462 HYBRIDITY AND ABSORPTION 



are wholly incapable; and they accordingly look with undisguised 

 contempt on their Indian foes. 



Such are some of the most noticeable characteristics of this inter- 

 esting race, called into being by the contact of the European with the 

 native tribes of the forest and prairie. With so many of the elements 

 of civilization which it is found so hard to introduce among the most 

 intelligent native tribes, an aptitude for social organization, and 

 a thorough independence of all external superintendence or control : 

 there seems no reason to doubt that here is an example of an inter- 

 mediate race, combining characteristics derived from two extremely 

 diverse types of man, with all apparent promise of perpetuity and 

 increase, if they could have been secured in the exclusive occupation 

 of the region in which they have originated. They know the use and 

 value of money ; are familiar with the idea of personal property in 

 land, and with the use of the plough and other European implements 

 of agriculture ; and have learned to carry out agricultural opera- 

 tions on a scale sufficient to raise the requisite root and grain crops, 

 and the stock so much in demand for their peculiar occupation in the 

 great hunting-field of the bufi'alo-haunted prairie. With the gradual 

 failure of the bufialo herds they would, under any circumstances, 

 have been necessitated to devote more time and attention to their 

 farms ; and thus they had within themselves every guarantee for 

 endurance. But, situated as they are, the Half-breeds of Manitoba 

 can no more hope to perpetuate themselves as a distinct race than 

 those of the older provinces. Already the change has begun which 

 involves their disappearance. Within the settlement itself the White 

 population have long intermarried freely with those of mixed blood, 

 and their • ofispring share with perfect equality all the rights and, 

 privileges of the community. The barrier between the latter and the 

 tribe of Half-breed buffalo-hunters is too slight to create any insur- 

 mountable impediment to their intermingling, even had the Red 

 Kiver Settlement been able to retain the characteristics of an isolated 

 frontier province. But there, as elsewhere, the railway is destined 

 to work a speedy revolution. With the increase of emigration the 

 same results must follow as have already occurred in all the older 

 settlements, from the New England shores or the St. Lawrence, 

 westward to the remotest border clearings. The last traces of the 

 Red Blood will disajDpear, yet not wholly by extinction. The minor- 

 ity, passing through this transitional Half-breed stage, will haye been 



