STORNOWAY--THE BALL--AT SEA--GO OUT TO TEA ON THE ATLANTIC--AMONG THE
ICE--SIGHTING LAND--A SLEEPY SIGHT--YORK FACTORY AND BACHELORS' HALL.
The harbour of Stornoway is surrounded by high hills, except at the
entrance, where a passage--not more, I should think, than three hundred
yards wide--admits vessels of any tonnage into its sheltering bosom.
Stornoway, a pretty, modest-looking town, apparently pleased with its
lot, and contented to be far away from the busy and bustling world, lies
snugly at the bottom of the bay. Here we remained upwards of a week,
engaging men for the wild Nor'-West, and cultivating the acquaintance of
the people, who were extremely kind and very hospitable. Occasionally
Wiseacre and I amused ourselves with fishing excursions to the middle of
the bay in small boats; in which excursions we were usually accompanied
by two or three very ragged little boys from the town. Our sport was
generally good, and rendered extremely interesting by our uncertainty as
to which of the monsters of the deep would first attack our hooks.
Rock-codlings and flounders appeared the most voracious, and
occasionally a skate or long-legged crab came struggling to the surface.
Just before leaving this peaceful little spot, our captain gave a grand
ball on board, to which were invited the _elite_ of Stornoway. Great
preparations were made for the occasion. The quarter-deck was well
washed and scrubbed; an awning was spread over it, which formed a
capital ceiling; and representatives of almost every flag that waves
formed the walls of the large and airy apartment. Oil lamps, placed
upon the skylights, companion, and capstan, shed a mellow light upon the
scene, the romantic effect of which was greatly heightened by a few
flickering rays of the moon, which shot through various openings in the
drapery, and disported playfully upon the deck. At an early and very
unfashionable hour on the evening of the appointed night the guests
arrived in detachments; and while the gentlemen scrambled up the side of
the vessel, the ladies, amid a good deal of blushing and hesitation,
were hoisted on board in a chair. Tea was served on deck; and after
half an hour's laughing and chatting, during which time our
violin-player was endeavouring to coax his first string to the proper
pitch without breaking, the ball opened with a Scotch reel. Every one
knows what Scotch reels are, but every one does not know how the belles
of the Western Isles can dance them.
"Just look at that slip of thread-paper," said the doctor to the
captain, pointing to a thin, flat young lady, still in her teens. "I've
watched her from the first. She's been up at six successive rounds,
flinging her shanks about worse than a teething baby; and she's up again
for another, just as cool and serene as a night in the latter end of
October. I wonder what she's made of?"
"Leather, p'r'aps, or gutta-percha," suggested the captain, who had
himself been "flinging his legs" about pretty violently during the
previous half-hour. "I wish that she had been my partner instead of the
heavy fair one that you see over there leaning against the mizzen
belaying-pins."
"Which?" inquired the doctor. "The old lady with the stu'n-sails set on
her shoulders?"
"No, no," replied the captain--"the _young_ lady; fat--_very_ fat--fair,
and twenty, with the big blue eyes like signal-lamps on a locomotive.
She twisted me round just as if I'd been a fathom of pump-water,
shouting and laughing all the time in my face, like a sou'-west gale,
and never looking a bit where she was going till she pitched
head-foremost into the union-jack, carrying it and me along with her off
the quarter-deck and half-way down the companion. It's a blessing she
fell undermost, else I should have been spread all over the deck like a
capsized pail of slops."
"Hallo!" exclaimed the doctor; "what's wrong with the old lady over
there? She's making very uncommon faces."
"She's sea-sick, I do believe," cried the captain, rushing across the
deck towards her.
And, without doubt, the old lady in question was showing symptoms of
that terrible malady, although the bay was as smooth as a mill-pond, and
the _Prince Rupert_ reposed on its quiet bosom without the slightest
perceptible motion. With impressive nautical politeness the captain
handed her below, and in the sudden sympathy of his heart proposed as a
remedy a stiff glass of brandy and water.
"Or a pipe of cavendish," suggested the second mate, who met them on the
ladder as they descended, and could not refrain from a facetious remark,
even although he knew it would, as it did, call forth a thundering
command from his superior to go on deck and mind his own business.
