Indeed the evil has already, in part, recoiled upon the traders; for the Indians, long deceived, have become deceivers in their turn, and not unfrequently after having incurred a heavy debt at one post, move off to another, to play the same game.

In some cases the rival posts have entered into a mutual agreement, to trade only with the Indians they have respectively fitted out; but such treaties, being seldom rigidly adhered to, prove a fertile subject for disputes, and the differences have been more than once decided by force of arms.

To carry on the contest, the two Companies are obliged to employ a great many servants, whom they maintain often with much difficulty, and always at a considerable expense[8].
[8] As the contending parties have united, the evils mentioned in this and the two preceding pages, are now, in all probability, at an end.
There are thirty men belonging to the Hudson's Bay Fort at Cumberland, and nearly as many women and children.
The inhabitants of the North West Company's House are still more numerous.

These large families are fed during the greatest part of the year on fish, which are principally procured at Beaver Lake, about fifty miles distant.

The fishery commencing with the first frosts in autumn, continues abundant, till January, and the produce is dragged over the snow on sledges, each drawn by three dogs, and carrying about two hundred and fifty pounds.