A Singular Change Takes Place In The Physical Constitution Of
The Indian Females Who Become Inmates Of A Fort, Namely
They bear
children more frequently and longer but at the same time are rendered
liable to indurations of the mammae
And prolapsus of the uterus, evils
from which they are in a great measure exempt whilst they lead a
wandering and laborious life.)
The girls at the forts, particularly the daughters of Canadians, are
given in marriage very young; they are very frequently wives at twelve
years of age and mothers at fourteen. Nay, more than once instance came
under our observation of the master of a post having permitted a voyager
to take to wife a poor child that had scarcely attained the age of ten
years. The masters of posts and wintering partners of the Companies
deemed this criminal indulgence to the vices of their servants necessary
to stimulate them to exertion for the interest of their respective
concerns. Another practice may also be noticed as showing the state of
moral feeling on these subjects amongst the white residents of the fur
countries. It was not very uncommon amongst the Canadian voyagers for one
woman to be common to and maintained at the joint expense of two men; nor
for a voyager to sell his wife, either for a season or altogether, for a
sum of money proportioned to her beauty and good qualities but always
inferior to the price of a team of dogs.
The country around Cumberland House is flat and swampy and is much
intersected by small lakes.
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