BOURGEOIS - Toronto Public Library

REMINISOENCES 43
" With this weight on my mind, and my desire to mix in His dislike
the bnsiness at Grand Portage, I would not have remained intofthecounry.
land had I any intention of continuing in the country beyond
the ensuing winter.
" Should I be successful, I shall retire with great advantage j
if not, I cannot be worse off than I am at present. I begin to
think it is the height of folly in a man to reside in a conntry of
this kind, deprived of every eomfort that can render life agreable,
especially when he has a competency to elljoy life in a civilized
society, which ought to be the case with me.
" If I can judge MI'. Grant by myself, he will certainly retire
this year. Should he pass his turn, hre.m,ust wait until the next
rotation. If his share be given up, Mr".,MCLeod, with Mr. Fraser
will eome in. You will observe what I say to Shaw and
McGillivray on this subject, which, I hope, will meet your
approbation and that you will vote for us both accordingly .......
" 9th May. All is ready now for Delorme's departure; he
may overtake the other canoes on the way. I intend to leave
this in the afternoon j to-morrow will be Friday.
" I made a mistake in calculating the latitude of this place by
using miles in lieu of degrees for the refraction. The latitude is
560 9' j I have not corrected my observations for the long:
but find by the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, that it is 117 0 43'
west. This plaee is very unfavorable for night observations
being frequently cloudy, and unfortunately it happened to be so
in the course of the last eelipse.
"Remember me kindly to those of our friends I do not
write to, and plead my excuse. I send yon a couple of guineas,
the rest I take with me to traffic with the Russians. Alex.
MacKay (1) desires his compliments to you; I keep him so hard
(1) Mr. Alexander MacKay left the service of the North-West Company in 1810.
He joined Mr. Jacob Astor's Company as partner, and was murdered with the rest of
the crew of the" Tonquin " by the Indians of the Pacific Coast; see: Fraqohilre.