In 1737 La Verendrye made once more the long journey to Montreal.
His fourteen canoes laden with furs were an earnest of the riches
of the wonderful West and so pleased his Montreal partners that
again they fitted him out with adequate supplies. In the summer
of 1738 we find him at Fort La Reine, rich for the moment in
goods with which to trade, keen and competent as a trader, and
having great influence with the natives. All through the West he
found Indians who went to trade with the English on Hudson Bay,
and he constantly urged them not to take the long journey but to
depend upon the French who came into their own country. It was a
policy well fitted to cause searching of heart among the English
traders who seemed so secure in their snug quarters on the
seashore waiting for the Indians to come to them.
La Verendrye had now a fresh plan for penetrating farther on his
alluring quest. He had heard of a river to the south to be
reached by a journey overland. It was a new thing for him to
abandon canoes and march on foot but this he now did and with
winter approaching.
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