the European population. They had occupied the best lands along the
banks of the St. Lawrence, between Quebec and Montreal; a considerable
extent of those upon the Richelieu; and a small space on the Chaudière,
the Yamaska, the St. Maurice, and other tributaries of the great river,
as well as a detached settlement on the fertile shores of the Detroit.
These tracts had been granted to persons of distinction and to
favourites, usually in large blocks, which, as already stated, they held
under the title of seigneurs. But it accorded not with their habits to
clear and cultivate for themselves grounds covered with an unbroken
forest; nor would the task be undertaken by farmers on the terms of an
ordinary lease. The proprietors were therefore obliged to make them
over, in small lots, under the feudal title of fiefs, to hardworking
men, who, on receiving this permanent interest, were willing to
encounter the toil. The annual payment, or quit-rent, is in general
exceedingly small, amounting, on some properties, only to 10_s._ a-year,
with a bushel of wheat and two fowls. The seigneur has, besides, certain
feudal claims—a tithe on fish, mill-dues, and, more especially,
payments on sale or transference, which in some cases amount to a fifth
of the purchase-money.
The occupants of these fiefs or farms, under the burdens now specified,
are virtual proprietors of the soil, which they cultivate with their own
hands, aided by their families. They are described as a particularly
contented, industrious, and amiable race of people; and the lots, though
much subdivided in the course of succession, are still sufficient to
maintain them in simple plenty. They till their land with diligence,
though without skill, having scarcely adopted any of the modern
improvements. Their study is to produce from the farm every thing they
need; not only the whole of their food, but their candles, soap, and
even sugar. From flax of their own raising, too, and the wool of their
own sheep, they are enabled to manufacture almost every article of
clothing. Their houses, though generally built of wood, and only one
story high, are whitewashed, and tolerably commodious. A partition in
the middle separates the kitchen from the principal apartment, at one
end of which are the bed-rooms. There is a garden, which, though in a
somewhat rude and straggling state, and cultivated by the females only,
yields a comfortable supply of the more common fruits and vegetables.
The personal appearance of the _habitans_ is peculiar. They are tall,
thin, and, from exposure to the climate, almost as dark as the Indians.
They have thin lips, and often aquiline noses, with small, dark, and
lively eyes. Many of the girls are pretty oval-faced brunettes, with
fine eyes, good teeth, and glossy locks. The dress is nearly after the
old fashion of the French peasantry. The men wear the _capot_, a large
grey coat or surtout, covering nearly the whole body, and tied with a
girdle of brilliant colours. On the legs they have moccasins, and on the
head a straw hat in summer, and a red bonnet in winter. The hair is
still tied in a long queue behind. The women wear short jackets or
bed-gowns (mantelets), with petticoats distinct, and sometimes of a
different colour, and caps instead of bonnets—a mode of dress formerly
common in Scotland, and not yet wholly disused. They have long waists,
and sometimes the hair tied behind in a large club. At church, or other
occasions of full dress, they adopt the English fashion, but display a
much greater variety of showy colours. Hair-powder is sometimes worn,
and beetroot employed as rouge; but both in their dress and houses they
are perfectly clean.
The _habitans_ are frugal and moderate in their ordinary diet, which
mostly consists of different kinds of soup. They have, however, their
_jours gras_, or great feast-days, particularly before and after Lent,
when large companies assemble, and the board is spread with every
delicacy which their larder can afford. The table groans beneath immense
turkey pies, huge joints of beef, mutton, and pork, followed by a
profusion of fruit puddings. Extraordinary justice is said to be done to
these viands, as well as to the rum which follows; but the younger
members of the company are soon roused by the sound of the violin, and
the dancing, of which they are passionately fond, engages them till a
late hour. Weddings, above all, are celebrated by a mighty concourse of
friends and acquaintances. Twenty or thirty of the country carriages
bring in parties to witness the ceremony, which is followed by feasts
and dances, not unfrequently prolonged for several days. The young
people, however, have a somewhat rude method of expressing their opinion
of an unequal union, especially if arising from the relative age of the
parties. They assemble at night in large bodies, sounding various
discordant instruments—horns, drums, bells, kettles, accompanied by
loud shouts; and a contribution to the church, or some charitable
purpose, is indispensable to obtain a respite from this jocular
persecution. The short summer is necessarily spent in almost unremitting
labour; but when ice and snow have covered the ground the gay season
begins, and in their carioles or little chaises, on steel runners, which
pass swiftly over the frozen surface, they visit their neighbours, and
spend much time in social intercourse.
