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.Traders would use inaccurate steelyards (a type of balance scale) to weighthe skins or would accuse others of doing so to win the Indians trust.The dishonest trader would take an inaccurate steelyard along with aprospective Indian seller and compare it with his competitors steelyards.22 People of the American Frontier"The comparison naturally would favor the underhanded trader to whomthe Indian would then sell his pelts.In August 1761 James Kenny, the agentfor the Indian Commission at Fort Pitt, reported that while he was tradingwith an Indian, another trader, John Ormsby, came in with an Indian whoaccused Kenny of using light steelyards.When Kenny and Ormsby s steelyardswere compared, there was a difference of one pound per hundredweight.Kenny expected that Ormsby had two keys, or weights, for his steelyardone accurate and the other designed to discredit other traders.On another occasion, a Seneca chief came in to trade seven buckskins,while many Indians were crowding the store stealing.The warrior was notpleased with the trade, so Kenny gave him a loaf of bread.Another Indianhesitated in choosing some brass wire in exchange for a very small skin todivert Kenny s attention while other Indians stole.The Indians tried to getbehind the counter, but Kenny turned them back.One of the Indians tooka keg that was behind the door so Kenny turned them all out, givingone a handful of salt for which he begged.Some buckskins were traded forpowder.These anecdotes reveal the often-shady conduct of trade on the partof both sellers and customers.The dishonest colonial traders were a continual source of friction.Theextremely risky action of entering Indian country with little protectionattracted men who sought to make enormous gain by any means.In July1766 at a conference in Oswego, New York, attended by the Ottawas,Pottawatomis, Hurons, and Chippewas, Pontiac informed Johnson that theIndians were threatening war because of dishonest business practices bycolonial traders who were cheating on weights and using rum to buy theIndians fur.Although some Indians paid for their merchandise immediately with theirfurs, most trade was conducted on credit, from the time merchandise waspurchased in England to its delivery to the Indians.Merchants in Montreal,Albany, Philadelphia, and Illinois would order merchandise in Europe andengage traders to deliver it to the Indians.If the traders knew an Indian indistress, they would supply him with ammunition and other goods for thewinter and the following summer would receive payment in furs and skins.The pelts were then sent to the merchants on the coast and used to pay forthe merchandise from England.In severe winters the Indians lacked enough fur to balance their accountsbut needed additional credit to hunt the next winter.Starvation faced themif they did not receive guns, ammunition, and clothing.Opinion was dividedon their degree of honesty at this point.In 1749 Thomas Lee, a frontiermerchant, believed that the Indians seldom failed to pay their debts becausethey needed good credit for the coming year.A missionary named DavidThe Indians 23"Zeisberger, on the other hand, believed that regardless of any previous debtsthey owed, the Indians would return to the posts in the spring with pelts andbargain with various traders for the best price.However, the traders at theposts were less likely to grant credit.Traders in the villages, where there wasno competition, were more willing.With such a huge influx of European goods to exchange for a valuablecommodity, fur, the relations between colonial and Indian society wereeconomically beneficial to both.Despite all other problems, their contactremained peaceful for the most part.Otherwise the relationship would havecollapsed, with a more serious impact on the Indians.In January 1768 Robert McCulley was sent to the Shawnee Towns onthe Scioto River with a stock of merchandise belonging to Baynton andWharton and sold all of the goods.He sent twelve horse-loads of deerskinfrom the Shawnee Towns in the next few months (valued at £360 sterling,or $72,000).In July Joseph Spear, a close associate and former partner ofBaynton and Wharton, sent six wagonloads of deerskin (at least six tons,worth £1,800 sterling, or $360,000) from Carlisle to Philadelphia.Theseamounts are significant compared with the total annual legal export of furand deerskin from Philadelphia of only £4,000 sterling.An analysis of the types of goods carried to the frontier reveals the nature ofa slowly developing economic network that reached a stage of considerablecomplexity in the 1760s.The arrival of the Europeans disrupted an existingIndian economy.Having been practically self-sufficient, the changed Indiansociety could not resist and became dependent on the European merchandiseto improve its standard of living.Copper kettles that replaced fragile claypots were easily used to boil tough venison into a palatable stew.Given thelack of dental care, tender meat was a delightful improvement.A kettle wasan inexpensive purchase from the traders, who included a nest of kettles ofgraduated sizes in every trading inventory.By 1770 comfortable woolentrousers had replaced the harsh buckskins, which became stiff when soakedand dried.East of the Mississippi River the  Indian gun, a small-caliber,smoothbore, and lightweight fowler that fired either round bullets or bird shot,replaced the bow and arrow.Given a few hours of trapping and huntingeach day, an Indian family had an ample supply of fur and deerskin topurchase a wide variety of products [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]