Codfish and Furs

This was the general course of development; but particular events in different parts of Canada bring into focus the actual impact of the European on the Native world.

Probably we will never know the extent or nature of the encounters that took place between European fishermen and Native people west and south-west of Newfoundland before 1534. The first extended commentary we have is that written by Cartier on his first two voyages in 1534 and 1535-36. After examining the

Labrador coast in the Strait of Belle Isle area and making his famous “land God gave to Cain” observation, he sailed to the south-west, passing by the western shore of Newfoundland, the Magdalen Islands, and the western end of Prince Edward Island before reaching the eastern shore of New Brunswick near Miramichi Bay. He then proceeded to Chaleur Bay, where he encountered a large party of Mi’kmaq. It is unclear from his account of this meeting whether the Mi’kmaq were already accustomed to trading with Europeans, but his journal certainly indicates they were eager;

... we caught sight of two fleets of Indian canoes... which numbered in all some forty or fifly canoes. Upon one of the fleets reaching this point, there sprang out and landed a large number of Indians, who set up a great clamour and made frequent signs to us to come on shore, holding up to us some furs on sticks. But as we were only one [long] boat we did not care to go, so we rowed towards the other fleet which was on the water. And they [on shore], seeing we were rowing away, made ready two of their largest canoes in order to follow us. These were joined by five more of those that were coming in from the sea, and all came after our long-boat, dancing and showing many signs of joy, and of their desire to befriends....

Despite these friendly gestures, Cartier, greatly outnumbered, felt threatened and fired two warning cannon shots over their heads. The next day he and his men got up their courage and went ashore to meet the Mi’kmaq. A brisk trade ensued:

As soon as they saw us they began to run away, making signs to us that they had come to barter with us; and held up some furs of small value, with which they clothe themselves. We likewise made signs to them that we wished them no harm, and sent two men on shore, to offer them some knives and other iron goods, and a red cap to give to their chief.... The savages showed a marvellously great pleasure in possessing and obtaining these iron wares

And other commodities, dancing and going through many ceremonies____They bartered all

They had to such an extent that all went back naked without anything on them____

Shortly after he left the Mi’kmaq, Cartier encountered a party of three hundred Stadacona who were camped on the Gaspe coast where they were fishing for mackerel:

We gave them knives, glass beads, combs and other trinkets of small value, at which they showed many signs of joy.... This people may well be called savage; for they are the sorriest folk there can be in the world, and the whole lot of them had not anything above the value Of five sous, their canoes and fishing-nets excepted. They go quite naked, except for a small skin, with which they cover their privy parts, and for a few old furs which they throw over

Their shoulders____They have no other dwelling [when travelling] but their canoes, which

They turn upside down and sleep on the ground underneath.

As he prepared to leave for home, Cartier claimed the land for France. Flis account gives us an idea of how the Native people reacted to one of the first European land grabs:

... We had a cross made thirty feet high, which was put together in the presence of a number of the [Stadacona] Indians on the point [opposite Sandy Beach] at the entrance to this harbour, under the cross-bar of which we fixed a shield with three fleurs-de-lys in relief, and above it a wooden board, engraved in large Gothic characters, where was written,

LONG LIVE THE KING OF FRANCE. We erected this cross on the point in their presence and they watched it being put together and set up. And when it had been raised in the air, we all knelt down with our hands joined, worshipping it before them____

When we had returned to our ships, the chief, dressed in an old black bear-skin, arrived

In a canoe with three of his sons and his brother____And pointing to the cross he made us a

Long harangue, making the sign of the cross with two of his fingers; and then he pointed to the land all around about, as if he wished to say that all this region belonged to him, and that we ought not to have set up this cross without his permission____

At this point Cartier ordered his men to seize the Stadacona and bring them aboard. They were given every sign of affection, as well as food and drink, “And then we explained to them by signs that the cross had been set up to serve as a landmark and guide-post on coming into the harbour, and that we would soon come back....” Cartier doubtless realized that the Stadacona were fully aware of the actual significance of the cross, and hence his baldly spurious explanation. He never did, in fact, return to this bay.

