OP THE RED INDIAN RACE. 459 



liabits or social position from the pure-blood Indian. Their influence 

 mainly tends to modify the ethnical character of the tribe by inter- 

 marriage ; and this has materially affected the characteiistics of many 

 tribes still nomadic, and otherwise unchanged by intercourse with 

 the Whites. In striking contrast to those are the Metis or Half- 

 breeds, who have hitherto formed the major portion of the mixed 

 population of the Red River Settlement, living on perfect equality 

 with the White settlers, and constituting an integral part of the 

 colony. They are neither to be confounded with the Indians of 

 mixed blood already described on older Canadian reserves ; nor with 

 the remarkable race of Half-breed buffalo hunters, who have long 

 maintained an independent position, distinct alike from the emigrant 

 settlers and from the nomad Indian tribes. It seemed, indeed, as if 

 the problem of the permanent development of an intermediate race of 

 mixed blood was to be here tested on a grand scale: when the 

 transfer of the Hudson's Bay Teriitory to Canada, and the conversion 

 of the old Red River settlement into a province of the Dominion, 

 introduced wholly new elements incompatible with the permanency 

 of Half-breed hunter tribes. 



So long as the settlement remained under the control of the Fur- 

 trading Company, everything tended to favour the growth of a Half- 

 breed population, under each of the conditions above named. It 

 was remote from all the great centres of colonization ; shut out from 

 any of the ordinary incentives to agricultural industry or settled 

 trade; and inaccessible except through the agency of the H-idson's 

 Bay Company. Even the rival fur-trader was excluded ; and hence 

 the whole policy of the settlement tended to encourage the introduc- 

 tion of the young adventurer, trapper, or voyageur, rather than the 

 marriei settler. The habits of life iiacident to the fur trade made 

 the distinction gi'eatly less marked between the Indian and the White 

 man; and thus a people, as intermediate in habits and mode of life 

 as in blood, from those of the old settled provinces of Upper and 

 Lower Canada, grew up unchecked. Much property has j)assed into 

 the hands of those of mixed blood. Their young men have, in some 

 cases, been sent to the colleges of Canada, and, after creditably 

 distinguishing themselves, have returned to lend their aid in the 

 progress of the settlement. A curious trait of Indian blood was 

 illustrated in a young Half-breed who distinguished himself as a 

 student in University College, Toronto ; and, after taking his degree 

 5 



