JOURNEY TO MONTREAL--APPOINTMENT TO LAC DE SABLE--ADVANTAGES OF THIS
POST--ITS DIFFICULTIES--GOVERNOR'S FLATTERING LETTER--RETURN FROM
MONTREAL--LOST IN THE WOOD--SUFFERINGS--ESCAPE.
Early in spring I returned to the Chats, and after the close of
the trade took my departure for Montreal, having finished my
apprenticeship. I renewed my contract for three years, and was
appointed to the charge of Lac de Sable, a post situated on a
tributary of the Ottawa, called _Rivière aux Lièvres_, two hundred
miles distant from Montreal.
I embarked on the 15th August, 1826, and arrived at the post on
the 1st September; where I was gratified to find a comfortable
dwelling-house, and a large farm with pigs, poultry, and cattle in
abundance. All this was very well, but there was also a powerful
opposition, and I had experience enough to know that the enjoyment of
any kind of comfort is incompatible with the life we lead in
opposition.
The difficulties of my situation, moreover, were from various
causes extremely perplexing. The old North-West agents, acting for
the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada, had declared a bankruptcy the
preceding winter; the principal manager having quitted the country
rather precipitately, as was supposed, and forgotten to appoint a
successor; the management devolved in consequence upon the head
accountant, Mr. C----e, who, however well he might be qualified
for the duties of the situation, felt the responsibility of acting
without authority to be too great, and confined himself accordingly
to such measures only as he was confident would subject him to no
inconvenience when the day of reckoning arrived. Meantime the business
of this department sustained a serious check; the old hands of the
post, having been tampered with by the opposition in the course
of last winter, quitted the service to a man, and I now found the
establishment to consist of a clerk, interpreter, and one man only.
I was given to understand that three men additional would join me as
soon as they could, and that I must not expect any more; thus our
number would be seven against twenty-two.
A disparity so vast precluded all hopes of maintaining the contest
with advantage to the Company or credit to myself. Fortune, however,
declared in our favour; dissensions arose in the ranks of our
opponents, clerks and men deserted, supplies for trade ran short, and
from being the weaker party we were now the stronger.
Governor Simpson having taken up his residence at La Chine in autumn,
men and goods were furnished in abundance, and the petty traders were
made to see, ere the winter passed, the futility of entering the lists
in competition with a Company possessing so vast resources.
Mr. MacD----l having wintered two years at this post, and being
consequently well acquainted with the natives, I entrusted the
direction of affairs against the opposition entirely to him, and
remained quietly at home, having only the few Indians that wintered in
the neighbourhood of the post to attend to; my situation, however, was
often far from agreeable, being frequently reduced to the company of
my pigs and poultry for weeks together, and obliged to act as trader,
cook, hewer of wood, and drawer of water.
In the course of the winter I was favoured with a visit from Mr.
F----r, to whose district this post had just been annexed, and had the
gratification to receive, through him, a letter from Governor Simpson,
conveying, in very flattering terms, his approbation of my conduct.
I was told that I was in the direct road to preferment--that my
merits should be represented to the Council on his arrival in the
interior--and that he should be happy to have an opportunity of
recommending me to the Governor and Committee, when he returned to
England. We shall see, in the sequel, how these promises were
fulfilled.
I embarked, on the 15th June, 1827, for Montreal, and found Mr.
K----h, a chief factor in the service, at the head of affairs; and my
outfit being prepared in a few days, I re-embarked, taking my passage,
as formerly, on board of a large canoe, deeply laden. The last rapid
and portage on the Rivière aux Lièvres is within eight miles of the
establishment, and generally takes the men a day to pass it. Arriving
at this place late in the evening, I resolved on going on a-foot;
it being fine moonlight, I felt confident of finding my way without
difficulty. The weather having been immoderately hot for some time
past, I had sat in the canoe divested of my upper garments, and
thought I might, without inconvenience, dispense with them now, as I
expected to reach the house ere the night air could prove injurious to
me.
