In 1810 the American author Washington Irving, while on his way to the Columbia, produced the following description of a voyageur:
The dress of these people is generally half civilized, half savage. They wear a capot or surcoat, made of a blanket, a stripped cotton shirt, cloth trousers, or leathern leggings, moccasins of deer-skin, and a belt of variegated worsted, from which are suspended the knife, tobacco pouch, and other implements. Their language is of the same piebald character, being a French patois, embroidered with Indian and English words and phrases.
The lives of the voyageurs are passed in wild and extensive rovings in the service of individuals, but more especially of fur traders. They are generally of French descent, and inherit much of the gaiety and lightness of heart of their ancestors, being full of anecdote and song, and ever ready for the dance. They inherit, too, a fund of civility and complaisance; and, instead of that hardness and grossness which men in laborious life are apt to indulge towards each other, they are mutually obliging and accommodating; interchanging kind offices, yielding each other assistance and comfort in every emergency, using the familiar appellations of "cousin" and "brother" when there is in fact no relationship. Their natural good-will is probably heightened by a community of adventure and hardship in their precarious and wandering life.
They are dexterous boatmen, vigorous and adroit with the oar and paddle, and will row from morning till night without a murmur. The steersman often sings an old traditionary French song, with some regular burden in which they all join, keeping time with their oars; if at any time they flag in spirits or relax in exertion, it is but necessary to strike up a song of the kind to put them all in fresh spirits and activity. The life of these men was hard. Many lie buried in unmarked graves along the now deserted fur trade portage routes. In old age a voyageur would have little to remind him of the glorious years of his youth, except his memories. This old voyageur, Franìois Gros Louis, reflects the toll taken by a long, strenuous outdoor life. He would be somewhat mystified and perhaps disappointed by the changes that had taken place over his lifetime in the fur trade.
