t as it will be necessary
to the reader's forming a correct idea of the peculiarities of the
country and service, that he should know something of its character
under the direction of Sir George Simpson, I shall give a brief outline
of its arrangements.

Reader, you will materially assist me in my description if you will
endeavour to draw the following landscape on the retina of your mind's
eye.

Imagine an immense extent of country, many hundred miles broad and many
hundred miles long, covered with dense forests, expanded lakes, broad
rivers, wide prairies, swamps, and mighty mountains: and all in a state
of primeval simplicity--undefaced by the axe of civilised man, and
untenanted by aught save a few roving hordes of Red Indians and myriads
of wild animals. Imagine amid this wilderness a number of small
squares, each enclosing half a dozen wooden houses and about a dozen
men, and between each of these establishments a space of forest varying
from fifty to three hundred miles in length; and you will have a pretty
correct idea of the Hudson Bay Company's territories, and of the number
of and distance between their forts. The idea, however, may be still
more correctly obtained by imagining populous Great Britain converted
into a wilderness and planted in the middle of Rupert's Land. The
Company, in that case, would build _three_ forts in it--one at the
Land's End, one in Wales, and one in the Highlands; so that in Britain
there would be but three hamlets, with a population of some thirty men,
half a dozen women, and a few children! The Company's posts extend,
with these intervals between, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean,
and from within the Arctic Circle to the northern boundaries of the
United States.

Throughout this immense country there are probably not more ladies than
would suffice to form half a dozen quadrilles; and these--poor banished
creatures!--are chiefly the wives of the principal gentlemen connected
with the fur-trade. The rest of the female population consists chiefly
of half-breeds and Indians; the latter entirely devoid of education, and
the former as much enlightened as can be expected from those whose life
is spent in such a country. Even these are not very numerous; and yet
without them the men would be in a sad condition, for they are the only
tailors and washer-women in the country, and make all the mittens,
moccasins, fur caps, deer-skin coats, etcetera, etcetera, worn in the
land