Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/219

Rh lessons of jurisprudence and Christianity had been insufficient to eradicate this inhuman practice, till their gentle influence was fortified by the terrors of capital punishment." The candid inquirer will also do well to reflect what would probably have been the fate of many of the youthful inmates of the European Foundling Hospitals, had such institutions been unknown. And when he considers, moreover, that these last are generally the offspring of guilt, the pride of national superiority ought to die within him. Though the Company's posts in the Mackenzie River can barely subsist, the officers do all in their power to maintain poor objects and forsaken children. Were they to give unlimited indulgence to the natives, half the population would be left on their hands, general starvation must ensue, and the surviving whites would have to abandon the country. The following are Sir John Franklin's remarks on this painful subject: "Infanticide is mentioned by Heame as a common crime amongst the Northern Indians, but this was the first instance that came under our notice, and I understand it is now very rare amongst the Chipewyan tribes; an improvement