Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/506

486 Parliamentary inquiry, alleging the monopoly and the inefficiency of the Company. It appeared that the Company had never in any way recognized the Indian title or rights in the territory, nor made any attempt to extinguish them. The defence was, that, as it was not a colonizing Company, and in fact had always discouraged colonization, territorial rights were not essential to it. This defence induced a further complaint. The Company was known to oppose and thwart all attempts at exploring the country for curiosity, science, or any other purpose that would interfere with or throw light upon its own affairs. To meet these charges the Company sent Samuel Hearne, who had long been a resident agent, to make a journey of exploration to the Copper Mine River and to seek a Northwest passage. His journey was between 1769 and 1772; and he tried to extenuate the complaints against the Company for selfishness and lack of enterprise, made by Dobbs, Ellis, Robson, and others of its employés. He was absent from the post nearly nineteen months; he reached the river and the mines, but was disappointed in the results. Being an observing, intelligent, and cautious man and writer, he made a close study of Indian life and character, and gave a good description of the country, its animals, and products. He somewhat qualifies the reputed sagacity of the beaver, especially as regards its skill in the use of its tail as a trowel. He shows how readily a white man could conform himself to the habits of an Indian. He was unable to humanize his savage companions, or to dissuade them from inflicting a most hideous massacre on the Esquimaux whom they met upon the coast.

While the Company had thwarted any attempt to obtain information about the Indians in the interior, in order that their territory might be kept simply as a preserve for fur-bearing animals, the French from Canada were pushing their influence and enterprise. La Salle had first conceived and executed the design of opening a way through the