Long before the vision of a confederation of the British
Provinces entered into the brain of any man, Lord Selkirk,
coming to the wilds of North America, found a tract of
country fertile in soil, and fair to look upon. He arrived
in this unknown wilderness when it was summer, and all
the prairie extending over illimitable stretches till it
was lost in the tranquil horizon, was burning with the
blooms of a hundred varieties of flowers. Here the "tiger
rose," like some savage queen of beauty, rose to his
knees and breathed her sultry balm in his face. Aloof
stood the shy wild rose, shedding its scent with delicate
reserve; but the wild pea, and the convolvulus, and the
augur flower, and the insipid daisy, ran riot through
all the grass land, and surfeited his nostrils with their
sweets. Here and there upon the mellow level stood a
clump of poplars or white oaks, prim, like virgins without
suitors, with their robes drawn close about them; but
when over the unmeasured plain the wind blew, they bowed
their heads: as if saluting the stranger who came to
found a colony in the wilderness of which they were
sentinels. Here too, in the hush, for the first time,
the planter's ear heard a far-off, nigh indistinct, sound
of galloping thunder. He knew not what it meant, and his
followers surmised that it might be the tumult of some
distant waterfall, borne hither now because a storm was
at hand, and the denser air was a better carrier of the
sound. And while they remained wondering what it could
be, for the thunder was ever becoming louder, and,
"Nearer clearer, deadlier than before"
Lo! out of the west came what seemed as a dim shadow
moving across the plain. With bated breath they watched
the dark mass moving along like some destroying tempest
with ten thousand devils at its core. Chained to the
ground with a terrible awe they stood fast for many
minutes till at last in the dim light, for the gloaming
had come upon the plains, they see eye-balls that blaze
like fire, heads crested with rugged, uncouth horns and
shaggy manes; and then snouts thrust down, flaring
nostrils, and rearing tails.
My God, a buffalo herd, and we'll be trampled to death,"
almost shrieked one of the Earl's followers.
"Peace! keep cool! Up, up instantly into these trees!"
and the word was obeyed as if each man was an instrument
of the leader's will. Beyond, in the south-east, a full
moon, luscious seeming as some ripened, mellow fruit,
was rising, and the yellow light was all over the plain.
Then the tremendous mass, headed by maddened bulls, with
blazing eyes and foaming nostrils, drove onward toward
the south, like an unchained hurricane. Some of the
terrified beasts ran against the trees, crushing horns
and skull, and fell prone upon the plain, to be trampled
into jelly by the hundreds of thousands in the rear. The
tree upon which the earl had taken refuge received many
a shock from a crazed bull; and it seemed to the party
from the tree-branches as if all the face of the plains
was being hurled toward the south in a condition of the
wildest turmoil. Hell itself let loose could present no
such spectacle as this myriad mass of brute life sweeping
over the lonely plain under the wan, elfin light of the
new-risen moon. Clouds of steam, wreathing itself into
spectral shapes of sullen aspect, rose from the dusky,
writhing mass, and the flaming of more than ten thousand
eyeballs in the gloom presented a picture more terrible
than ever came into the imagination of the writer of the
Inferno. The spectacle, as observed by those some twenty
feet from the ground, might be likened somewhat to a
turbulent sea when a sturdy tide sets against the storm,
and the mad waves tumble hither and thither, foiled, and
impelled, yet for all the confusion and obstruction moving
in one direction with a sweep and a force that no power
could chain. Circling among and around the strange, dusk
clouds of steam that went up from the herd were scores
of turkey buzzards, their obscene heads bent downward,
their sodden eyes gleaming with expectancy. Well they
knew that many a gorgeous feast awaited them wherever
boulder, tree, or swamp lay in the path of the mighty
herd. At last the face of the prairie had ceased its
surging; no lurid eyeball-light gleamed out of the dusk;
and the tempest of cattle had passed the _voyageurs_ and
went rolling out into the unbounded stretches of the dim,
yellow plain.
The morrow's sun revealed a strange spectacle. The great
amplitude of rich, green grasses, warmed and beautified
by the petals of flowers was as a ploughed field. The
herbage had been literally crushed into mire, and this
the innumerable hoofs had churned up with the soft, rich,
dark soil of the prairie. The leguminous odours from
decaying clover, and rank, matted masses of wild pease,
the feverish exhalations of the tiger-lily, and of the
rich blooded "buffalo lilac," together with the dank,
earthy smell from the broken sod, were disagreeable and
oppressive. Lord Selkirk's heart sank within him at seeing
the ruin.
