discovery and trade would result from a grant of the Hudson Bay
territory to certain friends and petitioners. An experimental voyage was
made with good results in 1668, and in 1670 the King granted the charter
to what he styled "the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England
trading into Hudson's Bay, one body corporate and politique, in deed and
in name, really and fully forever, for Us, Our heirs, and Successors."
It was indeed a royal and a wholesale charter, for the King declared,
"We have given, granted, and confirmed unto said Governor and Company
sole trade and commerce of those Seas, Streights, Bays, Rivers, Lakes,
Creeks, and Sounds, in whatsoever latitude they shall be, that lie
within the entrance of the Streights commonly called Hudson's, together
with all the Lands, Countries, and Territories upon the coasts and
confines of the Seas, etc., . . . not already actually possessed by or
granted to any of our subjects, or possessed by the subjects of any
other Christian Prince or State, with the fishing of all sorts of Fish,
Whales, Sturgeons, and all other Royal Fishes, . . . . together with the
Royalty of the Sea upon the Coasts within the limits aforesaid, and all
Mines Royal, as well discovered as not discovered, of Gold, Silver,
Gems, and Precious Stones, . . . . and that the said lands be henceforth
reckoned and reputed as one of Our Plantations or Colonies in America
called Rupert's Land." For this gift of an empire the corporation was to
pay yearly to the king, his heirs and successors, two elks and two black
beavers whenever and as often as he, his heirs, or his successors "shall
happen to enter into the said countries." The company was empowered to
man ships of war, to create an armed force for security and defence, to
make peace or war with any people that were not Christians, and to seize
any British or other subject who traded in their territory. The King
named his cousin, Prince Rupert, Duke of Cumberland, to be first
governor, and it was in his honor that the new territory got its name of
Rupert's Land.
In the company were the Duke of Albemarle, Earl Craven, Lords Arlington
and Ashley, and several knights and baronets, Sir Philip Carteret among
them. There were also five esquires, or gentlemen, and John Portman,
"citizen and goldsmith." They adopted the witty sentence, "_Pro pelle
cutem_" (A skin for a skin), as their motto, and established as their
coat of arms a fox sejant as the crest, and a shield showing four
beavers in the quarters, and the cross of St. George, the whole upheld
by two stags.
[Illustration: THE BEAR TRAP]
The "adventurers" quickly established forts on the shores of Hudson Bay,
and began trading with the Indians, with such success that it was
rumored they made from twenty-five to fifty per cent. profit every year.
But they exhibited all of that timidity which capital is ever said to
possess. They were nothing like as enterprising as the French _coureurs
du bois_. In a hundred years they were no deeper in the country then at
first, excepting as they extended their little system of forts or
"factories" up and down and on either side of Hudson and James bays. In
view of their profits, perhaps this lack of enterprise is not to be
wondered at. On the other hand, their charter was given as a reward for
the efforts they had made, and were to make, to find "the Northwest
passage to the Southern seas." In this quest they made less of a trial
than in the getting of furs; how much less we shall see. But the company
had no lack of brave and hardy followers. At first many of the men at
the factories were from the Orkney Islands, and those islands remained
until recent times the recruiting-source for this service. This was
because the Orkney men were inured to a rigorous climate, and to a diet
largely composed of fish. They were subject to less of a change in the
company's service than must have been endured by men from almost any
part of England.
I am going, later, to ask the reader to visit Rupert's Land when the
company had shaken off its timidity, overcome its obstacles, and dotted
all British America with its posts and forts. Then we shall see the
interiors of the forts, view the strange yet not always hard or uncouth
life of the company's factors and clerks, and glance along the trails
and watercourses, mainly unchanged to-day, to note the work and
surroundings of the Indians, the _voyageurs_, and the rest who inhabit
that region. But, fortunately, I can first show, at least roughly, much
that is interesting about the company's growth and methods a century and
a half ago. The information is gotten from some English Parliamentary
papers forming a report of a committee of the House of Commons in 1749.
