by Mayne Reid
Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
The Young Voyageurs--Boy Hunters in the North, by Captain Mayne Reid.
________________________________________________________________________The heroes are the three boys whom we met in "The Boy Hunters" wherethey were off on a search for a white buffalo, which their father hadrequested. Now, however, their father has died, and the only relativethey have is an uncle who works for the Hudson's Bay Company, in thevery north of Canada. The uncle sends for them, and sends his own sonto guide them over the Canadian part of the journey.
This is the story of their journey from their original home in the southof the U.S.A., many thousands of miles, to be with their uncle. At thetime the only way they could do this journey was by their own efforts,by canoe, on foot, and, after the onset of winter, by sledge, or, ifthey could get one, by dog-train.
The canoe and much of their clothes, food and equipment is lost in amajor rapid, so they are very much thrown on their own ingenuity andwoodcraft. One of the boys has a major interest in natural history, andwe hear from him all about the various animals and birds encountered.This is far from being a bore, as the author has taken care to make itinteresting.
This is a very enjoyable book, even though it is over 150 years since itwas written.
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THE YOUNG VOYAGEURS--BOY HUNTERS IN THE NORTH, BY CAPTAIN MAYNE REID.
CHAPTER ONE.
THE FUR COUNTRIES.
Boy reader, you have heard of the Hudson's Bay Company? Ten to one, youhave worn a piece of fur, which it has provided for you; if not, yourpretty little sister has--in her muff, or her boa, or as a trimming forher winter dress. Would you like to know something of the countrywhence come these furs?--of the animals whose backs have been strippedto obtain them? As I feel certain that you and I are old friends, Imake bold to answer for you--yes. Come, then! let us journey togetherto the "Fur Countries;" let us cross them from south to north.
A vast journey it will be. It will cost us many thousand miles oftravel. We shall find neither railway-train, nor steamboat, norstage-coach, to carry us on our way. We shall not even have the help ofa horse. For us no hotel shall spread its luxurious board; no road-sideinn shall hang out its inviting sign and "clean beds;" no roof of anykind shall offer us its hospitable shelter. Our table shall be a rock,a log, or the earth itself; our lodging a tent; and our bed the skin ofa wild beast. Such are the best accommodations we can expect upon ourjourney. Are you still ready to undertake it? Does the prospect notdeter you?
No--I hear you exclaim. I shall be satisfied with the table--what careI for mahogany? With the lodging--I can tent like an Arab. With thebed--fling feathers to the wind!
Enough, brave boy! you shall go with me to the wild regions of the"North-west," to the far "fur countries" of America. But, first--a wordabout the land through which we are going to travel.
Take down your Atlas. Bend your eye upon the map of North America.Note two large islands--one upon the right side, Newfoundland; anotherupon the left, Vancouver. Draw a line from one to the other; it willnearly bisect the continent. North of that line you behold a vastterritory. How vast! You may take your scissors, and clip fiftyEnglands out of it! There are lakes there in which you might _drown_England, or make an island of it! Now, you may form some idea of thevastness of that region known as the "fur countries."
Will you believe me, when I tell you that all this immense tract is awilderness--a howling wilderness, if you like a poetical name? It iseven so. From north to south, from ocean to ocean,--throughout all thatvast domain, there is neither town nor village--hardly anything that canbe dignified with the name of "settlement." The only signs ofcivilisation to be seen are the "forts," or trading posts, of theHudson's Bay Company; and these "signs" are few and far--hundreds ofmiles--between. For inhabitants, the country has less than ten thousandwhite men, the _employes_ of the Company; and its native people areIndians of many tribes, living far apart, few in numbers, subsisting bythe chase, and half starving for at least a third part of every year!In truth, the territory can hardly be called "inhabited." There is nota man to every ten miles; and in many parts of it you may travelhundreds of miles without seeing a face, red, white, or black!
The physical aspect is, therefore, entirely wild. It is very differentin different parts of the territory. One tract is peculiar. It hasbeen long known as the "Barren Grounds." It is a tract of vast extent.It lies north-west from the shores of Hudson's Bay, extending nearly tothe Mackenzie River. Its rocks are _primitive_. It is a land of hillsand valleys,--of deep dark lakes and sharp-running streams. It is awoodless region. No timber is found there that deserves the name. Notrees but glandular dwarf birches, willows, and black spruce, small andstunted. Even these only grow in isolated valleys. More generally thesurface is covered with coarse sand--the _debris_ of granite orquartz-rock--upon which no vegetable, save the lichen or the moss, canfind life and nourishment. In one respect these "Barren Grounds" areunlike the deserts of Africa: they are well watered. In almost everyvalley there is a lake; and though many of these are landlocked, yet dothey contain fish of several species. Sometimes these lakes communicatewith each other by means of rapid and turbulent streams passing throughnarrow gorges; and lines of those connected lakes form the great riversof the district.
Such is a large portion of the Hudson's Bay territory. Most of theextensive peninsula of Labrador partakes of a similar character; andthere are other like tracts west of the Rocky Mountain range in the"Russian possessions."
