Part 3 (2/2)
In the year of Hudson's death Sir Thomas b.u.t.ton, at the instigation of that patron of geographical science, Prince Henry, pursued the dead hero's discoveries. He pa.s.sed Hudson's Straits and, traversing the Bay, settled above two hundred leagues to the south-west from the straits, bestowing upon the adjacent region the name of New Wales.
Wintering in the district afterwards called Port Nelson, b.u.t.ton made an investigation of the boundaries of this huge inland sea, from him named b.u.t.ton's Bay.
In 1611 came the expedition of Baffin; and in 1631 Captain James sailed westward to find the long-sought pa.s.sage to China, spending the winter at Charlton Island, which afterwards became a depot of the Company. Captain Luke Fox went out in the same year, but his success was no greater than his predecessors in attaining the object of his search. He landed at Port Nelson and explored the country round about, without however much advantage either to himself or to his crew. When the _Nonsuch_ arrived a quarter of a century had pa.s.sed since an European had visited Hudson's Bay.
After much consultation, the adventurers sailed southward from Cape Smith, and on Sept. 29 decided to cast anchor at the entrance to a river situated in 51 degrees lat.i.tude. The journey was ended; the barque's keel grated on the gravel, a boat was lowered and Gillam and Groseilliers went promptly ash.o.r.e. The river was christened Rupert's River,[10] and it being arranged to winter here, all hands were ordered ash.o.r.e to commence the construction of a fort and dwellings, upon which the name of King Charles was bestowed. Thus our little s.h.i.+p's-load of adventurers stood at last on the remotest sh.o.r.es of the New World; all but two of them strangers in a strange land.
[Sidenote: The first Fort.]
For three days after their arrival Groseilliers and his party beheld no savages. The work of constructing the fort went on apace. It was, under Groseilliers' direction, made of logs, after the fas.h.i.+on of those built by the traders and Jesuits in Canada; a stockade enclosing it, as some protection from sudden attack. The experienced bushranger deemed it best not to land the cargo until communication had been made with the natives; and their att.i.tude, friendly or otherwise, towards the strangers ascertained. No great time was spent in waiting; for on the fourth day a small band of the tribe called Nodwayes appeared, greatly astonished at the presence of white settlers in those parts.
After a great deal of parleying, the Indians were propitiated by Groseilliers with some trifling gifts, and the object of their settlement made known. The Indians retired, promising to return before the winter set in with all the furs in their possession, and also to spread the tidings amongst the other tribes.
The autumn supply proved scanty enough; but the adventurers being well provisioned could afford to wait until the spring.
Groseilliers' antic.i.p.ations were realized; but not without almost incredible activity on his part. He spent the summer and autumn, and part of the ensuing winter, in making excursions into the interior. He made treaties with the Nodwayes, the Kilistineaux, the Ottawas, and other detachments of the Algonquin race. Solemn conclaves were held, in which the bushranger dwelt--with that rude eloquence of which he was master, and which both he and Radisson had borrowed from the Indians--on the superior advantages of trade with the English. Nor did his zeal here pause; knowing the Indian character as he did, he concocted stories about the English King and Prince Rupert; many a confiding savage that year enriched his pale-face vocabulary by adding to it ”Charles” and ”Rupert,” epithets which denoted that transcendent twain to whom the French bushranger had transferred his labours and his allegiance.
The winter of 1668-69 dragged its slow length along, and in due course the ground thawed and the snow disappeared. No sooner had the spring really arrived than strange natives began to make their appearance, evincing a grotesque eagerness to strike bargains with the whites for the pelts which they brought from the bleak fastnesses. By June it was thought fit that Captain Gillam should return with the _Nonsuch_, leaving Groseilliers and others at the fort. Gillam accordingly sailed away with such cargo as they had been able to muster, to report to the Prince and his company of merchants the excellent prospects afforded by the post on Rupert's River, provided only the Indians could be made aware of its existence, and the French trade intercepted.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ORIGINAL CHARTER OF THE GREAT COMPANY.
(_From a Photograph._)]
[Sidenote: Groseilliers' presence of mind.]
