elf from its hunting-grounds,
was described as a different nation. The Chippeways who frequented
the Lake of the Woods were named from a particular act of
pillage--Pilliers, or Robbers: and the name Saulteurs, applied to
a principal band that frequented the Sault St. Marie, has been by
degrees extended to the whole tribe. It is frequently pronounced
and written _Sotoos_.

The original character of the Crees must have been much modified by
their long intercourse with Europeans; hence it is to be understood,
that we confine ourselves in the following sketch to their present
condition, and more particularly to the Crees of Cumberland House. The
moral character of a hunter is acted upon by the nature of the land he
inhabits, the abundance or scarcity of food, and we may add, in the
present case, his means of access to spirituous liquors. In a country so
various in these respects as that inhabited by the Crees, the causes
alluded to must operate strongly in producing a considerable difference
of character amongst the various hordes. It may be proper to bear in
mind also, that we are about to draw the character of a people whose
only rule of conduct is public opinion, and to try them by a morality
founded on divine revelation, the only standard that can be referred to
by those who have been educated in a land to which the blessings of the
Gospel have extended.

Bearing these considerations in mind then, we may state the Crees to be
a vain, fickle, improvident, and indolent race, and not very strict in
their adherence to truth, being great boasters; but, on the other hand,
they strictly regard the rights of property[6], are susceptible of the
kinder affections, capable of friendship, very hospitable, tolerably
kind to their women, and withal inclined to peace.

[6] This is, perhaps, true of the Cumberland House Crees alone: many
of the other tribes of Crees are stated by the traders to be
thieves.

Much of the faulty part of their character, no doubt, originates in
their mode of life; accustomed as a hunter to depend greatly on chance
for his subsistence, the Cree takes little thought of to-morrow; and the
most offensive part of his behaviour--the habit of boasting--has been
probably assumed as a necessary part of his armour, which operates upon
the fears of his enemies. They are countenanced, however, in this
failing, by the practice of the ancient Greeks, and perhaps by t