where they suffered innumerable hardships, and were sometimes even starved to death. The former followed the course of the lakes and rivers, through a country that abounded in animals, and where there was plenty of fish: but though they did not suffer from want of food, the intolerable fatigue of such a journey could not be easily repaid to an Indian: they were, therefore, highly gratified by seeing people come to their country to relieve them from such long, toilsome, and dangerous journeys; and were immediately reconciled to give an advanced price for the articles necessary to their comfort and convenience. Mr. Pond's reception and success was accordingly beyond his expectation; and he procured twice as many furs as his canoes would carry.

These, however, were but partial advantages, and could not prevent the people of Canada from seeing the improper conduct of some of their associates, which rendered it dangerous to remain any longer among the natives.

"About the same time, two of the establishments on the Assiniboin River were attacked; and nothing but the greatest calamity that could have befallen the natives, saved the traders from destruction: this was the small-pox, which spread its destructive and desolating power, as the fire consumes the dry grass of the field. The fatal infection spread around with a baneful rapidity which no flight could escape, and with a fatal effect that nothing could resist.

"The consequence of this melancholy event to the traders must be self-evident the means of disposing of their goods were cut off; and no furs were obtained but such as had been gathered from the habitations of the deceased Indians, which could not be very considerable; nor did they look from the losses of the present year with any encouraging expectations to those which were to come. The only fortunate people consisted of a party who had again penetrated to the northward and westward in 1780, at some distance up the Missinipi, or English River, to Lake la Rouge. Two unfortunate circumstances, however, happened to them, which are as follow:

"Mr. Wadin, a Swiss gentleman, of strict probity and known

sobriety, had gone there in the year 1779, and remained during the summer of 1780.

"The other circumstance was this. In the spring of the year, Mr. Pond sent the clerk to meet the Indians from the northward, who used to go annually to Hudson's Bay; when he easily persuaded them to trade with him, and return back, that they might not take the contagion which had depopulated the country to the eastward of them; but most unfortunately they caught it here, and carried it with them, to the destruction of themselves and the neighbouring tribes.

"The country being thus depopulated, the traders and their friends from Canada, who, from various causes already mentioned, were very much reduced in number, became confined to two parties, who began seriously to think of making permanent establishments on the Missinipi River, and at Athabasca; for which purpose, 1781-2, they selected their best canoe-men, being ignorant that the small-pox penetrated that way. The most expeditious party got only in time to the Portage la Loche, or Mithy-Ouinigam Portage, which divides the waters of the Missinipi from those that fall into the Elk River, to dispatch one canoe strong-handed, and light-loaded, to that country; but, on their arrival there, they found, in every direction, the ravages of the small-pox; so that, from the great diminution of the natives, they returned in the spring with no more than seven packages of beaver. The strong woods and mountainous countries afforded a refuge to those who fled from the contagion of the plains; but they were so alarmed at the surrounding destruction, that they avoided the traders, and were dispirited from hunting except for their subsistence. The traders, however, who returned into the country in the year 1782-3, found the inhabitants in some sort of tranquillity, and more numerous than they had reason to expect, so that their success was proportionably better.

During the winter of 1783-4, the merchants of Canada engaged in this trade formed a junction of interests, under the name of the North-West Company, and divided it into sixteen shares, without depositing any capital; each party furnishing a proportion or

quota of such articles as were necessary to carry on the trade: the respective parties agreeing to satisfy the friends they had in the country, who were not provided for according to this agreement, out of the proportions which they held."

EXTENT OF COUNTRY WHICH THE NORTH-WEST COMPANY OCCUPIED.

The extent of country which the North-West Company continued to occupy, after the year 1791, is a point of great importance. Mr. David Thompson, astronomer and surveyor of that company, commenced in 1796 to survey the position of its posts, some of which had been placed as far south as the source of the Mississippi, or even further, when that point was supposed to be the northern boundary of the United States. But when the 49° became the boundary line, it was necessary to ascertain what posts were on the south of it, as the company would be required to vacate them. Mr. Thompson had previously been in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company; but the aversion of that organization to new discoveries caused him to accept employment under the North-West Company, when his first engagement had expired. In the summer of 1795, he had, with no other aid than that of two young Indians, who knew nothing about the country to be travelled over, and one Irishman, made his way from the shores of Hudson's Bay to the east end of Athabaska Lake. He has left behind him a manuscript, giving an account of his travels, when he determined the position of the North-West Company's posts; and it is of great importance as showing exactly what extent of country was still held by that company, the successor of the original discoverers of the north-west, some of whose posts it still continued to keep up. This country, so held, and of which the Hudson's Bay Company had not taken possession, had not ceased to be part of Canada at a period later than 1791. I shall follow Mr. Thompson's MS. closely; and it may be advisable to

resort to some details connected with this official survey of the country, on account of the great importance of the subject.

After returning from Athabaska, Mr. Thompson was informed by a letter from Mr. Joseph Colen, the resident at York Factory, with whose sanction the expedition to Athabaska Lake had been undertaken, that he could not sanction any more surveys, whatever might be the extent of the territory still unknown to the H. B. Company. Mr. Thompson's term of service had expired, and his thirst for further discoveries determined him to seek employment from the North-West Company, composed of Canadian merchants, and carrying on their traffic with the Indians from Lake Superior. Accompanied by two Indians, he proceeded to the nearest trading-house of that company, which was under the charge of Mr. Alexander Frazer; and thence, by the usual canoe route, to the great carrying-place on the north shore of Lake Superior, then the depôt of the company's treasures: of merchandize from Montreal and furs from the interior. The agents of the company, the Hon. Wm. McGillivray and Sir Alexander McKenzie, were also partners; men of enlarged views: one of them had already crossed the Rocky Mountains, by the Peace River, and had proceeded far by the Frazer towards the Pacific Ocean, when the hostility of the natives and want of provisions had obliged him to return, and who was destined to make discoveries in these countries that would render his name immortal.

The services of Mr. Thompson were very acceptable to these gentlemen. They desired to learn the position of their tradinghouses, with respect to one another, and also to the 49° of north latitude, become, since the Treaty of 1792, the boundary line between Canada and the United States, from the north-west corner of the Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains, in lieu of a line from the former point to the head of the Mississippi, as designated by the Treaty of 1783. The source of the Mississippi was then known only to the Indians and a few fur traders, and was supposed to be further north than the Lake of the Woods. Mr. Thompson was instructed to survey the 49th parallel of latitude, to go as far as the Missouri River, visit the ancient villages

of the agricultural natives who dwelt there, to enquire for the fossils of large animals, and to search for any monuments that might throw light on the ancient state of the countries to be travelled over and examined. He received orders on all the agents and trading-posts of the company for men and whatever else he might require. 'This liberality and display of public spirit he could not help contrasting with the stinginess of the Hudson Bay Company, who had done little in the way of discovery which had not been forced on them by the demands of the British Government.

But the way in which it performed this duty was calculated to conceal the very knowledge which it was desired to obtain. It had, in 1785, been requested to send out a competent person to ascertain the latitude and longitude of the west end of Athabaska Lake. Mr. Peter Pond, one of the clerks of the North-West Company, who had wintered three years at Fort Chippewayan, on the north side of Athabaska Lake, had made a rough map of the country, which placed the west end of Athabaska Lake near the Pacific Ocean. If this were true, the route across the continent, at this point, might be made available for one purpose or another. Pond had taken his distances from the supposititious leagues of the canoe-men, which Mr. Thompson found to average only two miles each. The agents of the company sent a copy of this map to Sir Hugh Dalrymple, who was then in office; and he, by comparing it with the charts of Captain Cook, found that it brought the west end of Athabaska Lake within less than one hundred miles of the Pacific Ocean. This was the point which the British Government required the company to determine by actual

survey.

And Mr. Thompson relates how the company performed this duty. It sent out a boy, fifteen years of age, first making him an apprentice for seven years, of the name of George Charles. Having spent one year at a mathematical school, and, armed with a quadrant, had thrice performed the feat of bringing down the sun to a chalk line on a wall, he was forthwith pronounced competent for the duty required. The result of entrusting this lad