Chouart des Groseilliers in all his transactions with the natives exhibited great hardihood of speech and action; and few indeed were the occasions which caught him unawares. It happened more than once, for instance, that some of the wandering Algonquins or Hurons recognized in this smooth-tongued leader of the English fort the same French trader they had known at Montreal, and the French posts on the western lakes, and marvelled much that he who had then been loudly crying ”up King Lewis and the Fleur-de-lis,” should now be found surrounded by pale-faces of a different speech, known to be the allies of the terrible Iroquois. Groseilliers met their exclamations with a smile; he represented himself as profoundly dissatisfied with the manner in which the French traders treated his friends the Indians, causing them to travel so far and brave such perils to bring their furs, and giving them so little in return. ”Tell all your friends to come hither,” he cried, ”and King Charles will give you double what King Lewis gives.”
In August, 1669, a gun was heard by Groseilliers and his English and native companions. With great joy the bushranger ran from the fort to the point of land commanding the Bay, thinking to welcome back Gillam and the expected _Nonsuch_. But as the vessel came nearer he saw it was not the _Nonsuch_, and for a moment he was dismayed, uncertain whether or not to make himself known. But the colour of the flag she carried rea.s.sured him; he caused a fire to be made, that the attention of those on board might be attracted by the smoke; and was soon made aware that his signal had been seen. The sloop headed up Rupert's River, and a boat containing three men was lowered from her side.
Greater still was Groseilliers' joy when he recognized amongst the approaching party in the boat his brother-in-law, Pierre Radisson.
These two st.u.r.dy children of the wilderness embraced one another with great affection and set to work diligently to barter. The _Nonsuch_ arrived safely in the Thames in the month of August.
[Sidenote: Satisfaction of the Adventurers.]
It would be difficult to exaggerate the satisfaction of the company of London merchants at hearing the results of their first venture.
They had taken counsel together, and considering the importance of securing a charter of monopoly from the King to be paramount, Prince Rupert was persuaded to use his good offices to this end.
Charles was doubtless relieved to hear that his cousin Rupert desired no greater favour. He expressed himself ready to grant such a patent, provided the Lord Chancellor approved. A charter was accordingly drawn up forthwith at the instance of the Prince, in the usual form of such charters; but the winter of 1669-70 elapsed without its having received the royal a.s.sent. Indeed it was not until the second day of May that Prince Rupert, presenting himself at Whitehall, received from the King's own hands one of the most celebrated instruments which ever pa.s.sed from monarch to subject, and which, though almost incessantly in dispute, was perpetuated in full force throughout two centuries.[11]
[Sidenote: The Charter.]
This doc.u.ment was granted to Prince Rupert and seventeen n.o.bles and gentlemen, comprising the Duke of Albemarle,[12] Earls Craven and Arlington, Lord Ashley,[13] Sir John Robinson, Sir Robert Vyner, Sir Peter Colleton, Sir Edward Hungerford, Sir Paul Neele, Sir John Griffith, Sir Philip Carteret, Knights and Baronets; James Hays, John Kirke, Francis Wellington, William Prettyman, John Fenn, Esquires, and John Portman, ”Citizen and Goldsmith,” incorporated into a company, with the exclusive right to establish settlements and carry on trade at Hudson's Bay. The charter recites that those adventurers having, at their own great cost, undertaken an expedition to Hudson's Bay in order to discover a new pa.s.sage into the South Sea, and to find a trade for furs, minerals and other commodities, and having made such discoveries as encouraged them to proceed in their design, his Majesty granted to them and their heirs, under the name of ”The Governor and Company of Merchants-Adventurers trading into Hudson's Bay,” the power of holding and alienating lands, and the sole right of trade in Hudson's Strait, and with the territories upon the coasts of the same.
They were authorized to get out s.h.i.+ps of war, to erect forts, make reprisals, and send home all English subjects entering the Bay without their license, and to declare war and make peace with any prince or people not Christian.
The territory described as Rupert's Land consisted of the whole region whose waters flowed into Hudson's Bay. It was a vast tract--perhaps as vast as Europe--how much vaster was yet to be made known, for the breadth of the Continent of North America had not yet been even approximately ascertained. For all the Adventurers knew the Pacific Ocean was not distant more than one hundred miles west of the Bay.
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