Page:The Columbia river , or, Scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown (Volume 1).djvu/14

 Success was looked upon as the great criterion of a trader's cleverness; and provided he obtained for his outfit of merchandise what was considered a good return of furs, the partners never stopped to inquire about the means by which they were acquired.

The Hudson's Bay Company, on the contrary, presented no such inducements to extra exertion on the part of its officers. Each individual had a fixed salary, without any prospect of becoming a proprietor; and some of them, whose courage was undoubted, when challenged to single combat by a Nor-Wester, refused; alleging as a reason, that they were engaged to trade for furs, and not to fight with fellow-subjects!

Independently of the foregoing circumstances, the North West Company, in the selection of its canoe-men, or, as they are called, engagés, had another great advantage over its chartered rival. These men were French Canadians, remarkable for obedience to their superiors; and whose skill in managing canoes, capability of enduring hardship, and facility of adapting themselves to the habits and peculiarities of the various tribes, ren