The Canadian French, like their forefathers, profess the Roman Catholic
religion with much zeal, and in a manner which occasionally approaches
superstition. The roads are marked by crosses erected at the side; their
houses are filled with little pictures of the Madonna and child, waxen
images of saints, and of the crucifixion; and there is a profuse
expenditure of holy water and candles. They reluctantly establish their
dwelling beyond hearing of the church bells, and on Sundays the
attendance is crowded. They have, however, those inadequate notions as
to the sanctity of that day, which are general in catholic countries.
When worship is over the remainder is devoted, without reserve, to
amusements. “Sunday,” it is said, “is to them their day of gaiety; there
is then an assemblage of friends and relations; the parish church
collects together all whom they know, and with whom they have relations
of business or pleasure; the young and old, men and women, clad in their
best garments, riding their best horses, driving in their gayest
_calèches_, meet there for purposes of business, love, and pleasure. The
young _habitant_, decked out in his most splendid finery, makes his
court to the maiden, whom he has singled out as the object of his
affections; the maiden, exhibiting in her adornment every colour of the
rainbow, there hopes to meet her chevalier; the bold rider descants upon
and gives evidence of the merits of his unrivalled pacer; and in winter
the powers of the various horses are tried in sleigh or cariole racing;
in short, Sunday is the grand fête.” Even the violin and the dance in
the evening are not considered unsuitable. Notwithstanding these
customs, the religious spirit of the Canadians appears sincere, and is
attended with great benefits. Their general conduct is inoffensive and
praiseworthy. Crimes of an atrocious description, as murder and violent
assaults upon the person, scarcely ever occur. Property is perfectly
safe, both from the thief and the robber; the doors of the houses stand
open, and all sorts of goods are exposed without any precaution. They
scarcely ever engage in those furious personal conflicts which, among
the Americans of English descent, are often carried on with such
violence; they know neither duelling, boxing, or gouging. On the
contrary, they mutually treat each other with all the ceremonious
politeness of the French school. One of the first things taught to a
child is to speak decorously, to bow or curtsey to its elders or to
strangers. This politeness is not accompanied with any degree of
insincerity or servility, above which last they are completely raised by
their independent situation. They are said to be generous in relieving
those in distress—liberal and courteous to all who have any claim on
their hospitality. The custom of parents and children living together,
often to the third generation, in the same house, marks a mild and
friendly temper. The only form under which hostile passions are vented
is that of litigation, to which they are immoderately addicted, being
favoured by the comparative cheapness of law. M. Bouchette defends this
as securing them from violent and turbulent modes of terminating their
differences.
The _habitans_ are not a stirring, enterprizing, or improving race. They
tread in the steps of their forefathers, following the same routine, and
with difficulty adopting the most obvious improvements of modern
husbandry. Although extensive tracts lie in their immediate
neighbourhood unoccupied, they resign them to the English and Americans,
and have scarcely at all extended the range of their original
settlement. Even their amiable qualities tend to retain them in this
stationary condition; to which we may add their social disposition,
their attachment to their kindred, their church, and the rites of their
religion. They feel as if in leaving these things they would leave all.
Their range of information has hitherto been very limited; and their
priests, it has been alleged, by no means favour the diffusion among
them even of the first elements of education; so that the majority of
the adults cannot even read or write. But the legislature have lately
made great exertions to improve them in this respect; and it is hoped
that the rising generation will be more enlightened.
The society in Upper Canada, with the exception of the small French
settlement at Detroit, presents a very different aspect. A great
majority of the inhabitants consists of emigrants recently arrived from
Ireland, Scotland, and England, who have not yet made much change in
their original ideas and habits. Those established at successive periods
during the previous half century, are not represented by Mr. Howison,
Mr. Talbot, and other writers, under a very favourable light. The tone,
especially in the western districts, appears to have been in a great
measure given by such Americans as came, not from the civilised portions
of the Union, but from the back-wood tracks, breathing rather the spirit
of Kentucky than of New England. Disbanded soldiers and sailors were not
well calculated to improve the breed; and even the voluntary emigrants
were not always composed of the respectable classes, who, under the
pressure of the times, have lately embraced this resource. The removal
of the ordinary restraints of society, and the absence of religious
ordinances and ministration, concurred in giving to them a reckless and
unprincipled character. Intoxication, encouraged by the cheapness of
spirits, is indulged to a lamentable degree, and is often productive of
general ill conduct and ruin. Little regard is paid to the sabbath and
other sacred institutions; and the ear of the stranger is wounded, not
only by abusive language, but by swearing to an odious and disgusting
degree. Pugilistic contests are carried on with a violence rivalling
those of Kentucky, and have not always been unaccompanied by the savage
practice of gouging. Mr. Talbot, though he admits that he met with many
respectable females, charges a large proportion of the sex with a
disregard and even insensibility to their first duties. Although a
_spry_ lass, as she is termed, is certain of repeated offers, and is
sure of being early united in the bonds of matrimony, she may frequently
before that event have given birth to one or two children. Our author
was in company with a lady, who volunteered to the company the
information, that “her Betty” had been two years old at her marriage.
