OF THE FUR: TRADE, &c. XCi

relations and friends in the enjoyment of that plenty which is derived
from numerous herds of deer. But thofe of that tribe who are moft
partial to thefe defarts, cannot remain there in winter, and they are
obliged, with the deer, to take fhelter in the woods during that rigorous
feafon, when they contrive to kill a few beavers, and fend them by young

men, to exchange for iron utenfils and ammunition.

Till the year 1782, the people of Athabafca fent or carried their furs
regularly to Fort Churchill, Hudfon’s Bay ; and fome of them have, fince
that time, repaired thither, notwithftanding they could have provided.
themfelves with all the neceflaries which they required. The difference
of the price fet on goods here and at that faétory, made it an object
with the Chepewyans, to undertake a journey of five or fix months, in
the courfe of which they were reduced to the moft painful extremities,
and often loft their lives from hunger and fatigue. At prefent, however,
this traffic is in a great meafure difcontinued, as they were obliged
to expend in the courfe of their journey, that very ammunition which

was its moft alluring object.

Some Account of the Knisteneaux Indians.

THESE people are fpread over a valt extent of country. Their
language is the fame as that of the people who inhabit the coaft of
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