File:The polar and tropical worlds - a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe (1874) (14591398217).jpg

Identifier: polartropicalwor00hartuoft (find matches)
Title: The polar and tropical worlds : a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe
Year: 1874 (1870s)
Authors: Hartwig, G. (Georg), 1813-1880 Guernsey, Alfred Hudson, 1824-1902
Subjects: Arctic peoples Natural history Antarctica Arctic regions Tropics
Publisher: Guelph, Ont. : J.W. Lyon
Contributing Library: Gerstein - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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at thattime European law had little power in the American wilderness. The dissensions of the fur-traders had most deplorable consequences forthe Redskins; for both companies, to swell the number of their adherents,lavishly distributed spirituous liquors—a temptation which no Indian can re-sist. The whole of the hunting-grounds of the Saskatchewan and Athabascawere but one scene of revelry and bloodshed. Already decimated by thesmallqjox, the Indians now became the victims of drunkenness and discord,and it Avas to be feared that if the war and its consequent demoralization con-tinued, the most important tribes would soon be utterly swept away. The finances of the belligerent companies were in an equally deplorablestate; the produce of the chase diminished from year to year with the in- THE FUR-TRADE OF THE HUDSONS BAY TERRITORIES. 309 crease of their expenditure; and thus the Hudsons Bay Company, which usedto gratify its shareholders with dividends of 50 and 25 per cent., was unable,
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from 1808 to 1814, to distribute a single shilling among them. At length wis-dom prevailed over passion, and the enemies came to a resolution which, if 310 THE POLAR WORLD. taken from the very beginning, would have saved them both a great deal oftreasure and many crimes. Instead of continuing to swing tlie tomuliawk,they now smoked the cahimet, and amalgamated in 1821, under the name ofthe Hudsons Bay Company, and under the wing of the charter. The lirit-ish Government, as a dowry to the impoverished couple, presented them witl> alicense of exclusive trade throughout the whole of that territory which, underthe name of the Hudsons Day and North-west territories, extends froni Lab-rador to the Pacific, and from the Red Kiver to the Polar Ocean. This licensewas terminable in 21 years,but in 1838 it was renewed again for the same pe-riod. The good effects of peace and union soon became apparent, for after afew years the Company was enabled to pay half-yearly dividends of five percent.,

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