glorious life during the three months they remained at the
village; that period was to them a continued carnival. The best fare
the country afforded--the best attire that money could procure--all
that sensuality, all that vanity could desire--their means permitted
them to enjoy. Their lands not having been hunted on during the war,
the beaver multiplied at an extraordinary rate, and now swarmed in
every direction. Every individual belonging to the tribe might then
have acquired an independent fortune. They arrived at the village,
their canoes laden with furs; but the characteristic improvidence of
their race blinded them to future consequences. Such was their
wasteful extravagance, that the money obtained by the sale of their
furs was dissipated ere half the summer season was over. The traders
supplied them afterwards with all requisites at a _moderate_ per
centage; and when they embarked in autumn for their hunting grounds,
they found themselves deeply involved in debt, a few only excepted.

In the course of this summer, some of our opponents foreseeing the
probable issue of the contest they were engaged in, proposed terms of
capitulation, which were in most instances readily assented to by the
Company; the inventories and outstanding debts were assumed at a
certain valuation. They retired from the field, some with annuities
for a stipulated period, while to others a round sum of money was
granted; in either case the party bound himself, under certain
penalties, not to interfere in the trade for a stated period of time.

In this manner the Company got rid of all petty opponents, with the
exception of two who continued the unequal contest. By the latter end
of August the natives had all started for the interior, leaving behind
only a few decrepit old men and women. The scene was now completely
changed; a death-like stillness prevailed where but a few days before
all was activity, bustle and animation. Two of my brother scribes were
ordered to the interior; one[1] to the distant Lake Nipissingue, the
other to the Chats. Mr. Fisher set off to enjoy himself in Montreal,
Mr. Francher, the accountant, being appointed _locum-tenens_ during
his absence. Another young Scot and myself, together with two or three
non-descripts, formed the winter establishment. Having just quitted
the scenes of civilized life, I found my present solitude sufficiently
irksome; the natural buoyancy of youthful spirits, however, with the
amusements