DEPARTURE OF THE VOYAGEURS FROM LACHINE

Abbé Dugas, North West Missionary, from information received from one of the voyrgeurs himself (2), speaks of the crowds that invaded Lachine during the two weeks preceding the departure of the voyageurs. “For a fortnight, these old hardy sons of ‘# the north, revelled in a series of festival and sports, inviting all

() The name ‘‘ Boothia Felix ” a point situated in the North Sea, may perhaps be traced to this voyageur.

(2) T.-Bte. Charbonnéau, born at Boucherville, on the 25th of December, 1795. In 1815 he left for the North West, in the service of the North West Company.

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“ their friends to partake of the good cheer. Liquor flowed like “ water (1), followed by dancing in the evening.

“ On leaving Lachine, the next point was St. Annes, at the “extreme west of the island of Montreal. Although distant “ but fifteen miles, they always made their first halt at this vil- “ lage, and the voyage was only supposed to begin in earnest “ when St, Annes was left behind. Before leaving, it was cus- “ tomary for the voyageurs to congregate in prayer at the church, “ bringing their greeting to the good St. Ann, and putting them- “ selves under her prot-ction. At the time, this sanctuary was “ about the last on the route of travel.” Un Voyageur des Pays d'en Haut, p. 23-33.

“ About the 15th of June, 1791,” says Mr. McDonald, grand father of Mr. de Léry McDonald, “I left Lachine in a large “ birch canoe manned by 14 choice voyageurs and our cook. A ‘“ crowd of friends and spectators were there to witness our depar- “ ture, a great event before the time of th: steamers. We landed “ at Ste Anne, where the men paid their d-votion to their titu- ‘“lar Saint.” Les Bourgeois de l'Ouest, vol. 1, p. 12.

CANOES AND BATTEAUX.

Bouchette, Topographical Description, 1815, pp. 136-39, gives a graffic description of these primitive craft : ‘“ During the months between May and November, batteaux

(1) The extent of the traffic of intoxicating liquors in Lachine has been the subject of frequent comment. The charge is not altogether unfounded, but I think it exaggerated. Taking into consideration the commercial and geographical situation of the locality, the good character of the populatlon cannot be gainsaid. Lachine has ever been very much exposed to the temptation of alcoholic beverage. At the very origin of the colony, long time before the foundation of Montreal, and for more than a century afterwards, it was the trading rendez-vous of the Indian tribes. Sometimes they were kept for months as a means of protection against the inroads of the Iroquois. Of course they had to be féêted, s0 that under the circumstances it is not astonishing if Lachine became the scene of grave disorders. Some fifty years later, Lachine became the headquarters of the fur traders and rendez-vous for the North West voyageurs, thereby entailing new dangers. The conctruction of the canals and railroads the large lumber basins, navigation, workshops, the neighborhood of an Indian village and of a large city like Montreal, the drives along the river front and elsewhere, all combine to attract, on Sunday especially, an excess of strangers bent upon amusement only. Nor must it be forgotten that there exist but few places made up of a greater diversity of race and creed, in all 17 nationalities, Despite all these perils, the population has remained peaceable and of a profoundly moral and religious nature. Crimes are nnknown, and the public peace is seldom disturbed. In the twenty years of my residence in Lachine, I fail to recall the commission of a single murder or manslaughter,

