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quill
Fur Trade, Hist.
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)
This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.
n.
a quill, especially a goose quill, used as a token by traders bartering with Indians.
Quotations
1801
The chief, when he proposes to make a feast, sends quills, or small pieces of wood, as tokens of invitation to such as he wishes to partake of it.
1833
The trader, on receiving the Indian's hunt, proceeds to reckon it up . . . giving the Indian a quill for each beaver; these quills are again exchanged at the counter for whatever articles he wants.
1934
So the old gentleman now asked for the promised skins. He was handed one hundred marked goose quills, representing that number of skins. After checking them over in bunches of ten, he entrusted twenty to his eldest grandson . . . to be held in reserve for ammunition.