Just before he left for France, Cartier seized two young Iroquoian men, sons of Chief Donnacona, saying he would bring them back to the chief’s village the following summer. He honoured this promise; in 1535 he visited Stadacona, near present-day Quebec City, and returned the men to their father. From there he travelled inland to the Iroquoians’ substantial palisaded town of Hochelaga, at the present site of Montreal, to pursue his search for a water passage to the Pacific. He was impressed by the St. Lawrence valley and its people. Talking—mostly by signs— with the Hochelagans, Cartier gained the impression that beyond the rapids of Montreal, the rivers led inland to several large lakes and even to a land called Saguenay, the source of gold, silver, and copper. The hope that gold lay not far west of Hochelaga prompted Cartier’s third and largest expedition in 1541, which was authorized to take control of these foreign lands “by friendly means or by force of arms.” But sickness and the Native peoples’ increasing readiness to ward off the intruders brought this venture to an inglorious end in 1543. There was no rich, hierarchical society here that might be conquered by a show of force, as there had been in the Spanish conquest. Nevertheless, in addition to furs and territory, this quest for a route to the Orient was to continue to be one of the driving forces behind overland exploration for the next two hundred years.

Cartier failed in his major objective, which he realized when he sighted the Lachine Rapids and understood that they marked the head of navigation on the St. Lawrence. But during the course of these voyages he learned a great deal about the geography of Maritime Canada, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the St. Lawrence valley. He noted that the waters teemed with fish and whales; there were excellent stands of timber in the Gaspe area; there was considerable agricultural potential on the New Brunswick coast and in the St. Lawrence valley; and furs were abundant. His voyages did much to establish the geography and place names of eastern Canada, and he also gave the country a name. The Iroquoians with whom he talked used the name “Canada” (the word seems to mean “village”), and Cartier took the name back to the

Modifications of the Beaver Hat. The fashion for the beaver hat was the driving force behind the early fur trade, as the under-wool from beaver pelts was used to make the high-grade felt that quality hatmakers demanded. Engraving in H. T. Martin’s Castorologia (Montreal and London, 1892).

Mapmakers of Europe. By the late 1500s sailors spoke routinely of Terre-Neuve or Canada as a trading and fishing destination.

But, with the exception of fish and whales, the time was not right to make the capital investment needed to develop the resources in the New World. So for the next fifty years, the Aboriginal people along the Gulf of St. Lawrence would be disturbed only by fishermen and whalers who welcomed the chance to earn some Additional income by trading for a few furs with the Native people who visited them on the coast during the summer.

Along the south shore of Nova Scotia, the fishermen set up primarily off-shore operations in which the cod was salted on the ships, so they had little, if any, contact with Mi’kmaq on the coast. The northern fishery was different. Drying stations were established on the Newfoundland coast, particularly on the Avalon peninsula, at good harbour sites which were often also favoured camping places of the Beothuk. In the early sixteenth century, fishermen had little interest in trading with them. The Beothuk did not welcome the fishermen because they occupied Native campsites and destroyed the surrounding forests with their clearing and reckless burning. Conversely, the fishermen disliked the fact that during the winter the Beothuk frequently plundered the drying stations to obtain nails and other metal scraps. Thus relations between the Beothuk and European fishermen were strained from the outset. The Beothuk suffered severely in the ensuing hostilities, and by the early nineteenth century became one of the few Native groups in Canada to be totally annihilated.

In the second half of the sixteenth century the economic climate in Europe changed, and conditions developed that encouraged the rapid development of the fur trade as a major industry. Beginning about mid-century, the felt hat became very fashionable in Europe, and it remained so until it was displaced by the silk hat in the middle of the nineteenth century. Hatters wanted beaver pelts only so they could shave off the hair; the skins could then be discarded. The most luxurious, durable felt was made from the short inner layers of shaven hair or under-wool of beaver pelts. Beaver had been nearly exterminated in western Europe by the sixteenth century, but they abounded in North America and could be obtained relatively cheaply.

