OF THE POLAR SEA. 163 



poor Indian endeavours to behave honestly, 

 and when he has gathered a few skins sends 

 notice to the post from whence he procured 

 his supplies, but if discovered in the mean 

 time by the opposite party, he is seldom 

 proof against the temptation to which he is 

 exposed. However firm he may be in his 

 denials at first, his resolutions are enfeebled 

 by the sight of a little rum, and when he 

 has tasted the intoxicating beverage, they 

 vanish like smoke ; and he brings forth his 

 store of furs, which he has carefully con- 

 cealed from the scrutinizing eyes of his 

 visitors. This mode of carrying on the 

 trade not only causes the amount of furs, 

 collected by either of the two Companies, 

 to depend more upon the activity of their 

 agents, the knowledge they possess of the 

 motions of the Indians, and the quantity of 

 rum they carry, than upon the liberality of 

 the credits they give, but is also productive 

 of an increasing deterioration of the cha- 

 racter of the Indians, and will, probably, 

 ultimately prove destructive to the fur 

 trade itself. Indeed the evil has already, 

 m 2 



