166 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



sugar is brought from the depot at York 

 Factory. The provisions obtained from 

 these various sources were amply sufficient 

 in the winter of 1819-20; but through 

 improvidence this post has in former sea- 

 sons been reduced to great straits. 



Many of the labourers, and a great majo- 

 rity of the agents and clerks employed by 

 the two Companies, have Indian or half- 

 breed wives, and the mixed offspring thus 

 produced has become extremely numerous. 



These metifs, or as the Canadians term 

 them, bois brules, are upon the whole a good 

 looking people, and where the experiment 

 has been made, have shown much aptness 

 in learning, and willingness to be taught; 

 they have, however, been sadly neglected. 

 The example of their fathers has released 

 them from the restraint imposed by the 

 Indian opinions of good and bad behaviour ; 

 and generally speaking, no pains have been 

 taken to fill the void with better principles. 

 Hence it is not surprising that the males, 

 trained up in a high opinion of the authority 

 and rights of the Company to which their 



