124 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1771. they bring to the Factory : and I can truly say, that this has 

 ' ever been the grand object of my attention. But I must at 

 the same time confess, that such conduct is by no means for 

 the real benefit of the poor Indians ; it being well known that 

 those who have the least intercourse with the Factories, are by 

 far the happiest. As their whole aim is to procure a comfort- 

 able subsistence, they take the most prudent methods to 

 accomplish it ; and by always following the lead of the deer, 

 are seldom exposed to the griping hand of famine, so frequently 

 felt by those who are called the annual traders. It is true, 

 that there are few of the Indians, whose manner of life I have 

 just described, but have once in their lives at least visited 

 Prince of Wales's Fort ; and the hardships and dangers which 

 most of them experienced on those occasions, have left such 

 a lasting impression on their minds that nothing can induce 

 them to repeat their visits : nor is it, in fact, the interest 

 of the Company that people of this easy turn, and who require 

 only as much iron-work at a time as can be purchased with 

 three or four beaver skins, and that only once in two or three 

 years, should be invited to the Factories ; because what they 

 beg and steal while there, is worth, in the way of trade, three 

 times the quantity of furrs which they bring. For this reason, 

 it is much more for the interest of the Company that the 

 [84] annual traders should buy up all those small quantities 

 of furrs, and bring them in their own name, than that a parcel 

 of beggars should be encouraged to come to the Factory with 

 scarcely as many furrs as will pay for the victuals they eat 

 while they are on the plantation. 



I have often heard it observed, that the Indians who attend 

 the deer-pounds might, in the course of a Winter, collect a 

 vast number of pelts, which would well deserve the attention 

 of those who are called carriers or traders ; but it is a truth, 

 though unknown to those speculators, that the deer skins 

 at that season are not only as thin as a bladder, but are also 

 full of warbles, which render them of little or no value. 



