132 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 
geese, salted in the autumn, and of dried meats 
and pemmican, obtained from the provision posts 
on the plains of the Saskatchawan. A good many 
potatoes are also raised at this post, and a small 
supply of tea and sugar is brought from the depét 
at York Factory. The provisions obtained from 
these various sources were amply sufficient in the 
winter of 1819-20; but through improvidence this 
post has in former seasons been reduced to great 
Many of the labourers, and a great majority of 
the agents and clerks employed by the two Com- 
panies, have Indian or half-breed wives, and the 
mixed offspring thus produced has become ex- 
tremely numerous, 
These métifs, or as the Canadians term them, 
bois-brulés, are upon the whole a good looking 
people, and where the experiment has been made, 
have shewn much aptness in learning, and will 
ingness to be taught; they have, however, beet! 
sadly neglected. The example of their fathers 
has released them from the restraint imposed by 
the Indian opinions of good and bad behaviour; 
and generally speaking, no pains have been takem 
to fill the void with better principles. Hence itis 
hot surprising that the males, trained up ina high 
Opinion of the authority and rights of the Com- 
pany to which their fathers belonged, and un 
acquainted with the laws of the civilized world, 
