human
I said,
gpt
But once some one hass made it; once it hass had value. Tell me where you get it?
human
North of the Platte, in our western territories, I said.
gpt
I once traded in that country.
human
You are American?
gpt
Yes.
human
So, he said thoughtfully.
gpt
So. A great country, a very great country. Me, I also live in it.
human
Indeed? I said.
gpt
In what part?
human
It iss five years since I cross the Rockies.
gpt
You have crossed the Rockies? I envy you.
human
You meesunderstand me. I live west of them for five years. I am now come east.
gpt
All the more, then, I envy you! You have perhaps seen the Oregon country? That has always been my dream.
human
You are like all Americans. They leave their own homes and make new governments, yess? Those men in Oregon haf made a new government for themselfs, and they tax those English traders to pay for a government which iss American!
gpt
News travels slowly over so great a distance, said I.
human
Of course I know nothing of these matters except that last year and the year before the missionaries have come east to ask us for more settlers to come out to Oregon. I presume they want their churches filled.
gpt
But most their _farms!_
human
You have been at Fort Vancouver?
gpt
Also to Fort Colville, far north; also to what they call California, far south; and again to what they may yet call Fort Victoria. I haf seen many posts of the Hudson Bay Company.
human
I haf been, in the Columbia country, and in the Willamette country, where most of your Americans are settled. I know somewhat of California. Mr. Howard, of the Hudson Bay Company, knows also of this country of California. He said to those English gentlemans at our meeting last night that England should haf someting to offset California on the west coast; because, though Mexico claims California, the Yankees really rule there, and will rule there yet more. He iss right; but they laughed at him.
gpt
Oh, I think little will come of all this talk, I said carelessly.
human
It is very far, out to Oregon.
gpt
You know not what you say. A thousand men came into Oregon last year. It iss like one of the great migrations of the peoples of Asia, of Europe. I say to you, it iss a great epoch. There iss a folk-movement such as we haf not seen since the days of the Huns, the Goths, the Vandals, since the Cimri movement. It iss an epoch, my friend! It iss fate that iss in it.
human
So, then, it is a great country?
gpt
It iss so great, these traders do not wish it known. They wish only that it may be savage; also that their posts and their harems may be undisturbed. That iss what they wish. These Scots go wild again, in the wilderness. They trade and they travel, but it iss not homes they build. Sir George Simpson wants steel traps and not ploughs west of the Rockies. That iss all!
human
They do not speak so of Doctor McLaughlin,
gpt
My friend, a great man, McLaughlin, believe me! But he iss not McKay; he iss not Simpson; he iss not Behrens; he iss not Colville; he iss not Douglas. And I say to you, as I learned last night--you see, they asked me also to tell what I knew of Oregon--I say to you that last night McLaughlin was deposed. He iss in charge no more--so soon as they can get word to him, he loses his place at Vancouver.
human
After a lifetime in the service!
gpt
Yess, after a lifetime; and McLaughlin had brain and heart, too. If England would listen to him, she would learn sometings. He plants, he plows, he bass gardens and mills and houses and herds. Yess, if they let McLaughlin alone, they would haf a civilization on the Columbia, and not a fur-trading post. Then they could oppose your civilization there. That iss what he preaches. Simpson preaches otherwise. Simpson loses Oregon to England, it may be.
human
You know much about affairs out in Oregon, I ventured again.
gpt
Now, I did not happen to be present at the little meeting last night.
human
I heard it all, he remarked carelessly,
gpt
Then you think there is a chance of trouble between our country and England, out there?
human
It iss not a chance, but a certainty, he said.
gpt
Those settlers will not gif up. And England is planning to push them out!
human
We had not heard that!
gpt
It wass only agreed last night. England will march this summer seven hundred men up the Peace River. In the fall they will be across the Rockies. So! They can take boats easily down the streams to Oregon. You ask if there will be troubles. I tell you, yess.
human
And which wins, my friend?
gpt
If you stop where you are, England wins. If you keep on going over the mountains England shall lose.
human
What time can England make with her brigades, west-bound, my friend?
gpt
From Edmonton to Fort Colville, west of the Rockies, it hass been done in six weeks and five days, by Sir George himself. From Fort Colville down it iss easy by boats. It takes the _voyageur_ three months to cross, or four months. It would take troops twice that long, or more. For you in the States, you can go faster. And, ah! my friend, it iss worth the race, that Oregon. Believe me, it iss full of bugs--of new bugs; twelve new species I haf discovered and named. It iss sometings of honor, iss it not?
human
What you say interests me very much, sir, I said.
gpt
I am only an American trader, knocking around to see the world a little bit. You seem to have been engaged in some scientific pursuit in that country.
human
Yess, he said.
gpt
Mein own government and mein own university, they send me to this country to do what hass not been done. I am insectologer. Shall I show you my bugs of Oregon? You shall see them, yess? Come with me to my hotel. You shall see many bugs, such as science hass not yet known.