me back safely, and at the peril of his
own life he kept his word.”

The above sentence will give the reader as good
an idea of the catastrophe as a longer description.
On seeing his companion immersed, Paul Gresham
remembered some hurdles that were stacked near the

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 9

edge of the lake, one of which the lads had used for
a seat while putting on their skates. Aided by this
he had managed to extricate his friend, but nearly
at the cost of his own life. Luckily the small boy
who had swept away the snow was lurking about
in the neighbourhood, greedy for coppers or any
remnants of the luncheon that the young people
had brought out with them; and on seeing the
accident, had given the alarm to some labourers
who were working in a field adjoining the park,
and who soon placed George in safety, though the
recovery of Paul was a more tedious process, for
the little stream that fed the lake, and whose cur-
rent caused the rottenness of the ice, had drifted
him beneath it. Some ten or fifteen minutes
elapsed before the inanimate body was brought to
the surface, and carried on a hurdle to the Hall,
whither George had preceded him, borne in the
same manner. For many hours the struggle be-
tween life and death was close, and only by the
vigilance and skill of Doctor Inglis was conscious-
ness at length restored, and it was three good
weeks before Paul Gresham was able to leave his
bed, and as many more before the doctor finally
took leave and pronounced him once more sound in
wind and limb.

And now I must endeavour to enlighten the

10 ©The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

reader a little regarding the two lads thus abruptly
introduced, with one of whom this story is mainly
concerned.

Mr. Robert Gresham, the father of Paul, was a
large West Indian proprietor, having inherited
sugar plantations and a coffee estate in Demerara
from a distant cousin, of whose existence he was
almost unaware. His early life had been a fierce
struggle with poverty, an actual fight for the bare
necessaries of life, under the burthen of which he
had seen his young wife pass away, leaving him
alone to face the bitter world with a baby only a
few weeks old. The winter that witnessed her
departure had barely brightened into spring, and
the grass was not yet green upon her grave when
the intelligence of his cousin’s death reached him,
and he found himself suddenly lifted from penury
to the enjoyment of a large fortune. But though
wealth came to the widower, the power to enjoy it
was wanting. What would not one hundredth part
of the sum, now yearly his, have been to him in the
days not long since past? It would have brought
health and bloom to the fair cheek that poverty com-
pelled him to watch growing daily more wan and
pale, beneath the pinching fingers of want ; it would
have brought peace to the aching heart, and proper
nourishment to the feeble frame. It was not to

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 11

be—Gertrude Gresham faded from this world six
weeks after the birth of her son Paul, and in her
grave lay buried all the hopes of her sorrowing
husband. True, he loved the child, loved him
tenderly, and spared no time nor trouble in the
guidance of his infancy; but still there was a void
within Robert Gresham’s breast, a vacancy that
paternal affection alone was insufficient to fill up.
“You are young, rich, and of good family, why
don’t you marry again, Gresham?” his friends
would ask with some impatience, when they saw
the little interest he manifested in worldly matters ;
‘ but the pained look of the poor widower touched
even the least feeling of them, and they were fain
to let him pursue his quiet path, playing with his
boy, busied with his books, but oftener still, seeking
the most solitary corner of his park, and there
brooding silently over her he had loved and lost.
At last a letter came from his Demerara agent,
announcing a yield of surpassing richness, and Mr.
Gresham found himself with a large sum of money
on his hands that he hardly knew how to dis-
pose of. On the morrow therefore he went to
London and looked up his old schoolfellow, Tom
Waring, now a shining light on the Stock Exchange,

“ Never mind the three per cents,” said the broker,
“try a venture with it, old fellow. If you don't

12 Lhe Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

pull off trumps it won’t so much matter, for the loss
will not affect you, and you may double your stake.
Besides it will be some amusement for you, and
drag you out of your den in Surrey. What do you
say? Shall I plunge for you?”

It was in all good-feeling and with the very best
intentions that honest Tom thus spoke, little
thinking that he had raised a passion of whose
existence its owner himself was totally ignorant.
Robert Gresham found in the various chances of
the money market an excitement which weaned
him frgm: his sorrow, and ere long engrossed his
whole being. Under its influence he became
another person. All lethargy was thrown aside,
and he seemed to have stepped into his natural
career, that of a bold and successful speculator.
His luck or his skill were enormous, and he soon
amassed great wealth, while his financial ability and
integrity became of European reputation.

Paul’s early days were too uneventful to need
narrating. At twelve years of age he went to
Eton, and there met George Marshall, who had
been commended to him by his father, by whom
Mr. Marshall was held in great esteem both as a
private friend and also as one of the most enter-
prising partners in the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Though the two lads had often heard of each other,

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 13

accident had hitherto prevented their meeting, for
the country seats of their respective fathers were
situated widely apart, but once thrown together
similarity of tastes soon firmly united them, ac-
quaintance grew into intimacy, and intimacy ripened
into a strong and durable friendship. It was during
a visit to Mr. Marshall’s place in Lancashire, in
the Christmas holidays of 1851, that the ice adven-
ture with which this chapter is opened took place.
Paul Gresham was then a lad of fifteen, tall, slight,
blue-eyed, but dark haired; a pretty boy enough,
and likely, the women said, to grow into a remark-
ably handsome man. In disposition he was frank
and generous, though perhaps a trifle exacting
amongst his inferiors, the result of having had his
own way too much whenachild. Three years at
Eton, however, had done wonders for him, and I
think I may safely say that Paul Gresham was
generally beloved.

George Marshall was one year Paul’s junior, and
looked up to the latter with a veneration that we
may seek in vain amongst any but schoolboys.
All lads seem to delight in setting up an idol, and
the hero thus exalted can (according to them) do
no wrong. That the object of this worship ever
did anything whatever to merit such devotion, Iam
unable to ascertain, but have incontestable proof

14 Lhe Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

that he led his youthful followers into numberless
scrapes, follies, and extravagances, all, however, of
a venial nature, and quite unworthy of record.

At the close of the Christmas holidays George
had to return to Eton alone, Paul being ordered to
the seaside to recruit his health. Easter, how-
ever, again saw the lads together, and they thus
continued until the close of 1854, when Paul went
to Oxford, to be followed the succeeding spring by
his chum George. How they alternately read, idled,
and were once both rusticated, I need not relate,
for it has little bearing upon this story. Their
parents were rich, and each of the young men had
an ample allowance, so good indeed as to prevent
their incurring college debts, a fact for which one
of them had cause shortly afterwards to be deeply
thankful, for it is quite hard enough to encounter
the world single-handed without being handicapped
with a mill-stone of college liabilities round your
neck at the very start.

Time rolled on until 1857. It was a glorious
spring morning and the sun shone merrily down
on the smooth grass plots and sparkling fountain
of College. Bursts of laughter and half snatches
of song came through the open windows of one of
the best sets of rooms in Oxford, and the un-
fortunate reading man, working hard for a fellow-

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 15

ship in the room below, groaned inwardly as he
stuffed his thumbs in his ears, and bent his head
yet lower over Aristophanes, in the vain hope of
shutting out the mirthful sounds, as he murmured,
“Gresham having another breakfast. The noise at
his wine last night kept me awake until past mid-
night: What a mercy it will be when he leaves ;
and yet he’s a good fellow too.”

Had the reading man known how shortly his
wish would be accomplished, he had perhaps been
less willing to frame it.

“Surely I hear some one at the oak. Open
the door, George, and let us see who it is.”

George Marshall arose, did as his host desired,
and a boy entered the room with an envelope in
his hand, saying, “ A telegraphic message for Mr,
Gresham.”

A blank fell upon the faces of the ten or dozen
young men seated round the well-furnished break-
fast table, at these ominous words ; for at that date
a telegraphic communication was ominous; the
wires were not then used for the every-day purposes
of the world at large, and only on occasions of im-
portance, such as accident, illness, or death, was
the “lightning message” employed. Small wonder,
then, that the hearts of the guests sank within them,
and notwithstanding the well-bred remonstrances

16 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

of Paul, the merry meeting was broken up, and
the young man found himself alone with George
Marshall.

“Don’t move, old fellow,” he said, as the latter
showed signs of departing. ‘ Wait until I see what
it can be.”

He held the envelope still unopened in his hand,
a deadly pallor on his face, and a huskiness in his
voice betraying the emotion he vainly strove to
repress. With an effort he tore the cover off,
glanced his eye over the unwelcome missive, and
whilst holding it out towards George, dropped
senscless in his chair.

Robert Gresham was dead—had died suddenly,
so people said, after the arrival of the American
mail which announced the failure of one of the
largest houses in New York. A fost mortem ex-
amination showed that the heart was the actual
cause of death, but its action must have been
arrested by some sudden mental shock, otherwise,
pronounced the faculty, he might have lived for
years. Many were the surmises in the financial
world as to the amount of the dead man’s fortune,
and great was the surprise when it became known
that he had left nothing, that all his property both
in England and in the West Indies was heavily
mortgaged, and that little would revert to his only

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 17

son except the few thousands arising from the sale
of the furniture. Singularly fortunate at first,
success had rendered him incautious, and latterly
losses had fallen upon him thickly and heavily.
Still he would have pulled through had it not beer
for the unforeseen failure of the great American
house, but this completely ruined him, and it was
the paragraph in the newspapers recording this
event that caused his death.

Paul bore the reverse nobly. To say that he
did not feel the alteration in his fortune would be
untrue; no young man brought up with unlimited
money can see himself reduced to penury without
regret; but it can be safely affirmed that the loss
of his father by far outweighed the loss of his
fortune. He at once threw up his rooms at ;
and at Mr. Marshall’s request went down to the
quiet hall, where, six years before, he had so
narrowly escaped drowning.

Mr. Marshall was Robert Gresham’s only ex-
ecutor, and much that worthy man pondered on
what would be the best career for Paul, whom he
loved as though he were his son. The young
man, however, relieved him of all anxiety on this
score, by saying, ‘“‘ You are one of the directors of
the Hudson’s Bay Company, cannot you send me
out there as a clerk or something ?”
hit B

18 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

“Good gracious, Paul, you would be frozen!”
cried kind-hearted Mrs. Marshall; but the young
man was unwavering, and in talking it over with
his wife, Mr. Marshall said—

“He might do many a worse thing, my dear.
The pay will be small enough at first, but if he
had the wealth of Golconda he couldn’t spend it in
Rupert’s Land. He will learn a good business
practically, and I will see to his advancement. I
also hope that we shall save enough from the
wreck of the property to clear the West Indian
estates, but to accomplish this I must have every
penny. Altogether, the boy has shown a great
deal of good sense, and in nothing more than in
this his last determination.”

Three months after the receipt of the telegraphic
message—the word “telegram” was unknown then
—Paul Gresham took leave of George Marshall
on the deck of the Cunard steam ship JSal¢ic,
bound for Halifax, and I shall endeavour to
pourtray his life in the wild western land, the
home of the moose, the wolverene, and the beaver.

19

CHAPTER: IT.

Laltic in safety to Halifax, the capital
of the colony of Nova Scotia. The
appearance of the city is very striking,

from its being built on a slope, which rises
e> gradually more than two hundred feet above

the sea, the lower portion being occupied

by warehouses and wharves crowded with
shipping, above which are seen the public buildings
and fine dwelling-houses intermingled, while the
summit of the rise is crowned by a massive granite
citadel, and an edifice in whose lofty tower is fixed
the town clock, which is thus rendered visible from
all parts of the town. The streets are laid out at
right angles, and are spacious and handsome,
though there is little uniformity in the appearance
of the houses, some of them being built of stone or
brick, others, equally attractive, of wood neatly
painted, while many are stuccoed or plastered.
But perhaps the most prominent features of Halifax
are its beautiful harbour and dockyard. The
mz

20 3 =6he Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

former is one of the finest in the world, extending
nearly sixteen miles inland, and accessible at all
times to ships, however great may be their draught
of water. Opposite the town, where vessels usually
anchor, its breadth is about a mile, and on its
smooth surface is generally seen the graceful hull of
one or more British men-of-war, forming portion of
the North American and West Indian fleet, who
repair to this charming place both to refit and tc
enable the crews to shake off the sickness too often
engendered by a lengthened cruise amongst the
fever-stricken islands of the tropics. Beyond the
town the harbour contracts to a quarter of a mile
in width, and finally expands into a noble sheet of
water comprising an area of about ten square
miles, called Bedford Basin. A small arm branching
off from the harbour a short distance below the city
extends inland to within half a mile of this basin,
forming the peninsula on which the city is built.
The dockyard covers an area of fourteen acres, and
is one of the finest in the world out of England.
Paul made but a short stay in this pleasant
place, and when he took his passage in a steamer
bound to Montreal, he carried away with him a
vivid recollection of the bright eyes of some of the
young ladies, for no city in the world can produce
prettier faces than the capital of Nova Scotia.

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 21

<

The voyage up the mighty St. Lawrence, and
past the city of Quebec I shall not attempt to
describe, suffice it to say that Paul arrived at
Montreal in due course, and was warmly welcomed
by Mr. Tanner, the agent of the Hudson’s Bay
Company, to whom he brought letters of introduc-
tion from Mr. Marshall.

Montreal is worthy of a few descriptive words,
being the largest city in British North America.
It is situated at the south side of a large island
thirty miles in length by ten in breadth at its
widest parts, at the confluence of the St. Lawrence
and Ottawa rivers. The city consists of an upper
and a lower town, the former of which has wide
streets and handsome buildings, while the latter
presents a cramped and gloomy appearance, owing
to its narrow streets and the French fashion which
there prevails of closing the windows with dark
iron shutters. Being at the head of the ship
navigation Montreal displays great commercial
activity. At the time of which we are now speaking,
1857, it was the head-quarters of the troops in
North America, and also the see of an Anglican
Bishop, who is the Metropolitan of Canada, whilst
its population numbered nearly 80,000 people.

But I must now leave Paul Gresham to purchase
his outfit under the direction of Mr. Tanner, whilst I

22 Lhe Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

lay before the reader a sketch of the North Ameri-
can fur trade, with which is embodied the history
of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Concerning
the latter opulent body but little is known
to the world at large, for it has never been their
policy to court publicity. Such fragments as have
from time to time appeared are fraught with interest,
and if I am somewhat minute in my description, it
is because the subject has been but little handled,
and is of a nature to repay the reader.

In the year 1670, King Charles II. granted a
charter to Prince Rupert, Christopher Duke of
Albemarle, William Earl of Craven, Henry Lord
Arlington, Anthony Lord Ashley, Sir John
Robinson, Sir Robert Viner, Sir John Griffith, Sir
Philip Carteret, James Hayse, John Kirke, Francis
Millington, William Prettyman, John Fenn, and
John Portman and their successors. Its purpose
was to encourage the associates to search for the
north-west passage, and to establish a trade in furs,
minerals, and “other considerable commodities.”
It conveyed to the Company a grant of “the sole
trade and commerce of all those seas, straits, bays,
rivers, lakes, creeks and sounds, in whatever latitude
they shall be, that lie within the entrance of the
straits commonly called Hudson’s Straits, together
with all the lands and territories upon the countries,

The Home of the Wolverene and beaver. 23

coasts, and confines of the sea, bays, lakes, rivers,
creeks and sounds aforesaid,’ that were not
previously granted to or in the possession of any
British subjects, or those of any other Christian
prince. All mines of gold, silver, gems or precious
stones, discovered, or to be discovered, within those
territories and limits, were also conveyed to the
Company. Of the territory itself, they were con-
stituted free and absolute proprietors, on condition
of paying yearly the sovereign two elks and two
black beavers ; but this only whenever the sovereign
should be within the limits of their territory. The
Company had power to make laws, constitutions
and ordinances, and to provide pains, penalties, and
punishments for their violation ; whilst fines for the
breach of laws thus made, were to go to the
Company. There was, however, one limitation to
these powers ; the laws, constitutions, orders, and
ordinances which the Company might make, and
the fines and amercements which they might impose,
were required to be “reasonable, and not contrary
or repugnant, but as near as may be agreeable to
the law, statutes or customs of the realm.”

How complete was the monopoly intended to be
conveyed by Charles II. may be seen by the stipula-
tion on the part of the King, that no other subjects
of Great Britain, except the few favoured individuals

24. The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

forming the Company, should even visit the
territories granted, contrary to the true meaning of
the charter, that is to say, for trading purposes—
all other subjects of the crown were expressly for-
bidden to visit or trade at any of these places,
unless specially licensed by the Company, on pain
of incurring the royal displeasure, and the forfeiture
of goods. Offenders might be bound in the penalty
of a thousand pounds not again to trade within this
exclusive domain. The Company had full power
to equip armed vessels, and send them with men
and ammunition to any of their forts, factories, or
places of trade, appointing commanders and officers
by commission under the common seal. They had
the right of making war or concluding peace with
any non-Christian prince or people within the
territories covered by their charter. They might
build castles, forts, or fortifications and garrison
them, and lay out towns and villages; whilst any
persons, not members of the Company, whether
British subjects or not, who should sail into
Hudson’s Bay, or enter their territory without
leave, were liable to be seized and sent to England—
in short the power of the new Company was prac-
tically unlimited, and the monopoly as complete
as the inclination of the monarch, and ink, parch-
ment and lawyers could make it.

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. — 25

For many years, for nearly a century indeed, the
Hudson’s Bay Company confined their operations
to the coast. The fur-bearing animals were in
great abundance, the Indian tribes in the vicinity
captured them, brought the skins into the nearest
fort or factory, and exchanged them for powder,
rifles, rum, or some other European commodity.
Thus far the Company had had it all their own way ;
no adventurous traders entered their sacred bay,
and a more close and lucrative trade was developed
than their most sanguine dreams had ever led them
to expect. But a rival was already afield, and
attacking their preserves; an enemy not arriving
by sea—that they could easily have stopped—but
working up from the interior of Canada, the direc-
tion in which they were most defenceless.

From the earliest settlement of Canada by the
French the fur trade was recognised as of the first
importance to the colony, and to procure a supply
of skins the Indians were encouraged to penetrate
into the country, being generally accompanied by
some of the Canadians, who found means to induce
the more distant tribes to bring their peltry to the
settlements for sale or barter. These adventurous
men fell so much in love with the wild life that
they led amongst the Indians, that they only
returned to civilisation at long intervals, and

26 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

gradually became a_ distinct class known as
coureurs des bots or wood-rangers. Without their
aid the merchant would have been unable to com-
municate with the distant tribes, and the fur trade
would have fallen to the ground, for it is needless
to say that all valuable animals in the vicinity of
the settlements had been long since destroyed.
Therefore acknowledging their value as “ go-
betweens,” the traders each employed a certain
number of cowreurs, whom they equipped on credit,
and despatched into the interior. Three or four of
these men would unite their stock, place all their
property in a birch-bark canoe, which they worked
themselves, and would then paddle up the almost
unknown rivers with which Canada abounded, until
they reached a tribe whose hunting-ground seemed
rich enough to repay them. There the light-
hearted Frenchmen would throw aside the garb of
civilisation, would don the attire and lead the life of
the savage, having each taken to himself an Indian
wife. At the expiration of a year or eighteen
months they would return to the settlements, the
frail canoe almost sinking under its load of costly
furs. During their stay in town, their life was one
scene of reckless extravagance and wild dissipation,
insomuch that in fifteen days they often squandered
the hardly-earned gains of as many months. Of

The Home of the Wolverene and beaver. 27

course the merchants took no steps to check such
license, for the sooner poor Baptiste had spent his
money, the sooner he would be ready to start afresh
into the wilderness.

But there were a class of men in Canada to whom
the licentious manners of the coureurs des bots
gave great offence ; these were the Roman Catholic
missionaries, who laboured unceasingly to convert
the natives, and beheld their efforts brought to
nought and their teachings held up to ridicule by
men who professed themselves to be members of the
Christian faith. They accordingly exerted their
influence for the suppression of the coureurs, and
so far succeeded that no one was allowed to go up
country and traffic with the Indians without a
license from the Government.

At first these permits were only granted to men
of good character, but gradually they came to be
bestowed as rewards on officers and their widows,
who, if unwilling to use them themselves, were
allowed to sell them to the merchants, who in turn
supplied them to the coureurs des bois, whom they
employed as agents; thus the evil again sprang up
in greater force than ever, and not until military
posts were established at the confluence of the
large lakes, was the license of the wood-rangers
checked, and trade protected from the consequences

28 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

resulting from their improper conduct. A good
class of respectable people, chiefly retired officers,
also prosecuted the trade in person, and gave it a
better tone. Sir Alexander Mackenzie, to whose
works I am indebted for much of the information
here conveyed, says, “These persons and the
missionaries having combined their views at the
same time, secured the respect of the natives and
the obedience of the people necessarily employed
in the laborious parts of this undertaking. These
gentlemen denominated themselves commanders,
and not traders, though they were entitled to both
those characters; and, as for the missionaries, if
sufferings and hardships in the prosecution of the
great work which they had undertaken deserved
applause and admiration, they had an undoubted
claim to be admired and applauded : they spared
no labour and avoided no danger in the execution
of their important office, and it is to be seriously
lamented that their pious endeavours did not meet
with the success which they deserved ; for there is
hardly a trace to be found beyond the cultivated
parts of their meritorious functions.”

In the year 1763 Canada passed from the French
to the British, and for a short time the fur trade
languished, for the interior of the country was but
little known to the new rulers, and the couwreurs des

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 29

bois were naturally shy of serving masters they
had always been taught to regard as enemies. In
the year 1766, however, it revived, and the com-
petition between rival private traders grew fierce
and was productive of the worst results. The trade
from its very nature was carried on in the wilder-
ness, far away from legal restraint, and where
underhand methods of gaining an advantage over
a competitor could be employed unchecked. Mac-
kenzie says, “ The consequence was not only the
_loss of commercial benefit to the persons engaged
in it, but of the good opinion of the natives, and the
respect of these men, who were inclined to follow
their example; so that with drinking, carousing,
and quarrelling with the Indians along their route
and among themselves they seldom reached their
winter quarters, and if they did it was generally by
dragging their property upon sledges, as the navi-
gation was closed up by the frost. When at length
they were arrived the object of each was to injure
his rival trader in the opinion of the natives as
much as was in their power by misrepresentation
and presents, for which the agents employed were
peculiarly calculated. They considered the com-
mand of their employer as binding on them, and
however wrong or irregular the transaction, the
responsibility rested upon the principal who directed

30) )©=6—- Lhe Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

them. This is Indian law. Thus did they waste
their credit and their property with the natives, till
the first was past redemption and the last was
nearly exhausted, so that towards the spring in
each year the rival parties found it absolutely
necessary to join and make one common stock of
what remained for the purpose of trading with the
natives, who could entertain no respect for persons
who had conducted themselves with so much irregu-
larity and deceit. The winter, therefore, was one
continual scene of disagreements and quarrels. If _
any one had the precaution or good sense to
keep clear of these proceedings he derived a pro-
portionable advantage from his good conduct, and
frequently proved a peace-maker between the
parties. To such a height had they carried this
licentious conduct that they were in a continual
state of alarm, and were even frequently stopped
to pay tribute on their route into the country ;
though they had adopted the plan of travelling
together in parties of thirty or forty canoes, and
keeping their men armed, which sometimes, indecd,
proved necessary for their defence.”

In the face of these evils, the good results that
must accrue from uniting their parties became
apparent to all, and during the winter of 1783-4
the merchants of Canada, engaged in the fur trade,

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 31

formed a junction of interests, under the name of
the North-West Company; and being joined in
1787 by a rival company, the new association had
no competitor except the Hudson’s Bay Company,
and soon grew into a gigantic and wealthy concern,
whose branches spread throughout the country,
and whose posts were found on the furthest
frontier.

The method by which the North-West Company
was established and worked is so peculiar that a
few words regarding it can hardly be out of place.
It may be said to have been supported entirely
upon credit, for, whether the capital belonged to
the proprietor or was borrowed it equally bore
interest, for which the association was annually
accountable. It consisted of twenty shares, un-
equally divided among the persons concerned, and
of these, a certain proportion was held by the
people who managed the business in Canada, who
were styled agents. It was the duty of the latter
to import the necessary goods from England, store
them at their own expense at Montreal, pack and
forward them to the starting-place of the canoes,
and supply whatever cash might be wanting for
outfits, &c. ; as compensation for this extra trouble
the agents received, in addition to the profit or
their shares, a commission on the amount of the

32 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

accounts, which they made out annually, keeping
the venture of each year distinct. Two of them
went annually to the Grande Portage at the mouth
of the Winnipeg River, on the north-west shore of
Lake Superior, to manage and transact the busi-
ness there and at the intermediate stations, besides
collecting, packing, and forwarding to England all
the Company’s furs, on which they received a small
commission. Altogether the position of an agent
in the North-West Company was a highly desirable
one in a worldly point of view, for they amassed
enormous wealth, and were regarded as American
nabobs.

The remaining shares were held by the pro-
prietors, who were obliged to winter in the wilds,
and manage the business part of the concern with
the Indians, aided by their respective clerks, &c.
They were not supposed to furnish either capital
or credit, and if they gained any capital by the
business, it remained in the hands of the agents at
a fixed rate of interest. Some of them, from their
long service and influence, held double shares, and
were allowed to retire whenever they thought fit,
retaining one share and making over the other to a
younger man who succeeded to the more onerous
part of the business, and in this manner the clerks
and subordinate officers of the Company were

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 33

provided for and stimulated to perform their duty
with zeal and alacrity, for their own interests were
identical with those of their employers.

In the year 1788 the total amount of the Com-
pany’s capital was only forty thousand pounds, but
by the exertion, enterprise, and industry of the
proprietors, it more than tripled itself in eleven
years, and as an investment surpassed anything
known in America. Washington Irving says,
“Sometimes one or two partners, recently from the
interior posts, would make their appearance in
New York, in the course of a tour of pleasure and
curiosity. On these occasions there was always a
degree of magnificence of the purse about them, and
a peculiar propensity to expenditure at the gold-
smiths and jewellers, for rings, chains, brooches,
necklaces, jewelled watches, and other rich trinkets,
partly for their own wear, partly for presents to
their female acquaintances ; a gorgeous prodigality,
such as was often to be noticed in former times in
southern planters and West Indian creoles, when
flush with the profits of their plantations.”

And now having briefly sketched the constitution
of the North-West Company I pass on to the
manner in which it was worked.

The agents had to exercise great forethought in
ordering goods from England, for the communica-

Cc

34. The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

tion was very slow, so slow as to seem now-a-days
almost incredible. It was eighteen months from
the time that an order left Canada for London
before the articles demanded could be forwarded
up country from Montreal! And the seeming
delay occurred thus. An order was sent to London
in October, and the goods could not, owing to the
ice, arrive at Montreal before the following summer.
In the winter they were sorted and packed into
parcels of ninety pounds weight each, and the ice
again prevented their further progress until the
ensuing spring. Even a longer period was necessary
to dispose of the furs obtained in exchange for these
goods in the London market ; so that a merchant,
allowing that he had twelve months’ credit, did not
receive any return for the goods, and the necessary
expenses attending them, until two years after they
were considered as cash, and that they were enabled
to afford this and make an enormous profit to boot,
shows what a thriving concern the fur trade had
become.

The articles necessary for the trade were coarse
woollen cloths of different kinds ; blankets; arms
and ammunition; twist and carrot tobacco; Man-
chester goods ; linen and coarse sheetings; thread,
lines, and twine; common hardware; cutlery and
ironmongery of several descriptions; brass and

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 38

copper kettles and sheet iron; silk and cotton
handkerchiefs ; hats, shoes, stockings, &c., &c.
Spirituous liquors and provisions were purchased
in Canada, but all the foregoing articles were for-
warded from England, and from that day to this no
alteration has taken place in the description of goods
required in the fur trade, and the above list would
apply as well to 1876 as to 1788, for which reason
I have here inserted it.

In describing the Company’s mode of working, I
cannot do better than make the following extract
from Sir Alexander Mackenzie, whose book, pub-
lished in the first year of the present century, has
become rare and is little known, though few records
of travel will better repay the reader. He says :—
“We shall now proceed to consider the number of
men employed in the concern, viz., fifty clerks,
seventy-one interpreters and clerks, one thousand
one hundred and twenty canoe men, and thirty-five
guides. Of these, five clerks, eighteen guides, and
three hundred and fifty canoe men, were employed
for the summer season in going from Montreal to
the Grande Portage, in canoes, part of whom pro-
ceeded from thence to Rainy Lake, as will be here-
after explained, and are called Pork-eaters or Goers
and Comers. These were hired in Canada or Mon-
treal, and were absent from the Ist of May to the

€2

36 =69The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

latter end of September. For this trip the guides
had from eight hundred to a thousand livres,* and a
suitable equipment; the foreman and steersman
from four to six hundred livres; the middlemen
from two hundred and fifty to three hundred and
fifty livres, with an equipment of one blanket, one
shirt, and one pair of trousers ; and were maintained
during that period at the expense of their employers,
Independent of their wages, they were allowed to
traffic, and many of them earned to the amount of
their wages. About one-third of these went to
winter, and had more than double the above wages
and equipment. All the others were hired by the
year, and sometimes for three years ; and of the
clerks many were apprentices, who were generally
engaged for five or seven years, for which they had
only one hundred pounds, provision, and clothing.
Such of them as could not be provided for as
partners at the expiration of this time were allowed
from one hundred pounds to three hundred pounds
per annum, with all necessaries, till provision was
made for them. Those who acted in the twofold
capacity of clerk and interpreter, or were so deno-
minated, had no other expectation than the pay-
ment of wages to the amount of from one thousand.

* Thirty-two to forty pounds sterling. The value of one hundred
livres is four pounds.

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 3)

to four thousand livres per annum, with clothing
and provisions. The guides, who are a very useful
set of men, acted also in the additional capacity of
interpreters, and had a stated quantity of goods,
considered as sufficient for their wants, their wages
being from one to three thousand livres. The canoe
men are of two descriptions, foremen and steers-
men, and middlemen. The two first are allowed
annually one thousand two hundred, and the latter
four hundred livres each. The first class had what
is called an equipment, consisting of two blankets,
two shirts, two pair of trousers, two handkerchiefs,
fourteen pounds of carrot tobacco, and some trifling
articles. The latter had ten pounds of tobacco and
all the other articles: those are called North-men
or Winterers; and to the last class of people were
attached upwards of seven hundred Indian women
and children, victualled at the expense of the Com-
pany.”

As soon as the rivers and lakes were free from
ice, which was usually by the beginning of May,
the Company’s wharf at Montreal presented a busy
scene. Numbers of birch bark canoes lay ready
to receive their freight, consisting of sixty-five
packages (ninety pounds each), an abundant supply
of provisions for the eight or ten men constituting
the crew of each vessel, and material to repair her

a

33. The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

should she rend her frail sides in shooting a rapid.
On first seeing these canoes piled up with goods,
and their gunwales within a few inches of the
water even before the crew had taken their seats, a
stranger would undoubtedly prophesy the disappear-
ance of the vessel and her contents before many
miles were accomplished, but such is the skill of the
Canadian voyageurs that accidents rarely happen.
The little fleet paddle from the wharf, shoot the
rapid at St. Anne’s—familiar to us in Moore’s boat
song—and then consider their journey fairly com-
menced, for at that spot stands the last church on
the island, dedicated to the reputed tutelary saint
of voyagers.

To follow them minutely in their long passage
to the Grande Portage would be tedious. The few
scattered homesteads on the river banks are soon
left behind, and they are in the lonely wilderness,
whose echoes are awakened by the song and
mirthful jests of the light-hearted Frenchmen.
Falls are frequently encountered, and rapids that it
would be too dangerous to shoot, and then comes
the labour of a portage or a décharge, the former
term meaning the transport of both goods and
canoe overland, the latter of the goods alone.
Each man carries two packages on his back
suspended in a sling that passes over the forchead,

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 39

and some stout fellows will walk away over rocky,
steep ground with three—while four others lift
their light craft out of the water, shoulder her, and
convey her carefully beyond the obstacle. In a
dé-harge the canoe is commonly towed by a strong
cord, one man remaining in her to manage and
steer. Formerly several of these toilsome opera-
tions had to be performed in a day, now there is a
canal with smooth water all the way, but alas! the
graceful canoe is no longer to be seen paddling on
its surface with its motley crew of Canadians and
half-breeds ; the steam engine has destroyed the
romance of the lakes.

At length they arrive in safety within sight of
the fort. at the Grande Portage, with its large
barricade of cedar wood, within which are enclosed
the residences for the accommodation of the pro-
prietors and clerks during their short stay there.
The North-men and the Pork-eaters shift for them-
selves as best they can, the former in tents, the
latter under their canoes. Hardy and accustomed
to face any weather with indifference, the smallest
shelter suffices for their simple wants. And now
comes the selection of extra men to stay during
the winter, the payment of all accounts, the trans-
port of the goods across the nine miles which has
gained the Grande Portage its name, and lastly, a

40 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

few days of eating and drinking and jollification.
Mackenzie says, “It is, indeed, very creditable to
them as servants, that though they are sometimes
assembled to the number of twelve hundred men,
indulging themselves in the free use of liquor, and
quarrelling with each other, they always show the
greatest respect to their employers, who are com-
paratively but few in number, and beyond the aid of
any legal power to enforce due obedience—in short,
a degree of subordination can only be maintained
by the good opinion these men entertain of their
employers which has been uniformly the case since
the trade has been formed and conducted on a
regular system.”