Arthur Dobbs and others petitioned Parliament to give them either the
rights of the Hudson Bay Company or a similar charter. It seems that
England had offered L20,000 reward to whosoever should find the
bothersome passage to the Southern seas _via_ this northern route, and
that these petitioners had sent out two ships for that purpose. They
said that when others had done no more than this in Charles II.'s time,
that monarch had given them "the greatest privileges as lords
proprietors" of the Hudson Bay territory, and that those recipients of
royal favor were bounden to attempt the discovery of the desired
passage. Instead of this, they not only failed to search effectually or
in earnest for the passage, but they had rather endeavored to conceal
the same, and to obstruct the discovery thereof by others. They had not
possessed or occupied any of the lands granted to them, or extended
their trade, or made any plantations or settlements, or permitted other
British subjects to plant, settle, or trade there. They had established
only four factories and one small trading-house; yet they had connived
at or allowed the French to encroach, settle, and trade within their
limits, to the great detriment and loss of Great Britain. The
petitioners argued that the Hudson Bay charter was monopolistic, and
therefore void, and at any rate it had been forfeited "by non-user or
abuser."
In the course of the hearing upon both sides, the "voyages upon
discovery," according to the company's own showing, were not undertaken
until the corporation had been in existence nearly fifty years, and then
the search had only been prosecuted during eighteen years, and with only
ten expeditions. Two ships sent out from England never reached the bay,
but those which succeeded, and were then ready for adventurous cruising,
made exploratory voyages that lasted only between one month and ten
weeks, so that, as we are accustomed to judge such expeditions, they
seem farcical and mere pretences. Yet their largest ship was only of 190
tons burden, and the others were a third smaller--vessels like our small
coasting schooners. The most particular instructions to the captains
were to trade with all natives, and persuade them to kill whales,
sea-horses, and seals; and, subordinately and incidentally, "by God's
permission," to find out the Strait of Annian, a fanciful sheet of
water, with tales of which that irresponsible Greek sea-tramp, Juan de
Fuca, had disturbed all Christendom, saying that it led between a great
island in the Pacific (Vancouver) and the main-land into the inland
lakes. To the factors at their forts the company sent such lukewarm
messages as, "and if you can by any means find out any discovery or
matter to the northward or elsewhere in the company's interest or
advantage, do not fail to let us know every year."
The attitude of the company towards discovery suggests a Dogberry at its
head, bidding his servants to "comprehend" the North-west passage, but
should they fail, to thank God they were rid of a villain. In truth,
they were traders pure and simple, and were making great profits with
little trouble and expense.
[Illustration: HUSKIE DOGS FIGHTING]
They brought from England about L4000 worth of powder, shot, guns,
fire-steels, flints, gun-worms, powder-horns, pistols, hatchets, sword
blades, awl blades, ice-chisels, files, kettles, fish-hooks, net-lines,
burning-glasses, looking-glasses, tobacco, brandy, goggles, gloves,
hats, lace, needles, thread, thimbles, breeches, vermilion, worsted
sashes, blankets, flannels, red feathers, buttons, beads, and "shirts,
shoes, and stockens." They spent, in keeping up their posts and ships,
about L15,000, and in return they brought to England castorum,
whale-fins, whale-oil, deer-horns, goose-quills, bed-feathers, and
skins--in all of a value of about L26,000 per annum. I have taken the
average for several years in that period of the company's history, and
it is in our money as if they spent $90,000 and got back $130,000, and
this is their own showing under such circumstances as to make it the
course of wisdom not to boast of their profits. They had three times
trebled their stock and otherwise increased it, so that having been
10,500 shares at the outset, it was now 103,950 shares.
And now that we have seen how natural it was that they should not then
bother with exploration and discovery, in view of the remuneration that
came for simply sitting in their forts and buying furs, let me pause to
repeat what one of their wisest men said casually, between the whiffs of
a meditative cigar, last summer: "The search for the north pole must
soon be taken up in earnest," said he. "Man has paused in the
undertaking because other fields where his needs were more pressing, and
where effort was more certain to be rewarded with success, had been
neglected. This is no longer the fact, and geographers and other
students of the subject all agree that the north pole must next be
sought and found. Speaking only on my own account and from my knowledge,
I assert that whenever any government is in earnest in this desire, it
will employ the men of this fur service, and they will find the pole.
