[1] This might be properly called the stock of the company, as it included, with the expenditure of the year, the amount of the property unexpended, which had been appropriated for the adventure of that year, and was carried on to the account of the following adventure.
[2] This will be better illustrated by the following statement:--We will suppose the goods for 1798: The orders for the goods are sent to this country 25th October, 1796; they are shipped from London March, 1797; they arrive in Montreal June, 1797; they are made up in the course of that summer and winter; they are sent from Montreal May, 1798; they arrive in the Indian country, and are exchanged for furs the following winter, 1798-99; which furs come to Montreal September, 1799; and are shipped for London; where they are sold in March and April, and paid for in May or June, 1800.
[3] The place where the goods alone are carried, is called a _Decharge_, and that where goods and canoes are both transported overland, is denominated a _Portage_.
[4] In the year 1668, when the first missionaries visited the South of this lake, they found the country full of inhabitants. They relate, that about this time a band of the Nepisingues, who were converted, emigrated to the Nipigon country, which is to the North of Lake Superior. Few of their descendants are now remaining, and not a trace of the religion communicated to them is to be discovered.
[5] Corn is the cheapest provision that can be procured, though from the expense of transport, the bushel costs about twenty shillings sterling, at the Grande Portage. A man's daily allowance does not exceed ten-pence.
[6] Here is a most excellent fishery for white fish, which are exquisite.
[7] The route which we have been travelling hitherto, leads along the high rocky land or bank of Lake Superior on the left. The face of the country offers a wild scene of huge hills and rocks, separated by stony valleys, lakes and ponds. Wherever there is the least soil, it is well covered with trees.
[8] The fruits are, strawberries, hurtleberries, plums, and cherries, hazelnuts, gooseberries, currents, raspberries, poires, etc.
[9] This was also a principal post of the French, who gave it its name.