Two types of beaver pelts were bought from Indians—coat beaver, called castor gras by the French, and parchment beaver, or castor sec. In the sixteenth century, only the Russians had mastered the technique of extracting the long guard hairs from parchment beaver pelts so the under-wool could be separated from the skin. But sending parchment pelts to Russia for processing substantially increased the cost of felt-making. Coat beaver, on the other hand, was second-hand, already worn by the Native people as winter coats. In the course of wearing the furs with the hair side turned inward, and scraping and rubbing them with animal marrow to oil and soften them, the Aboriginal people had worn off the guard hairs. The under-wool could now be easily removed from the skins, which meant the pelts could be processed directly by western European feltmak-ers. As a result, coat beaver became much sought after in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. For the Native people it meant a gratifying trade—indeed, in 1634, Father Le Jeune, the superior of the Jesuits at Quebec, reported that the Montagnais thought the European desire for beaver skins was foolishly extravagant:

The Savages say it is the animal well-beloved by the French, English and Basques,—in a word, by the Europeans. I heard my [Indian] host say one day, jokingly, Missi picoutau amiscou, “The Beaver does everything perfectly well, it makes kettles, hatchets, swords, knives, bread; and in short, it makes everything.” He was making sport of us Europeans, who have such a fondness for the skin of this animal and who fight to see who will get it; they carry this to such an extent that my host said to me one day, showing me a beautiful knife, “The English have no sense; they give us twenty knives like this for one Beaver skin.”

Father Le Jeune undoubtedly took some liberties in recounting this interview to make a point about the behaviour of European traders, but it is clear that early trade was very favourable to the Aboriginal people. Unfortunately for them, this situation did not last. By the end of the eighteenth century, western European feltmakers learned the Russian secret and parchment beaver became the preferred pelt because it was of more even quality than coat beaver. By the middle of the nineteenth century coat beaver was no longer in much demand—the result was that Native trappers had to trap more beaver if they wanted European goods.

While it lasted, the strong market for beaver pelts had other implications. Eor the first time it became possible for European merchants to specialize in the fur trade, so that by the 1580s it had ceased to be merely a small adjunct to the fishing and whaling industries. This change set in motion new economic forces that served to propel the industry across the continent over the next two centuries, upsetting the old order of aboriginal Canada in the process.

From the outset, a key problem for the fur industry was the high cost of transportation, given the great distance between Canada and the European markets. This encouraged merchants to try to monopolize the trade, to set prices highly favourable to themselves and at the same time capture a supply of furs sufficient to sustain profitable operations. In 1588 the King of France granted the first trading monopoly in Canada to Jacques Noel. Other French merchants immediately challenged it and it was hastily withdrawn by the Crown. This was but the first episode in a struggle that was to continue into this century. At best, merchants managed to enforce monopoLies for only short periods of time before they were successfully challenged by fellow citizens or foreign traders.

Aboriginal people responded in a similar fashion. With the establishment of regular trade in a given area, Native trading specialists, or middlemen, promptly emerged. These entrepreneurs handled the traffic in furs and European goods between the trading stations and the Native groups living in the remote interior who supplied the bulk of the furs. Like other traders around the world, the Native middlemen sharply marked up the price of all the commodities they carried before passing them on. Understandably, these middlemen jealously guarded their lucrative trading routes, blocking access to all Native groups who did not have their permission to pass—a permission not readily obtained, and usually granted only after the payment of rather hefty toll charges.

Both Native peoples and Europeans struggled for economic control. This instability was, in fact, one of the driving forces behind the expansion of the industry. Repeatedly the Europeans sought to displace the middlemen in the hope that they could buy furs more cheaply, but they met with repeated failure as successive groups of Native people assumed the role of traders, thereby cashing in on their temporary strategic advantage. As trading routes reached deeper into the continent, transportation and storage costs mounted further, increasing the pressure on the Europeans to secure a high volume of fur. Invariably this meant, in turn, that the fur trade encouraged Native people to hunt and trap local animal populations at a level that could not long be maintained. The circular process set in motion would fuel the transcontinental expansion of the fur industry between 1580 and 1793.

