ON THE NOETH-WESTEEN TEIBES OP CANADA. 553- 



men, which the Kootenays have enjoyed to a much greater extent than 

 have many of the neighbouring tribes. 



To educate a moral and sober people ought not to be too difficult a 

 task, if the right methods are employed. The founding of the industrial 

 school for Indian children at the Mission of St. Eugene, a few miles from 

 Fort Steele, has already been productive of good results. The writer 

 paid a visit to this school, and had the pleasure of inspecting the teaching, 

 as well as of examining the building and the various appliances connected 

 therewith. The English language is taught in this school, and the young 

 Indians learn to read and to write in a remarkably short time under the 

 guidance of the nuns who have charge of the school. There were about 

 two dozen boys a.nd girls in the school at the time of the writer's visit ; 

 they were neatly dressed, polite, and intelligent-looking, and the progress 

 they had made during the few short months they had been there was 

 very encouraging. This school well deserves all the support given to it 

 by the Government, and it is to be hoped that the project of extending 

 its usefulness so as to reach the children of the Lower Kootenays will 

 meet with a proper measure of success. 



The great difficulty in civilising the Indian has been to prevent the 

 relapse into old tribal habits when the school is left behind. The career 

 of the future graduates of the industrial school at St. Eugene will be 

 watched with interest by all friends of the Indian, and Father Coccolo, 

 the head of the mission, and the Sisters in charge of the school may be 

 relied upon to do their share towards making the end good. 



No opportunities ofiTered themselves for making psychological tests 

 upon the Indians, but quick perception and rapid judgment are charac- 

 teristic of the better portion of these Indians, as their actions in hunting 

 and travelling plainly show. The Indian A'mElii, although forgetting 

 very often to take away some of the articles from a camp when a new 

 start was made, had a remarkable memory for places. One day he left a 

 knife belonging to the writer about halfway up a mountain some 7,000 feet 

 high. The incident was forgotten by him for the time being ; but, on being 

 asked many hours afterwards where he had left the knife, he described 

 the place in great detail. On another occasion he left a knife in the 

 woods by the side of the trail, and after we had made a journey of 150 

 miles an,d back, and had been absent from the spot a whole month, he 

 was able, on our return, to pick up the knife with hardly a moment's 

 hesitation. 



The Kootenay Indians, especially the young men, ai-e gay and lively, 

 enjoying themselves as much as their white friends, fond of horse-racing 

 and bodily exercise. They are of a very inquisitive nature, and the 

 Indian A'mElu would run down to the river-bauk and stand staring for 

 almost an hour at the steamboat every time it passed the camp. The 

 rest of the Indians were just as curious. The Indian A'mElfi went (for 

 the first time in his life) on a trip up the river on the steamboat with the 

 writer, and the young fellow was so proud that he could hardly contain 

 himself. No doubt he is now whiling away the winter hours by relating 

 bis experiences to his friends. 



The writer had occasion to notice two excellent exhibitions of Indian 

 character; in one case of pride and triumph, in the other of anger and 

 disappointment. 



A young Indian had been convicted of a crime and sent to jail at New 

 Westminster, where he remained some months. Owing to the exertions 



