Duncan Finlayson who married afterwards a sister of Lady Simpson came to supercede him. The Dr did not leave for England till March '38 & returned still in the employ & full of emprise & energy to help on the business of the P. Sound Agricultural Association. On dit that Sir Geo: had prepared the Gov & Committee to give the Dr a whiging & that when he came into their presence the Drs fine manly appearance & bearing was such that they had no heart for the fight & certainly the Dr was a man of altogether unusual presence at that time. As I wrote you the Doctors bitterness was increased by Sir Geo Simpson's report in reference to the murder of his son Jno: at Stikine. I dont think there was any great ill feeling against the Dr or the Company till much later. The Officers & Clerks of the Company from 40-42 I think were Dr McL. Mr Douglas, Mr Ogden, Accountant to Depot store keeper Dugald McTavish, two or three Clerks temporarily in the Office, G. B . Roberts in charge of the men as it was then called, that is all the out door & general work of the establishment. Forbes Barclay was Surgeon & Indian trader. This was a queer thing, but it was so, & the Dr issued the hebdomidal rations to the men also—we used to muster at mess from 12 to 30 including strangers & often the Capts of the shipping in port—I dont think the number of men in the whole Columbia Department exceeded 300—we employed a great many indians at Vancouver often 8 to ten ploughs & as many harrows running with them-mostly of the Thlicatat [Klickitat] tribe, those Indians were hunters and root diggers & were kept away from the Fort by the river indians until Dr Tolmie was trader & took a kindly interest in them. The Doctor (McL) was proud of having so many Indians employed & always held out to the mission aries that that was the way to civilize them to teach them to work. I may say all the indians that could be got at were vaccinated. I think the British government sent out the lymph. We often had a bountiful table in those days & how often I've heard the Dr say "its all the produce of the country, gentlemen." ...
By the bye Dr McL was a North wester & Sir Geo: an HBC. Simpson was of very humble, tho respectable Scottish
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