"I fear me," he said, "to plant a colony here. A herd of
these beasts coming upon a settlement would be worse than
ten thousand spears." But some of his guides had before
seen the impetuous rushing of the herds, and they assured
him that this might not occur again in this portion of
the prairie for a quarter of a century to come.
"At any rate," they persisted, "the buffalo keeps away
from regions that send up chimney-smoke. The chief regret
by-and-by will be that the herds will not come near enough
to us." And the Earl was reassured and proceeded with
the steps preliminary to founding the colony. It need
not be said that the place we have been describing was
the prairie on the banks of the Red River.
In a little while ships bearing numbers of sturdy Scotchmen
began to cross the sea bound for this famous colony,
where the land was ready for the plough, and mighty herds
of wild cattle grazed knee-deep among gorgeous flowers
and sweet grasses. They brought few white women with
them, the larger number being young men who had bade
their "Heeland" lassies good-bye with warm kisses,
promising to come back for them when they had built
homesteads for themselves in the far away wilds of the
West.
But when Lord Selkirk planted here his sturdy Scotchmen,
wild beasts and game were not the only inhabitants of
the plains. The Crees, a well-built, active, war-loving
race, had from ages long forgotten roamed over these
interminable meadows, fishing in the streams, and hunting
buffalo. Here and there was to be found one of their
"towns," a straggling congregation of tents made of the
skins of the buffalo. Beautiful, dark-skinned girls, in
bare brown, little feet, sat through the cool of evening
in the summer days sewing beads upon the moccasins of
their lovers, while the wrinkled dame limped about,
forever quarrelling with the dogs, performing the household
duties.
But the Crees liked not the encroachment upon their
territories by these foreign men with pale faces; and
they held loud pow-wows, and brandished spears, and swept
their knives about their heads till their sheen gleamed
many miles over the prairie. Then preparing their paint
they set out to learn from the pale-faced chief what was
his justification for the invasion.
"You cannot take lands without war and conquest," were
the words of a young chief with a nose like a hawk's
beak, and an eye like the eagle's, to Lord Selkirk. "You
did not fight us; therefore you did not conquer us. How
comes it then that you have our lands?"
"Are you the owners of this territory?" calmly enquired
the nobleman.
"We are; no one else is the owner."
"But I shall shew you that from two standpoints, first
from my own, and afterwards from yours, it belongs not
to you. Firstly, it belongs to our common Sovereign, the
King of England. You belong to him; so likewise do the
buffalo that graze upon the plains, and the fishes that
swim in the rivers. Therefore our great and good Sovereign
sayeth unto me, his devoted subject, 'Go you forth into
my territories in the North of America, and select there
a colony whereon to plant any of my faithful children
who choose to go thither.' I have done so. Then, since
you hold possession of these plains only by the bounty
and sufferance of our good father the King, how can you
object to your white brethren coming when they were
permitted so to do?"
Ugh; that was only the oily-tongued talk of the pale-faces.
While seeming to speak fair, and smooth, and wise, their
tongues were as crooked as the horn of the mountain-goat.
Yet no chief could answer the Earl's contention, and they
looked from one to another with some traces of confusion
and defeat upon their faces.
"But," continued Lord Selkirk, in the same grave and firm
voice, "from your own standpoint you are not the proprietors
of this territory. The Saulteux, with whom you wage your
constant wars, have been upon these plains as long as
you. In times of peace you have intermarried with them,
and I now find in your wigwams many a squaw obtained from
among the villages of your rivals."
Ugh! They could not deny this. It was evident from their
silence and the abject way in which they glanced from
one to another that the case had gone against them.
"But there is no reason for your jealousy or your
hostility," Lord Selkirk continued; "our people come
among you, not as conquerors, but as brothers. They shall
not molest you but quietly till the fields and raise
their crops. Instead of showing unfriendliness, I think
you should take them by the hand and welcome them as
brothers." These words at last prevailed, and the Crees
put by their war paint, and came among the whites and
offered them fish and buffalo steak.
