CANADA. 



Canada. Cayugas, or Goyogans. These, however, are now 

 s v properly the six nations, as they were joined by the 

 Tuscororas, from the south, who dwell with the 

 Oueidocs and Onnondagoes. These nations, united 

 in long and firm alliance, claim all the country south 

 of the river St Lawrence to the Ohio, near to the 

 borders of Virginia ; and extend 300 miles west from 

 Lake Champlain, round Lakes Ontario and Erie. 

 They are superior to the other tribes in stature and 

 courage ; but inferior to many of them in swiftness 

 of foot and skill in wan They are more civilized 

 and ingenious, than most of the other Canadian In- 

 dians, and more addicted to agricultural occupations, 

 than to the chace. They have in general been friend- 

 ly to the English ; and much depends upon the con- 

 tinuance of their attachment. 



Alflon- The Algonquins, or Algonkins, appear to have 



originally possessed the whole tract of country along 

 the north shore of the St Lawrence, from Tadoussac 

 to lake Nipissing, and had no rivals in North Ame- 

 rica, as warriors and hunters ; but having afforded 

 refuge and assistance to the Hurons, a deadly war 

 arose between them and the conquering Iroquois, 

 who at length succeeded in driving them from their 

 country. They seem then to have taken a westerly 

 progress, and may be said to have peopled the coun- 

 try from the Atlantic, in a direct line along the St 

 Lawrence, and the Utawas, along the high lands 

 which divide the waters that fall into lake Supe- 

 rior, from those that fall into Hudson's Bay, or to 

 lake Winrpic, along the Saskatchiwine and Elk rU 

 vers to the lake of the Hills. The great proportion 

 of the Indian tribes which are scattered over the cul- 

 tivated parts of Canada, are of this nation ; and the 

 others, especially those in the neighbourhood of the 

 lakes and the St Lawrence) ate chiefly branches of 

 the Iroquois, and the wretched remains of the Hu- 

 rons. But the main body of the Algonkin nation 

 is found far to the north west, and they are consider- 

 ed as the same people with those called Knisteneaux, 

 Christineaux, or Killistinoes. They reduced the 

 natives as they passed along, with most of whom 

 they are now in alliance ; but they are daily losing 

 their superiority by their fondness for spiritous li- 

 quors, which are rapidly diminishing their strength 

 and numbers. They are of a middle stature, well- 

 formed, swift footed, and chiefly employed in hunt- 

 ing. They are just in their dealings, and affable in 

 their address. They possess an open and agreeable 

 countenance, and a generous and hospitable disposi- 

 tion. 



u.cpe- The Chepewyans or Chipawas, called also Sar- 



uu * sees, and rocky mountain Indians, are a numerous 

 people, who consider as their territories all the land 

 between 60 and 65 north latitude, and 100 and 1 10 

 longitude. Their progress is easterly ; and, accord- 

 ing to their own tradition, they came originally from 

 Siberia ; which is partly confirmed by the strong re- 

 semblance, which they are said to bear to the people 

 now found on the nearest coast of Asia. Their 

 country is very barren, and they are frequently 

 obliged to subsist upon a kind of rock moss, which 

 is the principal vegetable substance that their soil 

 produces. They are submissive to the Knistineaux, 

 but hostile to the Esquimaux, to whom they give 



we *"* p 



no quarter, and never indeed make prisoner* in any Canada. 

 of their wars. They are aobcr, timorous, vagrant, 

 selfish, considerate, querulous, and superstitious in 

 the extreme ; more attentive to the comfort than to 

 the appearance of their dress ; not active hunters, 

 but dexterous in snaring deer and spearing fish ; uni- 

 form in their temper; not at all addicted to spirit - 

 ous liquors, and by far the most peaceable of the 

 North American Indians. 



The Naudowessies, or Nadowasis, called by the 

 French the Sioux, who inhabit the western lide of the 

 Mississippi, and the lower part of the Missouri, are a 

 powerful nation, and consist of a number of band*, 

 who carry their excursions a great way to the north, 

 and are the constant enemies of the Knistineaux, or 

 Algonquins, in those regions. The Assiniboins, or 

 Assinipoils, or Stone Indians, are of the Nadowasis 

 nation ; but they separated from the other tribes, and 

 formed an alliance with the Knistineaux. 



The principal languages spoken among the van- Language*. 

 ous tribes of North American Indians are the Che- 

 petVt/an, which is copious, but difficult to be attain- 

 ed; and which furnishes dialects to the various tribes 

 from Churchill fort up the Mississippi ; through 

 Buffalo Lake to the Lake of the Hills ; along the 

 Peace river to the source of the Columba, and thence 

 due west to the sea coast. The Kadowasis, which 

 is a kind of hissing rather than articulate speech, and 

 is chiefly used on the western banks of the Mississip- 

 pi, the Mohdwk, Iroquois, or Huron, which is said 

 to excel in energy and pathos, and in these respects 

 to bear a comparison with the Greek. But the most 

 Celebrated and prevailing of all the native languages, 

 is what Long calls the Chipetvay, Carver the Chipc- 

 jvay or Algonquin, and M'Kenzie the Algonquin or 

 Knistineaux ; but which, as their several vocabula- 

 ries shew, are only different names for one and the 

 same tongue. This is said to surpass all the rest in 

 smoothness, elegance, and copiousness ; is spoken 

 by all the other tribes in their councils, negotiations, 

 and trading interviews, though they use a distinct 

 dialect of their own in ordinary cases, and extends 

 from the Gulf of St Lawrence over a space of 3000 

 miles. 



These different Indian nations are divided into an 

 immense number of tribes and bands, which are all 

 distinguished by particular marks on their bodies, by 

 their mode of pitching their tents, &c. ; but they are 

 scattered over a great extent of territory, and are daily 

 decreasing in their numbers. About the year 1780, 

 the small-pox was introduced among them by a war 

 party, as has been conjectured, from the Mississoaic. 

 This malignant disorder " destroyed, with its pesti- 

 lential breath, whole families and tribes ; and the 

 horrid scene presented to those, who had the melan- 

 choly and afflicting opportunity of beholding it, a 

 combination of the dead and the dying ; and such, 

 as to avoid the horrid fate of their friends around 

 them, prepared to disappoint the plague of its prey 

 by terminating their own existence." " It was not 

 uncommon for the father of a family, whom the in- 

 fection had not reached, to call them around him ; 

 to represent the cruel sufferings and horrid fate of 

 their relations, from the influence of some evil spirit, 

 who was preparing to extirpate their race ; and to 



