Presents. 197 
^ our women and children are left without 
“ food; do you then,, who call yourselves our 
f * friends, shew us now that you really are so, 
ce and give them food to eat till the sun ripens 
" our corn, and the great spirit gives another 
prosperous season for hunting. 55 Their re¬ 
quest was at once complied with; a large store¬ 
house was erected on the island, and tilled with 
provisions at the expence of government for 
their use, and regularly twice a week the clerks 
in the Indian department went over to distri¬ 
bute them. About three barrels of salted pork 
or beef, as many of dour, beans or peas, Indian 
corn, and about two carcases of fresh beef, were 
generally given out each time. These articles 
of provision the Indians received, not in the 
thankful manner in which they did the othe r 
presents, but seeming!} 7 as if they were due to 
them of right. One nation they think ought 
never to hesitate about giving relief to an¬ 
other in distress, provided it was not at enmity 
with it; and indeed, were their white brethren’ 
the British, to be reduced by any calamity to 
a similar state of distress, the Indians would 
with the utmost cheerfulness share w ith them 
their provisions to the very last. 
The presents delivered to the Indians, toge¬ 
ther with the salaries of the officers in the In¬ 
dian department, are computed to cost the 
crown, as I before mentioned, about 100,0002 
