The Home of the 1 Volverene and Beaver. 29 



bois were naturally shy of serving masters they 

 had always been taught to regard as enemies. In 

 the year 1766, however, it revived, and the com- 

 petition between rival private traders grew fierce 

 and was productive of the worst results. The trade 

 from its very nature was carried on in the wilder- 

 ness, far away from legal restraint, and where 

 underhand methods of gaining an advantage over 

 a competitor could be employed unchecked. Mac- 

 kenzie says, " The consequence was not only the 

 loss of commercial benefit to the persons engaged 

 in it. but of the good opinion of the natives, and the 

 respect of these men, who were inclined to follow 

 their example ; so that with drinking, carousing, 

 and quarrelling with the Indians along their route 

 and among themselves they seldom reached their 

 winter quarters, and if they did it was generally by 

 dragging their property upon sledges, as the navi- 

 gation was closed up by the frost. When at length 

 they were arrived the object of each was to injure 

 his rival trader in the opinion of the natives as 

 much as was in their power by misrepresentation 

 and presents, for which the agents employed were 

 peculiarly calculated. They considered the com- 

 mand of their employer as binding on them, and 

 however wrong or irregular the transaction, the 

 responsibility rested upon the principal who directed 



