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the council, appointed by the king, form a court of civil jurisdiction.

909. Commerce. The exports of Canada consist chiefly of furs and peltry, purchased of the Indians, with a few other articles, as wheat, flour, pot-ash, fish, oil and genseng. The imports are wine, spirits, salt, sugar, coffee, tobacco, melasses, dry goods, drugs and hardware. The amount of exports is about half a million sterling.

910. Inhabitants. The whole population of Lower Canada is about 150,000; the greatest part of the pecple are descendants of the French, and speak their native language. Nine tenths of them are Roman Catholics, whose religion is tolerated. Their dress is the same as in the United States, except that in winter they wear more fur, to guard against the severe cold. The fur cap for the head, and the moggason for the foot, are much used, and the French peasantry still wear the wooden shoe.

UPPER CANADA.

Upper Canada lies to the Its southern limit is the great Lakes, which sepa

911. Situation and Limits. westward of Lower Canada. line through the center of the rates it from the United States. On the north it is bounded by New Britain, and on the west the limit is undeter mined. Its latitude is from 42 to 50 degrees north. Its bredth is extremely various, and its length east and west not ascertained. It is divided into nineteen counties.

912. Face of the Country. Upper Canada is in general a level country, but a chain of high lands on the north throws the waters towards the lakes on the south, and Hudson's Bay on the north. No territory of the same extent exhibits a greater variety of interesting scenery. The southern part presents those vast bodies of water, the great lakes, which resemble inland seas; connected by a current, which forms a large river. Here is the stupendous fall of Niagara, the greatest cataract, and one of the most surprising curiosities on the globe.

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913. Rivers. The point where the St. Lawrence issues from the Ontario is in Upper Canada. The stream which connects the great lakes is a large river; between Erie and Ontario, it is called Niagara, and is from half mile to a mile broad. Below Ontario it is from 6 to 10 miles wide, and embosoms numerous islands. The Utawas proceeds from lake Temiscaming, or rather from the sources of that lake, in the high lands west and north, and after a course of 500 miles, falls into the St. Lawrence a few miles from Montreal.

914. Lakes. In addition to the great lakes on the south of Upper Canada, the Temiscaming is a considerable sheet of water. The Nepissing also is a considerable lake, whose waters are discharged into lake Huron by French river. The lake is about 35 miles in length and twelve in bredth; French river is about 75 miles in length, and its banks are mostly bare rocks. The high lands between the great lakes and Hudson's Bay are full of small lakes, the sources of innumerable streams which run into the great lakes, the St. Lawrence and the Bay.

915. Towns. Newark, on the west side of Niagara river, at its entrance into Ontario, contains about 100 families, with two churches and a court house. Queenstown, seven miles above, is the place where goods are unladen from the water craft, and sent by land carriage round the great fall. York, on the west side of Ontario, 35 miles from Niagara, is the seat of government, and contains 3 or 400 families. Kingston, near the egress of the St. Lawrence from the Ontario, and the old fort Frontenac, contains about 100 families.

916. Inhabitants. The inhabitants of Upper Canada are mostly emigrants from the United States. The number is not known, but it is constantly increasing. The prevailing religion is Methodism, but the settlements are recent, and few churches are established. The government is modelled in the same manner as that of Lower Canada. The country resembles the adjacent territory of NewYork, in climate and productions. Agriculture is in a state of improvement. The trade consists chiefly in Ꮓ

the export of peltry, and the purchase of dry goods, liquors, and other foreign commodities.

NEW BRITAIN.

917. Situation. To the north of Canada lies an extensive country, along the western border of the Atlan tic and around Hudson's Bay, which is claimed by the British government, but which is inhabited only by savages, except the trading factories, which are small settlements for the purpose of collecting furs. The exclusive privilege of collecting furs is granted to a company of English merchants. The extent of the British claims is not known, and to the north and west, the country has been explored only by a few traders.

918. General Views of the Country. Beyond the limits of Canada, the climate is so cold and the soil so forbidding, that little can be expected from cultivation. The face of the country exhibits barren mountains and broken rocks, interspersed with marshes and lakes. The southern parts abound with pine, larch, birch, willows, cedars, and a variety of shrubs producing berries, as currants and gooseberries. In the northern part all vegetation ceases; a few inches only of the surface of the earth are liberated from frost, even in the midst of summer; and the face of nature is one bleak dreary waste, the solitary haunt of the wild beast and the roaming savage.

