The South Sea Bubble -- Nation Catches the Fever of Speculation -- Strong Temptation for the Company -- Pricking of the Bubble -- Narrow Escape of the Adventurers -- Knight and his Expedition -- Anxiety as to their Fate -- Certainty of their Loss -- Burnet's Scheme to Cripple the French -- It Forces them Westward into Rupert's Land. 208 CHAPTER XIX.--1687-1712. Hudson's Bay Tribes Peaceful -- Effect of the Traders' Presence -- Depletion of Population -- The Crees and Assiniboines -- Their Habits and Customs -- Their Numbers -- No Subordination Amongst Them -- Spirituous Liquors -- Effect of Intemperance upon the Indian. 217 CHAPTER XX.--1685-1742. Errant Tribes of the Bay -- The Goose Hunt -- Assemblage at Lake Winnipeg -- Difficulties of the Voyage -- Arrival at the Fort -- Ceremony followed by Debauch -- Gifts to the Chief -- He makes a Speech to the Governor -- Ceremony of the Pipe -- Trading Begun. 230 CHAPTER XXI.--1725-1742. System of Licenses re-adopted by the French -- Verandrye Sets Out for the Pacific -- His Son Slain -- Disappointments -- He reaches the Rockies -- Death of Verandrye -- Forts in Rupert's Land -- Peter the Great and the Hudson's Bay Company -- Expeditions of Bering -- A North-West Passage -- Opposition of the Company to its Discovery -- Dobbs and Middleton -- Ludicrous distrust of the Explorer -- An Anonymous Letter. 240 CHAPTER XXII.--1744-1748. War again with France -- Company takes Measures to Defend its Forts and Property -- "Keep Your Guns Loaded" -- Prince "Charlie" -- His Stock in the Company Confiscated -- Further Instructions to the Chief Factors -- Another Expedition to Search for a North-West Passage -- Parliament Offers Twenty Thousand Pounds Reward -- Cavalier Treatment from Governor Norton -- Expedition Returns -- Dobbs' Enmity -- Privy Council Refuse to Grant his Petition -- Press-gang Outrages -- Voyage of the _Seahorse_. 257 CHAPTER XXIII.--1748-1760. Parliamentary Committee of Enquiry Appointed -- Aim of the Malcontents -- Lord Strange's Report -- Testimony of Witnesses -- French Competition -- Lords of Plantations Desire to Ascertain Limits of Company's Territory -- Defeat of the Labrador Company -- Wolfe's Victory -- "Locked up in the Strong Box" -- Company's Forts -- Clandestine Trade -- Case of Captain Coats. 269 CHAPTER XXIV.--1763-1770.