Forty times, that is, nearly every year of his Governorship, it
is said he travelled the route between Montreal and Fort Garry, and this
by canoe. He drove his men, who were chiefly French-Canadians, with
irritating haste, and it is a story prevalent among the old Selkirk
Settlers, that a stalwart French voyageur, who was a favorite of the
Governor, was once, in crossing the Lake of the Woods, so infuriated
with his master's urging that he seized the tormentor who was small in
stature, by the shoulders, and with a plentiful use of "sacres," dipped
him into the lake, and then replaced him in the bottom of the canoe.
It does not fall within the scope of our story to tell of Simpson's
journeys through Rupert's Land, nor of his famous voyage around the
world, but there is extant an account of his methods of appealing to the
interest of the Indians and servants of the company in his notable
progresses through the wilds. Some seven years after his appointment
Governor Simpson made a voyage from Hudson Bay, across country to the
Pacific Ocean, namely, from York Factory to Fort Vancouver on the
Columbia River. Fourteen chief officers, factors and traders, and as
many more clerks had gathered to see the chieftain depart.
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