162 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



beavers, and a black fox, or large black 

 bear, are equal to four ; a mode of reckon- 

 ing which has very little connexion with 

 the real value of these different furs in the 

 European market. Neither has any atten- 

 tion been paid to the original cost of Euro- 

 pean articles, in fixing the tariff by which they 

 are sold to the Indians. A coarse butcher's 

 knife is one skin, a woollen blanket or a 

 fathom of coarse cloth, eight, and a fowling 

 piece fifteen. The Indians receive their 

 principal outfit of clothing and ammunition 

 on credit in the autumn, to be repaid by 

 their winter hunts; the amount intrusted 

 to each of the hunters varying with their 

 reputations for industry and skill, from 

 twenty to one hundred and fifty skins. The 

 Indians are generally anxious to pay ofi 

 the debt thus incurred, but their good in- 

 tentions are often frustrated by the arts ol 

 the rival traders. Each of the Companies 

 keeps men constantly employed travelling 

 over the country during the winter, to col- 

 lect the furs from the different bands oi 

 hunters as fast as they are procured. The 



