1875- Report on Pictou County Indians

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1875- Report on Pictou County Indians

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Titles	1875- Report on Pictou County Indians:
Name	Rev. Ronald MacDonald
Name
Type of Resource	text
Genre	Annual Report
URL	https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/aboriginal-heritage/first-nations/indian-affairs-annual-reports/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=
Abstract	At the request of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Indian Affairs, Rev. R. Macdonald (Indian Agent for Pictou County) forwarded a report on the Indigenous inhabitants of Pictou County.
Form	text
Note	No. 19. INDIAN DISTRICT No. 4, N.S., PICTOU, 23rd Nov., 1875. The Honorable The Superintendent General of Indian Affairs, Ottawa. SIR, - I have the honor to submit for the information of the Indian Office the following report of the Indians and the Indian Reserves within my District. The total number of Indians in the County of Pictou, which comprises District No. 4, is about 210. Within the last few years I perceive a very appreciable improvement in their industrial habits. Several of the able-bodied young men of the tribe are employed in the Public Works at remunerative wages. Others engage in fishing at the proper season, and sometimes with good results. Once a year, a month before St. Anns, all men and women simultaneously betake themselves to coopering - making butter firkins; this they regard as the most legitimate, as well as the most lucrative, branch of the Indian profession. The women are most industrious. The Micmac woman is indeed seldom idle: she is either discharging the duties of housekeeping, or making baskets; and if she has nothing else to do she goes a-begging. Farming, of all other employments, is the one to which Indians seem most averse. Nothing can induce them to take the requisite interest in the cultivation of their Reserves. When there is anything to be done on their farms they almost invariably hire. The consequence is there is no system in their farming, and no marked improvement. The area of Indian Reserve in this County is now considerable; if properly cultivated it should be sufficient to support all the Indians of the District. We have a farm of fifty acres at Indian Cove; a farm of ninety odd at Indian Harbour, lately purchased by the Dominion Government; and the two fertile islands in Merigomish Harbour, Chapel and Moley Islands. All the Indians of my District are Roman Catholics. All of which I most respectfully submit. R. MACDONALD, P.P., Indian Agent.
Subject Local Name
Note	Annual Report of the Department of the Interior for the Year Ended 30th June, 1875 (Ottawa: Maclean, Roger & Co., 1876), 21.