"Isn't it jolly," said a young Stornowite, coming up to Wiseacre, with a
face blazing with glee--"isn't it jolly, Mr Wiseacre?"
"Oh, very!" replied Wiseacre, in a voice of such dismal melancholy that
the young Stornowite's countenance instantly went out, and he wheeled
suddenly round to light it again at the visage of some more sympathising
companion.
Just at this point of the revelry the fiddler's first string, which had
endured with a dogged tenacity that was wonderful even for catgut, gave
way with a loud bang, causing an abrupt termination to the uproar, and
producing a dead silence. A few minutes, however, soon rectified this
mischance. The discordant tones of the violin, as the new string was
tortured into tune, once more opened the safety-valve, and the ball
began _de novo_.
Great was the fun, and numerous were the ludicrous incidents that
happened during that eventful night; and loud were the noise and
merriment of the dancers as they went with vigorous energy through the
bewildering evolutions of country-dance and reel. Immense was the
delight of the company when the funniest old gentleman there volunteered
a song; and ecstatic the joy when he followed it up by a speech upon
every subject that an ordinary mind could possibly embrace in a quarter
of an hour. But who can describe the scene that ensued when supper was
reported ready in the cabin!--a cabin that was very small indeed, with a
stair leading down to it so steep that those who were pretty high up
could have easily stepped upon the shoulders of those who were near the
foot; and the unpleasant idea was painfully suggested that if any one of
the heavy ladies (there were several of them) was to slip her foot on
commencing the descent, she would infallibly sweep them all down in a
mass, and cram them into the cook's pantry, the door of which stood
wickedly open at the foot of the stair, as if it anticipated some such
catastrophe. Such pushing, squeezing, laughing, shrieking, and joking,
in the vain attempt made to get upwards of thirty people crammed into a
room of twelve feet by ten! Such droll and cutting remarks as were made
when they were at last requested to sup in detachments! All this,
however, was nothing to what ensued after supper, when the fiddler
became more energetic, and the dancers more vigorous than ever. But
enough. The first grey streaks of morning glimmered in the east ere the
joyous party "tumbled down the sides" and departed to their homes.
There is a sweet yet melancholy pleasure, when far away from friends and
home, in thinking over happy days gone by, and dwelling on the scenes
and pleasures that have passed away, perhaps for ever. So I thought and
felt as I recalled to mind the fun and frolic of the Stornoway ball, and
the graver mirth of the Gravesend dinner, until memory traced my course
backward, step by step, to the peaceful time when I dwelt in Scotland,
surrounded by the gentle inmates of my happy home. We had left the
shores and the green water behind us, and were now ploughing through the
blue waves of the wide Atlantic; and when I turned my straining eyes
towards the faint blue line of the lessening hills, "a tear unbidden
trembled" as the thought arose that I looked perhaps for the last time
upon my dear native land.
The sea has ever been an inexhaustible subject for the pens of most
classes of writers. The poet, the traveller, and the novelist has each
devoted a portion of his time and talents to the mighty ocean; but that
part of it which it has fallen to my lot to describe is very different
from those portions about which poets have sung with rapture. Here,
none of the many wonders of the tropical latitudes beguile the tedium of
the voyage; no glittering dolphins force the winged inhabitants of the
deep to seek shelter on the vessel's deck; no ravenous sharks follow in
our wake to eat us if we chance to fall overboard, or amuse us by
swallowing our baited hook; no passing vessel cheers us with the
knowledge that there are others besides ourselves roaming over the
interminable waste of waters. All was dreary and monotonous; the same
unvarying expanse of sky and water met our gaze each morning as we
ascended to the deck, to walk for half an hour before breakfast, except
when the topsails of the other two vessels fluttered for a moment on the
distant horizon. Occasionally we approached closer to each other, and
once or twice hailed with the trumpet; but these breaks in the solitude
of our existence were few and far between.
Towards the end of July we approached Hudson Straits, having seen
nothing on the way worth mentioning, except one whale, which passed
close under the stern of the ship. This was a great novelty to me,
being the first that I had ever seen, and it gave me something to talk
of and think about for the next four days.