Yet these "Barren Grounds" have their denizens. Nature has formedanimals that delight to dwell there, and that are never found in morefertile regions. Two ruminating creatures find sustenance upon themosses and lichens that cover their cold rocks: they are the caribou(reindeer) and the musk-ox. These, in their turn, become the food andsubsistence of preying creatures. The wolf, in all its varieties ofgrey, black, white, pied, and dusky, follows upon their trail. The"brown bear,"--a large species, nearly resembling the "grizzly,"--isfound only in the Barren Grounds; and the great "Polar bear" comeswithin their borders, but the latter is a dweller upon their shoresalone, and finds his food among the finny tribes of the seas thatsurround them. In marshy ponds, existing here and there, the musk-rat(_Fibre zibethieus_) builds his house, like that of his larger cousin,the beaver. Upon the water sedge he finds subsistence; but his naturalenemy, the wolverene (_Gulo luscus_), skulks in the same neighbourhood.The "Polar hare" lives upon the leaves and twigs of the dwarfbirch-tree; and this, transformed into its own white flesh, becomes thefood of the Arctic fox. The herbage, sparse though it be, does not growin vain. The seeds fall to the earth, but they are not suffered todecay. They are gathered by the little lemmings and meadow-mice(_arvicolae_), who, in their turn, become the prey of two species of_mustelidae_, the ermine and vison weasels. Have the fish of the lakesno enemy? Yes--a terrible one in the Canada otter. The mink-weasel,too, pursues them; and in summer, the osprey, the great pelican, thecormorant, and the white-headed eagle.
These are the _fauna_ of the Barren Grounds. Man rarely ventures withintheir boundaries. The wretched creatures who find a living there arethe Esquimaux on their coasts, and a few Chippewa Indians in theinterior, who hunt the caribou, and are known as "caribou-eaters."Other Indians enter them only in summer, in search of game, orjourneying from point to point; and so perilous are these journeyings,that numbers frequently perish by the way. There are no white men inthe Barren Grounds. The "Company" has no commerce there. No fort isestablished in them: so scarce are the fur-bea
ring animals of theseparts, their skins would not repay the expense of a "trading post."
Far different are the "wooded tracts" of the fur countries. These liemostly in the southern and central regions of the Hudson's Bayterritory. There are found the valuable beaver, and the wolverene thatpreys upon it. There dwells the American hare, with its enemy theCanada lynx. There are the squirrels, and the beautiful martens(sables) that hunt them from tree to tree. There are found the foxes ofevery variety, the red, the cross, and the rare and highly-prizedsilver-fox (_Vulpes argentatus_), whose shining skin sells for itsweight in gold! There, too, the black bear (_Ursus Americanus_) yieldsits fine coat to adorn the winter carriage, the holsters of the dragoon,and the shako of the grenadier. There the fur-bearing animals exist ingreatest plenty, and many others whose skins are valuable in commerce,as the moose, the wapiti, and the wood-bison.
But there is also a "prairie" district in the fur countries. The greattable prairies of North America, that slope eastward from the RockyMountains, also extend northward into the Hudson's Bay territory. Theygradually grow narrower, however, as you proceed farther north, until,on reaching the latitude of the Great Slave Lake, they end altogether.This "prairie land" has its peculiar animals. Upon it roams thebuffalo, the prong-horned antelope, and the mule-deer. There, too, maybe seen the "barking-wolf" and the "swift fox." It is the favouritehome of the marmots, and the gauffres or sand-rats; and there, too, thenoblest of animals, the horse, runs wild. West of this prairie tract isa region of far different aspect,--the region of the Rocky Mountains.This stupendous chain, sometimes called the Andes of North America,continues throughout the fur countries from their southern limits to theshores of the Arctic Sea. Some of its peaks overlook the waters of thatsea itself, towering up near the coast. Many of these, even in southernlatitudes, carry the "eternal snow." This "mountain-chain" is, inplaces, of great breadth. Deep valleys lie in its embrace, many ofwhich have never been visited by man. Some are desolate and dreary;others are oases of vegetation, which fascinate the traveller whosefortune it has been, after toiling among naked rocks, to gaze upon theirsmiling fertility. These lovely wilds are the favourite home of manystrange animals. The argali, or mountain-sheep, with his huge curvinghorns, is seen there; and the shaggy wild goat bounds along the steepestcliffs. The black bear wanders through the wooded ravines; and hisfiercer congener, the "grizzly"--the most dreaded of all Americananimals--drags his huge body along the rocky declivities.
Having crossed the mountains, the fur countries extend westward to thePacific. There you encounter barren plains, treeless and waterless;rapid rivers, that foam through deep, rock-bound channels; and a countryaltogether rougher in aspect, and more mountainous, than that lying tothe east of the great chain. A warmer atmosphere prevails as youapproach the Pacific, and in some places forests of tall trees cover theearth. In these are found most of the fur-bearing animals; and, onaccount of the greater warmth of the climate, the true _felidae_--thelong-tailed cats--here wander much farther north than upon the easternside of the continent. Even so far north as the forests of Oregon theseappear in the forms of the cougar (_Felis concolor_), and the ounce(_Felis onza_).
But it is not our intention at present to cross the Rocky Mountains.Our journey will lie altogether on the eastern side of that great chain.It will extend from the frontiers of civilisation to the shores of theArctic Sea. It is a long and perilous journey, boy reader; but as wehave made up our minds to it, let us waste no more time in talking, butset forth at once. You are ready? Hurrah!