CHAPTER I · Part 6

We took leave of Mr. Dease on the 10th, well provided for the journey, and passing round {336} Rainy Lake falls, and then traversing the lake itself, which I estimated to be forty miles long, we encamped at the entrance of a small river. On the next day we pursued our way, now thridding streams impeded with wild rice, which rendered our progress difficult, now traversing little lakes, now passing straits where we scarcely found water to float our canoes.[205] On the 13th, we encamped near _Dog Portage_ (_Portage des chiens_), where, from not having followed the advice of Mr. Dease, who had counselled us to take along a bag of pemican, we found ourselves absolutely without food.

[184] Date of the Battle of Waterloo.--ED.

[185] Fort de la Montée was probably built in 1797, at the point where the route ascending the North Saskatchewan crossed that leading to the South branch, or where the traders left their canoes and mounted horses. It was at the site of the present Fort Carlton, now a Hudson’s Bay post.--ED.

[186] Pierre de Rocheblave was an important figure in the fur-trade of the Northwest. He was a nephew of Philippe de Rastel, Sieur de Rocheblave, who was captured at Kaskaskia (1778) by George Rogers Clark (see Chicago Historical Society _Collections_, vol. iv, for his life and papers). The younger Rocheblave entered the fur-trade in early life, and in 1801 was a bourgeois in the X Y Company, and superintendent of the Athabasca district. After the coalition of the two companies (1804), Rocheblave became one of the most influential members of the North West, being agent in charge of Fort William in 1818. After retiring from the trade, Rocheblave entered the public service, acting as member of the legislature and of the executive council for Lower Canada. See Masson, _Bourgeois_, i, p. 120; and Wisconsin Historical _Collections_, iii, p. 215; vii, p. 132.--ED.

[187] These were Forts Nippeween and à la Corne. The former was situated just below the forks of the Saskatchewan, the site of the present town of Prince Albert. Henry the elder visited it in 1776 (see his _Travels_, Bain ed., p. 275). This post seems to have been abandoned in 1805. The old French post was Fort à la Corne (also called St. Louis), founded by St. Luc de la Corne in 1753. It was on the south bank of the river, on the site where in 1858 the Hudson’s Bay Company built a fort of the same name. This was virtually the uppermost post of the French, that built by De Niverville in 1751, at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and named La Jonquière, not being a permanent post.--ED.

[188] Cumberland House was one of the most important fur-trading stations of the Upper Country; being, as Franchère says, at the point of divergence for the Saskatchewan and Athabasca brigades. The Hudson’s Bay post was founded by Samuel Hearne in 1774 on the site of an earlier lodge of Samuel Frobisher. The North West Company’s house, a few rods from the other, was built about 1793. The factory stands some two miles north of the Saskatchewan, on the south shore of the lake known variously as Cumberland, English, or Sturgeon. Three outlets form the connection with the Saskatchewan River; these flow in either direction, according to the height of the waters. Sir John Franklin wintered here (1819-20); and Ross here met one of his advance parties (1825).--ED.

[189] John Duncan Campbell was a wintering partner of the North West Company (1794) in the Rocky Mountain department, and signed the Montreal agreement of union, by attorney, in 1804. In 1819 he was captured by the Hudson’s Bay agents along with Frobisher, McTavish, and others. Edward Harrison was a clerk who was in the service before 1797.--ED.

[190] Muddy Lake (Lac Vaseaux) is a small overflow sheet at the discharge of the Saskatchewan into Bourbon Lake. The latter takes its name from Fort Bourbon, built by Vérendrye in 1749. The English generally speak of this as Cedar Lake, from its Indian name. The North West Company had a post thereon, abandoned in 1802. The present Hudson’s Bay Cedar Lake House was built in 1858.--ED.

[191] York Factory, at the southern end of Hudson Bay, on the west bank of Hayes River, is chief post for the company in the southern department. It is a stockaded square of six acres, within which are the agent’s large wooden buildings. As Fort Nelson, this post has had a long and varied history. It was built in 1682, the fourth point to be occupied. From then until the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), the post was alternately in the possession of English and French, changing hands at least six times. After d’Iberville’s expedition in 1697, the French had possession for fifteen years. The post was captured for the last time by La Pérouse’s expedition of 1782, but restored by the Treaty of Paris. It is still maintained as a fur-trading station.--ED.

[192] Lac à Traverse, or Cross Lake, is so named because the route leads directly across its narrowest width of about three miles--the axis of length is about fifteen miles. The rapids at the entrance, called Grand Décharge or Cross Lake Rapids, may usually be run by boats. The Grand Rapids of the Saskatchewan, between Cross Lake and the entrance to Lake Winnipeg, are for a long distance the only serious obstruction in this river.--ED.

[193] The regular canoe route led along the west shore of Lake Winnipeg, past Egg Island just south of the Grand Detour or Long Point, among St. Martin’s Islands at the mouth of Sturgeon Bay; then across through the Narrows, and down the eastern shore of the lower lake. Buffalo Strait is between Buffalo Head on the east, and a group of islands on the west, of which Black Island is the largest.--ED.

[194] Fort Bas de la Rivière, otherwise Fort Alexander, is on the west bank of Winnipeg River, immediately below its entrance to the lake. This was the site of Vérendrye’s Fort Maurepas, built in 1734. It was an important post on the main route to the fur-trading country.

John Crébassa was a former X Y Company’s clerk, whom Henry met in this region in 1801-02. He was upon Red River in 1804 with the North West Company, and as late as 1817 Cox found him in charge of Fort Alexander.--ED.

[195] This was the well-known Red River Settlement. As early as 1802 Lord Selkirk had endeavored to interest the English government in sending to British America colonies of Highland peasants, who were in deep distress. Unable to influence the government, he turned to the Hudson’s Bay Company, and in 1811 obtained from them for colonization a tract of land in the valleys of the Red and Assiniboin rivers. The first band of settlers, consisting of about seventy Highlanders from Sunderlandshire and some twenty Irish, reached Hudson Bay late in the fall of 1811. The next spring they removed to Red River, where they found it difficult to obtain sufficient food. The Indians and French half-breeds, under the influence of the North West Company, kept aloof and regarded them with suspicion; but until the incident mentioned by Franchère no important difficulty had arisen.--ED.

[196] Miles McDonell was born in Inverness, Scotland, in 1767. His father came to America in 1773 and settled at Caughnawaga on the Mohawk River, but when the Revolutionary War broke out removed to Canada. Miles was an ensign in the King’s royal regiment of New York, and in 1796 became captain in the Royal Canadian Volunteers. When on a visit to London he was appointed by the Hudson’s Bay Company governor of Assiniboia. He left for the Red River settlements in 1811 and remained there until their destruction in 1816. His last years were spent on his farm at Osnaburg, Upper Canada. He died in 1828.--ED.

