LIFE IN THE FAB, WEST. 91 



line was marked out, which was strictly kept by the 

 soldiers appointed for the protection of the whites. As 

 there were many rival traders, and numerous coureurs des 

 bois, or peddling ones, the market promised to be brisk, 

 the more so as a large quantity of ardent spirits was in 

 their possession, which would be dealt with no unsparing 

 hand to put down the opposition of so many competing 

 traders. 



In opening a trade, a quantity of liquor is first given 

 " on the prairie," * as the Indians express it in words, or 

 by signs in rubbing the palm of one hand quickly across 

 the other, holding both flat. Having once tasted the 

 pernicious liquid, there is no fear but they will quickly 

 come to terms ; and not unfrequently the spirit is drugged, 

 to render the unfortunate Indians still more helpless. 

 Sometimes, maddened and infuriated by drink, they com- 

 mit the most horrid atrocities on each other, murdering 

 and mutilating in a barbarous manner, and often attempt- 

 ing the lives of the traders themselves. On one occasion 

 a band of Sioux, whilst under the influence of liquor, 

 attacked and took possession of a trading fort of the 

 American Fur Company, stripping it of everything it 

 contained, and roasting the trader himself over his own 

 fire. 



The principle on which the nefarious trade is conducted 

 is this, that the Indians, possessing a certain quantity of 

 buffalo-robes, have to be cheated out of them, and the 

 sooner the better. Although it is explicitly prohibited by 

 the laws of the United States to convey spirits across the 

 Indian frontier, and its introduction amongst the Indian 

 tribes subjects the offender to a heavy penalty, yet the 

 infraction of this law is of daily occurrence, perpetrated 

 almost in the very presence of the Government officers, 

 who are stationed along the frontier for the purpose of 

 enforcing the laws for the protection of the Indians. 



The misery entailed upon these unhappy people by the 

 illicit traffic must be seen to be fully appreciated. Before 



* " On the prairie" is the Indian term for a free gift. 