The ships now began to close in, as we neared the entrance of the
straits, and we had the pleasure of sailing in company for a few days.
The shores of the straits became visible occasionally, and soon we
passed with perfect confidence and security among those narrow channels
and mountains of ice that damped the ardour and retarded the progress of
Hudson, Button, Gibbons, and other navigators in days of yore.
One day, during a dead calm, our ship and the _Prince of Wales_ lay
close to each other, rolling in the swell of the glassy ocean. There
seemed to be no prospect of a breeze, so the captain ordered his gig to
be launched, and invited the doctor, Mr Carles, and myself to go on
board the _Prince of Wales_ with him. We accepted his offer, and were
soon alongside. Old Captain Ryle, a veteran in the Company's service,
received us kindly, and insisted on our staying to tea. The passengers
on board were--a chief factor, [_The chief factorship is the highest
rank attainable in the service, the chief trader being next_] who had
been home on leave of absence, and was returning to end his days,
perhaps, in the North-West; and Mr John Leagues, a young apprentice
clerk, going, like myself, to try his fortune in Hudson Bay. He was a
fine, candid young fellow, full of spirit, with a kind, engaging
disposition. From the first moment I saw him I formed a friendship for
him, which was destined to ripen into a lasting one many years after. I
sighed on parting from him that evening, thinking that we should never
meet again; but about six years from the time I bade him farewell in
Hudson Straits, I again grasped his hand on the shores of the mighty St.
Lawrence, and renewed a friendship which afforded me the greatest
pleasure I enjoyed in the country, and which, I trust, neither time nor
distance will ever lessen or destroy.
We spent the evening delightfully, the more so that we were not likely
to have such an opportunity again, as the _Prince of Wales_ would
shortly part company from us, and direct her course to Moose Factory, in
James Bay, while we should proceed across Hudson Bay to York Factory.
We left the ship just as a few cats-paws on the surface of the water
gave indications of a coming breeze.
Ice now began to surround us in all directions; and soon after this I
saw, for the first time, that monster of the Polar Seas, an iceberg. It
was a noble sight. We passed quite close, and had a fine opportunity of
observing it. Though not so large as they are frequently seen, it was
beautifully and fantastically formed. High peaks rose from it on
various places, and down its sides streams of water and miniature
cataracts flowed in torrents. The whole mass was of a delicate
greenish-white colour, and its lofty pinnacles sparkled in the moonbeams
as it floated past, bending majestically in the swell of the ocean.
About this time, too, we met numerous fields and floes of ice, to get
through which we often experienced considerable difficulty.
My favourite amusement, as we thus threaded our way through the ice, was
to ascend to the royal-yard, and there to sit and cogitate whilst gazing
on the most beautiful and romantic scenes.
It is impossible to convey a correct idea of the beauty, the
magnificence, of some of the scenes through which we passed. Sometimes
thousands of the most grotesque, fanciful, and beautiful icebergs and
icefields surrounded us on all sides, intersected by numerous serpentine
canals, which glittered in the sun (for the weather was fine nearly all
the time we were in the straits), like threads of silver twining round
ruined palaces of crystal. The masses assumed every variety of form and
size; and many of them bore such a striking resemblance to cathedrals,
churches, columns, arches, and spires, that I could almost fancy we had
been transported to one of the floating cities of Fairyland. The rapid
motion, too, of our ship, in what appeared a dead calm, added much to
the magical effect of the scene. A light but steady breeze urged her
along with considerable velocity through a maze of ponds and canals,
which, from the immense quantity of ice that surrounded them, were calm
and unruffled as the surface of a mill-pond.
Not a sound disturbed the delightful stillness of nature, save the
gentle rippling of the vessel's bow as she sped on her way, or the
occasional puffing of a lazy whale, awakened from a nap by our
unceremonious intrusion on his domains. Now and then, however, my
reveries were interrupted by the ship coming into sudden contact with
huge lumps of ice. This happened occasionally when we arrived at the
termination of one of those natural canals through which we passed, and
found it necessary to force our way into the next. These concussions
were occasionally very severe--so much so, at times, as to make the
ship's bell ring; but we heeded this little, as the vessel was provided
with huge blocks of timber on her bows, called ice-pieces, and was,
besides, built expressly for sailing in the northern seas. It only
became annoying at meal-times, when a spoonful of soup would sometimes
make a little private excursion of its own over the shoulder of the
owner instead of into his mouth.
