M'LEAN'S TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE HUDSON'S BAY TERRITORY. * Ma. M'LEAN

entered the service of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1820-'21, when it had just been strengthened by a coalition with its rival the North-western Company. With the exception of a five or six months' trip to England in 1842-'43, he continued actively engaged in the service for a quarter of a century. In spite of promises, he passed the greater part of that time in an inferior position ; the range of his service extend- ing from Labrador and the shores of Hudson's Bay to New Caledonia on the further side of the Rocky Mountains' amid the head waters of Fraser's River, and from the boundaries of the United States to beyond the 60th degree of latitude, on the banks of the Mackenzie River. After some twenty years' service, and, as he alleges, unfair treatment in delaying his promotion, Mr. M'Lean was appointed a chief trader; the income from which post in 1841, was, 1201. per annum. Even this fortune was not enjoyed in comfort. He was hardly treated by Governor Simpson, and in fact degraded, being superseded in a district to which he was appointed : he therefore resigned, in 1844.

Not much of new geographical information is furnished by Mr. M'Lean's volumes, except as regards the interior of Labrador : in that country he was stationed for several years, and he explored it from Esquimaux Bay in the Straits of Belleisle to the Bay of Un- gava. The chief value of the book consists in its picture of life in the Hudson's Bay service,—the hardships to be undergone, the privations to be endured, the dangers to be encountered in the conduct of the everyday business of the Company, in a region where a journey involves an irk- some and riskful navigation, a laborious portage, in winter excessive cold, and in summer great heats with frequent attacks of musquitoes and other insects. In the remoter districts, bodily hardships are not alone to be encountered. The passions of the intoxicated or superstitious and some- times the justly-provoked Indian, are to be met by a ready resolution and a high hand ; which, however, are sometimes possessed in vain, and the Company's servants fall victims to violence or treachery. Yet such is the ennui in the dreary solitude or monotonous routine of the "forts" or stations in the higher latitudes of the interior, that hardship and danger are welcomed as reliefs from the blank tasdium vitro in the Hudson's Bay territory. When all this is considered, it may fairly be a matter of wonder that persona with great energy, a capital constitution, since no others could stand the service, and some education, without which they could not discharge its duties, are readily found to embark in such an employ. The first reason probably is, that they are "caught young." The second, that delusive notions are entertained of the service. The " liberality " of the Company has been a standing theme with British and American travellers, who have only seen the principal forts, or whose reception has been prepared for in consequence of official orders and when the tra- vellers have been known to contemplate print. Hence, the Company have had a higher reputation for the good living to be found in their

*Notes of a Twenty-five Years' Serviee In the Hudson's Bay Territory. By John 1I'Leas. In two volumes. Tublished hy Bentley. service, the comparative easiness of the life, and the general liberality of their treatment, than late inquiries would seem to show that they deeerve. The brother of the Arctic discoverer Simpson left the service in disgust; and infused many complaints of his own ill-usage and that of others into the Life of his brother, with rather fierce attacks upon Governor Simpson : but there was a tone about his style that induced mistrust- Mr. Fitzgerald lately examined the history and general character of the Company ; testing their professions and conduct by scattered rays of evidence ; and left an ill impression as the result of his inquiry. Mr. M‘Lean comes with a particular narrative of his own hard treatment, various statements of partiality and injustice as regards other officers, and an account of the Company's neglect of the moral and physical wellbeing of the Indians, and their opposition to Protestant mission- aries, all which contrasts remarkably with the panegyrics we have so frequently heard. These, indeed, are only explainable on the considera- tion we just threw out—that the favourable reports originated with writers who visited only the principal or show places, and got about as true an idea of the state of affairs at the lesser interior stations as a traveller in Russia, escorted by the Imperial authorities, would have of the true

state of things there. Some allowance is to be made for the fact that Mr- MiLean is smarting under the sense of long neglect—of, as he alleges, ars unfair preference to favoured rivals, and a long course of ill-treatment; but many of the facts hardly admit of colour, and do not refer to him- self.

Any judgment on these controversial matters, however, is best formed by a perusal of the volumes. Our extracts will chiefly relate to the ad- venturous part of the narrative. The following is an example of the unpleasantnesses to which the Hudson's Bay " travellers" are exposed.