The first Aboriginal trading specialists to emerge were the Montagnais who lived in the vicinity of the Saguenay River. The lower Saguenay is a deep fjord of stark and legendary beauty, and the mouth of the river had been an important whaling site since the middle of the sixteenth century, because the beluga whales breed there, and porpoises and fin, humpback, pilot, and even great blue whales are attracted to the area. Some fur trading had probably taken place there since that time too, and by the end of the century the lower Saguenay had become a major fur-trading centre, with merchant ships from European nations stopping there regularly. The Montagnais responded in two ways: they intensified their trapping and extended their trading connections northward and westward from Lac St-Jean towards Lac Mistassini and the upper Ottawa River; and they learned how to take advantage of a competitive market by playing off rival European traders against one another. By the turn of the century Frenchmen complained that the Montagnais had transformed the summer trade into an auction, driving prices up to the point that it was difficult for Europeans to make any profit.

Partly for this reason, the French, led by the explorer and cartographer Samuel de Champlain, pushed south-westward into the St. Lawrence River valley and established a post at the site of present-day Quebec City in 1608. Between Cartier’s voyage in 1535 and Champlain’s of 1608, the Stadaconans and Flochelagans disappeared. To this day historians debate what happened to them. What is clear is that at the time of Champlain’s arrival the St. Lawrence valley had become a no man’s land that separated two hostile Aboriginal groups—the New York Iroquois to the south of Lake Ontario, and the Algonquians of the Ottawa River valley and eastward as well as their ITuron allies. Given the local political climate, it is not surprising that Champlain and his followers were quickly drawn into the conflict. In 1609 he accepted a request to join a party of Ottawa valley Algonquian and Fluron on a raid into Mohawk country, where they attacked a Mohawk village on Lake Champlain. An escalation of the violence soon followed.

Although they were allied with some of their Algonquian-speaking neighbours to the east, the Huron were also eager to break the trading monopoly of two Algonquin groups, the Allumette and Petite Nation, of the middle and lower Ottawa valley, and to establish direct trading and military links with the French. With these objectives in view, the Huron invited Champlain to visit their country, and he accepted and set out for Huronia in 1613. However, his party was stopped en route by the Allumette, who wanted to protect their position in the trading system. They refused to let him pass. Champlain had little choice but to abandon his trip, although before leaving he presented gifts to the Allumette and promised to assist them in their struggles with the Iroquoians. This diplomacy would enable him to pass through their territory two years later, and in 1615 he finally reached Huronia; he himself was greeted warmly, but the missionaries who accompanied him were regarded with suspicion. The Huron believed, not without foundation, that these men were traders in disguise who had come to spy on them in order to learn their trading secrets. They were anxious not to reveal who their trading partners were. So the French priests got off to a shaky start; they did not establish permanent missions until the 1620s.

By the late 1630s, Huronia had become central to the French fur trade and a primary focus of missionary activity. But the area was still extremely unstable politically: by this time the New York Iroquois were beginning to be well armed with

European weapons, and they were making increasingly devastating raids on the lower Ottawa River and on Huronia in the hope of gaining access to the fur trade north of the Great Lakes. The Iroquoian attacks were no longer intended merely to obtain a few captives, as they had been before the European arrival—they were aimed at annihilating the opposing forces. As the conflict intensified, epidemics of smallpox ravaged the Huron, demoralizing them. The missionaries added to their problems by creating internal divisions between the converted and the unconverted. As a consequence Huronia was overrun by the Iroquois and collapsed in 1649.

