90 NARRATIVE, &c. 



lake, in 1784, were the following. A bear was estimated to be 

 one plus, an otter, three martens, a lynx, fifteen muskrats, res- 

 pectively, one plus. A buffalo robe, two plus. A keg of mixed 

 rum, which was then the kind of spirits used in the trade, was 

 sold at thirty plus, and the Indians, when they commenced tra- 

 ding, first put out the furs they intended as pay for their liquor. 



The Leech Lake Indians were then stated to be numerous, 

 although, in common with other northern bands, they had also 

 suffered from the general ravages of the small pox, in this re- 

 gion, two years previous. They were, however, then, as now, 

 deemed a turbulent band, and such was the fear of giving ad- 

 ditional excitement to their passions, that the liquor which was 

 sold to them, was put in cache at the entrance of the river, that 

 it might not be delivered to them, until the traders had finished 

 their traffic, (which on that occasion, occupied but a single day,) 

 and embarked on their return for Michilimackinac. Besides 

 the original robbery of a principal trader, which drew upon 

 them the name of Pillagers, their intercourse with the traders 

 has been of a character to require perpetual caution to avoid the 

 recurrence of serious difficulties. It is but two years ago that 

 they confined a trader to his lodge, and threatened him, in such 

 a manner, that he was happy to escape from the country with 

 his life, and has not since returned to it. 



During the winter of 1821-22, a man named Relle, who was 

 employed at Leech Lake, to collect credits, as it is termed, en- 

 tered the lodge of a hunter named Puganoc i. e. Nutwood, and 

 without much ceremony, obtained the Indian's furs. He had 

 as he conceived, got consent which the Indian afterwards with- 

 drew. Relle, however, whose business it was to collect furs 

 for his employer, and who had, from long usage, become ex- 

 pert in that employment, did not pay that deference to the In- 

 dian's wishes, which he probably would have done, could we 

 suppose that he considered them to indicate any more, than a 

 mere reluctance to part with the furs. On this point we are 

 without particular information. Be this as it may, Relle took up 



