lt 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