[197] _Pemican_, of which I have already spoken several times, is the Indian name for the dried and pounded meat which the natives sell to the traders. About fifty pounds of this meat is placed in a trough (_un grand vaisseau fait d’un tronc d’arbre_), and about an equal quantity of tallow is melted and poured over it; it is thoroughly mixed into one mass, and when cold, is put up in bags made of undressed buffalo hide, with the hair outside and sewed up as tightly as possible. The meat thus impregnated with tallow, hardens, and will keep for years. It is eaten without any other preparation; but sometimes wild pears or dried berries are added, which render the flavor more agreeable.--FRANCHÈRE.

[198] John Pritchard was born (1777) in Shropshire, England. He emigrated to Montreal early in the nineteenth century, and entered the service of the North West Company, being stationed on Red River at the time of the arrival of Selkirk’s colony. In 1815 he left the company and cast in his lot with the settlers. He won the favor of Lord Selkirk, and was employed by him on a mission to England. He died at Kildonan in 1856. See Bryce, “Worthies of Old Red River,” in Manitoba Historical Society _Transactions_, No. 48.--ED.

[199] This was but the beginning of the trouble. The North West traders determined to get rid of the colony. By holding out promises of better land in Canada, and free transportation thither, they induced about three-fourths of the people to leave (June, 1815). The remainder they drove off by force, and set fire to their buildings. The unfortunate settlers had gone but a short way, however, when they met a new band of immigrants, and encouraged by them, all returned to Red River. The next year a more determined effort was made to destroy the settlements. An armed party of Nor’Westers and Indians attacked the colony and Fort Douglas. Governor Semple and about twenty followers who rode out to meet them, were surrounded and killed, and for a second time the Highlanders were driven from Red River. Lord Selkirk was on Lake Superior upon his way to the settlement when he learned of its destruction. He captured Fort William and proceeded to the Red River, protected by a troop of disbanded soldiers whom he had hired at Montreal. The colony was reinstated, lands were assigned, and the name Kildonan formally given to it (August, 1817). From this time forward, the controversy between Lord Selkirk and the North West Company was carried on in the courts, and the people on Red River were left in peace. It was not until 1826, however, that they were able to raise sufficient grain for support throughout the winter. For further details see Bryce, _Manitoba_ (London, 1882).--ED.

[200] From Fort Bas de la Rivière to Fort William, Franchère passed over the most famous canoe-route in the Northwest--one which had been known and traversed since early in the eighteenth century. Franchère mentions the important links in this chain of waterways, over six hundred miles in length. The French, under the leadership of Vérendrye, were the first to explore and penetrate this region to Lake Winnipeg and beyond (see notes 187 and 190, _ante_). After the English occupation, Alexander Henry’s journey by this route made it known to the early Scotch traders (see Alexander Henry’s _Travels_, Bain ed., Boston, 1901, for excellent notes on the route). The classic description is that of Mackenzie, _Travels_, pp. xlvi-lxi. The annotations of Coues in the _Henry-Thompson Journals_ omit little in the way of details. For other references see Bigsby, _Shoe and Canoe_ (London, 1850); Hind, _Canada Exploring Expedition_ (Toronto, 1859; London, 1860); Dawson, _Report on Exploration of Country between Lake Superior and Red River Settlement_ (Toronto, 1859); Butler, _Great Lone Land_ (London, 1875).

Winnipeg River flows from the Lake of the Woods into Lake Winnipeg, a course of about one hundred and sixty miles. It is swift, and much obstructed by rapids and cascades. The name is from a Cree term signifying “turbid water.” The variants of this name are many; for different forms, see Bell, “Some Historical Names and Places of the Canadian North-West,” Manitoba Historical and Scientific Society _Transactions_, 1884-85. Vérendrye named the stream Rivière Maurepas, for the French minister of the marine. The name White River is applied only to a portion by Mackenzie, who says it is “so called from its being, for a considerable length, a succession of falls and cataracts.” The Canadian Pacific Railway crosses this stream at Rat Portage, where it flows from the Lake of the Woods.--ED.

[201] Lake of the Woods is a translation of the French designation Lac des Bois; they also termed it Lac des Isles, because of its numerous woody islets. The Indian name was Minnititi. The canoe-route across it from northwest to southeast is about seventy-five miles in length. The lake has played a prominent part in the history of the Northwest. Vérendrye’s Fort St. Charles was built upon its western bank in 1732. At the Peace of Paris (1783) the northwest corner of the Lake of the Woods (which was then supposed to be in latitude 49°), was made the boundary between the United States and Canada. This point being 39′ north of the supposed latitude, a long controversy ensued, which was finally settled by a joint commission in 1876. See Campbell and Twining, _Reports upon Survey of Boundaries between territory of the United States and possessions of Great Britain from the Lake of the Woods to the Summit of the Rocky Mountains_ (Washington, 1878).--ED.

[202] Franchère here refers to the Jesuit missionary, Father Aulneau (or Auneau), who came to Canada in 1734, accompanied Vérendrye to Fort St. Charles the following year, and was massacred by the Sioux on an island in Lake of the Woods (June, 1736), upon his return journey to Mackinac. See _Jesuit Relations_ (Thwaites ed., Cleveland, 1896-1901), lxviii and lxxi; also Burpee, “The Lake of the Woods Tragedy,” in Royal Society of Canada _Transactions_ (Ottawa, 1904), 2nd series, section ii, vol. ix.--ED.

[203] This is now Rainy River, outlet of the lake of the same name, which is derived from the mist occasioned by the Chaudière (or Kettle) Falls, at the outlet of the lake. The river forms part of the international boundary between Minnesota and Ontario. Mackenzie thus describes it: “This is one of the finest rivers in the North-West, and runs a course West and East one hundred and twenty computed miles; but in taking its course and distance minutely I make it only eighty. Its banks are covered with a rich soil particularly to the North.... Its waters abound in fish, particularly the sturgeon which the natives both spear and take with drag-nets.”--ED.

[204] Rainy Lake House was a North West establishment upon a high bank on the north side of the river, just above the falls. There had from early times been a post at this place. Sieur de la Noue built one in 1717, which was known as Tekamamaouen; it was superseded (1731) by Vérendrye’s Fort St. Pierre. The Hudson’s Bay house stood just below the falls, and was named Fort Frances for Sir George Simpson’s wife. Early in the nineteenth century the American Fur Company had a post on the south bank of the river. Fort Frances is the present station on the Canadian Pacific Railway. John Warren Dease was a North West Company clerk who was in charge of Rainy Lake House in 1817, when it was captured by Lord Selkirk, after the taking of Fort William.--ED.

[205] From Rainy Lake to Lake Superior there were two prominent trade routes--that known as the Grand Portage or Pigeon River route, following the chain of waterways through which now runs the international boundary; and that of the Kaministiquia River, ending at Fort William. The latter path was the earliest used by the French, but later, they found shorter and more available the Grand Portage route which was followed by the early British traders. See descriptions of Alexander Henry the elder, and Mackenzie. About 1802 it was discovered that the depot of the North West Company at the commencement of Grand Portage was upon American soil, whereupon removal to the northern station was begun, and consummated upon the completion of Fort William. The Kaministiquia route had been re-discovered and re-opened by Roderick McKenzie in 1797. His path united with the Grand Portage route at Lac la Croix. Dawson (1857) explored another route into Rainy Lake along the Seine River, corresponding nearly to the present line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Franchère took the regular Nor’Westers route through Namakam Lake and River, across Lac la Croix, up the Maligne or Sturgeon River, through Lake Windigoostigwan, to Lac des Mille Lacs.

