ion at the mouth of the Pigeon river, on the western shore
of Lake Superior. Other partners had wintered on the frozen plains or
in the thick of the forest, tracking the yellow-grey badger, the
pine-marten, and the greedy wolverine. The guides employed by the
company knew every mile of the rivers, and they rarely mistook the most
elusive trail. Its interpreters could converse with the red men like
natives. Even the clerks who looked {25} after the office routine of
the company laboured with zest, for, if they were faithful and
attentive in their work, the time would come when they, too, would be
elected as partners in the great concern. The canoemen were mainly
French-Canadian coureurs de bois, gay voyageurs on lake and stream. In
the veins of many of them flowed the blood of Cree or Iroquois. Though
half barbarous in their mode of life, they had their own devotions. At
the first halting-place on their westward journey, above Lachine, they
were accustomed to enter a little chapel which stood on the bank of the
Ottawa. Here they prayed reverently that 'the good Saint Anne,' the
friend of all canoemen, would guard them on their way to the Grand
Portage. Then they dropped an offering at Saint Anne's shrine, and
pointed their craft against the current. These rovers of the
wilderness were buoyant of heart, and they lightened the weary hours of
their six weeks' journey with blithe songs of love and the river. When
the snow fell and ice closed the river, they would tie their 'husky'
dogs to sledges and travel over the desolate wastes, carrying furs and
provisions.

It was a very different company that traded into Hudson Bay. The
Hudson's Bay {26} Company was launched on its career in a princely
manner, and had tried to cling fast to its time-worn traditions. The
bundles of uncured skins were received from the red men by its servants
with pomp and dignity. At first the Indians had to bring their 'catch'
to the shores of Hudson Bay itself, and here they were made to feel
that it was a privilege to be allowed to trade with the company.
Sometimes they were permitted to pass in their wares only through a
window in the outer part of the fort. A beaver skin was the regular
standard of value, and in return for their skins the savages received
all manner of gaudy trinkets and also useful merchandise, chiefly
knives, hatchets, guns, ammunition, and blankets. But before the end
of the eighteenth century the activity of t