nds a contrast between its elegance and that of
the coats of their own red gallants made of the rough
skin of the wolf or the bison. So it came to pass that
in due season most of the pretty girls among the Jumping
Indians had gone with triumph and great love in their
hearts from the wigwam of their tribe to be the wives of
the whites in their stately dwellings.

In this way up-grew the settlement of Red River; by such
intermarriages were the affections of the red men all
over the plains, from the cold, gloomy regions of the
North to the mellow plains of the South, won by their
pale-faced neighbours. The savages had not shut their
ears to what their women had so eloquently urged, and
they would say:

"The cause of these pale people is our cause; their
interests are our interests; they have mingled their
flesh and blood with ours; we shall be their faithful
brothers to the death." It was this fact, not the wisdom
of government Indian agents, nor the heaven-born insight
of government itself into the management of tribes that
so long preserved peace and good will throughout our
North-West Territories. It was for this reason that
enemies of government in the Republic could say after
they had revealed the corruption of Red Cloud and Black
Rock agents:

"Observe the Canadian tribes, mighty in number, and
warlike in their nature. They fight not, because they
have been managed with wisdom and humanity. There is no
corruption among the accredited officials; there is no
sinister dealing towards them by the government." We do
not charge our officials with corruption, neither do we
believe that their administration has been feeble;--on
the whole our attitude towards the Indian people has been
fair; our policy has revealed ordinary sense,--and not
much brilliancy. Probably half a dozen level-headed
wood-choppers, endowed with authority to deal with the
tribes, could have acquitted themselves as well; perhaps
they might not have done so well, and it is probable that
they might have exhibited a better showing.

It was in this settlement that in after years appeared
Louis Riel _pere_. For some generations the Hudson Bay
Company had carried on an extensive trade in peltry, and
numbers of their _employes_ were French peasants or
_coureurs de bois_. Thousands of these people were
scattered here and there over the territories; and they
began to turn loving eyes toward the rich meadows along
the banks of the Red River. Some of t