Wild rice (_zizania aquatica_) is an important staple of Indian food. See Jenks, “Wild Rice Gatherers of the Upper Lakes,” in American Bureau of Ethnology _Report_, 1897-98.--ED.

{337} CHAPTER XXVII

Arrival at Fort William--Description of the Fort--News from the River Columbia

Starving men are early-risers. We set out on the 14th before day, and effected the portage, which is long and difficult. At the foot of the rapid we found a sort of _restaurant_ or _cabaret_, kept by a man named _Boucher_.[206] We treated the men to a little _eau de vie_, and breakfasted on some detestable sausages, poisoned with salt.

After this wretched repast, we set out again, and passed toward noon, the _Mountain Portage_. Here the river _Kaministiquia_ flings itself over a rock of immense height, and forms a fall scarcely less curious to see than that of Niagara. Below, the succession of falls and rapids is constant, so that we made no fewer than thirty-six portages {338} in the course of the day.[207] Nevertheless we pursued our laborious way with good cheer, and without a murmur from our Canadian boatmen, who kept their spirits up by singing their _voyageur_ songs. At last, at about nine o’clock in the evening, we arrived at Fort William.

Fort William is situated on Lake Superior, at the mouth of the _Kaministiquia_ river, about forty-five miles north of old _Grand Portage_. It was built in 1805, when the two rival Canadian companies were united, and was named in honor of Mr. (now the Honorable) William M’Gillivray, principal agent of the Northwest Company.[208] The proprietors, perceiving that the old fort of _Grand Portage_ was on the territory claimed by the American government, resolved to demolish it and build another on the British territory. No site appeared more advantageous than the present for the purposes intended; the river is deep, of easy access, and offers a safe harbor for shipping. It is true they had to contend with all the difficulties consequent on a low and swampy soil; but by incredible labor and {339} perseverance, they succeeded in draining the marshes and reducing the loose and yielding soil to solidity.

Fort William has really the appearance of a fort, with its palisade fifteen feet high, and that of a pretty village, from the number of edifices it encloses. In the middle of a spacious square rises a large building elegantly constructed, though of wood, with a long piazza or portico, raised about five feet from the ground, and surmounted by a balcony, extending along the whole front. In the centre is a saloon or hall, sixty feet in length by thirty in width, decorated with several pieces of painting, and some portraits of the leading partners. It is in this hall that the agents, partners, clerks, interpreters, and guides, take their meals together, at different tables. At each extremity of the apartment are two rooms; two of these are destined for the two principal agents; the other two to the steward and his department. The kitchen and servants’ rooms are in the basement. On either side of this edifice, is another of the same extent, but of {340} less elevation; they are each divided by a corridor running through its length, and contain each, a dozen pretty bed-rooms.

One is destined for the wintering partners, the other for the clerks. On the east of the square is another building similar to the last two, and intended for the same use, and a warehouse where the furs are inspected and repacked for shipment. In the rear of these, are the lodging-house of the guides, another fur-warehouse, and finally, a powder magazine. The last is of stone, and has a roof covered with tin. At the angle is a sort of bastion, or lookout place, commanding a view of the lake. On the west side is seen a range of buildings, some of which serve for stores, and others for workshops; there is one for the equipment of the men, another for the fitting out of the canoes, one for the retail of goods, another where they sell liquors, bread, pork, butter, &c., and where a treat is given to the travellers who arrive. This consists in a white loaf, half a pound of butter, and a gill of rum. The _voyageurs_ give this tavern the name of _Cantine_ {341} _salope_.

Behind all this is another range, where we find the counting-house, a fine square building, and well-lighted; another storehouse of stone, tin-roofed; and a _jail_, not less necessary than the rest. The _voyageurs_ give it the name of _pot au beurre_, the butter-tub. Beyond these we discover the shops of the carpenter, the cooper, the tinsmith, the blacksmith, &c.; and spacious yards and sheds for the shelter, reparation, and construction of canoes. Near the gate of the fort, which is on the south, are the quarters of the physician, and those of the chief clerk. Over the gate is a guard-house.

As the river is deep at its entrance, the company has had a wharf constructed, extending the whole length of the fort, for the discharge of the vessels which it keeps on Lake Superior, whether to transport its furs from Fort William to the _Saut Ste. Marie_, or merchandise and provisions from _Saut Ste. Marie_ to Fort William. The land behind the fort and on both sides of it, is cleared and under tillage. We saw barley, peas, and oats, which had a very fine appearance. At {342} the end of the clearing is the burying-ground. There are also, on the opposite bank of the river, a certain number of log-houses, all inhabited by old Canadian _voyageurs_, worn out in the service of the company, without having enriched themselves. Married to women of the country, and incumbered with large families of half-breed children, these men prefer to cultivate a little Indian corn and potatoes, and to fish, for a subsistence, rather than return to their native districts, to give their relatives and former acquaintance certain proofs of their misconduct or their imprudence.

Fort William is the grand depôt of the Northwest Company for their interior posts, and the general _rendezvous_ of the partners. The agents from Montreal and the wintering partners assemble here every summer, to receive the returns of the respective outfits, prepare for the operations of the ensuing season, and discuss the general interests of their association. The greater part of them were assembled at the time of our arrival. The wintering hands who are to return {343} with their employers pass also a great part of the summer here; they form a great encampment on the west side of the fort, outside the palisades. Those who engage at Montreal to go no further than Fort William or _Rainy lake_, and who do not _winter_, occupy yet another space, on the east side. The _winterers_, or _hivernants_, give to these last the name of _mangeurs de lard_, or pork-eaters. They are also called _comers-and-goers_. One perceives an astonishing difference between these two camps, which are composed sometimes of three or four hundred men each; that of the pork-eaters is always dirty and disorderly, while that of the winterers is clean and neat.

To clear its land and improve its property, the company inserts a clause in the engagement of all who enter its service as canoe-men, that they shall work for a certain number of days during their stay at Fort William. It is thus that it has cleared and drained the environs of the fort, and has erected so many fine buildings. But when a hand has once worked the stipulated {344} number of days, he is for ever after exempt, even if he remain in the service twenty or thirty years, and should come down to the fort every summer.

They received us very courteously at Fort William, and I perceived by the reception given to myself in particular, that thanks to the Chinook dialect of which I was sufficiently master, they would not have asked better than to give me employment, on advantageous terms. But I felt a great deal more eagerness to arrive in Montreal, than desire to return to the River Columbia.

