1889-90.] ARCH^OLOGICAL REMAINS. 69 



In Ontario, the Indian is either so far advanced beyond the savage 

 condition, or the modifying influence of white contact has been such as 

 to render his recitals of traditions and folk-lore almost totally valueless, 

 on account of the incredibly short time during which he absorbs uncon- 

 sciously so much of what is purely Caucasian, and incorporates it with 

 primitive legend. The Rev. John McLean who for ten years was a 

 missionary among the Blood Indians in our North- West Territory in- 

 formed me that when he resigned his mission at the end of the period 

 named, he was able to observe a marked difference between the versions 

 of the same story as told him at the beginning and end of his residence 

 with these people. In the latter case many of the allusions were evi- 

 dently tinctured with Christian doctrine and dogma, notwithstanding the 

 stolid pagan character of those who recited the narratives. 



It follows, therefore, that study and investigation along ethnological 

 lines in this Province must be conducted mainly from the archaeological 

 point of view, unless, indeed, an exception be made in favor of philology 

 — a field which has been pretty thoroughly worked in the older portions 

 of the country and among the better known tribes, although, no doubt, 

 much remains to be gleaned among those who reside north of the water- 

 shed that divides us from the Hudson Bay slope. 



Fortunately for the archaeological student (not the mere collector) 

 material is not yet wanting in Ontario, although it is perfectly safe to say 

 that hundreds of thousands of specimens have been carried off to find 

 places in British and foreign museums. 



Given the conditions necessary for aboriginal livelihood in any part of 

 the province, and there it is almost a certainty that traces of ancient 

 occupation will be found. The requirements were means of defence, 

 proximity of water, light and easily turned soil, nut and fruit-bearing 

 trees, and an abundance of game. 



Right here, and with narrow intervals all over this grand old Niagara 

 peninsula which has been so appropriately named " The Garden of 

 Canada," the Indian found as nearly a real earthly paradise as it was in 

 the nature of aboriginal life to conceive. Every hill-top must have glowed 

 with innumerable camp-fires, or have been set apart as a depository for 

 the remains of departed braves. Every valley must have, times untold, 

 re-echoed with the shout of the successful hunter, or the whoop of the 

 vengeful warrior. Not a spring but has refreshed man, woman, and child 

 of the dusky forest denizens, and not a foot of soil that has not yielded 

 its root, or its fruit, or its bark, or its timber, for the nourishment and 

 protection of those who little dreamed that ever the time would come 

 when they would be dispossessed of their ancient heritage by a strange 



