Jose: Nicely stated. Except for one problem! Give me an example in the historiography of the fur trade of Western Canada where that type of analysis of rum, or alcohol for that matter, is handled in like manner. Here we have a literature which treats alcohol as a necessary ingredient of the trade, offered to Indians in accordance with Indian trading customs, with many apologies for its introduction into the trade. That approach leaves us hanging in an uncomfortable situation of blaming "Europeans" for having made "Indians" dependent on alcohol. In the 1960s and 70s, a considerable Canadian literature, in the scientific fields, expanded on this theme of dependence. Many theories on the nature of Indian dependence on alcohol were advanced but none of them approached the subject from the perspective of historians doing research in Africa. In the case of Africa, many of those historians, perhaps the majority, were Americans. In the 1980s and 90s, they began to apply many of their findings to an understanding of the Amerindian situation in their country. But do we have similar work going on in Western Canada or, for that matter, in the rest of Canada? Apart from the considerable literature on temperance which explores alcohol's contribution to shaping the larger Canadian society, I don't think so. As a result, I maintain that the time has come for us to look into the contours of our own backyard to see how alcohol, which contributed so much to shaping the hierarchical social structures of Africa, the West Indies, and Colonial America, may have contributed to shaping the place of Native peoples in our Canadian social structure. I repeat! In dealing with this subject, I recognize the importance of Africa and its historiography but, in dealing with Western Canada, the furthest and last-conquered area of the North American frontier, the West Indies must assume greater prominence than Africa; the rum connection to Western Canada was the West Indies and not Africa. That connection is an historical fact which cannot be ignored or altered. It must remain the focus of my attention.