12 Inasmuch 



were for &quot;Dean Pearson s remark,&quot; the writer 

 has no means of judging, but we may rest assured 

 that Dean Pearson was not a man accustomed to 

 pass remarks of the kind without good and suf 

 ficient reason. This much, at any rate is plain, 

 from the zeal and labours of John Eliot, &quot;the 

 Apostle to the North American Red Man&quot; sprang, 

 directly or indirectly, two of the great Societies, 

 the S. P. C. K. and the S. P. G.,* which have been 

 the channels of untold blessing to the people, 

 both Red and White, of the vast areas now in 

 cluded within the boundaries of Canada. 



The S. P. G. is the only Society which still 

 enjoys the distinction of an honorific form of ad 

 dress, it is frequently styled the &quot;Venerable 

 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.&quot; An 

 outline of its activities, together with those of the 

 New England Company, on behalf of the red 

 men, will carry us from the shores of Nova 

 Scotia to the height of land between Lake 

 Superior and Hudson Bay. 



Before setting out upon this long journey it is 

 advisable that we should obtain some general 

 conception of the distribution and characteristics 

 of the original inhabitants of the country. 



First 6 voyage, Our earliest information of Canada and its 

 people is derived from the accounts of the voyages 

 of Jacques Cartier. Beating his way through the 

 Straits of Belle Isle, on his first voyage, he cast 

 anchor in the harbour of Brest on the Coast of 



juneioth Labrador. His rambles on shore caused the 

 unflattering remark, &quot;In all the north-land, I 



* The Charter of the S. P. G. was granted by William III. on &quot;the 

 humble petition of Thomas Bray. D.D.,&quot; with the co-operation of the 

 Committee of the S. P. C. K. 