" I had a still more narrow escape in the month of March ensuing. I had been on a visit to the post under my own immediate charge, termed head-quarters par excellence; returning to the post alone, I came to a place where our men, in order- to avoid a long detour occasioned by a high and steep hill coming close to the river, were accustomed to draw their sledges upon the ice along the edge of a rapid. About the middle of the rapid, where the torrent is fiercest, the banks of the river are formed of rocks rising almost perpendicularly from the water's edge; and here they had to pass on a narrow ledge of ice, between the rock on the one side and the foaming and tailing surge on the other. The ledge, at no time very broad, was now reduced, by the falling in of the water, to a strip of ice of about eighteen inches or little more adhering to the rock. The ice, however, seemed perfectly solid, and I made no doubt that with caution I should succeed in pas- sing safely this formidable strait.

" The weather having been very mild in the fore part of the day, my shoes and socks had been saturated with wet, but were now frozen hard by the cold of the approaching night. Overlooking this circumstance, I attempted the dangerous passage ; and had proceeded about half-way, when my foot slipped, and I suddenly found myself resting with one hip on the border of ice, while the rest of my body overhung the rapid rushing fearfully underneath. I was now literally in a state of agonizing suspense: to regain my footing was impossible; even the attempt to move might precipitate me into the rapid. "My first thought indeed was to throw myself in, and endeavour by swimming to reach the solid ice that bridged the river a short distance below; a glance at the torrent convinced me that this was a measure too desperate to be attempted; I should have been dashed against the ice, or hurried beneath it by the current. Bat my time was not yet come. Within a few feet of the spot where I was thus suspended in sail:yds, the rock projected a little outward, so as to break the force of the current. It struck me that a new border of ice might be formed at this place, under and parallel to that on which I was perched: exploring cautiously,. therefore, with a stick which I fortunately had in my hand, all along and beneath me, I found my conjecture well founded; but whether the ice were strong enough to bear me, I could not ascertain. But it was my only hope of deliverance: letting myself down therefore, gently, I planted my feet on thelower ledge, and, clinging- with the tenacity of ashell-fish to the upper, I crept slowly along till I reached land."

Familiarity, if it does not always breed contempt, at least diminishes surprise. When some of the geological conclusions respecting the vege- table and animal remains were promulgated, they seemed so strange as to induce the idea of a totally different state of things—an unnatural nature, as it were. More extensive observation of causes in actual operation with reference to geological phmnomena, have lessened the feeling, by showing that similar occurrences are taking place contempo- raneously, if upon a less scale. This land-slip is an example.

" As we ascended the river, the scenery became beautifully diversified with hill and dale and wooded vallies, through which there generally flowed streams of limpid water. I observed at one place a tremendous land-slip, caused by the wa- ter undermining the soil. Trees were seen in an inverted position, the branches sunk in the ground and the roots uppermost; others with only the branches ap- pearing above ground; the earth rent and intersected by chasms extending in every direction ; while piles of earth and stones, intermixed with shattered limber and trunks of trees, contributed to increase the dreadful confusion of the scene. The half of a huge hill had tumbled into the river, and dammed it across, so that no water escaped for some time. The people of Dunvegan, seeing the river sad. denly dry up, were terrified by the pluenomenon ; but they had not much time to investigate the cause: the river as suddenly reappeared, presenting a front of nearly twenty feet in height, and foaming and rushing down with the noise of thunder."

The following passage of the Peace River through the Rocky Moun- tains is curious from the circumstance of the stream being navigable: in such situations it is generally too precipitous for use.

" The Rocky Mountains Caine in view on the 8th October, and we reached . the portage bearing their name on the 10th; the crossing of which took us eight days, being fully thirteen miles in length, and excessively bad road, leading some-'' times through swamps and morasses, then ascending and descending steep bile, and for at least one-third of the distance so obstructed by fallen trees as to render' it all but impassable. I consider the passage of this portage the most laborious duty the Company's servants have to perform in any part of the territory; and, as the voyageurs say, He that pasties it with his share of a canoe's cargo may

call himself a man. *

" After passing the portage, the Rocky Mountains reared their snow-clad sum- mite all around us, presenting a scene of gloomy grandeur that had nothing cheering in it One scene, however, struck me as -truly sublime. As we pro- ceeded onward, the mountains pressed closer on the river, and at one place ap- proached so near that the gap seemed to have been made by the river forcing a passage through them. We passed in our canoes at the base of precipices that rose almost perpendicularly above us on either side to the height of 8,000 or 4,000 feet! After passing through these magnificent portals, the mountains re- cede to a considerable distance; the space intervening between them and the river