Thus was the colony founded. The grain grew well, and
there was abundance in the new settlement, save that at
intervals an army of locusts would come out of the west
and destroy every green leaf. Then the settlers' needs
were sore, and they were obliged to subsist upon roots
and what fell to them from the chase.
Many years rolled on, and the sturdy Scotch settlers had
driven their roots fast into the ground. One alone of
all the number who had kissed good-bye to his Scottish
sweetheart returned to redeem his pledge. For the rest
they soon forgot the rosy cheeks and bright blue eyes
that they had left behind them, in the pleasures of the
chase upon the plain, and the interest in their wide
acres. But these perhaps were not the only reasons why
they had forgotten their vows to the Scottish girls.
Among the Crees were many beautiful maidens, with large,
velvety eyes, black as the night when no moon is over
the prairie, and shy as a fawn's. When first the white
man came amongst them the girls were bashful; and when
he went into the Crees' tent they would shrink away hiding
their faces. But it soon became apparent that the shyness
was not indifference; indeed many a time when the Scotch
hunter passed a red man's tent he saw a pair of eyes
looking languishingly after him. Little by little the
timidity began to disappear, and sometimes the brown-skinned
girls came in numbers to the white man's dwelling, and
submitted themselves to be taught how to dance the
cotillion and the eight-hand reel. Then followed the
wooing among the flowery prairies; and the white men
began to pledge their troths to the dusky girls. Many a
brave hunter who had a score of scalps to dangle from
his belt, sought, but sought in vain, a kind glance from
some beautiful maiden of his tribe, who before the pale
faces came would have deemed great indeed the honour of
becoming the spouse of a warrior so distinguished. Jealousy
began to fill the hearts of the Crees, but the mothers
and wives, and the daughters too, were constant mediators,
and never ceased to exert themselves for peace.
"When," said they, "the white-faces first came among us,
our chiefs and our young men all cried out, 'O they deem
themselves to be a better race than we; they think their
white blood is better than our red blood. They will not
mingle with us although they will join with us in hunting
our wild meat, or eating it after it has fallen to our
arrow or spear. They will not consider one of our daughters
fit for marriage with one of them; because it would blend
their blood with our blood.' Now, O you chiefs and young
men, that which you at the first considered a hardship
if it did not come to pass, has come to pass, and yet
you complain. 'The whites are above marrying our daughters,'
you first cry; now you plan revenge because they want to
marry, and do marry them." The arguments used by the
women were too strong, and the brawny, eagle-eyed hunters
were compelled to mate themselves with the ugly girls of
the tents. It is asserted by some writers on the North-West
that the beauty observed in the Metis women in after
years was in great part to be attributed to the fact that
the English settlers took to wife only the most beautiful
of the Indian girls. Now and again too, the canny Scotch
lad, with his gun on his shoulder and his retriever at
his heel, would walk through a Saulteux settlement. The
girls here were still shyer than their Cree cousins, but
they were not a whit less lovely. They were not dumpy
like so many Indian girls, but were slight of build, and
willowy of motion. Their hair was long and black, but it
was as fine as silk, and shone like the plumage of a
blackbird. There was not that oily swarthiness in the
complexion, which makes so many Indian women hideous in
the eyes of a connoisseur of beauty; but the cheeks of
these girls were a pale olive, and sometimes, when they
were excited, a faint tinge of rose came out like the
delicate pink flush that appears in the olive-grey of
the morning. And these maidens, too, began to cast
languishing eyes upon the pale-faced stranger; and sighed
all the day while they sewed fringe upon their skirts
and beads upon their moccasins. Their affections now were
not for him who showed the largest number of wolves'
tongues or enemies' scalps, but for the gracious stranger
with his gentle manners and winning ways. They soon began
to put themselves in his way when he came to shoot chicken
or quail among the grasses; would point out to him passes
leading around the swamps, and inform him where he might
find elk or wild turkey. Then with half shy, yet half
coquettish airs, and a lurking tenderness in their great
dusk hazel eyes, they would twist a sprig off a crown of
golden rod, and with their dainty little brown fingers
pin it upon the hunter's coat. With shy curiosity they
would smoothe the cloth woven in Paisley, forming in
their minds 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 these had for wives
squaws whom they had wooed and won during their engagement
in the peltry trade. These finding that other whites had
taken Indian girls for brides, felt drawn towards the
new settlement by sentiments stronger than those of mere
interest. Numbers of unmarried French took up farms in
the new colony, and soon fell captive to the charms of
the Cree girls. Now and again the history of the
simple-hearted Scots was repeated; and a _coureur_ was
presently seen to bring a shy, witching Saulteux maiden
from the tents of the Jumping Indians. But the French,
it must be said, were not so _dilettante_ in their taste
for beauty as were their Scottish brethren; yet, as a
rule, their wives were the prettiest girls in the tribes
--after, of course, "braw John" had been satisfied--for
an ugly maiden was content to have an Indian for her lord;
and she tried no arts, plucked no bouquets from the
prairie flowers, beaded no moccasins, and performed no
tender little offices to catch the heart of the white man.
