176 
1771. 
i od 
July. 
A JOURNEY TO THE =: | 
et, alenife, and an awl: for thefe three- neceflary | 
implements, copper makes but a very poor . fub- | 
ftitute. When they exchange copper for iron- | 
work with our trading Northern Indians, which | 
is but feldom, the ftahdard is‘an. ice-chiffel of | 
copper for an ice-chiffel of iron, or an ice-chiffel 
and a few arrow-heads of copper, for a half-worn | 
hatchet ; but when they barter furrs with our In- | 
dians, the eftablifhed rule is to give ten times the 
price for every thing they. purchafe that is given | 
for them at the Company’s. Factory., Thus, a 
hatchet that is bought at the Factory for one | 
beaver-fkin, or .one cat-fkin, or three ordinary ! 
martins’ kins, is fold to thofe people at the ad. 
vanced price of one thoufand per cent. ; they | alfo | 
pay in proportion, for knives, and every other | 
{maller piece of iron-work. For a fmall- brafs. 
kettle of two pounds, or two pounds and a half | 
weight, they pay fixty martins, or twenty beaver. 
in other kinds of furrs*. If the kettles are not 
%* What is meant by Beaver in other kind of furrs, muft be underftood as | 
follows: For the eafier trading with the Indians, as well as for the more | 
correctly keeping their accounts, the Hudfon’s Bay Company have made a | 
full-crown.beaver-fkin the ftandard by which they rate all other furrs, ac- | 
cording to their refpective values. Thus in feveral fpecies of furrs, one | 
fkin is valued at the rate of four beaver fkins; fome at three, and others 
at two; whereas thofe of an inferior quality are rather at one; and thofe 
of itill lefs value confidered foinferior to that of a beaver, that from fix 
to twenty of their fkins are only valued as equal to one beaver fkin in the 
way of trade, and do not fetch one-fourth of the price at the London mar- 
Ket. In this manner the term ‘Made Beaver’ is to be underftood, 