Let us take a peep at the Grande Portage at six
o'clock on a July evening, and thus gain some in-
sight into the mode of living current at that remote
place. The men have returned from transporting
goods over the nine miles that must be traversed to
reach unbroken water; some of them have carried
two packages of ninety pounds each across, and
returned with the same weight of skins, performing
the double journey over very rough ground in little
more than six hours. They are now dispersed in
every direction, some reclining and smoking while
their squaws mix their hominee; others, whose
domestic arrangements are not so complete, per-

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 41

forming this office for themselves, but all, without
exception, gesticulating and speaking with a
volubility that defies description in a jargon of
mixed French, English, and Indian, that is nearly
deafening and utterly incomprehensible.

One word here, regarding ‘‘ hominee,” for it is the
sole diet given by the Company to their canoe men,
and ought to be good stuff to keep up the strength
of these hardworking people. Hominee is nothing
more than Indian corn and melted fat. The former
is prepared before shipment, by boiling it in a
strong alkali, which takes off the outer husk; after
being well washed and carefully dried, it is fit for
use. Corn is the cheapest provision that the
Company can procure, but from the expense of
transport it cannot be landed at the Grande Portage
under twenty shillings the bushel, and a man’s
daily allowance is a little less than one twentieth
part of this, or about ten pennyworth. To prepare
it for use, a quart of corn should be boiled for two
hours over a moderate fire, in a gallon of water ; to
which, after it has been on a little while, should be
added two ounces of melted suet, which causes the
corn to split, and in the time mentioned above
makes a pretty thick pudding. Salt must be
added after, not during the boiling process, with
which it would sadly interfere, and the hominee is

—=

42 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

then ready for eating, and is a wholesome, palatable
food, pleasant to the taste, and easy of digestion.
The above quantity is fully sufficient for a man’s
subsistence during twenty-four hours, and, as I said
before, with the exception of any fish they may
catch or game they may shoot, is all the Company’s
canoe men ever get.

But ‘to return to the fort. “If; teavine ‘the
picturesque groups of voyageurs and their Indian
belongings, we stroll into the large wooden build-
ing that stands nearly in the centre of the enclosure
we shall witness a curious and pleasing sight. At
some half a dozen long rough tables are seated at
least a hundred men, a few of them in the garb of
civilisation, but by far the greater number in a
nondescript dress, half European half Indian, but
in which buckskin is the main constituent. At the
head of the two principal tables, situated at the
opposite end of the hall to the door by which we
entered, are seated two gentlemen, one rather bald,
the other with a palpable wig, and both when they
speak betraying that the land of their birth lay
north of the Tweed. These are the agents from
Montreal, and the reason of one of them wearing a
wig, not an uncommon article in the civilised world
in 1788, but rather out of place on the shores of
Lake Superior—is that he lost his scalp when a

The Home of the Wolvercne and Beaver. 43

young man; woke from a peaceful slumber beside
his watch-fire on the Saskatchewan to find the
Blackfeet warriors bending over him, and the keen
knife of the chief about to encircle his temples.
The bitter frost prevented much bleeding, and
Andrew McClosky, after a fearful journey, reached
the settlements, and ultimately completely re-
covered, though his hair is adorning the belt of
the “ Eagle’s-ribs” or forming a carrotty fringe to
the chief’s leggings. The other men in broadcloth
are the clerks, and the remainder of the company
consists of the guides and interpreters, all of whom
mess at one common table. And the board may
boast of plenty if it has not much variety; there
seems no lack of salt pork, beef, ham, and venison
in the way of meat, or of Indian corn, potatoes, and
peas as a vegetable adjunct, while to wash down
the good cheer there is either tea or spirits, and
every man may take what he likes and as much as
he thinks fit, for restriction is unthought of. The
language of the interpreters and guides is nearly
as perplexing as that of the canoe-men, but that it
is perfectly intelligible to most of the party is
apparent by the bursts of laughter with which
a story is received, told by a French half-breed
in a lingo that would puzzle Max Miller and
the united wisdom of the Philological Society.

44 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

But the days of feasting and relaxation are soon
over; then the different detachments enter their
canoes and push up into the wilderness, each to
encounter the severity of the winter in the. best
manner it can; and there, until the ‘welcome
spring removes from the rivers and watercourses
the seal set upon them by the ice king, these hardy
men remain, hunting and trapping themselves,
inciting the Indian tribes in their vicinity to do
likewise, and leading a life that, at its best, must
be regarded as one of terrible hardship.

After the despatch of the wintering parties the
agents return to Montreal, paddled over the lovely
reaches of the Ottawa by their faithful French
Canadian boatmen, who venerate the Company as
an institution, and almost deify McClosky and his
colleague as the representatives of a body potent
for good or evil in the eyes of these simple fresh-
water sailors.

Such is a brief sketch of the Montreal fur-
traders ; but meanwhile the Hudson’s Bay Com-
pany were not idle, and instead of waiting, as
hitherto, for the Indians to come to their trading
places on the shores of the Bay, pushed outposts
in every direction towards the interior, and left no
stone unturned to crush or oust their daring rival
the North-West Company. The United States

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 45

also naturally longed for a share of the rich spoil,
and in 1809 the Pacific Fur Company was started
by an enterprising German-American, John Jacob
Astor, whose ambitious views were directed to no
less an object than the acquirement, by purchase
or otherwise, of the whole fur trade of the Conti-
nent. Although the latter association was styled a
“Company,” it was in reality nothing more than
the private speculation of Mr. Astor, who supplied
the whole of the capital and appointed all the
nominal partners. In the very outset the Pacific
Fur Company was unlucky, losing a ship with
many valuable stores, and pursued by the bitter
enmity of the North-West Company, who were
little disposed to tolerate a rival. Added to all
this war broke out between Great Britain and the
United States in 1812, and thus Mr. Astor was cut
off from sea communication with his great central
depot, which was situated at the mouth of the
Columbia River in Oregon, and somewhat grandilo-
quently named “ Astoria.” Foiled on all sides, the
great speculator was compelled to come to terms
with his rivals, and on the 16th of October, 1813,
the North-West Company took over at a valuation
the whole of the goods belonging to the sot-disant
Pacific Fur Company, and changed the name of
the depot from Astoria to Fort George.

49 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver

But two such neighbours as the Hudson's Bay
and the North-West Companies were hardly likely
to remain on amicable terms, more particularly as
the former regarded their rivals as interlopers on
their sacred territory. For years and years the
struggle was continued between them, a struggle in
which their hot-blooded followers took part, and
in which many valuable lives Were lost. At last
matters became so serious that Government was
compelled to interfere, with the result that the rivals
became one, under the name of the senior asso-
ciation, the Hudson’s Bay Company. This desirable
event took place in the year 1821, and from then
to the date of my story no attempts were made to
overthrow the monopoly of this now doubly power-
ful association.

I am conscious that much of the foregoing will
prove heavy to the majority of my readers, but
nevertheless the subject seemed to me of sufficient
interest to warrant its insertion.

47

CHAPTER. III.

>} ELL, Mr. Gresham,” said the Hudson's |
27 06 Bay agent, one ae see Paul

roof at Montreal for a fortnight,
during which time he had purchased
an outfit under his host’s direction, ‘ when
do you think you will be ready for a start?”

“T think my kit is pretty complete now,”
replied the young man, “and I am quite at your
disposal. Indeed, the sooner I make a beginning
the better, and I am longing to enter upon the wild
life of which your head voyageur Pierre is never
tired of singing the charms.”

“Then in that case there need be no further
delay, and you can start the day after to-morrow.
Mr. Marshall wishes you to learn the varied duties
of a fur trader thoroughly, and therefore I have
decided on sending you first to Osnaburg House,
at the head of Lake Joseph, where you will see the
method of trading with the Wood Indians; after-
wards we can move you to a prairie station. You

48 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

will find the life at Osnaburg a very lonely one,
but not on the whole uninteresting, particularly if
you have any taste for natural history. Mr. Groves,
the officer in charge, is a quiet, gentlemanly young
man, and I make no doubt that you will both get on
capitally together. I am sending Pierre with you
in charge of some stores for Osnaburg, and he will
soon initiate you into the mysteries of wood-craft.”

Within a fortnight from the conversation recorded
above, Paul Gresham stepped ashore from the
steamer at Thunder Bay—the Grande Portage
described in the previous chapter—and was warmly
welcomed by the agent at the Company’s factory,
who, seeing the young man’s impatience to reach
his ultimate destination, hurried forward the
preparations for the departure of the four canoes
that would be requisite to transport the stores and
luggage to Osnaburg House. Six half-breeds
composed the crew of each of the little birch-bark
craft, and with a salute of a couple of guns from
the fort, answered by a ringing cheer from the
voyageurs, the long paddle up stream commenced,
and Paul Gresham was fairly embarked upon his
new life.

How beautiful everything seemed to him, the
child of civilisation, who had never before seen
nature in her virgin grandeur, her waters unfurrowed

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 49

by the restless steamer, and her pure air unsullicd
by the smoke of factory chimneys; and every
surrounding was in harmony with the wild
landscape. The canoe in which he was seated,
without a vestige of iron in her composition, loaded
within a few inches of the rippling stream ; the
half-clad boatmen plying their paddles with bare
and sinewy arms, chanting the while a wild and
plaintive melody to which the water fretting against
the rocky ledges, formed a pleasing accompani-
ment; the ever-changing appearance of the river,
now widening out into a little lake embossed with
miniature islands, or anon narrowing into a rocky
gorge down which the torrent thundered menac-
ingly, requiring strong arms and a steady eye
to thread its intricate and foam-covered mazes;
the heavy splash as a salmon flung his silver sides
aloft into the air; and at intervals a rustling and
crackling in the underwood that marked the path
of the timid deer flying from the presence of the
intruder—man. All was novel, all was beautiful,
and Paul felt a load lifted from his breast and
replaced by an exhilaration to which he had been a
stranger since his father’s death. All the past was
now to be forgotten, the dream of a life devoted to
stormy politics or gentle literature, must now be
laid aside for ever ; the future lay in his own hands,
dD

50 36. The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

and could his lot be cast in a lovelier land? No.
The very river seemed to murmur, “ Better abide
by me than breathe the murky and infected air of
the great city,” and the graceful hemlock* bowed
her head over the eddy where the curling ripple
loved to fawn at her feet, and whispered, “ Yes, live
with me in the wilderness. Am I and my kindred
not sweeter to dwell amongst than crowded
assemblies and gas-tainted theatres ?”

But a dull sound, for some time audible, had now
increased to a continuous thunder, and Paul, awaken-
ing from his reverie, asked Pierre the cause. Pierre
Lefranc was a French-Canadian, and a right good
specimen of the breed. From his earliest boyhood
he had led a wild, roving life, first in company with
his father, a coureur des bois, latterly by himself,
but ever in the Hudson’s Bay service. Brought up
amongst the employés of the Company he regarded
that honourable association as the embodiment of
everything good and powerful in this world. He
lived by the Company, he swore by the Company,
in fact he may almost be said to have lived for the
Company. Any one unconnected with them he
regarded with ineffable contempt, and the small
private traders were his abomination. As Mr.
Tanner represented the Company in Canada, Pierre

* Abies Canadensis.

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 51

centred all his devotion on him, serving and obeying
him with the faithfulness of a spaniel dog, and the
unreasoning fidelity of a Highland clansman. Mr.
Marshall, the powerful English director, had mani-
fested such unwonted interest in Paul, that the
agent resolved on putting him under the guardian-
ship of Lefranc, whose anxiety lest anything should
befall his charge was almost laughable to witness.
He never took his eyes off him; if a little spray
broke over the gunwale of the canoe, honest Pierre
manifested the utmost displeasure and rated the
crew so soundly that Paul was obliged to interfere
on their behalf; indeed the young man was rather
annoyed at being the object of such unwearying
solicitude, and longed for the time when he should
have learned the manners and customs of the wilds
for himself, and be regarded as no longer in need of
walking in leading-strings. In appearance Pierre
was singularly striking, being of gigantic stature,
and having the lower part of his good-natured face
concealed by a bushy blonde beard, the admiration
of his little wife, a Cree half-breed, who accompanied
him everywhere, and was now seated in the canoe
with Paul and her herculean husband, who replied
to the question addressed to him.

“Quel est le bruit? Vat is dat noise? JZazs,
Monsieur Paul, cest la chute—de fall—de great

ne2

52 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

rapeed, and we must make von liteel portage
before ve shall camp pour la nuit—for de night.”

Steadily plying their paddles the boatmen speeded
the canoes onward, and now a sudden bend in the
river brought Paul in full view of the rapid, rushing
down a narrow gorge, flanked on either side by
pine-clad rocks, whose scarped sides seemed in-
surmountable to any living thing less active than a
chamois.

“Surely we are not going any nearer to that
cauldron?” he asked Pierre, pointing towards the
seething waters that tore through the defile in a
snow-white mass of milky foam. The voyageur
was too much occupied in guiding the canoe to
reply, but his little wife smiled pleasantly, showing
her white teeth, and pointing to the rapid, so the
young man could only suppose that they actually
were about to enter the broken water, and con-
cluded that his best plan was to sit perfectly still
and watch how events would turn out.

The canoe containing Paul and Pierre was the
leader, and guided by the voyageur the heavily -
laden cockleshell was forced by the sinewy arms of
the boatmen against the torrent until even their
iron muscles were unable to gain another foot;
then with a curve of the steering paddle Lefranc
shot towards the rocky wall, and Paul for a moment

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 53

closed his eyes, as destruction against its jagged
teeth seemed inevitable; but by another powerful
sweep the danger was averted—within a hair’s
breadth though, for by stretching out an arm he
could almost have touched the granite—and guided
solely by the Canadian’s paddle the canoe was
borne smoothly forward towards the fall, the noise
of whose roaring waters was almost deafening. By
skilful management the back-water, which is a
portion of every rapid, had been reached, and in a
few seconds the canoe was made fast alongside a
smooth projecting rock that quite sheltered it from
the stream, and the work of unloading commenced
in silence, as far as talking was concerned, for a
six-pounder could hardly have been heard amidst
that mighty unbroken roar, and the human voice
was powerless.

After all the goods had been unladen, the canoe
itself was lifted out of the water by her crew, and
carried carefully over the quarter of a mile of rocky
ground that constituted the portage. Room was
thus made at the little landing-place, when the
next canoe performed the same operation, and
then another, until all four were safely floating
in the smooth reach above the fall. From the
summit of a projecting rock that overhung the
boiling race beneath, Paul watched the movements

54 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

of each boat as it approached the rapid, and was
then able to form a correct idea of the nerve and
skill requisite to overcome the dangers of the
situation, and hardly knew which to admire most,
the steadiness and obedience of the crew, the good
judgment and coolness of the steersman, or the
behaviour of the light craft themselves, so frail in
their structure that a lady’s bodkin would almost
pierce their sides, and which yet rode safely where a
stronger built and less handy vessel would infallibly
have been dashed into a thousand pieces.

After all the goods were re-embarked the flotilla
paddled on a couple of miles to escape from the
dead roar of the rapid, and then, steering for the
shore, the travellers Janded and made their camp
for the night. This was a far simpler and more
speedy operation than the reader would probably
imagine. The time was summer, and the climate
so mild that none of the extra precautions we are
“so accustomed to associate with bivouacking in
Canada were necessary. The boatmen first knocked
up a couple of rough shelters with pine saplings,
one for Paul, the other for Pierre Lefranc and his
wife, and then betook themselves to fishing for their
supper, too hardy to care about even the slight
shelter afforded by a few boughs, and quite con-
tented to stretch themselves in their blankets beside

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 55

the fires that each party kept burning, not for the
heat that they threw out, but to secure some little
respite from the attacks of insects. During the
summer in Canada, the traveller, particularly if
encamped near marshy ground, finds his leisure
moments fully occupied in warding off the attacks
of poisonous flies and other members of the insect
world. Three different kinds of these tormentors
may be enumerated, viz. the mosquito, the black
fly, and the gnat, who relieve each other in regular
succession, so that their human prey has no respite.
The mosquitoes continue at their posts from dawn
until eight or nine o'clock in the forenoon; the
black flies then appear, and remain in the field
until sunset ; the mosquitoes again mount guard
until dark, and are finally succeeded by the gnats,
who continue their watch and incessant attacks
until sunrise; thus each variety has its own hour
and opportunity, their arrangements never clash,
and they are enabled to devote their whole time
and attention to the torture of their unhappy
victims. Paul, who was unseasoned, and whose
succulent beef-fed flesh doubtless held out irre-
sistible attractions to his enemies, suffered greatly
for the irritation from the bites of these puny insects
is excessive, and the temptation to allay the smart
by scratching intense ; and by incautiously rubbing

56 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

the places he would soon have made dangerous
wounds, had not the Violet, Pierre’s pretty little
half-breed wife, explained to him the danger of
such a proceeding, and given him some ointment
made from herbs known only to the Indians,
which allayed his pain and prevented any
swelling.

All the Canadian lakes and rivers abound with
fish, and the voyageur has scarcely thrown in his
line before a smart tug announces that some
member of the finny tribe has found his bait too
attractive to be withstood. Salmon, trout, fresh-
water herrings, bass, shad, and sturgeon, all are to
be found in plenty, besides a kind called white-
fish, which are annually caught in great numbers by
means of long nets, and on which some of the
Indian tribes almost entirely exist ; indeed several
of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s outposts are in a
great measure dependent on these fish, dried and
otherwise cured, for their subsistence throughout
the long winters.

, To describe the journey from Thunder Bay to

Osnaburg House minutely would be wearisome to
my readers, and perhaps not particularly instruc-
tive, so I shall content myself by saying that on
reaching Rainy Lake the main channel leading to
Winnepeg was quitted, and the little flotilla stood

The Home of the Wolverene and Leaver. $7

northward, and entering a much narrower river
arrived eventually at Lake Sal, the furthest that
they could reach by water. Carts were sent down
from Osnaburg House for the stores, and a couple
of horses for Paul and Lefranc, so leaving their
baggage to follow them in the vehicles, the young
man and his companion mounted, and in due
course arrived at their destination.

The Hudson’s Bay trading station or fort named
Osnaburg House stands on the north-east end of
Lake Joseph, a considerable sheet of water, abound-
ing with fish, and most beautiful in its scenery.
The station consisted of several dwelling and store
houses, enclosed within a large rectangular barricade
built of stout logs, and having at each of the four
corners a block-house, pierced with loop-holes for
the discharge of musketry and small cannon. The
time was when these safeguards were absolutely
necessary, when the red man hung about the
skirts of the pine forest, watching with the un-
tiring vigilance of his race for some oversight or
carelessness on the part of the white intruders.
Lulled into security by the absolute quiet reigning
around, the little garrison would relax in vigilance,
the gates would sometimes be left open for an
hour at a time, and the cartridges with which the
swivels were loaded became damp and useless,

58 The Hoine of the Wolverene and Beaver.

All this was carefully noted by the keen eye of
the unseen foe, and some bright morning, when
the rising sun was just shooting its golden rays
through the breaks in the gloomy fir, and lighting
up the graceful foliage of the maple, the war-whoop
would echo from the forest, the Huron was at their
gates. Then came the rush for rifle, carbine, and
sword, the vain attempt to discharge the neglected
ordnance, the shriek of affrighted women, and the
deeply uttered curse of men bemoaning their own
foolish confidence. What need to follow up the
scene further. A dozen pale-face scalps hung in
the lodges of the tribe, and the white man was
driven forth into the wilderness.

Yes, chief of the Hurons—the War Cloud, the
Black Moccassin, the Soaring Eagle, whatever may

be your lofty patronymic—you may boast in the
council of your triumph over the pale face, and
point to the pole on which his locks dangle in the
wind, but the white man will return, will return
armed with a mightier weapon than rifle and steel,
with the fire-water that will kindle your brain at
first, but will ultimately rob you of every spark of
manhood, and leave you degraded, besotted, lost—
so lost that you crouch and fawn to him, your
former enemy, nay, that you even submit to be
spurned by his foot, for the sake of the poison

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 9

he will dole out to you to wash away the
indignity.

The outworks at Osnaburg House had ceased to
be required long before Paul’s arrival, and the
swivels were honeycombed with age, and hardly
fit to fire a blank cartridge as a salute. Their
day was past. Civilisation, as the term is under-
stood by the Hudson’s Bay Company, had
rendered the poor red man mild and inoffensive
enough, some of its phases indeed—small-pox for
example—had nearly swept him from the face of
the earth.

Paul was very warmly received by Mr. Groves,
to whom his arrival was an inestimable boon.
Any of my readers who have been shut up by an
unforeseen accident in a country house, and kept
for even a few weeks without any news of the
outer world, can faintly imagine what a blessing the
arrival of a companion was to the dweller by that
lonely lake, one, moreover who had just come out
from England, and could tell him of all the great
changes that had happened since he himself had
quitted the little Somersetshire village in which he
nad been brought up. Nor was Pierre Lefranc less
welcome, for his skill as a trapper and a hunter
was known throughout the Company, and the face
of the officer wore quite a cheerful expression as he

60 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

conducted Paul to the principal house, and pointed
out the room allotted to him.

“ You have just arrived in time,” he said, when
Paul, refreshed by a bathe in the lake and achange
of clothing, took his seat at the supper table, “ for
in a few days I expect a party of Ojibbeways in
with their furs, and you may depend on their
quickening their movements when they find out
that a fresh supply of stores have reached the fort.”

“ And what kind of peltry will they bring ?” asked
Paul.

“Oh, principally beaver, and most likely a bear-
skin or two. Of course all fur-bearing animals are
scarce in this quarter now, but we have a good
number of beavers still left, though their skins have
sunk enormously in value since the hatters have
taken to using silk in place of fur. A beaver skin
used to fetch thirty shillings in London, it is now
hardly worth a sixth of that sum.”

Paul was most anxious to gain every information
possible regarding the different antmals whose fur
renders them so eagerly sought after, and both
Mr. Groves and Pierre Lefranc were perfectly willing
to satisfy his curiosity, so by questioning them, and
keeping his eyes well open he learnt a variety of
things regarding the trade, which, as well as I can,
I shall endeavour to convey to the reader.

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 61

The list of animals whose fur is valuable as
ar. article of commerce, and whose habitat is within
the Hudson’s Bay Territory, is as follows :—beavers ;
bears of four kinds, viz., black, brown, white, and
grizzly ; badgers; buffaloes; deer, both rein and
red; elks, or moose; fishers; foxes of six kinds,
viz., black, silver, cross, red, white, and bluc;
lynxes ; martens ; musquash, or musk rat ; otters ;
seals; wolves and wolverenes. But the Hudson’s
Bay Company, although their principal trade is in
peltry, obtain other valuable articles from the
animals and fishes abounding in the territory. For
example, feathers of all kinds are carefully preserved,
as well as oil from the seal, whale, and sturgeon ;
quills, swans’ skins, salted fish and cured salmon,
all help to fill the coffers of the Company; not
forgetting the “castoreum,” or, as it is called by the
trappers, “ bark-stone,” an odoriferous substance
secreted in two glandular sacs near the root of the
beaver’s tail. The latter beautiful little animal, so
relentlessly hunted down by man that in many
parts it has entirely disappeared, is so curious in its
habits as to merit a slight description. Doubtless
most of my readers have watched the two captives
at the Zoological Gardens, and smiled at their flat
trowel-like tails. Poor little beasts, they do not
show to advantage as prisoners. To appreciate the

62 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

work that can be done with those ugly tails, and
the timber that can be felled by those keen little
teeth, the broad Atlantic must be crossed, and the
animals seen in their native haunts.

The American Beaver (Castor Fiber) has long
been regarded with admiration and wonder from
the reports brought in by trappers and others of
its remarkable instinct and sagacity. Audubon,
the great American naturalist, says, “ The early
writers on both continents have represented it as a
rational, intelligent and moral being, requiring but
the faculty of speech to raise it almost to an
equality, in some respects, with our own species.
There is in the composition of every man, whatever
may be his pride in his philosophy, a proneness in
a greater or less degree to superstition, or at least
credulity. The world is at best but slow to be
enlightened, and the trammels thrown around us
by the tales of the nursery are not easily shaken off.
Such travellers into the northern parts of Sweden,
Russia, Norway, and Lapland, ay Olaus Magnus,
Jean Marius, Leems, &c., whose extravagant and
imaginary notions were recorded by the credulous
Gesner, who wrote marvellous accounts of the
habits of the beavers in Northern Europe, seem to
have worked upon the imaginations and confused
the intellects of the early exvlorers of our Northern

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 63

regions—La Houtan, Charlevoix, Theodut, Ellis,
Beltrani, and Cartwright. These last excited the
enthusiasm of Buffon, whose romantic stories have
so fastened themselves on the mind of childhood,
and have been so generally made a part of our
education, that we now are almost led to regret
that three-fourths of the old accounts of this extra-
ordinary animal are fabulous; and that, with the
exception of its very peculiar mode of constructing
its domicile, the beaver is, in point of intelligence
and cunning, greatly exceeded by the fox, and is
but a few grades higher in the scale of sagacity
than the common musk-rat.”

So says Audubon, a good authority, for he is a
native of the same land as the beaver, and devoted
much time and labour to ascertain its true habits,
but none the less it seems hard to have one’s pet
belief so ruthlessly demolished.

This animal is a native of both Europe and Asia,
but is far more plentiful in North America, from
which country#we have received the most trust-
worthy and accurate accounts of its habits. Beavers
are gregarious, that is to say, they associate in
greater or lesser numbers, and unite their strength
for the furtherance of any work necessary to the
well-being of the whole amphibious community.
But before proceeding further it may be advisable to

64. The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

describe the animal itself, for the sake of those whe
have never seen it either wild or in captivity.

A full grown male beaver measures a little over
two feet from the nose to the root of the tail, and the
latter useful member is very broad and flat, tongue-
shaped, and covered with angular scales in place of
fur. In shape it resembles a magnified guinea-pig,
but only in shape, and I should not degrade the
intelligent beaver by comparing it to such a useless
little animal did I know any other at all familiar to
English readers. If I were writing in America I
shouldsayit resembled the musk-rat, whose acquaint-
ance we shall make further on. The beaver has an
obtuse divided nose, small eyes, and small rounded
ears ; its fore-feet are short and slender, with well
separated and flexible toes; with these it conveys
food to its mouth, sitting up on its hind quarters,
and supported by its flat, leathery-looking tail, much
in the same manner as a squirrel. The hind-feet
differ from the fore, and bear a great resemblance
to those of a goose, being webbed and having hard,
callous soles. Now we come to the fatal inheritance
of the poor beaver, the possession of which causes
it to be trapped, shot, hunted down, and generally
put to death by its merciless foes—its fur. This is
of two kinds, an upper and an under coat. The
formcr is of long hair, smooth and glossy, but

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 65

coarse; the latter is dense, soft, and silky. In
general the fur is of a shining chestnut colour, but
it varies considerably, for black beavers are some-
times captured, and white ones are not unknown.
At the root of the tail are found the glandular sacs
containing the musky unctious substance called
castoreum.

Such is the description of the Castor Fiber, and
now we come to its habits. Before noticing the
facts ascertained by modern naturalists, it may not
be uninteresting to hear what our forefathers thought
of this curious animal, and to notice how intimately
fiction and fact are blended together. In Pinker-
ton’s Voyages, vol. I., p. 418, will be found the
following :—

“The beaver is met with in some districts of
Swedish Lapland, and on the banks of a very large
and famous lake, which is said to be twelve miles in
‘circuit. The same lake, as reported, is of an
immense and almost unfathomable depth, and in it
are many lesser islands. They say the tooth of this
animal is reddish, crooked, and almost squared.
His tail, by the aid of which he is said to make a
house for himself, is broad, rough, and full of scales.
The wool, or rather hairs, are sold to the Russians
in common, and ata good price ; they purchase also
the skin for the covering their under garment with.

E

66 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

* 5 * The force and efficacy of the beaver
or castor oil* in various symptoms, is wonderful,
too well known to practitioners in medicine to be
mentioned by me. It is said to be medicinal for the
internal diseases of cattle ; it is said to be of service
in frightening and driving away whales, to whom
its very smell alone is insufferable; for which reason
fishermen, apprehensive of harm from this great fish,
are ever provided with the oil of castor. The beaver
for this reason is instinctively led to build his house
near the banks of lakes and rivers. They saw with
their teeth birch trees with which the building is
constructed. Whichever of the beavers supplies
the place of the sledge, lies upon his back, with his
feet upwards, whilst his companions put the wood
between his feet as he lies down, and holding it
with his teeth, he drags it along to the place
destined for building his habitation, together with
the wood laid upon it. In this manner one piece
of timber is carried after another where they choose.
Those who supply the place of the sledge are easily
known from the rest by the defect of hair, which is
rubbed off by constant action all along the back.
At the lake or river where their house is to be

* This is, of course, an error of Pinkerton’s. The medicinal cil
obtained from the Castor-Oil Plant (Ricinus Communis) is totally
distinct from the substance possessed by the beaver.

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 67

built they lay birch stocks or trunks covered with
their bark at the bottom itself, and, forming a
foundation, they complete the rest of the building
with so much art and ingenuity as to excite the
admiration of the beholders. The house itself is of
a round and arched figure, equalling in its circum-
ference the ordinary hut of a Laplander. In this
house the floor is for a bed, covered with branches
of trees, not in the very bottom, but a little above,
near to the edge of the lake or river, so that between
the foundation and the flooring on which the dwell-
ing is supported there is formed, as it were, a cell,
filled with water, in which the stocks of the birch-
tree are put up, on the bark of this the beaver family
who inhabit this mansion feed. If there are more
families under one roof, besides the said flooring,
another resembling the former is built a little above,
which you may not improperly name a second story
in the building. The roof of the dwelling consists
of branches very closely compacted, and projects
out far over the water. You have now, reader, a
house consisting and laid out in a cellar, a flooring,
a hypocaust, a ceiling, and a roof, raised by a brute
animal, altogether destitute of reason and also of the
builders’ art, with no less ingenuity than commodi-
ousness. This, too, isan extraordinary instance of
the Divine wisdom and goodness, which, in addition
E 2

68 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

to the other instinctive actions of brute animals
straying through their haunts, should more excite
and actuate us to the admiration, praise, and adora-
tion of the Divine Being. In the said cell is an
aperture, which serves for a door, through which
the beavers go in and out. When they are all
abroad, the hunters put a kind of a little fastening
on that opening or door in such a manner that, on
the entrance of the first beaver, it should fall and
close up the whole aperture as far as it goes. Thus
shut up, the beaver which is within is hindered
from going out, and is taken. But as to what is
hitherto related concerning the beaver and_ his
manners I have not attained by my own experience,
nor could I learn, because through that whole
district where my duty as a missionary lay, this
animal never came in my way; but what I have
heard from Laplanders inhabiting those places
resorted by beavers, I faithfully relate.”

So runs old Pinkerton, and there is far more-truth
than extravagance in what he thus records. The
idea of one beaver lying down on its back to be
dragged along the ground by its companion is most
amusing, and doubtless is the foundation for some
of the wondrous anecdotes of rats conveying eggs
in a similar manner, that sensational naturalists are
fond of recording.

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 69

Let us now pass on to modern accounts of the
habits of the beaver. It is agreed that they prefer
small clear streams, creeks, and springs, to great
rivers and lakes, although they sometimes frequent
the latter. Where the animals are abundant their
dams are thrown across the stream up to its very
source, and are formed of small stones, mosses,
mud, and branches of trees stripped of their bark,
and measuring about three feet in length and
from six inches to a foot in circumference. That
they frequently fell trees of considerable size is
indisputable, on some occasions trunks as large as
eighteen inches in diameter have been found, but
even with their sharp teeth the labour must be
immense, and their only object in undertaking it is
to make use of the bark and branches, the latter of
which are alone employed in the construction of a
dam, the trunk, divested of its bark, being left
where it falls. The trappers state that the beavers
give them notice of the approach of an early winter
by cutting their wood before the usual time; and
indicate pretty accurately its probable severity by
the precautions they take to meet its rigour.

In forming their dams the animals employ their
noses as a pig does its snout, rooting up mosses
and clay, and stuffing them between the framework
of matted and interlaced sticks until the whole

70 The Home of the Wolverene and Leaver.

fabric is completely water-tight, and so firm and
compact that even men armed with ice-chisels and
such like tools find great difficulty in breaking
through them. In height the dams average from
seven to nine feet, according to the depth of water,
being broad at the base, and the sides sloping
inward towards each other, so as to form a narrow
platform about two feet wide at the top. The
object of these curious structures is that they may
possess a sufficient quantity of water at all seasons,
and the skill displayed by the animals in the shape
of their dams is a triumph of engineering science.
If the stream runs gently they throw the barrier
boldly athwart it, but if the current rushes past
swiftly, and is liable by floods to be converted
into a destructive torrent, they build the dam in
a crescent form, its convex side opposed to the fury
of the stream. Some idea of the extent of these
works may be formed when Audubon states that
they are sometimes found three hundred yards in
length, and often extend beyond the bed of the
stream in a circular form, so as to overflow all the
timber near the margin, which the beavers cut
down for food during the winter, heap together
in large quantities, and so securely fasten to the
shore, under the surface of the water, that even a
strong current cannot tear it away. Some of the

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 71

most fertile patches of land in Canada are due to
the beavers. Trees, branches, dead leaves, and
stones are borne down by the water and stopped
by the dam, which in course of time becomes a
solid mass of many acres in extent, clothed with
a rich vegetation, and in every way adapted to
the farmer, by whom these “beaver meadows” as
they are termed, are highly prized.

