aad | 
130 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 
his supplies, but if discovered in the mean time 
by the opposite party, he is seldom proof against 
the temptation to which he is exposed. However 
firm he may be in his denials at first, his resolu- 
tions are enfeebled by the sight of a little rum, 
and when he has tasted the intoxicating beverage, 
they vanish like smoke, and he brings forth his 
store of furs, which he has carefully concealed’ 
from the scrutinizing eyes of his visitors. This 
mode of carrying on the trade not only causes the 
amount of furs, collected by either of the two 
Companies, to depend more upon the activity of 
their agents, the knowledge they possess of the 
motions of the Indians, and the quantity of rum 
they carry, than upon the hberality of the credits 
they give, but is also productive of an increasing _ 
deterioration of the character of the Indians, and 
will probably, ultimately proye destructive to the 
fur trade itself. Indeed the evil has already, in 
part, recoiled upon the traders ; for the Indians, 
long deceived, have become deceivers in their 
turn, and not unfrequently after having incurred 4 
heavy debt at one post, move off to another, to 
play the same game. In some cases the rival 
posts have entered into a mutual agreement, to 
trade only with the Indians they have respectively — 
fitted out ; but such treaties, being seldom rigidly 
res’ to, prove afertile subject for disputes, and 
