ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 9

with sweetness and innocence, keep step with the most perfect dignity
and modesty of deportment. The gross vices which dishonour the red
man on the frontiers are utterly unknown among them. They are honest
to scrupnlosity. The Hudson Bay Company, during the forty years that
it has been trading in furs with them, has never been able to perceive
that the smallest object had been stolen from them. The agent of the
company takes his furs down to Colville every spring and does not
return before autumn. During his absence the store is confided to the
care of an Indian, who trades in the name of the company, and on the
return of the agent renders him a most exact account of his trust. The
store often remains without anyone to watch it, the door unlocked and
unbolted, and the goods are never stolen. The Indians go in and out,
help themselves to what they want, and always scrupulously leave in
place of whatever article they take its exact value.’

This was written in 1861, but describes the Kootenays as the author
found them on his first visit to them in 1845, when they were still
heathen. In 1888 the report of the local agent, Mr. Michael Phillips,
brief and business-like in its terms, entirely confirms this description :
‘The general conduct of the Upper Kootenay Indians,’ he writes, ‘ has
been good. Not a single charge has been laid agaiust any one of them
for any offence during the last twelve months, nor has any case of
suspected dishonesty or misconduct been brought to my notice. From
conversations I have had with Major Steele, [ should judge that they
are in point of moral conduct far sup»rior to the Indians of the North-
West.’ By the latter expression tie writer evideutly refers to the
Indians of what are known as the ‘North-West Territories’ of Canada,
east of the Rocky Mountains.

Finally, in the same year (1888) the Chief Superintendent of Indian

Affairs for the Dominion adds his emphatic and decisive testimony to the
good qualities of the Kootenays in a single line: ‘ They are a strictly
moral, honest, and religious people.’ !
Much more might be added, if the space at our command would allow,
to show the great and very interesting differences which prevail among
the tribes of British Columbia. The farther our investigations are
carried, the more numerous and important the subjects of inquiry become.
The experience of another year confirms the opinion expressed by me in
the last report of the committee, that no other field of ethnological
research is to be found in North America which equals this province in
interest and value. Indeed it may be questioned whether anywhere on
the globe there can be found within so limited a compass so great a
variety of languages, of physical types, of psychical characteristics, of
social systems, of mythologies, and indeed of all the subjects of study
embraced under the general head of anthropology. And, finally, the
facts given in the present and former reports show how rapidly the
opportunities for preserving a record of these primitive conditions are
passing away.

These rapid changes, in themselves for the most part highly bene-
‘ficial, are due, in a large measure, to the action of the Canadian and
Provincial Governments. As something has been said on this point, it
is but just to add that a careful examination of the official reports, as

‘ It should be mentioned that these statements refer specially to the ‘Upper

Kootenays.’ Of the ‘Lower Kootenays,’ who are partly within the United States’
territory, and who appear to be of mixed origin, the accounts are less favourable.

Pee SS Ee a _ ee Se et eee

ee ee a SY