Setting off, therefore, in "light marching order," I immediately
gained the high grounds, in order to keep clear of the underwood that
covers the banks of the river; and just as the moon appeared above the
surrounding hills, arrived on the banks of a small stream, where I
observed a portage path sunk deep in the ground, a circumstance which
proved it to be much frequented--by whom or for what purpose I could
not say, for I had seldom passed the limits of my farm during last
winter, and was nearly as ignorant of the topography of the environs
as the first day I arrived. I had not heard of the existence of a
river in the quarter, nor did I imagine there was any; the conclusion
I arrived at therefore was, that I had lost my way, and that my most
eligible course was, to endeavour to find the main stream, and by
following it, retrace my course to the portage.
I soon fell on the river, but my retrograde march proved exceedingly
toilsome; at every step I was obliged to bend the branches of the
underwood to one side and another, or pressing them down under my
feet, force my way through by main strength: some short spaces indeed
intervened, that admitted of an easier passage; still my progress was
so slow that the sun appeared before I reached the upper end of the
portage. Finding an old canoe here, belonging to the post, I resolved
on crossing to the opposite side of the river, where I knew there was
a path that led to the house, by which the Indians often passed when
travelling in small canoes. I accordingly ran to the lower end of the
portage for a paddle, where I found my men still asleep; and having
heard that the lower end of this path came out exactly opposite to the
upper end of the portage, I struck out into the woods the moment I
landed, fancying that I could not fail to discover it.
The sun got higher and higher as I proceeded, and I went faster and
yet faster, to no purpose;--no path appeared; and I at length became
convinced that I was lost--being equally in difficulty to find my way
back to the river as forward to the post.
The weather was very sultry; and such had been the drought of the
season that all the small creeks were dried up, so that I could
nowhere procure a drop of water to moisten my parched lips. The
sensations occasioned by thirst are so much more painful than those we
feel from hunger, that although I had eaten but little the preceding
day, and nothing on that day, I never thought of food. While my inner
man was thus tortured by thirst, my outer man scarcely suffered less
from another cause. The country through which I passed being of a
marshy nature, I was incessantly tormented by the venomous flies that
abound in such situations,--my shirt, and only other habiliment,
having sustained so much damage in my nocturnal expedition, that the
insects had free access _partout_.[1]
[1] There are three different kinds of these tormenting
insects, viz. the mosquito, the black-fly, and the gnat--the
latter the same as the midge in N. Britain--who relieve each
other regularly in the work of torture. The mosquitoes
continue at their post from dawn to eight or nine o'clock,
A.M.; the black-flies succeed, and remain in the field till
near sunset; the mosquitoes again mount guard till dark, and
are finally succeeded by the gnats, who continue their watch
and incessant attacks till near sunrise.
I came to the foot of a high hill about two o'clock P.M., which I
ascended, and got a very good view of the surrounding country from its
summit; hills and lakes appeared in every direction; but the sight
of these objects only served to impress my mind with the conviction,
that, unless Providence should direct my steps to the establishment,
the game was up with me. Having descended, I sauntered about the
remainder of the day, my ideas becoming more and more bewildered,
and my strength declining; and passed the night sometimes sitting,
sometimes standing, sometimes moving about;--but sitting, standing, or
moving about, subjected to the same tortures.
I endeavoured during the night to compose my mind as much as possible;
some happy thought might perchance suggest itself, which might lead to
my deliverance. Nor were my efforts without some success: I called to
mind the position of the post with respect to the rising and setting
sun; another circumstance of importance also recurred to me.
A Canadian hunter, who received his supplies at my post, had told me
that such Indians as did not wish to pay their debts at the post,
frequently passed unperceived by a chain of small lakes that ran
parallel to the river, and extended from Lac de Sable to somewhere
near the rapid, whence I had taken my departure. I recollected, too,
his having mentioned that some Indian families occasionally made sugar
on the borders of these lakes, and that a good path lay from their
camp to the post. Having passed the night in a deep valley, the sun
did not appear until late in the morning, when I shaped my course,
to the best of my judgment, for the post. Two or three hours' walk
brought me to the foot of a high hill, nearly destitute of wood on one
side; and expecting that some discovery might be made from the top
which might be of use to me, I resolved on attempting the ascent--an
undertaking of no small difficulty in my enfeebled state. I succeeded
in gaining the top, and to my unspeakable joy, perceived a chain of
lakes within about two miles of me, exactly corresponding to the
description given me by the Canadian hunter. I also heard the reports
of guns, but so indistinctly that I could not determine the direction
the report came from. Noting with the utmost care the course that
would lead me to the lakes, I descended the steep declivity with a
degree of speed that surprised myself,--such is the powerful influence
the mind exercises over the body.
