442 REPORT— 1897. 



localities for investigations ; i.e., those which are in large measure 

 secluded from the change and mingling of population incident to large 

 cities, and to select those villages and places where the people have 

 remained for some generations, at least, comparatively undisturbed and 

 homogeneous in character. In this way it is believed that the ethno- 

 graphic elements going to make up the population of the United Kingdom 

 may be traced, and the changes induced by the mingling of the various 

 elements under different local conditions may be advantageously studied. 

 ' As applied to Canada, it is obvious that an inquiry of the kind 

 cannot be conducted on exactly the same lines. It resolves itself, in the 

 first instance, into two distinct branches : — 



' (1) That dealing with the white races, and 



' (2) That dealing with the aborigines or Indians. Both are important 

 and likely to yield results of great interest ; but, while the second has 

 already been recognised and pursued to some considerable extent, the 

 first has remained almost untouched. 



'In regard to the first, it is obvious that it includes two specially 

 fruitful fields, one relating to the older centres of French colonisation 

 in Quebec and Acadia, and the other to the half-breed population of 

 Manitoba and the North-West, where French and Scottish immigrants 

 have mingled with the native races. 



' In Quebec and in the Acadian Provinces the researches of Abb^ 

 Tanguay have already placed on record the origin and descent of most of 

 the old French families, and the basis thus established is an excellent one 

 on which to build up a knowledge of any changes, whether physical or in 

 language, customs and beliefs, due to the new environment in which the 

 original French colonists have lived and increased. With that object it 

 is desired to make, in the first place, a list of those localities in which 

 development of the kind has been most uninterrupted and continuous, 

 and in these to obtain the co-operation of some local observers who may 

 be willing to devote time to special inquiries along fixed lines, of which 

 the details may be subsequently elaborated. 



' There are also, it is believed, many places in the older provinces of 

 Canada in which English, Scottish, Irish, and other settlers have been so 

 long established as to give rise to special peculiarities worthy of note. 



' Respecting the aborigines or Indians of the eastern part of Canada, 

 it may be stated that their language is now fairly well understood, 

 while their customs, folklore and traditions, where these have not already 

 been recorded, have largely passed away. But much remains as a profit- 

 able subject of investigation, particularly in respect to the location of 

 ancient settlements and places of resort, burial places, routes of travel, 

 &,c. There are also many events connected with their early intercourse 

 with the whites of which traditional accounts might yet be gathered with 

 advantage. 



'In the western part of Canada the investigation of all matters 

 relating to the Indian tribes constitutes the most important branch of the 

 work proposed ; and although in most places great changes have occurred 

 in recent years a vast amount of valuable material yet remains to be 

 recorded, connected not only with their language, but also with their 

 traditions, art, customs, mode of life, and physical characteristics. The 

 time is rapidly passing away in which investigations of the kind may be 

 made to advantage, and no effort should therefore be spared to collect 



