. Jolliet, . . . Pierre Radisson.
[16] Mr. Low's geological report on Labrador contains interesting
particulars of the route followed by Father Albanel. He speaks of the
gorge and swamps and difficult _portages_ in precisely the same way as
the priest, though Albanel must have encountered the worst possible
difficulties on the route, for he went down so early in the spring.
CHAPTER VI
1682-1684
RADISSON GIVES UP A CAREER IN THE NAVY FOR THE FUR TRADE
Though opposed by the Monopolists of Quebec, he secures Ships for a
Voyage to Hudson Bay--Here he encounters a Pirate Ship from Boston and
an English Ship of the Hudson's Bay Company--How he plays his Cards to
win against Both Rivals
A clever man may be a dangerous rival. Both France and England
recognized this in Radisson. The Hudson's Bay Company distrusted him
because he was a foreigner. The fur traders of Quebec were jealous.
The Hudson's Bay Company had offered him a pension of 100 pounds a year
to do nothing. France had pardoned his secession to England, paid his
debts, and given him a position in the navy, and when the fleet was
wrecked returning from the campaign against Dutch possessions in the
West Indies, the French king advanced money for Radisson to refit
himself; but France distrusted the explorer because he had an English
wife. All that France and England wanted Radisson to do was to keep
quiet. What the haughty spirit of Radisson would _not_ do for all the
fortunes which two nations could offer to bribe him--was to keep quiet.
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