New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-09-11
LIFE IN CANADIAN WILDS.
ANIMATED NARRATIVES OF SPORT AND
ADVENTURE.

| si"nares and Newer settlers Of Western Canada
By Julian Ralph. illustrated. PIP " 3D.
Harper d Brothers.
Mr.. Ralph found the Blackfcet Indians praise
worthy race of people. In his opinion they are
nuite the best subjects that civilized man could
find for study They are" he says, almost
as primitive ana natural rs any. nearly the most
| prosperous, physically very fire, the most Tree
| from white mems vices" So far. well Ihere
are other Indian tribes of whom as much might
| be said, and others still of whom almost as much
might be said. In the case OF all these tribes
which have pcrforce dropped their old wandering
habits and all the interests of a life in which
they had attained skill rare in human en-
deavor. and have not yet reached the ground OF
sure sclfsupport under the system to when
they must Yield evcntualy-that of the white
mans civifization-there is to the civilized Cd
server All appearance of weakness almost of
idiocy, which is painful. So it is perfectly
natural. and yet misleading, to say: THAT man
is the fairest Judge Of the redskins who considers
them as children governed mainly by emotion,
and acting upon undscplncd impulse" The
conception Of the Indian character or of the
character of any ssvages. or, indeed of the
character Of any civilized people, depends wholly
on the point of view. 1t has not been many
years since the British investigator In the streets
of New-Iorll or Chicago or Cincinnati seemed
TO be able Il find a race of which nobody else
had ever heard. The pcculiarites of the e natives
may figure even Yet in species OF literature
which nobody is likely to read unless he Is
forced to do 80. The mutual MISUNDERSTANDING
of the French and the English have always
furnished matter for satirc comment. The city
fellow and the country Jake are contrast"d
often. to the confusion of the latter; and II
must De confessed that he is not in his ole
| Jol in, tbo .ha1n If Igb
houses or in the gilded salons OF the city. But
when it comes TO milking COW, or grooming
horse or raising barn. ploughing a field.
or getting in a harvest. or trading horses, the
born city man is apt TO seem pretty juvenile
sort Of person amid the mature duties and obi
cations Of farm life.
| II is not altogether fair TO judge the Indian.
whom civilization has wholly in great part de-
privcd Of the occupation for which heredity
and Individual training fitted him, by thh
imperfect way in which he begins 10 take up
new life. In the very centre Of civilization one
is cognizant of multitudts of men who seem
almost incapable Of winning their subsistence
the moment some tri1inc accident turns thcm
ont of the groove in which they moved easily
and smoothly. Under the pressure of necessity
and of their own incaracity. they also seem like
creatures utterly emotional and wholly governed
ruled.
| argued with Granting that such people are
exceptional in the civilized word-thouch that
is oren 70 argument-thcy must necessarily bc
| the rule in a where there is n wholesale
attempt to transfer a from one form Of
civilization to another totally different All
the defects of human nature are bound 10 come
10 the surface in such n case The most iinpcrtnr-
bablc race earth would seem under these con
ditions emotional and impulsvc. because all
! the old grounds Of self-rclilncc have been Ont
away from under their feet They are standing
| in tho air 50 to speak. and It is too much 10
expect of any man that he shall be calm and
collected, wholly himself in circumstances with
which he is more or less unfamiliar
! With such reservations the warncst friend Of
! the Indian Just as he liz, with the possibility,
| though hardly Yet the promise, OF great improve
ment in him, will not he disposed 70 abate
| single detail Of the picture which Mr.. Ralph
has drawn One may relieve its gloom some
what BY thinking Of tribes that are comparatively
we'll off, the Iroquoi- the Navajos or the in
habitants of Indian Territory. Still, the picture
is saddening enough against the wild background
Of Northwestern landscape The Indian east
Of the Rocky Mountains is 10 me- SAYS the
! author, the subject Of an admiration which *
! the stronger the more nearly find him as he was
| in his prime. II is not his fault that most OF
mis- race have degcnerated Ii If not our faul.
| that we have bitter for the continent than
those TO which he put il. But IL il our fault
that he is, as | have seen him. shiverng in
cotton tepee full Of holes, and turning around and
around before fire Of wet wood TO keep from
| freezing 10 death; furnished meat if he has
been fierce enough to make us fear him, left 10
starvc if he has been docc: taught aye forced
to beg, Knocked at by a religion he cannot under
stand, from the mouths OF men who apparently
will not understand him; dcbauched with rum,
dcspoled by the lust Of white men in every
form that lust take. All, il is a sickening
story. Not in Canada, do you say? Why, in
the northern wilds Of Canada are districts pcoped
by bceQars who have been in such ptiful distress
for food and covering that the Hudson Bay
Company has kept them alive with advances OF
provisions and blanket, winter after winter. They
are Indians who in their strength never gave
| the Government the concern il now fails 10 show
| for their weakness
| But Mr.. Ralph found Indians, or at all events
men who had all the habits of Indians with
mere trace Of French blood in their veins, liv-
| ing under conditions not unlike those Of their
| savage ancestors More perfect woodsmcn than
| he describes in the delightful paper entitled
| AntOines Mooseyard' could hardly be found In
| traversing continent. If there were any children
in that party it is not unfair 10 say that they
hailed from New-YorlS The Indians knew every
thing The fantcst trace in the snow a broken
twg, a seemingly indefnable sound conveyed
instantly to their minds history Of every i'm
portant occurrence that had taken place in the
neighborhOod for weeks Flcking the pew-fallen
snow out Of depression in the crust beneath, they
could tell at once how many days had passed since
the moose had been there. Last Week, day before
yesterday, yesterday, to-day, Just now there they
are, shoot. Such was the absolute certainty with
which they chrcniccd the succession Of events
in the place where inexperienced white man
would probably not have seen the moose until