A few days after we reached Fort William, Mr. Keith made his appearance there from Fort George, or Astoria, with the news of the arrival of the “Isaac Todd” in the Columbia river. This vessel, which was a dull sailer, had been kept back a long time by contrary winds in doubling Cape Horn, and had never been able to rejoin the vessels-of-war, her consorts, from which she was then separated. When she reached the _rendezvous_ at the island of Juan Fernandez, finding that the three ships-of-war had sailed, {345} the captain and passengers, as they were short of provisions, determined to range the coast. Entering the harbor of _Monterey_,[209] on the coast of California, in order to obtain provisions, they learned that there was an English vessel-of-war in distress, in the bay of _San Francisco_.[210] They repaired thither accordingly, and found, to their great surprise, that it was the sloop _Raccoon_. This vessel, in getting out of the River Columbia, had touched on the bar, with such violence, that a part of her false keel was carried away; and she had with difficulty made San Francisco, with seven feet of water in the hold, although her crew had been constantly at the pumps. Captain Black, finding it impossible to repair his ship, had decided to abandon her, and to cross the continent to the Gulf of Mexico, thence to reach some of the British West India islands. However, on the arrival of the Isaac Todd, {346} means were found to careen the vessel and repair the damage. The Isaac Todd then pursued her voyage and entered the Columbia on the 17th of April, thirteen months after her departure from England.

[206] Dog Portage is that which leads over the Height of Land between the Lake Superior and Hudson Bay water-systems. It is about forty-five miles from Fort William, and about a mile in length and five hundred feet high. Authorities differ on the origin of the name. One Indian tradition recites that two enormous dogs slept upon the hill, leaving the impress of their figures. Another relates that the Indians carved upon a cliff the figure of a dog, to commemorate a great battle between the Sioux and Chippewa.

Boucher was apparently a free trapper, whom Henry had found selling provisions in this neighborhood as early as 1803.--ED.

[207] The brigade now passed down Little Dog River, through Dog Lake, into the Kaministiquia River--a short, rapid stream that falls into Lake Superior in Thunder Bay. The Mountain Portage was at the Great Falls, sometimes called Kakabeka, from the Indian term for “Cleft Rock.” This cataract is twenty-two miles from the mouth of the river, and the water makes a leap of one hundred and twenty feet. Between the falls and the mouth, the Kaministiquia is a succession of shallow rapids. The Indian significance of the name of this river is that of “difficult entrance.” The entire length of the stream is now followed by a wagon-road.--ED.

[208] The date of the building of Fort William is variously given--the removal had begun in 1802, but was not completed until 1805, and the new post did not receive its name until 1807. See _Henry-Thompson Journals_, p. 220. The site was occupied as early as 1678 by a stockade built by Duluth, the great _coureur des bois_. His fort had fallen into ruins when that of La Noue was built in 1717. The French maintained this post until the close of their régime. In 1757 it was farmed to M. Toussaint Pothier, and produced from sixty to seventy bundles of furs. The English traders having abandoned this route for the easier one of Pigeon River, clustered at Grand Portage until Fort William was erected. Lord Selkirk captured the post in 1817, during the struggle of the Red River settlement with the North West Company. Upon the coalition of the latter corporation with the Hudson’s Bay (1821), Fort William was abandoned, and two years later was falling into ruins. The Canadian Pacific Railway station of Port Arthur is eight miles beyond the site of old Fort William. The classic account of Fort William’s palmy days is that of Irving, in _Astoria_.--ED.

[209] A Spanish mission or presidency, in about the 36th degree of latitude.--FRANCHÈRE.

[210] Another Spanish presidency, in about the 38th degree of latitude, and the first European establishment to be met with south of the Columbia.--FRANCHÈRE. _Comment by Huntington_: These now obsolete notes are interesting as indicative of the period when they were written.

{347} CHAPTER XXVIII

Departure from Fort William--Navigation on Lake Superior-- Michipicoton Bay--Meeting a Canoe--Batchawainon Bay-- Arrival at Saut Ste. Marie--Occurrences there--Departure-- Lake Huron--French River--Lake Nipissing--Ottawa River--Kettle Falls--Rideau River--Long-Saut--Arrival in Montreal--Conclusion.

On the 20th of July, in the evening, Mr. D. Stuart notified me that he should start the next morning for Montreal, in a light canoe. I immediately wrote to my relatives: but the next morning Mr. Stuart told me that I was to be myself the bearer of my letters, by embarking with him. I got ready my effects, and toward evening we quitted Fort William, with fourteen stout _voyageurs_ to man our large canoe, and were soon floating on the bosom of the largest body of fresh water on the surface of the globe. We counted six passengers, namely, Messrs. D. {348} Stuart, D. M’Kenzie, J. M’Donald, J. Clarke, myself, and a little girl of eight or nine years, who came from Kildonan, on Red river.[211] We passed the first night on one of the islands in _Thunder bay_, so named on account of the frequent storms, accompanied with lightning and thunder, which burst over it at certain seasons of the year. On the 22d and 23d, we continued to range the southern coast of Lake Superior.[212] The navigation of this superb lake would be extremely agreeable but for the thick fogs which reign during a part of the day, and do not permit a rapid progress. On the 24th, we dined at a small trading establishment called _Le Pic_, where we had excellent fish.[213]

On the 26th, we crossed _Michipicoton bay_, which, at its entrance, may be nine miles wide, and twenty fathoms deep.[214] As we were nearing the eastern point, we met a small canoe, having on board Captain M’Cargo, and the crew of one of the schooners owned by the company. Mr. M’Cargo informed us that he had just escaped from _Saut Ste. Marie_, whither the Americans had {349} sent a detachment of one hundred and fifty men; and that having been obliged to abandon his schooner, he had set fire to her.[215] In consequence of this news it was resolved that the canoe on which we were proceeding, should return to Fort William. I embarked with Mr. Stuart and two men, in Captain M’Cargo’s canoe, while he and his crew took our places. In the haste and confusion of this exchange, which was made on the lake, they gave us a ham, a little tea and sugar, and a bag containing about twenty-five pounds of flour, but forgot entirely a kettle, knives, forks, and so on, all articles which Mr. M’Cargo had not time to take when he left _Saut Ste. Marie_. We subsisted miserably in consequence for two days and a half that we continued to coast the lake before reaching any post. We moistened in the bag a little flour, and having kneaded it, made cakes, which we baked on flat stones by our camp fire.

On the 29th, we reached Batchawainon, where we found some women, who prepared us food and received us well. It is a poor little post, {350} situated at the bottom of a sandy cove, which offers nothing agreeable to the eye. Mr. Frederic Goedike, who resided here, was gone to see what had taken place at Saut Ste. Marie.[216] He returned the next day, and told us that the Americans had come, with a force of one hundred and fifty men, under the command of Major Holmes;[217] and that after having pillaged all that they considered worth taking, of the property of the N. W. Company and that of a Mr. Johnston,[218] they had set fire to the houses, warehouses, &c., belonging to the company and to that gentleman, and retired, without molesting any other person.[219] Our canoe arrived from Fort William in the evening, with that of Mr. M’Gillivray; and on the morrow we all repaired to Saut Ste. Marie, where we saw the ruins which the enemy had left. The houses, stores, and saw-mills of the company were still smoking. {351} The schooner was at the foot of the rapids; the Americans had run her down, but she grounded on a ledge of rocks, whence they could not dislodge her, and so they had burnt her to the water’s edge.

