Beaver Club quote - le pays d'en haunt (sic)

[Mike Cleven]

>From: Lisa M Peppan <lisapeppan at JUNO.COM>

>
>A "Beaver First Nation" . . . ? <chuckle>
>
>According to _The Empire of the Bay_ by Peter C. Newman (ISBN
>014027488-X), in 1785 a club was formed by certain members of the North
>West Company.  Its name . . . ?
>
>The Beaver Club.
>
>To quote a portion of Mr Newman's book:
>
>"Despite its astronomical liquor consumption, the Beaver Club was much
>more than an urban watering hole.  Here the Nor'Westers could abandon
>artificial dignities and re-create those heady times that had given
>meaning to their lives.  Because it was only among their own that such
>nostalgia was lifted above its more mundane level of providing an excuse
>to get drunk and break furniture, membership in the Beaver Club was
>limited to fifty-five fur traders who had spent at least one full season
>in le pays d'en haunt."

Is that a typo or is that how it appears in Newman's book?  i.e. "haunt"
instead of "haut" - "the upper country", meaning the lands upstream from
Montreal and the Lakes (i.e. everything West of there; the term included the
Prairies).  If it's "haunt" then Newman needs better proofreaders (this _is_
a Canuck publication, after all) or it's an older form of the French word,
which it kind of looks like.  Yann?  Is M. Trudel from UQAM still out there?

Another thought upon looking at this; the BC term "upcountry" is a direct
parallel of "le pays d'en haut"; I don't know if it occurs in Ontarian or
Prairie English or not, but it's a common usage in BC, and quite old;
certainly colonial-era if not older.  I'm wondering if it might be a
"franglism", an adaption of a French/voyageur term into local English.  Is
this in the OED, Alan?  Guess I could check the online version to
see.....but I don't have a membership yet, and my drachmas are allocated for
statue-buying at the moment......

MC
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