Comprehending Canada, Upper and Lower, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, The Bermudas and the Fur Countries; their History from the Earliest Settlement; their Statistics, Topography, Commerce, Fisheries; their social and political condition; as also an account of the manners and present state of the aboriginal tribes by Hugh Murray, F.R.S.E. in two volumes (1840)

ADVERTISEMENT BY THE AMERICAN PUBLISHERS

The subject to which these volumes relate is one possessing great interest to the American reader. The history of the present British possessions on this continent is, in the different periods of their discovery, settlement, and growth, intimately connected with our own. Bordering, too, upon our whole northern and eastern frontier, they are, throughout this vast extent of nearly four thousand iniles, brought into immediate contact with us. Whether, therefore, these countries continue in a state of colonial dependance, or at some future day successfully assert their claim to self-government, it is manifest that, in either case, there must be relations of the highest importance between them and the United States. Recent occurrences also, both in the provinces and within our own borders, and the very unsatisfactory condition of our relations with Great Britain, arising out of conflicting claims, involving great national considerations, with regard to our extreme northeastern and northwestern boundaries, give to the subjects treated of in this work peculiar interest at the present moment.

From the high reputation of their author, and the care which has been employed by the American editor in preparing these volumes, the publishers feel great confidence in offering them to the public. In die English edition there were found to be great * minuteness and prolixity of detail in relation to statistics, &c., and several subjects treated of at large which could only be considered as of local interest. It has been the aim of the American editor so to condense the work as to retain all that was most valuable, and, at the same time, to disencumber it of those parts which were of inferior im. portance, and which would have rendered it, as a whole, less entertaining, without being more useful, to the general reader, Notes have been added wherever it was thought necessary to observe and correct what was believed to be erroneous in the statements of the author.

H. & B.
New-York, May, 1840.

PREFACE

The territories of British America, even after having lost enough to constitute one of the greatest states in the world, embrace a very large proportion of the earth’s surface, and present natural features at once extremely grand and romantic. The native inhabitants were distinguished by energy and intelligence above all the other rude tribes of the Western Continent, and displayed, perhaps, beyond any similar race, the most striking peculiarities of savage life. Their long and fierce struggles, before yielding to the superior numbers and martial skill of Europeans, gave rise to scenes much more interesting than ever diversify the routine of civilized warfare. Finally, the exploits by which those regions were added to the dominion of Britain, are acknowledged to rank among the most brilliant that adorn her annals in any age.

These colonies, too, have acquired an augmented importance from the great changes effected in our own times. Their rich and varied products, their vast extent; and the strong direction which emigrants from Britain have taken towards their shores, encourage the expectation that they will one day become the seat of great nations, equalling or even surpassing the power of the mother country. A deep interest is naturally felt in their future prospects, n^ore especially when connected with the numbers, amounting during the last twenty years to nearly half a million, Who have removed thither from various parts of the United Kingdom.

The author, thus , deeply impressed with the importance of his task, has anxiously sought every means of rendering its performance complete and satisfactory. In tracing the condition and history of the aboriginal tribes, as influenced by the early settlement of Europeans, he has had access to extensive works and collections in the French language, to which former writers appear to have been strangers.. He has devoted much attention to the statistics and present state of the colonies; an undertaking which was attended with considerable difficulty, on account of the rapid changes which have recently occurred, and rendered all previous information in a great measure useless. Hence, besides the works of Bouchette, McGregor, Martin, and others, it was necessary to examine the tables published by the Board of Trade, the voluminous reports laid before Parliament, and to compare them with the narratives of the latest travellers and residents.

Even with all these resources, it was found to be impossible to render the information complete with-out obtaining personal communications from various quarters. It is gratifying to the author to mention, that on the mere statement of his object, and of the name of the work for which he was collecting materials, the most valuable intelligence was cheerfully conveyed to him. Particular acknowledgments are due to Mr. Simpson, the en-lightened resident governor of the Hudson’s Bay Establishment. From other sources of high authority, valuable information, otherwise inaccessible, has been obtained.

The reader will appreciate one peculiar difficulty under which the author laboured, namely, that while he was composing the work, and even superintending its passage through the press, the sub-ject was undergoing an incessant change; and at length the principal provinces became the theatre of some very momentous occurrences. He has assiduously studied to trace, by means of the most authentic documents, the course of those events, and to exhibit them in a condensed and connected view.

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