ON SERVICE--LAKE OF TWO MOUNTAINS--OPPOSITION--INDIANS--AMUSEMENTS AT
THE POSTS.
I arrived at Montreal about the beginning of May, and soon learnt that
I was appointed to the post at Lake of Two Mountains. The Montreal
department was headed at that time by Mr. Thane, a man of rather
eccentric character, but possessed of a heart that glowed with the
best feelings of humanity. I was allowed to amuse myself a few days in
town, having directions however to call at the office every day, in
case my services should be required. The period of departure at length
arrived. I was one evening accosted by Mr. Thane in these terms:--"I
say, youngster, you have been trifling away your time long enough
here; you must hold yourself ready to embark for your destination
to-morrow morning at five o'clock precisely. If you delay one moment,
you shall have cause to remember it." Such positive injunctions were
not disregarded by me. I was of course ready at the time appointed,
and after all the hurry, had the honour of breakfasting with my
commander before departing; but the woful and disheartening accounts
of the hardships and privations I was to suffer in the country to
which I was to proceed, fairly spoiled my appetite. I was told that my
only lodging was to be a tent, my only food Indian corn, _when I could
get it_; and many other _comforts_ were enumerated with the view of
producing a certain effect, which my countenance no doubt betrayed,
whilst he chuckled with the greatest delight at the success of his
jokes. I took leave, and found myself that evening at the Lake of Two
Mountains. On my arrival, a large building was pointed out to me as
the Company's establishment, to which I soon found admittance, and
was, to my great surprise, ushered into a large well furnished
apartment. Tea had just been served, with a variety of substantial
accompaniments, to which I felt heartily disposed to do ample justice,
after my day's abstinence. This was very different entertainment from
what I had been led to expect in the morning; would it had been my lot
to be always so agreeably deceived!
The village of the Lake of Two Mountains is inhabited by two distinct
tribes of the aborigines--viz. the Iroquois and the Algonquins; the
latter are a tribe of the Sauteux nation, or Ojibbeway, and live
principally by the chase. The former cultivate the soil, and engage as
voyageurs, or in any other capacity that may yield them the means of
subsistence. They are a very hardy industrious race; but neither the
habits of civilized life, nor the influence of the Christian religion,
appear to have mitigated, in any material degree, the ferocity that
characterized their pagan ancestors. Although they do not pay great
deference to the laws of God, they are sufficiently aware of the
consequences of violating the laws of man, and comport themselves
accordingly.
The Catholic seminary and church, along with the gardens of the
establishment, almost divide the village into two equal parts; yet
this close proximity does not appear to encourage any friendly
intercourse between the two tribes. They in fact seldom pass their
respective limits, and, with few exceptions, cannot converse together,
the language of the one being unintelligible to the other.
The Company established a post here in the spring of 1819, and when I
arrived it was in charge of Mr. Fisher, then a senior clerk. He had
two other clerks under him, besides myself, a like number of
_attachés_, two interpreters, two servants, and a horse to ride upon.
With such an establishment to rule over, need it be matter of surprise
that our _bourgeois_ was in his own estimation a magnate of the first
order? _N'importe_,--whatever might be his vanity, he possessed those
qualities which constitute a first-rate Indian trader, and he required
them to fill successfully his present situation. A number of petty
traders were settled in the village, who, whenever the Company entered
the lists against them, laid aside the feuds that subsisted among
themselves, and joined to oppose their united efforts against the
powerful rival that threatened to overwhelm them all. The spring fur
campaign was about to open when I made my _début_ at the post. The
natives being daily expected from the interior, all parties watched
their arrival night and day. This was not a very harassing duty to us,
as we relieved each other; but the situation of our superior was
exceedingly irksome and annoying. The moment an Indian canoe appeared
(the Indians always arrived at night), we were ordered to apprize him
of it; having done so, he was immediately at the landing-place, our
opponents being also there, attending to their own interests. Some of
the natives were supplied by the Company, others by the petty traders;
and according as it happened to be the customers of either that
arrived, the servants assisted in unloading the canoes, conveying the
baggage to their houses, and kindling a fire. Provisions were
furnished in abundance by both parties. While these preliminary
operations were being performed by the servants, the traders
surrounded the principal object of their solicitude--the hunter; first
one, then another, taking him aside to persuade him of the superior
claims each had on his love and gratitude. After being pestered in
this manner for some time, he, (the hunter,) eventually allowed
himself to be led away to the residence of one of the parties, where
he was treated to the best their establishment afforded; the natives,
however, retaining their furs, and visiting from house to house, until
satiated with the good cheer the traders had to give them, when they
at length gave them up, but not always to the party to whom they were
most indebted. They are generally great rogues; the sound of the
dollars, which the Company possessed in abundance, often brought the
furs that were due to the petty trader to the Company's stores; while
some of our customers were induced by the same argument to carry their
furs to our rivals.
