168 SALMON FISHING IN CANADA. 



from what I have heard and seen, the Mountaineers were 

 once the very flower of this northern wilderness, even as 

 the Chippewas were once the glory of the Lake Superior 

 Eegion. 



" ' The Mountaineers of the present day are sufficiently 

 educated to speak a smattering of French ; but they know 

 nothing of the true Grod, and are as poor in spirit as they 

 are indigent with regard to the necessaries of life. The 

 men of this nation are rather short, but well formed, and 

 the women are beautiful. They are proud in spirit, intel- 

 ligent, and kind-hearted ; and many of them, it is pleasant 

 to know, are no longer the victims of the baneful " fire- 

 water." For this blessing they are indebted to the Eomish 

 priesthood, which fact I record with great pleasure. The 

 Mountaineers are a particularly honest people, and great 

 friends to the stranger white man. They are also distin- 

 guished for their expertness in hunting, and take pleasure 

 in recounting the exploits of their forefathers.' " 



Here the Priest ceased reading, and laying down the 

 book exclaimed, " I have never read so many inaccuracies 

 and mistatements in the same number of words, as are 

 contained in this last paragraph. First, the worthy Yankee 

 calls this tribe of Indians ' Mountaineers,' which is not the 

 translation of the word Montagnais, nor is it descriptive of 

 the localities which they inhabit, for they dwell chiefly in 

 the great valleys to the northward of the Saguenay. 

 Secondly, he states in the same sentence that they are 



