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Date: 1700
Source:
Alexander Ross (1789-1856) was a Scottish-born author and fur trader who worked in Canada during the early 19th century. He is best known for his book "The Red River Settlement: Its Rise, Progress, and Present State", which provides a detailed account of life in the Hudson's Bay Company's fur trading posts and the interactions between European settlers and indigenous peoples.
One of Ross's earlier works was "The Coureur de Bois", which was published in 1700. This book is a fictionalized account of the experiences of a French-Canadian fur trader, or "coureur de bois", who ventures into the wilderness in search of furs to trade with the French and English. The book portrays the coureur de bois as a brave and adventurous figure who is willing to take risks and endure hardships in pursuit of wealth and adventure.
"The Coureur de Bois" is notable for its vivid descriptions of the Canadian wilderness and the wildlife that inhabits it, as well as its portrayal of the indigenous peoples who lived in the region. Ross was well acquainted with the culture and language of the indigenous peoples, and he portrays them sympathetically as allies and trading partners of the French-Canadian fur traders.
Overall, "The Coureur de Bois" is an important work of Canadian literature that provides a fascinating glimpse into the early days of the fur trade and the interactions between Europeans and indigenous peoples in Canada.
One day while in a jocular mood the old man began to talk over his past life. It was full of adventure, and may appear amusing to others as it did to us. I shall give it as nearly as I can in his own words. "I have now," said he, "been forty-two years in this country. For twenty-four I was a light canoeman. I required but little sleep, but sometimes got less than I required. No portage was too long for me; all portages were alike. My end of the canoe never touched the ground till I saw the end of it. Fifty songs a day were nothing to me. I could carry, paddle, walk and sing with any man I ever saw. During that period I saved the lives of ten bourgeois, and was always the favourite because when others stopped to carry at a bad step and lost time, I pushed on - over rapids, over cascades, over chutes; all were the same to me. No water, no weather ever stopped the paddle or the song. I have had twenty wives in the country; and was once possessed of fifty horses and six running dogs trimmed in the first style. I was then like a bourgeois, rich and happy. No bourgeois had better-dressed wives than I; no Indian chief finer horses; no white man better harnessed or swifter dogs. I beat all the Indians at the race, and no white man ever passed me in the chase. I wanted for nothing; and I spent all my earnings in the enjoyment of pleasure. Five hundred pounds twice told have passed through my hands, although now I have not a spare shirt to my back nor a penny to buy one. Yet, were I young I should glory in commencing the same career. I would spend another half-century in the same fields of enjoyment. There is no life so happy as a voyageur's life; none so independent; no place where a man enjoys so much variety and freedom as in the Indian country. Huzza, huzza pour le pays sauvage!"
After this cri de joie he sat down in the boat and we could not help admiring the wild enthusiasm of the old Frenchman. He had boasted and excited himself till he was out of breath and then sighed with regret that he could no longer enjoy the scenes of his past life.
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Source:
Reference: Article by (Staff Historian), 2023
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