I expected an hour's walk would bring me to the lakes, but the sun
being in the zenith, and my way lying through a dense forest of pine,
I could not keep a straight course. I proceeded onward, however, as
well as _reason_ could direct me, and most willingly would I have
exchanged a little of that _faculty_ for the _instinct_ that leads the
brute creation with unerring certainty through the pathless depths of
the forest.
The sun was rapidly declining, and my hopes with it, when suddenly I
fancied I heard the murmuring sound of running water. Could it be
really so? What a delightful feast I should have! for I had passed the
day, like the preceding, without a drop of water to allay my raging
thirst. I listened; the sound became more distinct--it was no
illusion. I quickened my pace, and soon came upon a charming rivulet,
flowing rapidly over a bed of white pebbles, its water clear as
crystal. I rushed into the midst of it, and fervently thanking the
Giver of all good, threw myself on my knees, and drank draught
after draught till my thirst was quenched. I felt refreshed to an
extraordinary degree, and concluding that the stream would lead me
to the river, or to some lake communicating with it, I followed its
course, wading in the water that there might be "no mistake," and soon
came out on the border of a small lake, where I had the additional
satisfaction of hearing the report of guns so distinctly as to
convince me that the party firing them could be at no great distance.
I walked round the lake, and at its far end fell on a portage path
that soon conducted me to another lake. This, then, must be the chain
of lakes I was in search of! I was transported at the thought.
But an incident soon occurred that served to damp at once my spirits
and my person: a distant peal of thunder was heard; peal after peal
succeeded; the heavens were obscured, and heavy drops of rain, the
harbingers of an approaching storm, fell from the dark clouds. I
strained every nerve to reach the firing party ere the storm should
burst upon me. I reached the foot of the hill, but the firing had
ceased. I nevertheless ascended as quickly as my wearied limbs would
carry me, but on reaching the spot found no one there.
The storm now burst upon me in all its fury. Flash followed flash in
quick succession, and the rain fell in torrents, which, however, as
the few clothes that still adhered to my person were already saturated
by the previous rain, caused me but little additional inconvenience.
I descended to the lake, and by the time I reached the far end of it
the darkness had increased so much, that I could proceed no farther.
Perceiving an old encampment--a few half-decayed branches of balsam,
at the foot of a large hemlock--I took up my quarters there for the
night. The tufted branches of this tree render it a much more secure
retreat in a thunder-storm than the pine, whose pointed branches and
spiral shaped top frequently attract the electric fluid.
Towards morning the storm seemed to have expended its fury; and,
strange to say, in the midst of it I enjoyed two or three hours'
sleep. Nature had been so exhausted by protracted sufferings, that
(though the flies were driven to their covert) I believe I could have
slept upon a bed of thorns, covered with gnats and mosquitoes. As soon
as it was sufficiently clear to enable me to find my way, I quitted
my hemlock and fell on the portage path, which soon led me to another
small lake, and which I proceeded to circumambulate as usual, keeping
a sharp look-out for the path that led to the post; when suddenly the
report of a gun burst from an adjoining hill. At the same instant, I
observed a net pole standing in the water at the bottom of a small
bay close by, and directed my steps towards it; when on approaching
it I discovered a broad path ascending from the water's edge, and
immediately after the buildings of a sugar camp.
Allowing the party on the hill to blaze away, I followed the
path, and in less than half-an-hour came out upon the Rivière aux
Lièvres, immediately opposite the house. I perceived the men of the
establishment, with some Indians, all in a bustle; some preparing to
embark in a canoe, others firing. I sat down to gaze for a moment on
the most interesting scene I had ever witnessed, and then gave a loud
cry, which it was evident nobody heard, although the river is not more
than a stone-cast across. I made a second effort with better success.
The Indians raised a shout of triumph; the men hallooed,
"Le voilà! le voilà! Je le vois! Je le vois à l'autre bord! Embarquez!
embarquez!"
A few minutes more, and I found myself restored to at best a prolonged
life of misery and exile. Let it not be inferred from this expression
that I felt ungrateful for my deliverance; on the contrary, my escape
from a death so lingering and terrible made a deep impression upon my
mind. I afterwards gave a holiday to my men in remembrance of it, and
made them all happy for one day.