OP THE RED INDIAN RACE. 457 



are larger than those of the Whites ; and though the results are in 

 some degree counteracted by a tendency to consumption, yet it does 

 not amount to such a source of diminution on the whole as to inter- 

 fere with their steady numeiical increase. One of the questions 

 circulated by me was in this form : " State any facts tending to 

 prove or disprove that the offspring descended from mixed White 

 and Indian blood fails in a few generations." To this the Rev. J. 

 Gilmour, one of the New England Company's Agents, answered : 

 *' I know many large and healthy families of partial Indian blood, and 

 have formed the opinion that they are likely to perpetuate a hardy 

 race." The venerable Archdeacon Hiuiter, familiar with the facts 

 by long residence as a clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church 

 among the mixed population of the Red River Settlement, stated 

 still more decidedly : " The offspring descended from mixed White 

 and Indian blood does not fail, but, generally speaking, by inter- 

 marriages it becomes very difficult to determine whether they are 

 pure Whites or Half-breeds." Living, however, for many years 

 among a people in whom the Indian traits are more or less traceable, 

 it is probable that the Archdeacon's attention is less attracted by the 

 modified, ample black haii', the large, full mouth, and the dark, though 

 gentle and softly-expressive eye, which strike a stranger on first 

 coming among any frontier population of mixed blood. The Half- 

 breeds also retain much of the reserved and unimpressible manner of 

 the Indian ; though a good deal of intercourse with the native race 

 has led me to the conclusion that this is more of an acquii-ed habit 

 than a strictly hereditary trait: — a piece of Indian education akin to 

 certain habits of social life universally inculcated ainong ourselves. 

 When off his guard, the wild Indian betrays great inquisitiveness ; 

 and when relaxing over the camp-fire after a la,borious day, gives free 

 play to mirth and loquacity. 



The perfect equality of the numerous Half-breed population of 

 Manitoba with its White settlers is in all respects clearly recognized. 

 In an official letter from Lieutenant-Governor Morris, dated October, 

 1875, he informs the Minister of the Interior that, in a recent con- 

 ference with the Salteaux Indians for the relinquishing of a tract of 

 land embracing 65,000 square miles, they informed him that there 

 were some twenty families of Half-breeds who were recognized as 

 Indians, and lived with their tribe, and they accordingly wished to 

 have them included in the treaty. In reply to this, the Lieutenant- 



