sixpence, for three marten skins, worth, in
London, five guineas; and for the skin of
the Black Sea otter, value fifty guineas, they
give in exchange about two shillings' worth
of goods.

The standard of barter is the skin of a full-
grown beaver, which is equal to four mink
skins, three marten skins, two fox skins, and
twelve musquash skins. An ordinary gun,
costing twenty-two shillings, is bartered for
twenty bear skins worth thirty-two pounds
ten shillings, or sixty marten skins worth
forty-six pounds ten shillings, or five silver
fox skins worth fifty pounds, or twenty lynx
skins worth twenty pounds, or twenty otter
skins worth twenty-three pounds ten
shillings. Half-a-dozen clay pipes, value one
penny, a few glass beads, worth twopence, or
a pint of watered rum, value fourpence, is
exchanged for skins worth from one pound
three shillings and sixpence to two pounds
ten shillings.

Their nine majesties seem to have more than
the usual royal contempt for native life. The
existence of an Indian was never yet put in
competition with a beaver skin; and never,
in any one of the many cases of murder have
there been any steps taken to bring the
murderers to justice, when they have happened
to be bold and successful trapper-hunters.
Hasty court-martials are sometimes held,
and Indians are tried, convicted, and
instantly executed by the hands of their
civilised judges, for such shadowy crimes as
being found near some horses with the
supposed intention of stealing and riding off
with them.

The rule of the nine kings, when one of
their servants is murdered, is simple and
effective. The first Indian met, is
sacrificed—blood for blood—without trial of
any kind. The Governor Simpson (before
quoted) lays it down, not as the traveller
round the world, but in his official capacity,
that "whether in matters of life and death, or
of petty theft, the rule retaliation is the only
standard of equity which the tribes on this
coast are capable of appreciating."

And yet the nine kings got their licence
for the Indian Territories granted in eighteen
hundred and twenty-one, and renewed in
eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, on the
ground of promoting the moral and religious
improvement of the debased and degraded
red man.

Latterly, the life of the nine kings has not
been so peaceful and happy as for the last
two hundred years during which they and
their predecessors have held their extensive
kingdom. Their original charter has been
proved to be illegal—the merry monarch
giving (in his usual light and agreeable
manner), that which did not belong to him.
Moreover, since his very liberal gift, they
have multiplied their territory tenfold. The
Americans are very naturally making
encroachments upon such happy hunting-
grounds, and it is scarcely the duty of Great
Britain, although urged thereunto by the
nine kings, to step forward and prevent
them.

A very pretty boundary quarrel is also
raging with Canada, which, one day, if played
with much longer by our colonial office, may
ripen into an energetic stand-up contest on
the part of the colony. The licence for the
Indian Territories will expire on the thirtieth
of May, eighteen hundred and fifty-nine—
to be renewed or not, as the case may be—
and Vancouver's Island, rented at five
shillings per annum, is to be taken away for ever
from the beneficial occupation of the present
tenants.

If a careless and a tardy government
will not take any steps to break up this
monopoly, the kingdom of Hudson's Bay
will be thrown down as a bone for
contending Canadians and Americans, and
perhaps Russians, to fight for. The nine kings—
three known, and six unknown—must feel
in a weak and tottering condition. Their
princely revenue, composed of profits got
from the heathen, and reaching twenty-five
thousand per cent.; their happy hunting-
grounds, their seas, bays, lakes, rivers, creeks,
and havens, must be fading before them,
like the melting scene of a dissolving view,
and not two (millions) of elks, and two
(millions) of black beavers, will ever bring
them back again. It will be strange if such
a band of monarchs can stand alike against
publicity and annexation. They must
surely die.

MR CHARLES DICKENS

WILL READ AT ST. MARTIN'S HALL:

On WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 14th, at Three (for
the last time), his CHRISTMAS CAROL.

On THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 15th, at Eight (for the
last time), The POOR TRAVELLER, BOOTS AT THE
HOLLYTREE INN, and MRS. GAMP.

On THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 22nd, at Eight (the
last reading in London), The STORY OF LITTLE DOMBEY.

Each Reading will last two hours.

PLACES FOR EACH READING:—Stalls (numbered and
reserved), Five Shillings; Area and Galleries, Half-a-
crown; Unreserved Seats, One Shilling. Tickets to be
had at Messrs. Chapman and Hall's, Publishers, 193,
Piccadilly; and at St. Martin's Hall, Long Acre.

Now ready, price Five Shillings and Sixpence,
bound in cloth,

THE SEVENTEENTH VOLUME

of

HOUSEHOLD WORDS.

Containing the Numbers issued between the Nineteenth
of December last year, and the Twelfth of June in
the present year.
To be had of all Booksellers.