every reason to be grateful for these acts of
kindness, and they both felt and expressed their gratitude. Their
object, however, in coming to the country was to serve God, not the
Hudson's Bay Company; and they proceeded to discharge their duty in
the manner their conscience approved, instructing and enlightening
the natives with the zeal and perseverance for which their sect is
so eminently distinguished. The good fruits were soon apparent; in
some parts of the country successful attempts were made to collect
the natives: they were taught to cultivate the soil, to husband
their produce, so as to render them less dependent on fortuitous
circumstances for a living; they were taught to read and write, and to
worship God "in spirit and in truth," and numbers "were daily added
to the Church;" when, lo! it was discovered that the time devoted
to religious exercises, and other duties arising out of the altered
circumstances of the converts, was so much time lost to the fur-hunt;
and from the moment this discovery was made, no further encouragement
was given to the innovators. Their labours were strictly confined to
the stations they originally occupied, and every obstacle was thrown
in the way of extending their missions. Even after some of them
had travelled into the remotest parts, and opened up an amicable
intercourse with the natives, they were told that collecting the
Indians into villages was a measure not to be thought of, as the
habitual indolence of the natives precluded the idea of their being
induced to cultivate the soil; that even if they were so inclined, the
country presented few localities fit for the purpose, &c.

Notwithstanding the high authority whence these allegations emanated,
I think I can show the reader that they are in a great measure without
foundation.

Here (in lat. 61 deg. north)[2] we raise crops of barley and potatoes--the
former in abundance every year,--the latter, however, are sometimes
cut off by the frosts; but this is no more than happens in Canada,
and many parts of the United States. The fact is, that there are many
favourable situations for agriculture to be found in every district of
the Company's territories, except perhaps one or two on the shores of
Hudson's Bay. The banks of the Athabasca, Peace, Slave, and McKenzie
rivers present many localities fit for farming operations; and in the
more southern districts they are, of course, far more frequent.

[Footnote 2: On the banks of