16,406. Did any merchant refuse to give you goods, and give you that reason for his refusal?-Yes.
16,407. Was he an agent in the whaling trade?-No, he was not.
16,408. Had you an account at that time with any agent?-Yes.
16,409. I thought you said you had not?-I was done with the agent, and had signed clear in his books.
16,410. What season of the year was that?-In February.
16,411. Do you engage then for the rising season?-I engage for it in the month of March.
16,412. Do you then open an account with the agent for your supplies?-Yes.
16,413. Then is it quite an understood thing that man who engages with an agent for a Greenland voyage must get his supplies from that agent's shop?-If his goods are as cheap and its good as any other person's, they commonly take them from his shop; but if not, they usually make a change with the first month's advance they get, and buy what they want where they can get it cheapest and best.
16,414. Did you ever do that?-Yes.
16,415. Do you always do it?-There are many things which the agents do not keep, and therefore we have to go to different places for what we want.