being a flat, yielding timber of a larger growth than I expected to find in each a sitaatien" Mr. WLean's station in Labrador was an experiment made with the view of discovering whether the country had sufficient fur-bearing ani- mals to justify the establishment of a series of posts. Independently of his own adventures, Mr. M`Lean gives some account of Governor Simp- eon's obstinacy and mismanagement, and the beneficial effects to the Company from his own advice : but we will pass these for a hairbreadth escape by sea. " After seeing my couriers off, I left Mr. Erlandsou with two men to share his solitude, and reached the sea without experiencing any adventure worth notice. Proceeding along the coast, I was induced one evening by the flattering appear- ance of the weather to attempt the passage of a deep bay; • which being accom- plished, there was little danger of being delayed afterwards by stress of weather. This step I soon had cause to repent. The sea hitherto presented a smooth sur- face; not a breath of wind was felt, and the stars shone out brightly. A few clouds began to appear on the horizon; and the boat began to rise and fall with the heaving of the sea. Understanding what these signs portended, we imme- diately pulled for the shore; but had scarcely altered our course when the stars disappeared, a tremendous noise struck upon our ears from seaward, and the storm was upon us. In the impenetrable obscurity of the night not a trace of land could be discovered; but we continued to ply our oars, while each succeeding billow threatened immediate destruction.

" The horrors of our situation increased ; the man on the out-look called out that he saw breakers ahead in every direction ; and escape appeared to be next to impossible. My crew of Scottish islanders, however, continued their painful ex- ertions without evincing by a murmur the apprehensions they must have felt. The crisis was now at hand. We approached so near to the breakers that it was impossible to avoid them; and the men lay on their oars, expecting the next mo- ment would be their last.

" In such a situation the thoughts of even the most depraved naturally carry them beyond the limits of time; and by these thoughts, I believe, the soul of every one was absorbed: yet the men lost not their presence of mind. Suddenly, the voice of the look-out was heard amid the roar of the breakers, calling our at- tention to a dark breach in the line of foam that stretched out before us, which he fancied to be a channel between the rocks. A few desperate strokes brought us to the spot; when, to our unspeakable joy, we found it to answer the mans con- jecture; but so narrow was the passage that the oars on both sides of the boat struck the rocks: a minute afterwards we found ourselves becalmed and in safety. The boat being moored, and the men ordered to watch by turns, we lay down to sleep as we best could, supperless, and without having tasted food since early dawn."

A good many sketches of the various tribes of Indians are scattered through the book : of which we will spare room for one, descriptive of an entertainment by the Indians of New Caledonia, for the germs it con- tains of lyric and dramatic poetry.

"In the beginning of the winter we were invited to a feast held in honour of a great chief, who died some years before. The person who delivered the invitation stalked into the room with an air of vast consequence, and strewing our heads with down, pronounced the name of the presiding chief, and withdrew without ut- tering another syllable. To me the invitation was most acceptable: although I had heard much of Indian feasts, I never was present at any.

" Late in the evening we directed our steps towards the banqueting-house,' a large but temporarily erected for the occasion. We found the numerous guests assembled and already seated round the festive board '- our place had been left vacant for us; Mr. Deese taking his seat next to the great chief Qaaw, and we,

his Meewidiyazees, chiefs,) in succession. The company were disposed in two rows; the chiefs and elders being seated next the wail, formed the outer, and the young men the inner row; an open space of about three feet in breadth inter- vening between them. Immense quantities of roasted meat, bear, beaver, sillien or marmot, were piled up at intervals, the whole length of the building; berries mixed up with rancid salmon oil, fish-roe that had been buried under ground a twelvemonth, in order to give it an agreeable flavour, were the good things pre- sented at this feast of gluttony and flow of oiL The ?oerry mixture and roes were served in wooden troughs, each having a large wooden spoon attached to it. The enjoyments of the festival were ushered in with a song, in which all joined-

" approach the village, Ta ha he ha, paha haba

And bear the voices or many People, Ya ha, &c.

The barking of dogs, Ya ha, &c.

Salmon is plentiful,

Ta ha, &c.

The berry season is good, Ta ha, Esc.'

' The gormandizing contest ended as it began, with songs and dances ; in the latter amusement, however, few were now able to join. Afterwards ensued a rude attempt at dramatic representation. Old Quaw, the chief of Neckaslay, first ap- peared on the stage, no the character of a bear—an animal he was well qualified to personate. Rushing from his den, and growling fiercely, he pursued the hunts- man, the chief of Babme portage, who defended himself with a long pole; both parties maintained a running fight, until they reached the far end of the build- ing, where they made their exit. Enter afterwards a jealous husband and his wife, wearing masks (both being men). The part these acted appeared rather dull: the husband merely sat down by the side of his frail rib,' watching her motions closely, and neither allowing her to speak to nor look at any of the young men. As to the other characters, one personated a deer, another a wolf, a third A strange Tsekany. The bear seemed to give the spectators most delight."