women, except that they wear a long coat instead of the cloak or blanket. Sometimes four or five rows of silver pieces, resembling the jingles of a tambourine, strung close together, hang from the back of their heads to the ground. Upon their wrists and arms they wear silver or tin bracelets, and a collar of the same round the throat. Medals of various sizes are suspended from the neck, and large rings from their ears. Their faces they mark with long streaks of vermilion or charcoal, and wear a pouch in front like the Highlanders of Scotland, made of the skin of a small animal, with the hairy side outwards, in which they deposit their tobacco. Knives, sashes, and belts of wampum, are indispensable; the latter is made of the shell of the clam, and purchased from the people of the United States. At the end of every harangue a belt is delivered, for the purpose of reminding the parties of what has been said; and as a proof of the excellent memory they possess, they will remember for years the subject of the discourse that was delivered with each belt.

The women carry their children behind them, wrapped round, and fastened to a flat board with a piece of hickory stick, bent over at the top, which being stretched beneath a piece of cloth, preserves the child from being plagued by musquitoes and flies, or scratched by the bushes when going through the woods.

On a Sunday the Indians are generally dressed in their gayest apparel, and even the cradle boards of the children are decorated with a variety of coloured ribbons, and printed cotton cloths.

During a summer encampment, whilst the annual presents were given out on the shore opposite Quebec, it was a curious sight to see the children scampering about in their new blankets, and the squaws dressed out in their new presents, particularly the chiefs' daughters, who were decorated in scarlet cloth, bor

dered with yellow and green silk, new black hats and feathers, and a variety of silver bracelets, earrings, and trinkets. The men, it was observed, were better pleased with the rum that had been given them as a present that day, than with the other things, and were talking, laughing, and capering about in the most antic manner; continually going up to the chief, and teasing him for more of the precious liquor; but he refused them with perfect good humour, telling them they had already had too much, and that he must reserve the remainder for the dance.

By the time the chief had delivered the presents out, it was dark; fires were lighted in almost every tent, and the women and children huddled round them, picking some pieces of dried salt fish, or eating their favourite soups made of bullocks' heads. These are generally boiled just as the men bring them home, who have, perhaps, laid them repeatedly down on the steps of the doors, or on the pavement, in Quebec, while they stopped to drink, &c. About nine, the dance commenced, by the light of the birch-bark, rolled up in the form of tapers, and held by some of the old women. A log of wood, about eighteen or twenty feet long, being placed on the ground, on one end of it sat a man rattling a calibash filled with small pebbles, and humming a sort of monotonous tune, in which he was joined by the dancers, about thirty in number, who moved slowly round the piece of timber in a sort of oblong circle They followed each other, but so closely, as almost to tread upon each other's heels. Men and women were all together, some in gaudy dresses, others in dirty blankets, and many only in an old ragged shirt, that reached but half-way down their thighs. The squaws, and some of the men, merely moved along in a kind of shuffling motion; but others moved rapidly, clapped their hands, and beat the ground violently with their feet. All, however, kept regular

time with the monotonous harmony of the calibash, and the cadence of Yo he waw, which they seemed to asperate very deeply. This sameness was sometimes relieved by loud cries and yells, which, with the exhibition of swarthy limbs and dishevelled hair, might have made a stranger suppose he was among a set of bedlamites. A French gentleman, the agent for these Indians, and his daughters, being present, to please them, he and the young ladies joined in the dance. The young ladies borrowed the scarlet garments of the chief's daughters, with their hats and feathers, and having coloured their faces with a little vermilion, figured away with a great deal of spirit in the ring of savages, that formed one of the most motley groups ever beheld. These young ladies made exceeding pretty squaws, and were much admired by the gentlemen present.

The state of literature is said not to have improved very rapidly after the conquest of the country by the English, as, for many years, excepting an Almanack, nothing was printed for a number of years. At present, the publishing of six newspapers weekly, is some proof of the progressive improvement and prosperity of the country. Yet these, with an Almanack, and the acts of the provincial parliament, are all the works known to be printed in Lower Canada. Two of the newspapers, the Quebec Gazette and the Montreal Gazette, have been published nearly thirty years, and are printed in French and English. The Quebec Mercury is published entirely in English, as is also the Canadian Courant, at Montreal. Two other papers, Le Canadien and Le Courier de Quebec, are wholly French, and contain a number of fugitive pieces. The only public library in the province is kept in one of the bishop's apartments at Quebec; but the books circulate solely among subscribers.

Mr. Lambert, accompanied by the storekeeper

general, of the Indian department, and Lieutenant Burke, left Quebec one morning in the month of August, in a birch canoe, conducted by two Indians; they were brothers of the Michmac tribe, and deserved the character they had for sobriety, as during the whole day they would drink nothing but water. The eldest, not more than twenty-five years of age, declared his abhorrence of all spirituous liquors, and assured the gentlemen, that neither he nor his brother ever accustomed themselves to take any. The manner in which the party sat in the canoe was curious enough to an European, accustomed to boats with easy seats in them. The youngest Indian knelt down at the head of the canoe, and paddled; one of the gentlemen sat next at the bottom, with his legs extended; another as close to him as possible, with his legs on each side of the former; the third behind the second, with his legs also extended; whilst the other Indian knelt down in the stern of the canoe, and with his paddle steered, or impelled it forward.

Many persons traversing the woods of Canada in summer-time, to see the falls at Chaudiere, tempted by the abundance of the fruit in their way, have lost sight of their guides, and perished. An anecdote is also related of two young ladies, who were on a visit at the house of Mr. N. Montour, at Point de Lac, near the Three Rivers; having strolled into the woods at the back of the house, one morning, for the purpose of regaling themselves with the strawberries and other fruit, then in great perfection. One of them had an amusing novel in her hand, which she read to the other, and both were so interested with the story, and the scenery around them, that they never thought of returning to dinner. Thoughtlessly continuing their walk, sometimes engaged in the charms of the novel, and at other times stopping to gather the fruit hanging in clusters over their heads, the declining

sun at length admonished them of their danger: they resolved to return; but they had lost the path, and knew not which way to go. The sun begun to be obscured by the lofty trees of the forest, and, as the evening closed in, their apprehensions increased in a frightful proportion. In this distracted state, they moved onward among the shrubs and underwoods, wringing their hands, whilst their clothes were nearly torn off their backs; and in this wretched condition, when it was nearly dark, they came up to a small hut. Their expectations were raised; but it was empty. They were glad, however, to take refuge in it for the night, to shelter them from the heavy dews then falling; with the leaves they collected, they made a bed, but as they could not sleep, they spent the night in unavailing tears, and reproaches at their own carelessness. As they prudently consoled themselves with the idea that people would be despatched by Mr. Montour next morning, in search of them, they kept within the hut, or went out only to gather fruit to satisfy the cravings of hunger. Towards evening, they heard the Indian yell in the woods, but were afraid to call out, or stir from the place, for fear these Indians should prove strangers, into whose hands they were unwilling to fall. Under these dispiriting circumstances, they were compelled to pass another night in this dreary solitude; but happily, on the following day, about noon, whilst one of them was sitting upon the bed of leaves, and bewailing her unhappy fate, they were discovered by the party of Indians, whose yell they had heard the night before. Their joy at being relieved from such. an alarming situation, was only equalled by the pleasure which their return gave to Mr. Montour and his family, who had almost given them up as lost.