The correcter feelings, on this subject, of females from the old country
are contemned as ridiculous. Nay, where so little delicacy prevails, and
the children are so valuable a possession, the bringing two or three
into the world in this irregular manner, instead of being a bar to
marriage, proves, it is said, an additional attraction, by making the
young lady a species of heiress. After marriage, she makes an active and
industrious wife, but expects from her husband much deference, and even
that he should wink at occasional frailties. These faults are described
by Mr. Gourlay as rapidly disappearing, though Mr. Talbot, and even Mr.
Shirreff, found them still too prevalent; but the increased means of
instruction, and the example of respectable emigrants, will, it may be
hoped, gradually effect a thorough reform.
No people in the world live better than the inhabitants of Upper Canada.
The abundance of produce, and the low price at which it can be sold,
naturally inclines them to take the full use of it. Three copious meals,
often of twelve or fourteen dishes each, are daily served up, called
breakfast, dinner, and supper, but consisting generally of the same
component parts; among which are specially enumerated green tea, fried
pork, honeycomb, salted salmon, pound-cake, pickled cucumbers, stewed
chickens, apple tarts, maple-molasses, pease-pudding, gingerbread, and
sour crout. They are not very social in their daily habits, to which,
indeed, the almost impassable state of the roads opposes great
obstacles; but they are fond of large parties, and, in a favourable
season, five or six families often unite, and, without any notice, drive
to visit another at the distance of ten or twelve miles. Such an arrival
would not always be very opportune in an English household; but, “in
this land of plenty,” the flour-barrel, the pork-tub, and the fowl
house, afford at all times materials for meeting such an emergency, and
the board is soon spread with a plentiful meal. The dance is an
amusement of which they are passionately fond. No inn is considered
worthy of the name, unless it be provided with a spacious ballroom,
which is called into requisition as often as convenience will permit.
Intellectual recreations have not hitherto attracted all the attention
which they merit. Mr. Talbot, during a residence of five years, never
saw above two individuals with books in their hands; and, in one case,
it was a medical treatise consulted for health. The sources of
improvement already enumerated, however, have already made a great
impression, and will, we doubt not, ere long wipe off this reproach from
the Canadian people.
There remains yet undescribed a small but interesting portion—the
remnant of the Indian nations. It has appeared mysterious how tribes,
once so powerful, without war or bloodshed should have silently
disappeared, and only a handful survive. The occupation of their hunting
grounds by European settlers, the introduction of destructive diseases,
particularly small-pox, and the free use of intoxicating liquors, have
no doubt materially thinned their numbers. Our researches, however, have
led us to suspect that the diminution has not been nearly so great as is
supposed; in other words, that the original numbers were much
exaggerated. We have had occasion to observe, that the Iroquois, the
most powerful people in America, and occupying a territory extending
several hundred miles in every direction, were not estimated by the
French to include more than 3,000 warriors. Yet they enjoyed a better
climate, and were not so entirely ignorant of cultivation as the tribes
northward of the St. Lawrence.
The Indians, under British protection, are dispersed in small villages
and settlements in different parts of Upper and Lower Canada. The charge
made by Mr. M^{c}Gregor, that they have not been kindly treated by our
government, seems scarcely well founded, for not only do they remain
peaceably under her sway, but they have repeatedly taken up arms in her
cause against the “Big Knives,” as they term the Americans. In
consideration of their services, and in compensation for the
encroachments made on their domain, each individual, on repairing to a
fixed station, receives a certain amount of goods as an annual present;
and this grant affords the means of estimating the number residing
within the provinces. In Lower Canada, in 1828, it amounted to 2,922,
exclusive of about 450 Micmacs, or wandering tribes, from Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick. The number in Upper Canada to whom, about the same
time, donations were made, was 12,919; making in the two provinces
15,841. The estimate thus obtained, however, is not quite so accurate as
could be wished. Several thousands came from beyond the western
frontier, a distance in some cases of four or five hundred miles, and
even from the territory of the United States; but in consequence of the
signal services rendered by them during the last war, pledges had been
given, which Britain must now fulfil. On the other hand, in the immense
forest territory which the hand of cultivation has not yet approached,
there are doubtless very considerable numbers who retain their wild
independence, and hold no relation whatever with Europeans. We may
notice, in particular, the vast tracts to the east and north of Quebec,
whence no mention is made of any resort to the stations of distribution.
