Page:Letters to Mrs. F. F. Victor, 1878-83.djvu/9

 Duncan Finlayson who married afterwards a sister of Lady Simpson came to supercede him. The Dr did not leave for England till March '38 & returned still in the employ & full of emprise & energy to help on the business of the P. Sound Agricultural Association. On dit that Sir Geo: had prepared the Gov & Committee to give the Dr a whiging & that when he came into their presence the Drs fine manly appearance & bearing was such that they had no heart for the fight & certainly the Dr was a man of altogether unusual presence at that time. As I wrote you the Doctors bitterness was increased by Sir Geo Simpson's report in reference to the murder of his son Jno: at Stikine. I dont think there was any great ill feeling against the Dr or the Company till much later. The Officers & Clerks of the Company from 40-42 I think were Dr McL. Mr Douglas, Mr Ogden, Accountant to Depot store keeper Dugald McTavish, two or three Clerks temporarily in the Office, G. B. Roberts in charge of the men as it was then called, that is all the out door & general work of the establishment. Forbes Barclay was Surgeon & Indian trader. This was a queer thing, but it was so, & the Dr issued the hebdomidal rations to the men also—we used to muster at mess from 12 to 30 including strangers & often the Capts of the shipping in port—I dont think the number of men in the whole Columbia Department exceeded 300—we employed a great many indians at Vancouver often 8 to ten ploughs & as many harrows running with them-mostly of the Thlicatat [Klickitat] tribe, those Indians were hunters and root diggers & were kept away from the Fort by the river indians until Dr Tolmie was trader & took a kindly interest in them. The Doctor (McL) was proud of having so many Indians employed & always held out to the mission aries that that was the way to civilize them to teach them to work. I may say all the indians that could be got at were vaccinated. I think the British government sent out the lymph. We often had a bountiful table in those days & how often I've heard the Dr say "its all the produce of the country, gentlemen." ...

By the bye Dr McL was a North wester & Sir Geo: an HBC. Simpson was of very humble, tho respectable Scottish