The eight or ten-man birch bark canoe was the principal means of tranport for the fur trade between Montreal and the advanced bases in the western Great Lakes. Beyond those points smaller canoes had to be used on the fast-flowing, shallow rivers over the heights of land to the Mississippi or Lake Winnipeg. The voyageurs paddled from dawn to sunset, pausing every hour or so to rest weary muscles and smoke a pipe while one of crew told a tale, usually an old legend. This gave the men something to think about until the next "pipe." For this hard and dangerous voyage, the men received 200 to 250 livres, leaving Montreal in May and returning in the fall. These voyageurs were known as mangeurs de lard ("salt pork eaters") that being the staple food on the trip. The voyageurs who went beyond the Great Lakes into the far west and north-west referred to themselves proudly as hommes du nord ("men of the north"). They often remained in the west for years at a time. Many of them married Indian women and it was from these families that the MΘtis nation of Manitoba and Saskatchewan arose.
One of their favourite tales was the "Chasse-Galerie." In French Canada, as in Scotland, New Year's Eve is the great feast of the year. Some voyageurs in the far west who became eager to join their families and sweethearts in the St. Lawrence settlements for the feast made a pact with the devil. Satan promised to transport them in their canoe to their home in six hours and back again before dawn, but they were not allowed to utter the name of God or touch a cross or church steeple during the trip. If they did, the devil would claim their souls. The magic words they had to say as they sat in their canoe, paddles raised, were, "Acabris, Acabras, Acabram. Fais-nous voyager par-dessus les montagnes." The canoe then soared into the air and sped over the forests, lakes and mountains, but the voyageurs had to watch out for church steeples and be careful of their language. One muttered "Mon Dieu!" and they were done for. This tale allowed all manner of variations. Sometimes the devil won sometimes he did not, thus the legend never lost its appeal since each time it was told the listeners never knew how it would turn out.