"Pale face gets all the pretty squaws; suppose we must
take 'em ugly ones. Ugh!" This was the speech, and the
true speech of many a chief, or lion-hearted young man
of the tribes under the new order at Red River.
This may seem hard to the poor Indian, but perhaps it
was just as well. It would have, indeed, been worse had
the handsome maiden given her hand to the dusky Red, and
afterwards, wooed by blue eyes, given her heart where
her hand could never go. And the Indian woman is no better
and no worse than her kind, no matter what the colour
be. Happier, then, is the lot of the Indian with his
homely affectionate wife, than with a bride with roses
in her cheek, and sunlight in her eye, who cannot resist
the pleading eye and the outstretched arms of one whose
wooing is unlawful, and the result of which can be nought
but wrong and misery.
The population grew and comforts increased till eighteen
or twenty thousand souls could be reckoned in the colony.
The original whites had disappeared, and no face was to
be seen but that of a Metis in any of the cosy dwellings
in the settlement. These people had not yet learnt that
amongst the whites, whose blood knew no alloy, they were
regarded as a debased sort, and unfit socially to mix
with those who had kept their race free from taint. The
female fruitage of the mixture lost nothing by acquiring
some of the Caucasian stock, but the men, in numerous
cases, seemed to be inferior for the blending. In appearance
they were inane, in speech laconic; they were shy in
manners, and reserved, to boorishness, while in intellectual
alertness they were inferior to the boisterous savage,
or the shrewd, dignified white. But the woman perpetuated
the shy, winning coyness of her red mother, and the arts,
and somewhat of the refinements of her white father. The
eye was not so dusk; it gleamed more: as if the ray from
a star had been shot through it. There was the same olive
cheek; but it was not so tawny, for the dawn of the white
blood had appeared in it. She gained in symmetry too,
being taller than her red mother, while she preserved
the soft, willowy motion of the prairie-elk.
But the women were not good housekeepers; and many a
traveller has gone into the house of a Metis and seen
there a bride witchingly beautiful, with her hair unkempt
and disordered about her shoulders, her boots unlaced, and
her stocking down revealing her bare, exquisitely-turned
ankle.
"A Cinderella!" he would exclaim, "but, by heaven, I
swear, a thousand times more lovely!" If she had a child
it would likely be found sprawling among the coals, and
helping itself to handfuls of ashes. The little creature
would be sure to escape the suspicion of ever having been
washed. Ask the luminous-eyed mother for anything, for
a knife to cut your tobacco, for a cup to get a drink of
water, and the sweet sloven would be obliged to ransack
two-thirds of the articles of the house to find what you
sought.
The dresses worn by herself, as well as by her husband
or her brother, would not be less astonishing to the
unaccustomed eye. The men wear a common blue capote a
red belt and corduroy trousers. This, however, soon became
the costume of every male in Red River, whether Metis or
new-come Canadian. There, is however, a distinction in
the manner of wearing. Lest the Canadian should be taken
for a Metis he wears the red belt over the capote, while
the half-breed wears it beneath. The women are fond of
show, and like to attire themselves in dark skirts, and
crimson bodices. Frequently, if the entire dress be dark,
they tie a crimson or a magenta sash around their handsomely
shapen waists; and they put a cap of some denomination
of red upon their heads. Such colours, it need not be
said, add to their beauty, and it is by no means uncertain
that this is the reason why they adopt these colours.
