a a "Fas. . > 
ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 562 
with sweetness and innocence, keep step with the most perfect dignity 
and modesty of deportment. The gross vices which dishonour the red 
man on the frontiers are utterly unknown among them. They are honest 
to scrupulosity. The Hudson Bay Company, during the forty years that 
it has been trading in furs with them, has never been able to perceive 
that the smallest object had been stolen from them. The agent of the 
company takes his furs down to Colville every spring and does not 
return before autumn. During his absence the store is confided to the 
care of an Indian, who trades in the name of the company, and on the 
return of the agent renders him a most exact account of his trust. The 
store often remains without anyone to watch it, the door unlocked and 
unbolted, and the goods are never stolen. The Indians go in and out, 
help themselves to what they want, and always scrupulously leave in 
place of whatever article they take its exact value.’ 
This was written in 1861, but describes the Kootenays as the author 
found them on his first visit to them in 1845, when they were still 
heathen. In 1888 the report of the local agent, Mr. Michael Phillips, 
brief and business-like in its terms, entirely confirms this description : 
‘The general conduct of the Upper Kootenay Indians,’ he writes, ‘ has 
been good. Not a single charge has been laid against any one of them 
for any offence during the last twelve months, nor has any case of 
suspected dishonesty or misconduct been brought to my notice. From 
conversations I have had with Major Steele, I should judge that they 
are in point of moral conduct far superior to the Indians of the North- 
West.’ By the latter expression the writer evidently refers to the 
Indians of what are known as the ‘North-West Territories’ of Canada, 
east of the Rocky Mountains. 
Finally, in the same year (1888) the Chief Superintendent of Indian 
Affairs for the Dominion adds his emphatic and decisive testimony to the 
good qualities of the Kootenays in a single line: ‘ They are a strictly 
moral, honest, and religious people.’ ! ; 
Much more might be added, if the space at our command would allow, 
to show the great and very interesting differences which prevail among 
the tribes of British Columbia. The farther our investigations are 
carried, the more numerous and important the subjects of inquiry become. 
The experience of another year confirms the opinion expressed by me in 
the last report of the committee, that no other field of ethnological 
research is to be found in North America which equals this province in 
interest and value. Indeed it may be questioned whether anywhere on 
“the globe there can be found within so limited a compass so great a 
variety of languages, of physical types, of psychical characteristics, of 
social systems, of mythologies, and indeed of all the subjects of study 
embraced under the general head of anthropology. And, finally, the 
facts given in the present and former reports show how rapidly the 
Opportunities for preserving a record of these primitive conditions are 
‘passing away. 
These rapid changes, in themselves for the most part highly bene- 
ficial, are due, in a large measure, to the action of the Canadian and 
Provincial Governments. As something has been said on this point, it 
is but just to add that a careful examination of the official reports, as 
‘ It should be mentioned that these statements refer specially to the ‘Upper 
Kootenays.’ Of the ‘Lower Kootenays,’ who are partly within the United States’ 
territory, and who appear to be of mixed origin, the accounts are less favourable. 