As we proceeded, the ice became more closely packed, and at last
compelled us to bore through it. The ship, however, was never
altogether arrested, though often much retarded. I recollect, while
thus surrounded, filling a bucket with water from a pool on the ice, to
see whether it was fresh or not, as I had been rather sceptical upon
this point. It was excellent, and might almost compete with the water
from the famous spring of Crawley. In a few days we got out of the ice
altogether; and in this, as the ships are frequently detained for weeks
in the straits, we considered ourselves very fortunate.
We all experienced at this time a severe disappointment in the
non-appearance of the Esquimaux from the coast. The captain said they
would be sure to come off to us, as they had always been in the habit of
doing so, for the purpose of exchanging ivory and oil for saws, files,
needles, etcetera, a large chestful of which is put on board annually
for this purpose. The ivory usually procured from them is walrus tusks.
These are not very large, and are of inferior quality.
As we approached the shores of the straits, we shortened sail and fired
three or four guns, but no noisy "_chimo_" floated across the water in
answer to our salute; still we lingered for a while, but, as there was
no sign of the natives on shore, the captain concluded they had gone off
to the interior, and he steered out to sea again. I was very much
disappointed at this, as it was wholly unexpected, and Wiseacre and I
had promised ourselves much pleasure in trading with them; for which
purpose all the buttons of our old waistcoats had been amputated. It
was useless, however, to repine, so I contented myself with the hope
that they would yet visit us in some other part of the straits. We
afterwards learned that our guns had attracted them to the coast in time
to board the _Prince Albert_ (which was out of sight astern), though too
late for us.
The passage across Hudson Bay was stormy, but no one on board cared for
this, all having become accustomed to rough weather. For my part, I had
become quite a sailor, and could ascend and descend easily to the truck
without creeping through the _lubber's hole_. I shall not forget the
first time I attempted this: our youngest apprentice had challenged me
to try it, so up we went together--he on the fore and I on the main
mast. The tops were gained easily, and we even made two or three steps
up the top-mast shrouds with affected indifference; but, alas! our
courage was failing--at least _mine_ was--very fast. However, we gained
the cross-trees pretty well, and then sat down for a little to recover
breath. The topgallant-mast still reared its taper form high above me,
and the worst was yet to come. The top-gallant shrouds had no ratlines
on them, so I was obliged to _shin_ up; and, as I worked myself up the
two small ropes, the tenacity with which I grasped them was fearful. At
last I reached the top, and with my feet on the small collar that
fastens the ropes to the mast, and my arms circling the mast itself--for
nothing but a bare pole, crossed by the royal-yard, now rose above me--I
glanced upwards. After taking a long breath, and screwing up my
courage, I slowly shinned up the slender pole, and, standing on the
royal-yard, laid my hand upon the _truck_. After a time I became
accustomed to it, and thought nothing of taking an airing on the
royal-yard after breakfast.
About the 5th or 6th of August, the captain said we must be near the
land. The deep-sea lead was rigged, and a sharp lookout kept, but no
land appeared. At last, one fine day, while at the mast-head, I saw
something like land on the horizon, and told them so on deck. They saw
it too, but gave me no answer. Soon a hurried order to "Dowse
top-gallant-sails and reef top-sails" made me slide down rather hastily
from my elevated position. I had scarcely gained the deck, when a
squall, the severest we had yet encountered, struck the ship, laying her
almost on her beam-ends; and the sea, which had been nearly calm a few
minutes before, foamed and hissed like a seething caldron, and became
white as snow. This, I believe, was what sailors call a _white squall_.
It was as short as it was severe, and great was our relief when the
ship regained her natural position in the water. Next day we saw land
in earnest, and in the afternoon anchored in "Five Fathom Hole," after
passing in safety a sandbar, which renders the entrance into this
roadstead rather difficult.