The houses or “lodges” in which the beavers
dwell are as curious as the dam, in the vicinity of
which they usually stand. The larger ones are,
in the interior, about seven feet in diameter and
between two and three feet in height, resembling
in fact, a great oven. These are placed either at the
edge of, or in the water, and in front of them the
beavers scratch away a deep trench, so deep that
all fear of the water becoming frozen is removed,
and in this the wood mentioned above, as intended
for winter food, is stored, and this channel also
affords them free access to their dam, should they
require to visit it for repairs or any other purpose.
The top of the lodge is formed by placing branches
of trees matted with moss, mud, grasses, &c., to-
gether, until the whole fabric measures on the
outside from twelve to twenty feet in diameter,
and is six or eight feet high, according to the
number of inhabitants. The outer coating is

72. The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

entirely of mud or earth, and smoothed off as
if plastered with a trowel, but as they never work
by daylight, it is still unknown how they perform
this. The mud covering is renewed every year,
generally late in the autumn, when frost has set in,
and the ingredients becoming frozen in a solid
mass add much to the security of the inmates,
protecting them from the wolverene, who, next
to man, is their worst enemy.

The furniture of their houses is very simple,
consisting only of a bed for each member of the
family, formed of grass or the tender bark of young
trees, and placed against the side of the lodge, the
centre being left unoccupied. Every evening they
visit their dam and minutely examine it ; if a log is
washed away or displaced the mischief is at once
repaired, and fresh material is afforded by the sticks
stored for food. These are piled in front of the
lodges, and when the animal feels hungry he de-
taches a stick from the bundle, takes it inside, strips
off the bark, on which he feeds at his leisure, and
then carries the wood to the dam, should it need
repairs, or lets it float away, for the beaver is
scrupulously clean, and allows no litter or dirt to
accumulate within its abode, being in this respect a
model that many of its human enemies might study
with advantage.

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 73

We now come toa curious phase of beaver life.
It seems that amongst their number there are some
too lazy and idle to work, to build lodges, repair
dams, or in fact, to perform any of the duties of a
well-conditioned and industrious member of the
community. These scapegraces are very summarily
dealt with by their virtuous brethren, who first of all
give them a good worrying, cutting off a portion of
their tails and otherwise maltreating them, and then
turn them out neck and crop into the world to reap
the fruits of their improvidence. These wretched
outcasts—called Paresseux by the trappers—herd
together in gangs of half a dozen or so, and never
form a dam, but content themselves with digging a
hole from the water which runs obliquely upwards
and emerges some twenty or thirty feet from the
brink. By this passage the improvident ones sally
forth when they are in want of food, and return with
a length of wood, whose’bark they gnaw off in their
souterrain. But destruction comes quickly on the
heads of the wretched paresseux ; either the trapper
or the wolverene find out their passage, and make
short work of the whole fraternity one after the
other, from which just retribution a very pretty
little moral could be deduced, if necessary. Before,
however, utterly condemning these lazy beavers, let
‘us remember that perhaps after all their only sin

74. The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

consists in being physically weaker than their breth-
ren, for the paresseux are always males, and it is
not at all improbable, that, as is common with the
males of many species of animals, they have fought
with rivals, been conquered and driven forth by the
victors, thus taking up the role of paresseux more
from necessity than inclination; and this theory
would satisfactorily account for the marks of
violence they always carry about them.

Beavers are in good condition for the trapper
from September to May in the greater part of
America, though in the Rocky Mountains there is
no close season, the cold causing the coat to remain
thick all the year round. They are often eaten, the
sides of the belly, the rump, the liver, and the tail
being highly esteemed ; indeed the last-mentioned
meml -r is considered a peculiar delicacy, possessing
nearly ce taste of beef marrow; but it is so oily that
only a very small quantity can be eaten, and no
storiach less omnivorous than a trapper’s could pos-
sibly digest it. At the approach of autumn beavers
become very fat, but fall off gradually during the
winter, so that when spring comes they are little
better than skin and bone. The bark of young
trees, and the white, tender, juicy roots of certain
aquatic plants which are then in season, soon fill them
out again, and they become a great size. Cartwright

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 75

mentions finding one that weighed forty-five pounds,
and sixty-one pounds before cleaning is mentioned
by another traveller; but both these specimens
must have far exceeded the average weight, which
may be put down at from fifteen to twenty-five
pounds.

Their food consists of the bark of the aspen,
willow, birch, poplar, and alder, besides bulbous
and other roots. In summer, when they wander to
some distance from water, they eat berries, leaves,
and various kinds of herbage. The young are born
in the months of April and May ; those produced
in the latter month are the most valuable, as they
grow rapidly, and become large and strong, being
unchecked in their growth, as is often the case with
those born at an earlier season. The dam usually
brings forth from two to five at a time, and the
young beavers, whose eyes are open at their birth,
remain with their mother for at least a year, and
not unfrequently for two. Where food is abundant
and they are undisturbed, a family of ten or a
dozen may be seen living in one lodge. They are
often caught young, and are easily domesticated.
And now I think I have taxed the reader’s patience
sufficiently concerning the Castor Fiber; the method
in which it is captured will appear further on.

CHAPTER IV.

arrival at Osnaburg House, he was
standing talking to Mr. Groves and

Pierre Lefranc at the main gate of
the enclosure, when the latter broke off
in wae middle of a sentence and gazed in-
tently in the direction of the lake that lay
spread before them, calm, clear and beau-
tiful, its surface broken by numerous little islands
whose light green foliage formed a contrast to the
gloomy pines, and reminded the beholder of
emeralds in an azure setting.

“Monsieur Groves, I see three—four canoe—
I think the Oyjibbeways sall come at last with
their peltries,” quoth Pierre, after a keen scrutiny.
And running back to the house for his glass, Paul
distinctly saw several canoes threading their way
amongst the distant islands, but such mere specks
that no eyes less sharp than a trapper’s would have
discerned their approach.

“Well, thank goodness they are coming at last,”

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 77

said Groves, with visible satisfaction, “for when
they have gone we shall be able to roam about
a little, and get some shooting. The cunning
rascals,” he added, “they knew well enough that
fresh stores had reached the house some days ago,
and have only kept away to tantalise us, and lead
us to suppose that they had gone to some rival
trader. They will now make a great favour of
trading with the Company,;-and will demand all
sorts of presents. They are a pretty deep lot,
whatever people may say; are they not, Pierre?”

“Tl y a, there is von Ojeeb chief, who have
cheat me of my traps z/ y a deur ans, two year
past. J// s'appelle Téte-de-bois, suppose he come
here, I shall beat his head of wood.”

“Well, don’t commence hostilities until we have
got all the skins,” said Groves, laughing. “But
come along, we must get ready to receive them
with due honours.”

At Osnaburg House there were only five men
besides the officer in charge, namely, three labourers,
an interpreter, and a postmaster. What on earth
can a postmaster do at a place where letters only
arrive twice or thrice a year? will be the first
question the reader puts to himself, and to answer
it satisfactorily I must state that there are six
grades in the Hudson’s Bay Company's service,

78 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

Lowest in the scale are the labourers, generally
French Canadians, half-breeds, or Orkneymen;
indeed the great majority of the Company’s ser-
vants are Scotch. These men are always employed,
although their occupations necessarily vary accord-
ing to the season. In the autumn they cut up and
store the large quantity of fuel that will be required
when the frost sets in; in the summer they fish,
and transport the peltry from their post to the
nearest depot; in fact, they make themselves
generally useful, and they are ready to turn their
hands to anything, from trapping a beaver to re-
pairing the stockade, or shovelling away the drift
snow in the winter. Next in rank to the labourers
are the interpreters. The latter are usually selected
from the most intelligent labourers, who, from being
long acquainted with the Indians, have picked up
their language sufficiently to entitle them to the
higher grade. They are a most useful, trustworthy
body of men, and from their ranks are drawn the
postinasters who have made themselves conspicuous
for activity and intelligence. The postmaster ranks
with the gentlemen of the service, with whom he
lives and takes his meals, and he is often placed in
charge of a small station, from whence he derives
his name, which signifies “master of a post,” and
has nothing to do with letter-boxes, stamps, or

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 79

telegrams. The above-mentioned grades are all
filled by members of the working classes. Now
come the young men of birth and education, who
enter the Company’s service at an early age as
apprentice clerks, in which capacity they serve for
five years, at the end of which they are sufficiently
conversant with their duty to drop the apprentice
and become clerks. After about fifteen years’
service, the clerk becomes a half-shareholder, and
is then termed a chief trader; in due course he
becomes a whole-shareholder, and has then reached
the top of the tree, changing his appellation for
the last time to that of chief factor.

In obedience to Mr. Groves’ orders, the men all
furbished up their weapons, and loaded the old
swivels with reduced blank charges; the gate was
then closed, the English ensign run up to the flag-
staff, and the inmates of the fort awaited the arrival
of the canoes, which were now rapidly nearing the
shore. Soon the prow of the foremost one grated
on the sand, and its occupants, consisting of two
Ojibbeway hunters and their squaws, stepped upe?
the shore, the latter proceeding to land the parcels
of furs, while their better halves walked up to the
wicket of the gate, where Groves and his interpreter
stood ready to welcome them. The parley was of
short duration, for both sides were equally anxious

80 = The ITome of the Wolverene and Beaver.

to come to business, and soon the gate was thrown
open, and the Indians entered to the number of
eighteen, for the other canoes had arrived within a
few minutes of the first one. Paul looked with the
utmost curiosity at these children of the forest, who
showed none of the taciturnity and sullen reserve
that his book-lore on the subject had led him to
expect. They shook hands with Groves, Pierre,
and such others of the white men as were known to
them, and joyfully accepted the invitation from the
officer to smoke and lighten their hearts with a
little rum. Neither was the dress of the Ojibbeways
such as Paul had anticipated ; they wore deer-skins
and moccasins it is true, but their attire had none
of the flowing grace that he had always imagined
was the distinctive element in an Indian toilette.
The fact was that he had forgotten that he was
amongst the Wood Indians, and not their brethren
of the plains and prairies. The latter are always
mounted, and therefore the tufts. of hair and other
finery that adorns their persons is no impediment
to their movements, whereas, if a Wood Indian
indulged in such vanities he would be hung up in
every bush, and would stand but a poor chance of
stealing silently upon deer or any other game.

A iarge building had been held in readiness for
the arrival of the Indians, and thither they all

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 81

repaired, preceded by Mr. Groves, Paul, Pierre, and
the interpreter. The white men seated themselves
on buffalo robes, and their guests formed a circle,
around which the pipe lighted by the officer passed
solemnly, each man taking a long whiff and handing
it to his neighbour, after which he allowed the
smoke to roll out slowly from his mouth and
nostrils. Whilst this important ceremony was pro-
ceeding, perfect silence reigned throughout the
assembly; but after the rum had passed round once
or twice all restraint was removed, and conversation
went on freely enough by means of signs and
broken English and French.

“ Monsieur Paul,” whispered Lefranc, as two new
Indians joined the circle, “ voyes-vous ces hommes ?
Lun, le plus grand—the vary big one, that is 7¢¢e-
de-bois, the rascal who steal my traps.”

Paul looked at the new-comer, and saw an
Ojibbeway of gigantic size, and with rather sinister
features, the effect perhaps of a scar which traversed
the countenance from the eye to the chin. T7éz-
de-bois took his seat among the rest of his tribe,
who made way with alacrity, for he was held in
great respect, owing to his enormous strength. He
took no notice of Pierre, pretending not to see him,
and applied himself steadily to the rum bottle
whenever it came within his reach. Meanwhile

F

82. The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

the squaws were unloading the canoes and car-
rying the furs up to the fort.

After a couple of hours had been consumed in
the Council Chamber, the party broke up at a
signal from Mr. Groves, and the swivels having
been fired to intimate that business had commenced,
the whole party trooped into the trading house,
accompanied by the squaws, who each carried a
bundle of furs. Whether 7¢é¢e-de-bors thought that
Pierre had forgotten all about the traps, I know
not, but appearing to recognise him for the first
time, the Indian approached the Canadian with
outstretched hand. This was more than honest
Pierre could stand, and he dashed the Chief’s arm
aside with a volley of mingled French, Indian, and
English expletives that I must be pardoned for not
inserting here. The latter turned an ashy gray
colour at the insult, though he only smiled and
said, “ My brother has taken too much fire-water,”
yet those best aquainted with the Indian character
knew that the trapper had made a deadly and
unscrupulous enemy, and none better than Pierre
himself, who laughed the warnings of his friends to
scorn, saying that he was quite old and ugly enough
to take care of himself.

And now commenced the trading. The building
in which this took place was an ample wooden

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 83

edifice termed the “store,’ in which was to be
found every conceivable article that the reader can
imagine, anything, in short, “from a penny whistle
to a sheet anchor” as a sailor would say. The
Indians advanced one by one to a counter behind
which were stationed Mr. Groves, Paul, and the
interpreter. Each man was accompanied by his
squaw, who carried one or more bundles of furs, which
were placed on the counter, spread out, and carefully
examined. Mr. Groves then made them up into
bundles, and handed the owner a number of little
pieces of wood, each of which signified the value of
a beaver skin, or castor, as it is termed in some
parts of the territory. This is the recognised
standard valuation, and according to it everything
is reckoned, for cash is utterly unknown. A bear-
skin is worth so many beaver-skins, a marten’s
skin worth so many, and the whole having been
assorted and valued in the presence of the hunter,
the equivalent number of pieces of wood are made
over to him, and he can purchase whatever he
pleases, handing back the wooden labels as payment
until his store is exhausted. The Indians watch
the counting and the process of valuing with the
keenest interest, and strive to drive the hardest
bargains possible, but as the castor only represents
a purchasing power of from one to two shillings, and
F 2

84 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

the articles they need are sold at a very high price,
the Company realise an enormous profit.

But it must be remembered that the labour and
expense of getting stores up to these lonely places
is excessive. Captain Butler puts the whole case so
clearly before the reader that I venture to quote the
following passage from his admirable book. He
says: “That rough flint gun, which might have
done duty in the days of the Stuarts, is worth
many a rich sable in the country of the Dogribs and
the Loucheaux, and is bartered for skins whose value
can be rated at four times their weight in gold ; but
the gun on the banks of the Thames, and the gun
in the pine woods of the Mackenzie are two widely
different articles. The old rough flint, whose bent
barrel the Indians will often straighten between the
cleft of a tree or in the crevice of a rock, has been
made precious by the long labour of many men, by
the trackless wastes through which it has been
carried, by winter-famine of those who have to
vend it, by the years which elapse between its
departure from the workshop and the return of that
skin of sable or silver fox for which it has been
bartered. They are short-sighted men who hold
that because the flint gun and the sable possess
such different values in J.ondon, these articles should
also possess their relative values in North America,

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 85

and argue from this that the Hudson’s Bay Company
treat the Indians unfairly ; they are short-sighted
men, I say, and know not of what they speak.
That old rough flint has often cost more to put in
the hands of that Dogrib hunter than the best
finished central-fire of Boss or Purdey.”

In the selection of articles in exchange for his
furs the Indian is often sorely puzzled; he sees
around him many coloured blankets, gaudy chintzes,
and calicoes such as his heart loveth, and much
tobacco, without which he can hardly be said to
exist. His vanity prompts him to exchange his
castors against such finery, though prudence whis-
pers audibly that the bitter winter is drawing nigh
apace, and that it were better to prepare for its
vigour by the purchase of warm clothing and new
steel traps. In this state of indecision the influence
of a favourite squaw is often all-powerful for good
or evil; if she is prudent the castors will be profit-
ably laid out, if not, the reverse will take place, and
a few yards of coloured ribbon, chintz, and beads
will be all the hunter has to show in return for
many months hard and dangerous work.

After the trading was finished for the night, the
Indians withdrew to the shores of the lake, where
their squaws had built rough shelters of pine-
boughs, under which they retired to contemplate

86 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

their new purchases by the light of the fire, and,
if they have any castors left, to talk over how they
should be expended on the morrow. Such is the
method in which the fur trade is carried on at the
Hudson's Bay stations among the Wood Indians.
From constant intercourse with Europeans these
people may be regarded as semi-civilised, and little
danger need be apprehended from them. But in
the more remote stations on the prairies and
beyond the Rocky Mountains on the wild Columbia
River, matters are differently arranged: that is to
say, that though the mode of trade is precisely
similar, the castor still being the unit of com-
putation and the process of barter exactly as I
have described above, stringent precautions are
taken for the safety of the fort and its occupants.
Instead of arriving in small numbers, the warlike
Blackfeet or Crees visit the fort in large troops
and fully armed; for to reach it they often have
to pass through an enemy's country, where a fierce
conflict is at any moment imminent. Mounted on
their half-broken mustangs, the warriors approach
the station, which is not only more strongly built
than Osnaburg House, but is also in good repair,
and garrisoned with sufficient men to defeat any
sudden attempt. Each rider leads another horse, on
which is packed his stock of peltry, and on arriving

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 87

at a distance of a couple of hundred yards from the
fort, the cavalcade reins up, while the chief rides
forward to meet the factor. Presents are commonly
exchanged, and many complimentary speeches
passed, after which business commences. But the
Indians are not permitted to enter the trading
room indiscriminately, neither are the gaudy chintzes
and beads submitted to their view, for, at sight of
such marvellous riches, their wish to possess them
would prove uncontrollable, and a disturbance
would probably break out. The trading room in
these stations is so constructed that all communi-
cation between it and the surrounding buildings
can be cut off, and to prevent too many Indians
crowding in it is so contrived that they have to
pass through a long narrow passage, of only suff-
cient width to admit one at a time, the passage
being built at an acute angle to the window at
which the factor stands, so that the savages are
unable to shoot him, as they could were it made
perfectly straight. The furs obtained by barter
are packed away in an underground chamber
concealed beneath the large table in the factor’s
room, and this apartment has somebody in it night
and day, so that theft is rendered impossible
unless the station is regularly attacked and sacked.
Once a year the furs are made up into parcels and

88 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

transported to the nearest depot, for transhipment
to England. Whenever possible this is effected by
water, and during the summer months numerous
brigades of canoes are constantly passing up and
down the rivers running into Hudson Bay, taking
down the peltries and returning with stores. Where
water carriage is unavailable, pack-horses are
employed.

In less than a week the Ojibbeways had parted
with all their peltries, and left for the opposite side
of the lake, their canoes laden with blankets,
woollen clothing, and other articles that have
become necessary to the red man since the
trader has taught him their use. No further
collision had taken place between Pierre Lefranc
and the chief, and the whole matter was speedily
forgotten by all but the Canadian’s little Cree wife,
who stoutly maintained that 7¢/e-de-bois meditated
revenge, and recommended her husband to make
matters smooth by shooting the chief, at which
suggestion the jovial Frenchman burst into a huge
laugh, and told his better half to stick to her pots
and pans, and leave him to take care of himself.

“Now, Gresham,” said Mr. Groves, as the two
young men sat smoking before the stove after
supper, for the nights were now a little chilly, “we
can get some shooting, for there will be no more

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 89

trade this year. Suppose we send for Pierre and
talk it over.”

The Canadian was accordingly summoned, and
a long consultation held, which resulted in several
minor expeditions, the particulars of which are
hardly worth recording. A few deer were shot,
and plenty of wild fowl, but by Pierre’s advice the
grand hunt was postponed until the winter had set
well in, when the snow would be upon the ground,
and they could seek for moose with some chance of
success.

And thus the autumn passed away, and the
falling mercury indicated the approach of wiiter.
Did Paul Gresham feel dull thus shut up with only
two companions? the reader will ask. No, the
whole life was too novel to admit the inroads of
ennut. Whether in-doors or out there was always
something that required looking to, and dullness,
the offspring of idleness, found no loop-hole by
which it could enter. At last the few days of genial
weather that precede the cold, and are known as
the Indian summer, came to a close, and with a
sudden bound the winter came upon them. When
Paul went to bed the air was still and serene, the
party-coloured leaves hung tremblingly on the
boughs in all the wondrous beauty of their autumn
tints; when he awoke in the morning a widely

90 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

different scene presented itself. The leaves were
whirling madly in the air, borne aloft by a blast that
shook old Osnaburg House to its foundations, and
churned the usually placid lake into a yeast of
angry white ; the little islands that the preceding
night had looked so beautiful as the setting sun
threw into relief their varied hues, were now little
black spots half buried in the flying scud ; the
gloomy pines creaked and moaned dismally as the
blast swayed them to and fro, the aspect of the
country was changed as by the touch of an enchan-
ters wand. But the storm speedily subsided, and
down came the snow, in little granules at first, but
presently in broad, crisp flakes, that in two hours
flung a white mantle over the whole country. Down
it came noiselessly but ceaselessly, for hour after
hour, for day after day, until a week had run its
course, then the leaden sky broke into rifts through
which the bright sun smiled cheerily, the discom-
forted snow clouds fled away and vanished in the
distance, the pure blue canopy appeared illimitable
in its serene tranquillity, and the bright stars shone
radiant through the frosty air, seeming so close that
the beholder felt impelled to stretch out his hands
and grasp them. The winter had set in; the hard,
rigorous, unyielding cold of Canada, so different te
the changeable climate and the noxious east winds of

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 91

England, on whose hateful wings are too often borne
rheumatism, consumption—death,

“ Rise, rise, JZessteurs,’ shouted Pierre, entering
the room in which the two young men were coiled
up under a load of buffalo robes and blankets, “you
must rise, c'est le point de jour.”

Turning out in such weather is not the pleasantest
part of the day’s work, but both Paul and his friend
were fully aware that like most disagreeable things
the more you look at them the less you like them,
so with a bound they sprang to their feet, and in
due time joined the Canadian, who was busily
employed at the stove frying some venison collops
and making tea for breakfast, not the weak infusion
that we sip in England, but a good black beverage,
strong enough, in Canadian parlance, “to float an
axe.” Perhaps the reader would like to know in
what manner of garment our friends have arrayed
themselves to withstand the biting cold. Both the
young men are dressed alike, so the description of
one will apply to both. Mr. Groves has thrust his
extremities into a pair of buck-skin trousers, under
which are warm woollen drawers. On his feet are
dragged successively three pairs of socks, made out
of stout blanketing, outside of which are fastened a
pair of moose-skin moccasins tied firmly round the
ankle. Itis perhaps needless to state that moccasins

92 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

are rough foot coverings made from the skin of some
wild animal,and worn by the Indiansaswe wear boots.
An Ojibbeway would, however, ascend a hill thus
shod that a white man would be unable to get half-
way up without great pain and inconvenience. The
truth is that the moccasin is adapted to the Indian
only, owing to the peculiar conformation of his foot,
which has much shorter toes. For a European,
whose soles are soft and who has no prehensile
power in his feet, moccasins are a snare and a
delusion, except in two certain cases. When travel-
ling with dog-sleighs or walking on snow-shoes
they are invaluable, on any other occasion a pair of
nailed lace-up boots are far preferable. Our friends
were to use snow-shoes, and therefore Mr. Groves
donned moose-skin moccasins, over which he hauled
a pair of strong cloth leggings in a measure for
warmth, but chiefly to prevent snow adhering to the
buck-skins. Over several flannel shirts and unde:
waistcoats came a capote made of deer-skin, and
lined throughout with fur, and this garment was
confined at the waist by a belt, at which hung his
ammunition, hunting knife, fire-bag, and other
little necessaries. A fur boa was wrapped round
his neck, a cap with ear-flaps of similar material
adorned his head, and an immense pair of
dafile mittens covered with buck-skin dangled by

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 93

a woollen cord from his neck and completed the
equipment.

The steaming venison rashers soon disappeared
beneath the action of three pewerful pairs of
jaws, and long ere the bright morning star had
paled and disappeared beneath ti:e golden shafts
of the rising sun, the hunters had quitted the
table, and stepped iis the two sleighs awaiting
them outside.

94

CHAPTER V.

“HEERILY tinkled the bells as_ the
sleighs, each drawn by a couple of
horses, sped over the smooth snow-
covered ice. Our friends had started
on their long projected expedition, and

the country judged most likely to carry moose

} lay on the further side of the lake, and thither
the party proceeded in their sleighs, which were to
be driven back to Osnaburg House by two of the
labourers, who accompanied them for that purpose.
And whilst they glide merrily over the frozen
surface, the breath pouring in clouds from their
mouths and forming great pear-shaped icicles in
Pierre’s bushy beard, let us take a glance at the
animal they are about to hunt.

The Moose or Elk (Cervus Alces) is the largest of
any known species of deer, and requires to be seen
in its native forests before its majestic stature and
imposing appearance can be thoroughly realised ;
for, owing to the apparent disproportion of its limbs,
the animal has a clumsy, uncouth look, which is much

The Home of the Wolvercne and Beaver. 95

more remarkable in a state of captivity than when
it wanders at will in the gloomy pine woods of
North America. The head of the moose much
resembles that of an enormous jackass, being
very long, and having a prehensile muzzle, which
extends several inches beyond the lower lip. The
nostrils are narrow and long; the eyes small in
proportion to the head, and the ears of considerable
length. The neck is very short, and is surmounted
by a compact mane of coarse hairs, which the
animal erects when excited or enraged. But the
wondrous part of the moose are its horns, which are
very large and palmated at the extremities, and
Audubon mentions the curious fact that the palms
on the main branches of the horns not only differ
in different individuals, but do not often correspond
on the head of the same animal. A single pair of
antlers sometimes reach the enormous weight of
over sixty pounds. The colour of the moose varies
according to its age, and the upper portion of its
body is darker than the under. The young animals
for the first winter are of a reddish-brown colour,
but as they advance in years the coat deepens in hue
until it becomes nearly black, from whence it is
named by one naturalist the “American Black Elk.”

Formerly moose were very abundant in Canada,
but the hunter has followed them up perseveringly,

96 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

and their numbers are much diminished. In the
summer they frequent the vicinities of rivers and
lakes, not only to escape the attacks of insects by
plunging into the water, where only their noses and
horns appear above the surface, but also to avoid
injuring their antlers, which during their growth
are vcry soft and sensitive. Here also the moose
finds abundant provision, feeding on the water
plants, or browsing on the trees fringing the shore.
In the winter they retire to the wooded mountain
ridges, and associate together in groups of three,
four or even more, beating down the snow with
their hoofs, and forming what are known as
“yards,” which are generally found on the slope
facing the south, where there is abundance of
maple and of other hard-wood trees upon which
they feed, either by browsing on the tender twigs or
peeling the bark from the stems of such as are
only three or four inches in diameter. Though not
so long as the giraffe’s, their pendulous upper lip is
admirably adapted for grasping and puliing down
the branches, whilst they peel off the bark by
scraping upwards with their sharp gouge-like teeth,
and thus denude the tree to the height of seven or
eight feet from the surface of the snow. When
every tree in the neighbourhood of a “yard” has
been stripped, the moose will leave it; but so averse

MOOSE EXPEDITION.

PAUL ON THE

S AND

ROVE

NT OF G

NCAMPME

THE E

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 97

are they to moving, that they will break brarches
as large as a man’s thigh sooner than shift to
another place where food is plentiful. The hunter
ascertains whether the moose has been recently in
its “yard” by scraping away the surface of the
snow from the trees aiready stripped, and if they
have been barked Jde/ow the snow the animal has
left the spot for some time, and its trail is not
worth following.

Mr. Kendall, of the Literary Society of Quebec,
speaks thus of the wonderful horns of the moose:
“The antlers begin to sprout in April, and at first
appear like two black knobs. They complete their
growth in July, when the skin which covers them
peels off and leaves them perfectly white ; exposure
to the sun and air, however, soon renders them
brown. When we consider the immense size to
which some of them grow in such a short period
of time, it seems almost incredible that two such
enormous excresences could be deposited from
the circulating system alone; the daily growth
is distinctly marked on the velvety covering by a
light shade carried around them. The first year
the antlers are only about one inch long, the
second year, four or five inches, with perhaps the
rudiment of a point, the third year about nine
inches, when each divides into a fork still round in

G

98 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

form, the fourth year they become palmated, with
a brow antler and three or four points, the fifttn
season they have two crown antlers and perhaps
five points, the points increasing in size each year,
and one or two points being added annually, until
the animal arrives at its zreatest vigour, after which
period they decrease in size, and the points are not
so fully thrown out. The longest pair I ever met
with had eighteen points (others have seen them
with twenty-three points), they expanded five feet
nine inches to the outside of the tips; the breadth
of palm eleven inches without the points; circum-
ference. of shaft, clear of- the burr, nine ‘inches;
weight, seventy pounds! The old and vigorous
animals invariably shed them in December; some,
of four or five years old, I have known to carry
them as late as March, but this is not often the
case.” ‘

By. noon the sleighs have reached the further
side of the lake and deposited-the hunters at the
spot, selected for their camp. This is at a short
distance - only from. the- water, and while Pierre
Lefranc starts off an his snow-shoes to search for
any “sign” of moose, Groves and Paul see to the
encampment, and then go down to the lake to
catch a dish of fresh fish. And let us see how the
hunters try to make themselves a comfortable

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 99

night’s lodging in that piercing cold. First a fine
tree is selected, a huge giant whose towering crest
has overlooked Lake Joseph for three centuries at
‘least, and whose trunk is free from brushwood at
the base, whilst his spreading branches will form a
good shelter should it come on suddenly to snow.
Using their snow-shoes as shovels, the two young
men proceed to clear away a space several yards
in diameter, piling the snow at the edge of the
circular clearing as a wall, and the ground being
covered to the depth of over three feet, this snow
barrier is seven feet high by the time that they
have finished.

And let me here remark that the Canadian snow
differs greatly from the moist stuff to which we are
accustomed in England. Owing to the intense
cold the Canadian snow is crisp, dry, and light—so
light that a much greater quantity of it is requisite
to produce an inch of water, than would be re-
quired in Great Britain.

Taking their axes the young men next fell a fir
tree, and one lops off its branches while the cther
drags them to the clearing and strews the ground
thickly with the fragrant shoots. The trunk is
next “logged off” into lengths of about five feet,
and a roaring fire soon blazes at the foot of the
old pine. While Groves is felling another tree,

GHZ

100 Lhe Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

for it would never do to run short of firewood in
the night, Paul descends to the lake for water, and
soon returns with a bucket full, but to obtain it he
has had to break open the ice with his ice-axe, and
the exposed surface freezes before he can reach the
camp.

And now while Groves boils the kettle and fries
a little venison, Paul goes again to the lake to catch
a dish of fish. Let us see how he sets about it.
First of all he scrapes away the snow with his shoe,
and having laid bare a portion of the ice proceeds
to chop a hole in it with his axe. In about ten
minutes the unfrozen water is reached, and the hole
enlarged until it is a couple of feet square. Paul
now puts a piece of raw venison on his hook, which
is of considerable size, and fastened to a thick,
strong line, and drops it into the hole, first tying a
long bough at the end of the line, so that a heavy
fish cannot pull it into the water, for the cold is too
intense to permit of his sitting down and fishing
according to our acceptation of the term; if he did
anything half so foolish, he would infallibly be
frost-bitten, and lose a toe or two, or perhaps his
nose. Not caring for either of these contingencies,
Paul walks briskly about, but his patience is not
long tried, for in less than five minutes the line
runs violently out, and he hauls up a fine bream

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 101

and flings him upon the ice, to flap about for
a short time before becoming frozen as hard asa
board, and so he goes on until a shout from Groves
warns him that if he expects to find any venison
in the pan he had better hurry back. Fish are
exceedingly plentiful in the Hudson Bay Territory,
and Lord Milton and Doctor Cheadle mention the
following curious circumstance :—“ The lake was
about half a mile in length, and of nearly equal
breadth, but of no great depth. The water had
seemingly frozen to the bottom, except at one end,
where a spring bubbled up, and a hole of about a
yard in diameter existed in the covering of ice,
which was there only a few inches thick. The
water in this hole was crowded with myriads of
small fish, most of them not much larger than a
man’s finger, and so closely packed that they could
not move freely. On thrusting in an arm, it seemed
like plunging it into a mass of thick stirabout.
The snow was beaten down all round hard and
level as a road, by the numbers of animals which
flocked to the Lenten feast. Tracks converged
from every side. Here were the foot-prints of the
cross or silver fox, delicately impressed in the snow
as he trotted daintily along with light and airy
tread ; the rough marks of the clumsier fisher; the
clear, sharply defined track of the active mink;

102. Lhe Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

and the great coarse trail of the ever-galloping,
ubiquitous wolverene. Scores of crows perched on
the trees around, sleepily digesting their frequent
meals. Judging by the state of the snow and
collection of dung the consumption must have gone
on for weeks, yet the supply seemed as plentiful as
ever.”