After the fall of Huronia, traffic along the lower Ottawa River became intermittent because parties travelling there were often attacked by the Iroquois. Many of the old trading partners of the Huron withdrew to the west and north-west, out of range of the Iroquois war parties. This was a problem for the French traders, who were eager to retain contact with these groups. So, in 1656, French exploration into the upper Great Lakes was spearheaded by Medard Ghouart Des Groseilliers. His brother-in-law Pierre-Esprit Radisson joined him in 1659, and by 1663 they had travelled as far as the Lake Superior country and possibly beyond to James Bay. In any event, the Cree, who at the time were fur suppliers to the Ottawa and Ojibwa, made it clear to the two Frenchmen that the prime fur country lay to the north of Lake Superior. The Native people also spoke of a northern “frozen” sea, and the two traders concluded that this was the one named for Henry Hudson, the hapless explorer left to die there in 1611 by his mutinous crew. Mindful of the mounting expenses involved in expanding the fur trade overland north-westward from the St. Lawrence River (Montreal and Trois Rivieres), the brothers-in-law decided that an attempt should be made to establish a trading base on this northern sea. Then it would be possible to sail into the heart of the best fur country thereby eliminating burdensome overland transportation costs and, because access would be direct, outflanking another group of Native traders.

Radisson and Des Groseilliers failed to obtain French backing for their plans. It simply was the wrong time to approach French officials: in 1663 Jean-Baptiste Golbert, the new Secretary of State, had taken over direction of colonial affairs, and he opposed western expansion. He was more interested in promoting farming in the colony in order to establish the economy on a sounder footing. He did not want the local population drawn away from the settlements on trading or other ventures.

But Radisson and Des Groseilliers were not to be denied. After abortive attempts to gain support for their idea in Boston and France, they travelled to England. There they obtained a favourable hearing in the court of King Charles ii, from a small, close-knit group of courtiers who were deeply concerned with establishing a balanced imperial economy. Included in the group were Anthony Cooper, later first Earl of Shaftesbury; Sir Peter Colleton; Sir George Carteret; and the first Duke of Albemarle, George Monk. This was an entrepreneurial, highly placed group of men who undertook the planting of Carolina in 1666 and were granted the Bahamas in 1670. They had the patronage of the King’s brother, James, Duke of York, and his dashing cousin. Prince Rupert. After a bungled attempt to dispatch an expedition in 1667 (good summer weather passed before they were ready), one was finally launched on June 5, 1668, when the Eaglet and the Nonsuch weighed anchor in the Thames. These were small ships, ketches. Both weighed less than forty-four tons, and were approximately 5 metres (16 feet) in the beam and under 12 metres (40 feet) in length. The Eaglet, with Radisson on board, was forced to turn back, but the Nonsuch, carrying Des Groseilliers, reached southern James Bay on September 29. The crew wintered there and conducted a very successful trade with the Cree. The Nonsuch returned with such a large cargo of prime winter beaver and other furs that the press reported that it “made them some recompense for their cold confinement.” Flushed with success, the English investors dispatched another ship in 1669 with Radisson on board, and took steps to establish the trade on a permanent basis. Accordingly, in the spring of 1670 the Hudson’s Bay Company charter was drawn up, and it was signed by Charles ii on May 2, 1670. The King gave “Governor and Company of Adventurers” monopoly trading privileges and the right to colonize all the lands drained by waters flowing into Hudson Strait. This vast estate (in modern geographical terms it included northern Quebec, northern Ontario, all of Manitoba, most of Saskatchewan, southern Alberta, and a portion of the Northwest Territories) was called Rupert’s Land, in honour of Prince Rupert; in all, it was fifteen times larger than the present United Kingdom and five times larger than France. In several respects, the chartering of the Hudson’s Bay Company (hbc) is one of the great ironies of Canadian history. The company was the conception of two Frenchmen; they helped guide it in the first critical years; yet it became one of the most successful English colonial ventures in Canada, and certainly the most lasting.

