THE NATIVES OF NORTH CANADA.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 17, 20 July 1905, Page 5

THE NATIVES OF NORTH CANADA.

s> _ There was a "record" attendance at the lecture-room of the Colonial Museum last night on the occasion of Dr. J. M. Bell's lecture on "The Indians of the Far Canadian North." Twenty minutes before the hour the room was filled, and many later comers had to be content with standing-room. The President (Mr. Martin Chapman) presided. In a lecture which' occupied an hour and a half, and was freely illustrated with superb photographs, Dr. Bell gave a vivid and fascinating account of the vast and almpsMmknown region of the great Mackenzie R|iver and the Big Bear Lake, and of the various native tribes, with come account also of the Eskimo in the far north. He had the honour of being a, regularly-appourf.ed chief of the Ojibbeways, had had long and intimate association with the people, and was familiar with their language, which waa spoken over an extensive region of North America, by tribes widely removed from each other. He gave several of their tribal legends and animal apologues. The Indian on the outskirts of the settlement, degraded and ruined by association with the whaler and gold-minei-, was quite unlike the native who followed the ancestral customs, remote from contact with Europeans. Of the native character — its sympathy, kindliness, and honesty— he could not speak too highly. He told how a grateful Indian whom he had befriended once gave him a uative word to bo used in case of emergency when help was needed. In one case when far from civilisation, he was met by an irate chief, who, beKeving that the entry of a. whit© man into his territory would bs followed by wholesale destruction of gamo and tho disappearance of tha natives, was sternly turning him and his party back. He protested that he was an Ojibbeway chief, but in vain. Suddenly it occurred to him to pronounce the word that had been confided to him. Instantly the chiefs wrath abated, and ht gave an answering word, Fhuwed every hospitality in his power, and provided guides through hundreds of miles of unknown country. The illustrations bhowed. the Htnpendous bcenery of the MucKenzie River and Rocky Mountains, the magnificent rapids and cascades, the iorcus of tall poplars and Hpruce, the natives, their habitations, implements,, and mode of life. The Eskimo, though not undersized as usually supposed — some ■were six feet in height — were obviously of far lower type than the "Indians," though they possessed also the savage virtues. A hearty vote of thanks wub given to Dr. Bell for his lecture.