58 The Winning of the West 



were many freedmen and freed women of both col- 

 ors, and in consequence much mixture of blood. 



They were tillers of the soil, and some followed, 

 in addition, the trades of blacksmith and carpenter. 

 Very many of them were trappers or fur traders. 

 Their money was composed of furs and peltries, 

 rated at a fixed price per pound 21 ; none other was 

 used unless expressly so stated in the contract. 

 Like the French of Europe, their unit of value was 

 the livre, nearly equivalent to the modern franc. 

 They were not very industrious, nor very thrifty 

 husbandmen. Their farming implements were rude, 

 their methods of cultivation simple and primitive, 

 and they themselves were often lazy and improvi- 

 dent. Near their town they had great orchards of 

 gnarled apple-trees, planted by their forefathers 

 when they came from France, and old pear-trees, 

 of a kind unknown to the Americans; but their 

 fields often lay untilled, while the owners lolled in 

 the sunshine smoking their pipes. In consequence 

 they were sometimes brought to sore distress for 

 food, being obliged to pluck their corn while it was 

 still green. 22 



The pursuits of the fur trader and fur trapper 

 were far more congenial to them, and it was upon 

 these that they chiefly depended. The half-savage 

 life of toil, hardship, excitement, and long intervals 



coue and Domitilla Tehuigouanakigaboucoue. Sometimes 

 the man is only distinguished by some such title as "The 

 Parisian," or "The Bohemian." 



21 Billon, 90. 



22 Letter of P. A. Laforge, Dec. 31, 1786. Billon, 268. 



