Hudson's Bay, or, Every-day Life in the Wilds of North America
During Six Years' Residence in the Territories of the Honourable Hudson's Bay Company

Combining anthropological observations with descriptions of landscapes and animals, Ballantyne's 1848 narrative will appeal to historians, geographers and travellers alike.

Robert Michael Ballantyne (Author)

9781108048200, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 April 2012

356 pages, 19 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2 cm, 0.45 kg

In 1841, aged just sixteen, the intrepid young Scotsman Robert M. Ballantyne (1825–94) joined the Hudson's Bay Company. Posted immediately to North-Eastern Canada, he spent five years traversing the region's inhospitable terrain by sleigh and canoe. His journal and letters home were so evocative that, upon his return, he was persuaded to publish an account of his experiences. Combining anthropological observations with descriptions of landscapes, plants, and animals, the account was applauded by the Dundee Courier for 'opening up a mine of information to the curious' and 'describing the everyday life of a novel and singular existence' with 'buoyancy and animation'. Appearing within a year of the first edition in 1848, the second edition reproduced here is illustrated throughout with views and vignettes. 'Free from tedious details and unnecessary wordiness', Ballantyne's fast-moving and readable narrative challenges many misconceptions about nineteenth-century Canada and its indigenous peoples.

Preface
1. Preliminary observations
2. The Hudson's Bay Company
3. North American Indians
4. Voyage to Red River settlement
5. Red River
6. Arrival at Norway House
7. York factory
8. Receive orders to prepare for a long journey
9. Continuation of the voyage in a large canoe through the interior, by the Great Lakes, to Canada
10. Winter travelling in Canada
11. A snow-shoe journey.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK]