32 Str ALEXANDER MACKENZIE

superintended the fishery and the supply of
fuel. The Indians came regularly to Chipe-
wyan in the autumn, early in January, and at
the end of March. At each visit they were
outfitted on credit with ammunition and other
supplies to be paid for in furs on their return.
The currency was the beaver; everything was
valued as being worth so many prime beaver
skins. There was also a free distribution of
liquor to the Indians, which was regularly fol-
lowed by an orgy of drunkenness often ending
in violence and murderous quarrels. In Mac-
kenzie’s time, however, one tribe which fre-
quented Fort Chipewyan wisely refused to
touch spirits.

The voyageurs were employed in trans-
port, in fishing, and in other duties about the
posts; they did little hunting. They were
French Canadians, or half-breeds, and were
almost all illiterate. Hardy, used to peril,
and capable of amazing endurance, while on
the move they could work at a pinch twenty
hours a day for several days on end; their
normal load over a portage was two packs of
ninety pounds weight for each man, but