340 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [YOL. II. 



In personal appearance John McLean was above the average height, 

 wiry and well-knit, rather than stout. He had marked features, and as 

 a young man, was no doubt handsome. During my acquaintance of 

 many years with him, he did not appear to "age" very much. His com- 

 plexion was unusually pale and clear, and his deeply furrowed face was 

 always clean shaven. His step was firm, and his carriage as erect at the 

 age of eighty-five, as if he had served in the arm}% 



In manner he was reserved, but could, and did, show a genial side in 

 the company of a few. To strangers he appeared to be haughty and 

 dignified, but this was only the visible Celt, for beneath that exterior he 

 was as humble, as modest, and as tender-hearted as a child. He had a 

 warm side to the Indians among whom he spent so many years. He 

 understood their character thoroughly, and sympathised with their lot. 

 When it was the custom of bands from Saugeen, and other points to 

 visit what was the " front," from twenty-five to thirty years ago, for the 

 purpose of selling baskets and bead-work, they invariably called to have 

 a talk with Mr. McLean, who was then, and for long afterwards a resident 

 of Elora. 



As a scholar he was accomplished. His acquaintance with the classics 

 was more than superficial, he was well read in French and English, and 

 was, as a matter of course, quite familiar with Gaelic. Besides all this, 

 he had a pretty thorough knowledge of the principal Indian lan- 

 guages, as spoken from one side of the continent to the other. 



During the many )'ears I knew him, he was clerk of the Division 

 Court in the district of which Elora is the centre, but some }-ears since 

 he went to reside with his youngest daughter in Victoria, British 

 Columbia, where he died on the 5th of March, 1890, in his 92nd year. 



Not least among the services he rendered during his life time in 

 Canada, should be reckoned the active part he took in awakening public 

 attention to the expiry of the Hudson Bay Company's charter, and in 

 pointing out the real value of what is now our great North West, as a 

 field for colonization. 



He held advanced political views, but was not an active politician, and 

 this, no doubt is the reason why he was not regarded as having any 

 " claims " for consideration where preferment and emolument were 

 concerned. 



Before us are two manuscript volumes written by Mr. McLean, the 

 contents of which cover the long period of his service in the Hudson 

 Bay Company. For the privilege of having been permitted to examine 

 these, and to exhibit them here this evening, I am indebted to Mr. 



