Who Were the Voyageurs? Voyageurs National Park is perhaps best-known for the people who regularly passed through it from the 1690s until the 1850s, traveling and portaging via birchbark canoe from the Great Lakes to the interior of the western United States and Canada. The interconnected waterways, know as the Voyageur Highway, were one of the most important aspects of the fur trade route, and the voyageurs were its backbone. "Voyageur” is the French word for traveler and refers to the people who were contracted by fur-trading businesses like the North West Company as canoe paddlers, bundle carriers and general laborers. The voyageurs were distinguished from "freemen,” or those who trapped and traded furs on their own account without being bound by a contract. Although most of the voyageurs were French-Canadian, some were English, German and Iroquois.
Like a Voyageur
Today, park visitors can catch glimpses of the voyageur life while on Rainy Lake: the color of the sky contrasting with the green of endless Boreal forest, the sound of paddles in water, the smell of food cooking over a fire. And no canoe trip is complete without the voyageurs’ songs. Washington Irving wrote about the voyageurs in 1836: "…the steersman often sings an old traditional 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.” En roulant ma boule was a well-known voyageur song originating in fifteenth century France. With more than 100 known versions, the song would be made up as singers went along in a call/response manner. Behind our house we have a pond, En roulant ma boule Behind our house we have a pond, En roulant ma boule Where three fine ducks swim round and round, Rouli, roulant, ma boule roulant, Where three fine ducks swim round and round, Rouli, roulant, ma boule roulant, En roulant ma boule roulant, En roulant ma boule En roulant ma boule roulant, En roulant ma boule Where three fine ducks swim round and round, En roulant ma boule Where three fine ducks swim round and round, En roulant ma boule To hunt them comes the young king's son Rouli, roulant, ma boule roulant, To hunt them comes the young king's son Rouli, roulant, ma boule roulant. What's your favorite way to experience the magic of Voyageurs National Park? Let us know in the comments below! |
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