The company has posts far within the arctic circle, and they are manned
by men peculiarly and exactly fitted for the adventure. They are hardy,
acutely intelligent, self-reliant, accustomed to the climate, and all
that it engenders and demands. They are on the spot ready to start at
the earliest moment in the season, and they have with them all that they
will need on the expedition. They would do nothing hurriedly or rashly;
they would know what they were about as no other white men would--and
they would get there."
I mention this not merely for the novelty of the suggestion and the
interest it may excite, but because it contributes to the reader's
understanding of the scope and character of the work of the company. It
is not merely Western and among Indians, it is hyperborean and among
Esquimaux. But would it not be passing strange if, beyond all that
England has gained from the careless gift of an empire to a few
favorites by Charles II., she should yet possess the honor and glory of
a grand discovery due to the natural results of that action?
To return to the Parliamentary inquiry into the company's affairs 140
years ago. If it served no other purpose, it drew for us of this day an
outline picture of the first forts and their inmates and customs. Being
printed in the form our language took in that day, when a gun was a
"musquet" and a stockade was a "palisadoe," we fancy we can see the
bumptious governors--as they then called the factors or agents--swelling
about in knee-breeches and cocked hats and colored waistcoats, and
relying, through their fear of the savages, upon the little putty-pipe
cannon that they speak of as "swivels." These were ostentatiously
planted before their quarters, and in front of these again were massive
double doors, such as we still make of steel for our bank safes, but,
when made of wood, use only for our refrigerators. The views we get of
the company's "servants"--which is to say, mechanics and laborers--are
all of trembling varlets, and the testimony is full of hints of petty
sharp practice towards the red man, suggestive of the artful ways of our
own Hollanders, who bought beaver-skins by the weight of their feet, and
then pressed down upon the scales with all their might.
[Illustration: PAINTING THE ROBE]
The witnesses had mainly been at one time in the employ of the company,
and they made the point against it that it imported all its bread (_i.e._,
grain) from England, and neither encouraged planting nor cultivated
the soil for itself. But there were several who said that even in August
they found the soil still frozen at a depth of two and a half or three
feet. Not a man in the service was allowed to trade with the natives
outside the forts, or even to speak with them. One fellow was put in
irons for going into an Indian's tent; and there was a witness who had
"heard a Governor say he would whip a Man without Tryal; and that the
severest Punishment is a Dozen of Lashes." Of course there was no
instructing the savages in either English or the Christian religion; and
we read that, though there were twenty-eight Europeans in one factory,
"witness never heard Sermon or Prayers there, nor ever heard of any such
Thing either before his Time or since." Hunters who offered their
services got one-half what they shot or trapped, and the captains of
vessels kept in the bay were allowed. "25 _l. per cent._" for all the
whalebone they got.
One witness said: "The method of trade is by a standard set by the
Governors. They never lower it, but often double it, so that where the
Standard directs 1 Skin to be taken they generally take Two." Another
said he "had been ordered to shorten the measure for Powder, which ought
to be a Pound, and that within these 10 Years had been reduced an Ounce
or Two." "The Indians made a Noise sometimes, and the Company gave them
their Furs again." A book-keeper lately in the service said that the
company's measures for powder were short, and yet even such measures
were not filled above half full. Profits thus made were distinguished as
"the overplus trade," and signified what skins were got more than were
paid for, but he could not say whether such gains went to the company or
to the governor. (As a matter of fact, the factors or governors shared
in the company's profits, and were interested in swelling them in every
way they could.)
There was much news of how the French traders got the small furs of
martens, foxes, and cats, by intercepting the Indians, and leaving them
to carry only the coarse furs to the company's forts. A witness "had
seen the Indians come down in fine _French_ cloaths, with as much Lace
as he ever saw upon any Cloaths whatsoever. He believed if the Company
would give as much for the Furs as the _French_, the _Indians_ would
bring them down;" but the French asked only thirty marten-skins for a
gun, whereas the company's standard was from thirty-six to forty such
skins. Then, again, the company's plan (unchanged to-day) was to take
the Indian's furs, and then, being possessed of them, to begin the
barter.
