"The body is then decently dressed and wrapped in a new blanket, with new shoes, garnished and painted with vermilion, on the feet. It is kept one night in the lodge, and is next day buried in the earth. After burial they either raise a pole of wood over the grave, or enclose it with a fence. At the head of the grave a small post is erected, on which they carve the particular mark of the tribe to whom the deceased belonged. The bodies of some of their most celebrated chiefs are raised upon a high scaffold, with flags flying, and the scalps of their enemies. It is customary with their warriors, at the funeral of their great men, to strike the post and relate all their martial achievements, as they do in the war dance, and their funeral ceremonies generally conclude by a feast round the grave." Grant, in 1794, built the post on the Assiniboine at the mouth of Shell River, and five years afterward was in charge of the fort on the Rainy Lake. About the same time he erected a post, probably the first on the Red River, in the neighbourhood of the present village of St. Vincent, near 49° N. Lat., opposite Pembina. He seems to have been in the Indian country in 1804, and, settling in Lower Canada, died at Lachine in 1848, at the grand old age of eighty-four. Thus have we sought to sketch, from their own writings, pictures of the lords of the fur trade. They were a remarkable body of men. Great as financiers, marvellous as explorers, facile as traders, brave in their spirits, firm and yet tactful in their management of the Indians, and, except during the short period from 1800-1804, anxious for the welfare of the Red men. Looking back, we wonder at their daring and loyalty, and can well say with Washington Irving, "The feudal state of Fort William is at an end; its council chamber is silent and desolate; its banquet-hall no longer echoes to the auld world ditty; the lords of the lakes and forests have passed away." CHAPTER XXI. THE IMPULSE OF UNION. North-West and X Y Companies unite--Recalls the Homeric period--Feuds forgotten--Men perform prodigies--The new fort re-christened--Vessel from Michilimackinac--The old canal--Wills builds Fort Gibraltar--A lordly sway--The "Beaver Club"--Sumptuous table--Exclusive society--"Fortitude in Distress"--Political leaders in Lower Canada. To the termination of the great conflict between the North-West and the X Y Companies we have already referred. The death of Simon McTavish removed a difficulty and served to unite the traders. The experience and standing of the old Company and the zeal and vigour of the new combined to inspire new hope.