The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-08-26
HUDSON BAY COMPANY EN-
 PLOYES.
The Life They Lead and Their Recrea-
 tions.

tions.
 The quantity and value of the furs which an Indian may secure as the re- suit of his spring hunt varies greatly. of course, but in a good year from $2OO to $500 may be taken as fair average. He may have or 10 bears, dozen bea- vers, four or five otters, number of | lynxes, martens and minks, and several hundred musuuash or muskrats. When all the hunters have come in the furs are pressed into packs of a hundred pounds each and sent in York boats to the frontier trails, over which they are carted to the nearest railway station to be shipped to London, Eng, where they are carefully sorted and afterward sold at the two great annual sales Of the company in January and March, which are attended by buyers from all parts of the world.
 As may be imagined, the life of companye officer or clerk does not pos sess much of novelty. If clerk is for tunate enough to be stationed at the district headquarters he may perhaps live at the same table with his com missioned officer and family there may be young ladies, in which event music and cards help to while away the long winter evenings. There is also libra ry of greater or less dimensions, and if he be of literary turn magazines and papers reach him as often as from l twice to 12 times year, as he may be near or far from the arteries of the great outside world. In any event, the arrivals of the mails form perhaps the moet nOtab ble breaks in the monotonou5 | life bringing tidings of home and | friends and of those things of which l he was once q part, and which finger ever in his heart and memory, no mat ter how long it may have been since he bade farewell to them all. Dances, too, assist in killing time and if the oc- l cason be a wedding a dance is likely to last for two or three days, for leisure is usually abundant in this great. quiet land
 But hunting is the main recreation or the majority of the officers and clerks. The staff at post often go off and camp for a week, and hundred or more geese and double that number of ducks load the boats on the return. The tramisan--brown in summer and white in winter-is a good game bird, and in some localities pinnated grouse or prairie chickens are very numerous. Our ubiquitous little friend, the part-} ridge, too Is nowhere more frequently lat home'' to the hunter than here, and he is often such stranger to the guile of man that an Indian will walk up to the tree upon which he is sitting and slip the moose that he has fixed to the end of pole over his head. After the first snow in the fall rabbit shooting is good sport, and in seasons when they are plentiful 50 or 60 to the credit of q single huntsrtan in an afternoon is not an uncommon score Then there is the large game such as moose and deer while now and then a stupid bear pokes his nose in dangerous proximity to the fort, .the staff turns out and he is shot for his fatal inquisittveness.
 At one of the posts where I was sta toned we kept q moose for two years. She was taken when very young by an Indian, who Killed her mother and brought the calf in his canoe to the fort She became quite tame, and in the sec ond winter We broke her to drive in harnese. Her chief amusements were soaring Indians by racing up to them and stopping abruptly with loud snort, and planting her forefeet on the | backs of the train dogs train dog | will howl upon the slightest excuse, | and the pathetic outburst which greet | ed the successful performance of this | latter feat appeared to cause Maud un- stinted enjoyment and a certain mild | wonder which it was llklicrous to be- | hold
 The clerks often set traps adjacent | to the fort and in this way find another means of passing time and of adding to | their incomes. Snowshoeing is also popular exercise on the short days, and | at posts where they are kept horses are in much requistion,
 At an outpost where clerk is alone with his Indian servant, however, the life is wearisome to q degree, and pri- vation not infrequently adds to the hardship of it. Supplies may run short. and in any case he is expected to stock himself with fish taken in nets from the lake, near which his post is situated, for his table and his dogs, as well as to augment his larder by the expert and diligent use of his gun. Rare instances have occurred where. through acc- ueilI, SuDplleS haQ 1OL reached the Tar | outposts for which they were intended, and the men had literally died of star vation. Out of York boats crew which was taking up the annual sup plies for post far up among the Rocky mountains, on q branch of the Mckenzie river, two or three men were drowned and the ice beginning to take, the boat was obliged to put back to the district headquarters. The three men at the outpost were left for some weeks without the supplies, and when, after winter had set in and it became pos sible to reach them with dog trains, provisions were at length sent them, two were found dead in the post, while
 
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