They
Met In The Spring At Carlton House After Passing The Winter In Different
Parts Of The Country, During Which The Indian's Child Died.
The conjurer
had the folly to boast that he had caused its death and the enraged
father shot him dead on the spot.
It may be remarked however that both
these Indians were inhabitants of the plains and had been taught, by
their intercourse with the turbulent Stone Indians, to set but
comparatively little value on the life of a man.
It might be thought that the Crees have benefited by their long
intercourse with civilised nations. That this is not so much the case as
it ought to be is not entirely their own fault. They are capable of being
and, I believe, willing to be, taught; but no pains have hitherto been
taken to inform their minds,* and their white acquaintances seem in
general to find it easier to descend to the Indian customs and modes of
thinking, particularly with respect to women, than to attempt to raise
the Indians to theirs. Indeed such a lamentable want of morality has been
displayed by the white traders in their contests for the interests of
their respective companies that it would require a long series of good
conduct to efface from the minds of the native population the ideas they
have formed of the white character. Notwithstanding the frequent
violations of the rights of property they have witnessed and but too
often experienced in their own persons, these savages, as they are
termed, remain strictly honest.
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