No. 3.] G. M. DAWSON — INDIANS OF CANADA. 155 



were informally made, seem to have been so reserved in further- 

 ance of verbal instructions only from the Governor," or even in 

 some cases were made over to the Indians on the ground by him 

 personally. 



About this time, it was found that many reserves made in 

 this loose way, were seriously impeding settlement by blocking 

 access to valuable lands, and otherwise ; and, moreover, that the 

 land locked up in reserves was frequently far in excess of the 

 requirements of the aborigines. The authority by which many 

 of these reserves were made, was then disavowed by the govern- 

 ment, and, in a letter from the Colonial Secretary (Nov. 1867), 

 the original intention of the Government is defined as having 

 been in all cases to grant the Indians lands cultivated by them, 

 and so much in addition as to bring the reserves up to about 

 ten acres per adult male: it being further stated "that reserves 

 that have been laid out of excessive extent should be reduced as 

 soon as practicable. The Indians have no right to any land 

 beyond what may be necessary for their actual requirements, and 

 all beyond this should be excluded from the boundaries of their 

 reserves. They can have no claim whatever to any of the land 

 thus excluded, for they really never have possessed it, — although, 

 perhaps, they may have been led to view such land as a portion 

 of their reserve. "The Indians appear in almost all cases to 

 have acquiesced quietly in the reduction, feeling compensated to 

 some extent by the greater definiteness given to their claims by 

 actual survey. They are reported in most instances to have 

 been "well satisfied," "satisfied," or "submissively satisfied." 



The whole matter of Indian lands was thus in a very unsatisfac- 

 tory state to be handed over to the Dominion authorities at the 

 date of the admission of this province (1871), for even where 

 substantial justice had been done to the Indians, the records 

 were indefinite, or altogether wanting. On the appointment by 

 the Dominion of a Superintendent of Indian aifairs, the misun- 

 derstanding which of late attracted special attention began, and 

 soon resulted in the accumulation of a great number of letters, if to 

 no more substantial issue. In the terms of union it was provided 

 that the General Government should assume control of the In- 

 dians, and, to quote, that " a policy as liberal as that hitherto 

 pursued by the British Columbia Government shall be continued 

 by the Dominion Government after the Union ; " further, that 

 tracts of lands, " such as it has hitherto been the practice of the 