In 1671 the new company started erecting trading posts at the outlets of the major rivers. Within ten years forts were established on the Rupert, Moose, Albany, and Hayes rivers, and they had a major impact on trade. Between 1650 and 1670, Assiniboine and Cree bands living as far away as eastern Manitoba had been supplying Ottawa and

Ojibwa traders with furs in exchange for French goods. But with the establishment of the bayside posts, the Cree and Assiniboine no longer had to depend on Ottawa and Ojibwa middlemen, and were able to trade directly with the English. They became the sixth generation of important Aboriginal middlemen operating in the century-old land-based fur trade. Even more significant, they were well placed strategically to assume a merchant role themselves. Quickly they seized the opportunity and within a decade of the founding of the hbc, its Canadian governor, John Nixon, reported:

I am informed, there is a nation of Indians called the poyets [Dakota Sioux] who have had no

Trade with any cristian nation____It would be greatly to the advance of our trade if we could

Gaine correspondence with them____For they would faine have a trade with us but are afffayed

To break through our neighbouring Indians for want of armes... our Indians [Assiniboine and Cree] are afffayed that they [the Dakota] will breake doune to trade with us, for by their good-will, they would be the only brokers between all strange Indians and us____

Given the crucial roles that Radisson and Des Groseilliers played in helping the hbc establish its commercial ties with the Indians, it is not surprising that many of the trading practices developed by the French were incorporated into the new company. Early hbc accounts give us a useful insight into the general character of the fur trade in the late seventeenth and eighteenth century. One of its most celebrated features was the pre-trade ceremony in which gifts of equal value were exchanged. This was a Native institution; in Native society, trade between groups who had no kinship ties did not commence until bonds of friendship were established or reconfirmed by the leaders of the respective parties. At the same time, peace pipes were smoked and formal speeches were delivered.

In the HBc’s early days the pre-trade gift ceremony became central to the company’s relationship with those groups who lived long distances from the bayside posts and only came to trade once a year. According to company accounts. Aboriginal trading parties rallied behind leaders who were skilled orators, knew the routes to the posts, and were astute traders. The English called these men “trading captains.” The headmen who followed them were termed “lieutenants.” Just prior to their arrival at the post, the trading parties would put ashore to dress in their finest clothing. Properly attired, they continued their journey. When they came in sight of the fort, the hbc post commander, known as the chief factor, would fire a round of cannon or musket in salute to the Native people, who replied in similar fashion with their muskets.

One of the most important documents in Canadian history is the charter granted to the Hudson’s Bay Company by Charles ii at Westminster on May 2, 1670; this is its first page. In 1870 Canada paid the hbc $1.5 million in cash to buy back its chartered territorial rights; the company also received land concessions amounting to one-twentieth of the prairie region, and retained the developed land around its trading posts.

As soon as the Native people arrived at the post they made camp at a clearing set aside for that purpose. While the camp was being set up, the trading captain and his lieutenants proceeded into the fort to greet the chief factor and his officers. Andrew Graham, chief factor at York Factory in the late eighteenth century, described a typical visit:

The Governor being informed what Leaders are arrived, sends the Trader to introduce them singly, or two or three together with their lieutenants, which are usually eldest sons or nighest relations. Chairs are placed in the room, and pipes with smoking materials produced on the table. The captains place themselves on each side of the Governor.... The

Silence is then broken by degrees by the most venerable Indian____He tells how many canoes

He has brought, what kind of winter they have had, what natives he has seen, are coming, or stay behind, asks how the Englishmen do, and says he is glad to see them. After which the Governor bids him welcome, tells them he has good goods and plenty; and that he loves the Indians and will be kind to them. The pipe is by this time renewed and the conversation becomes free, easy and general.

While these pleasantries were being exchanged, the company outfitted the trading captains and their lieutenants with new clothes:

A coarse cloth coat, either red or blue, lined with baize with regimental cuffs and collar. The waistcoat and breeches are of baize; the suit ornamented with broad and narrow orris lace

Of different colours; a white or checked shirt; a pair of yarn stockings tied below the knee with worsted garters; a pair of English shoes. The hat is laced and ornamented with feathers of different colours. A worsted sash tied round the crown, an end hanging out on each side down to the shoulders. A silk handkerchief is tucked by a corner into the loops behind; with these decorations it is put on the captain’s head and completes his dress. The lieutenant is also presented with an inferior suit.