_Le Saut de Ste. Marie_,[220] or as it is shortly called, _Saut Ste. Marie_, is a rapid at the outlet of Lake Superior, and may be five hundred or six hundred yards wide; its length may be estimated at three quarters of a mile, and the descent of the water at about twenty feet. At the lower extremity the river widens to about a mile, and here there are a certain number of houses. The north bank belongs to Great Britain; the southern to the United States. It was on the American side that Mr. Johnston lived. Before the war he was collector of the port for the American government. On the same side resided a Mr. Nolin, with his family, consisting of three half-breed boys and as many girls, one of whom was passably pretty. He was an old Indian trader, and his house and furniture showed signs of his former prosperity. On the British side we found {352} Mr. Charles Ermatinger, who had a pretty establishment: he dwelt temporarily in a house that belonged to Nolin, but he was building another of stone, very elegant, and had just finished a grist mill.[221] He thought that the last would lead the inhabitants to sow more grain than they did. These inhabitants are principally old Canadian boatmen, married to half-breed or Indian women. The fish afford them subsistence during the greater part of the year, and provided they secure potatoes enough to carry them through the remainder, they are content. It is to be regretted that these people are not more industrious, for the land is very fertile.

On the 1st of August, an express was sent to _Michilimackinac_ (Mackinaw) to inform the commandant thereof what had happened at _Saut Ste. Marie_.[222] While expecting the return of the messenger, we put ourselves in a state of defence, in case that by chance the Americans should make another irruption. The thing was not improbable, for according to some expressions which fell from one of their number who spoke French, {353} their object was to capture the furs of the Northwest Company, which were expected to arrive shortly from the interior. We invited some Indians, who were camped on _Pine Point_,[223] at some distance from the _Saut_, to help us in case of need; which they promised to do. Meanwhile we had no provisions, as everything had been carried off by the American forces, and were obliged to subsist on such brook trout as we could take with hook and line, and on wild raspberries.

On the 4th, the express returned, without having been able to accomplish his mission: he had found the island of Mackinaw so completely blockaded by the enemy, that it was impossible to reach it, without running the greatest risk of being made prisoner.

On the 12th, we heard distinctly the discharges of artillery which our people were firing off at Michilimackinac, although the distance was nearly sixty miles. We thought it was an attempt of the enemy to retake that post, but we afterward learned that it was only a royal salute {354} in honor of the birthday of the prince regent. We learned, however, during our stay at Saut Ste. Marie, that the Americans had really made a descent upon the island, but were compelled to retire with a considerable loss.[224]

On the 19th, some of the partners arrived from Fort William, preceding the flotilla which was coming down richly laden with furs. They sent on Mr. Decoigne in a light canoe, with letters to Montreal, to order provisions to meet this brigade.

On the 21st, the canoe on which I was a passenger, was sent to the mouth of _French_ river, to observe the motions of the enemy. The route lay between a range of low islands, and a shelvy beach, very monotonous and dreary. We remained at the entrance of the aforesaid river till the 25th, when the fleet of loaded canoes, forty-seven in number, arrived there. The value of the furs which they carried could not be estimated at less than a million of dollars: an important prize for the Americans, if they could have laid their hands upon it. We were three {355} hundred and thirty-five men, all well armed; a large camp was formed, with a breast-work of fur-packs, and we kept watch all night. The next morning we began to ascend the French river, and were soon out of reach of the dreaded foe.[225] French river flows from the N. E. and empties into Lake Huron, about one hundred and twenty miles from Saut Ste. Marie. We reached Lake Nipissing, of which it is the outlet, the same evening, and encamped. We crossed that lake on the 27th, made a number of portages, and encamped again, not far from _Mattawan_.[226]

On the 28th we entered, at an early hour, the river _Ottawa_, and encamped, in the evening, at the _Portage des deux Joachims_.[227] This is a grand river, but obstructed by many falls and rapids on its way to join the St. Lawrence; which caused us to make many portages, and so we arrived on the 31st at _Kettle falls_.

The rock which here arrests the course of the _Ottawa_, extends from shore to shore, and so completely cuts off the waters, that at the time we passed none was seen falling over, but sinking by {356} subterranean channels, or fissures in the rock, it boiled up below, from seven or eight different openings, not unlike water in a huge caldron, whence the first explorers of the country gave it the name of _Chaudière_ or Caldron falls. Mr. P. Wright resided in this place, where he had a fine establishment and a great number of men employed in cultivating the land, and getting out lumber.[228]

We left the _Chaudières_ a little before sunset, and passed very soon the confluence of the _Rideau_ or _Curtain river_. This river, which casts itself into the Ottawa over a rock twenty-five by thirty feet high, is divided in the middle of the fall by a little island, which parts the waters into two white sheets, resembling a double curtain open in the middle and spreading out below. The _coup d’œil_ is really picturesque; the rays of the setting sun, which struck the waters obliquely as we passed, heightened exceedingly their beauty, and rendered it worthy of a pencil more skilful than mine.[229]

We voyaged till midnight, when we stopped to {357} let our men take a little repose. This rest was only for two hours. At sunrise on the 1st September, we reached _Long-Saut_, where, having procured guides, we passed that dangerous rapid, and set foot on shore near the dwelling-house of a Mr. M’Donell, who sent us milk and fruits for our breakfast. Toward noon we passed the lake of the Two Mountains, where I began to see the mountain of my native isle.[230] About two o’clock, we passed the rapids of St. Ann.[231] Soon after we came opposite _Saut St. Louis_ and the village of _Caughnawago_[232] passed that last rapid of so many, and landed at Montreal, a little before sunset.

I hastened to the paternal roof, where the family were not less surprised than overjoyed at beholding me. Not having heard of me, since I had sailed from New York, they had believed, in {358} accordance with the common report, that I had been murdered by the savages, with Mr. M’Kay and the crew of the Tonquin: and certainly, it was by the goodness of Providence that I found myself thus safe and sound, in the midst of my relations and friends, at the end of a voyage accompanied by so many perils, and in which so many of my companions had met with an untimely death.

[211] Kildonan is a parish north of Winnipeg, sometimes called Frog Pond Parish. It was named by Lord Selkirk in remembrance of the Scottish parish from which his settlers had migrated, and was the centre of the Red River establishment.--ED.

[212] Thunder Bay, at the western end of Lake Superior, lies between the high promontory of Pie Island and the cliffs of Thunder Cape, the latter over one thousand three hundred feet high. The region is noted for its picturesqueness and the Indian traditions which cluster around it. See Henry’s _Travels_, p. 205. Franchère’s statement is an obvious mistake, as the usual route from Thunder Bay was along the northern coast; and the places mentioned indicate that this was followed by the present expedition.--ED.

