12 Sir ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

were the private soldiers; it was officered prin-
cipally by young Scotsmen as clerks; and at
the summit were a few partners, or bourgeois,
most of whom were in charge of districts in
the interior as large as many European coun-
tries, while others in Montreal looked after
the supply of goods and the sale of the furs.
It was directed by an annual meeting, a par-
liament of the fur-trade, at Grand Portage on
Lake Superior (later moved to Fort William);
here came each summer the partners from the
interior, the winterers, bringing out their furs,
to meet two of the partners from Montreal,
the agents, and to procure supplies for the
next season. Stern discipline was maintained
and a regular system of promotion. The
French employees could rarely hope to rise
above the rank of guide or steersman; but
before the eyes of the clerks there was always
the prize of a partnership as the reward for
zealous service. Certainly the North West
Company, whatever its faults, inspired a fer-
vent loyalty among its members.

The Company was founded in Montreal
in the winter of 1783-4. Before that time the