The Indians of Lower Canada have been converted to the catholic
religion, and their spiritual concerns are superintended by five
missionaries, who receive salaries of from 40_l._ to 70_l._ per annum.
They appear much attached to these instructors, and show a deep sense of
their religious duties; yet they have admitted scarcely any change in
their original habits, or made any progress in industry. Their
husbandry, as formerly, is on a small scale, of the rudest description,
and carried on entirely by women and old men. “The Indian tribes,” said
the late Lord Dalhousie, “continue to be warlike in their ideas and
recollections. Insignificant as are some of the tribes now in Lower
Canada, civilized and accustomed to social life, there is not one of
them that does not boast of the warlike days of their chiefs and
warriors; even now, the word warrior is assumed by every young man; he
is trained up to it, and has a higher idea of the approbation of his
chief, or the consideration of white men in that character of an active
hunter or warrior, than he has of any other object or use of his
existence.” The missionaries, though they execute their spiritual
functions with zeal and diligence, not only take no pains to instruct
them in reading or writing, but effectually oppose any efforts for that
purpose, at least when made by protestant teachers. We even suspect that
they indulge rather than check the warlike spirit of their flocks; since
it appears, that, on the annual religious festival called the grand
_fête de Dieu_, the Indians are in the habit of marching to church in
military order, headed by their chiefs, bearing arms, and amid the music
of drums and fifes.
[Illustration: _Village of Lorette, near Quebec._
(Church of the Annunciation.)]
[Illustration: _Junction of the St. Francis and Magog Rivers_
(Sherbrooke.)]
A few miles northward from Quebec is the Huron settlement of Loretto,
consisting of sixty-seven men, sixty-five women, and forty-seven
children. This poor remnant of a race once so powerful, holding only
forty acres of land, derive a precarious subsistence from hunting,
fishing, and some trifling articles made by their females. They recently
preferred a claim to the fief of Sillery, a fine tract extending a
league along the St. Lawrence, near Quebec, in virtue of a grant made to
their ancestors in 1651. The case being brought before the courts, it
was argued by the crown lawyers that the grant had been made to the
Jesuits in general terms, for the purpose “of assembling the wandering
nations of New France, and instructing them in the christian religion;”
that, in 1699, these missionaries, representing that the Indians had
quitted the spot on account of the soil being exhausted, requested and
obtained a grant of it for themselves; and that it remained in their
possession till the extinction of their order in 1800, when it devolved
on the British government. On these grounds the judges decided against
the Hurons. We cannot help referring, however, to certain facts in our
historical narrative, founded on authorities which we incline to believe
were unknown to either party in this contest. It there appears that the
grant immediately followed the destruction of the Huron nation by the
Iroquois, when the Jesuits, as the only means of saving the remnant of
the tribe, removed to Quebec. The date, and the name of the principal
settlement, seem to show, that, however general the terms may have been,
the grant was made virtually for the benefit of these unfortunate
fugitives, and to the Jesuits only as their trustees. If this be
admitted, we know not how far their quitting it at one time for another
spot, without any formal relinquishment, could be considered as vacating
their title. On the loss of their cause, they sent two deputies to
London, who very earnestly solicited an interview with their great
father. Sir George Murray evaded this demand, but received them kindly;
and though he could not reopen a legal decision, offered them grants of
crown lands in other quarters; but they replied, that an arrangement
which would separate them, and require a complete change in their mode
of life, could not be felt by them as any real advantage.
In the vicinity of Three Rivers are 82 Algonquins, and near St. Francis
and Beçancour, on the opposite side, 359 Abenaquis. These tribes inhabit
rude villages, composed of very poor bark huts, though somewhat better
than the ordinary wigwams. They once possessed a considerable extent of
land, the greater part of which has been wrested from them under various
pretences by designing individuals; and to prevent such frauds, it is
proposed that no alienation of property by these untaught tribes shall
be held valid until it has been sanctioned by government. Farther down
the river are three settlements of Iroquois, one at Sault St. Louis and
Caughnawaga, amounting to 967; another at St. Regis of 348; and a third,
of 282, at the Lake of the Two Mountains. This tribe, once powerful, and
even intelligent, are now indolent, wretched, and despised by their own
countrymen. Those of Sault St. Louis possess some land, though, from
mismanagement, it produces little; and a late claim for an addition,
founded on minute boundary questions, was fruitless, though they also
sent two deputies to London to enforce it. At the Lake of the Two
Mountains are likewise 355 Algonquins and 250 Nipissings. These have no
land to cultivate, but by their activity in hunting, and supplying
Europeans with furs, they have placed themselves in a more comfortable
condition than any other Indians in Lower Canada. They complain much,
however, of the extended colonization on the Ottawa, by which their
hunting grounds are greatly narrowed.