Split open or boiled over the fire by means of
two sticks for handles, a fine fresh fish is a great
delicacy, and our friends were proceeding to enjoy
their supper when a shout in the distance announced
that Pierre Lefranc was on his way back. Paul
slipped on his snow-shoes and advanced to meet
him, and was highly delighted to learn that a moose
“yard” had been found within a short distance and
the “sign” showed plainly that it was still frequented.
Whilst Paul was stooping down to play_with the
dogs that had accompanied the trapper, he caught a
glimpse of the camp, and heedless of the cold, stood
for a few minutes in silent admiration. Night had
fallen, and the fresh logs heaped on by Groves to
welcome the Canadian threw up sheets of ruddy
flame, that roared in the pine branches above them
and sent upward a million of sparks that coruscated
far overhead before disappearing for ever. The
pure sheeting with which the earth was covered
flashed back the light of the fire as though the

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 103

ground were thickly sprinkled with seed diamonds,
while the trunks of the trees caught a ruby hue, and
the snow became tinged with a delicate sea-shell
pink of exquisite beauty. Those who have seen
some of the marvellous fairy transformation scenes
in our Christmas pantomimes can, perhaps, form
some idea of the sight now presented to Paul’s
admiring gaze, but in the former all is false and
the heavy atmosphere tainted with gas, whilst here
the air was dry and exhilarating, and nature needed
no sulphurous chemicals to throw a magic splendour
on the landscape.

Pierre was in high spirits, and if a good appetite
waits only on a light heart, his breast must have
been singularly free from “carking care,” for the
venison and fish vanished before his powerful jaws
with a rapidity that excited first the admiration
then the wonder of the beholders. As he ate he
kept up a running conversation, or perhaps it would
be more correct to say a steady fire of remarks, for
both the young men sat still listening and never
opening their lips.

“ Quatre moose, monsieur, two big vons, a bull
and a cow, and two fetites—how you call it ?—
calves. And I have see plenty tracks of marten,
and the trail of von big bear. Oh, if Monsieur
Tanner was only here for de hont!” and so on until

104 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

his appetite was at length appeased, and after a
pipe, the fire was finally replenished, and the whole
party rolling themselves in their buffalo robes sank
into a profound slumber.

Before dawn the camp was astir, jorums of
smoking tea hastily swallowed, dried venison steaks
disposed of, the caps on their guns replaced—almost
a needless precaution in that dry atmosphere, and
slipping their feet into snow-shoes the three men
started off into the wilderness.

I have mentioned snow-shoes several times, and
now scems the proper time to describe these useful
articles and the manner of wearing them. The
object of the snow shoe is to present a broad surface
to the snow, and prevent the hunter sinking up to his
middle at each step, which would totally exhaust
his strength in a few hundred yards. It varies in
dimensions according to the condition of the snow
and the taste of the wearer, but a little under four
feet in length by one foot in breadth is a fair aver-
age. It consists of a light framework formed of
two pieces of hard, tough wood, which are securely
fastened together at either end, and spread out
near the middle by wooden bars, which give sup-
port to the frame and cause it to assume an oval
form. The whole of the interior is then filled up
with a network of hide thongs, very much like a

The Flome of the Wolverene and Beaver. 105

tennis bat, in which a small hole is left towards the
‘ore part of the shoe. On this network the foot of
the hunter rests, and the hole plays a most im-
portant part, for over it come the toes and in it
they find room to play. A proficient in the use of
snow-shoes will never stoop down to tie them on,
but will twist his foot into the loops provided for
that purpose, and walk away. On advancing the
foot the shoe rests on the upper part just where the
toes articulate (or spring out), these members passing
through the hole above mentioned ; and when the
stride is completed and the advanced foot planted
on the ground to bring up the other, the shoe slips
off the toes which dragged it forward, and rests
firmly on the lattice work. And now the use of
the hole is apparent, for without it the toes wouid
be bent upwards at each step, and would soon be-
come cramped and stiff, or even raw if the novice
persisted in travelling. To gain the knack of
dropping and catching up the shoe at each stride a
great deal of practice is requisite, and the art can
only be learned on snow itself, for the earth would
not permit the toes to sink through the hole. We
live, however, in an age of progress. The “rink”
has rendered skating possible at midsummer, and
who knows if some ingenious speculator may not
start an establishment where the youth of England

106 Zhe Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

may acquire the graceful art of swinging along on
snow shoes? Flour would form an admirable sub-
stitute for snow, and the beginners would carry on
their coats the story of their mishaps. As the
latter would be very frequent, and dives into the
flour of momentary occurrence, may I be permitted
to suggest that its proprietor should call his’estab-
lishment, when he starts it, by a name at once
appropriate and euphonious—the “ Sink.”

In walking on snow-shoes they are never lifted
entirely clear of the surface, but the hind parts are
permitted to trail, leaving a mark upon the snow
by which the novice can be immediately distin-
euished from the proficient. The former leaves a
wavy, irregular line, sometimes of considerable
depth, at others barely grazing it, whereas the
trail of the latter is uniform and _ undeviating.
Notwithstanding their great size these shoes are
very light, and a man accustomed to their use can
cover thirty miles a day without difficulty. Frosty
weather is the easiest to travel in, as the snow is
fine and falls through the network without sticking,
if the weather be warm and the snow melting, it
clogs the shoe, renders it heavy, and soon galls
thesfeet.

From the above description their use will, doubt-
less, seem easy enough, but an attempt to walk in

The Home of the Wolvercne and Beaver. 107

them will soon alter this opinion. The novice does
not remember their width, and, planting one on the
top of the other, comes headlong to the ground.
Even experienced hunters are sometimes thrown
down by their dog stepping on the heel of the shoe,
but a few sound thrashings render the anima}
cautious. I mentioned a little further back that
Pierre was accompanied by two or three dogs, but
this was too high-sounding a name to bestow on
the wretched little curs that are used in moose
hunting, not to seize and drag down the prey, but
simply to worry him by snapping at his heels.
The smaller they are in size the better, as they are
then enabled to run upon the surface of the snow
without breaking through the crust.

Paul had devoted all his leisure moments at
Osnaburg House to practising on snow-shoes, and
had become quite sufficiently expert to walk with-
out difficulty. His length of limb gave him a
considerable advantage, for a long, swinging stride
is of great consequence. So they walked onwards
for several miles, the Canadian leading the way
and following his tracks of the previous night.
Many hares and grouse were seen, but for fear of
alarming the nobler game, were allowed to pass
unheeded. Pierre, however, pointed out the track
of a wolf, and vowed to trap it before he returned

108 The Hoiue of the Wolverene and Beaver.

to the house. At length the vicinity of the “yard,”
was reached, but a light breeze having sprung up,
the Canadian counselled a detour for the purpose
of approaching the game from the lee side, and by
the time this was accomplished it was high noon.
A halt was then called, and the hunter delivered his
instructions, which I shall render into English in
place of transcribing his curious jargon of mixed
languages. All three men were to creep up
cautiously and take their chance of getting a shot
at the animals before they detected an enemy’s
presence. If, however, the moose winded them
and made off, they were to follow with all speed;
and should the animals separate, Groves, as a more
experienced woodsman, was to pursue the right-
hand trail, while Pierre Lefranc and Paul, whom
the Canadian considered under his especial safe-
guard, would follow up the other. From the “sign”
on the previous day Pierre felt pretty certain that
there were only two full-grown moose in the “yard,”
and by this arrangement they stood every chance of
securing them both. The rendezvous was fixed at the
encampment on the following evening, for perhaps
one party might be compelled to sleep on the trail.

Noiselessly and carefully the hunters advanced,
the dogs keeping in the rear, and the utmost pre-
cautions were taken to avoid snapping a twig, or

The Home of the Wolvercne and Beaver. 109

making the faintest sound of any kind, for the
moose is endowed with the keenest sense of smell
and hearing. Pierre pointed silently to the trees
as they stole onward, and Paul saw that they had
been quite recently stripped of their bark, the
marks of the teeth being plainly visible in the
younger trunks. At length the Canadian stopped,
and pointed through an opening in the under-
growth. Trembling with excitement Paul looked
in the direction indicated, and saw a huge bull
moose, as big as a horse, browsing on the young
boughs of the tree beneath which he stood.

“ Fire,’ whispered Pierre, “aim behind the
shoulder.”

The young man raised his gun, covered the
mighty beast, and the report rang through the
forest, followed immediately by the crashing and
splintering of boughs as the affrighted animals tore
their way through the undergrowth.

“En avant! en avant!’ shouted the hunter to
his dogs, who instantly dashed forward, and all
three men were soon in hot pursuit.

“ Du sang, beaucoup de sang,” cried the Canadian,
on reaching the spot where the moose had first
been seen ; “you hit him, Monsieur Paul, very fine.
Let us show grande vitesse—great hurry, and catch
him quick.”

110 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

It was one thing to talk about hurrying, but
quite another to accomplish it, for the moose had
selected the worst route possible, and the hunters
were impeded at every step by tangled thickets
and boughs of fallen trees, over or through which
the moose from their great strength made their way
with ease and rapidity. When running away from
danger the moose always adopt the same method ;
the male leads, breaking the way for the others,
who follow in his tracks so exactly that it appears
as though only one had passed. In case of meet-
ing with an obstacle they are unable to overcome,
the herd branch off and reunite, if possible, further
on. Such happened in the present instance, for a
huge tree, fallen through old age, lying directly in
the path of the animals, they divided into two
parties, the wounded bull taking to the left, whilst
the cow and calves turned off to the right.

“ Good-bye, Paul,” shouted Groves, as according
to the arrangement he followed the latter, “you
need not expect to see me back in camp to-night,
for I shall follow up the. game until I bag them all
three. Good luck, old fellow,” and waving his hand
in token of farewell, he disappeared in the under-
growth.

“Venez donc, come along, Monsieur Paul, the
moose very much bleed, he not far off.”

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 111

But Pierre was in error, the wounded bull was a
very long way off, and it was almost dusk when
they reached the spot where the yelping of the
curs announced that he had at last been brought
to bay.

“Prenez garde, monsieur,’ said Pierre, as the
young man hurried forward towards the moose,
who was now seen standing with his hind quarters
against a fallen tree, and striking out furiously with
his fore feet at the mongrels. “J/s sont tres
tangereux.”

Here a ycll of agony from one of the dogs
announced that it had ventured too near the fatal
hoof, over and over for five or six yards it rolled,
and then lay howling with a broken back.

“ Gardez-vous,’ shouted the hunter, “z/ avance!”

It was too true ; summoning all its strength, the
bull dashed forward at the young man who was in
advance of his companion. He tried to gain the
friendly shelter of a tree, and would probably have
succeeded, had not one of the mongrels, in its hurry
to escape, trod upon, the heel of his snow- -shoe, and
he fell heavily to the ground. He saw the giant
form of the enraged animal towering above him,
its hoof raised to strike—another instant and his
brains would have been scattered on the trampled
snow, when the report of Pierre’s gun echoed through

112) The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

the forest, and the huge brute toppled over half
burying him in its fall.

“ Etes-vous blessé? are you hurt?” cried the
Canadian in a tone of great alarm as he dragged
aside the carcase sufficiently to release the prisoner.

“No, thank you, vold® fellow, Ti vam all nsht
enough,” said Paul, gaining his feet with some
difficulty, for snow-shoes are not the best things to
practise gymnastics in; “but it is solely owing to
you that I am standing here now.”

“Vat should I say to Monsieur Tanner, suppose
you not come back safe, eh ?”

“You may rely upon my telling him how much
I am indebted to you,” replied Paul, “many a man
would have sought his own safety, and left me
to my fate when he saw that savage brute within
four‘yards of him. What a monster it is,” he
continued, gazing at the bull, whose throat Pierre
had just cut.

The wounded dog was then examined, but its
spine was too severely injured to allow of its re-
covery, and Pierre despatched it with the other barrel
of his gun; they then set to work skinning the
moose, a task they had to accomplish as best they
could by moonlight, and having secured the heart,
liver, marrow-bones, upper lip, and a good piece of
meat, they started for camp, which, owing to the

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 113

course taken by the wounded bull, was fortunately
close at hand.

“What in the world are you going to do with
that thing?” asked Paul, as he watched the Canadian
washing and cleansing the snout.

“Ah, Monsieur Paul, you not know von good
ting, de moufle it is tres delicteuse.”

“You don’t mean to eat it, surely ?”

“Monsieur shall see,” and Pierre applied himself
afresh to the preparation of his delicacy, which he
eventually put into a saucepan, from whence issued,
in time, a most savoury odour. When it was
eventually drawn forth, and Paul found that it was
a rich, juicy, gelatinous substance, not at all unlike
the green fat of the turtle, he quickly changed his
opinion, and made his supper chiefly off the dainty
he had so lately despised. Before they had finished

the meal a long howl was heard in the woods which
startled Paul, who was listening eagerly for any

signs of Groves’ return, and made him anxiously
ask the hunter its meaning.

“C’est un loup, a rascal wolf, Monsieur Paul, and to-
morrow I shall set my traps to catch him by the feets.
He is call his compatriots to manger the moose.”

“Are they at all likely to hurt Mr. Groves?”
asked the young man, anxiously.

“ No, never fear ; they are not yet enough hunery.”

H

114. Zhe Home of the Welverene and Beaver.

This sounded rather cold comfort to Paul, who
thought that he should hardly like to come across
their path on a dark night ; but he said nothing, and
when supper was finished and they were smoking
their pipes, he asked the Canadian to tell him a
story, the which request honest Pierre was nothing
loath to comply with.

“ All my own stories, I have already told. But
mon pere he tell me of a voyage he make to Oregon,
for the Americans. Suppose you like to hear that,
I shall tell it avec beaucoup de plaisir.”

“What!” cried Paul, “was your father in Jacob
Astor’s Company ?”

“Out, monsieur.”

“By Jove! I have been hoping to meet some-
body who could tell me all about that unfortunate
affair for years. You must give me all the
particulars, Pierre, and we have plenty of time, for
we must have some moose venison ready cooked
for Mr. Groves if he returns. Besides, we couldn’t
sleep with all those wolves baying at the moon, so
tell me the story from beginning to end.”

The good-natured giant filled up his pipe, lighted
it, threw a couple of fresh logs on the fire, and thus
commenced. I may add that he spoke in unmixed
French when telling a story to Paul, who under-
stood the language thoroughly.

11§

CUAPTER VI.

«aE father, while yet a lad, had gained

AAS *! the reputation of being one of the
Go Lc most active Coureurs des bois in
axa Upper Canada, having penetrated as
§ far as lake Athabasca at a time when
2 hostile tribes rendered the service one of
great danger. I could tell you some of
his escapes which would make your hair
stand on end, and the wonder is that he never left
dts in the camps of the Crees, Blackfeet, or
Assiniboines, by all of whom he was successively
pursued, and indeed once made a prisoner, only
gaining his freedom by a miracle. He had just
returned from the above journey, and the prestige
he had acquired was still fresh, when the news of a
gigantic undertaking set on foot by Mr. John Jacob
Astor, reached Montreal, and threw the whole fur-
trading community into a fever of expectation.”
But before returning to Pierre’s story, a few
words concerning this remarkable man become
necessary.

H 2

116 Lhe Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

The history of Mr. Astor, whose name will ever
be inseparably connected with the American fur
trade, is not a little curious, as demonstrating the
wealth and influence which a single man may
acquire by bending his whole energies to the
prosecution of a single idea. Mr. Astor was a
German, and at an early age quitted London,
where he had resided whilst a lad, for New York,
carrying with him such merchandise as he deemed
suitable to the American market—chiefly musical
instruments. The vessel in which he embarked
was ice-bound for some months, and during his in-
voluntary detention on board he became acquainted
with a fellow passenger who exercised the trade of
a furrier. This was in the year 1783, a few months
after the recognition of the independence of the
United States by Great Britain, and in accordance
with-the advice of his new friend, Astor exchanged
his musical instruments in New York for furs, and
hastening back to London, disposed of his stock
most advantageously. From that time he turned
his attention solely to peltry, studying the con-
tinental market, and making himself familiar with
every branch of his new calling. Returning to
New York he there took up his abode for good,
making frequent journeys to Montreal and the
distant trading stations in Canada. When in 1794

The Home of the Wolverene and Leaver. 117

the obstructions which had previously existed to
the export of furs were removed, Astor’s intimate
acquaintance with the trappers and traders of the
North and West became of the greatest use, and he
was soon able to send the furs he purchased to
Europe and China (the best mart in the world for
the furrier) in his own ships, which brought back
other produce to the American market, so that he
reaped a double profit, and soon became one of the
wealthiest men in New York. His business ex-
tended until it embraced markets in every quarter
of the globe, and it is recorded that so exact was
his acquaintance with these markets, and so wide
was the grasp of his mind, that he was able to
guide the actions of his supercargoes and captains
by the most minute instructions. At this time,
while his commerce covered the seas, he was in the
habit of visiting his warehouses and showing the
workmen that he could equal the best of them in
sorting and beating furs.

At the commencement of the present century
Mr. Astor began to revolve colossal schemes for
supplying all the markets in the world with furs,
and for colonisation by planting towns and villages
in the wilds of the western continent. He obtained
the patronage of the Government for sending
supply ships regularly to the Pacific coast, espe-

118 Zhe Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

cially to the Russian possessions on that coast,
where numerous small vessels of every nationality
were in the habit of trading yearly, bartering
European merchandise with the Indians for the
skin of the sea-otter and other valuable furs, and
shortly afterwards he attempted the great scheme
of his life, which wa; to monopolise the fur trade
from the Canadian lakes to the Pacific, by establish-
ing numcrous posts, making a central depot at the
mouth of the Columbia River, and then, by obtain-
ing one of the Sandwich Islands as a station, to
supply Chinese and Indian markets with furs sent
direct from the Pacific coast.

This gigantic scheme failed, as we shall see, but
its grandeur was worthy the sagacity and genius of
its originator. Of course the reader must not
imagine that Pierre Lefranc related the life of Mr.
Astor thus at length by the side of the fire amidst
Canadian snow. The majority of what is related
above was learnt by Paul subsequently, but before
following the history of the expedition, I deemed
it best to insert a brief sketch of its promoter, and
may add that Mr. Astor’s fortune was the largest
ever accumulated by one man in America, amount-
ing to no less a sum than four million pounds
sterling, the result of good judgment, enterprise
and probity. It is said of him, “ During his whole

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 119

career he hardly made a misstep through defect of
his own judgment, and his memory retained for
years the minutest details. He lived nearly a
quarter of a century in retirement, in the society of
his family, and of eminent practical and literary
men, his mind retaining its vigour after his bodily
strength had become enfeebled.” Mr. Astor’s will
contained numerous charitable provisions, amongst
others ten thousand pounds to the poor of Waldorf,
his native village in Germany, and a splendid
library to his adopted city, New York. Asa child
this extraordinary man had been taught to rise
early, and devote a part of his first waking hours
to reading the Bible, a practice that he never re-
linquished even when the cares of business sat
most heavily upon him. He died at New York in
the spring of 1848, in his seventy-fifth year. Should
any of my readers feel their interest awakened, and
care to pursue the subject further, I may mention
that the “Life of Astor,” by David Ralph Jaques,
may be found in Freeman Hunt’s “Lives of
American Merchants,” published at New York in
1858.

“Well,” continued Pierre, “when the news of the
formation of the ‘ Pacific Fur Company’ reached
Montreal the excitement was enormous. The
North-West Company, then in the zenith of its

120 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

power, was highly indignant at the audacity of the
scheme, and naturally resolved to throw every
stumbling block in the path of the adventurous
American. But there were many retired partners
and employés of the North-West Company who
considered that they had been badly provided for,
or otherwise hardly used, and the emissaries sent
out by Mr. Astor found these malcontents eager
to forward his views, and, from their intimate
acquaintance with the Indians and the trade in
general, these were the very men he wanted.
Articles were signed, and the Pacific Fur Company
was fairly launched, the whole of the capital being
advanced by Mr. Astor, whilst the other partners
contributed only their time and experience. It was
decided that a depédt should be established on the
Columbia River, for which purpose two parties were
to set out, one by sea, the other overland; my
father belonged to the former. Carried away by
the prospect of wealth and steady employment he
had engaged as head voyageur—and let me tell you
that Mr. Astor was right glad to count Baptiste
Lefranc amongst his followers.

“Mr. McKay, who was the leader of the sea expedi-
tion, started by water for New York in a bark-canoe,
with a crew of eight Canadian voyageurs, of whom
my father was the chief.. He was, quite a young

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 121

man, barely two-and-twenty, and many a time has
he described to me that trip down the American
rivers. The Yankees rubbed their eyes with as-
tonishment as the strange craft swept down the
Hudson, the paddles flashing in the sunshine, and
the echoes ringing to the chansons of the crew, who
in their blanket capotes, striped shirts, moccassins
and variegated belts, looked utter savages to the
sober farmers. And when they reached New York,
and paddled like lightning round the harbour, the
delight of the citizens knew no bounds, and their
amazement was increased when the canoe touched
the shore, and the crew having jumped out, my
father and another voyageur tossed her on to their
shoulders and walked her up to Mr. Astor’s house,
as though she had been a feather.

“The name of the vessel that was to transport
the sea party to the Columbia River was the
Tonquin, a ship of 300 tons, mounting several
guns, and commanded by Captain Thorn, a name
my poor father disliked even to hear mentioned.
On the 6th of September, 1810, the Zonxquzn sailed
from New York, having on board fifty-five souls—
twenty-two belonging to the ship, the remaining
thirty-three passengers. Hardly had the vessel got
into blue water before the tyrannical disposition
of the captain manifested itself in his ordering all

122 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

the clerks forward to mess with the seamen, a
proceeding that was quite contrary to the terms of
their engagement ; at the same time he treated the
voyageurs and mechanics as though they had been
dogs, abusing them as idle riff-raff, and compelling
them to work night and day. It was in vain that
the parties expostulated, for the captain vowed to
blow out the brains of the first man who ventured
to disobey his orders. Such was the commence-
ment of the voyage, and as the time went on matters
became worse and worse, until the people on board
the good ship Zonxqguin were divided into two
parties, and a hatred was engendered between the
captain and the passengers that only terminated
with the arrival of the vessel at her destination.
“At length the Falkland Islands were sighted,
and the TYonxguin came to an anchor, for the
purpose of replenishing the almost exhausted
water-casks. Here one of the sailors strolled
away for a short time, whereupon the captain
ordered the anchor to be weighed, being re-
solved to leave the man to his fate—starvation.
With difficulty he was induced to delay his de-
parture for an hour, during which a party went in
search of the absentee. He was found enjoying a
comfortable nap, the first one probably that his
brutal commander had permitted him to indulge in

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 123

for many a long day; but when the ship was reached
the hotr had been exceeded and the captain was in
a fury, threatening the man’s life, and maltreating
those who had found him,

“At the beginning of December the Yonquzn
anchored at Egmont Bay, and both watered and
refitted. Here the passengers lived ashore in a
tent, and amused themselves by shooting the wild
fowl with which the place abounded. And now a
circumstance occurred, laughable in itself, but nearly
followed by serious consequences. The water-
casks were all filled up, but Captain Thorn had
announced that the vessel would not move for two
days, and accordingly the passengers continued in
their camp. Now, one of the clerks had captured
a goose, which he wished to keep alive, and so tied
it to a stone about midway between the tent and
the landing-place, and on the skipper landing he
saw the bird, and instantly fired at it. The wretched
goose flapped its wings, whereupon the captain
saluted it with another charge, and running up to
secure his victim, was hailed by a roar of laughter
from the passengers, who had been hidden witnesses
of the whole scene. Ina great pet Thorn walked
to his boat, and returned to the vessel, while the
landsmen made merry over the skipper’s blunder,
and then dispersed in search of game, little sus-

124 Zhe Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

pecting the trick the angry man was playing
them.

“My father was at some distance from the beach
when he heard one of his companions shouting, and
immediately ascending a small eminence, saw the
Tonquin standing out to sea under full sail. The
dismay and anxiety of the passengers may now be
imagined, for they knew the morose temper of the
captain too well to suppose that he would relent, so
a

hurrying down to the beach where the boat lay
little bit of a dingy, utterly unequal to carrying
nine men in a seaway—they launched her, crowded
in, and pulled out after the vessel. The wind was
blowing very freshly, and the sea was high, so it
was a mercy that she did not sink under them, more
particularly as the bucket they used for a baler was
dropped overboard by accident, and one of the oars
broken in endeavouring to recover it. The vessel
was now several miles off, and the abandoned men,
among whom was the chief partner, Mr. Astor's
representative, had lost all hope, when the ship
was seen to wear and stand towards them. After
narrowly escaping being dashed to pieces against
the Zonguin’s side, they were all got safely on
board, after six hours of protracted misery in the
boat, and that Captain Thorn fully intended to
abandon them is evident, for he wrote from the

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 125

Sandwich Islands to Mr. Astor saying so; and he
was only prevented from carrying his purpose into
effect by the determined conduct of Mr. Stuart, one
of the partners, who seizing a brace of pistols
threatened to shoot the unfeeling savage unless he
bore up to the rescue.*

“From what I have already said you may be
able to form some idea that the Yonguin was
hardly a Paradise, and since the murderous attempt
I have just related the enmity between the captain
and his passengers was undisguised. Most of the
latter were Scotchmen, and they talked to each
other in Gaelic, whilst the Canadians spoke only in
French, neither of which languages the captain
could understand, and he therefore became possessed
of the idea that they were plotting to displace him,
and assume the command of the ship themselves,
an idea which worried him half out of his life, for
some of the younger men, anxious to repay him for

* Tt seems incredible that Captain Thorn should have confessed his
deliberate intention to desert the party on shore, but in Washington
Irving’s “Astoria” the following extract from the original letter
is given :—“Had the wind,’ writes Thorn to Mr. Astor, “ (unfor-
tunately) not hauled ahead soon after leaving the harbour’s mouth, I
should positively have left them; and, indeed, I cannot but think it an
unfortunate circumstance for you that it so happened, for the first loss
in this instance would, in my opinion, have proved the best, as they
seem to have no idea of the value of property, nor any apparent
regard for your interest, although interwoven with their own.”—
“ Astoria”’ (Bohn’s Edition, 1850), p. 34.

126 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

his brutal treatment, often pretended to be con-
sulting earnestly, and thus gave some colour to the
absurd suspicion. I could fill up the whole night
by telling you of the meaningless severity of this
man, but enough has been said for the present.
The Yonguzn reached the Sandwich Islands, where
she obtained fresh provisions, and arrived off the
mouth of the Columbia River on the 22nd of
March, 1811. ;

“You may imagine how delighted my father and
all his fellow-sufferers were when their destination
was sighted; for the captain had refused his per-
mission to the wish of the partners, that warm
clothing should be served out, so the poor fellows
had to shiver in their summer suits until most of
them were stricken down and confined to their
hammocks. The captain and the chief officer, Mr.
Fox, had been on bad terms for some time, owing
to the kindness for the unfortunate passengers
manifested by the latter, and the cloudy and stormy
state of the weather preventing the captain from
making out the coast, he ordered the chief mate to
examine the bat, giving him as a boat’s crew, one
sailor, a very old I'renchman, and three lads wholly
unacquainted with the sea, two of them being
carters, the third a Montreal barber. Expostula-
tion with such a savage was useless, and, despite

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 127

the entreaties of the partners, the boat—a crazy,
unseaworthy little nutshell—was lowered and Mr.
Fox peremptorily ordered to proceed, in addition
to being taunted with his justifiable hesitation.
Before stepping into the boat the young man shook
hands with the partners, and said, ‘My uncle was
drowned here not many years ago, and now I am
going to lay my bones with his.’ And stepping
over the side he added, ‘ Farewell, my friends ; we
will perhaps meet again in the next world.’*

“The sequel can be imagined. Mr. Fox, an
excellent sailor, was utterly unacquainted with the
language of the men under his command ; before
the boat had proceeded a hundred yards she be-
came unmanageable, presenting her broadside to
the sea, which threatened every moment to swallow
her up. Then the people in the ship, who were
anxiously watching her, saw a flag held up to
implore assistance. All the passengers crowded
round the captain and entreated him to save the
men; his reply was an order to put the ship about,
and the boat was seen no more.

“Mr. Gresham, my father was a good man, as
those who knew him best can testify—a good man,
a brave man, and one who would have scorned to

* “ Adventures of the first Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia
River,” by Alexander Ross, one of the adventurers.—Page 55.

128 The Home of the Wotverene and Beaver.

pear malice in his heart, yet I know this, that had
he ever met Captain Thorn on land, that ruffian’s
life had not been worth a beaver-skin. I have
heard him tell this story many hundreds of times,
and I have heard every particular confirmed by
others, yet never did he overcome the disgust and
indignation with which that man’s needless bar-
barity inspired him. He had seen victims slowly
done to death by the redskins, amidst horrors at
which the blood runs’ cold, yet to his dying day he
held the captain of the Zonguzz as a_ barbarian
ef infinitely blacker hue than the savage, for he
knew better. As for me,” continued honest
Pierre, “my blood boils when I think of the man
coolly letting his fellow-creatures perish. But I
must get on with the thread of my story, unless
you are getting tired.”

“Oh! no. Pray go on,” replied Paul, who had
listened with wrapt attention to this strange
narrative, and once more filling and lighting his
pipe the Canadian proceeded.

, “The ship continued standing off and on until
noon of the following day, when she anchored, and
an attempt to cross the breakers was made by some
of the passengers, which nearly ended in another
catastrophe. The bar at the mouth of the Columbia
River is a fearful one, at least three miles in length

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 129

and over this chain of sandbanks, which are con-
tinually shifting, the breakers roar with the greatest
violence, covering a vast space with a sheet of white
foam. The second mate was now sent to sound,
and had a narrow escape of being entangled in the
breakers, whereupon the third mate, named Aikens,
was sent in the pinnace with the sailmaker,
armourer, and two Sandwich Islanders, the mate
receiving orders to hoist a flag should he find three
fathoms and a half of water. This he was suc-
cessful in doing, and the ship immediately weighed
and stood in towards the boat, the men in the
latter laying on their oars in readiness to be taken
on board. What was the astonishment of every
one when. Captain Thorn coolly passed within
twenty yards of the pinnace without offering to
help them, and to the remonstrances of the partners
replied, ‘I can give them no assistance.’ Even the
second mate ventured an appeal, but the captain
paid no heed, and the boat was left to its fate, the
ship standing on towards the bar.

“Everything combined to endanger the vessel.
The time was most badly chosen, for it was within
less than an hour of sunset, and if a dangerous
passage such as this must be attempted, any one
with a vestige of common sense would select broad
daylight; but the captain was mad or reckless,

i

130 The Home of the Wolverene and Leaver.

probably both, and the ship stood in, leaving the
pinnace struggling with the surf. The Zonxguix
entered the breakers, rose to the swell, and then
plunged headlong into the boiling waters, which
decreased in depth at each moment, until at last
she struck, the waves making a clear sweep of the
deck, and forcing crew and passengers to seek
shelter in the rigging. And then she lay battering
and bumping on the bar, now whirled here, now
tossed there, and utterly unmanageable. In the
middle of this down came the darkness, daylight
leaving them buried in the angry waves, and no
great distance from the rocky coast, against which
it seemed that they would inevitably be driven, if
the ship hung together until they reached it. Two
heavy anchors were let go, but the surf heeded
them no more than if they had been boats’ grap-
nels, and still the vessel continued to drift, seem-
ingly to destruction. At last, when all hope had
left them, the tide turned and the flood carried the
battered ship into Baker’s Bay, where she rested in
safety, considerably more indebted to good luck
than to the good management of Captain Thorn.
“On the following day that worthy, accompanied
by Mr. McKay, Mr. Ross, and several others, landed,
to see if they could gain any information regarding
the two boats, and the party had not proceeded a

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 131

hundred yards before they found the armourer
standing under the shelter of a rock, and half dead
from cold and misery. The poor fellow at once
reproached them bitterly, and instead of replying
to their inquiries concerning Mr. Aikens and his
other companions, he continued murmuring, ‘ You
did it purposely,’ which undoubtedly was the truth
as far as the captain was concerned. When at last
he was induced to speak, he told them that after
the ship had so cruelly abandoned them, the boat
was drawn into the breakers, capsized, and the mate
and sailmaker never rose again. The armourer and
the islanders, being all expert swimmers, reached
the boat, which they managed to turn on her keel,
baling out some of the water, and recovering one
of the oars. The tide drew the pinnace out to
sea, and there they spent a miserable night from
cold, exposure, and fatigue, under the effects of
which the islanders lay down listlessly in the
bottom of the boat, and before morning one was
quite, and the other almost dead. The armourer
had strength of mind enough to resist the drowsy
feeling to which his companions had yielded, and
occupied himself during the night in sculling the
boat with their only oar. Daylight dawned, and
he found that they were once more close to the
breakers. Determined to effect a landing, or perish
12

132 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

in the attempt, he turned the boat’s head shore-
wards, and was lucky enough to have chosen a spot
where she was thrown up high and dry on the
beach. He had walked about a little, to restore
circulation to his cramped limbs, and had then
dragged the dying islander out of the boat, and
covered him over with leaves for warmth; whilst
thus sadly employed he had struck a path which
he was following when the party met him. He
and the Sandwich Islander were the only survivors
of "the pinnace, and*.as-the ‘crew of Mi iioxis
boat were never heard of again, they undoubtedly
perished to a man; thus eight valuable lives were
lost within sight of the future settlement by the
rashness—to give it no harder name—of Captain
Thorn.

