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FORT C H I P E W Y A N TO F O R T M'MURRAY 111
" The Forest People," doubtless from its original habitat in
this region.
Owing to the agglutinative character of the aboriginal
languages, numbering over four hundred, some philologists
are inclined to attribute them all to a common origin, the
Basque tongue being one of the two or three in Europe which
have a like peculiarity. In the languages of the American
Indians one syllable is piled upon another, each with a distinct
root- significance, so that a single word will often
contain the meaning of an ordinary English sentence. This
polysynthetic character undoubtedly does point to a common
origin, just as the Indo- European tongues trace back to
Sanskrit. But whether this is indicative of the ancient
unity of the American races, whose languages differed in so
many other respects, and whose characteristics were so
divergent, is another question.
One interesting impression, begot of our environment, was
that we were now emphatically in what might be called
" Mackenzie's country." In his " General History of the
Fur- Trade," published in London in 1801, Sir Alexander
tells us that, after spending five years in Mr. Gregory's
office in Montreal, he went to Detroit to trade, and afterwards,
in 1785, to the Grand Portage ( Fort William).
The first traders, he tells us, had penetrated to the Athabasca,
via Methy Portage, as early as 1791, and in 1783- 4
the merchants of Lower Canada united under the name of
The North- West Company, the two Frobishers— Joseph
Frobisher had traded on the Churchill River as early as
1775— and Simon McTavish being managers. The Company,
he says, " was consolidated in July, 1787," and
became very powerful in more ways than one, employing,
at the time he wrote, over 1,400 men, including 1,120
canoemen. " It took four years from the time the goods
were ordered until the furs were sold;" but, of course,
the profits, compared with the capital invested, were very
great, until the strife deepened between the Montrealers
and the Hudson's Bay Company, whose first inland post
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| Title | Page 127 |
| OCR | FORT C H I P E W Y A N TO F O R T M'MURRAY 111 " The Forest People," doubtless from its original habitat in this region. Owing to the agglutinative character of the aboriginal languages, numbering over four hundred, some philologists are inclined to attribute them all to a common origin, the Basque tongue being one of the two or three in Europe which have a like peculiarity. In the languages of the American Indians one syllable is piled upon another, each with a distinct root- significance, so that a single word will often contain the meaning of an ordinary English sentence. This polysynthetic character undoubtedly does point to a common origin, just as the Indo- European tongues trace back to Sanskrit. But whether this is indicative of the ancient unity of the American races, whose languages differed in so many other respects, and whose characteristics were so divergent, is another question. One interesting impression, begot of our environment, was that we were now emphatically in what might be called " Mackenzie's country." In his " General History of the Fur- Trade," published in London in 1801, Sir Alexander tells us that, after spending five years in Mr. Gregory's office in Montreal, he went to Detroit to trade, and afterwards, in 1785, to the Grand Portage ( Fort William). The first traders, he tells us, had penetrated to the Athabasca, via Methy Portage, as early as 1791, and in 1783- 4 the merchants of Lower Canada united under the name of The North- West Company, the two Frobishers— Joseph Frobisher had traded on the Churchill River as early as 1775— and Simon McTavish being managers. The Company, he says, " was consolidated in July, 1787," and became very powerful in more ways than one, employing, at the time he wrote, over 1,400 men, including 1,120 canoemen. " It took four years from the time the goods were ordered until the furs were sold;" but, of course, the profits, compared with the capital invested, were very great, until the strife deepened between the Montrealers and the Hudson's Bay Company, whose first inland post |
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