THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20229, 13 April 1929, Page 7 (Supplement)

THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

A HUDSON'S BAY VETERAN. The Hudson's Bay Company is (he oldest Chartered Company in the world, with tho record behind it of two and a-lialf centuries of honourable dealing. Its history is part of tho history of Canada,' and few of its servants can have shared in tho making of thai history for a longer time than Mr. Henry John Moberly, who, in collaboration with Mr. W. D. Cameron, tells tho tale of bygone days, When Fur was King." Mr. Moberly was born in Ontario in 1835, joined the Company in 1854. retired forty years later, and at 93, is still active, energetic and interested in all tho topics of the hour. This remarkable man tells of almost forgotten days, when hugo hordes of buffalo still roamed the prairies; when lied Indians were still tree and wild, and carrying on incessant warfare; when tho Hudson's Bay Company rule was tho only law, and travel was dono entirely by boat or on dogsleds or on horseback. A most interesting chapter describes a very early Hudson Bay Company's Council at Fort William under the then Governor Sir Georgo Simpson. Before the council caino a banquet, " one such as, I think, could scarcely be provided to-day at any price; smoked and salted buffalo tongues and bosses, moose noses and tongues, beaver tails from the wooded country, the choicest venison, wild ouoks and geese, fresh trout and whitefish, and a lavish spread of delicacies from the old world. Sherry and old port wine, with champagne, were all tho beverages allowed. discipline being very strict in those days." A Fur and Sum Trade. It is strange to read that liquor, Jamaica rum, was tho chief commodity traded by the Company for skins. The ceremony of the " trade " was punctilious and picturesque. As each chief appeared at tho fort the Company's flag was run up and a salute fired. When they had all been admitted to tho " Indian room," I no word was spoken until the interpreter had filled a long-stemmed pipe with tobacco and harorego or red willow bark. The interpreter having lighted the pipe, it was passed to the chiefs in strict order of precedence. Each took three long whiffs and no more, and 1 lien passed it to the man on his left. The head chief then rose and made his talk, asking the master to pitv and favour them, proclaiming that they had done their best and would try to do better in future. Tho master followed, saying he was well pleased they had striven to make eood hunts, and had no doubt that their next

visit would prove oven more satisfactory. The speeches ended, each Indian received another drink and they were then turned out of the fort. All gates were closed. The trade, meaning the barter in rum, then began, and might bo kept up all night and until nine next morning, when it ceased summarily. Exciting Buffalo Hunt. Those were great hunting days, and there is a keen savour about the tale of a ride overland to Fort Pitt. Camping lor tho night, tho riders picketed their horses, and killed enough prairie chickens and wild ducks for supper. Camp was broken at sunrise, and after a two hours ride, came • cry of " Moostoos!" A herd of fifty or si*<iy buffalo came in sight, and as Mr Moherley says, " How my fellow-travellers, who had seen buffalo over and over again, felt, 1 do not know, but for myself I would not have changed places with anyone in the world. I rode a fine horse, carried a double-barrelled gun loaded with bullets, and there before us ranged a band of buffalo oil an open prairie with not a twig to obstruct them." Mr. Moberly's mount proving the swiftest he soon closed with the herd, and jiicked out the largest bull. "As 1 neared him I observed his tail stiffen, and heard shouting behind me, which I mistook for cheering." Then just when he was on the point of distinguishing himself. a shot rang out, and to bis disgust, he saw the bull he had marked drop like a stone. " I was burning with rage, and it •was hard to convince me that the shot had saved my life, and that of my horse. Boy,' said my native preceptor, ' when >'ou see do Lull's tail go up, look out! He plant bees forefeet on de ground, bees hind quarter' swing round, and den w'ere you link you arc? W'y on bees horn!' The Future of Hudson's Bay. But though the great sums aro still being netted in the iur trade of the far north, year bv year civilisation and cultivation arc pushing further north. The mineral resources of the country are scarcely tapped. A second Hudson Bay Railway may yet span the barren ground between Lake Athabasca and Fort Churchill, carrying frozen reindeer carcases, and lisii from the inexhaustible stores in the lakes of the interior to the markets of the East and of Europe. There are valuable ana extensive forests of spruce and otbc woods, in the valleys of the Peace Athabasca and Clearwater Rivers and much oi this timber could be landed cheaply at the cast end of Lake Athabasca to supply tho needs of the treeless country beyond. " Aeroplanes will soon be covering in a few hours or clays a region that in the past has been practically inaccessible; it promise* to become as well-known as Ontario or Manitoba. Aeroplanes and a railroad —what a combination for the opening of virgin territory! Canada is pist commencing to be discovered. What a laud! What a future! What possibilities!" " When Fur n-ns Kin}.*." by Henry John Moberly and William Blcnsdell Cameron (Dent).