Here, then, for the first time I beheld the shores of Hudson Bay; and
truly their appearance was anything but prepossessing. Though only at
the distance of two miles, so low and flat was the land, that it
appeared ten miles off, and scarcely a tree was to be seen. We could
just see the tops of one or two houses in York Factory, the principal
depot of the country, which was seven miles up the river at the mouth of
which we lay. In a short time the sails of a small schooner came in
sight, and in half an hour more the _Frances_ (named after the amiable
lady of the governor, Sir George Simpson) was riding alongside.
The skipper came on board, and immediately there commenced between him
and the captain a sharp fire of questions and answers, which roused me
from a slumber in which I had been indulging, and hurried me on deck.
Here the face of things had changed. The hatches were off, and bales of
goods were scattered about in all directions. Another small schooner
had arrived, and the process of discharging the vessel was going rapidly
forward. A boat was then dispatched to the factory with the packet-box
and letter-bag, and soon after the _Frances_ stood in for the shore.
The _Prince Albert_ had arrived almost at the same moment with the
_Prince Rupert_, and was now visited by the second schooner, which soon
returned to our ship to take the passengers on shore. The passengers
who came out in the _Prince Albert_ were on board--namely, the Reverend
Mr Gowley, a clergyman of the Church of England, and his lady; and Mr
Rob, a sort of catechist, or semi-clerical schoolmaster. They were
missionaries bound for Red River Colony; and as I had some prospect of
going there myself, I was delighted to have the probable chance of
travelling with companions who, from the short survey I had of them
while they conversed with the captain and Mr Carles, seemed
good-natured and agreeable.
Mr Carles, Mr Wiseacre, and I now bade adieu to the good ship which
had been our home for such a length of time (but I must say I did not
regret the parting), and followed our baggage on board the schooner,
expecting to reach the factory before dusk. "There's many a slip 'twixt
the cup and the lip," is a proverb well authenticated and often quoted,
and on the present occasion its truth was verified. We had not been
long under weigh before the ebb tide began to run so strong against us
as to preclude the possibility of our reaching the shore that night.
There was no help for it, however; so down went the anchor to the
bottom, and down went I to the cabin.
Such a cabin! A good-sized trunk, with a small table in it, and the lid
shut down, had about as much right to the name. It was awfully small--
even _I_ could not stand upright in it, though at the time I had
scarcely attained to the altitude of five feet; yet here were we
destined to pass the night--and a wretched night we did pass. We got
over the first part tolerably, but as it grew late our eyes grew heavy.
We yawned, fidgeted and made superhuman efforts to keep awake and seem
happy; but it would not do. There were only two berths in the cabin;
and, as so many gentlemen were present, Mrs Gowley would not get into
either of them, but declared she would sit up all night. The gentlemen,
on the other hand, could not be so ungallant as to go to sleep while the
only lady present sat up. The case was desperate, and so I went off to
the hold, intending to lie down on a bale, if I could find one. In my
search I tumbled over something soft, which gave vent to a frightful
howl, and proved to be no less a personage than Mr Wiseacre, who had
anticipated me, and found a convenient place whereon to lie. My search,
however, was less successful. Not a corner big enough for a cat to
sleep in was to be found, all the goods having been flung hastily into
the hold, so that it was a chaos of box corners, stove legs, edges of
kegs and casks, which presented a surface that put to flight all hope of
horizontal repose; so I was obliged to return to the cabin, where I
found the unhappy inmates winking and blinking at each other like owls
in the sunshine.
"You had better make use of one of these berths, my young friend," said
Mr Gowley, with a bland smile, as I entered; "you seem very much
overcome with sleep, and _we_ have resolved to sit up all night."
"Do get in," urged Mrs Gowley, who was a sweet, gentle creature, and
seemed much too delicate and fragile to stand the rough life that was
likely to be the lot of the wife of a missionary to the Red men of the
Far North; "I do not intend to lie down to-night; and besides, it will
soon be morning." A sweet but very sleepy smile flitted across her face
as she spoke.
