i 7 o THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The facts related by Mr. Wilson concerning the crossing of the 

 whites with the red Indians and the native races of the North are very- 

 instructive. Half-breeds of the local races have associated with Euro- 

 peans, and been accepted as on terms of equality for a long time. The 

 case has been regarded, however, as exceptional, and it has been be- 

 lieved that ultimately the Indians would be represented only by the 

 relics buried with them in their tombs. Another belief is now gain- 

 ing ground, that the Indian is not disappearing, but that a mixed race, 

 full of vigor, is being developed faster than superficial observations 

 have enabled us to perceive, and that the indigenous ethnological 

 element is a factor of the population which is destined to exercise a 

 permanent influence upon the Europeo-American race. The official 

 reports show that the Indians have borne the test of endurance every- 

 where that they have been put upon reservations, as well as every- 

 where that they have been permitted to associate on equal terms with 

 whites. Sufficient account has not been taken of the fact that the In- 

 dian population which thus gives so good an account of itself is not of 

 pure blood. In the territory of the Hudson Bay Company alliances 

 have been formed between both Scotch immigrants and Canadian- 

 French and the Indian women. The difference in paternity is revealed 

 in the offspring, but in both cases the half-breeds are a large race and 

 robust, have greater powers of endurance than the pure Indians, and 

 are intellectually their superiors. Dr. Kane and Dr. Rae have noticed 

 that the half-breeds of Greenland and Labrador are superior in every 

 way to the pure Esquimaux. In these remote regions the mixed race 

 may become fixed and endure ; but, where contact with the white race 

 is more constant and is renewed more frequently, the pure Indian blood 

 will continue to diminish, and will at last disappear, not by extinction, 

 but by absorption. Numerous facts may be adduced to show that this 

 is taking place among the Sioux, among the Cherokees, and among the 

 Indians of Canada. After several crossings the descendants at last 

 pass for whites, and are lost from the account of the Indians, though 

 still transmitting Indian blood. A Huron chief at Jeune-Lorette, Can- 

 ada, had four children, three daughters and a son. Two of the daugh- 

 ters married French-Canadians, and the other daughter an Irishman ; 

 the son married a Scotch-Canadian woman. The children of the 

 three daughters pass for Europeans, and only those of the son for In- 

 dians or half-breeds, although they are all mixed in an equal degree. 

 The same is likely to take place in innumerable cases. Moreover, the 

 white men select the most promising Indian girls, so that the Indians, 

 by this process, give up their best stock to swell the account of the 

 white race. 



In the United States and Canada the numerical preponderance and 

 constant influx of Europeans have, if we may use the term, masked the 

 mixed race ; but, in the border regions and the Northwest and in the 

 Hudson Bay Company's territory, the local race and the settlers occu- 



