So ended the Hudson’s Bay Company’s ambitions for empire in California. The truth is--in spite of Sir George Simpson’s efforts, and owing to blunders on the part of the British Government, which will be given in the next chapter, the Company was playing such a losing game in Oregon, it was useless to hold on to California longer. _Notes to Chapter XXXII._--This entire chapter deals with such a vast field and with so many disputed points, it would literally require a large volume to give all the authorities or deal in detail with the disputes. I have not attempted to give a chronological account of McLoughlin’s empire. So vast was it and so varied the episodes, a chronological account would have required a jumping from spot to spot from Alaska to California, resembling the celerity of a flea. Instead, I have grouped the leading episodes and leading characters and leading legends according to area, and told each district’s story in a separate group. This gives at least enough coherence to keep the facts in memory. * * * * * As to authorities, I have drawn my data primarily from the Archives of H. B. C. House; secondarily from such marvelous collections of data as Hubert Howe Bancroft’s, and Father Morice and the hundreds of old navigators and traders whose journals of this era have been given to the world. In addition, I have consulted every authority who has ever written on the era. Naturally, among so many authorities, there are wide discrepancies. Where I have taken my information from Hubert Howe Bancroft, I have quoted him word for word, with full credit, but in two or three cases, it will be seen my story differs from his; for instance, the story of Douglas at Stuart Lake, in which his version makes Douglas out a hero, mine makes Douglas out a very human hero, learning the lessons that afterward made him great. In each case where my version differs from Mr. Bancroft’s, my authority has been the H. B. C. Archives--which were not accessible when Mr. Bancroft wrote, or such well-known sources as Morice, who got his facts on the spot, while Bancroft had to depend on the memory and contradictory testimony of old retired factors. * * * * *