Of course, I protested against this with great vehemence, assuring them
that I could not think of anything so ungallant, and that I meant to sit
it out manfully with the rest. Mr Rob, who was a comical little
Welshman, of about thirty years of age, with a sharp, snub nose, which
was decorated with spectacles, sat huddled up in a corner, immersed in
sleepiness to such an extent that he would not have smiled for worlds,
and spent the weary hours in vain efforts to keep his head on his
shoulders--an object, apparently, of some difficulty, seeing that it
swayed backwards and forwards and round about like that of a Chinese
mandarin! For a few minutes I sat gazing steadfastly at the revolving
object before me, when my own head became similarly affected, and fell
suddenly back against the bulk-head with a tremendous crash, wakening
them all up, and causing Mr Rob to stare at me with an expression of
vacant gravity, mingled with surprise, which slowly and gradually faded
away again as sleep reasserted its irresistible power.
Flesh and blood could not stand this. I would have lain down on the
table, but poor Mrs Gowley's head already covered the greater part of
that; or on the floor, but, alas! it was too small. At last I began to
reason thus with myself: "Here are two capital beds, with nobody in
them; it is the height of folly to permit them to remain empty; but
then, what a selfish-looking thing to leave Mrs Gowley sitting up!
After all, she _won't_ go to bed. Oh dear! what _is_ to be done?"
(Bang went the head again.) "You'd better turn in," said Mr Gowley.
Again I protested that I could not think of it; but my eyes would not
keep open to look him in the face. At last my scruples--I blush to say
it--were overcome, and I allowed myself to be half forced into the
berth; while Mr Rob, whose self-denial could endure no longer, took
advantage of the confusion thus occasioned, and vanished into the other
like a harlequin. Poor Mr and Mrs Gowley laid their innocent heads
side by side upon the table, and snored in concert.
How long I slept I know not, but long before day a tremendous thumping
awoke me, and after I had collected my faculties enough to understand
it, I found that the schooner was grounding as the tide receded. "Oh!"
thought I; and, being utterly incapable of thinking more, I fell back on
the pillow again, sound asleep, and did not awake till long after
daybreak.
Next morning was beautiful; but we were still aground, and, from what
the skipper said, there appeared to be no prospect of getting ashore
till the afternoon. Our patience, however, was not tried so long; for,
early in the day, a boat came off from the factory to take us ashore:
but the missionaries preferred remaining in the schooner. Mr Carles,
young Wiseacre, and I gladly availed ourselves of the opportunity, and
were soon sailing with a fair breeze up Hayes River. We approached to
within a few yards of the shore; and I formed, at first sight, a very
poor opinion of the country which, two years later, I was destined to
traverse full many a mile in search of the feathered inhabitants of the
marshes.
The Point of Marsh, which was the first land we made, was quite low--
only a few feet above the sea--and studded here and there with thick
willows, but not a single tree. Long lank grass covered it in every
place, affording ducks and geese shelter, in the autumn and spring. In
the centre of it stood the ship-beacon--a tall, ungainly-looking pile,
which rose upwards like a monster out of the water. Altogether, a more
desolate prospect could not well be imagined.
The banks of Hayes River are formed of clay, and they improved a little
in verdure as we ascended; but still, wherever the eye turned, the same
universal flatness met the gaze. The river was here about two miles
wide, and filled with shallows and sandbanks, which render the
navigation difficult for vessels above fifty tons.
As we proceeded, a small bark canoe, with an Indian and his wife in it,
glided swiftly past us; and this was the first Indian, and the first of
these slender craft, I had seen. Afterwards, I became more intimately
acquainted with them than was altogether agreeable.
In a short time we reached the wooden wharf, which, owing to the
smallness of everything else in the vicinity, had rather an imposing
look, and projected a long way into the water; but our boat passed this
and made for a small slip, on which two or three gentlemen waited to
receive us.
My voyage was ended. The boat's keel grated harshly on the gravel; the
next moment my feet once more pressed _terra firma_, and I stood at last
on the shores of the New World, a stranger in a strange land.
I do not intend to give a minute description of York Factory here, as a
full account of it will be found in a succeeding chapter, and shall,
therefore, confine myself to a slight sketch of the establishment, and
our proceedings there during a stay of about three weeks.