“to and from Kingston and various part of Upper Canada are “ continually arriving and departing, which always occasions a “ great deal of activity and bustle of business. The nature of ‘“ these craft may be very shortly described : they are flatbot- ‘tommed, from 35 to 40 feet in length, terminating in a point “at each extremity, with about six feet of beam in the centre ; “the usual freight is four or four and a half tons ; they are “worked by oars, a mast and sail, drag-ropes for towing, and “Jong poles for setting them through the strong currents or ‘ rapids ; four men manage them in summer, but in the fall of ‘“ the year another is always added, one of whom acts as a guide. ‘“ In the batteaux of the merchants the cargoes upwards are a general assortment of merchandise, for which they bring down “ flour, wheat, salt provisions, pot and pearlashes, and peltries. “ The time employed in the voyage to Kingston is from 10 to 12 “ days; but the return does not take more than three or four. “ They usually depart in brigades of from four to fifteen boats, “in order that their crews may be able to afford mutual assis- ‘“ tance in ascending the rapids : each brigade is under the direc- ‘“ tion of one man, who is called the conductor. From Lachine ‘alko the canoes employed by the north west company in the fur ‘“ trade take thcir departure. Of all the numerous contrivances ‘ for transporting heavy burthens by water these vessels are per- ‘“ haps the most extraordinary ; scarcely any thing can be con- ‘“ ceived s0 inadequate, from the slightness of their construction, “to the purpose they are applied to, and to contend against “the impetuous torrent of the many rupids that must be ‘“ passed through in the course of a voyage. They seldom exceed “ thirty feet in length and six in breadth, diminishing to a sharp ‘“ point at each end, without distinction of head or stern : the “ frame is composed of small pieces of some very light wood, it “is then covered with the bark of the birch tree, cut into con- ‘# venient slips, that are rarely more than the eighth of an inch ‘in thickness ; these are sewed together with threads made from “the twisted fibres of the roots of a particular tree, and strength- ‘“ened where necessary by narrow strips of the same materials “€ applied on the inside ; the joints in this fragile planking are “ made water tight by being covered with a species of gum that “€ adheres very firmly and becomes perfectly hard. No iron-work “of any description, not even nails, are employed in building

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‘ these slender vessels, which when complete weigh only about ‘“ five hundred weight each. On being prepared for the voyage, ‘ they receive their lading, that for the convenience of carrying ‘“ across the portages is made up in packages of about three ‘“ quarters of a hundred weight each, and amounuts altogether to “ five tons or a little more, including provisions and other neces- “ saries for the men, of whom from eight to ten are employed to ‘ each canoe ; they usually sct out in brigades like the batteaux, ‘and in the course of a summer upwards of fifty of these vessels ‘are thus dispatched. They proceed up the Grand or Ottawa “ River as far as the south west branch, by which, a:d a chain “of small lakes, they reach Lake Nipissing; through it and ‘“ down the French River into Lake Huron ; along its northern ‘ coast up the narrows of St. Mary into Lake Superior, and then by its northern side to the Grand Portage, a distance of bout 1100 miles from the place of departure. The difficulties encountered in this veyage are not easily conceived ; the great number of rapids in the rivers, the different portages from lake to lake, which vary from a few yards to three miles or more in length, where the canoes must be unladen, and with their conteuts carried to the next water, occasion a succession of labours and fatigues of which but a poor estimation can be formed by judging it from the ordinary occupations of other labouring classes. From the Grand Portage, that is nine miles across, à continuation of the sime toils takes place in bark canoes of an inferior size, through the chain of lakes and streams “ that run from the height of land westward to the Lake of the Woods, Lake Winnipeg, and onwards to more distant establishments of the Company in the remote regions of the northwest country. The men emp'oyed in this service are called voyageurs ; they are robust, hardy, and resolute, capable of enduring great extremes of fatigue and privation for a long time with a patience almost inexhaustible. In the large lakes they are frequent!y daring enough to cross the deep bays, often a distance of several leayues in th-ir canoes, to avoid lenghtening the route by coasting them ; yet notwithstanding all the “ risks and hardships attending their employment, they prefer it. ‘“ to every other, and are very seldom induced to relinquish it in ‘ favour of any more settled occupation. The few dollars they ‘ receive as the compensation for so many privations and dan-

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‘ gers are in general dissipated with a most care!ess indifference “to future wants, and when at an end they very contentedly “ renew the sane series of toils to obtain a fresh supply.” (1)

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