The book is intact and very creditably kept. The entries are in the hand writing of James White. The accounts during the continuance of the partnership were kept in New England currency or “Lawful money of Massachusetts.” The letters L. M. were frequently employed to distinguish this currency from sterling money and Nova Scotia currency. The value of the Massachusetts currency was in the proportion of £1 sterling to £1. 6s. 8d. L. M.; the Nova Scotia dollar, or five shillings, was equivalent to six shillings L. M. It is a fact worth recording, that the Massachusetts currency was used in all ordinary business transactions on the River St. John down to the time of the arrival of the Loyalists in 1783. This fact suffices to show how close were the ties that bound the pre-loyalist settlers of the province to New England, and it is scarcely a matter of surprise that during the Revolution the Massachusetts congress found many sympathizers on the River St. John.
While accounts were kept according to the currency of New England, the amount of cash handled by Simonds and White was insignificant. For years they supplied the settlers on the river with such things as they required often receiving their payment in furs and skins. In securing these the white inhabitants became such expert hunters and trappers as to arouse the jealousy of the Indians and to give rise to the pseudo-nym “the bow and arrow breed,” applied to them by some of the half-pay officers who settled among them at the close of the American Revolution. With the Indians the trade was almost entirely one of barter, the staple article being the fur of the spring beaver.
The fur trade assumed large proportions at this period. The account books of Simonds and White that are now in existence do not contain a complete record of all the shipments made from St. John, but they show that during ten years of uninterrupted trade from the time of their settlement at Portland Point to the outbreak of the Revolution, they exported at least 40,000 beaver skins, 11,022 musquash, 6,050 Marten, 870 otter, 258 fisher, 522 Mink, 120 fox, 140 sable, 74 racoon, 67 loup-cervier, 8 wolverene, 5 bear, 2 Nova Scotia wolf, 50 carriboo, 85 deer, and 1,113 moose, besides 2,265 lbs. of castor and 3,000 lbs of feathers, the value of which according to invoice was £11,295 or about $40,000. The prices quoted are but a fraction of those of modern days and by comparison appear ridiculously small. Other traders were engaged in traffic with the Indians also, and if Messrs. Simonds and White sent on an average 4,000 beaver skins to New England every year, it is manifest that the fur trade of the river was a matter of some consequence.
James White was the principal agent in bartering with the Indians who had every confidence in his integrity. Three-fourths of their trade was in beaver skins and “a pound of spring beaver” (equivalent to 5 shillings in value) was the unit employed in trade. Mr. White was usually called by the Indians “K’wabeet” or “Beaver.” It is said that in business with the Indians the fist of Mr. White was considered to weigh a pound and his foot two pounds both in buying and selling. But the same story is told of other Indian traders. The Indians were fond of finery and ornaments. Among the articles sent by Samuel Blodget in 1764 were nine pairs of green, scarlet and blue plush breeches at a guinea each; one blue gold laced jacket and two scarlet gold laced jackets valued at £3 each; also spotted 183 ermine jackets, ruffled shirts and three gold laced beaver hats (value of the latter £8 6s. 4d.) These may seem extravagant articles for the Indians yet their chiefs and captains bought them and delighted to wear them on special occasions.[67] It was customary in trading with the savages to take pledges from them, for the payment of their debts, silver trinkets, armclasps, medals, fuzees, etc. In the autumn of 1777 a Yankee privateer from Machias, whose captain bore the singular name A. Greene Crabtree, plundered Simonds & White’s store at Portland Point and carried off a trunk full of Indian pledges. This excited the indignation of the Chiefs Pierre Thoma and Francis Xavier who sent the following communication to Machias: “We desire you will return into the hands of Mr. White at Menaguashe the pledges belonging to us which were plundered last fall out of Mr. Hazen’s store by A. Greene Crabtree, captain of one of your privateers; for if you don’t send them we will come for them in a manner you won’t like.”
The goods kept in the store at Portland Point for the Indian trade included powder and shot for hunting, provisions, blankets and other “necessaries” and such articles as Indian needles, colored thread, beads of various colors, a variety of buttons—brass buttons, silver plated buttons, double-gilt buttons, scarlet buttons and blue mohair buttons—scarlet blue and red cloth, crimson broadcloth, red and blue stroud, silver and gold laced hats, gilt trunks, Highland garters, silver crosses, round silver broaches, etc., etc.
The old account books bear evidence of being well thumbed, for Indian debts were not easy to collect, and white men’s debts were harder to collect in ancient than in modern days. In point of fact the red man and the white man of the River St. John ran a close race in their respective ledgers. For in a statement of accounts rendered after the operations of the company had lasted rather more than two years, the debts due were as follows: From the English £607 11s. 9d. and from the Indians £615 7s. 9d. Old and thumb-worn as the account books are, written with ink that had often been frozen and with quill pens that often needed mending, they are extremely interesting as relics of the past, and are deserving of a better fate than that which awaited them when by the merest accident they were rescued from a dismal heap of rubbish.
In their business at Portland Point, Simonds and White kept four sets of accounts: one for their Indian trade, a second for their business with the white inhabitants, a third for that with their own employees, and a fourth for that with the garrison at Fort Frederick.
In glancing over the leaves of the old account books the first thing likely to attract attention is the extraordinary consumption of West India spirits and New England rum. This was by no means confined to the Company’s laborers, for at that time the use of rum as a beverage was almost universal. It was dispensed as an ordinary act of hospitality and even the preacher cheerfully accepted the proffered cup. It was used in winter to keep out the cold and in summer 184 to keep out the heat. It was in evidence alike at a wedding or a funeral. No barn-raising or militia general muster was deemed to be complete without the jug, and in process of time the use of spirits was so habitual that Peter Fisher was able to quote statistics in 1824 to prove that the consumption of ardent liquors was nearly twenty gallons per annum for every male person above sixteen years of age. While the use of rum may be regarded as the universal custom of the day, at the same time tobacco was not in very general use. The use of snuff, however, was quite common.
In the course of a few years the variety of articles kept in stock at the company’s store increased surprisingly until it might be said they sold everything “from a needle to an anchor.” The paces at which some of the staple articles were quoted appear in the foot note.[68] Among other articles in demand were fishing tackle, blue rattan and fear-nothing jackets, milled caps, woollen and check shirts, horn and ivory combs, turkey garters, knee buckles, etc. Among articles that strike us as novel are to be found tin candlesticks, brass door knobs, wool cards, whip-saws, skates, razors and even mouse traps. Writing paper was sold at 1s. 3d. per quire. The only books kept in stock were almanacks, psalters, spelling books and primers.