THE ALKATCHO CARRIER OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 3747

such rank distinctions are no longer acknowledged, and in form
at least, Carrier society is less stratified than formerly. A more
significant economic stratification is developing as a consequence
of the introduction of the horse and the steel trap. The Carrier
who had the cash and the foresight to invest in horses and in
steel traps are now at a decided economic advantage. The lack
of horses prevents the purchase of supplies at Bella Coola at
cheaper prices. And even when some supplies can be brought in
from Bella Coola the family running short must buy from the
trader—sometimes an Indian—at high prices. The lack of steel
traps (which cost about four dollars each on the average) cuts
production at the expense of those not equipped with such
traps. It is obvious that given a limited number of animals mov-
ing about over many trap-lines, the best-equipped trap-line will
get most of the game. Thus once the cycle of technological in-
equality is begun it continues until eventually a few become
very wealthy at the expense of the many. Nothing so drastic has
yet taken place because the situation has developed relatively
recently. The Indians, those who are poor, are very conscious
of this new development, though they do nothing about it.
Trading, always important, has continued to blossom; but
with diminishing success. Spurred on by an awareness of their
exploitation at the hands of the White trader (actually the White
trader is sometimes more exploited by the fur-purchasing monop-
olies than the Indians), and responding to a well-established
form, the Carrier have organized a number of trading companies
of their own in competition with the White trader. But only
one man, who practised some purloining on the side had any
success in trade. Yet every family has at one time or another or-
ganized a trading company and failed. No sooner does one com-
pany fail than another starts up immediately. The handicaps
the Indians must face as trade competitors of the Whites are
considerable. For the most part illiterate, they have no informa-
tion about the state of the fur market. They must sell as a rule
to a fur monopoly. They can never get the same wholesale price
on tradegoods as the Whites. Nor does an Indian trading-
company have any particular advantage over the Whites in rela-
tions with the native villages. The White fur-trader has but to