Page:New Brunswick Magazine Issue 1.djvu/88
a proportion of trinkets, beads, rings and ribbons, and lastly the inevitable "fire water" or New England rum. A few extracts from the correspondence of the company will throw additional light upon the nature of their Indian trade. Writing to Messrs. Blodget & Hazen on Dec. 16, 1764, James Simonds says:—
"I have long waited with impatience for the arrival of the Sloop with Goods, Stores, &c.; have now given her over for lost. * * We had a fine prospect of a good trade the last fall, and had the goods come in season should by this time have disposed of them to good advantage ; but instead of that we have missed collecting great part of our Indian debts, as they expected us up the river and have not been here on that account."
Again on June 20, 1767, Mr. Simonds writes to Messrs. Hazen & Jarvis as follows:—
"The Indian debts we cannot lessen being obliged to give them new credit as a condition of their paying their old debts. They are very numerous at this time but have made bad hunts ; we have got a share of their peltry, as much as all the others put together, and hope soon to collect some more. There is scarcely a shilling of money in the country. Respecting goods we think it will be for our advantage not to bring any toys or trinkets (unnecessary articles) in sight of the Indians, and by that means recover them from their bankruptcy. They must have provisions and coarse goods in the winter, and if we have a supply of these articles by keeping a store here and up the River make no doubt of having most of the trade. Shall have a store [at Ste. Annes] ready by September next and hope to have it finished the last of that month."
There is possibly a little exaggeration in the statements contained in our next extract from a letter written at St. John June 22, 1768. Father Charles Francois Bailly, the priest referred to, was much beloved by the Indians and used his influence always in the interests of peace.
"We have made a smaller collection of furs this year than last occasioned by the large demands of the Priest for his services, and his ordering the Indians to leave their hunting a month sooner than usual to keep certain festivals, and by our being late at their village, the reason of which we informed you in our last. * * * There is a prospect of a scarcity of corn on this river the weather being very unseasonable, and it's expected that there will be a greater number of Indians assembled at Aughpaugh next fall than has for several years past. We shall therefore want a larger supply of corn than we have ever had before at once. Provisions, blankets and stroud is all the other articles we shall want."
In a letter dated at St. John River, March 6th, 1769, Mr. Simonds writes:—