1906-7. TRANSACTIONS. 47 



bly in winter and see the costly furs that are now worn, most of 

 them the products of our northern forests, we cannot but be im- 

 pressed with the value thus represented, and there is one point to 

 which I would ask attention and it is this : that the uncultivable 

 public domain should be devoted to the production of timber and 

 the conserving of the fish and game of the country. The forest 

 reserves may be made game preserves,where, by judicious care, the 

 present annual product may not only be maintained but greatly 

 increased. 



But there are other resources. I have already referred to 

 the soil and the products thereof at present growing far beyond 

 the limits of regular settlement. I have also noticed the timber 

 extending along our route almost to the frozen ocean. If nothing 

 else we have in the Arctic slope a world's supply of pulp-wood. 

 We have in the cool waters of the North excellent fish in vast 

 quantities, and lastly, we know enough of the presence of minerals 

 of various kinds to almost warrant the belief that there are other 

 Klondikes and Cobalts in those unfrequented and unexplored 

 regions. 



Interesting as are the natural characteristics of the country 

 and its undeveloped resources the inhabitants who make their 

 home there are at least worthy of greater attention. In the region 

 traversed between Edmonton and Fort Yukon we meet with 

 several tribes of Indians speaking as many different tongues. The 

 first of these as we go north is the Crees, the Knisteneaux of Mac- 

 kenzie; Then, as we reach Athabaska lake we have the Chipe- 

 wyans; next the Slaves, and lastly the Loucheux. The Cree, the 

 Chipewyan and the Slave, though differing much in speech re- 

 semble each other in character and appearance; but when we 

 come to the Loucheux we seem to have reached a different type 

 and one more closely allied to the eastern Asiatic than to the 

 American Indian. They inhabit the country of the lower Mac- 

 kenzie down to the sea and west along the Porcupine and lower 

 Yukon. They are rather short in stature and dark in colour, are 

 very inquisitive and seem much disposed to imitate the white 

 man. They are very devout in their religious observances, most 

 of them being members of either the Anglican or Roman Catholic 

 Church. 



Any narrative of travel would be most incomplete that did 

 not make reference to the missions of these two churches in the 

 far north. At Chipewyan, Providence and Good Hope, the 



