igious obligation desert the oaths which are the
instruments of investigation in the courts of justice? And let us with
caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained
without religion. Whatever be conceded to the influence of refined
education, or minds of a peculiar structure; reason and experience
forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of
religious principle."

A daughter has driven her aged Indian father, lashed, in his buffaloe
robe, on a sledge, to the Colony. He appeared to be in a very weak and
dying state, and has suffered much from the want of provisions. I was
much pleased with this instance of filial affection and care. Sometimes
the aged and infirm are abandoned or destroyed; and however shocking it
may be to those sentiments of tenderness and affection, which in
civilized life we regard as inherent in our common nature, it is
practised by savages in their hardships and extreme difficulty of
procuring subsistence for the parties who suffer, without being
considered as an act of cruelty, but as a deed of mercy. This shocking
custom, however, is seldom heard of among the Indians of this
neighbourhood; but is said to prevail with the Chipewyan or Northern
Indians, who are no sooner burdened with their relations, broken with
years and infirmities, and incapable of following the camp, than they
leave them to their fate. Instead of repining they are reconciled to
this dreadful termination of their existence, from the known custom of
their nation, and being conscious that they can no longer endure the
various distresses and fatigue of savage life, or assist in hunting for
provisions. A little meat, with an axe, and a small portion of tobacco,
are generally left with them by their _nearest relations_, who in
taking leave of them, say, that it is time for them to go into the
other world, which they suppose lies just beyond the spot where the sun
goes down, where they will be better taken care of than with them, and
then they walk away weeping. On the banks of the Saskashawan, an aged
woman prevailed on her son to shoot her through the head, instead of
adopting this sad extremity. She addressed him in a most pathetic
manner, reminding him of the care and toil with which she bore him on
her back from camp to camp in his infancy; with what incessant labour
she brought him up till he could use the bow and the gun; and having
seen him a great warrior, she requested that he wo