bodies alone opposed any check to the destroying scimitar and the trampling hoof, the lake was reached; and into that the whole vast body of enemies together rushed, and together continued to rush, forgetful of all things at that moment but of one almighty instinct.

This absorption of the thoughts in one maddening appetite lasted for a single half-hour; but in the next arose the final scene of parting vengeance. Far and wide the waters of the solitary lake were dyed red with blood. Here rode a party of savage Bashkirs; there stood unarmed Kalmucks in a death-grapple with their detested foes, both up to the middle in water, and oftentimes both sinking together below the surface from weakness or from struggles, and perishing in each other's arms. Did the Bashkirs at any point collect into a cluster for the sake of giving impetus to the assault? Thither were the camels driven in fiercely by those who rode them, generally women or boys; and even these quiet creatures were forced into a share in this carnival of murder, by trampling down as many as they could strike prostrate with the lash of their fore legs. Wheresoever the lake was shallow enough to allow of men raising their heads above the water, there, for scores of acres, were to be seen all forms of ghastly fear, of agonizing struggle-revenge, and the lunacy of revenge-until the neutral spectators, of whom there were not a few, now descending the eastern side of the lake, at length averted their eyes in horror. DE QUINCEY.

71. THE CANADIAN INDIANS.

In our colonies the rights of the Indians have been carefully attended to. The British sovereign and British Parliament have faithfully respected them; and a very friendly feeling exists between the red men of the forest and their white brethren; our governors have never found any difficulty in maintaining the title of "Father," by which the Indians invariably address them.

Yet, notwithstanding this just feeling and this general desire of our countrymen to act kindly towards the Indians, it had for some time been in contemplation in Upper Canada to prevail upon a portion of them to dispose of their lands to the Crown, and to remove to the British Manitoulin Islands in Lake Huron.

Whosoever, by the sweat of his brow, cultivates the ground, creates out of a very small area food and raiment sufficient not only for himself, but for others; whereas the man who subsists solely on game requires even for his own family a large hunting-ground. Now, so long as Canada was very thinly peopled with whites, an Indian preserve, as large as one of our counties in England, only formed part and parcel of the great forest which was common to all; and thus, for a considerable time, the white men and the red men, without inconvenience to each other, followed their respective avocations: the latter hunted, while the former were employing themselves in cutting down trees or in laboriously following the plough.

In process of time, however, the Indian preserves became surrounded by small patches of cleared land; and so soon as this was effected, the truth began to appear that the occupations of each race were not only dissimilar, but hostile to the interests of each other. For while the great hunting-ground of the red man only inconvenienced the white settler, the little clearances of the latter, as if they had been so many chained-up barking dogs, had the effect of first scaring and then gradually cutting off the supplies of wild animals, on whose flesh and skins the red race had been subsisting.

The remedy which naturally would first suggest itself to most men was to induce them to give up their hunting propensities, and tether themselves to the laborious occupations of their white brethren. In a few cases the project, to a certain degree, succeeded; but one might as well attempt to decoy a flight of wild fowl to the ponds of Hampstead Heath, one might as well endeavour to persuade the eagle to descend from the lofty regions in which he has existed to live with the fowls in our courtyards, as attempt to prevail upon the red men of North America to become what we call civilized: in short, it is against their nature, and they cannot do it.

Having ascertained that in one or two parts of Upper Canada there existed a few Indians almost starving on a large block of rich, valuable land, which in their possession was remaining roadless and stagnant, I determined to carry into effect the project of my predecessors by endeavouring to prevail on

these people to remove to the British islands in Lake Huron, in which there was some game, and which were abundantly supplied with fish; and with a view to introduce them to the spot, I caused it to be made known to the various tribes of Indians resident throughout the immense wilderness of Canada that on a certain day of a certain moon I would meet them in council on a certain uninhabited island in Lake Huron, where they should receive their annual presents.

In the beginning of August 1836 I accordingly left Toronto, and with a small party crossed that most beautiful piece of water Lake Simcoe, and then rode to Penetanguishene Bay, from whence we were to start the next morning in bark canoes.

It was proposed that we should take tents; but as I had had some little experience of the healthy enjoyment of an out-of-doors life, as well as of the discomfort of a mongrel state of existence, I determined that, in our visit to our red brethren, we would adopt Indian habits, and sleep under blankets on the ground.

As soon as our wants were supplied we embarked in two canoes, each manned by eight Lower Canadian Indians; and when we got about a mile from the shore, nothing could be more beautiful than the sudden chorus of their voices, as, with their faces towards the prow, and with a paddle in their hands, keeping time with their song, they joyfully pushed us along.

For some hours we steered directly from the land,

until, excepting the shore on our right, we could see nothing but the segment of a circle of blue water. As the wind became strong, and as our canoes were heavily laden, I certainly for some time looked with very respectful attention to each wave, as one after another was seen rapidly and almost angrily advancing towards us; but the Indian at the helm was doing exactly the same thing, and accordingly, whenever it arrived, the canoe was always precisely in the proper position to meet it. Thus, sometimes to one tune and sometimes to another, we proceeded under a splendid sky, through pure, exhilarating air, and over the surface of one of the most noble of those inland seas which in the western hemisphere diversify the interminable dominions of the British Crown.

It was a heavenly morning; and I never remember to have beheld a homely picture of what is called 66 savage life" which gave me more pleasure than that which, shortly after I landed, appeared immediately before me.

On a smooth table rock, surrounded by trees and shrubs, every leaf of which had been washed by the night's rain as clean as it could have appeared on the day of its birth, there were seated in front of their wigwam, and close to a fire, the white smoke from which was gracefully meandering upwards through the trees, an Indian's family, composed of a very old man, two or three young ones, about as many wives, and a most liberal allowance of joyouslooking children of all ages.

The distinguishing characteristic of the group was