Some writers say that their love of glaring colours is
derived from the savage side of their natures; but the
Metis women have an artistic instinct of their own, and
being for the greater part coquettes, it may very safely
be said that according to the fitness of things is it
that they attire themselves. But they are not able to
shake off the superstitions of their race. If the young
woman soon to be a mother, sees a hawk while crossing
the fields in the morning, she comes home and tells among
her female friends that her offspring is to be a son;
and they all know that he is to be fleet and enduring in
the chase, and that he will have the eyes of a hunter
chief. But if a shy pigeon circle up from the croft, and
cross her path, she sighs and returns not back to relate
the omen; and it is only in undertones that her nearest
friend learns a week afterwards that the promised addition
to the household is to be a girl. The appearance of other
birds and beasts, under similar circumstances, are likewise
tokens; and though boys would be born, and girls too, if
all the hawks and pigeons, and foxes and wild geese, and
every other presaging bird and beast of the plains had
fallen to the gun of huntsman and "sport," they cling to
the belief; and the superstition will only die with the
civilization that begat it. Many of the customs of their
red mothers they still reverently perpetuate; but they
are for all this deeply overlaid with Canadianism. Of
all the women on the face of the earth, they are the
greatest gossips.
Not in their whole nature is there any impulse so strong
as the love to talk. Therefore, when the morning's meal
is ended, the pretty mother laces the boots around her
shapely little ankles, puts her blanket about her, and
sallies out to one of her friend's houses for the morning's
gossip. In speaking of her dress, I neglected to state
that although the Metis woman had for gown the costliest
fabric ever woven in Cashmere, she would not be content,
on the hottest summer day, in walking twenty paces to
her neighbour's door, unless she had this blanket upon
her. The hateful looking garment is the chief relic of
her barbaric origin, and despite the desire which she
always manifests to exhibit her personal charms at their
best, she has no qualms in converting herself into a
hideous, repulsive squaw, with this covering. If she be
of a shy nature, she will cover her head with this garment
when a stranger enters her abode; and many a curious
visitor who has heard of the bright eyes and olive cheeks
of the half-breed woman is sorely disappointed when
drawing near to her on the prairie path, or in the village
street, to see her pull the hideous blanket over her face
while he passes her by. Not always will she do this, for
the wild women of the plains, and the half breed beauties,
find a strong charm in strange faces; and after she has
received some little attentions, and a few trinkets or
trifles, she will be ready enough to appoint a tryst upon
the flowery prairie, under the mellow moon.
We might forgive her for all this, if she could but
restrain her tongue. From morn to noon, from noon to dewy
eve, this unruly member goes on prattling about every
conceivable thing, especially the affairs of her neighbours.
We have seen that she goes out after she has eaten her
breakfast; and she returns not till her appetite begins
to be oppressive. She will then kiss her dusky little
offspring, who, during her absence, has likely enough
tried to stuff himself with coals, and then played with
the pigs. In the evening one is pretty certain to find
at some house a fiddler and a dancing party, which ends
with a bountiful supper; though frequently, if the
refreshments include whiskey, the party terminates with
a regulation "Irish row." At nearly every such dance
there is a white lad or two, and they are certain to
monopolize the attention and the kisses of the prettiest
girls. As the Indian had to sit by and see the white man
come and take away the most beautiful of the wild girls,
so too must the half-breed bear with meekness the preference
of the Metis belle for the Caucasian stranger.
The morals of the women are not over good, nor can they
be said to be very bad. Amongst each other their virtue
reaches a standard as high as that which prevails in our
Canadian community. It is when the women are brought into
contact with the white men that this standard lowers.
Then comes the temptation, the sin, the domestic
heartburnings, and the hatred towards those who tempted
to the fall.
The half-breed young men are fatally fond of show. The
highest aim of their social existence seems to be to
possess a dashing horse or two, and to drive a cariole.
It is stated, on excellent authority, that a young man
who wishes to figure as a _beau_, and to get the smiles
of the pretty girls, will sometimes sell all his useful
possessions to purchase a horse and cariole.
But it must not be supposed that this sort of spirit
pervades the entire community. A large portion of the
people are thrifty and frugal, and maintain themselves
by continuous, well-directed toil.
The French half breeds profess the Roman Catholic religion,
and they have a number of churches. At the head of the
Roman communion is Archbishop Tache, of St. Boniface.
This is the gentleman who provided the munificence for
Louis Riel's education. He is the same bishop whose name
so many hundreds of thousands of our people cannot recall
without bitterness and indignation.