[213] This post was situated at the mouth of Pic River, two hundred miles from the entrance of St. Mary’s. The name is an Indian word meaning “mud,” and was applied because of the reddish yellow color of the stream, due to the beds of clay through which it flows. When the stream is swollen, it colors the lake for a mile or more from its mouth. The North West Company had an important post on this river, which was the centre of a department; it produced more valuable furs in the early years of the century than when Franchère passed. Later, it was maintained by the Hudson’s Bay Company. The Canadian Pacific Railway crosses the river near its mouth.--_Ed._

[214] Michipicoton Bay is one hundred and twenty-five miles from St. Mary’s River, by canoe travel. The shore at the entrance is high and rocky; but at the bottom of the bay, where the Michipicoton River empties, it is low and sandy. The French had a fur-trading post near the mouth of the stream, which was abandoned in 1763. The post of the North West Company at this place was tributary to that at Pic River.--_Ed._

[215] When Colonel George Croghan sailed from St. Joseph, July 20, 1814, on his way to attack Mackinac, he detached Major Holmes with two small vessels, to destroy the British post at Sault Ste. Marie. Holmes met with no resistance, as the men had gone to the defense of Fort Mackinac. He burned the warehouses of the North West Company, and carried away considerable plunder. See M’Afee, _History of the Late War in the Western Country_ (Lexington, Kentucky, 1816).--ED.

[216] Frederic Goedike was an old employé of the North West Company, having been on the Assiniboin (1801-05) and on the Peace (1808-09). He seems to have retired to this small post upon Batchewana Bay, forty-five miles from Sault Ste. Marie.--ED.

[217] Major Arthur Hunter Holmes was a Virginian and a friend of Jefferson. He was stationed at Detroit, as captain, when (February, 1814) he was placed in charge of a detachment ordered to attack the enemy at Delaware on the Thames. He succeeded, although with a force much inferior to the British. Immediately after this expedition he was promoted to be major. After plundering Sault Ste. Marie he rejoined the main army two days after it reached Mackinac, and was killed in the attack on that place, August 4, 1814. When the Americans again obtained possession of the fort at Mackinac, the name of Fort George was, in his honor, changed to Fort Holmes.--ED.

[218] John Johnston, born at Craignear, Giant’s Causeway, Ireland, in 1763, came to Canada in 1792. Lord Dorchester introduced him to the partners of the North West Company, and he quickly decided to cast in his lot with the Western fur-traders. First settled at La Pointe, he married the daughter of an Indian chief. In 1794 he removed to Sault Ste. Marie, and lived there until his death in 1828. Although living on the American shore, he sided with the British in the War of 1812-15. Hearing of Colonel Croghan’s expedition, he armed all his men, about a hundred in number, and embarked with them for Mackinac, thus leaving his property at the mercy of Major Holmes. Johnston’s son served as lieutenant on the “Queen Charlotte,” and was captured by the Americans in the naval battle on Lake Erie. Bigsby, on his journey through the lakes in 1824, visited Johnston, and commented upon the value and extent of his library--“a thousand well-bound and well-selected volumes, French and English, evidently much in use, in winter especially.” For further details of his career, see Masson, _Bourgeois_, ii, pp. 137-142.--ED.

[219] The N. W. Company having raised a regiment composed of their own servants, and known as the _voyageur corps_, and having also instigated to war, and armed, the Indian tribes, over which they had influence, had brought on themselves this act of retaliation. Mr. Johnston also had engaged actively in the war against the United States.--FRANCHÈRE.

[220] For a brief history of Sault Ste. Marie, see J. Long’s _Voyages_, vol. ii of our series, note 38.--ED.

[221] Nolin lived at Sault Ste. Marie until 1819, when he sold his property to Ermatinger and removed to Pembina, in the Red River Valley.

Charles Ermatinger was the son of a Swiss merchant who removed from the English colonies to Quebec after Wolfe’s capture. He became, next to Johnston, the wealthiest trader at the Sault. Bigsby describes him as “every inch a trader, public-spirited, skilful, sanguine and indefatigable.”--ED.

[222] For a short account of Mackinac, see Thwaites, “Story of Mackinac,” in _How George Rogers Clark won the Northwest_ (Chicago, 1903).--ED.

[223] This is about six and a half miles from Sault Ste. Marie. It is a broad, low point thickly covered with pines, sheltering a good harbor at the expansion of St. Mary’s River.--ED.

[224] The American troops under Colonel Croghan were not strong enough to attack the fort, but landed on the west side of Mackinac Island with the hope that the British would advance to meet them in the open plain. Not far from the place of landing they found the enemy waiting for them at the edge of a wood, and succeeded in driving them back. Thinking pursuit among the trees would be dangerous, they returned to their boats and abandoned the expedition. It was in this onslaught that Major Holmes was killed.--ED.

[225] French River has so many islands and deep and narrow bays, that it often appears more like a number of parallel streams than a single river. It is about seventy-five miles long, and sometimes broadens into a lake. About twenty miles from Lake Nipissing are the Récollets Falls. This river owes its name to serving as the early waterway from Lower Canada to the Upper Country. See J. Long’s _Voyages_, vol. ii of our series, note 36.--ED.

[226] This was at the junction of the Mattawa River with the Ottawa--the limit of Champlain’s exploration in 1613. This was a well-known post on the Ottawa River route to the Upper Lakes, and now a station of the Canadian Pacific Railway.--ED.

[227] These rapids are three-quarters of a mile long; being, in fact, low cascades. They are about twenty-five miles below the forks of the Ottawa.--ED.

[228] The Kettle (Chaudière) Falls are opposite the city of Hull, Quebec. In 1800, Philemon Wright, “the father of the town of Hull,” came from Woburn, Massachusetts, and settled at the foot of the falls. He brought twenty-five men with him, bought the land from the Indians for twenty dollars, immediately began to clear the forest, and in a short time had become a well-to-do proprietor. He died in 1839, at the age of seventy-nine.--ED.

[229] This is the site of Ottawa, founded in 1825, and in 1865 made the seat of government for Canada. The curtains are of unequal width; the longer being about three hundred, the shorter about a hundred feet.--ED.

[230] The Long Sault Rapids, about sixty miles below Ottawa, are nine miles long and full of islets, rocky bars, and narrow passes. For the heroic defense of this place, see Parkman, _Old Régime in Canada_ (Boston, 1875), chap. iii. At the base of the rapids the Ottawa widens into the Lake of Two Mountains, twenty miles long and from two to three miles broad.--ED.

[231] “Far-famed and so well described,” adds Mr. Franchère, in his own translation, but I prefer to leave the expression in its original striking simplicity, as he wrote it before he had heard of MOORE. Every reader remembers:--

“Soon as the woods on shore grow dim, We’ll sing at St. Ann’s our parting hymn.” _Canadian Boatman’s Song._ --HUNTINGTON.

[232] For a sketch of the Indian mission at Caughnawaga, see J. Long’s _Voyages_, vol. ii of our series, note 9.--ED.

{359} CHAPTER XXIX

Present State of the Countries visited by the Author--Correction of Mr. Irving’s Statements respecting St. Louis.

The last chapter closes the original French narrative of my travels around and across the continent, as published thirty-three years ago. The translation follows that narrative as exactly as possible, varying from it only in the correction of a few not very important errors of fact. It speaks of places and persons as I spoke of them then. I would not willingly lose the veri-similitude of this natural and unadorned description, in order to indulge in any new turns of style or more philosophical reflections.

But since that period many changes have occurred in the scenes which I so long ago visited and described. Though they are well known, I may be pardoned for alluding to them.

