their horses, and as the darkness came on, lost the trail. It was a half-hour before they made their appearance, and during this time the worthy parents manifested the most anxious solicitude for them. One of them was but three years old, and was lashed to the horse he rode; the other only seven years of age-young pilots in the wilderness at night! But the elder, true to the sagacity of his race, had taken his course, and struck the brook on which we were encamped within three hundred yards of us. The pride of the parents at this feat, and their ardent attachment to the children, were perceptible in the pleasure with which they received them at their evening fire, and heard the relation of their childish adventures.

"The weather was so pleasant that no tent was pitched. The willows were beat, and the buffalo robes spread over them. Underneath were laid other robes, on which my Indian host seated himself with his wife and children on one side, and myself on the other. A fire burned brightly in front. Water was brought, and the evening ablution having been performed, the wife presented a dish of meat to her husband and one to myself. There was a pause. The woman seated herself between her children. The Indian then bowed his head and prayed to God. A wandering savage in Oregon calling upon Jehovah in the name of Jesus Christ. After the prayer he gave meat to his children, and passed the dish to his wife. While eating, the frequent repetition of the words Jehovah and Jesus Christ, in the most reverential manner, led me to suppose they were conversing on religious topics, and thus they passed an hour. Meanwhile the exceeding weariness of a long day's travel

admonished me to seek rest. I had slumbered, I knew not how long, when a strain of music awoke

me.

"The Indian family was engaged in its evening devotions. They were singing a hymn in the Nez Percés language. Having finished, they all knelt and bowed their faces upon the buffalo robes, and Creekie prayed long and fervently. Afterwards they sang another hymn, and retired. To hospitality, family affection, and devotion Creekie added honesty and cleanliness to a great degree, manifesting by these fruits, so contrary to the nature and habits of his tribe, the beautiful influence of the work of grace on the heart. How acceptable that prayer and praise must have ascended to the Creator, though poured forth beneath the silent heaven from the lips of one so-called savage, and how the honour rendered by him to God was returned into his own bosom a hundredfold in peace and prosperity, let those say whose ideas of prayer and praise are coupled to sanctified places and conventional rites, and who would confine the presence of the omnipresent Creator to their temples of stone, and not the living temple of the heart of his faithful people."

CHAPTER VIII.

SKETCH OF FUR TRADE-HUDSON'S BAY COM PANY, ETC.

THE fur of animals has from the earliest periods been used by men for clothing, and those found in the more northern regions, from the thickness, softness, length, and consequent warmth or delicacy of their furs, have been more sought after as articles of commerce; indeed most furs now used for warmth or ornament by civilized nations are brought from countries north of the fortieth parallel of latitude. The value of furs depends not only on the above-mentioned useful qualities, but also on the more arbitrary distinction of colour. First in value for both reasons stands the royal ermine; its dazzling whiteness set off by the glossy black of its tail, gives it a richness of contrast not to be found in any others; then follow the marten, sable, foxes, red, silver, and black, the beaver, sea-otter, racoon, weasel, and muskrat; of these the last is collected in the largest quantities, and with the beaver and otter used in the manufacture of hats. In civilized nations generally fur is an article of comfort, fashion, and luxury, according to its quality or beauty; but in Russia, China, and Turkey they form part of the official costume of officers of state and government (as indeed they do in some sort even among ourselves), and are the distinguishing characteristic of the rich and noble,

even of the male sex. The gradual assimilation of Russia and Turkey to the dress and manners of the west of Europe has sensibly decreased the demand for furs, as no doubt will also the entrance now obtained for European manufactures, a thing to be desired, as the supply has long been on the decrease. This supply is kept up principally by the Hudson's Bay Company, the Russian Fur Company, and the individual traders in the western part of the United States, through the ports of London, Canton, and New York, and the Russian settlements in Northern Asia. All these draw some of their supplies from the north-west part of North America, but the trade of the citizens of the United States, excepting on the border of California, has been snatched from them by the giant grasp of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Of the Russian Fur Company mention has already been made in the account given of Voyages of Discovery. Their trade is entirely carried on through the native Indians, and their supplies are obtained from the Hudson's Bay Company by contract. Their principal settlement is at Sitka, called New Archangel,-at the Norfolk Sound of Cookin King George the Third's Archipelago, lat. about 574°. The Russians having received much annoyance from the intrusion of American vessels, they are carefully excluded from their limits, i. e. north of 54° 40'. They have, however, leased the continental shore to the Hudson's Bay Company, whose territories extend from Hudson's Bay on the east to Mount Saint Elias on the west, from the Arctic Ocean to lat. 54° 40', and for all trading purposes unimpeded by any rival to lat. 42°.

This Company was established in the reign of

Charles II., A.D. 1669, by royal charter, granted to Prince Rupert, the first governor, the Duke of Albemarle, Lord Craven, and Lord Arlington, who, with other persons of note, in all seventeen, constituted the first committee.

The objects for which this charter was granted are clearly defined :-the discovery of a new passage to the South Sea, and for the finding of some trade in furs, minerals, and other considerable commodities. But in addition to these commercial intentions, for the benefit of Great Britain and their own profit, the good of the natives was not forgotten. The propagation of the Gospel, the civilization of the Indians, and the establishment of trade on terms of equity and mutual advantage, were leading features in the original intentions of the Company; and although it is to be wished they had been more particularly attended to, it must be confessed that the rule over the vast territories occupied by that Company has been far more beneficial to the natives of them than that of any other body or nation engaged in the same traffic in Western America, as is evidenced by the peaceful character and ready obedience of the Indian tribes around their settlements, when compared with the results of the iron rule of the Russians or the exterminating system of the Americans. The effect of the latter has been already noticed in the fate of their trappers, and is evidenced also in the determined hostility of the Blackfeet and Camanches, and bordering tribes to the westward, generally.

The powers the Company received were most ample. By the charter were granted to them and their successors the whole trade and commerce of