“But now the vessel was safely moored in the
Columbia River, and the hour to quit her hateful
shelter had arrived—an hour welcomed by my
father and by every one of the TZonqguin's pas-
sengers. They had been treated like dogs on board,
so it was no wonder they felt glad to get away. But
it is getting late, Monsieur Paul, and as Monsieur
Groves shows no sign of turning up, we will go to
sleep now, and I can finish my father’s experiences
in Oregon to-morrow night. A! mes amts, I shall
have some of your feets in my trap soon,” he added,

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 133

shaking his fist at the wolves, which were howling
around the carcase of the moose, and relapsing
into his broken English once more as he finished
his narrative.

Tired out by the varied incidents of the day, Paul
raised no objections to the Canadian’s proposal,
and wrapping themselves in their buffalo robes,
with their feet in almost dangerous proximity to
the fire, the hunters were soon both buried in
sleep.

134

CHAPTER VIE

ee early dawn both Pierre and Gres-
ham were astir. After breakfast the
Canadian looked to his traps, saw
la that the springs were in good order
a and worked freely, after which they
v~ Sallied forth to set them, an operation that
Paul looked forward to with great curiosity;

for he was determined to become master of

all branches of the fur trade, and it is needless to
say that trapping stands first in importance. And
now came into use the hand-sledge that Pierre
had brought with him, formed of a thin piece of
board six feet in length, turned up at the end, and
having a network at either side to prevent the
loading from slipping off. Upon this the Canadian
piled his traps, an axe, some moose flesh for bait,
and slinging his gun by the strap over his shoulder
the hunter marched off, dragging the little sleigh
after him by a cord of sufficient length to prevent
its over-riding his snow-shoes. Paul walked by his
side, and they soon reached the place where the

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 135

moose lay, that is to say its skeleton, for the wolves
had been hard at work all night, and had stripped
every ounce of flesh off the huge carcase. All
round were the marks of their feet, and Pierre
chuckled as he set his traps baited with a piece of
singed moose flesh, and concealed them carefully
in the snow. The instruments used to capture the
wolf are powerful steel gins exactly resembling
those set by poachers and rat-catchers in England,
with the exception that they are toothless, and have
two springs in place of one. Wolves are so cunning
that the hunter generally lays two traps side by
side, one baited, the other entirely concealed in the
snow, so that whilst the wary animal is trying to
dislodge the tempting morsel without injury to
himself, he frequently steps upon the hiddén danger
and finds himself caught by the leg. These traps
are each provided with an iron chain, to which the
trapper fastens a stout stick, and when the captive
drags the trap the stick hitches in the undergrowth,
and so far impedes his progress that the hunter has
little difficulty in tracking and killing him. If the
traps were fastened down, some of the animals, in
their anxiety to escape, would gnaw off their own
legs, and many instances are recorded of three-
legged foxes being seen at large, who had un-
doubtedly sacrificed a limb to gain their liberty.

136 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

The fox and wolf traps are exactly alike in every
particular except size, and the method of setting
one applies perfectly to the other; the springs are
so powerful that it requires a man’s whole strength
to open them. When set, the jaws of the trap are
exactly on a level with the snow, under which both
chain and stick are perfectly concealed, and the
bait is scattered around. No mark is made by the
trapper to denote the presence of his snares, and
one of the chief difficulties under which the novice
labours is to find their whereabouts in the pathless
forest.

Of wolves there are several kinds in America, the
black, grey, red, and Arctic. Except in their colour
these all resemble each other very closely, and are
seldom dangerous to man unless driven by hunger.
One instance, however, is mentioned in which the
black wolf showed determined ferocity. Two young
negroes, who resided near the banks of the Ohio
River, in Kentucky, had sweethearts living on
another plantation about four miles distant, and
after their work was over for the day the young
men were in the habit of visiting the ladies of their
love ; the nearest way to whose dwelling lay across
a large cane brake, and as to the lovers every
moment was of consequence, they usually took this
lonely route to save time. Winter had set in cold,

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 137

dark, and dreary, and after sunset scarcely a glimpse
of light or glow of warmth was to be found save in
the bosoms of the young lovers who boldly pene-
trated these gloomy solitudes. One night they set
forth undeterred by the snow, a thin coating of
which covered the ground, and rendered the little
frequented path almost undistinguishable. As
though foreboding evil they took the precaution to
carry their axes, in the use of which the plantation
negroes are remarkably expert, and hurried forward
as rapidly as the tangled track would allow. The
darkness was intense, though now and then a break
in the trees slightly lessened the gloom, or a leaden
cloud rifting asunder allowed them a transient
glimpse of a feeble star. As they pushed on
silently, but resolutely, a fearful howl arose which
froze the very blood in their veins, for they knew
too well the cry of the hungry wolf, and rightly
judged that they were surrounded by a pack of
these famished demons. Instinctively they paused
for a few moments, during which the beating of
their hearts was almost audible—the darkness
showed them nothing—and an ominous silence
reigned around. Whispering comfort and hope to
each other, and holding their axes in readiness,
the lovers again stepped forward, but before a dozen
yards were covered the foremost was assailed by

138 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

several ferocious enemies, who inflicted terrible
wounds with their fangs on his legs and arms, and
despite his struggles brought him to the ground.
Both the young men fought manfully. With
sweeping blows the one who still kept his feet
strove to free his companion, but in his own flesh
the cruel teeth sheathed themselves, and hastily
passing his hand over his prostrate companion he
knew him to be past mortal aid. Self-preservation
only was to be thought of, so hurling his axe at the
almost invisible foes, the survivor grasped the bough
of a friendly tree, and had just sufficient strength
tc draw himself up into a place of safety. Here he
passed the night—a night of horror, for his wounds
became stiff and painful; and under his feet he
could hear the savage fiends riving and tearing, he
had. little difficulty in guessing at wat. Morning
came at length, and he beheld the bones of his
friend, beside which three gaunt black wolves were
lying dead, while the snow around was stained with
his heart’s blood. The rest of the pack had disap-
peared, so quitting his shelter and recovering his
axe the horrified young man crawled slowly home
to relate the fearful catastrophe.

The general appearance of the wolf is so well
known that it needs no description ; and furious as
the animal undoubtedly is when driven by hunger,

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 139

when trapped, and escape is hopeless, it becomes
the most abject and ignoble coward. To illustrate
this I quote the following from M. Audubon.
“ After putting up our horses and refreshing our-
selves, we entered into conversation with our worthy
host (a farmer) and were invited by him to visit the
wolf pits which he had constructed about half a mile
from the house. Glad of the opportunity, we
accompanied him across the fields to the skirts of
the adjoining forest, where he had three pits within
a few hundred yards of each other. They were
about eight feet deep, broadest at the bottom, so as
to render it impossible for the most active animal
to escape from them. The mouth of each pit was
covered with a revolving platform of boughs and
twigs, interlaced together and attached to a cross
piece of timber, which served for an axle. On
this light sort of platform, which was balanced by
a heavy stick of wood fastened to the under side, a
large piece of putrid venison was tied for bait.
After examining all the pits, we returned to the
house, our companion remarking that he was in the
habit of visiting his pits daily, in order to see that all
was right; that the wolves had been very bad that
season ; had destroyed nearly all his sheep, and
had killed one of his colts. ‘But,’ added he, ‘I
am now paying them off in full, and if I have any

140 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

luck, you will see some fun in the morning.’ With
this expectation we retired to rest, and were up at
daylight... “I think,’ “said our thost; “that allvas
right ; for I see the dogs are anxious to get away
to the pits, and aithough they are nothing but curs,
their noses are pretty keen for wolves. As he
took up his gun, and axe, and a large knife, the dogs
began to howl and bark, and whisked round us, as
if full of delight. When we reached the first pit,
we found the bait had been disturbed and the plat-
form was somewhat injured, but the animal was
not in the pit ; on examining the second pit, we
discovered three famous fellows safe enough in
it, two black and one brindled, all of good size.
They were lying flat on the earth, with their
ears close down to their heads, their eyes in-
dicating fear more than anger. To our astonish-
ment, the farmer proposed descending into the
pit to hamstring them, in order to haul them
up, and then allow them to be killed by the dogs,
which, he said, would sharpen his curs for an en-
counter with the wolves, should any come near his
house in future. Being novices in this kind of
business, we begged to be lookers-on. ‘ With all
my heart,’ cried the farmer, ‘stand here, and look at
me, whereupon he glided down, on a knotted
pole, taking his axe and knife with him, and leaving

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 141

his rifle to our care. We were not a little surprised
at the cowardice of the wolves. The woodman
stretched out their hind legs, in succession, and
with a stroke of the knife cut the principal tendon
above the joint, exhibiting as little fear as if he had
been marking lambs. As soon as he had thus dis-
abled the wolves, he got out, but had to return to
the house for a rope, which he had not thought of.
He returned quickly, and, whilst I secured the
platform in a perpendicular position on its axis, he
make a slip-knot at one end of the rope, and threw
it over the head of one of the wolves. We now
hauled the terrified animal up; and motionless with
fright, half choked, and disabled in its hind legs, the
farmer slipped the rope from its neck and left it to the
mercy of the dogs, who set upon it with great fury,
and worried it to death. The second was dealt
with in the same manner; but the third, which was
probably oldest, showed some spirit the moment
the dogs were set upon it, and scuffled along on its
forelegs at a surprising rate, snapping all the while
furiously at the dogs, several of which it bit severely ;
and so well did the desperate animal defend itself,
that the farmer, apprehensive of its killing some of
his pack, ran up and knocked it on the head with
his axe. This wolf was a female, and was blacker
than the other dark-coloured one.”

142 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

All the wolf tribe are in the habit of feigning
death when they find that escape is impossible, and
will often deceive even an experienced hunter.
Their tenacity of life is most extraordinary, and a
wolf that had been belaboured until it was thought
that every bone in its body was broken, has got up,
shaken itself, and slunk away apparently little tke
worse. There is a smaller species of this animal
inhabiting the open country in America, and known
as the Prairie wolf, but into its habits I shall not
enter here.

We now come to the foxes, of which there are
several kinds, all of which are eagerly sought after
by the fur hunter. The most beautiful of these is
the black or silver fox, whose skin stands second
only to the sea-otter in value, fetching from twenty-
five to forty guineas in the London market, whilst
a well-matched pair are more valuable still. A fox
may be said to be a fox all the world over, there-
fore I need say nothing of its shape, with which
everyone is familiar, but pass on to its valuable fur.
The body of the silver fox is clothed with two kinds
of hair, an outer and an inner coat. The longer or
outer hair extends two inches beyond the shorter
or under fur, especially on the neck, beneath the
throat, behind the shoulders, along the flanks, and
on the tail; this hair is soft, glossy, and finer than

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 143

that of the sable. The under fur is unusually long
and dense, measuring in some places two inches,
and is exceedingly fine, feeling to the hand as soft
as the finest cotton wool and surrounding the whole
body even to the tail; the hair composing this fur,
when viewed separately, exhibits a crimped or wavy
appearance, and so thoroughly has nature armed
this animal against the severe climate it frequents,
that the very soles of the feet are thickly clothed
with woolly hair, leaving no callous spots visible.
From its great length and density the beauty of this
fur may be imagined, and its colouring considerably
enhances its appearance. The under fur is uniformly
of a chocolate brown, whilst the hairs on the neck,
and on a dorsal line extending to the root of the
tail, are black. Some skins are perfectly black,
others of a bluish-gray, but it is most commonly
found with parts of its fur hoary, the shiny black
coat being thickly interspersed with white tipped
hairs, from which circumstance it derives its name
of the “silver” fox. The tail is tipped with white, by
which it can always be recognised, though there is
little chance of mistaking so beautiful an animal.
Like all of its tribe, the silver fox is very shy, and
the trappers have marvellous tales of its cunning
and sagacity. Its scientific name is canis argentatus.

The other species of fox, the red, the arctic, and

3

144 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

the cross require no other description than their
name conveys. The latter derives his name from
a cruciform mark running down the back and over
the shoulders, and not from any infirmity of temper.

The steel traps having been set wherever the
Canadian thought there was most chance of success,
the companions proceeded in search of the sign of
pine martens, fishers, and other fur-bearing animals
of the weazel tribe. Two diminutive tracks were at
length found, which the trapper pronounced to be
martens, and at once set to work constructing a fall
trap for their capture. Mr. Lord describes this
operation as follows: “To commence, we must
build a half-circle, with large stones, to the height of
about three feet; this done, we next procure a
tolerably heavy tree, drag it to the stone building
we have constructed, and lay it across the entrance.
The heavy end should be the furthest away, the
lighter end we poise carefully upon an arrangement
of peeled sticks. Asa familiar example of what I
mean, I may instance the figure-of-four trap used
by boys for catching small birds. This contrivance
and one end of the tree or ‘fall’ are together sup-
ported on a smooth stick, which is built in amongst
the stones composing the half-circle. This support
stick must project horizontally from the centre of
the hollow of the wall, at a height of about three

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 145

feet from the ground; it needs to be firmly fixed,
and must be tapered to a point, and polished as
smooth as an ebony ruler. The length of this sup-
port has to be regulated by the depth of the side
walls ; its pointed end ought to be just six inches
within the entrance walls, against the ends of which
the tree or ‘fall’ traverses. A tempting bit of
rabbit or grouse, carefully skinned, for the marten is
most fastidious in its tastes—if the meat is at all
tainted or dirtied in the preparation it is useless as
a lure—is securely fastened to a loop of cord made
from the inner bark of the cedar tree (Thuju
gigantea) ; this loop is slid upon the supporting
stick, and pushed on until it reaches the hindermost
part of the wall. Now, we make the figure of four,
which rests upon the horizontal bar, and at the
same time bearsup the tree or ‘fall.’ The figure
of four is easily made; the vertical piece has two
notches cut in it, one in the centre for the horizontal
piece to rest and fit in, and a second in the top to
receive the end of the oblique piece, which is cut to
a wedge-shape at both ends.. The horizontal piece
has one notch to take the end of the oblique; on
the other rests the fall. We have set our trap, and
now, as a final process, we walk backwards from it
for some distance, and carefully brush away every
trace of our foot-prints with a pine branch; and here
K

146 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

for the time we must leave it. We shall see how it
acts when we again visit the trap.

“The ‘fall’ is down, and underneath it, crushed
and lifeless, is stretched a fine male marten. If
you observe the position the body lies in, it will
explain to some extent the care that was needed
in rightly adjusting the length of the support in
reference to the ‘fall.’ The tree has dropped upon
the marten immediately behind the shoulders, and
so caused instant death ; and here let me explain
how the trap acts. The marten, hunting about,
suddenly sniffs the dainty bait suspended from the
horizontal stick ; approaching the trap, and having
satisfied its naturally suspicious nature that there is
nothing very formidable in a pile of sticks and stones
—-and from our precaution of brushing out the
foot-prints, it is unable to scent the presence of an
enemy—ventures to creep under the ‘fall,’ and enter
the semi-circle of stones; then reaching up, the
marten seizes the bait, and struggles with all the
strength it can exert to pull it down ; but finding
this is not to be accomplished, next tries what
backing out and tugging the coveted morsel after
it will do. The stick, if you remember, was made
as smooth as an ebony ruler, and so the animal
finds the bait and loop easily traverses it towards
the entrance of the trap ; but when half the marten’s

Ss
The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 147

body is without the ‘fall,’ the loop comes against
the verticle stick composing the figure of four, which
rests upon the stick along which the victim is im-
patiently dragging the loop to which the bait is
fast. Finding this unlooked-for obstruction makes
him irritable, and so he concentrates all his energies
for a sudden jerk. ’Tis done, the support of the
‘fall’ tumbles in pieces to the ground, and the
heavy tree slips down suddenly upon the marten’s
back. You will thus observe, that the grand secret
in setting a ‘fall’ trap of this pattern is so to adjust
the figure of four upon the stick from which the
bait is suspended, that when the final tug is made,
nearly two-thirds of the marten’s body shall be
outside and clear of the tree placed for the purpose
of crushing his life out.”

Though the description of this trap occupies a
good deal of space, yet an expert trapper can con-
struct nearly half a hundred a-day, but the polished
sticks must be provided beforehand. Where stones
are not handy for building the semi-oval enclosure,
stakes driven into the ground will answer the
purpose. Until night-fall the Canadian and Paul
busied themselves in the construction of these traps,
and then returned to their camp pretty well tired
out. They found no signs of Groves, but Pierre
said that most likely the chase had carried him a

K 2

148 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

long distance, and the time for the rendezvous was
hardly yet expired.

But though I have entered at length upon the
kind of trap in which the marten is captured, I
have said very little about the animal itself, and as
it forms one of the principal items in the fur trade
some slight account of its appearance and habits
will be in place here.

The generic name of all the animals of this tribe,
namely the fisher, marten, mink, ermine, &c., is
Mustela or Weasel. Let us commence with the
fisher.

This animal is known as Pennant’s Marten by
naturalists, and by trappers as the Black Cat or
Fisher. Its scientific name is Mustela Canadensis.
The head of the fisher somewhat resembles that of
a dog, and its body is long and admirably formed
for both agility and strength. The legs are short,
with strong, sharp, curved nails, and the toes on all
the feet are connected at the base by a short hairy
web, so that the callosities only make a slight im-
pression when the animal is walking or running on
the snow. The tail is long, bushy, and gradually
diminishing to a point towards the extremity.
The fisher possesses a strong smell of musk. The
general colour is a most beautiful chestnut brown,
in some specimens approaching to black. Its

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 149

length, exclusive of the tail, is about two feet, and
its weight perhaps ten pounds. The fisher climbs
trees with the greatest facility, in fact it is amongst
their branches that it usually seeks its prey. Though
living in the woods, it prefers damp places in the
vicinity of water, and is said by one naturalist to
prey upon frogs in the summer season, though its
favourite food is the Canadian porcupine, which it
kills by biting the under portion of the animal’s
body, where there are no quills. The fisher makes
its nest in hollow trees, or rather it takes possession
of the ready-made home of the squirrel, and to
avoid any disputes with the rightful owner, kills
and eats him, off-hand. It is said to throw itself
down from lofty boughs, and to fall on the ground
without injury, but there is reason to doubt the
accuracy of this statement. A party had once
ascended a mountain in search of rare plants, and
being fatigued had seated themselves on a rock,
when a grey squirrel was observed to dart past at
full speed and in a great fright, closely pursued by
a fisher. Both animals were too much occupied
with their own concerns to notice the on-lookers, who
thus obtained an excellent view of the whole affair.
Fast as the squirrel ran the fisher was rapidly
overhauling it, when the former sought refuge in
the boughs of a cucumber tree, still pursued by its

150 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

hungry foe. The squirrel leaped lightly among the
smaller branches on which the heavier animal
seemed disinclined to trust its weight, but in its
fright it miscalculated a distance, and fell from one
of the topmost boughs, lighting unhurt upon the
rocks beneath. Now was the time for the fisher to
have exhibited his tumbling propensities had he
possessed them, but instead of leaping boldly after
his prey he commenced running down the stem of
the tree. At this point the bystanders interfered,
and advanced to the foot of the tree which the
fisher was descending. He paused on the opposite
side, as if trying to ascertain whether he had been
observed, and no one of the party carrying a gun
they commenced hammering on their tin botanizing
boxes with the handles of their knives, a measure
which filled the fisher with consternation, and the
greater the noise became the more his terror in-
creased, and in terrible trepidation he re-ascended
the tree, sprang to another, down whose stem he
ran until within twenty feet of the bottom, when he
made a flying leap to the ground and in a few
moments was out of sight. The title “fisher” is
evidently a misnomer, for the animal is not amphi-
bious in its habits ; the Canadian hunters always
call it the Pekan.

The next animal of the tribe possessing valuable

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 151

fur is the pine-marten (AZustela Martes), which is
found in all the forests of North America, but,
unlike the fisher, it frequents the driest parts. In
form the marten resembles an English ferret. Its
fur is about an inch and a quarter long, of a pale,
dull, greyish-brown from the roots upwards, dull,
brownish-yellow near the summit, and tipped with
dark brown or black; the lustre of the surface of
the fur is considerable, and it is often palmed off on
purchasers as a more costly kind, for which purpose
it is dyed any desired colour. The marten is from
eighteen to twenty-two inches in length, exclusive
of the tail, and its weight about six pounds.
Audubon says, “Let us take a share of the
cunning and sneaking character of the fox, as much
of the wide-awake and cautious habits of the weasel,
a similar proportion of the voracity (and a little of
the fetid odour) of the mink, and add thereto some
of the climbing propensities of the racoon, and we
have a tolerable idea of the attributes of the pine-
marten.” As may easily be imagined from the
above this little beast is shy, cruel, cunning and
active ; but differs from the animals to which it has
been likened in never approaching the residence of
man, but rather keeping to the dense forests, where
it can prey upon birds, their eggs and young,
squirrels, mice, shrews, wood-rats, &c., together with

152 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

beetles, toads, and lizards. It is also an eater of
certain nuts and berries, and resembles the bear in
a fondness for honey. It derives its name from the
pine forests in the northern part of America, to
which it shows a decided preference, but is known
amongst furriers as the American Sable. The darker
the skins the more valuable they become, and the
rocky and mountainous but woody district of the
Nipigon, on the north side of Lake Superior, has
long been noted for its black and valuable marten-
skins. Though it does not frequent human habita-
tions, the marten finds out the hoards of meat and
fish laid up by the natives, and if they have in-
advertently left a crevice open, it squeezes its lithe
body through, and destroys right and left. When
its retreat is cut off, this little animal displays the
createst courage, showing its keen teeth, setting up
its hair, arching its back, and making a hissing
noise, like a cat. If attacked by a dog it will
fearlessly seize the aggressor by its nose, and gives
him so shrewd a nip, that unless trained to the
combat, it is usually very glad to let its would-be
captive escape. It is easily tamed, when it loses
much of its snappish disposition, and manifests an
attachment for its master. The Indians frequently
eat its flesh, but to European tastes it is rank, coarse,
and pervaded with the musky odour peculiar to all

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 153

this tribe. The female is smaller than the male,
and is very prolific, bringing forth five and six
young ones atabirth. That they were very plentiful
formerly may be gathered from Sir John Richardson,
who records that upwards of a hundred thousand
skins were collected annually in the fur countries.
We next come to the mink or minx otter (Pu/orius
Vison) which is the only animal of the genus mzstela
inhabiting the northern parts of America that can
be said to live in the water, and the name of
“fisher” could with much justice be transferred
from its present bearer to the mink. It has a long,
slender body, with a small depressed head, short
flat nose, small eyes which are placed far forward,
broad rounded ears covered with hair, very long
neck, and short stout legs. The feet and palms are
covered with hair even to the extremity of the nails;
and the tail, which is round and thick at the roots,
tapering towards the end, is covered with long
horizontal hairs, which give it a bushy appearance ;
there are two brown-coloured glands situated on
each side of the under surface of the tail, which
have a small cavity lined by a thin, white-wrinkled
membrane, and these cells contain a strong musky
fluid, the smell of which is rather disagreeable.
The coat is composed of two kinds of hair, upper
and under. The latter is soft and downy, and the

154 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

long upper hair entirely conceals it. The colour of
the mink is usually a rich chocolate brown, with a
white patch under the throat and on the breast.
Its length from the nose to the root of the tail is
about fifteen inches, and the tail from seven to
eight. There is nothing very remarkable about its
habits, except that it commits fearful ravages
amongst poultry. Sir John Richardson says:
“The vison passes much of its time in the water,
and when pursued seeks shelter in that element in
preference to endeavouring to escape by land, on
which it travels slowly. It swims and dives well,
and can remain a considerable time under water.
Its short fur, forming a smooth glossy coat, its tail
exactly like that of an otter, and the shortness
of its legs, denote its aquatic habits. It preys upon
small fish, fish-spawn, fresh-water mussels, &c., in
the summer; but in the winter, when its watery
haunts are frozen over, it will hunt mice on land, or
travel to a considerable distance through the snow
in search of a rapid or fall, where there is still some
open water. The vison, when irritated, exhales,
next to the skunk, the most fetid odour of any
animal in the fur countries. It is not very timid
when in the water, and will approach near to a
canoe out of curiosity, diving, however, instantly on
perceiving the flash of a gun, or any movement

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 155

from whence it apprehends danger. It is easily
tamed, and is capable of strong attachment. In a
domestic state it is observed to sleep much in the
day, and to be fond of warmth. One, which I saw
in the possession of a Canadian woman, passed
the day in her pocket, looking out occasionally
when its attention was roused by any unusual
noise.”

Audubon also bears testimony to the gentle dis-
position of the mink. He says, “ We had in our
possession a pet of this kind for eighteen months ;
it regularly made a visit to an adjoining fish-pond
both morning and evening, and returned to the
house of its own accord, where it continued during
the remainder of the day. It waged war against
the Norway rats which had their domicile in the
dam that formed the fish-pond, and it caught the
frogs which had taken possession of its banks. We
did not perceive that it captured many fish, and it
never attacked the poultry. It was on good terms
with the dogs and cats, and molested no one unless
its tail or foot was accidentally trod upon, when it
invariably revenged itself by snapping at the foot of
the offender. It was rather dull at mid-day, but
very active and playful in the morning and evening
and at night. It never emitted its disagreeable
odour except when it had received a sudden and

156 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

severe hurt. It was fond of squatting in the
chimney-corner, and formed a particular attach-
ment to an arm-chair in our study.”

Such is a brief account of the principal fur-bearing
animals of the genus mwstela, but the list would
be sadly incomplete were I to leave out a little
creature whose fur is the emblem of high rank—
the ermine.

The ermine (JZustela Erminea) is nothing more
than the common stoat with which the reader is
probably familiar. It doubtless seems odd that the
robes of our peers and other dignitaries should be
trimmed with the skins of vermin, but such never-
theless is the fact. The ermine has a convex nose
and forehead, a long slender body, long cylindrical
tail, and short limbs. In the winter time the fur of
some specimens is of a pure white colour through-
out, except on the end of the tail, which, together
with a few anterior whiskers, are black. In other
specimens there is a bright primrose-yellow tinge
on the belly, the posterior part of the back, or the
tail. The feet in the winter are clothed with hair
on the soles, which project so as to conceal the
claws. In the summer the soles are nearly naked,
and the fur on the upper parts resembles that of
the common weasel in colour. The length of the
ermine is about ten inches, exclusive of the tail,

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 157

which measures perhaps five inches, of which about
three are black both in summer and winter.

The change of colour in these little animals is
very curious. Messrs. Audubon and Bachman say,
“As far as our observations have enabled us to
form an opinion on this subject, we have arrived at
the conclusion that the animal sheds its coat twice
a year, 2.¢., at the periods when these semi-annual
changes take place. In autumn, the summer hair
gradually and almost imperceptibly drops out, and
is succeeded by a fresh coat of hair, which in the
course of two or three weeks becomes pure white ;
while in the spring the animal undergoes its change
from white to brown in consequence of shedding its
winter coat, the new hairs then coming out brown.
We have in our possession a specimen captured in
November, in which the change of colour has con-
siderably advanced, but is not completed. The
whole of the under surface, the sides, neck, and body
to within half an inch of the back, together with
the legs, are white, as well as the edges of the ears.
On the upper surface, the nose, forehead, neck, and
an irregular line on the back, together with a spot
on the outer surface of the fore-leg, are brown,
showing that these parts change colour last.”

Beautiful as the ermine is in the purity of its
spotless white, a more mischievous little animal

158 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

amongst poultry can hardly be imagined, for it is
animated by an intuitive blood-thirstiness and love
of destruction which prompts it to slaughter every
animal or bird within its reach, some of which are
ten times its own size, as the hare or domestic fowl.
The gentlemen quoted above proceed to say, “ It is
a noted and hated depredator of the poultry-house,
and we have known forty well-grown fowls to have
been killed in one night by a single ermine. Sati-
ated with the blood of probably a single fowl, the
rest, like the flock slaughtered by the wolf in the
sheepfold, were destroyed in obedience to a law of
nature, an instinctive propensity to kill. We have
traced the footsteps of this blood-sucking little
animal on the snow, pursuing the trail of the
American rabbit, and although it could not over-
take its prey by superior speed, yet the timid hare
soon sought refuge in the hollow of a tree, or ina
hole dug by the marmot or skunk. Thither it was
pursued by the ermine, and destroyed, the skin and
other remains at the mouth of the burrow bearing
evidence of the fact. We observed an ermine, after
having captured a hare of the above species, first
behead it and then drag the body some twenty
yards over the fresh-fallen snow, beneath which it
was concealed, and the snow tightly pressed over
it, the little prowler displaying thereby a habit of

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 159

which we became aware for the first time on that
occasion. To avoid a dog that was in close pursuit,
it mounted a tree and laid itself flat on a limb
about twenty feet from the ground, from which it
was finally shot. We have ascertained by suc-
cessful experiments, repeated more than a hundred
times, that the ermine can be employed, in the
manner of the ferret of Europe, in driving our
American rabbit from the burrow into which it has
retreated. In one instance, the ermine employed
had been captured only a few days before, and its
canine teeth were filed in order to prevent its
destroying the rabbit; a cord was placed around
its neck to secure its return. It pursued the hare
through all the windings of its burrow and forced
it to the mouth, where it could be taken in a net,
or by the hand. In winter, after a snow storm, the
ruffled grouse has a habit of plunging into the loose
snow, where it remains at times for one or two days.
In this passive state the ermine sometimes detects
and destroys it. In an unsuccessful attempt at
domesticating this grouse by fastening its feet to a
board in the mode adopted with the stool pigeon,
and placing it high on a shelf, an ermine, which we
had kept as a pet, found its way by the curtains of
the window, and put an end to our experiment by
eating off the head of our grouse.

160 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

“ Notwithstanding all these mischievous and de-
structive habits, it is doubtful whether the ermine
is not rather a benefactor than an enemy to the
farmer, ridding his granaries and fields of many
depredators on the product of his labour, that
would devour ten times the value of the poultry
and eggs which, at long and uncertain intervals, it
occasionally destroys. A mission appears to have
been assigned it by Providence to lessen the rapidly
multiplying number of mice of various species, and
the smaller rodentia.

“ Wherever an ermine has taken up its residence,
the mice in its vicinity for half a mile round have
been found rapidly to diminish in number. Their
active little enemy is able to force its thin
vermiform body into the burrows, it follows them
to the end of their galleries, and destroys whole
families. We have on several occasions, after a
light snow, followed the trail of this weasel through
fields and meadows, and witnessed the immense
destruction which it occasioned in a single night.
It enters every hole under logs, stumps, stone-heaps
and fences, and evidences of its bloody deeds are
seen in the mutilated remains of the mice scattered
on thesnow. The little chipping or ground squirrel,
Tamias Lysteri, takes up its residence in the vicinity
of the grain fields, and is known to carry off in its

The Home of the Wolverene and heaver. 161

cheek-pouches vast quantities of wheat and buck-
wheat, to serve as winter stores. The ermine in-
stinctively discovers these snug retreats, and in the
space of a few minutes destroys a whole family of
these beautiful little samze,; without even resting
awhile until it has consumed its now abundant food,
its appetite craving for more blood, as if impelled
by an irresistible destiny, it proceeds in search of
other objects on which it may glut its insatiable
vampire-like thirst. The Norway rat and the
common house-mouse take possession of our barns,
wheat stacks and granaries, and destroy vast
quantities of grain. In some instances the farmer
is reluctantly compelled to pay even more than a
tithe in contributions towards the support of these
pests. Let, however, an ermine find its way into
these barns and granaries, and there take up its
winter residence, and the havoc which is made
among the rats and mice will soon be observable.
The ermine pursues them to their farthest retreats,
and in a few weeks the premises are entirely free
from their depredations. We once placed a half-
domesticated ermine in an outhouse infested with
rats, shutting up the holes on the outside to prevent
their escape. The little animal soon commenced
his work of destruction. The squeaking of the rats
was heard throughout the day. In the evening it
L

162 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

came out licking its mouth, and seeming like a
hound after a long chase, much fatigued. A board
of the floor was raised to enable us to ascertain the
result of our experiment, and an immense number
of rats were observed, which, although they had
been killed on different parts of the building, had
been dragged together, forming a compact heap.”

I shall wind up this long chapter with the
following curious story of ermines or stoats, related
by Mr. Wood in the first volume of his “ Illustrated
Natural History.”