York Factory is the principal depot of the Northern department, from
whence all the supplies for the trade are issued, and where all the furs
of the district are collected and shipped for England. As may be
supposed, then, the establishment is a large one. There are always
between thirty and forty men resident at the post, [_The word "_post_,"
used here and elsewhere throughout the book, signifies an establishment
of any kind, small or great, and has no reference whatever to the
"_post_" of epistolary notoriety_.] summer and winter; generally four or
five clerks, a postmaster, and a skipper for the small schooners. The
whole is under the direction and superintendence of a chief factor, or
chief trader.
As the winter is very long (nearly eight months), and the summer very
short, all the transport of goods to, and returns from, the interior
must necessarily be effected as quickly as possible. The consequence
is, that great numbers of men and boats are constantly arriving from the
inland posts, and departing again, during the summer; and as each
brigade is commanded by a chief factor, trader, or clerk, there is a
constant succession of new faces, which, after a long and dreary winter,
during which the inhabitants never see a stranger, renders the summer at
York Factory the most agreeable part of the year. The arrival of the
ship from England, too, delights those inhabitants of the wilderness
with letters from _home_, which can only be received twice a year--
namely, at the time now alluded to, by the ship; and again in December,
when letters and accounts are conveyed throughout the interior by means
of sledges drawn by men.
The fort (as all establishments in the Indian country, whether small or
great, are sometimes called) is a large square, I should think about six
or seven acres, enclosed within high stockades, and planted on the banks
of Hayes River, nearly five miles from its mouth. The houses are all of
wood, and, of course, have no pretension to architectural beauty; but
their clean, white appearance and regularity have a pleasing effect on
the eye. Before the front gate stand four large brass field-pieces; but
these warlike instruments are only used for the purpose of saluting the
ship with blank cartridge on her arrival and departure, the decayed
state of the carriages rendering it dangerous to load the guns with a
full charge.
The country, as I said before, is flat and swampy, and the only objects
that rise very prominently above the rest, and catch the wandering eye,
are a lofty "outlook," or scaffolding of wood, painted black, from which
to watch for the arrival of the ship; and a flagstaff, from whose peak,
on Sundays, the snowy folds of St. George's flag flutter in the breeze.
Such was York Factory in 1841; and as this description is sufficient to
give a general idea of the place, I shall conclude it, and proceed with
my narrative.
Mr Grave, the chief factor then in charge, received us very kindly, and
introduced us to some of the gentlemen standing beside him on the wharf.
Mr Carles, being also a chief factor, was taken by him to the
_commissioned gentlemen's house_; while Wiseacre and I, being apprentice
clerks, were shown the young gentlemen's house--or, as the young
gentlemen themselves called it, Bachelors' Hall--and were told to make
ourselves at home. To Bachelors' Hall, then, we proceeded, and
introduced ourselves. The persons assembled there were--the accountant,
five clerks, the postmaster, and one or two others. Some of them were
smoking, and some talking; and a pretty considerable noise they made.
Bachelors' Hall, indeed, was worthy of its name, being a place that
would have killed any woman, so full was it of smoke, noise, and
confusion.
After having made ourselves acquainted with everybody, I thought it time
to present a letter of introduction I had to Mrs Grave, the wife of the
gentleman in charge, who received me very kindly. I was much indebted
to this lady for supplying me with several pairs of moccasins for my
further voyage, and much useful information, without which I should have
been badly off indeed. Had it not been for her kindness, I should in
all probability have been allowed to depart very ill provided for the
journey to Red River, for which I was desired to hold myself in
readiness. Young Wiseacre, on the other hand, learned that he was to
remain at York Factory that winter, and was placed in the office the day
after our arrival, where he commenced _work_ for the first time. We had
a long and sage conversation upon the subject the same evening, and I
well remember congratulating him, with an extremely grave face, upon his
having now begun to _do for himself_. Poor fellow! his subsequent
travels in the country were long and perilous.
But let us pause here a while. The reader has been landed in a new
country, and it may be well, before describing our voyage to Red River,
to make him acquainted with the peculiarities of the service, and the
people with whom he will in imagination have to associate.