919. Bays. In this territory is the vast bay called Hudson's, from its discoverer, Capt. Henry Hudson,who first entered it in 1610, where his crew mutinied, and set him and seven of his most faithful men afloat in an open boat, and he perished. A narrow part of this bay on the south, is called James' Bay, and on the north, is Repulse Bay. The entrance into Hudson's Bay is by a long strait opposit to Greenland, called Hudson's Strait.

920. Rivers. Hudson's Bay receives the waters of several large rivers, among which the principal are the Siude, Ruperts, Harricanaw, Abbitiby, Moose and Albany, all which proceed from the borders of Canada and enter James's Bay. The Saskashawin or Saskachiwin, with the Askow and Red River, fall into lake Winipic,

which is more than 200 miles in length; and from this lake the waters are conveyed to Hudson's Bay by the river Nelson. The Severn and Churchill rivers disembogue into the same bay on the west side.

The Elk river and Unjigah or Peace river from the Highlands, towards the Western ocean, enter Slave lake, from which the water is discharged by a large river, on which Mackenzie sailed to the northern ocean, and which is now called by his name.

921. Lakes. The country in which the rivers just mentioned have their sources, is not mountainous, but mostly a vast plain, interspersed with moderate elevations of land, and dotted with innumerable lakes. Some of the lakes are large, and the Winipic equals the Erie or Huron. Slave Lake is not much inferior in size. The Lake of the Woods, which constitutes the northwestern boundary of the United States, is 50 or 60 miles in bredth.

922. Indians. On the Labrador Coast reside the Esquimoes, a tribe of savages distinct in their language and features from all other aboriginals of America. To the north of the lakes live the Algonkins, Chipeways, Kenistenoes, Sarsees, Assiniboins, and many other tribes, who all speak dialects of one common language, and are evidently from the same original stock as the six nations, the Mohegans and other tribes which formerly peopled the Atlantic shores.

The Keniste

923. Description of the Kenistenoes. noes are very numerous, and occupy a vast extent of country, from the Utawas river to lake Winipic, and north to Churchill river and Hudson's Bay. In size and color they resemble the other Indians of North America. Their eyes are keen and penetrating; their countenance open and agreeable; they are affable, hospitable, generous and good natured; and the females have regular features and comely persons.

924. Dress. The dress of the Kenistenoes consists of tight leggins reaching nearly to the hips; a belt round the waist, which fastens a strip of cloth or lether before and behind; a close vest or shirt, with a girdle on the lower end, which is fastened with thongs behind; a cap is worn upon the head, made of a skin, with the brush

of the animal for an ornament. These garments are made of dressed moose skin, or beaver prepared with the fur, or of English woollen cloth, and are varied with the season. The lether is neatly painted; and in some parts, fancifully worked with porcupine quills. The shirts and leggins are adorned with fringe and tassels. Fethers, the teeth, horns, and claws of animals are occasionally worn to ornament the head and neck.

925. Dress of the females. The garments of the females are of the same materials as those of the men; but differently made and worn. The garment next the body reaches to the middle of the leg, and is fastened over the shoulder with cords. The lower part is curiously painted and fringed; and round the waist it is fastened behind with a belt decorated with tassels. The arms are covered to the wrist with sleeves. The cap for the head is of lether or cloth, with ends hanging down and fastened to the belt behind. The robe or outer garment is like that of the men. Their hair is divided on the crown and tied behind, or sometimes fastened in large knots over the ears. The females tatoo the chin with three perpendicular lines, and ornament themselves with bracelets and other baubles.

926. Manners and Customs. The Kenistenoes, tho less savage than many other nations of Indians, live in the habitual practice of many beastly vices. The business of the men is war and hunting; and the females are condemned to every kind of domestic drudgery. All formal public business among them is begun with smoking. When a person dies, the body is dressed in his best garments, and deposited in a grave lined with the branches of trees, with some domestic utensils placed on it, and over it is erected a sort of canopy. During the ceremony, great lamentations are made, and if the person is much regretted, his relations pierce and cut their flesh with sharp instruments. On the tomb are carved or painted the symbols of the tribe, which are the figures of animals.

927. British Settlements and Trade. The Hudson's Bay Company have several forts or factories in this territory, as at the mouth of the Slude, Moose and Albany

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