MAKING READY FOR THE BARREN GROUNDS 163 



leaves the store so long as he has a " made beaver " to 

 spend, and when he has used up his due he always makes 

 an eloquent and vigorous appeal for gratuity or debt. As 

 a matter of fact, these Indians are most considerately and 

 generously treated by the company ; they are paid a good 

 price for their fur, and the worthy, and many times the 

 unworthy, are often given both debt and gratuity. There 

 are no Indians I know of that are better treated, and few 

 as well. Nor have I ever visited a country where trade 

 competition operated less to the advantage of the natives. 

 The few independent traders that have worked their way 

 into this North country have done little, so far as I could 

 see, beyond raising the value of certain kinds of fur above 

 its fair marketable value, which in some lines has necessi- 

 tated the introduction of an inferior quality of stuff for 

 trade. So that the Indian has really been the loser. 



Although several hundred Indians bring their fur to 

 Resolution, and the " census " of the post is returned as 

 about 300, as at Chipewyan the actual residence is far 

 below that number in fact, seven families, that comprise 

 sixty souls. Great Slave Lake itself is one of the largest 

 bodies of fresh water in the world, being 300 miles long, 

 with an estimated area of from 11,200 to 15,000 square 

 miles. Great Bear Lake is but a couple thousand square 

 miles smaller, and the size of both may be judged by com- 

 paring them with Lake Michigan, which has 20,000 square 

 miles. Fancy Lake Michigan a solid sheet of dazzling 

 white, its shores broken by deep bays and sparsely cov- 

 ered with smallish pine, and everywhere silence and deso- 

 lation and snow, and you have some idea of Great Slave 

 Lake in winter. 