{360} The natives of the Sandwich islands, who were in a state of paganism at that time, have since adopted a form of Christianity, have made considerable progress in imitating the civilization of Europe, and even, at this moment, begin to entertain the idea of annexation to the United States. It appears, however, that the real natives are rapidly dwindling away by the effects of their vices, which an exotic and ill-assimilated civilization has rather increased than diminished, and to which religion has not succeeded in applying a remedy.

At the mouth of the Columbia, whole tribes, and among them, the _Clatsops_, have been swept away by disease. Here again, licentious habits universally diffused, spread a fatal disorder through the whole nation, and undermining the constitutions of all, left them an easy prey to the first contagion or epidemic sickness. But missionaries of various Christian sects have labored among the Indians of the Columbia also; not to speak of the missions of the Catholic Church, so well known by the narrative of Father De Smet {361} and others;[233] and numbers have been taught to cultivate the soil, and thus to provide against the famines to which they were formerly exposed from their dependence on the precarious resources of the chase; while others have received, in the faith of Christ, the true principle of national permanence, and a living germ of civilization, which may afterward be developed.

Emigration has also carried to the Oregon the axe of the settler, as well as the canoe and pack of the fur-trader. The fertile valleys and prairies of the Willamet--once the resort of the deer, the elk, and the antelope, are now tilled by the industrious husbandman. Oregon City, so near old “Astoria,” whose first log fort I saw and described, is now an Archiepiscopal see, and the capital of a territory, which must soon be a state of the Union.[234]

Of the regions east of the mountains described in my itinerary, little can be said in respect to improvement: they remain in the same wild state. The interest of the Hudson’s Bay Company, as an association of fur-traders, is opposed to agricultural {362} improvements, whose operation would be to drive off and extinguish the wild animals that furnish their commerce with its object. But on Lake Superior steamboats have supplanted the birch-bark canoe of the Indian and the fur-trader, and at Saut Ste. Marie, especially on the American side, there is now every sign of prosperity. How remote and wild was the region beyond, through which I passed, may be estimated by the fact that in thirty-eight years the onward-rolling wave of our population has but just reached its confines.

Canada, although it has not kept pace with the United States, has yet wonderfully advanced in forty years. The valley of the Ottawa, that great artery of the St. Lawrence, where I thought it worth while to notice the residence of an enterprising farmer and lumber merchant, is now a populous district, well cultivated, and sprinkled with villages, towns, and cities.

The reader, in perusing my first chapter, found a description of the city of New York in 1810, and of the neighboring village of Brooklyn. It {363} would be superfluous to establish a comparison at this day. At that time, it will be observed, the mere breaking out of war between America and England was thought to involve the sacrifice of an American commercial establishment on the Pacific, on the ground of its supplies being necessarily cut off (it was supposed), and of the United States government being unable to protect it from hostile attack. At present it suffices to remark that while New York, then so inconsiderable a port, is now perhaps the third city in the world, the United States also, are, undoubtedly, a first-rate power, unassailable at home, and formidable abroad, to the greatest nations.

As in my preface I alluded to Mr. Irving’s “Astoria,” as reflecting, in my opinion, unjustly, upon the young men engaged in the first expedition to the mouth of the Columbia, it may suffice here to observe, without entering into particulars, that my narrative, which I think answers for its own fidelity, clearly shows that some of them, at least did not want courage, activity, zeal for the interests of the company, while it existed, and patient {364} endurance of hardship. And although it forms no part of the narrative or my voyage, yet as subsequent visits to the West and an intimate knowledge of St. Louis, enable me to correct Mr. Irving’s poetical rather than accurate description of that place, I may well do it here. St. Louis now bids fair to rival ere long the “Queen of the West;” Mr. Irving describes her as a small trading place, where trappers, half-breeds, gay, frivolous Canadian boatmen, &c., &c., congregated and revelled, with that lightness and buoyancy of spirit inherited from their French forefathers; the indolent Creole of St. Louis caring for little more than the enjoyment of the present hour; a motley population, half-civilized, half-barbarous, thrown, on his canvas, into one general, confused (I allow highly _picturesque_) mass, without respect of persons: but it is fair to say, with due homage to the talent of the sketcher, who has verged slighty on caricature in the use of that humor-loving pencil admired by all the world, that St. Louis even then contained its noble, industrious, and I may say, {365} princely merchants; it could boast its _Chouteaus_, _Soulands_, _Céré_, _Chéniers_, _Vallées_, and _La Croix_,[235] with other kindred spirits, whose descendants prove the worth of their sires by their own, and are now among the leading business men, as their fathers were the pioneers, of the flourishing St. Louis.

With these remarks, which I make simply as an act of justice in connection with the general subject of the founding of “Astoria,” but in which I mean to convey no imputation on the intentional fairness of the accomplished author to whom I have alluded, I take a respectful leave of my readers.

[233] For the history of Catholic missions in Oregon, see journals of Father De Smet, which are to be published in volumes xxviii and xxix of our series.--ED.

[234] Oregon City is situated at the falls of Willamette River. It was laid out in lots in 1842, when the rivalry for the possession of this site between McLaughlin, Hudson’s Bay factor, and Waller, of the Methodist Mission, was at its height. The rapid growth of Portland has prevented Oregon City from becoming the important place it once promised. In 1900 its population was only thirty-five hundred.--ED.

[235] For these early families of St. Louis, consult Billon, _Annals of St. Louis_ (St. Louis, 1886).--ED.

APPENDIX[236]

In Chapter XVII, I promised the reader to give him an account of the fate of some of the persons who left Astoria before, and after its sale or transfer to the British. I will now redeem that pledge.

Messrs. Ramsay Crooks, R. M’Lelland, and Robert Stuart, after enduring all sorts of fatigue, dangers and hairbreadth escapes with their lives--all which have been so graphically described by Washington Irving in his “Astoria,” finally reached St. Louis and New York.

Mr. Clapp went to the Marquesas Islands, where he entered into the service of his country {368} in the capacity of midshipman under Commodore Porter--made his escape from there in company with Lieutenent Gamble of the Marine corps, by directions of the Commodore, was captured by the British, landed at Buenos Ayres, and finally reached New York.

D. M’Dougall, as a reward for betraying the trust reposed in him by Mr. Astor, was made a Partner of the Northwest Company, crossed the mountains, and died a miserable death at _Bas de la Rivière_, Winipeg. Donald M’Kenzie, his coadjutor, went back to the Columbia River, where he amassed a considerable fortune, with which he retired, and lived in Chautauque County in this state, where he died a few years since unknown and neglected:--he was a very selfish man, who cared for no one but himself.

It remains only to speak of Messrs. J. C. Halsey, Russell Farnham, and Alfred Seton, who, it will be remembered, embarked with Mr. Hunt on the “Pedlar,” in Feb. 1814.

