448 HYBRIDITY AND ABSORPTION 



and in the third generation learn to speak of themselves as ''Anglo^ 

 Saxon !" The investigations of British ethnologists have well-nigh 

 put an end to the supposed purity of an Anglo-Saxon or Anglo- 

 Scandinavian population in all but the assumed purely Celtic areas 

 of the British Islands ; and their subdivision into Xaiithochroi and 

 Melanochroi is based on the recognition of the survival in the mixed ' 

 population of modern Britain of a race-element which still perpetuates 

 an enduring influence derived from aborigines of Europe anterior to 

 the advent of Celt or Teuton. The power of absorption and assimi- 

 lation of a predominant race is great ; and ethnological displacement 

 is no more necessarily a process of extinction now than in primitive 

 times; though intermixture must ever be most easily effected where 

 the ethnical distinctions are least strongly marked, and the condi- 

 tions of civilization are nearly akin. 



That whole tribes and nations of the Ameiican aborigines have 

 been exterminated in the process of colonization of the New "World 

 is no more to be questioned, than that a similar result followed from 

 the E-oman conquest and colonization of Britain. Nevertheless, long 

 and careful study of the subject has satisfied me that a larger amount 

 of absorption of the Indian into the Anglo-American race has oc- 

 curred than is generally recognised. 



Fully to appreciate this, it is necessary to retrace the course of 

 events by which America has been transferred to the descendants 

 of European Colonists. At every fresh stage of colonization, or of 

 pioneering into the wild West, the work has necessarily been accom- 

 plished by hardy young adventurers, or the hunters or trappers of the 

 clearing. It is rare indeed for such to be accompanied by wives or 

 daughters. Where they find a home they take to themselves wive& 

 from among the native women ; and their ofispring share in what- 

 ever advantages the father transplants v/ith him to this home in the 

 wilderness. To such mingling of blood, in its least favourable 

 aspects, the prejudices of the Indian present little obstacle. Henry, 

 in his naiTative of travel among the Cristineaux on Lake Winipagoos 

 upwards of a century ago, after describing the dress and allurements 

 of the women, adds : " One of the chiefs assui^ed me that the children 

 borne by their women to Europeans were bolder warriors and better 

 hunters than themselves." This idea recurs in various forms. The 

 Half-breed lumberers and trappers are valued throughout Canada for 

 their hardihood and patient endurance ; the Half-breed hunters and 



