“ 
INTRODUCTION. XVil 
the moral: condition of the Indians as in- 
fluenced by the conduct of the traders to- 
wards them, refer entirely to the state in 
which it existed during our progress through 
the country; but lest I should have been 
mistaken respecting the views of the Hud- 
son's Bay Company on these points, I 
gladly embrace the opportunity which a 
Second Edition affords me of stating that 
the junction of the two Companies has 
enabled the Directors to put in practice 
the improvements which I have reason to 
believe they have long contemplated. They 
have provided for religious instruction by 
the appointment of two clergymen of the 
established church, under whose direction - 
school-masters and mistresses are to be 
placed at such stations as afford the means 
of support for the establishment of schools. 
The offspring of the voyagers and labourers. 
are to be educated chiefly at the expetise, 
of the Company ; and such of the Indian | 
children as their parents may wish to send 
to these schools, are to be instructed, 
clothed, and maintained at the expense of 
