112 THK LABRADOR PEXIXSULA. chat, xxvmi. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



THE PRESENT COXDITION OF THE MOXTAGNAIS INDIANS. 



Assemblage of Montagnais at Mingau — An Epidemic — The 

 Winding-sheet — • Moutagnais Superstition — Montagnais Forti- 

 tude — The dying Montagnais — Death with the setting Sun — 

 The Mingan Graveyard — Montag-nais Inscriptions — Decline of 

 the Montagnais Tribes — Touching Address to the Canadian 

 Government — Number of Indians in the Labrador Peninsula — 

 Canadian Commission respecting the Condition of the Indians — 

 Evidence of Mr. Price, M.P.P. — Ancient Fort far in the Interior 

 — French Cannon — Evidence of Pere Amaud — Evidence of 

 Mr. Chisholm — Medicine Feast formerly kept up — Former 

 Capabilities of the Country to support Indians — Multitude of 

 Porcupine, &c. — Winter Customs of the Montagnais — The 

 Canadian Overseer of the Salmon Fisheries on Salmon-spearing by 

 Torchlight — Lands set apart for the Montagnais Tribes in the 

 King's Posts. 



FIVE HUNDEED Montagnais had pitched their tents at 

 Mingan, a fortnight before we arrived, there to dispose 

 of their furs, the produce of the preceding winter's hunt, 

 and to join in the rehgious ceremonies of the Eoman 

 Catholic church luider the ministration of Pere Arnaud. 

 They had assembled from all parts of their wintering, 

 grounds between the St. John's Eiver and the Straits of 

 BeUe Isle — some coming in canoes, others in boats 

 purchased from the American fishermen on the coast, 

 others on foot. A large number had already procured 

 their sup]:>lies and started for the most easterly of the 

 Mingan Islands and different parts of the coast, in conse- 



