CHAPTER VIII THE LAST YEARS

ANE the end of 1805 Mackenzie seems to

have determined to leave Canada. He had made a comfortable fortune, for the fur- trade had expanded enormously since his first venture twenty years before. On departing for England in November he wrote in farewell to Roderick: ‘Never mind the folly of the times; for my own part I am determined to make myself as comfortable as circumstances will allow. I have a large field before me. I do not leave Canada without regret.”” Though he returned to Canada once or twice, there- after his home was on the other side of the Atlantic. The call of his native land was insistent.

From the lone shieling of the misty island Mountains divide us and the waste of seas, But still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland,

And we in dreams behold the Hebrides.

153