440 HYBRIDITY AND ABSORPTION 



tion to the habits of settled industry of the Whites, In proof of this, 

 official returns of recent years confirm the idea that, so far from their 

 extinction appearing to be inevitable, there is a preponderance in the 

 number of births over deaths. The marriages of the women into 

 neighbouring bands, migrations from one reserve to another, un- 

 healthy locations of some of the settlements, and the roving habits of 

 the least civilized tribes, all combine to modify the results ; but, with 

 few exceptions, the latest official reports continue to show a steady 

 numerical increase. Taking the combined censvis of the different 

 tribes of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, pub- 

 lished at Ottawa in 1875, there is an increase on the whole Indian 

 population, since 1873, of 314. But in estimating the full signifi- 

 cance of this fact, we have to take into consideration how far the 

 important element of hybridity m.odifi-es the conclusions to be deduced 

 from the growing numbers of the population on the Indian reserves ; 

 though of this, the general census of 1871 — otherwise so minute, — 

 only takes such notice as suffices to show how entirely its signifi- 

 cance was ovei'looked. 



The native tribes of the old provinces of the Dominion, though 

 bearing a variety of names, may all be classed under the two essen- 

 tially distinct groups of Algonquins and Iroquois. Under the former 

 head properly i-ank the Micmacs, and other tribes of Prince Edward's 

 Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick ; and the Chippewas, in- 

 cluding Ottawas, Mississagas, Pottawattomies, etc., of Ontario. Under 

 the other head have to be placed not only the Six Nations — Mohawks, 

 Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and Tuscaroras, — but also the 

 Wyandots, or Hurons, both of Upper and Lower Canada : though 

 among the one were found the faithful allies of the English, while 

 the other adhered persistently to the French ; and to the deadly 

 enmity between them was due the expulsion of the Hurons from 

 their ancient territory on the G-eorgian Bay, and the extermination 

 of all bvTt an insignificant remnant, including the refugees on the St. 

 Charles Biver, below Quebec. 



The Canadian census of 1871 includes the aborigines in the 

 enumeration of the poj)ulation of the Dominion, and states the grand 

 total of the Indians of the provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Nova 

 Scotia, and New Brunswick, at 23,035. According to the reports of 

 the Indian Department at the close of 1874, they now number 

 27,934. The latter are, no doubt, the more trustworthy returns ; but 



