134 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. ix. 



between these peoples, and initiating the long series of conflicts 

 detailed in the early history of the colony, which were only 

 stopped for a time by the peace of Montreal, in 1701, when 

 representatives of tribes, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the 

 Mississippi, to the number of 1,300 chiefs and deputies are said 

 to have been present. 



Time will not permit us, however, to trace the fortunes of the 

 aborigines through the long period of colonial history, during 

 which the Iroquois, allied to the English, and the Algonkins, 

 supported and encouraged in war by the French, occupied 

 together a position, as it were, between the blades of the scissors, 

 in which their number and importance were continually diminish- 

 ing. The history of the Indians in this period, is besides., so 

 much that of Canada and New England that, though capable of 

 treatment from our standpoint, it is too well known to need 

 recapitulation here. 



It has at times been affirmed that the English government did 

 not extinguish the Indian title in Canada proper, when it took 

 possession of the country. This is not however, strictly speaking, 

 the case ; for in the proclamation of George III, in 1763, conse- 

 quent on the treaty of that date, by which Canada became finally 

 British, the following passage, relating to the Indians, occurs: 



" And we do further declare it to be our royal will and pleasure, 

 for the present, as aforesaid, to reserve under our sovereignty, 

 protection and dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all the 

 lands and territories not included within the limits granted to 

 the Hudson's Bay Company ; as also the lands and territories 

 lying westward ot the sources of the rivers which f\)ll into the 

 sea, from the west and north-west, as afore said. And we do 

 hereby strictly forbid, on pain of our displeasure, all our loving 

 subjects from making any purchases or settlements whatever, or 

 taking possession of the lands above reserved, without our special 

 leave and licence, for that purpose." 



Difi"erent commissions of enquiry into the condition of the 

 Canadian Indians have since been issued from time to time, and 

 of which those of 1847 and 1856 were probably the most im- 

 portant. In reference to the Indian title, the commissioners of 

 1847 thus state their views : ^ " Although the Crown claims 

 the territorial estate and eminent dominion in Canada, as in 

 other of the older colonies, it has. ever since its possession of the 



* Quoted by Hind, Canadian Exploring Expedition. 



