A Voyage with the Voyageurs, Chapters I-V [pp. 246-252]

APPLETONS' JO URNAL.
boats destined for the interior may deprive some
important district of the means of traffic for the ensuing year, and necessitate the holding over of immense stocks of goods, to the serious derangement
of trade, and a heavy curtailment of the annual profits. The matter of transportation, then, is one of
vital importance to the fur-company, and is conducted
with a care and system devoted, perhaps, to no other
branch of a trade in which a close attention to details and routine are distinguishing features. Though
the actual duties of freighting occupy but about four
months in the year, yet the preparation pertinent to
its perfect performance engrosses to a great extent
the remaining eight. The result is a system so perfect that over the long courses traversed by the boatbrigades their arrival may be calculated upon almost
to the hour; and the anxious trader may ascend his
lookout-post with the certainty of seeing sweeping
round the nearest point the well-laden boats, with
swarthy crews bending low to their oars, and singing
their weird chansons in time to the measured stroke.
The freighting-season begins about the first week
in June, when the ice has disappeared from the rivers, and the spring supplies of merchandise destined
for the interior have reached the depot forts. At
that period the advance brigade of seven or eight
boats leaves Fort Garry-now the principal point of
forwarding in the service-followed a week after by
yet another. This interval is allowed in order to
prevent the meeting of the boats at any post, thereby
creating undue bustle and confusion. These boats
tend north and northwest toward Methy Portage and
York Factory, there to meet other brigades from the
remote arctic districts, to whom they deliver their
cargoes, receiving in exchange the furs brought down
from the interior posts-the proceeds of the year's
trade. When this exchange is effected, each brigade
retraces its course. The time occupied by the longest trip-that of Methy Portage, the height of land
from which the waters flow into Hudson's Bay and
the Arctic Ocean-is about four months. Numerous
shorter trips are also made, and the whole country is
alive during this season with advancing and returning boats.
The peculiar nature of the transportation service
of the company necessitates certain conditions in
freight, boats and boatmen pertaining to it, not elsewhere to be found. The entire water-carriage of the
country is performed by means of what are technically called "inland boats," of three and a half tons'
burden, and requiring nine men as crew. Of the
shape of the ordinary whale-boat, they carry a small
mast, unstepped at will, upon which, in crossing
lakes, should the wind prove favorable, a square sail
is set. A small platform or deck covers the stern of
the vessel, upon which is seated the steersman, using
at times the ordinary lever-rudder; again a long
sweep, with one stroke of which the direction of the
craft is radically changed. The steersman is captain of the vessel, the eight men under him being
ranged as "middle-men," or rowers. A number of
these boats constitute a brigade, over which a guide,
skilled in the intricacies of current and coast, is
placed, and who may be regarded as the commodore
of the fleet. His duty is to guide the brigade
through dangerous waters, to support the authority
of the steersmen, and to transact the business of the
brigade at the stations touched en route. The position is an important one when properly filled, and is
generally held by the same person until advancing
years necessitate its relinquishment.
III.
RAPIDLY we sped down the waters of the turbid
stream, and monotonously echoed the loud "ough!"
of the voyageurs as they rose from their seats with
each stroke of the oar, only to sink back again with
a sudden jar as the broad blades left the water.
Stately swans looking thoughtfully into the stream,
tall cranes standing motionless on one leg, and ducks
of every hue disappearing behind the foliage screening the mouth of some creek or coolie, were the only
living things to be seen. The landscape was monotonously splendid, and the hours passed in unvarying
succession. Ten minutes in every hour were allowed the hardy voyageurs for rest; the long oars
were lifted from the flood, from every fire-bag came
pipes and tobacco, and the bark of the gray willow,
mingled in equal proportion with the Indian weed,
lent its fragrance to the morning air. After such
pleasant interlude the paddles were plied with renewed vigor, and soon the woods disappeared; and
the banks, which gradually sank to a lower level, became covered with the long, reedy grass marking the
delta of the stream. Farther on, even the senmblance of vegetation afforded by the reeds ceased
abruptly, leaving naught but a sandy bar submerged
at high tide, and the waters of an immense lake
extending northward out of sight-a lake which
stretched away into unseen places, and on whose
waters a fervid June sun was playing strange freaks
of mirage and inverted shore-land.
Upon the sand-bar at the outlet of the main channel our boats were run along-shore, and preparations
ensued for the mid-day meal. Generally speaking,
while voyaging, it is only allowable to put ashore for
breakfast, a cold dinner being taken in the boats;
but, as no voyageur could be expected to labor in his
holiday-apparel, a halt was necessary before setting
out upon the lake. The low beach yielded ample
store of driftwood, the relics of many a northern
gale, and of this a fire was lighted, and the dinnerapparatus arranged in the stern-sheets of the boat.
The functions of the chef, limited to the preparation
of pemmican in some palatable way, were simple
enough. For trip-men pemmican is the unalterable
bill-of-fare. It is the favorite food of the half-breed
and Indian voyageurs, and is nearly altogether composed of buffalo-meat. The fresh meat is first cut
into thin slices, then dried over a fire or in the sun,
after which it is beaten into a thick, flaky substance.
In this state it is placed in a bag, manufactured from
the raw-hide of the animal, and the pulpy mass soldered down by melted fat poured over it, the proportions of fat and pounded meat being about equal.
The best pemmican usually has sugar and service
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