PREFACE.


The writer's main object in first committing to writing the following
Notes was to while away the many lonely and wearisome hours which are
the lot of the Indian trader;--a wish to gratify his friends by the
narrative of his adventures had also some share in inducing him to
take up the pen.

While he might justly plead the hacknied excuse of being urged by not
a few of those friends to publish these Notes, in extenuation of the
folly or presumption, or whatever else it may be termed, of obtruding
them on the world, in these days of "making many books;" he feels that
he can rest his vindication on higher grounds. Although several works
of some merit have appeared in connexion with the subject, the
Hudson's Bay territory is yet, comparatively speaking, but little
known; no faithful representation has yet been given of the situation
of the Company's servants--the Indian traders; the degradation and
misery of the many Indian tribes, or rather remnants of tribes,
scattered throughout this vast territory, is in a great measure
unknown; erroneous statements have gone abroad in regard to the
Company's treatment of these Indians; as also in regard to the
government, policy, and management of the Company's affairs;--on these
points, he conceives that his plain, unvarnished tale may throw some
new light.

Some of the details may seem trivial, and some of the incidents to be