This shouldering the common grief upon the French was not merely the
result of the chronic English antipathy to their ancient and their
lively foes. The French were swarming all around the outer limits of the
company's field, taking first choice of the furs, and even beginning to
set up posts of their own. Canada was French soil, and peopled by as
hardy and adventurous a class as inhabited any part of America. The
_coureurs du bois_ and the _bois-brules_ (half-breeds), whose success
afterwards led to the formation of rival companies, had begun a mosquito
warfare, by canoeing the waters that led to Hudson Bay, and had
penetrated 1000 miles farther west than the English. One Thomas Barnett,
a smith, said that the French intercepted the Indians, forcing them to
trade, "when they take what they please, giving them Toys in Exchange;
and fright them into Compliance by Tricks of Sleight of Hand; from
whence the _Indians_ conclude them to be Conjurers; and if the _French_
did not compel the _Indians_ to trade, they would certainly bring all
the Goods to the _English_."
This must have seemed to the direct, practical English trading mind a
wretched business, and worthy only of Johnny Crapeau, to worst the noble
Briton by monkeyish acts of conjuring. It stirred the soul of one
witness, who said that the way to meet it was "by sending some _English_
with a little Brandy." A gallon to certain chiefs and a gallon and a
half to others would certainly induce the natives to come down and
trade, he thought.
But while the testimony of the English was valuable as far as it went,
which was mainly concerning trade, it was as nothing regarding the life
of the natives compared with that of one Joseph La France, of
Missili-Mackinack (Mackinaw), a traveller, hunter, and trader. He had
been sent as a child to Quebec to learn French, and in later years had
been from Lake Nipissing to Lake Champlain and the Great Lakes, the
Mississippi, the Missouri, the Ouinipigue (Winnipeg) or Red River, and
to Hudson Bay. He told his tales to Arthur Dobbs, who made a book of
them, and part of that became an appendix to the committee's report. La
France said:
"That the high price on _European_ Goods discourages the Natives
so much, that if it were not that they are under a Necessity of
having Guns, Powder, Shot, Hatchets, and other Iron Tools for
their Hunting, and Tobacco, Brandy, and some Paint for Luxury,
they would not go down to the Factory with what they now carry.
They leave great numbers of Furs and Skins behind them. A good
Hunter among the _Indians_ can kill 600 Beavers in a season, and
carry down but 100" (because their canoes were small); "the rest
he uses at home, or hangs them upon Branches of Trees upon the
Death of their Children, as an Offering to them; or use them for
Bedding and Coverings: they sometimes burn off the Fur, and
roast the Beavers, like Pigs, upon any Entertainments; and they
often let them rot, having no further Use of them. The Beavers,
he says, are of Three Colours--the Brown-reddish Colour, the
Black, and the White. The Black is most valued by the Company,
and in _England_; the White, though most valued in _Canada_, is
blown upon by the Company's Factors at the Bay, they not
allowing so much for these as for the others; and therefore the
_Indians_ use them at home, or burn off the Hair, when they
roast the Beavers, like Pigs, at an Entertainment when they
feast together. The Beavers are delicious Food, but the Tongue
and Tail the most delicious Parts of the whole. They multiply
very fast, and if they can empty a Pond, and take the whole
Lodge, they generally leave a Pair to breed, so that they are
fully stocked again in Two or Three Years. The _American_ Oxen,
or Beeves, he says, have a large Bunch upon their backs, which
is by far the most delicious Part of them for Food, it being all
as sweet as Marrow, juicy and rich, and weighs several Pounds.
"The Natives are so discouraged in their Trade with the Company
that no Peltry is worth the Carriage; and the finest Furs are
sold for very little. They gave but a Pound of Gunpowder for 4
Beavers, a Fathom of Tobacco for 7 Beavers, a Pound of Shot for
1, an Ell of coarse Cloth for 15, a Blanket for 12, Two
Fish-hooks or Three Flints for 1; a Gun for 25, a Pistol for 10,
a common Hat with white Lace, 7; an Ax, 4; a Billhook, 1; a
Gallon of Brandy, 4; a chequer'd Shirt, 7; all of which are sold
at a monstrous Profit, even to 2000 _per Cent_. Notwithstanding
this discouragement, he computed that there were brought to the
Factory in 1742, in all, 50,000 Beavers and above 9000 Martens.
