OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 207 



influence of the Hudson's Bay Company, the Crees have been kept at peace among 

 themselves, and to a great extent with contiguous nations, consequently they have 

 made considerable progress in numbers and in civilization. With the exception, 

 however, of the agricultural half-bloods, they are not as far advanced as many 

 other Indian nations. 



Their system of relationship was procured with unusual facility. The first 

 schedule, that of the Lowland Cree, was obtained at the Sault St. Mary, in 1860, 

 through a half-blood Cree from Moose Factory, on Hudson's Bay ; the second, that 

 of the Prairie Crees, in 1861, at Georgetown, on the Red River of the North, from 

 Mrs. Alexander H. Murray, a quarter-blood Cree from Peace River, near Athapasca 

 Lake. She was the wife of Mr. A. H. Murray, one of the factors of the Hudson's 

 Bay Company, then stationed at Georgetown, and an educated and accomplished 



in the service of the Company in the capacity of trappers and traders. These adventurers took 

 the Cree women, first as companions, and afterwards, under religious influences, as wives ; and when 

 their term of service expired, took up small farms with a narrow front on the river and extending 

 back on the prairie as far as they chose to cultivate, and became a settled agricultural people. The 

 result, in the course of a hundred or more years, has been the development of this large population 

 at Red River Settlement of mixed Indian and European blood, followed by the introduction among 

 them of the habits and usages of civilized life. This population are still drawing fresh blood both 

 from native and European sources ; hence the main condition of the experiment namely, their 

 isolation from both stocks has not yet been reached. But there is a permanently established half 

 blood class, intermediate between the two ; and the problem to be solved is, whether a new stock can 

 be thus formed, able to perpetuate itself. It is too early to pronounce upon the question. There are 

 many encouraging and some adverse indications. There is a purely physiological principle involved, 

 which connects itself directly with this experiment. The Indian and European are at opposite poles 

 in their physiological conditions. In the former there is very little animal passion, while with the 

 latter it is superabundant. A pure-blooded Indian has very little animal passion, but in the half- 

 blood it is sensibly augmented ; and when the second generation is reached with a cross giving three- 

 fourths white blood, it becomes excessive, and tends to indiscriminate licentiousness. If this be true 

 in fact, it is a potent adverse element leading to demoralization and decay, which it will be extremely 

 difficult to overmaster and finally escape. In his native state, the Indian is below the passion of love. 

 It is entirely unknown among them, with the exception, to a limited extent, of the Village Indians. 

 This fact is sufficiently proved by the universal prevalence of the custom of disposing of the females 

 in marriage without their knowledge or participation in the arrangement. The effects produced by 

 intermixture of European and Indian blood, although a delicate subject, is one of scientific interest. 

 The facts above stated I obtained from traders and trappers on the Upper Missouri, who have spent 

 their lives in the Indian country, and understand Indian life in all its relations. When at the Red 

 River Settlement in 1861, I made this a subject of further inquiry, the results of which tended to 

 confirm the above statements. Whether this abnormal or disturbed state of the animal passions will 

 finally subside into a proper equilibrium, is one of the questions involved. There was much in the 

 thrift, industry, and intelligence displayed at the Settlement to encourage the hope and the expecta- 

 tion of an ultimately successful solution of the problem. Among the pure Orkney men, as well as 

 half-bloods, there were many excellent and solid men who would command respect and attain success 

 in any community ; and under such influences the probabilities of success are greatly strengthened. 

 As far as my personal observation has extended among the American Indian nations, the half-blood 

 is inferior, both physically and mentally, to the pure Indian ; but the second cross, giving three- 

 quarters Indian, is an advance upon the native; and giving throe-fourths white is a still greater 

 advance, approximating to equality with the white ancestor. With the white carried still further, 

 full equality is reached, tending to show that Indian blood car. be taken up without physical or 

 intellectual detriment. 



