Volume 1

"
256 REFLECTIONS ON THE SITUATION.
time for a change on this river.
The country being almost
destitute of beaver' and other furs, and the Indians increasing
in number daily from the Red Lake and Fond du Lac
country, the X. Y. had been lavish of their property, selling
very cheap ;
and we, to keep the trade in our own hands,
had been obliged to follow their example. Thus, by our
obstinate proceedings, we had spoiled the Indians. Every
man who killed a few skins was considered a chief and
treated accordingly ;
there was scarcely a common buck to
be seen ;
all wore scarlet coats, had large kegs and flasks,
and nothing was purchased by them but silver works,
strouds, and blankets. Every other article was either let
go on debt and never paid for, or given gratis on request.
This kind of commerce had ruined and corrupted the
natives to such a degree that there was no bearing with
their insolence; if they misbehaved at our houses and were
checked for it, our neighbors were ready to approve
their scoundrelly behavior and encourage them to mischief,
even offering them protection, if they were in want of it.
By this means the most notorious villains were sure of
refuge and resources. Our servants of every grade were
getting extravagant in their demands, indolent, disaffected
list of N. W. and X. Y. signers is found in Masson, I. p. 89, with several misprints
; it may be checked ibid., II. p. 482 seq., where the important document
appears nearly in full, in English. Those who were present in Montreal and
actual signers appear to have been :
McKenzie ;
John Richardson
;
John Forsyth
;
John
Alexander
Ogilvie ; John Gregory ; William Macgillivray ;
William Hallowell ; Roderic McKenzie ; the rest being represented by their
attorneys.
' Among the causes of extermination of the beaver must be reckoned a certain
epidemic disease ; thus Tanner, p. 104 :
Some kind of distemper was prevailing
among these animals, which destroyed them in vast numbers. I found
them dead and dying in the water, on the ice and on the land ; sometimes I
found one that, having cut a tree half down, had died at its roots ; sometimes
one who had drawn a stick of timber half way to his lodge, was lying dead by
his burthen. Many of them, which I opened, were red and bloody about
the heart. Those in large rivers and running water suffered less ;
almost all of
those that lived in ponds and stagnant water, died. Since that year the beaver'
have never been so plentiful in the country of Red River and Hudson's Bay, as
they used formerly to be."