The traders of the Columbia Fur Co. and after them those of the American Fur Co. were men of ability, honesty, and truth. In the course of their dealings, intermarriages, and conversations with the Indians, the minds of the latter were enlarged, a different train of thought and action engendered, new desires created which gave a stimulus to industry, which raised the Indian from the level of the brute to the standing of an intellectual being. The enmities formerly existing between different bands of the same nations, arising from the petty jealousies of chiefs or private family animosities, were soldered up by the traders. To be sure their object in this was personal gain, but that is immaterial, the beneficial results arising from their traffic, etc., were consolidation of force and interest of the Indians, unity of purpose and action, entailing order in their government, a great diminution of family feuds and private quarrels, and an application of their time to the comfort and welfare of their families instead of its being spent in bloody contention or domestic idleness or discord. The introduction of firearms, metallic cooking utensils, and other tools gave them a greater reliance on their own powers, increased their hunting operations, and with them their domestic comfort, by these means withdrawing their attention from their barbarous practices and opening a new field for their exertions. With the substituting of European instruments and clothing arose a different kind of pride than that of olden time. The distinguishing features of the original savage were fierceness, obstinate will, and bloody determination, leading to barbarous and disgusting practices. Their women were worse than slaves, the extent of their labor was more than they could bear. With the stone ax, the bone awl, the clay pot, the rib knife, and all their primitive tools, even their most pressing wants were met with great difficulty. The process of procuring fuel alone was one of much toil, and occupied most of the time of one female to a lodge. On account of their inadequate instruments for dressing hides their clothing was wretched, often insufficient to protect from cold or to cover with decency. Commerce has changed all this by facilitating their means, and the character of their women has risen from a state of intolerable slavery to one of ordinary labor scarcely more servile than that of European female operatives. Their persons are cleanly dressed, combed, and adorned, a desire to appear genteel is manifested, a neatness in their lodges and domestic arrangements perceptible, proving the transfer of their time and ideas to these ends from those of original filth and savage recklessness.