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36 T H R O U G H T H E M A C K E N Z I E B A S IN
Another attraction was my companion, M r . d ' E . himself
— a man stout i n person, quiet by disposition, and of few
words; a man, too, with a lineage which connected h im
w i t h many of the oldest pioneer families of French Canada.
H i s ancestor, Jacques Alexis d'Eschambault, originally of
S t . Jean de Montaign, i n Poictou, came to N ew France in
the 17th century, where, i n 1667, he married Marguerite
Rene Denys, a relative of the devoted Madame de l a Peltrie,
and thus became brother- indaw to M . de Ramezay, the owner
of the famous old mansion in Montreal, now a museum.
Jacques d'Eschambault's son married a daughter of Louis
Joliet, the discoverer of the Mississippi, and became a prominent
merchant i n Quebec, distinguishing himself, it is said,
by having the largest family ever known i n Canada, viz.,
thirty- two children. Under the new regime my companion's
grandfather, like many another French Canadian gentleman,
entered the B r i t i s h army, but died i n Canada, leaving
as heir to his seigneurie a young man whose friendship for
Lord Selkirk led h im to Red River as a companion, where
he subsequently entered the Hudson's Bay Company's ser-vice,
and died, a chief- factor, at St. Boniface, Man. His
son, my companion, also entered the service, i n 1857, at his
father's post of Isle a la Crosse, served seven years at Cumberland,
nine at other distant points, and, finally, fifteen
years as trader at Reindeer Lake, a far northern post bordering
on the Barren Lands, and famous for its breed . of
dogs. My friend had some strange virtues, or defects, as
the ungodly might call them; he had never used tobacco or
intoxicants i n his life, a marvellous thing considering his
environment. He possessed, besides, a fine simplicity which
pleased one. Doubled up i n the Edmonton hotel with a
waggish companion, he was seen, so the latter affirmed, to
attempt to blow out the electric light, a thing which, greatly
to bis discomfiture, was done by his bed- fellow with apparent
ease. Being a man of scant speech, I enjoyed with h im
betimes the luxury of it. But we had much discourse for
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| Title | Page 42 |
| OCR | 36 T H R O U G H T H E M A C K E N Z I E B A S IN Another attraction was my companion, M r . d ' E . himself — a man stout i n person, quiet by disposition, and of few words; a man, too, with a lineage which connected h im w i t h many of the oldest pioneer families of French Canada. H i s ancestor, Jacques Alexis d'Eschambault, originally of S t . Jean de Montaign, i n Poictou, came to N ew France in the 17th century, where, i n 1667, he married Marguerite Rene Denys, a relative of the devoted Madame de l a Peltrie, and thus became brother- indaw to M . de Ramezay, the owner of the famous old mansion in Montreal, now a museum. Jacques d'Eschambault's son married a daughter of Louis Joliet, the discoverer of the Mississippi, and became a prominent merchant i n Quebec, distinguishing himself, it is said, by having the largest family ever known i n Canada, viz., thirty- two children. Under the new regime my companion's grandfather, like many another French Canadian gentleman, entered the B r i t i s h army, but died i n Canada, leaving as heir to his seigneurie a young man whose friendship for Lord Selkirk led h im to Red River as a companion, where he subsequently entered the Hudson's Bay Company's ser-vice, and died, a chief- factor, at St. Boniface, Man. His son, my companion, also entered the service, i n 1857, at his father's post of Isle a la Crosse, served seven years at Cumberland, nine at other distant points, and, finally, fifteen years as trader at Reindeer Lake, a far northern post bordering on the Barren Lands, and famous for its breed . of dogs. My friend had some strange virtues, or defects, as the ungodly might call them; he had never used tobacco or intoxicants i n his life, a marvellous thing considering his environment. He possessed, besides, a fine simplicity which pleased one. Doubled up i n the Edmonton hotel with a waggish companion, he was seen, so the latter affirmed, to attempt to blow out the electric light, a thing which, greatly to bis discomfiture, was done by his bed- fellow with apparent ease. Being a man of scant speech, I enjoyed with h im betimes the luxury of it. But we had much discourse for |
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