ion. Acknowledging the being
of a God, the uncultivated minds of these savages have led them to
shrink from the thoughts of annihilation, and to look forward with hope
to a future life. They have no idea however of intellectual enjoyments;
but a notion prevails among them, that at death they arrive at a large
river, on which they embark in a stone canoe; and that a gentle current
bears them on to an extensive lake, in the centre of which is a most
beautiful island, in the sight of which they receive their judgment. If
they have died courageously in war, they are particularly welcomed in
landing upon the island, where they, with skilful hunters, enjoy
perpetual spring and plenty, and live with all the good in an eternal
enjoyment of sensual pleasures. If they die with their hands imbrued
with the blood of their countrymen, and are lazy bad characters, the
stone canoe sinks with them, leaving them up to their chins in water,
that they may for ever behold the happiness of the good, and struggle
in vain to reach the island of bliss.

The 17th. I left the Colony in a cariole, to visit the Company's Post
at Bas la Riviere; we stopped the night, near the mouth of the Red
River, and crossed the point of Lake Winipeg, on the ice, the following
day, in time to reach the Fort the same evening. It is pleasantly
situated by a fine sheet of water; and is the way the canoes take their
route to Fort William, Lake Superior, and Montreal. During my stay, the
officer of the Post gave me the much admired fish of the country,
called by the Indians, _tittameg_, and by the Americans, _white-fish_.
Its usual weight is about three or four pounds; but it is caught in
some of the lakes of a much larger size; and, with the sturgeon, is a
principal article of food, and almost the only support of some of the
establishments. Before I left, the officer was married to one of the
best informed and most improved half-caste women I had seen. She was
the daughter of one of the chief factors, who was particularly fond of
his family; and afforded an instance of superiority of character among
this class of people, from the care and instruction which she had
received. The Metifs, or, as they are sometimes called, Bois brules,
have displayed the most striking ability as steersmen of boats, through
the most difficult rapids, and in the navigation of the rivers; and if
advantages were given them in education, they have capacities of
usefulness which might adorn t