Hudson Bay

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Robert Michael Ballantyne. Hudson Bay

Preface

Chapter One. Appointment to the service of the Hudson Bay Company—The “Prince Rupert”—The annual dinner of the “H.B.C.”—Fellow-voyagers—Threatening weather—A squall—Island of Lewis

Chapter Two. 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

Chapter Three. Description of the Hudson Bay Company—Their forts and establishments—Food—Articles of trade and manner of trading

Chapter Four. North Americas Indians—Their manners and customs—Costume, dwellings, Implements, etcetera.—A tale of murder and cannibalism—A night excursion with an Indian—A deer hunt

Chapter Five. Voyage from York Factory to Red River—Voyage begun—Our manner of travelling—Encamping in the woods—Portaging and shooting wildfowl—Whisky-jacks—A storm—Lake Winnipeg—Arrival at Red River Settlement

Chapter Six. Red River Settlement—Origin of the colony—Opposition times and anecdotes—The flood of 1826—Climate—Being broken-in—Mr Simpson, the Arctic discoverer—The Mackenzie River brigade

Chapter Seven. Norway House—Adventure with a bear—Indian feast—The portage brigade—The clerks’ house—Catching a buffalo—Goldeye fishing—Rasping a rock

Chapter Eight. York Factory—Winter amusements—Intense cold—The seasons—“Skylarking”—Sporting in the woods and marshes—Trading with Indians—Christmas doings—Breaking-up of the ice in spring

Chapter Nine. Voyage from York Factory to Norway House in a small Indian canoe—Departure—Life in the woods—Difficulties of canoe navigation—Outwit the mosquitoes—“Lève! lève! lève!”—Music in the pot and on the organ

Chapter Ten. Voyage to Canada by the great lakes of the Interior—A black bear—Harassing detentions—Another bear—Meet Dr Rae, the Arctic discoverer—The guide’s story—Meet Indians—Running the rapid—Lake Superior—A squall—The Ottawa—Civilised life again—Sleighing in Canada

Chapter Eleven. Winter-travelling in Canada—Departure from Lachine—Scenery along the road—“Incidents” by the way—Arrival at Tadousac—Mr Stone’s adventure with Indians—Clubbing seals

Chapter Twelve. A journey on snow-shoes—Evils of snow-shoe travelling in spring—Value of tea to a tired man—Encamp in the snow—Isle Jérémie—Canoeing and boating on the gulf of St. Lawrence—Amateur navigating—Seven Islands—A narrow escape—Conclusion

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Reader,—I take for granted that you are tolerably well acquainted with the different modes of life and travelling peculiar to European nations. I also presume that you know something of the inhabitants of the East; and, it may be, a good deal of the Americans in general. But I suspect—at least I would fain hope—that you have only a vague and indefinite knowledge of life in those wild, uncivilised regions of the northern continent of America that surround the shores of Hudson Bay. I would fain hope this, I say, that I may have the satisfaction of giving you information on the subject, and of showing you that there is a body of civilised men who move, and breathe (pretty cool air, by the way!), and spend their lives in a quarter of the globe as totally different, in most respects, from the part you inhabit, as a beaver, roaming among the ponds and marshes of his native home, is from that sagacious animal when converted into a fashionable hat.

About the middle of May eighteen hundred and forty-one, I was thrown into a state of ecstatic joy by the arrival of a letter appointing me to the enviable situation of apprentice clerk in the service of the Honourable Hudson Bay Company. To describe the immense extent to which I expanded, both mentally and bodily, upon the receipt of this letter, is impossible; it is sufficient to know that from that moment I fancied myself a complete man of business, and treated my old companions with the condescending suavity of one who knows that he is talking to his inferiors.

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“A stiff one, that,” said the captain, turning to the doctor, who, with imperturbable nonchalance, was standing near him, holding on to a stanchion with one hand, while the other reposed in his breeches pocket.

“I hope it will last,” replied the doctor. “If it does, we’ll not be long of reaching the blue water you long so much for.”

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