“A gentleman was walking along a road near
Cricklade, when he saw two stoats sitting in the
path. He idly picked up a stone, and flung it at the
animals, one of which was struck, and was knocked
over by the force of the blow. The other stoat
immediately uttered a loud and peculiar cry, which
was answered by a number of its companions, who
issued from a neighbouring hedge, and sprang upon
their assailant, running up his body with surprising
rapidity, and striving to reach his neck. As soon
as he saw the stoats coming to the attack, he picked
up a handful of stones, thinking that he should be
able to repel his little enemies, but they came
boldly on, in spite of the stones and of his stick.
Most providentially, a sharp wind happened to be
blowing on that day, and he had wound a thick

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 163

woollen comforter round his neck, so that he was
partially protected. Finding that he had no
chance of beating off the pertinacious animals, he
flung his stick down, fixed his hat firmly over his
temples, and pressing his hands to his neck, so as
to guard that perilous spot as much as possible
from the sharp teeth of the stoats, set off home-
wards as fast as he could run. By degrees, several
of the animals dropped off, but others clung so
determinately to their opponent, that when he
arrived at his stables no less than five stoats were
killed by his servants as they hung on his person.
His hands, face, and part of his neck were covered
with wounds; but, owing to the presence of mind
with which he had defended his neck, the large
blood-vessels had escaped without injury. The
distance from the spot where he had been attacked
to his own house was nearly four miles. He always
declared that when he struck the stoat with the
stone, its companion called out ‘ Murder.’”

The ermine is very prolific, bringing forth from
five to twelve young ones at a birth. These are
born about April or May, and are of a pale yellow
colour. It avoids water, and if forcibly thrown into
it, swims awkwardly, like a cat, and, unlike the
fisher and pine marten, it never pursues its prey on
trees ; in fact it rarely leaves the ground, except to

L2

164. The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

escape from its two worst enemies, men and dogs.
The ermine is easily caught in almost any kind of
trap, for though cautious it is both bold and in-
quisitive, and at one time ermine-skins formed part
of the menues pelletries exported from Canada ; but
their value at present is so little, that they do not
repay the Hudson’s Bay Company the expense of
collecting ; hence very few are brought to England
from that quarter.

After supper was finished and the pipes lit, Paul
requested the Canadian to continue his story, which
he did as follows.

165

CHAPTER. VIII:

Be a THINK, Monsieur Paul, that I left
off last night having brought the
Tonquin safely to an anchor in the
Columbia River. Well, for some
days the adventurers looked about for

a suitable spot on which to build the depot,

and finally selected a rising piece of ground

distant about twelve miles from the bar

that had proved fatal to eight of their number.
On the 12th of April, 1811, the whole party
joyfully quitted the ship and the iron rule of
Captain Thorn, to encamp on shore. I say joy-
fully only insomuch as it applies to escaping
from the tyranny of the captain, for the recent
disasters had cast a gloom over all, and even my
father’s light heart was oppressed by melancholy
forebodings, which the character of the surrounding
country was little calculated to allay. In front lay
the inlet with its frowning and rocky shores, whilst
the ever-foaming breakers on the distant bar were
clearly visible to the west. On the other hand the

166 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

landscape was wild and rugged, and looking south
an endless forest of giant trees extended as far as
the eye could reach. To establish a camp, many
of these forest kings had to be felled, and when I
mention that some of them were full fifty feet in
cirth, standing close together amidst huge boulders
of rock, the difficulties before the settlers may be
imagined. The command was assumed by Mr.
Duncan McDougall, whose temper unfortunately
was none of the best, and under his direction every
man set to work clearing away the undergrowth,
their guns standing within arm’s length, for at any
moment they were liable to an attack from the
hostile Indians prowling in the dense covert that
surrounded them.

“On their first arrival the natives had shown
themselves friendly, and under the direction of
their chief, Comecomly, had assisted in saving the
crew of the long boat when she was swamped, but
their attitude now indicated a disposition to
treachery, and the settlers were compelled to hold
themselves in readiness to meet any attack. My
father was a good axeman, and he used always to
smile when relating the efforts made by the
adventurers to fell the forest trees. Being all
voyageurs, traders, or Sandwich Islanders, few of
them had ever handled an axe before or for that

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 167

matter even a gun, and their attempts to cope with
the giant pines were most ludicrous. Every man,
without exception, from the highest to the lowest,
had to take his share in the arduous work, and this
was their method of proceeding. Four people were
told off to each tree, around which they erected a
sort of scaffolding, from which they commenced
their attack. The axes were of all shapes and
sizes ; and in hands unaccustomed to their use, but
little headway was made; the tree was notched
and hacked about in every direction, but that was
all. At last some one announced that it was on
the point of falling, upon which there was a speedy
retreat from the scaffolding, and all hands stood
wondering which direction it would take, for they
had no idea of ‘laying’ it. Several minutes would
pass, but the giant showed no sign of yielding,
standing stubbornly upright and seeming to defy
‘their utmost efforts. At last some one more
adventurous than the rest, would remount the
scaffold and hew away afresh; showers of splinters
would fly; a creaking noise arose, and with a
groan the pine tree bowed his lofty head, but not to
reach the ground, for it invariably caught in the
boughs of a neighbour, and there hung a constant
menace to the whole party. As my father said, it
was heart-breaking work and at the end of two

168 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

months hardly an acre had been cleared, whilst
three men had been killed by the natives, two
wounded by falling timber, and another had blown
off his hand whilst blasting a stump, in addition to
which calamities the whole party were worn out by
fatigue and night-watching.

“But you must not imagine, Monsieur Paul, that
because the adventurers had left the Zonguzn they
were quit of her estimable captain. That worthy
had received orders to coast along towards the
north and trade with the Indians, after he had dis-
embarked his passengers ; and he was now seized
with an intense anxiety to depart, and became
furious because store-houses were not erected for
the reception of the goods. Petty trade was also
carried on with Comecomly and his tribe, which
raised the captain’s spleen, who complained bitterly
of his ship being turned upside down for the sake
of a few ragamuffin Indians. Angry letters passed
between McDougall and himself, but at last
buildings were run up, the goods and the frame of
a coasting vessel that was to be fitted together for
river service were landed at Astoria, for by that
name was the new settlement christened, and the
Tonquin was at liberty to depart whenever her
commander saw fit.

“This expedition seemed from the outset to be

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 164

destined to misfortune. I mentioned that Mr.
McDougall was a man of bad temper, and he suc-
ceeded in making himself so unpopular that one
fine morning four men were found missing; they
were, however, seized by the Indians when they’
had gone eighty miles up the river, and delivered
up on payment of aheavyransom. Their desertion
was so far productive of good that it opened the
leader’s eyes to the discontent which prevailed
around him; and when six more men ran away—
to be returned in the same manner—he changed
for the better, serving out tents for the sick, and
allowing them little delicacies which he had hitherto
reserved for himself. That Mr. Astor showed little
of his usual foresight in not sending a medical man
with the expedition is now universally acknow-
ledged.

“But internal feuds were not all the party had
to contend against. Comecomly and his followers
spread a report that the neighbouring tribes were
uniting for the purpose of destroying the ad-
venturers, and a foreboding of approaching danger
was added to their other troubles. To convince the
natives that no harm was designed them several
parties were sent into the interior, and my father
accompanied Mr. McKay in a canoe up the river
until they reached the Cascades, a distance of nearly

170 0 6The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

two hundred miles from Astoria. The trip lasted
twelve days, and they returned well satisfied with
both the natives and the country.

“ Mr. McKay had been in the North West Com-
pany, where he had gained a reputation for activity
and eccentricity. That he carried the latter quality
to a somewhat dangerous length the following
anecdote of my father’s will prove. It is customary
on great trading occasions to select a tall tree, from
which the boughs are all lopped, which, having the
trader's name cut on the trunk, may stand as a
memorial of his visit. On McKay’s return from
the Cascades he resolved on making such a trophy,
and directed one of his men to climb a tree and
prepare it. In the hope of getting a glass of grog
as a reward, the man obeyed the order with alacrity ;
but no sooner had he ascended to the summit than
the facetious trader lighted a fire at the bottom, and
the whole tree was soon in a blaze. The wretched
victim of this practical joke was in the greatest
danger, and his voice could be heard amidst the
smoke crying out for mercy. Water was dashed
on to the trunk, but only increased the danger by
augmenting the smoke; and the resinous properties
of the pine rendered all efforts to subdue the flames
unavailing. Most providentially another tree grew
close at hand, into which, at the imminent risk

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 171

of being dashed to pieces, the victim leaped, and
succeeded in grasping a bough, where he hung until
another man climbed up and rescued him. On the
Ist of June the Zorguzn sailed for the north, having
Mr. McKay on board as supercargo, and Mr. Lewis
as ship’s clerk, but as Captain Thorn had sent Mr.
_ Mumford, the second mate, on shore, the ship was
very short of officers.

“ At the time of the vessel’s sailing the settle-
ment was almost defenceless, no palisade had been
erected, and not a single gun was mounted, whilst
the Indians swarmed round in such numbers that
the people had to relinquish all labour and think
only of their own safety. The good offices of the
crafty Comecomly were sought in this emergency,
and on the promise of a reward he established
friendly communications between the traders and
the Indians, who at length went away, apparently
satisfied with the reception they had experienced.
An accident, however, nearly marred the existing
harmony. Mr. McDougall had invited a Chinook
chief to his tent, and was explaining to him the
nature and properties of a blunderbuss, when by
some accident the hammer fell and the weapon
exploded, blowing off the corner of the chief’s robe,
and only missing his body by a miracle. Out
darted the affrighted potentate, yelling to his

172 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

followers, who replied by the dreaded war whoop.
During this time the sentinel seeing smoke issue
from the tent, and the chief bolting at full speed,
thought the latter had murdered Mr. McDougall,
and fired at him, calling out to the other white men,
who seizing their arms hastened to the spot with
their fingers on the trigger, and a very pretty fight
seemed imminent. McDougall, however, and Mr.
Ross, who luckily was in the tent at the time, both
rushed between the hostile ranks, and peace was at
length restored, though the chief was a long time
before he got rid of the idea that a plot had been
formed against his life.

“Two strange Indians, a man and woman, now
made their appearance at the fort—for the building
was progressing—who described themselves as
coming from the Rocky Mountains, and spoke the
Algonquin language; but in the middle of July
the Astorians were astonished at seeing a light
bark canoe sweeping down the Columbia, which
was found to contain Mr. Thompson, of the
North-West Company, with a crew of eight Iroquois
Indians and an interpreter. Of course the new
comers had no very friendly feelings towards the
American Company, and Thompson tried to dis-
courage the Astorians in every way, by painting
the difficulties and dangers they would encounter

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 173

if they persevered in their attempts to establish a
trade. According to Thompson’s account, he had
left Canada in the preceding year, with a con-
siderable party and plenty of goods, intending to
cross the Rocky Mountains. The majority of his
men had deserted him when real hardships had to
be faced, but he had persisted in pushing on with
the few who had remained faithful to him, and had
reached the source of the Columbia, where his
Indians had built the bark canoe. The real truth
was, that immediately on hearing of Mr. Astor’s
scheme, the North-West Company took the alarm,
and resolved to anticipate him by establishing a
post on the Columbia river themselves. Mr.
Thompson was therefore despatched overland with
a large party, and all the necessary appliances, but
his men deserting him, the project had failed. He
was, however, a man of wonderful energy, and
visited many Indian villages, presenting their
inhabitants with English flags, some of which he
even planted in the forks of the rivers, claiming the
country in the name of the king for the great
association to which he belonged. The mis-
conduct of his men having frustrated his hopes of
anticipating the Astorians, he had come down the
river to reconnoitre the enemy’s camp.

“Mr. McDougall received Mr. Thompson very

174 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

kindly, and listened with much attention to the ac-
count of all the misfortunes so confidently predicted
by the latter, though there is little reason to sup-
pose these took deep root, for most of the Astorians
were old North-Westers themselves, and knew ex-
actly how much to believe and how much to discredit.
Mr. Thompson announced his intention of returning
in a few days to Canada by the same route that he
had come, and this was thought by McDougall a fit-
ting opportunity for sending out a small expedition
to establish a trading post in the interior; and the
two parties agreed to proceed in company for the
sake of mutual protection. The Astorians told off
for this undertaking were Messrs. David Stuart,
Ross, Pillelte, McLennan, my father, two other
voyageurs, and two Sandwich Islanders, and on the
22nd July, 1811, they left the factory, accompanied
by Mr. Thompson’s party and the two strange
Indians I mentioned before. Unlike the light bark
canoes to which he had been accustomed, the craft
in which my father now found himself was a
clumsy Chinook dug-out, deeply laden with goods
for the Indian trade. For nearly a hundred miles
the course of the river was about south-east, and
the canoes made the best of their way against a
strong current. On one occasion they passed a
small rocky height called Mount Coffin, which was

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 175

completely covered with canoes of all sizes and
descriptions, used by the fishing Indians as
receptacles for their dead. As far as Point
Vancouver, which is about one hundred and ten
miles from the bar, the Columbia is navigable for
vessels of four hundred tons, and here the tidal
influence ceases to be perceptible. At last the
foot of the Cascades was reached, and it became
necessary to make a portage. They had no
sooner landed than a great number of Indians
presented themselves, and became troublesome from
their continual demands for presents. The distri-
bution of a few trinkets amongst the chiefs brought
them to order, and then the transport of the goods
commenced by a most abominable path fifteen
hundred yards in length, and mounting up and
down steep banks throughout its whole distance.
Had all the men been like my father and the
other two voyageurs, they would have made short
work of such a trumpery affair, but they were
wholly unaccustomed to such a thing, and it was
sunset by the time everything was safely crossed.
“A ludicrous incident happened to one of the
party, Mr. Ross, which always amused my father.
Being unused to carry, he was deputed to stand as
sentinel at the lower end of the portage below the
Cascades, where the canoes were secured ; but seeing

176 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

his companions quite exhausted with the hard
work, Ross seized a roll of tobacco, and started off
to carry it himself. By the time the top of the first
steep bank was reached, the severe nature of his
self-imposed task became apparent, and he stood
recovering his breath, when an Indian passed, to
whom he offered all the buttons on his coat if he
would convey the parcel across in safety. After
some demur the fellow acceded, and catching up
the roll, started off at speed, Mr. Ross following
him as best he could; but when they had arrived
nearly at the other end, the Indian pitched the
parcel down a precipice two hundred feet in height,
and left the white man to recover it as best he could.
Mr. Ross had nothing left for it but to scramble
down first, and then scramble up with the tobacco
on his shoulders, during which performance he was
greeted with roars of laughter by the Indian and
by some fifty of his tribe, whom he had summoned
to witness the success of his little joke ; but what
added insult to injury was that the rascal insisted
on being paid, and claimed the buttons, which,
rather than embroil the party with the natives,
Mr. Ross gave up.

“You admire beautiful scenery, I know, Monsieur
Paul, therefore I shall tell you about the falls of the
Columbia River. I was there myself for many

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 177

weeks only a few years ago, so what I tell you now
is from my own observation. The rapids com-
mence by a perpendicular pitch of at least twenty
feet over which the water falls in a green wall, only
the lip of which is visible from the cloud of
ascending spray. The troubled waters now dash
down an inclined plane of a mile in length amidst
islands of black rock, and then arrive at another
cascade of less than ten feet in height which is
divided by two rocks. About two miles below this
second fall the river widens out into a huge basin
surrounded by a perpendicular wall of black rock,
from which its waters seem to have no escape, for
the outlet is invisible. To the left of this rocky
barrier, however, a chasm forty five yards in width
gives a passage to the river, which tears down the
confined space in a seething mass of foam, through
which, however, canoes skilfully handled can pass,
for I have taken one down myself frequently. A
mile and a half from the end of this channel isa
rapid, formed by two rocky islands ; and two miles
beyond a ledge of rocks extends from shore to
shore forming another cascade twenty feet in height,
after which the river is hurried through another
long but confined channel for the distance of
three miles; this last race is called the ‘Long
Narrows,’ and is the great salmon ground of the
M

178 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

Columbia. After the winter, when the river is well
flushed with water, the fish ascend from the sea in
countless thousands, and as they worm their way
upward through the ‘ Narrows’ the natives, standing
on stages projecting over the torrent, catch them
in hoop nets, and fling them in hundreds on to the
shore. Here the squaws are in readiness to clean
them, after which they are placed in the sun on
scaffolds planted along the river banks. When
sufficiently dry, they are cured in a peculiar manner,
being pounded fine between two stones, pressed,
and finally packed in grass matting.

“My father and his companions found the Cascade
Indians thievish and troublesome, and it was only by
the exercise of great forbearance that a rupture was
avoided. They stole an axe, notwithstanding the
sharp look-out that was kept, and a whole suit of
clothes belonging to Mr. McLennan, who, standing
up in the canoe, threw the hat amongst them, that
the whole suit might be complete. Above the
Cascades the river resumes its usual breadth and
appearance, and for several hundred miles the two
parties kept together ; but at last the time arrived
for Mr. Thompson to push on by himself, and one
of his men wishing to join the Astorians, who
could speak Indian, and would be of great use to
them, an exchange was effected, and with a light

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 179

heart, my father, after shaking hands with his com-
panions, took his seat in the beautiful birch-bark
canoe and once more turned his face towards
Canada, too glad to wash his hands of Astoria,
and to be again in the service of the North-West
Company. After a pleasant journey, for it was in
the autumn, my father found himself once more at
Montreal, after such an experience of the blue
ocean that he never could be induced to go east-
ward of Quebec until the day of his death.”

“But, Pierre, your father’s return cuts the story
rather short. What became of the factory and the
Tonquin, and was Captain Thorn ever brought to
justice for his brutality ?”

“T hardly know the whole circumstances of the
case, Monsieur Paul, but I believe the Tonquin was
burned, and I know that Astoria was made over to
the North-West Company. Nothing pleased my
father better than to tell so much of the settlement
as he saw, and it is owing to hearing it many times
that I remember it so well. But in what took place
afterwards he was not much interested.”

As, however, my readers may differ from Baptiste
Lefranc, I shall give them a brief outline of the
remaining history of Astoria and of the fate of
Captain Thorn and his vessel.

M 2

180

CHEAP GE Ral Xe

R. STUART established a station at
Oakanagan, and in due time the over-
land party, after encountering the
most fearful hardships, chiefly on the

west side of the Rocky Mountains,

arrived at Astoria, where rumours were

6 already rife of the loss of the Zonguin. The

account of that terrible catastrophe to the infant

settlement is thus reported by an Indian named

Kasiascall, or Lamazu, who had witnessed the

whole affair.

Pierre Lefranc said that the Zonquzz left Astoria
on the 1st of June, which was the case, but owing
to contrary winds she was prevented from crossing

the bar at the mouth of the river until the 5th.
The number of persons then on board was twenty-
three, inclusive of Messrs. McKay and Lewis.
Shortly after leaving the Columbia, the Tonquin
anchored for the night in a small bay, and was
there boarded by a canoe containing several Indians,
one of whom was Lamazu, and as this man had

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 181

been engaged in former voyages along the coast,
and was acquainted with the languages of the
various tribes, the supercargo, Mr. McKay, asked
him to accompany the vessel, to which he agreed,
and his scanty effects having been transferred from
‘the canoe to the Zouguzn, Captain Thorn weighed
anchor and stood to the northward. Ina few days
the harbour of Newcetu, in Vancouver's Island, was
reached, and, contrary to the advice of Lamazu,
who knew the treacherous character of the natives,
the captain brought to for the purpose of trading.
Numbers of canoes soon surrounded the ship ; but
as the day was too far advanced to commence
business, Mr. McKay and the interpreter (Lamazu,
went ashore to the village of the chief, Wicananish,
where the former was received with great hospi-
tality, and passed the night on a bed of sea-otter
skins especially prepared for his accommodation in
the lodge of the chief. Lamazu returned to the vessel.
So far the Indian was unwavering in his story ;
but at this point he gave two different accounts of
the insult offered to the natives by which their
vengeance was drawn down upon the fated Zonguin,
Which of the man’s statements is correct there is
no means of knowing, either or both might be
partly true, and by recording each the reader can
judge for himself.

182. The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

One account is, that on the following morning,
while the supercargo was still ashore, the natives
came off in great numbers, headed by the two sons
of Wicananish. They had with them many valu-
able sea-otter skins, and, eager to secure these,
Captain Thorn did not wait for McKay’s return,
but commenced the trade himself, having first
spread out on the deck knives, blankets, fish-hooks,
and such other articles as he thought likely to
tempt his customers. The Indians, however, had
been accustomed to dealing with Europeans, and
were far from being the simple and credulous
people Captain Thorn supposed; there was also
amongst their number an old chief named
Nookmis, who knew the value of each article as
well as the skipper himself, and from this veteran
the other Indians seemed to take their cue, rejecting
Thorn’s offers with scorn, and demanding at least
double for their furs. This conduct was highly
displeasing to the captain, whose temper was, as we
know, none of the best; so, ceasing to bargain with
the natives, he thrust his hands deep into his
pockets, and walked the deck in sullen silence.
Whilst thus engaged, he was followed step by step
by Nookmis, who held a sea-otter skin in his hand,
and pestered the angry man to trade. As impor-
tun ty elicited no reply, the old Indian tried other

The Home of the Wolverene and Leaver. 183

means, and commenced bantering Thorn on the
low prices he offered. This caused the volcano
slumbering in the captain’s breast to break forth
with a vengeance, and snatching the skin from the
hands of his tormentor, he first rubbed it in his
face, and then kicked him over the ship’s side,
returning to do the same with the other bundles of
peltry, which were soon flying in all directions
urged by the foot of the exasperated skipper. The
old chief hurried ashore speechless with rage at the
insult, and soon every Indian had left the ship,
some of them vowing vengeance for so gross an
indignity.

Such is one version of the story given by Lamazu,
We now pass on to the second.

Here he states that McKay did not sleep at the
chief’s house, but returned on board that evening,
having seen many sea-otter skins. On the
following day the Indians came off in great
numbers to trade, and on seeing them Captain
Thorn ordered the boarding nettings to be triced up
round the ship, and gave directions that only ten
natives should be allowed on board at once. These
precautions carried out, trade commenced; but ina
few minutes the captain observed an Indian making
an opening in the boarding netting with his knife,
to enable him to slip on board. Directly this man

184 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

saw that he was detected, he jumped into a canoe
and escaped, upon which the captain told the chiefs
to call him back, but they smiled and said nothing,
which so exasperated the headstrong man that he
collared two of the chiefs and threatened to hang
them unless the offender was delivered up for
punishment. The moment this seizure was made
the Indians fled, and the two chiefs remained on
board as prisoners, having a guard placed over
them. Though food and drink were offered to
them, they refused to taste either, and showed
unmistakably the resentment they felt at such
harsh treatment. On the following day the delin-
quent was brought off in a canoe, and delivered up
to the captain, who had him stripped and seized up
to the gratings, but stopped short of flogging him.
Both the chiefs and the prisoner were now released,
and all left the ship, the former disdainfully
refusing a present that was offered them, and
vowing vengeance for the insults to which they had
been subjected.

The above is the second account of the manner
in which Captain Thorn turned friends into deadly
enemies, and whichever may be the correct one, it
remains undoubted that the harshness and cruelty
of the commander contributed greatly to the
disastrous end which befell the ship and her crew,

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 185

whilst his stubborn disregard of all advice enabled
the natives to execute their scheme of vengeance
unchecked. I now proceed with the thread of the
story.

The interpreter spoke to Mr. McKay, and begged
him to use his influence with the captain for the
removal of the ship from such dangerous quarters,
adding that he was well acquainted with the
temper of the natives, and felt confident that they
would show their resentment in some signal manner.
In the justice of this the supercargo, who had
himself gained a great insight into Indian character,
perfectly coincided, and joining the captain, he
urged him to get up the anchor and leave Newcetu;
but his advice was made light of, and the skipper
pointed to the guns and fire-arms which he held
sufficient to beat off the whole tribe, and wound up
by many taunting remarks to the remonstrances of
the supercargo. No Indians showed themselves
during that day, but at daybreak on the following
morning, before the captain and Mr. McKay had
risen, a canoe manned with twenty Indians under
the command of Shewish, a son of the chief
Wicananish, came alongside, and holding up sea-
otter skins they intimated their wish to trade. The
officer in charge of the deck, seeing that their
demeanour was friendly, and that they were

186 Zhe Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

unarmed, permitted them to come on board; and
shortly afterwards several other canoes followed,
and the ship was thronged with natives. The
officer in charge now felt some alarm, and running
down below, called the captain and Mr. McKay,
who speedily appeared upon deck; when the former,
perhaps anxious to atone for his previous insults,
received the chiefs with protestations of friendship,
and neglected to observe the precautions usual in
the Indian traffic, though their observance had
been repeatedly impressed upon him by Mr. Astor
both by word of mouth and by letter. In his
instructions Captain Thorn was enjoined “to be
courteous and kind in his dealings with the savages,
but by no means to confide in their apparent
friendship, zor to admit more than a few on board
of his ship at a time.’ How he obeyed the first
part of these orders has been already related ; we
now come to the consequences of his total disregard
of the second.

Notwithstanding that the natives were apparently
unarmed, the interpreter noticed that they all wore
short fur mantles, under which it was quite possible
that weapons might be concealed ; and mentioning
his suspicion to Mr. McKay, that gentleman urged
the captain to clear the ship and get under weigh ;
but he took no notice of the warning until the

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 187

increasing number of canoes that surrounded the
vessel, whose dusky occupants were now roving at
will about every part of the deck, seemed to awaken
his distrust, and he sent some men aloft to loose
the sails ; whilst the remainder manned the windlass
and commenced heaving in the cable.

Seeing that the departure of the ship was
resolved upon, the Indians pretended to yield to
the captain’s prices, and a brisk trade ensued
without any haggling or demur on the part of the
natives, who parted freely with their skins for
knives, and thus they became possessed of for-
midable weapons in addition to those concealed
beneath their robes

Whilst this hurried barter was proceeding, the
anchor had been hove nearly to the bows and the
sails loosed, therefore the captain gave orders to
clear the ship, shouting his command in a loud
peremptory voice which was heard the length and
breadth of the vessel, and was instantly. answered
by the war-whoop of the savages, whose newly-
purchased knives and concealed war-clubs were
brandished aloft as they rushed upon the doomed
Europeans. Mr. Lewis, the ship’s clerk, who was
leaning with folded arms over a bale of blankets,
fell first, receiving, whilst bargaining with a native,
a treacherous stab in the back from another, which

188 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

precipitated him headlong down the hatchway.
The supercargo, whose life it is believed the Indians
wished to spare, for he was a great favourite, fell
next, knocked over the taffrail by a club, and
despatched while in the water by the squaws who
were left in the canoes.

On all sides the captain found himself assailed,
and great as were his faults, his lion-like courage
was even greater. He was a man of a powerful
muscular frame, and from always having despised
the Indians was never in the habit of carrying
arms, so on this occasion he was without any
weapon, except a clasp knife which he snatched
from the merchandise exposed for barter. But
even with this miserable instrument he proved a
formidable antagonist. At the first outbreak,
Shewish, old Wicananish’s son, had marked the
captain for his prey, and rushed furiously upon him,
only to reel back lifeless, stabbed to the heart.
The followers of the young chief now assailed him,
but the number of dead and wounded bodies with
which the deck was strewn, testified to the vigour
of his resistance. Though bleeding from many
wounds the gallant man—one feels inclined to
forgive him all on reading of his heroism—strove
to reach his cabin, in which stood the loaded fire-
arms, and he had nearly succeeded in fighting his

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 189

way through the circle of his enemies. Another
step, and the hatchway would be reached ; but faint
from loss of blood, he leant for one brief moment
against the tiller. A savage standing behind
brought his war-club down with the full swing of
his brawny arm upon the sailor’s unguarded
head, and even before he reached the deck a
dozen thirsty knives were sheathed in his body,
which was hurried to the side and flung over
board.

Whilst these bloody deeds were being perpetrated
on the quarter-deck, a desperate struggle was taking
place throughout the ship wherever a white man
could be found. The sailors resisted manfully with
whatever weapons they could seize, and many a
savage fell lifeless to the deck before the sweep of
the handspikes with which the windlass had just
been worked ; but the struggle was of short duration,
for the poor fellows were outnumbered, and one by
one they yielded up their lives before the blows and
stabs of their enemies.

During the brief space that the above transactions
really occupied, the seven men who had been sent
aloft to loose the sails, witnessing the carnage
below, attempted to get between decks by sliding
down the running rigging. Three fell in the
attempt -—— one of them, Stephen Weekes, the

190 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

armourer, whose narrow escape from drowning on
the bar was told by Pierre Lefranc—but the re-
maining four managed to reach the cabin, in which
they found Mr. Lewis, still alive, and endeavouring
to stanch the blood flowing from the mortal wound
between his shoulders. Dragging all the cabin
furniture to the door, the four men soon made a
rough barricade, and having possessed themselves
of the muskets and ammunition, they broke open
the companion hatch, and through the holes, opened
a fire on the exulting savages, now engaged in the
congenial occupation of plundering the stores, that
soon cleared the deck and forced the miscreants to
take shelter in their canoes. The interpreter leaped
overboard whilst the carnage was at its height, and
was picked up by the women in the canoes, into
which the survivors, the moment the savages shoved
off, discharged the cannon with which the Tonquin
was armed, and committed great destruction. No
Indians ventured off to the ship that day nor
during the succeeding night. Lamazu’s narrative
as an eye-witness ends here, and I therefore quote
the remainder of this tragical history from Mr.
Washington Irving, who had access to all Mr. Astor’s
papers.

“When the day dawned the Zoxguzn still lay
at anchor in the bay, her sails all loose and flapping

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 191

in the wind, and no one apparently on board of
her. After a time, some of the canoes ventured
forth to reconnoitre, taking with them the in-
terpreter. They paddled about her, keeping
cautiously at a distance, but growing more and
more imboldened at seeing her quiet and lifeless.
One man at length made his appearance on the
deck, and was recognised by the interpreter as Mr.
Lewis. He made friendly signs, and invited them
on board. It was long before they ventured to
comply. Those who mounted the deck met with
no opposition; no one was to be seen on board,
for Mr. Lewis, after inviting them, had disappeared.
Other canoes now pressed forward to board the
prize ; the decks were soon crowded, and the sides
covered with clambering savages, all intent on
plunder. In the midst of their eagerness and
exultation the ship blew up with a tremendous
explosion. Arms, legs, and mutilated bodies were
blown into the air, and dreadful havoc was made in
the surrounding canoes. The interpreter was in
the main chains at the time of the explosion, and
was thrown unhurt into the water, where he suc-
ceeded in getting into one of the canoes. According
to his statement, the bay presented an awful
spectacle after the catastrophe. The ship had dis-
appeared, but the bay was covered with fragments

192 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

of the wreck, with shattered canoes, and Indians
swimming for their lives, or struggling in the
agonies of death ; while those who had escaped the
danger remained aghast and stupefied, or made with
frantic panic for the shore. Upwards of a hundred
savages were destroyed by the explosion, many
more were shockingly mutilated, and for days after-
wards the limbs and bodies of the slain were thrown
upon the beach.

“The inhabitants of Newestee (Newcetu) were
overwhelmed with consternation at this astounding
calamity, which had burst upon them in the very
moment of triumph. The warriors sat mute and
mournful, while the women filled the air with loud
lamentations. Their weeping and wailing, how-
ever, was suddenly changed into yells of fury at
the sight of four unfortunate white men, brought
captive into the village. They had been driven on
shore in one of the ship’s boats, and taken at some
distance along the coast.

“The interpreter was permitted to converse with
them. They proved to be the four brave fellows
who had made such desperate defence from the
cabin. The interpreter gathered from them some
of the particulars already related. They told him
further, that, after they had beaten off the enemy,
and cleared the ship, Lewis advised that they

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 193

should slip the cable and endeavour to get to sca.
They declined to take his advice, alleging that the
wind set too strongly into the bay, and would drive
them on shore. They resolved, as soon as it was
dark, to put off quietly in the ship’s boat, which
they would be able to do unperceived, and to coast
along back to Astoria. They put their resolution
into effect ; but Lewis refused to accompany them,
being disabled by his wound, hopeless of escape,
and determined on a terrible revenge. On the
voyage out he had_ repeatedly expressed a pre-
sentiment that he should die by his own hands;
thinking it highly probable that he should be en-
gaged in some cciitest with the natives, and being
resolved, in case of extremity, to commit suicide
rather than be made a prisoner. He now declared
his intention to remain on board the ship until!
daylight, to deccy as many of the savages on board
as possible, then to set fire to the powder magazine,
and terminate his life by a signal act of vengeance.
How well he succeeded has been shown. His
companions bade him a melancholy adieu, and set
off on their precarious expedition.. They strove
with might and main to get out of the bay, but
found it impossible to weather a point of land, and
were at length compelled to take shelter in a small
cove, where they hoped to remain concealed untit
N

194 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

the wind became more favourable. Exhausted
by fatigue and watching, they fell into a sound
sleep, and in that state were surprised by the
savages. Better had it been for those unfortunate
men had they remained with Lewis, and shared his
heroic death; as it was, they perished in a more
lingering and protracted manner, being sacrificed
by the natives to the manes of their friends with all
the lingering tortures of savage cruelty. Some
time after their death, the interpreter, who had
remained a kind of prisoner at large, effected his
escape, and brought the tragical tidings to Astoria.”