For a period of six weeks or so, the natives continued to arrive;
sometimes in brigades, sometimes in single canoes; during the whole of
this period we were occupied in the manner now described, day and
night. So great was the pressure of business, that we had scarcely
time to partake of the necessary refreshment. When they had at length
all arrived, we enjoyed our night's rest, if indeed our continually
disturbed slumbers could be called rest:--what with the howling of two
or three hundred dogs, the tinkling of bells with which the horses the
Indians rode were ornamented, the bawling of the squaws when beaten by
their drunken husbands, and the yelling of the savages themselves when
in that beastly state, sleep was impossible,--the infernal sounds that
continually rent the air, produced such a _symphony_ as could be heard
nowhere else out of Pandemonium. No liquors were sold to the natives
at the village, but they procured as much as they required from the
opposite side of the lake. Some wretches of Canadians were always
ready, for a trifling consideration, to purchase it for them; thus the
law prohibiting the sale of liquor to the Indians was evaded. After
wallowing in intemperance for some time, they ultimately submitted to
the authority of the priests, confessed their sins, received
absolution, and became _good Christians_ for the remainder of the
season. If any indulged in the favourite vice--a few always did--they
were confined to their quarters by their families. After attending
mass on Sundays, they amused themselves playing at ball, or running
foot races; and it was only on such occasions they were seen to
associate with their neighbours the Iroquois. They took opposite sides
in the games; small stakes were allowed, merely to create an interest
in the issue of the contest. The chiefs of both tribes sat smoking
their pipes together, viewing the sports in silent gravity, and acting
as umpires in all cases of doubt between the parties. They, in fact,
led a glorious life during the three months they remained at the
village; that period was to them a continued carnival. The best fare
the country afforded--the best attire that money could procure--all
that sensuality, all that vanity could desire--their means permitted
them to enjoy. Their lands not having been hunted on during the war,
the beaver multiplied at an extraordinary rate, and now swarmed in
every direction. Every individual belonging to the tribe might then
have acquired an independent fortune. They arrived at the village,
their canoes laden with furs; but the characteristic improvidence of
their race blinded them to future consequences. Such was their
wasteful extravagance, that the money obtained by the sale of their
furs was dissipated ere half the summer season was over. The traders
supplied them afterwards with all requisites at a _moderate_ per
centage; and when they embarked in autumn for their hunting grounds,
they found themselves deeply involved in debt, a few only excepted.
In the course of this summer, some of our opponents foreseeing the
probable issue of the contest they were engaged in, proposed terms of
capitulation, which were in most instances readily assented to by the
Company; the inventories and outstanding debts were assumed at a
certain valuation. They retired from the field, some with annuities
for a stipulated period, while to others a round sum of money was
granted; in either case the party bound himself, under certain
penalties, not to interfere in the trade for a stated period of time.
In this manner the Company got rid of all petty opponents, with the
exception of two who continued the unequal contest. By the latter end
of August the natives had all started for the interior, leaving behind
only a few decrepit old men and women. The scene was now completely
changed; a death-like stillness prevailed where but a few days before
all was activity, bustle and animation. Two of my brother scribes were
ordered to the interior; one[1] to the distant Lake Nipissingue, the
other to the Chats. Mr. Fisher set off to enjoy himself in Montreal,
Mr. Francher, the accountant, being appointed _locum-tenens_ during
his absence. Another young Scot and myself, together with two or three
non-descripts, formed the winter establishment. Having just quitted
the scenes of civilized life, I found my present solitude sufficiently
irksome; the natural buoyancy of youthful spirits, however, with the
amusements we got up amongst us, conspired to banish all gloomy
thoughts from my mind in a very short time. We--my friend Mac and
myself--soon became very intimate with two or three French families
who resided in the village, who were, though in an humble station,
kind and courteous, and who, moreover, danced, fiddled and played
whist.
