304 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. TV. 



Gorintr to R. Hamilton, 14th September, 1779. — " Tobacco is a very- 

 scarce article at Detroit, and sells at from eight to ten shillings a pound. 

 I have made out another Indian account for ;^5,8o8 17s. 9j^d., which is 

 now gone to the Indian country to be certified." 



Bolton to Haldimand, 16th September, 1779. — " I have ordered the 

 Haldimand to bring down 48 batteau loads of merchandise from the 

 landing, and have sent orders to the officers at Fort Erie and Schlosser 

 to hold themselves in readiness to join this garrison." 



Memorandum on the fur trade, 1780. — "The least stop to sending 

 goods into the Indian country may be prejudicial to the interests of 

 those who trade there. The Indians are so long accustomed to the use 

 of blankets, leggings, and other comforts that they are absolutely neces- 

 sary to them. The advancement of trade will ever be the first object of 

 attention ; unhappily the traders do not consider the preservation of the 

 country necessary to this end, but blindly grasp at all risks, the present 

 means of making fortunes. If the goods they send into that country are 

 disposed of, their sole purpose is accomplished. Under the pretext of 

 the fur trade, an incredible number of persons since the beginning of the 

 rebellion has been required, many more than before, though the Indians 

 being employed in the war necessarily hunt less. The fur trade is not 

 the object, it is the great consumption of rum and Indian presents, 

 manifested by the enormous sums drawn for on those accounts by Gov- 

 ernment, purchased at a most exorbitant rate from traders." 



Goring to Samuel Street, 15th March, 1780. — " Liquors are very 

 scarce here and at Detroit. Lay in as large a stock as our circumstances 

 will allow. Blankets are very scarce; Col. Johnson has sent down orders 

 to buy up all the blankets in Canada. Be sure not to forget to bring 

 something for the belly, as provision is very scarce here. Jf you could 

 procure two or three cags of corned beef, I believe it will answer. We 

 have experienced the longest and coldest winter ever known here. The 

 river was frozen over from the 7th January to the ist March, and pass- 

 able for horses and sleds almost the whole time, which has put us back 

 in our building, the snow being two and three feet deep in the woods ; 

 however, the weather has for this week past been milder, in which time 

 we have got all the timber out and only wait for favourable weather to 

 raft it home. Mr. Stedman has promised Col. Johnson all the boards 

 he could cut. The spot is not fixed on as Col. Bolton has not dared to 

 show his nose out this winter." 



Bolton to Haldimand, September 14th, 1780. — "You have also, sir, a 

 journal of the party I sent to Lake Huron by way of Toronto." 



