92 



EDUCATION. 



treated with all possible kindness ; and amply 

 repaid with blankets, or any useful European 

 articles that he might want and which could 

 be procured, in return for the gift of his horse. 



It was now hinted to me, that the interest 

 I was taking in the education of the native 

 children, had already excited the fears of some 

 of the chief factors and traders, as to the extent 

 to which it might be carried. Though a few 

 conversed liberally with me on the subject, 

 there were others who were apprehensive that 

 the extension of knowledge among the natives, 

 and the locating them in agricultural pursuits, 

 where practicable, would operate as an injury 

 to the fur trade. My reply on the contrary 

 was, that if Christian knowledge were gradu- 

 ally diffused among the natives throughout the 

 vast territory of the Hudson's Bay Company, 

 from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the 

 North Pacific, it would best promote the 

 honour and advantages of all parties con- 

 cerned in the fur trade, and which I was per- 

 suaded was the general enlightened opinion of 

 the Directors in London. 



The 28th. The Settlers have been busily 

 employed of late in getting in their seed corn, 

 and much more has been sown than was ex- 

 pected a short time ago, from the prudent 



