198 Mackenzie’s Voyages

of its sophistication wholly escaped the mental grasp of
the Redman.

When the trader had become reputably organised he dealt
out “unequal laws unto a savage race.” The passionate
child-like egos that were his subjects had to be curbed, and
trained to realise that trinkets and rum were the rewards of
industry. Having accepted the two main tenets of the new
religion, the code of meum et tuum was never afterwards
questioned by the Indian—and law and order, after its kind,
prevailed within the jurisdiction of the trader.

The demand having been created in the savage breast,
its satisfaction resulted in the Indian becoming a docile
servant of “the company,” so utterly dependent on it, that
to be banished from its favour constituted the greatest
punishment attainable in this world.

While the ‘‘50,000 gallons of rum, per annum,” no
doubt had deleterious effects upon the aboriginal races, that
was offset by their complete subjection to the fur-trading
companies, and the way was thus prepared for the peace-
able settlement of the land. Any troubles that arose from
opposition on the part of the native races may be directly
traced to friction between rival companies or interests in
which the Indian and his descendants became embroiled.

Trading in those days was impossible to men lacking
in courage, resourcefulness, and the explorer’s instinct. ‘The
North-Westers were remarkable for the possession of these
qualities, so well instanced in Mackenzie, Thompson, and
Fraser. Indeed that company owed its phenomenal success
to the peculiar gifts of its partners. They were not counter-
jumpers, but men of the open spaces to whom trading, in
a sense, was incidental. ‘The “‘ancient and honourable com-
pany” (the Hudson’s Bay) with true British conservatism
deemed it its dignified duty to remain behind its counters