KERRY TRASK

. through marriage the white trader gained entry into the kinship groups of which the woodland societies were composed, thereby becoming directly related to the people with whom they hoped to do business. Indian wives taught their white husbands the languages of the forest, skills and knowledge often indispensable to survival in the wilderness. On the other hand, the tribal people of the Lakes, who suffered severe losses among their young men in the wars and epidemics of the eighteenth century, were eager to have their widows and daughters married off to Frenchmen who could provide for needs, generate new children and grant commercial concession to their woodland relatives

. through marriage the white trader gained entry into the kinship groups of which the woodland societies were composed, thereby becoming directly related to the people with whom they hoped to do business. Indian wives taught their white husbands the languages of the forest, skills and knowledge often indispensable to survival in the wilderness. On the other hand, the tribal people of the Lakes, who suffered severe losses among their young men in the wars and epidemics of the eighteenth century, were eager to have their widows and daughters married off to Frenchmen who could provide for needs, generate new children and grant commercial concession to their woodland relatives