378 Our North Land. 



No. 39. No hunter, but honest. 



44. Honest. 



45. Tries to get all he can, but never pays. 

 48. Can pray well, but pay bad. 

 57. Can't work since he got married. 

 62. Can pray and preach, but trust him not. 



71. Cunning. Good hunter, but look out for him. 



72. Worse than his father (71). 

 82. Poor old devil. 



84. Not a bad fellow. 



85. Defrauded on the first opportunity he got, also on the second 



and last, 



ii 113. Honest as the day is long. 



Of money the northern Indians knew nothing until the distri- 

 bution of the treaty money by the Government. This money is 

 paid annually, but the Indians scarcely ever handle it ; or, if they 

 do, they are watched closely until it is paid over to the trader, who 

 has already advanced goods to its value. For furs the Indians never 

 receive money, they get either food, merchandise or orders for it. 

 It is the same for work performed. 



The Indians on the Lower Nelson and Hayes Rivers, and in the 

 neighbourhood of York Factory, have a grievance — one that I 

 am in duty bound to urge upon the attention of the Government* 

 They are not recognized in any way. At Oxford House and at 

 Norway House the Indians receive treaty money, but those further 

 to the north get none, and for this reason they are very bitter 

 against the Canadian Government, or — as they put it — the Queen's 

 Agent at Ottawa. 



There is a vast stretch of country on the shores of Hudson's Bay 

 not covered by any treaty. The Crees do not put a high value 

 upon the land; but they say it is worth something, and they are 

 anxious to get it. An old chief who lives on the banks of the 

 Nelson, about three hundred miles above York, who is at the head 

 of two or three hundred families, and who has become greatly 

 annoyed at the slight paid him, by the indifference of the Govern- 

 ment toward his people, has made a full statement of his case, 

 which he desires to have laid before the " Queen's Agent." He says : 



