CHAP. xx. INDIAN MORTALITY ON THE COAST. 343 



' What brings them here ? ' I asked. 



' Well, sir, it 's the priest. He tells Domenique, Bartelmi, 

 and a lot of others, who go to winter in the JSTasquapee 

 country, to bring them down, and as soon as they come 

 they die, some in a month, some in a year. Look at 

 those who came here last year : they can't hunt ; they '11 

 die before next spring.' 



' But is not the priest quite right to induce these heathen 

 Indians to come and learn something about the Christian 

 religion ? ' 



''All ! that 's another thing. No doubt it 's for the good 

 of their souls, but the poor creatures die off as soon as 

 they come, and to my mind, they might just as well live 

 a few years in their own country. It 's no use coming here 

 to die ; but then there 's the religion ; it 's a difficult 

 matter ; perhaps it 's better to die a Christian than to 

 live a heathen.' 



' Wiser and better men than you and I have made the 

 same remark before.' 



'Perhaps so, sir. I am an ignorant man a trapper, and 

 nothing more than a trapper ; but I am sorry to see these 

 poor creatures come down to the coast and die. They 

 do n't show their trouble before other people, but when 

 they are alone, how I have seen them heave and cry as if 

 their hearts would burst ! ' 



' Are you speaking of the Nasquapees ? ' 



' Yes ; I was thinking of them, but the Montagnais are 

 the same. It 's not a year since a fine young ISTasquapee 

 with two wives came down the St. Marguerite to Seven 

 Islands. He died of influenza before he had been here 

 six months. The women came to me to buy his winding- 



