some of our customers were induced by the same argument to carry their
furs to our rivals.

For a period of six weeks or so, the natives continued to arrive;
sometimes in brigades, sometimes in single canoes; during the whole of
this period we were occupied in the manner now described, day and
night. So great was the pressure of business, that we had scarcely
time to partake of the necessary refreshment. When they had at length
all arrived, we enjoyed our night's rest, if indeed our continually
disturbed slumbers could be called rest:--what with the howling of two
or three hundred dogs, the tinkling of bells with which the horses the
Indians rode were ornamented, the bawling of the squaws when beaten by
their drunken husbands, and the yelling of the savages themselves when
in that beastly state, sleep was impossible,--the infernal sounds that
continually rent the air, produced such a _symphony_ as could be heard
nowhere else out of Pandemonium. No liquors were sold to the natives
at the village, but they procured as much as they required from the
opposite side of the lake. Some wretches of Canadians were always
ready, for a trifling consideration, to purchase it for them; thus the
law prohibiting the sale of liquor to the Indians was evaded. After
wallowing in intemperance for some time, they ultimately submitted to
the authority of the priests, confessed their sins, received
absolution, and became _good Christians_ for the remainder of the
season. If any indulged in the favourite vice--a few always did--they
were confined to their quarters by their families. After attending
mass on Sundays, they amused themselves playing at ball, or running
foot races; and it was only on such occasions they were seen to
associate with their neighbours the Iroquois. They took opposite sides
in the games; small stakes were allowed, merely to create an interest
in the issue of the contest. The chiefs of both tribes sat smoking