So says Washington Irving, but Mr. Alexander
Ross, who was an Astorian, and one of the
passengers in the Zonguzu, writes: “ Thus ended the
sad story of Kasiascall (Lamazu), a story which we
at the time believed to be perfectly true; but not
many days after, some Indians belonging to the
same quarter reached Astoria also, and gave a
somewhat different version of the affair, particularly
as regarded Kasiascall himself ; and what convinced
us that he had ‘acted .a treacherous part, was the
fact, that on hearing that the other Indians were
coming, he immediately absconded, and we saw
him no more. These Indians confirmed Kasiascall’s
story in every respect as regarded the destruction
f the ill-fated Zonqguin ; but persisted in assuring

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 195

us that he was not on board at the time, and that
he was privy to the whole plot. They said, that
before that affair he had caused the death of four
white men, and that early in the morning of the
Tonquin's fatal day, he had induced the captain,
through some plausible artifice, to send a boat with
six men to shore, and that neither he nor the six
men were on board at the time of the destruction.
That in the evening of the same day, Kasiascall
himself headed the party who went and brought
the six unfortunate men, after the ship was
blown up, to the Indian camp, where they were
first tortured with savage cruelty, and then all
massacred in the most inhuman manner.”

Such was the fate of the Zozgwzn, as accurately
as it can be ascertained, and there is no doubt that
the story is substantially true. I now pass on to
the settlement at Astoria.

CTA Tis © Xx:

Ae ITER the sailing of the Tonguin and
= AY before the arrival of the overland

party under Mr. Hunt, the settlers at
the mouth of the Columbia River had
much cause for anxiety. The departure
BE Mr. David Stuart and his party for the
establishment of a trading station on the
Oakanagan had weakened their numbers,
and the Indians seemed well aware of this, for they
ceased to visit Astoria, and rumours of a coalition
of the various tribes in the vicinity for its destruc-
tion became rife. But the resolute little band
were equal to the emergency, and by hard work
had in a few days thrown up temporary defences,
surrounding the warehouses and habitations with a
strong palisade, flanked by two bastions, on which
a couple of small cannon were mounted. All the

men were also drilled daily, exercised in the use
of arms, and familiarised with the part they would
have to play in case of an attack, to guard against
which sentinels kept a vigilant watch night and

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 197

day. When the news of the Zonguin's loss reached
them, their hearts fell, for many valuable stores
belonging to the settlement were destroyed in the
vessel, Captain Thorn having proposed to land
them on his return from the North, by which time
suitable buildings would have been prepared for
their reception ; now they saw themselves, a mere
handful of men, bereft of the supplies on which
they had relied, and encompassed on every side by
daring and treacherous foes.

At this juncture Mr. McDougall had resource to
a device that reflects credit on his powers of
invention. Some years previously the small-pox—
that fatal gift of the white man, by which whole
tribes of their red brethren have been exterminated
—had broken out, and ravaged the wild regions
west of the Rocky Mountains. Though it had now
fulfilled its destructive mission and had died out,
the Indians were in daily dread of its re-appearance,
the knowledge of which prompted the governor of
Astoria to practice on their credulity in the
following manner. He summoned the chiefs whom
he believed most deeply implicated in the conspiracy
against the white men, entertained them hospitably
and then made them a speech. He said that he
was fully aware of the loss of the Tonquin, and of
the treachery of the Vancouver Island tribes, for

198 Lhe Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

the punishment of which he had determined on a
terrible revenge. “The white men among you,” he
added with solemnity, “are but as the mountains,
while you are like the sands of the sea in number ;
nevertheless the white men are strong to punish, for
they possess a mighty medicine. Look at this
bottle,” and he produced a small phial tightly
stoppered; “it is small and insignificant to the
eye, but you would hardly sit so quietly, perhaps
meditating treason in your hearts, were you aware
of its contents. In this little vessel,” raising both
his voice and the bottle, “I hold safely corked up
the scourge of your nation—the dreaded small-pox;
if I dash it to the ground, the pestilence will fly
forth north, south, east and west, and the red man,
his squaws, his children, and his kindred will
perish miserably from off the face of the earth!”
The awe-stricken listeners sat mute with terror
and dismay, and when they found their voices, it
was to implore the mercy and forbearance of the
great medicine-man, urging that the disease, if once
let out, would punish both the guilty and the
guiltless alike, and appealing to his justice not to
submit both to so terrible a doom. Of course,
after much persuasion, Mr. McDougall was induced
to put the fatal bottle safely away, but he gave
them plainly to understand that at the first act of

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 199

hostility it should be uncorked, and the affrighted
natives departed, having bestowed upon the wily
Scotchman the title of “the great small-pox chief.”

Danger being removed by this artifice, the settlers
continued building and strengthening their factory,
and also put together the little schooner, whose
frame had been landed from the TZomguin. She
was christened the Do/ly, and launched with much
ceremony on the 2nd of October, 1811. The
year gradually wore away, the winter rains beat
down pitilessly and furiously on Astoria, swelling
brooks into rivers, and the river into a mighty
surging sea. The last day of December came, and
still no relief had reached them, save only four
men whom gallant David Stuart had sent down
from the Oakanagan, remaining in that lonely
wilderness with only Mr. Ross and two other
subordinates. On that closing day of the year the
rain, as out of pity, ceased, and the new year was
heralded by a glorious sunshine, at sight of which
the hearts of the lonely men were warmed, and
with the aid of a little extra rum and flour a feast
and dance were got up, and amidst the firing of
cannon and other harmless festivities the infant
1812 was ushered in.

Into all the particulars of the overland expedition
under Mr. Hunt I am unable to enter here, but can

200 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

only say that history presents few records of
danger and privation more cheerfully endured. The
whole account reads more like a thrilling romance
than the stern reality it actually was. During
their eventful journey they suffered from almost
every hardship that humanity can endure and still
survive—from pirates, from hostile Indians, some
of whom had the painted semblance of a red hand
across their mouths, a sign that they had drunk
the life blood of a foe! from weakness and disease,
from the heavy hand of gaunt starvation. A touch-
ing story indeed! Perishing from hunger, the
party had broken up into several sections on the
western slope of the Rocky Mountains, and each
had striven to reach Astoria as best it could. No
want of unanimity or lack of confidence in their
gallant leader caused this division ; it was enforced
by the poverty of the country, which did not carry
sufficient game or roots for the whole band. On
the 15th of February the main body, under Mr.
Hunt, swept round an intervening cape in their
canoes, and came in sight of the settlement. Their
historian thus describes it: “ After eleven months’
wandering in the wilderness, a great part of the
time over trackless wastes, where the sight of a
savage wigwam was a rarity, we may imagine the
delight of the poor weather-beaten travellers at

. MQ Wi,
WANNA,

Li “ h

DS

NY NI
i
Nh \,

MACLELLAN STALKS THE BIG-HORN.

Page 201,

he Flome of the Wolverene and Beaver.
The H. the Wolverene and Bea 201

beholding the embryo establishment, with its mag-
azines, habitations, and picketed bulwarks, seated
on a high point of land, dominating a beautiful
little bay, in which was a trim-built shallop lying
quietly at anchor. A shout of joy burst from each
canoe at the long-wished-for sight. They urged
their canoes across the bay, and pulled with eager-
ness for shore, where all hands poured down from
the settlements to receive and welcome them.
Among the first to greet them on their landing
were some of their old comrades and fellow-suf-
ferers, who, under the conduct of Reed, McLellan,
and McKenzie, had parted with them at the
Caldron Linn. These had reached Astoria nearly
a month previously, and, judging from their own
narrow escape from starvation, had given up Mr.
Hunt and his followers aslost. Their greeting was
the more warm and cordial. As to the Canadian
voyageurs, their mutual felicitations, as usual, were
loud and vociferous, and it was almost ludicrous to
behold these ancient ‘comrades’ and ‘confreres’
hugging and kissing each other on the river bank.”

The different parties now exchanged an account
of their adventures, all of which were eventful
enough, but I must content myself by describing
the proceedings of one, which will give the reader
some idea of the rest.

202. The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

Three exploring parties had set off in different
directions, and after wandering for several days in
search of game or Indians, neither of which they
found, had all accidentally met among the Snake
River mountains. They now numbered eleven,
namely, Messrs. McLellan, McKenzie, Reed, and
eight men, chiefly Canadians. Being all equally
destitute, and without horses, provisions, or infor-
mation, the little band resolved to push their own
way to the Columbia River in place of returning to
Mr. Hunt and becoming a further drag on his
already painfully scanty resources. In accordance
with this self-devoted project they made their way
down the course of the Snake River, scaling
precipices and traversing a frightfully rugged
country, in whose every feature was legibly written
famine and misery.

Though close to the river, and often within sight of
its sparkling flood, their.greatest enemy was thirst,
for the precipitous banks prevented them reaching
the waters beneath, whose babbling murmur added
tenfold to their agony. Nor was hunger absent to
alleviate in some measure their misery. Not a head
of game could be met with, and for some days
their only subsistence was strips of beaver-skin,
warmed through on the ashes. Weary, fainting,
and dejected, they crept slowly onward, meeting at

The Home of the Wolverene and Leaver, 203

rare intervals a little rain-water which had lodged
in the crevice of a rock, and which just sufficed ta
keep body and soul together. At length a severe
snow storm came on, and brought them to a stand-
still, for in their enfeebled condition any attempt
to struggle through it was useless, and convinced of
this the wanderers gathered under the shelter of
a rock, and there seated themselves in readiness for
the death that they deemed inevitable.

Resignedly at the base of that rock, beneath the
shadow of a gloomy mountain, those eleven men
prepared to die—to leave their bones bleaching in
the rugged wilderness after their flesh had gone to
feed the wolf and the raven. Even the light-hearted
Canadians felt the influence of the impending
doom, and the ready jest and smile with which they
had lightened many a weary hour were absent, and
replaced by a muttered prayer to the Throne on
high or the meaningless glance of blank despair.
But suddenly McLellan, who from the position he
had taken up could command a greater extent of
the surrounding landscape than his companions,
motioned them to silence, and with outstretched
arm pointed to a big-horn or Rocky Mountain sheep,
that had taken shelter under a shelving rock on the
side of the hill above them.

Hope was now visible in each haggard face, ane

204 Lhe Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

with the utmost caution McLellan, who was an
excellent shot, and a man of iron nerve, seized his
rifle, and crawled away to try and stalk the wary
animal. His splendid frame had withstood the
privations to which they had been subjected better
than those of the other men, thus he was _ best
fitted for the toilsome task, and like a snake he
crept away amidst the snow, and was soon lost to
sight. By an effort of imagination we can perhaps
conjure up the sight of those twenty eyes eagerly
fixed upon the big-horn, and viewing with despair
its slightest change of position. If the sheep raised
its fore foot or shook its armed head a tremor ran
through the ranks, for might not the movement
precede departure ?

“ Surely he has had time to make a safe circuit
and ascend the hill?” whispered one of the most
impatient, and as though in answer to his almost
inaudible question, the sharp crack of a rifle rang
through the silent valley, and with one convulsive
bound into the air the big-horn fell dead, shot
straight through the heart.

And now the pent-up feelings of each man found
vent, and cheers, feeble but heartfelt, greeted the
resolute hunter as he emerged from his hiding-place,
and creeping to the ledge on which the slain animal
lay, rolled its body down the hill to his companions

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 205

beneath. Owing to McLellan’s nerve their lives
were saved. Had he only wounded the big-horn it
must have escaped, for not one of the party was
capable of pursuing it.

The animal was soon cut up, but with wonderful
self-denial the starving men reserved all the meat
for future occasions, and contented themselves with
soup made out of the bones. Strengthened in
body and elated in spirit by this manifestation of
Providence on their behalf, the wanderers pursued
their weary way, and ultimately, after three weeks
of suffering and unremitting toil, during the course
of which they were several times reduced to almost
the same straits, they escaped from the mountains
and arrived at Lewis River, a tributary of the
Columbia. Here they met with wild horses, and
encountered a tribe of friendly Indians, who re-
ceived them with much kindness, and supplied
every want that lay within their power, giving
them, amongst other things, two canoes, in which
they made their way to Astoria, arriving at the
settlement, haggard, enfeebled, emaciated, and with
only a few miserable rags in the shape of clothing.

This was the account given by one party, and
from it the reader may form some idea of the
others. All the overlanders had now reached
Astoria, with the exception of six, Mr. Crooks,

206 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

John Day, a Kentucky hunter, and four Canadians,
and the Astorians held high jubilee in honour of
the occasion ; the American colours were run up to
the flag-staff, the cannon fired; fish and venison
smoked upon the board; a plentiful allowance of
rum was distributed; and a ball, given by the
Canadian voyageurs lasted far into the small hours
of the following morning.

Spring once more reigned over the country on the
Columbia, and now the Astorians bestirred them-
selves, for there were many things to be done, and
several expeditions to send forth. In the first place,
Mr. David Stuart must be visited at the lonely
little station on the Oakanagan, where he and Mr.
Ross had passed the winter; secondly, many
articles of value cached, or secretly hidden, by Mr.
Hunt's party, had to be recovered ; and lastly, des-
patches to Mr. Astor, informing him of the condi-
tion of the settlement, had to be sent overland to
New York.

The first of these enterprises was confided to
Mr. Robert Stuart; a nephew of the ‘gentteman at
Oakanagan; two clerks were entrusted with’ the
second ; whilst the third and most dangerous was
willingly accepted by Mr. Reed, who, the reader
may remember, was one of the party on the Snake
River. With only three men, Reed was to make

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 207

‘he long and toilsome journey over the entire con-
tinent, and the first step he took—he was an Irish-
man—was to have a tin box constructed for his
despatches, and this he slung over his shoulder,
vowing only to surrender it with his life.

As these different parties would all pursue the
same route for several hundred miles, it was resolved
that they should start together, for mutual protec-
tion at the Cascades, where the Indians were of a
piratical disposition, and always gave much trouble;
and I should here mention that when Mr. McLellan
heard that Reed was returning to the States, he
. resolved on accompanying him, to which no oppo-:
sition was offered by the other partners, for this
gentleman was of a most decided character, and was
dissatisfied with the share he held in the Company.

Accordingly, the brigade of canoes started under
the command of Mr. Robert Stuart, and early in
the month of April arrived at the Long Narrows,
where both canoes and goods had to be transported
by land, and the assistance of some Indians were
called in to effect this. These vagabonds made otf
with some of the property, and pilfered at every
opportunity, resolving above all things to captwe
Reed’s tin box, which shone brilliantly in the sun,
and which they supposed, from the solicitude with
which its owner guarded it, contained “a great

208 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

medicine.” Determined to circumvent these pirates,
Mr. Stuart proposed that they should all make an
effort to convey the goods across during the night,
when the suspicious robbers would be sleeping, and
so well was this manceuvre executed that when day
dawned only two boat-loads remained to be carried
over. The men were despatched with one of these,
and Messrs. Reed and McLellan remained to guard
the other until their return. But alas! the glitter of

,’

the “great medicine” suspended from the Irish-
man’s back caught the eyes of the Indians, who,
yelling out the war-whoop, sprang upon thei: prey.
After the fash’on of his countrymen this gentleman .
had carefully covered the lock of his rifle when he
was most likely to want it, and whilst endeavouring
to remove the obstacle, a blow on the head from a
war-club stretched him senseless, and in the
twinkling of an eye his active assailants had gained
possession of his rifle, pistol, and tin box, with
which they made off as fast as their legs would
carry them. In the mean time some of the other
savages made an attempt on the goods guarded by
McLellan, and one of their number advancing
towards that gentleman, endeavoured to fling his
buffalo robe in his eyes with one hand, and to stab
him with the other; but McLellan was too quick
for him, he saw the meditated treachery, and

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 209

springing backwards clear of the blow, shot his
assailant dead on the spot.

Affairs would have gone badly with the two
whites had the Indians not raised the war-whoop ;
but luckily Mr. Stuart was at no great distance,
and, hearing the yell, hurried back with half a dozen
men, to find Reed lying in a pool of his own blood,
while an Indian was bending over in the act of
despatching him with a tomahawk. A rifle ball
from a Kentucky trapper laid the savage low, and
the men then charged the Indians, who fled in all
directions. Carrying Reed with them, the party
then hurried to the upper end of the portage, and
embarked in their canoes amidst the yells and war-
whoops of the exasperated natives.

Paddling with all their strength, the white men
continued their journey along the southern bank of
the river, whilst the Indians returned to the scene
of action, and removed their two friends, one of
whom was still living, to the village. Here they
roused themselves to a proper pitch of frenzy by
killing two horses, whose blood they drank, and by
dancing around the corpse of the slain man, and
then, having painted themselves for battle, mounted
their horses, and started off with the intention of
getting ahead of the canoes, which they hoped
to surprise, and then to take a terrible rever ge cn the

O

210 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

whites. This they partially succeeded in doing, but
were discovered whilst crossing the river, and the
Astorians, lashing their canoes together, waited the
impending attack.

Presently they perceived a canoe approaching,
in which were seated the chief and three of
his bravest warriors, who came to hold a parley.
They said that one of their number had been
killed and another wounded, and that the rela-
tives of both these men cried out for vengeance.
They themselves were anxious to avoid all blood-
shed, so if the whites would just hand over Mr.
Reed—who was only a shade better than a dead
man now—to be tortured and put to death, they
would settle matters so that the relatives should be
satisfied, and the war-hatchet could be buried
without any further troubte.

To this modest demand, so gratifying in its very
nature to poor Reed, an indignant refusal was of
course returned, and the chief withdrew with his
warriors to hold a consultation, after which they
again drew near the white men, and at last a com-
promise was affected, the sorrowing relatives of the
dead and wounded men receiving a blanket each,
which was a good deal more than the rascals were
worth, and the others some tobacco.

‘hey now proceeded on their journey unmolested,

The Home of the Wolverene.and Beaver, 211

but the object of one party was utterly frustrated
by the loss of the tin box, whose bearer soon
recovered from the five gashes he had received in
his head. They therefore all proceeded to the
Oakanagan, on whose banks they found Mr. David
Stuart and Mr. Ross well and flourishing, and after
a stay of two or three days at the little station,
they started for Astoria, accompanied by the
former gentlemen.

On their journey down, after the forks of the
Columbia had been passed, the inmates of the
leading canoe were astonished to hear a voice from
the bank hailing them in English, and on looking
round, saw two miserable men entirely naked. In
great wonder they paddled to the shore, and found
these unhappy people to be Mr. Crooks and John
Day, the Kentucky hunter.

I mentioned a few pages farther back that six of
Mr. Hunt’s party had not yet arrived at Astoria,
having become so reduced by famine and exhaustion
that the leader was compelled, for the preservation
of the majority, to abandon them amongst the
rocky defiles of the Snake River. This happened
in December of the previous year, and the situation
of these unfortunate people was rendered yet more
precarious, owing to the main party having forcibly
possessed themselves of the horses belonging toa

O 2

212 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

band of Shoshone Indians, in whose vicinity the
famished men were left, and whose vengeance they
had just cause to dread. Most fortunately the
Shoshones had never seen white men before, and
therefore regarded them with a kind of superstitious
fear; thus, although they speedily found out the
retreat of the wanderers—for the illness of John
Day caused Mr. Crooks to remain encamped at one
spot for three weeks—they never attempted to
molest them, though their tents were pitched close
by, and finally the Indians withdrew altogether and
were seen no more.

Day having recovered in some measure, the
forlorn band crawled westward, subsisting on roots
and crows, until the month of February, when three
out of the four Canadians gave up the struggle for
life, and refusing to go any further, were left—by
their own wish—on the banks of a small stream,
the three remaining men following Mr. Hunt's
almost obliterated trail, and when that disappeared,
wandering hopelessly in the mountains, living on
such roots and berries as they could find, and
occasionally killing a beaver, which was devoured
to the very skin. At the end of March they fell in
with another tribe of Shoshones, with whom the
remaining Canadian decided to cast in his lot, but
the more resolute Anglo-Saxons kept steadily on,

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 213

and the snow diminishing in depth, they made a
desperate and successful attempt to cross the last
mountain range. Shortly after escaping from the
barren wilderness that had for so long kept them
prisoners, the two wanderers fell in with a tribe of
Wallah-Wallah Indians, who received the starving
men kindly, gave them plenty of horse-flesh to eat,
and showed them the best route by which to reach
the Columbia River. Aided by these instructions,
they once more set forth, arrived at the mighty
stream that flows past Astoria, and followed its
course for over a hundred miles, when they were
within a day’s journey of the Cascades. Here they
encountered some of the rascally pirates before
mentioned, who pretended to receive them hos-
pitably, but when their attention was diverted by
the food the Indians set before them, these worthies
seized their rifles, stripped them of the few rags
that still clung to their emaciated limbs, and drove
them forth into the wilderness unarmed and naked,
refusing even to restore a flint and steel for which
Mr. Crooks earnestly entreated them. Of the
Cascade Indians an old trader says, “They are
saucy, impudent rascals, who will steal when they
can, and pillage whenever a weak party falls in
their power.” These words were penned long
before the attack on Reed and the _barbarity

214 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

displayed towards Crooks and Day, and the writer
must be felicitated on the just estimate of their
character he then formed.

The two unhappy men were now in a more
grievous state than ever, and resolved to return and
throw themselves on the generosity of the hospitable
Wallah-Wallahs, in pursuit of which determination
they retraced their steps for eighty miles, and were
on the point of leaving the Columbia and striking
inland, when Stuart and his brigade of canoes
appeared, and the wanderers were once more in
safety amongst their friends, in company with
whom they reached Astoria on the r1th of May,
and found that the Leaver, a vessel despatched by
Mr. Astor, had arrived at the settlement two days
previously.

This ship brought considerable reinforcements to
the colony, namely, another partner, five clerks,
fifteen American labourers, and six Canadian
voyageurs. Her captain, on leaving the Columbia,
was to call at the Russian establishments at New
Archangel, then to return to Astoria, and shipping
all peltries, was to proceed direct to China, and
there dispose of his valuable cargo. Elated by
this addition to their numbers, and overjoyed at
the knowledge that they were not altogether for-
gotten by their friends, the Astorians set to work

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 215

with renewed vigour. New expeditions were set
afoot, two for the establishment of additional
trading stations at the forks of the Columbia, where
the rivalry of the North-West Company was feared ;
one for Oakanagan, and a fourth for New York
with despatches for. Mr. Astor; and the command
of the latter, a work of great enterprise and danger,
was entrusted to Mr. Robert Stuart, under whose
command were placed four of the most experienced
hunters in the settlement. _ McLellan determined
on accompanying them, and to the surprise of
everybody Mr. Crooks, undeterred by the fearful
hardship he had just undergone, announced that he
also should make one of the party.

As in the case of the former expeditions their
road was the same for several hundred miles, and
on the 29th of June the flotilla set forth in two
barges and ten canoes, manned by about sixty
hands, inclusive of the leaders. Before the first
day had expired, John Day, the Kentucky hunter,
and the companion of Mr. Crooks in his fearful
journey, who was one of the men told off to
accompany Stuart to the States, showed great
agitation, and it became evident that privation and
misery had affected his intellect. During their
wanderings on the Snake River, Mr. Crooks had
noticed symptoms of derangement, but hoping that

216 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

a release from the horrors he had undergone would
restore the balance of the noble fellow’s mind, he
had kept silence, but now concealment was useless,
and as the canoes proceeded on their way, John
Day became raving and incoherent. On seeing
Indians his fury became unbounded, and mindful
doubtless of their cruel conduct, he loaded them
with abuse and maledictions. On the 2nd of July
all doubt regarding his condition was removed by
an attempt at suicide, but being disarmed, he pro-
fessed great contrition and pretended to go to sleep,
but in the early morning he sprang up suddenly,
and seizing a brace of loaded pistols, attempted to
blow out his brains. In his hurry he fired too high,
and was immediately secured. To keep a constant
watch over the poor fellow was impossible, and
Mr. Stuart was much perplexed how to dispose of
him ; however, some friendly Indians passed along,
who promised to take him back to the settlement,
and he was regretfully transferred to their canoe.
They faithfully fulfilled their unenviable task, but
the hunter’s constitution and intellect were both
worn out, and he gradually sank, until death, before
the expiration of the year, released him from
further suffering.

But the space at my command warns me that I
must bring this brief sketch of Astoria to a close,

The ome of the Wolverene and Beaver. 217

and return to the thread of my story and Paul
Gresham, whom I feel guilty of cruelly neglecting.
All the parties above described fulfilled their various
missions, Mr. Stuart’s expedition reaching St. Louis
after a most painful journey, which occupied ten
months. But war had broken out between Great
Lritain and the United States, and at any time
one of the British cruisers might cross the bar of
the Columbia River and commit Astoria to the
flames. The captain of the Beaver also, either
through ill-judgment or timidity, misconstrued his
orders, and a third ship sent forth by the indefatig-
able Mr. Astor was lost. In the face of so many
discouraging circumstances the further prosecution
of his gigantic scheme was abandoned by the great
American, and on the 16th of October, 1813, an
agreement was signed and executed, by which
all the peltry and merchandise of every kind
passed into the hands of the North-West Com-
pany, who made an uncommonly good bargain,
obtaining twenty thousand pounds’ worth of furs
for about eight thousand pounds. Beaver was
valued at eight shillings per skin, though really
worth twenty; land otter at two shillings, though
worth fifteen; sea otter at three pounds, when
its proper price should have been from eight tc
twelve.

218 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

So Astoria passed from the Americans to the
British, and its name was changed to Fort George.
I have, perhaps, entered rather at length into the
history of this settlement, but it seemed to me that
the record gives a clear insight into the dangers
and privations of the fur trade, and is moreover
too little known in Great Britain.

Perhaps the reader has not forgotten the tin box
carried by Mr. Reed, and with one more anecdote
regarding that luckless piece of tin I bid adieu to
Astoria.

A very determined Scotchman named McKenzie
was in charge of a canoe expedition, during the
course of which he arrived at the portion of the
Columbia on which was situated the village of
Wish-ram, where lived the savages who had robbed
and wounded Mr. Reed. It was well known to the
white men that both the “great medicine” box and
rifle belonging to that gentleman were detained in
the village as trophies, and, indignant at this, Mr.
McKenzie offered to cross the river and demand
the restoration of these articles if any one would
accompany him. Two volunteers at once presented
themselves, and, despite the remonstrances of their
companions, who knew what a hornet’s nest they
were about to enter, the trio shoved off in a canoe,
and soon stepped ashore on the opposite bark.

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 219
3

Having looked carefully to the priming of their
rifles and pistols the three daring men followed
the path leading to the village, a narrow tortuous
way, winding about amongst rocks and boulders.
Their approach seemed quite unheeded by the
inhabitants ; no voice challenged the rash intruders ;
even the very dogs, usually so vociferous at the
approach of a stranger, were silent, and an un-
wonted stillness reigned around. With cautious
glances and light footsteps they pursued their way,
and in a few minutes stood within the pirate
stronghold ; and now a human being presented
itself, a young boy, who seemed aware of their
coming, and without breaking the ominious silence,
motioned the white men with his hand to enter a
house of much larger dimensions than its fellows,
standing in the centre of the village. . Without
manifesting. the slightest uneasiness, McKenzie
stooped his head and passed through the low door,
followed closely by his two companions. No
sooner were their feet over the threshold than from
some unseen quarter emerged a host of Indians,
whose dusky forms filled up the narrow passage,
and cut off all retreat.

But the three adventurers were men of un-
wavering determination, and, without betraying the
least hesitation, they coolly viewed the curious

220 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

scene before them. They were in a rudely built
chamber of unusual size, measuring some twenty-
five feet in length by twenty in breadth, at one end
of which a large wood fire blazed, its fitful flame
casting a flickering light on a semi-circle of grave,
motionless red men, who, sitting three deep on the
floor, wrapped in their buffalo robes, surrounded
three sides of the apartment. One glance at the
assemblage convinced the trio of the impossibility
of retreat, and nothing remained but to carry out
the rash adventure with hardihood. In the centre
of the semi-circle, near the fire, sat the chief, an old
warrior sixty years of age, who motioned them to
take their seats on the vacant side of the room. In
the midst of the same unbroken silence the white
men complied, and an ominous pause ensued, during
which the fierce eyes of the grim warriors flashed
in the fire-light as they gazed scowlingly at their
visitors. Well might the latter feel into what a
scrape their recklessness had drawn them.

“Don’t take your eye off the chief,” whispered
McKenzie, “I shall address him, and if you see
him make the smallest sign to his band, shoot him
through the heart, and make a rush for the door.”

His companions nodded in acquiescence, and then
McKenzie advanced towards the old chief, and
offered him the pipe of peace. With an indignant

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 221

wave of his arm the proffered token of amity was
thrust aside, but, nothing daunted, the trader, who
was thoroughly conversant with the Indian lan-
guage, made a speech, in which he fearlessly
acknowledged the object of their visit, and pro-
posed to give a couple of blankets, an axe, some
beads and tobacco, in exchange for the stolen rifle ;
the “ great medicine” box he said nothing about,
for its contents were of little or no use to any
one.

In unbroken silence the circle of motionless
figures listened to the white man, and when he had
finished, the chief, after an impressive pause, arose
and commenced an harangue, low in tone at first,
but becoming louder and louder as the orator
worked himself up, until at last he shrieked out the
words in the fury of his passion. He denounced
the Astorians as mean and stingy, upbraiding them
for their sordid conduct in using the river, and
never making the slightest acknowledgment to the
warriors dwelling on its banks, by whose sanction
alone they could pass and repass, unless the latter
had furs in their possession, when the white men
were glad enough to trade. He stigmatised their
conduct as paltry and low, and after raising the
indignation of his warriors by recapitulating the
circumstances attending the death of the man shot

222 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

by McLellan, he concluded by threats of vengeance
against all the settlers.

The three whites could see the eyes of theif
ferocious enemies blazing with suppressed wrath as
their fancied grievances were laid before them by
their chief, and it became evident that they were
only awaiting his signal to rush upon their prey.
But during the latter part of the speech McKenzie
and his companions had risen to their feet, and had
brought their rifles into position for immediate use;
the muzzle of the leader's weapon being pointed
full at the breast of the chief, and ready to send
a bullet through his body at a distance little
exceeding a yard, on the first suspicious movement.
As the old warrior ceased speaking, McKenzie,
keeping the weapon bearing full on him, cocked his
rifle, and a crimson hue suffused the cheeks of the
warriors as the click of the other two locks
followed immediately afterwards.

“Follow me,” cried McKenzie, and coolly but
rapidly advanced towards the door, his rifle at full
cock, and the barrel laying in the palm of his left
hand ready for instant use.

“Give room,” he cried to the throng outside
prepared to oppose his exit, and, overawed at the
bearing of the white men, the scowling savages fell
back and suffered them to pass in safety. Taking

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 223

the precaution to keep along the tops of the rocks,
and by this means to avoid the devious path, in
whose windings clusters of their enemies might yet
be concealed, the adventurers reached their canoe
in safety, and shortly afterwards their camp, having
had about as narrow an escape of their lives as
even they, in their adventurous career, could hope
ior.

224

CHAP EER) 2c

Sorte Pierre, isn’t it time Mr. Groves
¢ should turn up?” asked Paul, as he
Vs noticed his companion heaping fresh
logs on the fire, and making sundry
arrangements that manifested his in-
tention to bestow himself beneath his
buffalo robe, and become oblivious to the

world around.

“ Oh, mats non, Monsieur Paul, perhaps he find von
Indian village, then he shall stay there till demazn.
Monsieur Groves he very good chasseur, suppose he
no come by to-morrow night, then we go look.
Now it timefor the sleep. Bon soir, monsieur,” and
without further parley the Canadian crept beneath
his many coverings, and before five minutes had

{elapsed gave audible proof that he had wandered
into sleep-land. Though his head was still running
on the strange story that Lefranc had told him, our
young friend was not long in following his example.
At first he had some idea of remaining awake to
welcome his friend Groves; but that gentleman’s

’

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 225

arrival seemed so problematical, that he dismissed
it, and rolling himself up in his fur robes, was soon
sound asleep.

By the time Paul and the Canadian had finished
their breakfast on the following morning, Mr.
Groves had not turned up; but seeing that his
lengthened absence caused no alarm to Pierre, the
young man said nothing beyond a casual remark,
and with great alacrity slipping on his snow-shoes,
followed the hunter to visit the traps they had
made on the previous day. As on that occasion,
the Canadian dragged after him the little hand-
sleigh, which he hoped would be wanted to carry
back the trapped game.

After about half an hour’s walk, the moose
skeleton, near which Pierre had set his wolf-gins,
was reached, and here one trap was found missing,
the trail in the snow plainly indicating in which
direction the captured animal had dragged it.
Within a hundred yards of the spot where it had
been set, the stake at the end of the chain entangled
in a bush, stood the gin, holding in its powerful
jaws a handsome grey wolf, caught by the fore-leg.
A blow on the head soon deprived it of life, and
placing the carcase in the hand-sleigh, Pierre,
having reset the gins, again moved forward. Paul
was most anxious to see a marten caught, and

P

226 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

pressed onward eagerly when a trap was sighted,
the Canadian following more leisurely with the
sleigh. To the young man’s great delight the
“fall” was down, and sure enough under it lay a
few scattered flecks of fur, but the animal from
whence they came was absent.

“Some other animal must have eaten the marten
after it was caught; a wolf, I dare say. No, that
is never a wolf,” he muttered, noticing a large foot-
print in the snow, “it must bea bear. Pierre,” he
shouted, “come along quickly. A bear has robbed
the trap. Here are his tracks.”

