THE POST MANAGERS

The post managers warrant a bookful of character sketches. Usually of English or Scotch descent, they are selected when young men, and sent out to the Bay by the annual boat. For the first eight years they are not entitled to a furlough, and should they leave, forfeit some portion of their pay. After eight years service they are in a position to ask for a furlough, but as the rules of the Bay Company permit only one man in a district to be absent on furlough in any one year, the difficulty of getting away is so great that furloughs are few and short. It is not unusual to meet men who have not been out of the Bay in twenty-five years. One man, Mr. Jobson, the present manager of the East Main post, has not been away since his arrival there as a young man fifty years ago. The remuneration is small, usually $400 or $500, in exceptional cases $1,000 per annum, but their houses, supplies, and servants are paid for by the company, so there is little need for spending their salaries.

FRENCH COMPETITION

I have referred to the competition started a few years ago by the Revillon Freres of Paris. Revillon Freres are reputed to be the largest finishedfur manufacturers in the world, and have stations for the collection of raw furs in many parts of the globe, including Asia and northern Europe as well as North America. The entrance of this firm into competition with the Hudson's Bay Company, therefore, probably begins what is perhaps the most serious competition which the Hudson's Bay Company has ever had. Since 1877, when the Hudson's Bay Company ceded to the Canadian government all its governmental rights in northern Canada, the company has had no official monopoly of the fur trade and has owned only a few acres immediately about its posts, maintaining its monopoly largely by the inertia of the business. Having been in control of the fur business for so many years, having developed a spirit of loyalty among the natives, having an extensive plant in a part of the country so inaccessible and so unfavorable to competition, it has been in a most impregnable position. Revillon Freres have, however, quietly and persistently developed their posts, have put capable men in charge, including a number of French army officers, have given every evidence that they are there to stay, and are making serious inroads into the native support of the Hudson's Bay Company. As yet their project has been a very expensive one, but the amount of fur which they are getting is increasing year by year and it seems not unlikely that they will prove themselves formidable rivals of the Hudson's Bay Company. The Hudson's Bay Company has hitherto felt strong enough to meet this competition without general raising of prices. The competition of the two companies has considerably improved the Indian's lot, as he feels that if not treated properly by one company he will be welcomed by the other.

INFLUENCE OF THE MOUNTAINS OF THE BRITISH ISLES UPON THEIR HISTORY

THE

By Benj. A. Stevens, La Crosse, Wis.

HE highlands of Great Britain may be arbitrarily divided into four groups; the Scottish Highlands, the Pennine Range, the Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake Country, and the Cambrians or Welch Highlands. Of these, the Scottish Highlands are naturally divided into three sections: the North-West Highlands, lying to the northwest of Glenmore; the Highlands proper, which occupy all of the region north of the Midland Plain not included in the North-West Highlands; and the Southern Highlands, which lie to the south of the Midland Plain. Of these four great groups but two, the Scottish and the Welch Highlands, have exercised any marked influence upon the history of Great Britain. The other mountains, the Pennines and the Cumbrians are too narrow or too accessible from the lowlands to give rise to any peculiar historic situations of moment.

The characteristics of the Welch and Scottish Highlands which caused them to become important as influences upon the history of Great Britain are their isolation, their infertile soil and unfavorable climate, and the strategic position of the avenues of approach to them from the lowlands.

During the early periods of human life on the island of Britain, that is, during prehistoric times, the above characteristics of the highlands of the North and of the West had a negative influence upon the inhabitants of the island. Having at their disposal extensive lowland plains where the soil was productive and the climate fairly favorable, the Ivernians, who probably were the first settlers of Britain, shunned the mountainous regions where the climate was disagreeable, the soil thin and unproductive, and the freedom of movement and communication interrupted by the frequent barriers of high hills. Nothing but the appearance of a force which would render the more favored lowland districts less desirable to live in than the mountain districts, could drive the early inhabitants of Britain into the highlands. Such a force finally appeard in the form of invading bands of Celts who were migrating from the mainland of Europe.

With the appearance of this superior race of people began the positive influence of the mountains upon the history of Britain. Unable to withstand the invader, the Ivernians retreated to the North and to the West leaving their old homes in the lowland areas in the hands of the Celts. This westward and northward retreat continued until finally the original inhabitants were. pressed back into the highland areas where, reinforced by natural forces, they were at last able to beat back the enemy and to establish new homes in security. Thus the mountains began to play their part as the preserver of those weaker races which had once occupied the more favorable parts of Britain.

The Ivernians, after several centuries of undisputed possession of the mountain fastnesses, were joined by the Celts who, like the Ivernians, were driven from the lowlands by a new race of superior men. Giving way before these people, the Britons, who were in fact but another branch of the Celtic race, the Celts retired into the Welch Highlands and into Ireland. From the latter place some of the Celts recrossed to Britain and settled in the Southwestern part of the Highlands (proper) of Scotland. The two exiled races thus coming into contact in Wales and a part of Scotland so soon became friends through their mutual adversity and, uniting by intermarriage, became in time one people.

The role of the mountains as havens of refuge for a defeated and retreating race was not, however, complete after the invasion of the Britons, for once again an invasion took place which drove the Britons in their turn into the highland fastnesses. In their retreat before the Roman forces most of the Britons who did not stay to be the slaves of Roman power withdrew into the Welch Highlands. Few if any joined the Ivernians and Celts in the North. Thus there were three successive races of people, driven from the homes which they had erected on the lowland plains, finding refuge in the great highland regions of the West and North. In their new-found homes they were able for centuries successfully to defend themselves against all attempts to dislodge them.

