mplete collapse of profit upon the trade to the Hudson Bay Company.
The first Indians admitted hand in their peltries through a wooden
grating, and receive in exchange so many blankets, beads, or strouds.
Out they go to the large hall where their comrades are anxiously
awaiting their turn, and in rush another batch, and the doors are locked
again. The reappearance of the fortunate braves with the much-coveted
articles of finery adds immensely to the excitement. What did they see
inside? "Oh, not much, only a few dozen blankets and a few guns, and a
little tea and sugar;" this is terrible news for the outsiders, and the
crush to get\in increases tenfold, under the belief that the good things
will all be gone. So the trade progresses, until at last all the
peltries and provisions have changed hands, and there is nothing more to
be traded; but some times things do not run quite so smoothly.
Sometimes, when the stock of pemmican or robes is small, the braves
object to see their "pile" go for a little parcel of tea or sugar. The
steelyard and weighing-balance are their especial objects of dislike.
"What for you put on one side tea or sugar, and on the other a little
bit of iron?" they say; "we don't know what that medicine is-but, look
here, put on one side of that thing that swings a bag of pemmican, and
put on the other side blankets and tea and sugar, and then, when the two
sides stop swinging, you take the bag of pemmican and we will take the
blankets and the tea: that would be fair, for one side will be as big as
the other." This is a very bright idea on the part of the Four Bears,
and elicits universal satisfaction all round. Four Bears and his
brethren are, however, a little bit put out of conceit when the trader
observes, "Well, let be as you say. We will make the balance swing
level between the bag of pemmican and the blankets, but we will carry
out the idea still further. You will put your marten skins and your
otter and fisher skins on one side, I will put against them on the other
my blankets, and my gun and ball and powder; then, when both sides are
level, you will take the ball and powder and the blankets, and I will
take the marten and the rest of the fine furs." This proposition throws
a new light upon the question of weighing-machines and steelyards, and,
after some little deliberation, it is resolved to abide by the old plan
of letting the white trader decide the weight himself in his own way,
for it is clear