presented their Chiefs to them, when they asked to be informed what
the terms granted at the North-West Angle were. These were fully
and carefully explained to them, but after a request that all the
Indians owed to the Hudson Bay Company should be wiped out and a
refusal of the Commissioners to entertain their demands, they then
asked that they should be paid fifteen dollars per annum per head,
which was refused, and they were informed that the proposals of the
Commissioners were final, and could not be changed.

The Chiefs then agreed to accept the terms offered and to sign
the treaty, having first asked that the Half-breeds should be
allowed to hunt, and having been assured that the population in
the North-West would be treated fairly and justly, the treaty was
signed by the Commissioners and the Chiefs, having been first fully
explained to them by the interpreter.

Arrangements were then made to commence the payment and distribution
of the presents the next day, a duty which was discharged by Mr.
Christie and Mr. Dickieson, Private Secretary of the Hon. Mr. Laird.

I forward you to form an appendix to this despatch, a report
marked "A" and "B" extended from notes taken in short hand, by Mr.
Dickieson, of the various conferences and of the utterances of the
Commissioners and the Indians.

It is obvious that such a record will prove valuable, as it enables
any misunderstanding on the part of the Indians, as to what was
said at the conference, to be corrected, and it, moreover, will
enable the council better to appreciate the character of the
difficulties that have to be encountered in negotiating with the