There are generally two commissioned gentlemen in this district,—­a chief-factor and chief-trader, with six or seven clerks in charge of posts; and about forty men, principally Iroquois and half-breeds.  The fare at the different posts depends entirely on local circumstances.  In some places it is tolerable, in others, scarcely fit for dogs.  For the year’s consumption, the Company allow a clerk two bags of flour, sixty pounds of sugar, twelve pounds of tea, and a small quantity of wine and brandy.  Butter is now produced in abundance in the district.  Where there are no gardens, the men have only dried salmon,—­as poor fare as civilized man subsists on in any part of the world.  It has at first the same effect on most people as if they fed on Glauber salts.  Nevertheless, the men generally continue in this wretched condition for many years, apparently contented and happy; the indulgence they find among the females being, I grieve to say, the principal inducement.

END OF VOL.  I.

R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.