Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/321

Rh in the wilderness, a coureur de bois or a voyageur, under some prickings of conscience, would come into the settlement that he might obtain shriving, at least for the past. If he made a clean breast of it, a guileless-hearted priest must have felt a heavier burden lying upon him than that which the penitent hoped to throw off.

A more favorable character is given by a good authority of some of the descendants of this race of men. The Earl of Dufferin, late Governor-General of Canada, on his return way from his interesting overland visit to British Columbia, in September, 1877, in addressing a meeting at Winnipeg, made the following laudatory reference to this class of men, of whose character and influence he had had opportunities of observation: —

These remarks of the Earl gave high gratification to his auditors, many of whom were of the class to whom he