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times, are immediately divested of every degree of reason, 1772. 

 and raise their demands to so exorbitant a pitch, that after ^^' 

 they have received to the amount of five times the value of 

 all the furrs they themselves have brought, they never cease 

 begging during their stay at the Factory ; and, after all, few 

 of them go away thoroughly satisfied."^' 



[291] After stopping four days at this place, Matonabbee, 

 and all the Indians who were to accompany me to the Fort, 

 agreed to leave the elderly people and young children here, in 

 the care of some Indians who were capable of providing for 

 them, and who had orders to proceed to a place called Catha- 

 whachaga, on the barren grounds, and there wait the return of 

 their relations from the Factory. Matters of this kind being 



* As a proof of this assertion I take the liberty, though a httle foreign to the 

 narrative of my journey, to insert one instance, out of many hundreds of the 

 kind that happen at the different Factories in Hudson's Bay, but perhaps no 

 where so frequently as at Churchill. In October 1776, my old guide, Maton- 

 abbee, came at the head of a large gang of Northern Indians, to trade at Prince 

 of Wales's Fort ; at which time I had the honour to command it. When the 

 usual ceremonies had passed, I dressed him out as a Captain of the first rank, 

 and also clothed his six wives from top to toe : after which, that is to say, during 

 his stay at the Factory, which was ten days, he begged seven lieutenants' coats, 

 fifteen common coats, eighteen hats, eighteen shirts, eight guns, one hundred 

 and forty pounds weight of gunpowder, with shot, ball, and flints in proportion ; 

 together with many hatchets, ice chissels, files, bayonets, knives, and a great 

 quantity of tobacco, cloth, blankets, combs, looking-glasses, stockings, hand- 

 kerchiefs, &c. besides numberless small articles, such as awls, needles, paint, 

 steels, &c. in all to the amount of upwards of seven hundred beaver in the way 

 of trade, to give away among his followers. This was exclusive of his own 

 present, which consisted of a variety of goods to the value of four hundred 

 beaver more. But the most extraordinary of his demands was twelve pounds 

 of powder, twenty-eight pounds of shot and ball, four pounds of tobacco, some 

 articles of clothing, and several pieces of ironwork, &c. to give to two men who 

 had hauled his tent and other lumber the preceding Winter. This demand 

 was so very unreasonable, that I made some scruple, or at least hesitated to 

 comply with it, hinting that he was the person who ought to satisfy those men 

 for their services ; but I was soon answered. That he did not expect to have 

 been denied such a trifle as that was ; and for the future he would carry his 

 goods where he could get his own price for them. On my asking him where 

 that was ? he replied, in a very insolent tone, " To the Canadian Traders." I 

 was glad to comply with his demands ; and I here insert the anecdote, as a 

 specimen of an Indian's conscience. 