Dressed in new outfits, the trading captains paraded out of the fort in company with the chief factor and his officers, followed by servants carrying gifts for the other Native people, mostly food, tobacco, and brandy. After another round of speechmaking in the camp, these additional gifts were presented to the chief, who ordered them distributed to his followers. At this juncture the company men departed and the Aboriginal people held a celebration in which they consumed most of what they had been given. Once the feasting was concluded, the trading party assembled behind the captain and his lieutenants and proceeded back into the fort to offer a return gift to the chief factor: one or two pelts from each follower were collected by the trading captain and presented to the chief factor on their behalf While making the present, the captain delivered a lengthy speech reconfirming his people’s friendship towards the company. The trading captain also took this opportunity to mention any troubles his followers might have had with last year’s supply of goods; he detailed any hardships they had experienced over the winter; and he politely demanded that his people receive fair treatment. After a suitable reply, the Native people retired to their camp and trade was ready to begin. In the case of large trading parties, pre-trade formalities took several days to complete.

Such elaborate ceremonies were staged only for inland Natives. Local bands were treated less lavishly. These people, who came to be known as the “home guard” in recognition of their close ties to the posts, visited frequently. In addition to trapping, the home guard provided meat for the forts and worked as casual labourers in the summer assisting with maintenance of the post, collecting firewood, and doing other chores. Despite a company ban to the contrary, employees developed liaisons with home-guard women. Most of these were not casual relationships, they were marriages according to the custom of the country, or common-law marriages if viewed from a European perspective, and they drew home-guard people into the social orbit of the trading post. In the late eighteenth century the company bowed to the inevitable and lifted the ban, but by then a sizeable population of Indian-Europeans

Captain Bulgar, Governor of Assiniboia, and the Chiefs and Warriors of the Chippewa Tribe of Red Lake. Trading blended Native and European traditions of exchange. Key aspects of these ceremonies, such as giftgiving, were carried over into treaty negotiation procedures and the annual annuity-payment ceremonies. Watercolour (1823) by Peter Rindisbacher.

Already existed, referred to as mixed-bloods or “citizens of Hudson Bay.” Mixed marriages were commonplace at French posts also, and those offspring of French and Indian marriages later emerged as the Metis of Canada.

The trade itself was a matter of barter in which relative values were expressed in terms of the staple of the day—beaver. Furs and goods were said to be worth so many “made beaver.” A “made beaver” was equal to the value of a prime winter coat or parchment beaver-skin. The directors of the company, known as the Governor and Committee, established the official price lists, or standards of trade, but the men in Canada deviated from these lists according to local conditions. When they were firmly in control, they charged Indians more for goods than the standards specified. Conversely, if competing traders were present, hbc factors sometimes paid the Indians more for their furs than the official price lists specified.

“Outfitting” Native clients was another important feature of the company’s earliest trade, undoubtedly another carry-over from the French. Outfitting involved extending credit to Native hunters in the form of staple goods—the amount depended on local economic conditions—and it served several purposes. It assured the hunters that they would be supplied essential items even if their hunts were poor in the short term. This became an increasing concern in later years, as the hunters grew to depend on European guns, ammunition, hatchets, knives, traps, and even food. Also, by investing in future returns, Europeans were staking claims on those returns. This was a major consideration whenever there was competition. Though competing traders encouraged Native customers not to honour debts owed to the opposition, the majority of them resisted and repaid their creditors. Given the extent to which outfitting was practised, the fur trade is best described as credit barter, or Truck trade. It was not until well after Confederation that cash fur-buying began to spread into the North, and as late as the First World War credit barter still accounted for most of the traffic in wild furs.