The French Storekeepers

Travels through Canada, and the United States of North America, in the years 1806, 1807, & 1808:


"The French storekeepers purchase their goods mostly at the auctions where they sometimes buy things very cheap; but in general, I believe, they pay more than they would at the merchants' stores, independent of the time they lose in attending the sale. The cargo of a vessel that was lost in the river St. Lawrence, in 1807, was sold by auction at Quebec, in a damaged state: it amounted to upwards of sixty thousand pounds; and, I am told, cleared more than ten percent profit upon the prime cost. The eagerness of the people to purchase at auctions, and the number of sales that takes place every week, considerably lessen the trade of the regular storekeepers, and render the profession of the auctioneers extremely lucrative...".