_Hunter._ Some of these coureurs des bois became very lawless and depraved in their habits, so that the French government enacted a law whereby no one, on pain of death, could trade in the interior of the country with the Indians, without a license. Military posts were also established, to protect the trade. In process of time, too, fur companies were established; and men, called _Voyageurs_, or canoe men, were employed, expressly to attend to the canoes carrying supplies up the rivers, or bringing back cargoes of furs. _Basil._ Now we know what a _Voyageur_ is. _Hunter._ You would hardly know me, were you to see me dressed as a voyageur. Just think: I should have on a striped cotton shirt, cloth trousers, a loose coat made of a blanket, with perhaps leathern leggins, and deer-skin mocassins; and then I must not forget my coloured worsted belt, my knife and tobacco pouch. _Austin._ What a figure you would cut! And yet, I dare say, such a dress is best for a voyageur. _Hunter._ Most of the Canadian voyageurs were good-humoured, light-hearted men, who always sang a lively strain as they dipped their oars into the waters of the lake or rolling river; but steam-boats are now introduced, so that the voyageurs are but few. _Basil._ What a pity! I like those voyageurs. _Hunter._ The voyageurs, who were out for a long period, and navigated the interior of the country, were called _North-men_, or _Winterers_, while the others had the name of _Goers and Comers_. Any part of a river where they could not row a laden canoe, on account of the rapid stream, they called a _Decharge_; and there the goods were taken from the boats, and carried on their shoulders, while others towed the canoes up the stream: but a fall of water, where they were obliged not only to carry the goods, but also to drag the canoes on land up to the higher level, they called a _Portage_. _Austin._ We shall not forget the North-men, and Comers and Goers, nor the Decharges and Portages. _Basil._ You have not told us what a Trapper is. _Hunter._ A _Trapper_ is a beaver hunter. Those who hunt beavers and other animals, for any of the fur companies, are called Trappers; but such as hunt for themselves take the name of _Freemen_. _Austin._ Yes, I shall remember. Please to tell us how they hunt the beavers.