Preliminary to trade, the Indians would be conducted to the Indian Hall where the friendship between white and Indian was ratified by the ritual smoking of a pipe. This was followed by long speeches by the Indians, exhorting the traders to deal fairly with them, and then a ceremonial gift exchange. Traditionally, the Indians were given a dram of liquor and a ration of tobacco, but later, due to competition, the traders gave the Indians large quantities of alcohol. They would return to the "plantation" for a full-fledged drinking bout (boisson) before the actual trade began. This drawing illustrates a typical nineteenth-century Hudson's Bay Company trade store. The Indians exchanged their furs for goods according to a Standard of Trade that was based on the value of one prime beaver pelt known as Made Beaver (MB). According to the Hudson's Bay Company Standard, one gun cost fourteen MB, two knives cost one MB, and a brass kettle cost six MB. contrary on witnessing their apparent want of animation."