[1] This gentleman's name was Cockburn;--he met his end a few
years afterwards in a very melancholy manner, while on his way
to Montreal (having retired from the service). He rolled over
the canoe on a dark night, and disappeared for ever!
There was another family of a different status from the others, that
of Capt. Ducharme, the king's interpreter, a kind-hearted, hospitable
man, who frequently invited us to his house, where we enjoyed the
charms of polished society and good cheer. The captain's residence was
in the Iroquois division of the village; this circumstance led us to
form another acquaintance that for some time afforded us some
amusement, _en passant_. We discovered that a very ugly old widow, who
resided in that quarter, had two very pretty young daughters, to whom
we discoursed in Gaelic; they answered in Iroquois; and in a short
time the best _understanding_ imaginable was established between us,
(Mac and myself, be it always understood.) No harm came of it, though;
I vow there did not; the priests, it seems, thought otherwise. Our
acquaintance with the girls having come to their knowledge, we were
one day honoured with a visit from the Iroquois padre; the severe
gravity of whose countenance convinced us at a glance of the nature of
his mission. I must do him the justice to say, however, that his
address to us was mild and admonitory, rather than severe or
reproachful. I resolved from that moment to speak no more Gaelic to
the Iroquois maidens; Mac continued his visits.
We always amused ourselves in the evenings with our French
_confrères_, (whom I have mentioned as "nondescripts," from the
circumstance of their being under no regular engagement with the
Company,) playing cards or fiddling and dancing. We were on one
occasion engaged in the latter amusement _en pleine midi_--our
_Deputy_ Bourgeois being one of the party, and all of us in the
highest possible glee, when lo! in the midst of our hilarity, the hall
door flew open and the _great man_ stood sternly before us. The
hand-writing on the wall could scarcely have produced a more startling
effect on the convivial party of old, than did this unexpected
apparition upon us. We listened to the reprimand which followed in all
due humility, none more crest-fallen than our worthy Deputy. Mr.
Fisher then opened his portmanteau and drew forth a letter, which he
presented to my friend Mac, exclaiming in a voice of thunder, "Read
that, gentlemen, and hear what Mr. Thane thinks of your conduct." We
read and trembled; Mac's defiance of the authority of the priests
offended them mortally; a formal complaint was consequently preferred
against the innocent and the guilty, (although there was no guilt in
fact, unless _speaking Gaelic_ to the wood-nymphs could be so
construed,) and drew upon us the censures this dreadful missive
conveyed. The magnate remained a few days, and on his departure for
town, we resumed our usual pastimes, but selected a different _path_
to Captain Ducharme's. The Fathers had requested, when this
establishment was first formed, that some of the Company's officers
should attend church on Sundays for the purpose of showing a good
example to the natives. I did so, on my part, very regularly until
Christmas Eve, when having witnessed the ceremonies of the midnight
mass, I determined on remaining at home in future. I shuddered with
horror at the idolatrous rites, as they appeared to me, which were
enacted on that occasion. The ceremonies commenced with the
celebration of mass; then followed the introduction of the "Infant
Jesus," borne by four of the choristers, attired in surplices of white
linen. The image being placed by them on a sofa in front of the altar,
the superior of the seminary made his début, retiring to the railing
that surrounds the altar, when he knelt, and bending low his head
apparently in devout adoration, he arose, then advanced two steps
towards the altar and knelt again; he knelt the third time close to
the side of the image, which he devoutly embraced, then withdrew: the
younger priests performed the same ceremonies; and after them every
one of their congregation: yet these people protest that their
religion has no connexion with idolatry, and that the representations
of Protestants regarding it are false and calumnious. If we credit
them, however, we must belie the evidence of our own senses; but the
fact is, there are not a few Roman Catholics who speak with very
little _respect_ themselves of some of these mummeries.