"The smaller Game, got by Traps or Snares, are generally the
Employment of the Women and Children; such as the Martens,
Squirrels, Cats, Ermines, &c. The Elks, Stags, Rein-Deer, Bears,
Tygers, wild Beeves, Wolves, Foxes, Beavers, Otters, Corcajeu,
&c., are the employment of the Men. The _Indians_, when they
kill any Game for Food, leave it where they kill it, and send
their wives next Day to carry it home. They go home in a direct
Line, never missing their way, by observations they make of the
Course they take upon their going out. The Trees all bend
towards the South, and the Branches on that Side are larger and
stronger than on the North Side; as also the Moss upon the
Trees. To let their Wives know how to come at the killed Game,
they from Place to Place break off Branches and lay them in the
Road, pointing them the Way they should go, and sometimes Moss;
so that they never miss finding it.
"In Winter, when they go abroad, which they must do in all
Weathers, before they dress, they rub themselves all over with
Bears Greaze or Oil of Beavers, which does not freeze; and also
rub all the Fur of their Beaver Coats, and then put them on;
they have also a kind of Boots or Stockings of Beaver's Skin,
well oiled, with the Fur inwards; and above them they have an
oiled Skin laced about their Feet, which keeps out the Cold, and
also Water; and by this means they never freeze, nor suffer
anything by Cold. In Summer, also, when they go naked, they rub
themselves with these Oils or Grease, and expose themselves to
the Sun without being scorched, their Skins always being kept
soft and supple by it; nor do any Flies, Bugs, or Musketoes, or
any noxious Insect, ever molest them. When they want to get rid
of it, they go into the Water, and rub themselves all over with
Mud or Clay, and let it dry upon them, and then rub it off; but
whenever they are free from the Oil, the Flies and Musketoes
immediately attack them, and oblige them again to anoint
themselves. They are much afraid of the wild Humble Bee, they
going naked in Summer, that they avoid them as much as they can.
They use no Milk from the time they are weaned, and they all
hate to taste Cheese, having taken up an Opinion that it is made
of Dead Men's Fat. They love Prunes and Raisins, and will give a
Beaver-skin for Twelve of them, to carry to their Children; and
also for a Trump or Jew's Harp. The Women have all fine Voices,
but have never heard any Musical Instrument. They are very fond
of all Kinds of Pictures or Prints, giving a Beaver for the
least Print; and all Toys are like Jewels to them."
He reported that "the _Indians_ west of Hudson's Bay live an erratic
Life, and can have no Benefit by tame Fowl or Cattle. They seldom stay
above a Fortnight in a Place, unless they find Plenty of Game. After
having built their Hut, they disperse to get Game for their Food, and
meet again at Night after having killed enough to maintain them for that
Day. When they find Scarcity of Game, they remove a League or Two
farther; and thus they traverse through woody Countries and Bogs, scarce
missing One Day, Winter or Summer, fair or foul, in the greatest Storms
of Snow."
It has been often said that the great Peace River, which rises in
British Columbia and flows through a pass in the Rocky Mountains into
the northern plains, was named "the Unchaga," or Peace, "because" (to
quote Captain W. F. Butler) "of the stubborn resistance offered by the
all-conquering Crees, which induced that warlike tribe to make peace on
the banks of the river, and leave at rest the beaver-hunters"--that is,
the Beaver tribe--upon the river's banks. There is a sentence in La
France's story that intimates a more probable and lasting reason for the
name. He says that some Indians in the southern centre of Canada sent
frequently to the Indians along some river near the mountains "with
presents, to confirm the peace with them." The story is shadowy, of
course, and yet La France, in the same narrative, gave other information
which proved to be correct, and none which proved ridiculous. We know
that there were "all-conquering" Crees, but there were also inferior
ones called the Swampies, and there were others of only intermediate
valor. As for the Beavers, Captain Butler himself offers other proof of
their mettle besides their "stubborn resistance." He says that on one
occasion a young Beaver chief shot the dog of another brave in the
Beaver camp. A hundred bows were instantly drawn, and ere night eighty
of the best men of the tribe lay dead. There was a parley, and it was
resolved that the chief who slew the dog should leave the tribe, and
take his friends with him. A century later a Beaver Indian, travelling
with a white man, heard his own tongue spoken by men among the Blackfeet
near our border. They were the Sarcis, descendants of the exiled band of
Beavers. They had become the must reckless and valorous members of the
warlike Blackfeet confederacy.
[Illustration: COUREUR DU BOIS]