The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1869-02-03
The Territory of the Hudson
bay Company and the NOrfh-
West Passage.

West Passage.
rFrom Ia Revue des Deux Mondes.
Lord Milton and Dr. Cheadle promptly
discovered that the most efficient and use
full of firearms, in the Far West was
good double-bareled gun, and that their
rifles were not much available, for they
had to depend mainly on birds for their
subsistence. Every sporting man will I'M
derstand the meaning of this, and will not
longer disdain the placid hares and inof-
fensive quails of the old countries. How
ever, the profession of trapper is a very
hard one, and one which requires great
deal of patience and unrufHed stoicism.
The wild beasts are never hunted except
in winter time, when their furs have ac-
ouired their best quality and lustre, and
when the animals leave behind them on
the snow well-defned trail, leading 10
their haunts. They are caught by the
means Of snares and those employed in the
Territory of the Hudson Bay Company are
not unlike those used in France. known
by the name Of Touchdown The
great skill of the trapper consists in the
manner he lays his traps, and etiaces all
traces of his passage. He starts in the
morning, through the snow-covered forest,
carrying on his back his gun, blanket,
provisions and tools, and looks for spot
which has not yet been discovered by his
companions as adapted to trapping pur-
poses. For days, he goes on, exploring,
having no shelter during the cold, freezing
nights. His luggage is always too heavy
for the time of exercise, but, unhappily too
light for the time Of rest. He soon ex-
hausts bis provisions, lays his traps, and
YEARLY goes home. Having allowed
week to elaDse, he returns to the place
where he expects to find the reward OF
his toilsome labors. But is he sure that
success will give him compensation for
his trouble? No, indeed. There is one
fact, the consequences Of which are dread
full TO the people who make their living
by hunting and trapping the furcoated an
finals have become more and more scarce IN
proportion to their increase of value. The
silver-fox, whose fur is sold at go in the
store-houses of the Hudson Bay Company,
has retired to the far northern soitudes.
At the time when the beavers were selling
at good price, the whole race of these
industrious creatures was almost destroyed,
and it is only since silk being generally
employed in the manufacture of hats, and
their skins not being worth more than 20
cents, that they are allowed to propagate,
and to keep their furs on their backs until
fashion shall decide otherwise. This illus
tration applies to all fur-skinned animals,
which multiply or disappear according to
the worth of their outer garments in Eu-
rope or China.
Not only does the trapper destroy the
prospect of reward for his future labors,
but be has to contend with much more
destructive agency than himself. An ami
NAL belonging to the race of gluttons, and
called Wolverine by the English, and
Karkajo, BY the Indians, is much dreaded
by the trapper. Indian cunning is nothing
compared to the craft of the karkajo, and
can not prevent his mischievous deeds.
He examines everything, sees and under
stands everything. Vainly does the In
dian prepare for him deadly snsres, and
conceal in the framework of his traps,
springs or guns that shall catch or kill him
as soon as he touches the bait. The kar-
kajo cautiously steps along and dexter
ously moves aside the springs or guns
before be ventures to come in contact with
the trap. He follows the trapper un-
noticed, and watches attentively what he
is doing. and when the unfortunate man
discovers his tracks on the snow, he does
not take the trouble to return to his traps,
for he knows too wei that it would be
useless, and that be has lost his prize.
The skill of civilized men meets with no
better result, for DR.. Cheadle, having
poured some strychnine, through quill,
into few pieces Of meat, which we're left
near the traps, found with surprise that
when he returned to the spot where he
expected to see the wolverine stifened in
the Rightly Of death, that all the meat
had been eaten except those parts which
had been in contact with the poison.
In the month Of December, our travellers
gave up hunting, and as they do not speak
With their previous enthusiasm Of that
manly amusement, their sudden indifer-
ence may be attributed to the combined
influence Of fatigue and cold, and perhaps
also to the untimely intrusiOns Of the knr-
ksjos but whatever may have been the