SCIENCE IN Rupert's land. 343 



containing speeches on educational subjects by his venerable grand- 

 father the Bishop of Toronto. Five days of drifting and rowing 

 down the rapid current of the Porcupine River brought us to its con- 

 fluence with the Youcan, on the banks of which, about three miles 

 above the junction, the Fort is placed. I met with a cordial reception 

 from Mr. Lockhart, who was in charge, as well as from the energetic 

 naturalist, Mr. R. Kennicott, who came into the district with me, and 

 passed the greater part of his first winter at Fort Simpson. He 

 delighted me with the assurance that he had met with a rich field for 

 his labours as a naturalist, and that his elforts had been crowned with 

 much success, especially in the collection of eggs ; many rare and some 

 hitherto unknown specimens, both of birds and their eggs, having 

 been obtained by him, so that the cause of science in that department 

 will be greatly benefitted by his labours. Among many others secured 

 by iiim, I noticed the eggs and parent birds of the American Widgeon, 

 the Black duck. Canvass-back duck. Spirit duck {Bucephala albeola) ; 

 small Black-head duck (Fulix aj/inis); the Wax-wing, (Ampelis garru- 

 lus); the Kentucky warbler, the Trumpeter swan, the Duck hawk {Falco 

 anatum), and two species of juncoes. The majority of those, how- 

 ever, have already been obtained in other parts of the district by the 

 persevering zeal of Mr. Ross, the gentleman in charge at Lapienes ; 

 and the wax-wing, which I noted as an exception, 1 have since learned 

 builds its nests numerously in the vicinity of Bear Lake. 



" On my arrival at the Youcan there were about five hundred Indiana 

 present, all of whom were astonished, but agreeably surprised, to see 

 a missionary among them. They are naturally a fierce, turbulent, and 

 cruel race ; approximating more nearly to the Plain tribes than to the 

 quiet Chippewyans of the McKenzie valley. They commence some- 

 where about the sixty-fifth degree of north latitude, and stretch west- 

 ward from the McKenzie to Behriug Straits. They were formerly 

 very numerous, but wars both among themselves and with the Esqui- 

 maux have sadly diminished them. They are however still a strong 

 and powerful people. They are divided into many petty tribes, each 

 having its own chief, as the Tii-tlit-Kutchin (Peel's River Indians) ; 

 Ta-kiith-Kutchin (Lapiene's Eouse Indians); Kutch-a-Kutchin (You- 

 can Indians) ; Touchon-tay-Kutchin (Wooded country Indians), and 

 many others. But the general appearance, dress, customs, and habits 

 of all are pretty much the same, and all go under the general names 

 of Kutchin (the people) and Loucheux (squinters). The former i»- 



