Such was Mackinaw at the time of which we are treating. It now,
doubtless, presents a totally different aspect. The fur companies no
longer assemble there; the navigation of the lake is carried on by
steamboats and various shipping, and the race of traders, and trappers,
and voyageurs, and Indian dandies, have vapored out their brief hour and
disappeared. Such changes does the lapse of a handful of years make in
this ever-changing country.
At this place Mr. Hunt remained for some time, to complete his
assortment of Indian goods, and to increase his number of voyageurs, as
well as to engage some of a more efficient character than those enlisted
at Montreal.
And now commenced another game of Jockeyship. There were able and
efficient men in abundance at Mackinaw, but for several days not one
presented himself. If offers were made to any, they were listened to
with a shake of the head. Should any one seem inclined to enlist, there
were officious idlers and busybodies, of that class who are ever ready
to dissuade others from any enterprise in which they themselves have no
concern. These would pull him by the sleeve, take him on one side, and
murmur in his ear, or would suggest difficulties outright.
It was objected that the expedition would have to navigate unknown
rivers, and pass through howling wildernesses infested by savage tribes,
who had already cut off the unfortunate voyageurs that had ventured
among them; that it was to climb the Rocky Mountains and descend into
desolate and famished regions, where the traveller was often obliged to
subsist on grasshoppers and crickets, or to kill his own horse for food.
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