| OCR Text |
Show J86 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA: account the India.ns had gi. ven was true, an d that the rivers on the_ c pwf 'p ofitc fide d. . f1: lie followed the courlc o 1d 111dced all run to the we · k one of them, and finally came to the p;\cific Ocean, not far from N oat a Sound. Here he was given to undedhn d b Y t 11 e na t"1 v es' ' apd their account was confirmed by the :fight of fome little articles they had amon_gft the~~; that an Engh01 veild had quitted the co:l.ft. only fix weeks ~efO!e. ~i was a great morti' fi cati.o n t o M1.. M'Kemne.' for ha. d .t here been a p on the coafi, he would moO: gladly have embarked m 1t rat!Jer th~n en-counter the fame difficulties, and be cxpofed to the fame penis, whtc~ he had experienced in getting there; however there was .no alternatl~e; he fet out after a fhort time on his journey back agam, and ha~mg found his canoe quite fafe under fome bufhes, near the head of .the nver~ where he had hid it, together with fomc prov ifions, lefi: on gomg down_ to the coa!l the natives might have proved unfriendly, and have cut .off his retreat by feizing upon it, he finally arrived at one of t.he tradmg ponn. s 1· 11 fie cun·· ty . Wl1en I was at Montre.a l M.r . M'Kenzte was not there, and I never had an opportunity of feemg him aftcrw:J.rds. \Vhat 1 have here related refpeCling his two expeditions is the fubfiance, to the befi: of my recolletl:ion, of what I heard from his partners. Many other individuals belonging to the North Weft Cor~pa~y, before Mr. l\i1'Kenzie fet out, penetrated far into the country m d1fferent direCtions, and much beyond what any perfon had done before them, in order to eftablifh pofis. In fome of thefe excurfions they fell in with the agents of the Hudfon Bay Company, who were alfo extending their pofis from another quarter; this unexpeCted meeting between the two com..o panics, at one time gave rife to fome very unpleafant altercations, and the Hudfon Bay Company threatened the other with an immediate profecution for an infringement of its charter. By its charter, it feems, the Hudfun Bay Company was allowed the cxclufive privilege of trading to the Bay, and along all the rivers and waters conneCted with it. This charter, however, was granted at a time when the northern parts of the continent were much lefs known than they are now, for to have the exclufive trade along all the waters con-neCted 'r R A D I N G C 0 M P AN I E S. netted with Hudfon Bay was, literally fpcaking, to have the exclufive tr::~de <>f the greater part of the continent of North America. Hudfon Bay, by a variety of rivers and lakes, is clofely conneCted with Lake Superior, and from that chain of lakes, of which Lake Superior is one, there is a. water communi~ation throughout all Canada, and a very great part of the United States; however, when the agents of the N orth-wcft Company were Jixing trading pofts upon [orne rivers which ran immediately into Hudfon's Bay, it undoubtedly appeared to l>e an infringement of the charter, and fo indeed it mull: !hiClly have been, had not the IIudfon' Bay Company itfelf infringed its own charter in the fi.r!l: inftance, or at leail; negleCled to comply with all the !l:ipulations contained therein. A claufc feems to have been in the charter, which, at the fame time that it granted to the company the exclufive privilege of trading to Hudfon's Bay, and along all the waters connected with it, bound it to erect a new po!l: twelve miles f..·uther to the wefi:ward every year, otherwifc the charter was to become void. This had not been done; the North-we!l: C0mpany therefore reftcd perfeClly eafy about the menaces of a profecution, fatisfied that the other company did not in fact legally poffefs thofe privileges to which it laid claim. The Hudfon's Bay Company, though it threatened, never indeed attempted to put its threats into execution, well knowing the weaknefs of its caufe, but continued neverthelefs to watch the motions of its rival with a mofi: jealous eye; and as in extending their refpetl:ive trades, the po!l:s of the two companies were approximating nearer and nearer to each ()ther e¥ery year, there was great reafon to imagine that their differences, i11fiead of abating, would become fiill greater than they were, and finally, perhaps, lead to confequences of the moft ferious nature. A circumfiance, however, unexpeCledly took place, at a time when the grcatcft enmity fubfifi:ed between the parties, which happily reconciled them to ~lch other, and terminated all their difputes. A very powerful nation of Indians, called the Affiniboins, who inhabit a'll extended tratl: of con11try to the fouth-wefi: of Lake Winrupeg, conceiving that the Hudfon's Bay Company had encroached unreafonably upon ihtir terri~orie s , anrl had .otherwife maltreated a part of their tribe, forme(l B b 2 the |
