This Discourse Obliged These Savages To Submit Themselves To All That I Wished; So That Seeing Them Disposed To Trade,

I said to them that as they had an extreme need of knives & guns, I would give them 10 knives

For one Beaver, although the master of the earth, the King, my sovereign, had given me orders to not give but 5 of them, & that as for the guns, I would give them one of them for 12 Beavers; which they went to accept, when the Governor, through fear or imprudence, told them that we demanded of them but 7 & up to 10 Beavers for each gun, which was the reason that it was made necessary to give them to the savages at that price. The trade was then made with all manner of tranquillity & good friendship. After which these people took their leave of us very well satisfied according to all appearances, as much in general as in particular of our proceeding, & the chief as well as the other savages promissed us to return in token of their satisfaction. But at the moment that they went to leave, my nephew having learned from a chief of a neighbouring nation who was with them that they would not return, he drew aside the savage chief & told him that he had been informed that he did not love us, & that he would return no more. At which this chief seemed very much surprised in demanding who had told him that. My nephew said to him, "It is the savage called Bear's Grease;" which having heard, he made at the same time all his people range themselves in arms, speaking to one & to the other; in fine, obligeing the one who was accused to declare himself with the firmness of a man of courage, without which they could do nothing with him, but Bear's Grease could say nothing in reply. Jealousy, which prevails as much also among these nations as among Christians, had given place to this report, in which my nephew had placed belief because he knew that the conduct of the Governor towards them had given to them as much of discontent against us all as he had caused loss to the Company; the genius of these people being that one should never demand whatever is just, that is to say, that which one wishes to have for each thing that one trades for, & that when one retracts, he is not a man. That makes it clear that there are, properly, only the people who have knowledge of the manners & customs of these nations who are capable of trading with them, to whom firmness & resolution are also extremely necessary. I myself again attended on this occasion, to the end of appeasing this little difference between the savages, & I effected their reconciliation, which was the reason that their chief protested to me afresh in calling me "Porcupine's Head,", which is the name that they have given me among them, that he would always come to me to trade, & that whereas I had seen him but with a hundred of his young men, he would bring with him 13 different nations, & that he wanted nothing in his country, neither men nor beaver skins, for my service; after which they left us, & we dispersed ourselves to go and take possession of the house of my nephew in the manner that I had arranged with him for it.

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