Museum Notes 13

Father Morice
re

MONG its members the Art Historical and Scientific Society is very fortunate

to number Fr. Adrian Garbiel Morice, that distinguished Oblate missionary to

the Indians, who, now retired, spends his days in Winnipeg writing about the
races with whom he came in contact during the time of his active service. Born in
France in 1859, Father Morice looks to-day ten years less than his age, for the out-
door life which he led for
so many years has kept him
active in spite of the passing
of time.

Ordained a priest in 1882,
Father Morice went almost
at once to the mission at
Stuartolcakes5. CG. sine the
course of his missionary
journeys he discovered and
named no less than fifteen
lakes. Single handed he de-
veloped a literature of the
Déné’s, for he invented a
Déné syllabary, with whose
signs he printed several books
and even a monthly period-
ical for his Indians. In 1911,
he founded and edited Le
Ratsiote “de L.Quest; the
same year he obtained the
first degree of Barchelor of
Arts from the new Univers-
ity of Saskatchewan, and the
following year the first M.A.
from the same University,
in which he was lecturer in
Anthropology. Of late years
he has taken an active inter-
est in colonization by French
speaking people of the Can-
adian West.

During all the years he has
been in active service as a
missionary, and since his re-
tirement from active service he has been engaged in studying ethnology, and has col-
lected two unique libraries, one of ethnological books and one of works on archaeology.
He is a member of Canadian, American, English, Swiss and French scientific societies.
His essays are in demand in the scientific journals of Europe. His books are numerous
and he is still writing. During the last summer he made a pilgrimage to his beloved

Rev. FatHeR Morice, O.M.I., M.A.