FIRST FOUNDATIONS

they would work well to get what they seem to be so fond
of ; but then, they are independent of us, as they get their
necessaries from their neighbors, who trade with the natives.
of the seacoast.”

Trading and bartering were started on the spot. The
natives, who received illusory substitutes for their fur coats.
and robes, were instructed thenceforth to exert themselves.
and procure as many as possible of the skins enumerated
to them.

The first introduction over, the young founder set his
men to work at clearing the ground for a new fort at the
exact spot McDougall had marked out, just one mile to
the north-west of the outlet of the large sheet of water
which, called at first Sturgeon Lake, was finally christened
Stuart Lake, as a compliment to Fraser’s chief com-
panion.

The latitude of the new place was 54° 26’ 52”, by longi-
tude about 124° 30. It stood on a bay with shallow
waters, not on a peninsula, as Bancroft says.? To the
beauty of its surroundings even fault-finding John McLean
was to bear testimony when, forty-three years later, he
wrote the following description, which is about accurate,
though by no means adequate :

“Fort St. James, the depot of New Caledonia district,
stands near the outlet of Stuart Lake, and commands a
splendid view of the surrounding country. The lake is
about fifty miles in length, and from three to four miles in
breadth, stretching away to the north and north-east for
about twenty miles. The view from the fort embraces
nearly the whole of this section of it, which is studded
with beautiful islands. The western shore is low, and
indented by a number of small bays formed by wooded

I. Quoted by Bancroft, ‘* History of the North-West,” Vol. II., p. 109.
2. Lbid, zbid.
63