168 SALMON FISHIXG IN CANADA. 



from what I have heard and seen, the Mountaineers were 

 once the very flower of this northern wilderness, even as 

 the Chippewas were once the glory of the Lake Superior 

 Eegion. 



" ' The Mountaineers of the present day are sufficiently 

 educated to speak a smattering of French ; but they know 

 nothing of the true God, and are as poor in spirit as they 

 are indigent ^^utli regard to the necessaries of life. The 

 men of this nation are rather short, but well formed, and 

 the women are beautiful. They are proud in spirit, intel- 

 ligent, and kind-hearted ; and many of them, it is pleasant 

 to know, are no longer the victims of the baneful " fire- 

 water." For this blessing they are indebted to the Eomish 

 priesthood, which fact I record with great pleasure. The 

 jMountaineers are a particularly honest people, and great 

 friends to the stranger white man. They are also distin- 

 guished for their expertness in hunting, and take pleasure 

 in recounting the exploits of their forefathers.' " 



Here the Priest ceased reading, and laying do\\Ti the 

 book exclaimed, " I have never read so many inaccuracies 

 and mistatements in the same number of words, as are 

 contained in this last paragraph. First, the worthy Yankee 

 calls this tribe of Indians ' JMountaineers,' which is not the 

 translation of the word jMontagnais, nor is it descriptive of 

 the localities which they inhaliit, for the}' dwell chiefly in 

 the great valleys to the northward of the Saguenay. 

 Secondly, he states in the same sentence that they are 



