A beaver skin
could be procured from the Indians for a brass finger-ring or a penny
looking-glass. Horses were also so numerous that one could be procured
for an axe or a knife.
Let not the reader, however, hastily conclude that the traders cheated
the Indians in this traffic, though the profits were so enormous. The
ring or the axe was indeed a trifle to the trader, but the beaver skin
and the horse were equally trifles to the savage, who could procure as
many of them as he chose with very little trouble, while the ring and
the axe were in his estimation of priceless value. Besides, be it
remembered, to carry that ring and that axe to the far-distant haunts
of the Red-man cost the trader weeks and months of constant toil,
trouble, anxiety, and, alas! too frequently cost him his life! The
state of trade is considerably modified in these regions at the
present day. It is not more _justly_ conducted, for, in respect of the
value of goods given for furs, it was justly conducted _then_, but
time and circumstances have tended more to equalize the relative
values of articles of trade.
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