The Canadian hurried forward, and soon saw the
state of the case.

“Ce west pas un ours, Cest un carcajou, et tout
est perdu,’ he said in a tone of extreme vexa-
tion. “We can go back to camp now, Monsieur
Paul for the carcajou he rob every trap,” and,
irritated beyond measure, honest Pierre gave vent
to some rather unparliamentary language in the
various tongues of which he was master.

“What is a carcajou?” asked Paul, “I never
heard the name before.”

“Crest un voleur, a thief,” replied the exasperated
trapper; “you English call him the wolverene.”

“Qh, a wolverene. But perhaps it is caught in

>”

one of the ‘ falls.

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 227

“Caught!” returned the Canadian in a tone of
supreme disgust, “vous le trouverez plus facile
attraper le diable. No, Monsieur Paul, when you
know the carcajou better, you sall not talk of
catching him in a trap. Come with me, and you
shall see the mischiefs he do.”

On arrival at the next “dead-fall” Paul saw with
astonishment that the semi-circle of stones had
been pulled down from the back, and the bait
removed ; and at every single trap they visited, the
same thing had occurred. Let us glance a little
closer at the animal whose destructive propensities
and cunning were now fully apparent to Paul.

The wolverene or glutton of naturalists (Guzzo
Luscus), and the carcajou of the Canadian vopu-
geurs, is a large animal with a head much resem-
bling a dog’s, being broad at the hinder part,
much arched, and rounded on all sides. Its body
is very long, stout, and compactly made, the back
arched; and the whole form clearly indicates
immense strength without much agility. The legs
are short and stout ; the feet broad, and clothed on
the under surface with a compact mass of woolly
hair, whilst the toes, which are armed with strong,
rounded claws, cause the track left in the snow by
this animal strongly to resemble that of the bear,
so Paul in mistaking its footprint for that of the

EB 2

228 The Home of the Wolverene and beaver.

latter was not committing a great error in wood-
craft. The tail of the wolverene is rather short,
hangs low, and is covered with long pendulous
hairs. In common with the other fur-bearing
animals before described, it has two coats, an upper
and an under. The latter is of a deep chestnut
brown, a shade lighter near the roots ; whilst the
longer hairs are blackish-brown throughout their
whole length, and much resemble the fur of a bear.
The eyes, nose, and whiskers are black; a pale
reddish-brown beard commences behind the shoulder
and running along the flanks, turns up on the hip,
and unites near the tail with similar markings on
the opposite side. There is a brownish-white band
across the forehead running from ear to ear. On
the sides of the neck there are tufts of white hair
extending nearly in a circle from the inside of the
legs around the chest. The colour varies greatly
in different specimens, hence many naturalists
have attempted from these varieties to multiply the
species, but the best authorities agree in regarding
them as belonging to exactly the same. It was
also once thought that the glutton and wolverene
were distinct animals, but this is now recognised as
an error.

The wolverene may be said to vie with the beaver
in the numerous miraculous stories that have been

The Flome of the Wolverene and Beaver. 229

circulated and devoutly credited concerning its
cunning, ferocity, extreme wariness, and gorman-
dizing habits. Olaus Magnus, whose appetite for
the marvellous was insatiable, tells us, “It is wont,
when it has found the carcase of some large beast,
to eat until its belly is distended like a drum, when
it rids itself of its load by squeezing its body
betwixt two trees growing near together, and again
returning to its repast, soon requires to have re-
course to the same means of relief.” Buffon,
following the reports of preceding writers, describes
it as a ferocious animal, which approaches man
without fear, and attacks the larger quadrupeds
without hesitation ; but he states that its pace is so
slow that it can take its prey only by surprise, to
accomplish which it employs an extraordinary
degree of cunning. To use his own words “the
defect of nimbleness he (the wolverene) supplies
with cunning ; he lies in wait for animals as they
pass, he climbs upon trees in order to dart upon
his prey and seize it with advantage; he throws
himself down upon elks and reindeer, and fixes so
firmly on their bodies with his claws and teeth that
nothing can remove him. In vain do the poor
victims fly and rub themselves against trees ; the
enemy, attached to the crupper or neck, continues
to suck their blood, to enlarge the wound, and to

230 6The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

devour them gradually and with equal voracity, till
they fall down.

“More insatiable and rapacious than the wolf, if
endowed with equal agility, the glutton would
destroy all the other animals; but he moves so
heavily that the only animal he is able to overtake
in the course is the beaver, whose cabins he some-
times attacks, and devours the whole unless they
quickly take to the water, for the beaver outstrips
him in swimming. When he perceives that his
prey has escaped he seizes the fishes ; and when he
can find no living creature to destroy he goes in
quest of the dead, whom he digs up from their
graves, and devours with avidity.” Buffon also
terms the wolverene the “quadruped vulture,” and
repeats the old story that it entices reindeer to
come beneath the tree within whose branches it lies
concealed, by throwing down the moss which that
animal is fond of ; but all these stories are fictitious,
and in a later edition of his work he corrects the
errors of previous writers, and sweeps away most
of the marvellous propensities attributed to the
glutton, being the better enabled to do this from
his personal observation, a friend having sent him
a wolverene as a present, whose habits he carefully
noted for eighteen months. In a supplementary
chapter he informs us, “He was so tame that he

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 231

discovered no ferocity, and did not injure any
person. His voracity has been as much exag-
gerated as his cruelty; he indeed ate a great deal,
but when deprived of food he was not impor-
tunate.

“The animal is pretty mild; he avoids water,
and dreads horses and men dressed in black. He
moves by a kind of leap, and eats pretty vora-
ciously. After taking a full meal he covers himself
in the cage with straw. When drinking he laps
like a dog. He utters no cry. After drinking he
throws the remainder of the water on his belly with
his paws. He is almost perpetually in motion. If
allowed, he would devour more than four pounds of
flesh in a day; he eats no bread, and devours his
food so voraciously, and almost without chewing,
that he is apt to choke himself.”

Before writing of this animal, I made a visit to
the Zoological Gardens, for the express purpose of
examining the specimen in the Society’s possession.
From all I could gather, the account given above
by Buffon is correct, except as regards avoiding
water, for during the half-hour or so I stood watch-
ing the animal he entered a large trough filled with
water at least twenty times ; neither did he manifest
any dread of the black garments worn by my com-
panion and myself. Messrs. Audubon and Bachman

232 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

give the following account of an accidental meeting
with a wolverene :—

“While hunting the northern hare, immediately
after a heavy fall of snow, we unexpectedly came
upon the track of an animal which at the time we
supposed to be that of a bear, a species which even
then was scarcely known in that portion of the
country (which was already pretty thickly settled).
We followed the broad trail over the hills and
through the devious windings of the forest for
about five miles, till within sight of a ledge of rocks
on the banks of the Hoosack River, when, as we
found the night approaching, we were reluctantly
compelled to give up the pursuit for that day,
intending to resume it on the following morning.
It snowed incessantly for two days afterwards, and,
believing that the bear had retired to his winter
retreat, we concluded that the chance of adding it
to our collection had passed by. Some weeks
afterwards, a favourite servant, who was always
anxious to aid us in our pursuits, and who not
only knew many quadrupeds and birds, but was
acquainted with many of their habits, informed us
that he had on a previous day seen several tracks
similar to those we had described, crossing a new
road cut through the forest. As early on the
following morning as we could see a track in the

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 233

snow, we were fully accoutred, and with a gun and
a pair of choice hounds, started on what we con-
ceived our second bear hunt. Before reaching the
spot where the tracks had been observed, however,
we met a fresh trail of the previous night, and pur-
sued it without loss of time. The animal had
joined some foxes which were feeding on a dead
horse not a hundred yards from a log cabin in the
forest, and after having satiated itself with this
delicate food, made directly for the Hoosack River,
pursuing the same course along which we had
formerly traced it. To our surprise it did not cross
the river, now firmly bound with ice, but retired to
its burrow, which was not far from the place where
we had a few weeks before abandoned the pursuit
of it. The hounds had not once broke into full cry
upon the track, but no sooner had they arrived at
the mouth of the burrow than they rushed into the
large opening between the rocks, and commenced a
furious attack on the animal within. This lasted
but for a few moments, and they came out as
quickly as they had entered. They showed some
evidence of having been exposed to sharp claws
and teeth, and although they had been only a
moment engaged in battle, had no disposition to
renew it. No effort of ours could induce them to
re-enter the cavern, whilst their furious barking at

234 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

the mouth of the hole was answered by a grow,
from within. The animal, although not ten feet
from the entrance, could not be easily reached with
a stick, on account of his having retreated behind
an angle in the chasm. As we felt no particular
disposition to imitate the exploits of Colonel
Putnam in his encounter with the wolf, we reluc-
tantly concluded to trudge homeward through the
snow, a distance of five miles, to obtain assistance.
On taking another survey of the place, however,
we conceived it possible to effect an opening on
one of its sides. This was after great labour
accomplished by prying away some heavy frag-
ments of the rock. The animal could now be
reached with a pole, and seemed very much irri-
tated, growling and snapping at the stick, which he
once succeeded in tearing from our hand, all the
while emitting a strong and very offensive musky
smell. He was finally shot. What was our sur-
prise and pleasure on discovering that we had, not
a bear, but what was more valuable to us, a new
species of quadruped, as we believed it to be. It
was six months before we were enabled, by con-
sulting a copy of Buffon, to discover our mistake,
and ascertain that our highly-prized specimen was
the glutton, of which we had read such marvellous
tales in the school-books.”

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 235

All travellers in the Hudson’s Bay Territory,
from Ellis and Pennant in early days, to Lord
Milton and Dr. Cheadle in our own time, unite in
testifying to the wonderful perseverance of the
wolverene in following the footsteps of the trappers
in order to obtain the bait, or to devour the animals
that may have been caught therein. In an old
book now before me, Hearn’s Journey to the
Northern Ocean, a curious record of the perse-
verance and pluck of a Hudson’s Bay officer, I
find many anecdotes of the various animals
encountered by the traveller in his wanderings ;
and amongst others the following account of the
wolverene, which I venture to extract at length, as
the original work is scarce, and not likely to fall
into the hands of the majority of readers.

“The wolverene is common in the Northern
regions as far north as the Copper River, and
perhaps farther. They are equally the inhabitants
ef woods and barren grounds; for the Esquimaux
to the north of Churchill kill many of them when
their skins are in excellent season: a proof of thcir
being capable of bearing the severest cold. They
are very slow in their pace, but their wonderful
sagacity, strength, and acute scent, make ample
amends for that defect ; for they are seldom killed
at any season when they do not prove very fat:

236 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

a great proof of their being excellent providers.
With respect to the fierceness of this animal which
some assert, I can say little, but I know them to be
beasts of great courage and resolution, for I once
saw one of them take possession of a deer that an
Indian had killed, and though the Indian advanced
within twenty yards, he would not relinquish his
claim to it, but suffered himself to be shot standing
on the deer. I once saw a similar instance of a
lynx, or wild cat, which also suffered itself to be
killed before it would relinquish the prize. The
wolverenes have also frequently been seen to take
a deer from a wolf before the latter had time to
begin his repast after killing it. Indeed their
amazing strength, and the length and sharpness of
their claws, render them capable of making a strong
resistance against any other animal in those parts,
the bear not excepted. As a proof of their amazing
strength, there was one at Churchill some years
since, that overset the greatest part of a large pile
of wood (containing a whole winter’s firing, that
measured upwards of seventy yards round), to get
at some provisions that had been hid there by the
Company’s servants, when going to the factory to
spend the Christmas holidays. The fact was, this
animal had been lurking about in the neighbour-
hood of their tent (which was about eight miles

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 237

from the factory) for some weeks, and had com-
mitted many depredations on the game caught in
their traps and snares, as well as eaten many foxes
that were killed by guns set for that purpose ; but
the wolverene was too cunning to take either trap
or gun himself. The people knowing the mis-
chievous disposition of those animals, took (as they
thought) the most effectual method to secure the
remains of their provisions, which they did not
choose to carry home, and accordingly tied it up in
bundles and placed it on the top of the wood-pile
(about two miles from their tent), little thinking
the wolverene would find it out; but to their great
surprise, when they returned to their tent after the
holidays, they found the pile of wood in the state
already mentioned, though some of the trees that
composed it were as much as two men could carry.
The only reason the people could give for the
animal doing so much mischief was, that in his
attempting to carry off the booty, some of the
‘small parcels of provisions had fallen down into
the heart of the pile, and sooner than lose half his
prize, he pursued the above method till he had
accomplished his ends. The bags of flour, oatmeal,
and pease, though of no use to him, he tore all to
pieces, and scattered the contents about on the
snow ; but every bit of animal food, consisting of

238 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

beef, pork, bacon, venison, salt geese, partridges,
&c., to a considerable amount, he carried away,
These animals are great enemies to the beaver, but
the manner of life of the latter prevents them from
falling into their clutches so frequently as many
other animals; they commit vast depredations on
the foxes during the summer, while the young ones
are small; their quick scent directs them to their
dens, and if the entrance be too small, their strength
enables them to widen it, and go in and kill the
mother and all her cubs. In fact, they are the most
destructive animals in this country.”

Other travellers and naturalists are equally ready
to chronicle the misdeeds of the wolverene. Sir
John Richardson, in his Fauna Boreali-Americana,
says: “It is a carnivorous animal, which feeds
chiefly upon the carcases of beasts that have been
killed by accident. It has great strength, and
annoys the natives by destroying their hoards of
provision, and demolishing their marten traps. It
is so suspicious, that it will rarely enter a trap
itself, but beginning behind, pulls it to pieces,
scatters the logs of which it is built, and then
carries off the bait. It feeds also on meadow mice,
marmots, and other vodentia, and occasionally on
disabled quadrupeds of a larger size, I have seen
one chasing an American hare, which was at the

The Flome of the Wolverene and Beaver. 239

samme time harassed by a snowy owl. It resembles
the bear in its gait, and is not fleet; but it is very
industrious, and no doubt feeds well, as it is
generally fat. It is much abroad in the winter, and
the track of its journey in a single night might be
often traced for many miles. From the shortness
of its legs, it makes its way through loose snow
with difficulty, but when it falls upon the beaten
track of a marten trapper it will pursue it for a long
way.” Mr. Graham observes that “the wolverenes
are extremely mischievous, and do more damage to
the small fur trade than all the other rapacious
animals conjointly. They will follow the marten
hunters’ path round a line of traps extending forty,
fifty, or sixty miles, and render the whole un-
serviceable, merely to come at the baits, which are
generally the head of a partridge or a bit of dried
venison. They are not fond of the martens them-
selves, but never fail of tearing them in pieces or of
burying them in the snow by the side of the path,
at a considerable distance from the trap. Drifts of
snow often conceal the repositories thus made of the
martens from the hunter, in which case they furnish
a regale to the hungry fox, whose sagacious nostril
guides him unerringly to the spot. Two or three
foxes are often seen following the wolverene for
this purpose.”

240 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

One more quotation, and I have finished. Captain
Cartwright says: “In coming to the foot of Table
Hill I crossed the track of a wolverene with one of
Mr. Callingham’s traps on his foot ; the foxes had
followed his bleeding track. As this beast went
through the thick of the woods, under the north
side of the hill, where the snow was so deep
and light that it was with the greatest difficulty I
could follow him, even in Indian rackets, I was
quite puzzled to know how he had contrived to
prevent the trap from catching hold of the branches
of the trees or sinking in the snow. But on
coming up with him I discovered how he had
managed ; for after making an attempt to fly at me,
he took the trap in his mouth and ran upon three
legs. These creatures are surprisingly strong in
proportion to their size; this weighed only twenty-
six pounds and the trap eight, yet, including all the
turns he had taken, he had carried it six miles.”

The usual length of the wolverene is from two
feet six to two feet ten inches, exclusive of the tail ;
and now I think I have occupied as much space as
I dare with the curious animal whom, with the
beaver, I have selected to give a name to this little
volume.

“Weil, Pierre,’ said Paul, “what is to be done
now ; shall we set the traps afresh ?”

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 241

“C'est inutile, Monsieur Paul, we must try to
catch two or three beaver, and then we shall move
away. I only hope the rascal carcajou he no tollow
us ;” and with a sigh at so much labour misspent, the
Canadian led the way towards a small frozen
stream, where he knew the beavers had a settle-
ment.

242

GEAR TE Re 2clte

N hour’s walk on their snow-shoes
brought the trappers to a little lake,
frozen firmly over, and covered with
a sheet of purest snow. At the spot

& J where the small stream mentioned in the

& last chapter fell into the lake, Paul observed
many oven-shaped excrescences ; these, his
companion informed him, were the lodges of the.
beavers, and within them the animals lay comfort-
ably asleep. Under Pierre’s direction several small
saplings were felled, and by sharpening their ends
were fashioned into stout stakes. All was now in
readiness, and the Canadian carefully examined
the ground and the frozen surface of the lake, to
ascertain at what points the beavers communicated
with their retreats in the bank. A skilled trapper,
he was not long in finding out these weak places ;

and cutting away the ice he drove stakes into the
passage, so that both entry and exit were effectually
cut off. Proceeding to the lodges, a similar method
was adopted, the thick ice removed with axe and

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 243

chisel, and the stakes driven in close to the apertures
by which the animals communicated with their
holes in the bank. Thus it will be seen that the
beavers were fairly pent in wherever they might
be: if they were in the bank, stout stakes prevented
their return to the lodges; and if in the latter,
similar obstacles cut off their escape to the shore.
“Now, Monsieur Paul, we shall have beaucoup de
travaille, plenty of work to keep us warm ;” and
thus saying, the Canadian seized his ice chisel—an
iron instrument resembling, but stouter than an
ordinary chisel, fitted to a long wooden handle—
and commenced a vigorous attack upon the summit
of the nearest lodge. It is perhaps difficult to
imagine that a powerful man, expert in the use of
his tools, should find it hard work to break through
the wood and plaster fabric erected by a few little
animals no bigger than an ordinary terrier, but
after half an hour of chipping and digging Pierre
was glad to relinquish the chisel for a few minutes
to his companion, the perspiration standing on his
brow in beads, which in a few seconds became little
studs of ice. An hour and a half elapsed before
the interior of the lodge was laid open, for it was
over six feet in thickness and frozen as solid as
granite; but at last the interior was reached, and the
poor sleepy beavers dragged ruthlessly from theit

Q 2

244 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

winter retreat, killed by a blow on the nose, and
deposited in the hand-sleigh. So the hunters pro-
ceeded until a dozen animals had fallen victims,
when the approach of dusk warned them to desist,
and they proceeded to camp with their game.

Pierre was in advance dragging the little sleigh,
and when within a quarter of a mile of the camp,
Paul remarked that he came to a standstill and
examined the snow carefully.

“What is the matter, Pierre?” asked the young
man.

The Canadian pointed to the track of a pair of
snow-shoes, not going straight to or from the camp,
but seemingly following a circular direction, as
though the wearer had wished to examine the
locality without approaching too closely.

“Tt must be Groves, Pierre, let us hurry on and
join him.”

“Ce west pas Monsieur Groves, it is an Indian.”

“ How can you tell that?”

“You look at the track, AJonsteur Paul. Your
friend he very good chasseur, but he no make a
trail comme ca. That one Indian, who been walk
all his life on snow-shoes.”

“Paul looked attentively, and saw that the hunter
was right. The footprints were even in depth and
equidistant, whilst the furrow left by dragging the

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 245

shoes forward was straight and clearly defined.
Evidently the stranger was thoroughly habituated
to this mode of travelling.

“Well, Pierre, if it is an Indian, what does it
matter? He won't attempt to harm us, will
he?

“ Non, monsieur, but. some Indians just as bad as
the rascal cacajou. Perhaps he steal our blankets
and traps.”

This was a new idea to Paul, who shivered be-
neath his fur clothing at the thought of passing a
night exposed to the full severity of such weather.

“En avant, monsteur,’ cried the Canadian, “we
shall soon find out ;” and seizing the cord attached
to the hand-sleigh, he set off camp-ward with such
speed that Paul, less experienced, was fairly
distanced.

Pierre’s joyous shout soon reached him, and
on arriving he found his companion already busy
at replenishing the fire, and getting ready for
supper. Everything was exactly as they had left
it in the morning, and no strange foot-prints in the
snow indicated that the stranger had even seen the
encampment.

The evening meal was finished, the pipes lit, and
the two occupants of the camp had _ bestowed
themselves in lounging attitudes beside the ample

246 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

fire. Neither talked much, for Paul was admiring
the silent beauty of the snow-sheeted lake, over
whose crisp and smooth expanse the moon was
sailing in silver splendour, and the Canadian was
probably engaged in determining whose were the
foot-prints that he felt conscious had made a circuit
of the camp. After some ten minutes of silence the
latter arose, and lifting a huge log in his brawny
arms flung it on to the fire, sending a thousand ruddy
sparks upward to the branches of the old pine.
The flames leapt greedily to devour the new comer,
the sudden crackle of the dry bark forming a
strange contrast to the dead silence reigning
without. As the trapper stretched forth his
hands to meet the welcome warmth and drew his
lofty figure up to its full height, Paul perceived
a form rise from behind the bushes that bordered
the margin of the lake, but e’er he had time to call
his companion’s attention, the sharp crack of a rifle
rang ominously through the air, and with a sudden
exclamation the Canadian staggered backward and
fell amongst the snow, whose pure surface was
soon stained with a crimson hue. To dart forward
to his wounded companion was, for Paul, but the
work of a moment, and exerting all his strength, he
managed to lift the huge form of the vayageur and
deposit it on the buffalo robes, and as he did so his

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 247

eye caught the outline of a human figure as it glided
silently away into the depths of the forest.

“ By heaven, there is the murderer escaping,” he
cried, snatching up his rifle.

“ Suives-le, Monsieur Paul,” said Lefranc, eagerly.

“But how can I leave you, my poor fellow?”
replied the young man.

“ Fe suis seulement blessé, it is nothing; follow and
see the direction he take, you can come back
soon.”

The whole of the above scene occupied only a
few seconds, and without a moment’s hesitation
or reflection Paul slipped on his snow-shoes, and
rifle in hand darted off in pursuit of the flying
figure, now barely visible amongst the forest trees.
The fugitive was following a course that would lead
him near the skeleton of the moose, but great was
Paul’s mortification to find that at every pace he
lost ground; even in the uncertain moonlight he
could not but perceive that his enemy was
increasing the distance between them at every step.
Still he struggled on manfully, indignant at the
base attempt on the Canadian’s life, and hoping
that some unforeseen accident would enable him to
overtake the assassin; but like a sombre ghost
amidst the whiteness of the landscape, the dark
figure threaded its way through the intricacies

248 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

of the forest, and the young man felt at length that
to continue the chase would be useless.

“At all events, I have driven the scoundrel a
good long way from the camp,” he muttered ; “and
now to return and look after poor Pierre. By Jove,
what can that be,” he added, as the rattle of iron
met his ear, coming from the direction in which the
murderer had vanished.

All thought of retreat was cast aside now, and
Paul dashed forward at headlong speed, casting up
the drift snow in clouds from the rapid movements
of his snow-shoes. At every stride the rattle of
the chain became more audible, and as the young
man reached the edge of a little open glade on
which the moon shed its welcome light, the reason
of the noise became apparent. There stood the
dark figure he had chased in vain, but all its airi-
ness of motion had departed, for in his hurried
flight the murderer had traversed the spot where
his victim had planted the wolf-traps, one of which
was firmly attached to his leg, whilst the powerful
spring of the other had broken the tough frame-
work of his snow-shoe.

As Paul emerged from the forest, the assassin
succeeded in freeing his leg, but on a single snow-
shoe escape was hopeless ; so, slipping his foot out
of the remaining one, he stood upon his guard, and

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 249

a bullet whistling through Paul's floating locks
warned him that the wasp had yet power to sting.
But dauntlessly the young man held upon his
course, his rifle at full cock, and its muzzle directed
towards the breast of his enemy, whom he now
perceived to be an Indian of gigantic stature.

“ Rendez-vous,’ he shouted, “ou je tire!;” but the
grim warrior disdained to yield, and Paul steadily
advanced, determined not to fire until so close that
missing his aim would be impossible.

With his eye fixed upon every movement of the
Indian, Paul lessened the distance between them,
and now but half a dozen paces separated him from
his adversary.

“One yard nearer and I will fire, unless he sur-
renders,” thought the young man, as he stepped
forward ; but, his gaze fixed steadily on the foe, he
had not noticed, lying half buried in the snow, the
steel trap from which the Indian had just escaped.
In the closed semi-circular jaws of this his snow-
shoe became entangled, and for one brief instant
his gaze was removed from his antagonist and
directed to the ground in search of the impediment.
That fleeting moment sufficed for the watchful red
man; with one bound he cleared the distance that
separated him from Paul, and locked in each other's
arms a death struggle commenced.

25c The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

And now, Paul Gresham, it were best to call to
remembrance every trick of wrestling that the
gymnasium taught, or you will hardly escape from
the sinewy arms that are pressing you to the dusky
breast with a grip like that of an angry bear.
Under the vice-like pressure the very ribs of the
young man seem to yield, and a lengthened resis-
tance is plainly impossible. But does the Indian
know the Cornish back-throw with which Johnny
Treglowin vanquished the town bully in an Oxford
row, and which Johnny had taught Paul? No.
With an adroit movement the Englishman obtained
a shift of position, and another moment saw the
Indian pitched head foremost into the trampled snow.

To stoop for the rifle, which had been knocked
from his grasp at the commencement of the
struggle, was the young man’s first impulse; and,
luckily,a moonbeam glinting on the barrel revealed
its whereabouts. Now he thought himself safe,
and his fingers wandered to the lock, with whose
touch he was so familiar; it was strange, he had
picked up the Indian’s empty musket.

But there was no time to rectify the error, and
Paul was just able to club the weapon before his
antagonist sprang forward to renew the attack. In
desperation he swept the gun round with the full
strength of both arms, and the Indian, confused

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 251

probably by his heavy fall, strove in vain to avoid
the blow; the flint lock struck the murderer under
the ear, and his huge form toppled helplessly to the
earth.

Paul stood bewildered for some moments, and
then bent over his recent antagonist, whose heavy
breathing announced that life was not extinct. By
the merest accident the young man had left the
camp with a flask in his pocket, so kneeling down
beside the prostrate warrior, he raised his head,
and poured a few spoonfuls of undiluted rum down
his throat.

“Surely I have seen that fellow before,” thought
Paul, as the moonbeams lighted on the Indian’s
face. “Yes, now I remember, it is Z7¢éfe-de-bots,
the Ojibbeway with whom poor Pierre had
the quarrel, and of whom the ‘Violet’ always
warned her husband to beware. Well, he must
remain there for the present at all events, and I
must hurry back to the Canadian.”

As Paul drew near the encampment he was
astonished to see several forms moving round the
fire, and to hear the jingle of sleigh-bells as the
horses shook their heads; but his wonder was
increased to amazement when a figure advanced tc
meet him, and a familiar voice cried out “Well,
dear old Paul, how delighted I am to see you.”

252 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver.

a Why, George Marshall, what, in the name of
fortune, brings you here ?

“Only to tell you good news, old fellow, and to
see the country a little for myself.”

“ But how did you know we were camped here?”

“Oh! Mr. Groves brought us. We met him at
an Ojibbeway village, where he had strayed in
following up some moose.”

“ And how is poor Pierre ?”

“ He will do well enough,” said Groves, who had
joined; “it is only a flesh wound, and the ‘ Violet’
will soon put that to rights. We have sent him off
to Osnaburg House in the sleigh, which will return
for us to-morrow.”

“Then let us bring in the Indian that I knocked
down, or he will perish from exposure.”

The young men hastened to the scene of the
struggle, but 7éte-de-bors had disappeared.

“ Here are his tracks,” cried Paul, pointing to
the trodden snow, “the rascal has come to his
senses and crept away.”

“ And by far the best thing that could happen,”
said Groves. ‘“ We should only have been bothered
to know how to deal with him. Let us hasten back
to the fire, for these night rambles are not pleasant,
with the thermometer below zero.”

There was much conversation over the camp

The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver. 253

fire that night. Groves related how he had
followed up the moose steadily, and had suc-
ceeded in killing the old cow and both her calves.
Some Ojibbeway Indians who were hunting
in the neighbourhood had joined him, and their
chief, Z7¢éte-de-bois, had induced him to return to
their village, undertaking to look after the transport
of the venison himself. This was after the chief
had heard that Pierre Lefranc was encamped on
the lake with only Paul as a companion, and was a
strategem to enable 7é¢e-de-bois to revenge himself
on the Canadian, against whom he had long borne
a deadly hatred. During the short time that
Groves was at the Indian village, George Marshall
arrived with three or four sleighs ; for, being the son
and heir of a powerful director, he travelled with
even more pomp than Mr. Tanner.

George explained the cause of his unexpected
arrival.

“You know,” he said, “how much I wished my
father to let me accompany you at first, and you
know how persistently he refused. Well, when
news arrived that the American House whose
failure had caused Mr. Gresham’s death was about
to pay eighteen shillings in the pound, he could not
deny my request to be the bearer of the news that
you are, if not a millionaire, at all events a rich

254 The Home of the Wolverene and Beaver,

man. I started off immediately from. Liverpool,
and thanks to the courtesy of Mr. Tanner, here I
am. I propose looking about me a little and then
taking a trip on the prairies, in which I thought
you would accompany me; for as we are both out
in America, there is no good in returning until we
have seen all the lions.”

“ Ah, you are lucky fellows,” sighed poor Groves.

“Well, of course I am glad to hear that my
worldly position is better, and you are a good fellow
for coming so far to see me,” said Paul, affectionately
squeezing his old friend’s hand; “but let us go to
sleep now, or we shall be fit for nothing in the
morning. Pah! how that warrior’s eyes seem to
glare in my face.”

The young men stretched themselves beneath
their buffalo robes, and silence reigned throughout
the encampment, though I much question whether
sleep visited any of their eyes. And in the stillness
of that snow-clad Canadian wilderness I shall take
leave of them for the present, though perhaps on
some future day their further adventures, amongst
the buffaloes and grizzly bears of the Far West, will
be presented to the reader.

THE END.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY Jas. TRuscorr AND Son,
Suffolk Lane, City.

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By Esmé STuART. With Three full-page Illustrations on toned
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PUBLICATIONS OF THE SOCIETY.

MATE OF THE “Lity” (THE); OR, NOTES FROM HARRY
MUSGRAVE'S LOG-BooK. By the late WILLIAM H. G. KINGSTON,
author of “Owen Hartley,” &c. With Three full-page Illustrations
on toned paper. Crown 8vo. . whee 5 . Cloth boards

Mrs. Dosss’ Dutt Boy. By ANNETTE LysTEr, author

of ‘‘ Northwind and Sunshine,” &c. With Three full-page Vius-
trations on toned paper. Crown SV0. icc.) ee Cloth boards

Not a Success. By the author of “Our Vailey,” ‘‘ The
Children of Seeligsberg,”” &c. With Three fuil-page Illustrations
on toned paper. “Crown Sv; ccc caccsess oases cuassstoseeenes Cloth boards

PERCY TREVOR’S TRAINING. By the author of “Two
Voyages,” &c. With Three full- “Page Illustrations on toned paper.
CrOWNSVO. (cacesc..- Saipne . Cloth boards

PHILIP VANDELEUR'S Victory. “By (Cake EDEN, author
of ‘‘ Australia’s Heroes,’’ ‘‘ The Fifth Continent,’’ &e. With Three
full-page Illustrations on toned paper. Crown 8vo. Cloth boards

RECLAIMED. A Tale. By the Rev. A. EUBULE-EVANS.
With Three Illustrations on toned paper. Crown 8vo. Cloth boards

RounD My TaBLeE. By H. L. C. P., author of “ The
Topmost Bough,” &c. With Three full-page Illustrations on toned
PADEIH A CLOWNISVOs.<deacur sees ssccecesest sssncacctsrseccsterwenee Cloth boards

Snow ForT AND THE FROZEN LAKE (THE); OR,
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS AT POND House. By EADGYTH. With
Three full-page Illustrations on toned paper. Crown 8vo. Cloth boards

STEFFAN’S ANGEL, AND OTHER STORIES. By M. E.
TOWNSEND. With Three page Illustrations on toned paper.
AS TEOMOTIE OV Ose Weeceasa-staciine deteceenceersccsescrsencesecesssnceeeee Cloth boards

STORIES FROM ITALIAN History. By B. MONTGOMERIE

: RANKING. With Two full-page Illustrations on toned paper.
SrOWMEGVO. <0 tee con ceeemietn slat ace hacia sos > ace coos sncremeeeeencses Cloth boards

THROUGH THE RouGH Winp. A Story of the Collieries.
By CRONA TEMPLE, author of ‘‘ Etta’s Fairies,” &c, With Three
full-page Illustrations on toned paper. Crown 8vo. Cloth boards

Two SuipMaTEs (THE). By the late W. H. G. Kineston,

author ef ‘‘ Ned Garth,” &c., &c. With Three full-page Illus-
trations on toned paper. Crown 8V0. .......ssesessereeee Cloth brards

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