ible by means of
scaffolds, bridges, and ladders, so peculiarly constructed that it
required no small degree of necessity, dexterity, and courage in
strangers to undertake them. For instance, they had to ascend
precipices by means of ladders composed of two long poles placed
upright, with sticks tied crosswise with twigs; upon the end of these
others were placed, and so on to any height; add to this that the
ladders were often so slack that the smallest breeze put them in
motion, swinging them against the rocks, while the steps leading from
scaffold to scaffold were so narrow and irregular that they could
scarcely be traced by the feet without the greatest care and
circumspection; but the most perilous part was when another rock
projected over the one they were clearing.

The Hakamaw Indians certainly deserved Fraser's grateful remembrance
for their able assistance throughout these alarming situations. The
descents were, if possible, still more difficult; in these places the
white men were under the necessity of trusting their property to the
Indians, even the precious guns were handed from one Indian to
another; yet they thought nothing of it, they went up and down these
wild places with the same agility as sailors do on a ship. After
escaping innumerable perils in the course of the day, the party
encamped about sunset, being supplied by the natives with plenty of
dried fish.

Thus the main lines of the exploration of the great Canadian Dominion
were completed. Alexander Mackenzie went to England in 1799 and
received a knighthood for his remarkable achievements. On his return
he first definitely created the New North-west or "X.Y." Company, and
then brought about its fusion (after several years of bitter rivalry)
with the old North-west Company; and it was this united and
strengthened organization which, between 1804 and 1819, sent out so
many bold pioneers to fill in the details of the map between the
Columbia and Missouri on the south, and the Great Slave Lake and Liard
River on the north. But during these years the energies of the
Hudson's Bay Company were reviving under a strange personality--THOMAS
DOUGLAS, EARL OF SELKIRK. Lord Selkirk conceived the idea of putting
new life into the Hudson's Bay Company, reviving the monopolies of
trading granted in its old charter, and turning its vague rights to
land into the absolute ownership of the enormous area of North
America north and west of the Canadian provinces. N