The force of this fact leads one to inquire, What is the nature of these highland areas which rendered them such safe asylums of refuge for a defeated and inferior people? The answer is alone found in a knowledge of the geography of these districts. Both the Welch and Scottish Highlands are the results of a deeply incised systems of valleys impressed upon ancient plateaus. Both face toward the plains of Britain, presenting steep fronts which are scarred with a few deep valleys. In ancient and medieval times these slopes and valleys were covered with dense forests which added to the natural defence of the regions lying beyond the crests of the hills. In these interior regions a net-work of ridges and valleys ran in a bewildering mass, with here and there lakes and bogs which added further difficulties to travel through the mountain districts. The Scottish Highlands north of the Midland Plain, being more extensive in area than the Welch Highlands, are naturally the most intricate and therefore the most isolated of all of the mountain regions of Britain. Filled as it is with crooks and crannies where a native people can easily evade an enemy, it is not to be wondered at that parts of Scotland were never conquered. It was this isolation, secured through the presence of nearly impassable barriers bordering on the lowland plains of eastern and south-eastern Britain and through the intricately dissected nature of the topography of the highlands themselves, which caused the Welch and Scottish Highlands to become the homes of the remnants of defeated peoples. In addition to preserving the people themselves from being

stamped out or assimilated by their conquerors, the mountains also preserved the racial customs and institutions of the folk which they harbored.

The islolation of these mountain districts had a marked effect upon the people whom they protected. In addition to defending the highlanders it wrought a change in their lives and characters. It developed in them the qualities of courage, thrift, and a suspicion of strangers. The government of the people became largely a clan government and this in itself bespeaks the fervent love of liberty which arose in the Highlander's breast. But isolation was not the only force working a change in the temperment of the mountaineers. The climate and the soil of these highland areas were also instrumental in evolving the new-charactered people who, by the time of the Roman conquest, had become a positive force in shaping much of the recorded history of Great Britain. The thin, infertile soil, rendered less productive by being drenched by the heavy rains resulting from the sudden cooling of the moist winds from off the ocean, the lowered temperature, resulting from the constant evaporation of surface water and the elevation, the short seasons, and the rough surface of the land, caused the highlands to be regions especially unfavorable to agriculture. As a result stock raising became a common industry. But more important than this from the historic viewpoint, was the result upon the character of the people themselves. The difficulties in the way of making an easy living from the soil soon developed in the Highlanders the habit of preying upon their more fortunate neighbors of the lowlands. Raids of this character became frequent at an early time and the highland raiders found nearly as much satisfaction in the revenge which they were taking upon the conquerors of their race as they did in the booty which they carried away to their mountain homes.

The historical importance of these raids can hardly be overestimated. From the beginning of recorded history, i. e., from the time of the Roman Conquest, down to the final union of all parts of the island of Britain under a common government, the raids of the highlanders were numerous and were a thorn in the side of the more powerful and industrious people of the lowlands. These piratical expeditions doubtless began during the supremacy of the Britons, for when the Romans appeared, the onslaughts of the Picts and the Scots upon the frontier settlements were regular and troublesome. The best indication of the seriousness of these attacks is the fact that the Roman forces found it necessary to erect strong ramparts along their frontier in the Midland Plain and to add the double security of a long wall, now known as Hadrian's Wall, which stretched across the entire width of the island between the Firth of Solway and the mouth of the River Tay. Thus defended,

*Picts and Scots were the names given by the Romans to the people in the highlands of Scotland. The Picts were the Ivernians, and the Scots were the Celts. It is interesting to note in this connection that the name Scotland originated from this Roman name for the people who entered the Scottish Highlands from Ireland.

the Roman arms successfully held in check the barbarians from the mountains. When, however, in 410 A. D., the Roman legions were recalled to the imperial city and the now weak-spirited Britons were left without the defence of the wll-trained soldiers, the raids of the Picts and Scots became more destructive and threatening than ever and, for a time, it appeared as though the lowlands of Britain were to be reconquered by the descendants of its former possessors. The Britons, however, seeing the ever increasing storm brewing in the mountains and fully conscious of their own inability to check its advance, called for help from across the Channel.

THE TEUTONIC INVASION

In answer to this summons came bands of Teutonic people, the Jutes, Angles and Saxons. These sturdy people stemmed the tide of invasion which had begun to flow out of the Welch and Scottish Highlands; but instead of stopping when this task was done they turned about upon their hosts, the Britons, and subdued them. The Anglo-Saxon occupation of the British lowlands followed, only to be disturbed in the 9th century by the invading Norsemen. Throughout the supremacy of the former and the joint occupation of England by both peoples, the mountaineers continued their attacks upon the frontier settlers. Aside from occasional counter attacks by the people of the plain, no effort to eradicate the source of the raids was made. A change, however, was about to revolutionize England.

THE NORMAN CONQUEST

In 1066 England was again conquered by a foreign invader; this time by the Normans under their king William. The advent of this highly civilized and virile people was followed by a centralization of power and authority which made possible the execution of vigorous attacks upon the wild clansmen of the highlands. William the Conqueror succeeded in invading both Wales and Scotland and even forced the Scottish king to swear allegiance; but permanent or lasting success was impossible when dealing with a people. whose policy was to strike sudden blows and then to beat a hasty retreat into the impregnable fastnesses of their mountain havens. The problem which these mountain raiders presented affected materially the reorganization of England which William effected. In transplanting the feudal system into England, William had hoped so to carve and allot the several fiefs as to remove forever the dangers to the Crown which came from a union of strong barons. This ideal of William's worked very well until he came to the territories bordering upon Wales and Scotland. Here he saw that it would be necessary to place what were practically sovereign powers in the hands of several great barons in order that they might act as buffers between the highland districts and the lowland plains of England. These barons became known as the Lords Marchers and they were permitted to maintain