They have found the trapping of the beaver their
most profitable species of hunting; and the traffic with the white man
has opened to them sources of luxury of which they previously had no
idea. The introduction of firearms has rendered them more successful
hunters, but at the same time, more formidable foes; some of them,
incorrigibly savage and warlike in their nature, have found the
expeditions of the fur traders grand objects of profitable adventure.
To waylay and harass a band of trappers with their pack-horses, when
embarrassed in the rugged defiles of the mountains, has become as
favorite an exploit with these Indians as the plunder of a caravan to
the Arab of the desert. The Crows and Blackfeet, who were such terrors
in the path of the early adventurers to Astoria, still continue their
predatory habits, but seem to have brought them to greater system. They
know the routes and resorts of the trappers; where to waylay them on
their journeys; where to find them in the hunting seasons, and where to
hover about them in winter quarters. The life of a trapper, therefore,
is a perpetual state militant, and he must sleep with his weapons in his
hands.
A new order of trappers and traders, also, has grown out of this system
of things. In the old times of the great Northwest Company, when the
trade in furs was pursued chiefly about the lakes and rivers, the
expeditions were carried on in batteaux and canoes.
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