The polar and tropical worlds : a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe . rs, 1200permanent servants, and 500 voyageurs, besides temporary employes of differ-ent raidvs, so tliat the total number of persons in its pay was at least this little army of immediate dependents, the whole male Indian ))opu-lation of its vast territory, amounting to about 100,000 hunters and traj)pers,may be considered as actively employed in the service of the Company. Arm-ed vessels, both sailing and steam, are employed on the north-west coast to car-ry on the fu
The polar and tropical worlds : a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe . rs, 1200permanent servants, and 500 voyageurs, besides temporary employes of differ-ent raidvs, so tliat the total number of persons in its pay was at least this little army of immediate dependents, the whole male Indian ))opu-lation of its vast territory, amounting to about 100,000 hunters and traj)pers,may be considered as actively employed in the service of the Company. Arm-ed vessels, both sailing and steam, are employed on the north-west coast to car-ry on the fur-trade with the warlike natives of that distant region. INIore thantwenty years ago tliis trade alone gave employment to about 1000 men, occupy-ing 21 permanent establislnnents, or engaged in navigating five armed sailingvessels and one armed steamer, varying from 100 to 300 tons in burden. The influence of the Company over its savage dependents may justly becalled beneficial. Both from motives of humanity and self-interest, every effortis made to civilize them. No expense is spared to preserve them from the. TKADEK S CAMI, THE FUR-TRADE OF THE HUDSONS BAY TERRITORIES. 313 want into which their improvidence too often phmges them; and the exampleof an inflexible straightforwardness serves to gain their confidence. This moralpreponderance, and the admiration of the Indian for the superior knowledgeand arts of the Europeans, explain how a mere handful of white men, scatteredover an enormous territory, not only lead a life of perfect security, but exercisean almost absolute power over a native population outnumbering them at leastseveral hundred times. The Indians have in course of time acquired many newAvants, and have thus become more and more dependent en the white savage hunter is no longer the free, self-dependent man, who, Avithout anyforeign assistance, was able to make and manufacture, Avith his own hands, alltlie Aveapons and articles needed for his maintenan
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