Leaving the River about the 1st of April, they proceeded to the Russian establishment at Sitka, {369} Norfolk Sound, where they fell in with two or three more American vessels, which had come to trade with the natives or to avoid the British cruisers. While there, a sail under British colors appeared, and Mr. Hunt sent Mr. Seton to ascertain who she was. She turned out to be the “Forester,” Captain Pigott, a repeating signal ship and letter-of-marque, sent from England in company of a fleet intended for the South Seas. On further acquaintance with the captain, Mr. Seton (from whom I derive these particulars) learned a fact which has never before been published, and which will show the solicitude and perseverance of Mr. ASTOR. After despatching the “Lark” from New York, fearing that she might be intercepted by the British, he sent orders to his correspondent in England to purchase and fit out a British bottom, and despatch her to the Columbia to relieve the establishment.

When Mr. Hunt learned this fact, he determined to leave Mr. Halsey at Sitka, and proceeding himself northward, landed Mr. Farnham on the coast of _Kamskatka_, to go over land with {370} despatches for Mr. Astor. Mr. Farnham accomplished the journey, reached Hamburg, whence he sailed for the West Indies, and finally arrived at New York, having made the entire circuit of the globe.

The “Pedlar” then sailed to the southeast, and soon reached the coast of California, which she approached to get a supply of provisions. Nearing one of the harbors, they descried a vessel at anchor inside, showing American colors. Hauling their wind, they soon came close to the stranger, which, to their surprise, turned out to be the Spanish corvette “Santa Barbara,” which sent boats alongside the “Pedlar,” and captured her, and kept possession of the prize for some two months, during which they dropped down to _San Blas_. Here Mr. Hunt proposed to Mr. Seton to cross the continent and reach the United States the best way he could. Mr. Seton, accordingly, went to the Isthmus of Darien, where he was detained several months by sickness, but finally reached Carthagena, where a British fleet was lying in the roads, to take off the English {371} merchants, who in consequence of the revolutionary movements going on, sought shelter under their own flag. Here Mr. Seton, reduced to the last stage of destitution and squalor, boldly applied to Captain Bentham, the commander of the squadron, who, finding him to be a gentleman, offered him every needful assistance, gave him a berth in his own cabin, and finally landed him safely on the Island of Jamaica, whence he, too, found his way to New York.

Of all those engaged in the expedition there are now but four survivors--Ramsay Crooks, Esq. the late President of the American Fur Company; Alfred Seton, Esq., Vice-president of the Sun Mutual Insurance Company; both of New York city; Benjamin Pillet of Canada; and the author, living also in New York. All the rest have paid the debt of nature, but their names are recorded in the foregoing pages.

Notwithstanding the illiberal remarks made by Captain Thorn on the persons who were on board the ill-fated Tonquin, and reproduced by Mr. Irving in his “Astoria”--these young men who {372} were represented as “Bar keepers or Billiard markers, most of whom had fled from Justice, &c.”--I feel it a duty to say that they were for the most part, of good parentage, liberal education and every way were qualified to discharge the duties of their respective stations. The remarks on the general character of the voyageurs employed as boat-men and Mechanics, and the attempt to cast ridicule on their “Braggart and swaggering manners” come with a bad grace from the author of “Astoria,” when we consider that in that very work Mr. Irving is compelled to admit their indomitable energy, their fidelity to their employers, and their cheerfulness under the most trying circumstances in which men can be placed.

With respect to Captain Thorn, I must confess that though a stern commander and an irritable man, he paid the strictest attention to the health of his crew. His complaints of the squalid appearance of the Canadians and mechanics who were on board, can be abated of their force by giving a description of the accommodation of {373} these people. The Tonquin was a small ship; its forecastle was destined for the crew performing duty before the mast. The room allotted for the accommodation of the twenty men destined for the establishment, was abaft the forecastle; a bulk-head had been let across, and a door led from the forecastle into a dark, unventilated, unwholesome place, where they were all heaped together, without means of locomotion, and consequently deprived of that exercise of the body so necessary to health. Add to that, we had no physician on board. In view of these facts, can the complaints of the gallant Captain be sustained? Of course Mr. Irving was ignorant of these circumstances, as well as of many others which he might have known, had some one suggested to him to ask a few questions of persons who were within his reach at the time of his publication. I have (I need scarcely say) no personal animosity against the unfortunate Captain; he always treated me, individually, as well as I could expect; and if, in the course of my narrative, I have been severe on his actions, I was impelled {374} by a sense of justice to my friends on board, as well as by the circumstance that such explanations of his general deportment were requisite to convey the historical truth to my readers.

The idea of a conspiracy against him on board is so absurd that it really does not deserve notice. The threat, or rather the proposal made to him by Mr. M’Kay, in the following words--“if you say fight, fight it is”--originated in a case where one of the sailors had maltreated a Canadian lad, who came to complain to Mr. M’Kay. The captain would not interpose his authority, and said in my presence, “Let them fight out their own battles:”--it was upon that answer that Mr. M’Kay gave vent to the expression quoted above. I might go on with a long list of inaccuracies, more or less grave or trivial, in the beautifully written work of Mr. Irving, but it would be tedious to go through the whole of them. The few remarks to which I have given place above, will suffice to prove that the assertion made in the preface was not unwarranted. It is far from my intention to enter the lists with a man of the {375} literary merit and reputation of Mr. Irving, but as a narrator of events of which I was an EYE-WITNESS, I felt bound to tell the truth, although that truth might impugn the historical accuracy of a work which ranks as a classic in the language. At the same time I entirely exonerate Mr. Irving from any intention of prejudicing the minds of his reader, as he doubtless had only in view to support the character of his friend: that sentiment is worthy of a generous heart, but it should not be gratified, nor would he wish to gratify it, I am sure, at the expense of the character of others.

NOTE BY HUNTINGTON

Perhaps even contrary to the wish of Mr. Franchère, I have left the above almost word for word as he wrote it. It is a part of the history of the affairs related as well in Mr. Irving’s ASTORIA as in the present volume, that the reclamations of one of the clerks on that famous and unfortunate voyage of the Tonquin, against the disparaging description of himself and his colleagues given in the former work, should be fairly recorded. At the same time, I can not help stating my own impression that a natural susceptibility roused by those slighting remarks from Captain Thorn’s correspondence, to which Mr. Irving as an historian gives currency, has somewhat blinded my excellent friend to the tone of banter, so characteristic of the chronicler of the Knickerbockers, in which all these particulars are given, more as traits of the character {376} of the stern old sea-captain, with his hearty contempt for land-lubbers and literary clerks, than as a dependable account of the persons on board his ship, some of whom might have been, and as we see by the present work, were, in fact, very meritorious characters, for whose literary turn, and faithful journalizing (which seems to have especially provoked the captain’s wrath), now at the end of more than forty years, we have so much reason to be thankful. Certainly Mr. Irving himself, who has drawn frequently on Mr. Franchere’s narrative, could not, from his well-known taste in such matters, be insensible to the Defoe-like simplicity thereof, nor to the picturesque descriptions, worthy of a professional pen, with which it is sprinkled.

[236] We have thought it best to give this Appendix, excepting some abbreviations rendered necessary to avoid repetition of what has been stated before, in Mr. Franchère’s own words, particularly as a specimen of his own English style may be justly interesting to the reader.--HUNTINGTON.

THE END