and by their merry songs, the "Fairy
Ducks" and "La Claire Fontaine," "Malbrouck has gone to the war," or
"This is the beautiful French Girl"--ballads that they still retained
from the French of Louis XIV. They were a jolly crew, full of
superstitions of the woods, and leaving behind them records of daring,
their names remain upon the rivers, towns and cities of the Canadian and
American Northwest.

Some thirty years before the arrival of the Colonists, the Montreal
traders found it useful to form a Company. This was called the
North-West Fur Company of Montreal. Having taken large amounts out of
the fur trade, they became the leaders among the merchants of Montreal.
The Company had an energy and ability that made them about the beginning
of the nineteenth century the most influential force in Canadian life.
At Fort William and Lachine their convivial meetings did something to
make them forget the perils of the rapids and whirlpools of the rivers,
and the bitterness of the piercing winds of the northwestern stretches.
Familiarly they were known as the "Nor'-Westers." Shortly before the
beginning of the century mentioned, a split took place among the
"Nor'-Westers," and as the bales of merchandise of the old Company had
upon them the initials "N.W.," the new Company, as it was called, marked
their packages "XY," these being the following letters of the alphabet.

Besides these mentioned there were a number of independent merchants, or
free traders. At one time there were at the junction of the Souris and
Assiniboine Rivers, five establishments, two of them being those of free
traders or independents. Among all these Companies the commander of a
Fort was called, "The Bourgeois" to suit the French tongue of the men.
He was naturally a man of no small importance.

"THE DUSKY RIDERS OF THE PLAINS."

But the conditions, in which both the traders and the voyageurs lived,
brought a disturbing shadow over the wide plains of the North-West. Now
under British rule, the Fur trade from Montreal became a settled
industry. From Curry's time (1766) they began to erect posts or depots
at important points to carry on their trade. Around these posts the
voyageurs built a few cabins and this new centre of trade afforded a
spot for the encampment near by of the Indian teepees made of tanned
skins. The meeting of the savage and the civilized is ever a contact of
peril. Among the traders or officers of the Fur trade a custom grew
up--no