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/15

 *dered them infinitely more popular in the eyes of the Indians than the stubborn, unbending, matter-of-fact Orkney men, into whose ideas a work of supererogation never entered.

The diminished amount of their imports, joined to the increased demand of goods from their factories, at length opened the eyes of the Hudson's Bay directors to the success of their formidable opponents, and induced them to attempt, when too late, to arrest their career. By their charter they now laid claim to the exclusive privilege of trading, not merely on the English River and its various branches, but also on the Saskachawan, Red River, and all the other streams which empty themselves into the great Lake Winepic, the waters of which are carried to Hudson's Bay by the rivers Nelson and Severn.

This territorial claim, unsupported by any physical power, had but little weight with their persevering rivals. They were far beyond the reach of magisterial authority; and an injunction could