It is possible that a Note on the country portrayed in these stories may
be in keeping. Until 1870, the Hudson's Bay Company--first granted its
charter by King Charles II--practically ruled that vast region stretching
from the fiftieth parallel of latitude to the Arctic Ocean--a handful of
adventurous men entrenched in forts and posts, yet trading with, and
mostly peacefully conquering, many savage tribes. Once the sole master
of the North, the H. B. C. (as it is familiarly called) is reverenced by
the Indians and half-breeds as much as, if not more than, the Government
established at Ottawa. It has had its forts within the Arctic Circle; it
has successfully exploited a country larger than the United States. The
Red River Valley, the Saskatchewan Valley, and British Columbia, are now
belted by a great railway, and given to the plough; but in the far north
life is much the same as it was a hundred years ago. There the trapper,
clerk, trader, and factor are cast in the mould of another century,
though possessing the acuter energies of this. The 'voyageur' and
'courier de bois' still exist, though, generally, under less picturesque
names.
The bare story of the hardy and wonderful career of the adventurers
trading in Hudson's Bay,--of whom Prince Rupert was once chiefest,--and
the life of the prairies, may be found in histories and books of travel;
but their romances, the near narratives of individual lives, have waited
the telling. In this book I have tried to feel my way towards the heart
of that life--worthy of being loved by all British men, for it has given
honest graves to gallant fellows of our breeding. Imperfectly, of
course, I have done it; but there is much more to be told.
When I started Pretty Pierre on his travels, I did not know--nor did he
--how far or wide his adventurers and experiences would run. They have,
however, extended from Quebec in the east to British Columbia in the
west, and from the Cypress Hills in the south to the Coppermine River
in the north. With a less adventurous man we had had fewer happenings.
His faults were not of his race, that is, French and Indian,--nor were
his virtues; they belong to all peoples. But the expression of these
is affected by the country itself. Pierre passes through this series of
stories, connecting them, as he himself connects two races, and here and
there links the past of the Hudson's Bay Company with more modern life
and Canadian energy pushing northward. Here is something of romance
"pure and simple," but also traditions and character, which are the
single property of this austere but not cheerless heritage of our race.
All of the tales have appeared in magazines and journals--namely, 'The
National Observer', 'Macmillan's', 'The National Review', and 'The
English Illustrated'; and 'The Independent of New York'. By the courtesy
of the proprietors of these I am permitted to republish.