212 HURON INDIANS THEIR AGRICULTURE. 



their reserve in the neighbourhood of Amherstburgh to the 



British Government. Mr M had been appointed to 



survey the purchase, and with this view was residing at Am 

 herstburgh daring the time of my first visit. The Indians, 

 under some pretext, would not, however, allow the measure 

 ment to proceed, and Mr M got orders from York to 



delay the survey. 



The inhabitants of Amherstburgh are anxious, almost 

 clamorous, to have the Huron Reserve, in the vicinity of the 

 village, exposed for public settlement, which would, in all 

 probability, promote its increase and prosperity. It is not 

 my intention to enter into the merits of the policy of removing 

 the Huron Indians from their situation on the southern part 

 of their territory. But in the event of the lands falling into 

 the possession of the present inhabitants of Amherstburgh and 

 its vicinity, I question if the change would be for the better, 

 as the landholders seem incapable of managing or apprecia 

 ting the great advantages nature hath placed within their 

 reach. The white man strongly displays the frailty of his 

 nature in envying this remnant of his copper-coloured bro 

 ther s inheritance, while so many millions of acres in Canada 

 are unoccupied. 



A considerable portion of the inhabitants on Lake Erie, in 

 the townships of Maldon, Colchester, and the banks of the 

 Thames, are descendants of the Royalists who left the States 

 at the time of their becoming independent, and who obtained 

 grants of land in Canada from the British Government. Like 

 other colonists in this vast continent, who have been shut out in 

 a great measure from intercourse with the world, they have 

 been content to live without an apparent desire to improve 

 their condition. Their extent of clear forest is limited, and 

 few additions have recently been made. The dwelling-houses 

 and farm-offices are of the shabbiest kind, and only two brick 

 houses were seen in a distance of twenty-seven miles, passing 

 from Amherstburgh round Lake Erie. A brick house is also 

 a rare sight on the Thames, wood being almost the only 

 building material. 



In this part of Canada, farming is as low as in newly settled 

 districts, and embraces the cultivation of wheat, oats, peas, 



