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Show TRAVELS TllPOUGII LOWER CANADA. the upper country, notwithfianding that prcG..:nts to fuch a very large amount arc difb ibutcd amongfl: the lmlians through the hand of the Englifh inlubitant , and that their natural ~·ight ar as t~uch rct}~ctl:ccl by them as they poflibly can be, yet an Indtan, e.vcn at thts day, wtll al-w., t ys ba o to the houfe of a rn oor French farmer In preference to that of an Englifhm~n. . The numbers of the achenon:1ga nation, in the village near La Clune, are c!litn-ttc< l ::tt one J1 nn d retl an d f1i ft y pr n1ro 1l S • 1'hc other Indi::tn vil- ]:wcs, in the civili zed p:1 rts of Lower Canada, are, one of the Canafadoo-as, fit~l <l lcd n ':J.r tht; mouth of the Uta was River; one f the Little Algonquins, ncar Trois Ri viercs; one of the i\berachie , ncar Trois Rivierc s, at the oppofite fide of the river; and one of the Huron , ncar ~ebec; but none of thefc vilbgcs arc as large as that of the Cacbenonagas. The numba of the Indians in the lower province have dimini01cd very f.tO: of late years, as they h ,tvc done in every other part of the continent, where thofc of the white inhal itants have incrcafed; in the whole lower province, at prefent, it is thought that there are not more than twelve hundred of them. Many of thcfe Indians are continually loitering about the large towns, in expeCtation of getting fpirits or br ad, which they are extremely fond of, from the inhabitants. No lefs than two hundred, that had come a great dilhnce in canoes, from the lowcF parts of the river St. Lawrence, were encamped on Point Levi wh .... n we vifl.tcd ~cbec. Thefe Indians, fqualid and filthy in the extreme, and going about the :fhccts every d.1y in large parties, begging, prefcnted a moil: melancholy pi ·ure of human nature; and indeed, if a traveller never faw any of the North i\mcrican Indian·, but the moO: decent of thofc who are in the habit of frequenting the large towns of Lower Canada, he would not be led to entertain an opinion greatly in their favour. The farther you afcend up the country, and con~ quently the nearer you fcc tl e Indians to what they were in their original fl:ate, before their manners were corrupted by intcrcourfc with the wh"tr's, the more do you find in their charach: r and onduet dd t:rvin r of aci1niration. ll was on the 281 !l clay of Augn!t that we reached La Chine; the next day tbc " brigade," as it was called, of bateaux was ready, and in the afternoOJ N A V 1 GAT I 0 N 0 f THE S T. LAW R EN C E. afrcrnoon we fet out on our voyage. Thn.:e men arc found fufll ient to conduCt an empty batl.:au of about t\YO tons burt! en np th St. Lawrence, but jf the bateau be laJ -n more arc generally allowed. They afccnd the fl:ream by means of pol-s, oars, and fails. vVhere the urr nt is very fl:rong, they make ufc of the former, keeping as clofc as poOj blc to the ihorc, in order to avoid the urrcnt, and to havct th ... advantage of fl2allow water to pole in. The men fct their poles altogether at the fame moment, and all work at the f.unc fide of the bateau; the fl:eerfman, however, G1ifts his pole occafionally from fi lc to fide, in order to keep the vdid in an even direCtion. The poles commonly ufed arc about eight feet in length, extremely light, and heade 1 with iron. On coming to a deep bay or inlet, the men abandon the poles, take to their oars, and fl:rike if poffiblc direCtly acrof!· the month of the bay; but in many places the current proves io fl:rong that it is abfolutely impofi1blc to fl:cm it by means of oars, and they arc obli red to pole entirely round the bays. Whenever the wind is htvourablc they fct their fail; but it is only at the upper end of the river, beyond the rapids, or on the lake or broad parts of it, where the current is not fwift, that the fail by itfclf is fuflicient to impel them forward. The exertion it requires to counteraCt the force of the fl:re:tm by means of poles and oars is fo great, that the men arc obliged to fl:op very fi·equcntly to take breath. The pbccs at which they fl:op arc regularly afccrtained; fame of them, where the current is very rapid, arc not more than half a mile diO:ant one fi·om the other ; others one or two, but none of them more than four miles apart. Each of thefe places the boatmen, who arc almoO: all French Can:u.lians, denominate " une pipe," bccauCc they arc allowed to fi:op at it and fill their pipes. A French Canadian is fcarccly ever without a pipe in his mouth, whether working at the oar or plough; whether on foot, or on horfeback; indeed, fo much addicted arc the people to fmoking, that by the burning of the tobacco in their pipes they commonly afcertain t c diflance from one place to another. Such a place, they L.1y, is three piJ cs ofr: .that is, it i fo fa 1' ofF that you may finokc three pipes full of tobacco wh1lfl: you go |