PROVINCE OF QUEBEC,
IROQUOIS OF CAUGHNAWAGA,
CAUGHNAWAGA, 29th August, 1896.

The Honourable
The Superintendent General of Indian Affairs,
Ottawa.

SIR - I have the honour to submit my report for the year ended 30th June last in regard to the agency of the Iroquois of Caughnawaga, also tabular statement respecting, the stairs of the tribe.

Area of Caughnawaga Reserve. - This reserve has an area of twelve thousand acres, of which four thousand four hundred are under cultivation, about four thousand in timber and the remainder in underbrush. Most of the soil on the reserve is of good quality.

Resources. - The resources of the reserve consist of agriculture and quarrying stone.

Tribe or Nation. - These Indians belong to the Iroquois tribe.

Vital Statistics. - There are on the reserve four hundred and sixty-six men, four hundred and sixty-five women, and nine hundred and fifty-eight children under twenty-one years of age. There have been eighty-seven births and sixty-six deaths during the year. The decrease in the population this year compared with last year is owing to the fact that some families that had been absent for some time were entered in the census as temporarily absent, but this year I had to deduct their names on account of their prolonged absence. There has not been any remarkable emigration during the year.

Sanitary Condition. - The sanitary condition of the tribe has been pretty good, as a result of the precautions prescribed by the board of health having been attended to. There has been no epidemic on the reserve.

Occupation - Some of the Indians engage in farming, others take rafts down the rapids; others, again, act as pilots in running the rapids. Some of them sell medicine in the United States and elsewhere and engage in various occupations: work on barges, in the manufacture of lacrosses and snow-shoes, etc.

Buildings. - The building of the Indians in the village and on the farms are very suitable for the care of their stock.

Farming Implements. - Nearly all the Indians are provided with farming implements.

Education. - On this reserve there are four hundred and twelve children of school age. Of this number about two hundred attend school very irregularly. Only very little progress is made by most of them. There are two Roman Catholic schools - one for the boys, with a master, and one for the girls, with a mistress and assistant.

There is a Methodist school for boys and girls, with a master. The pupils in the Roman Catholic schools are at present being taught in standard IV. The equipment of the schools is satisfactory. The discipline and order in the Roman Catholic schools are good. For the most part the parents do not seem to take much interest in the education of their children, and do not send them regularly to school.

Religion. - There are on the reserve one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two Roman Catholics, two missionaries and one Roman Catholic church; and twenty-seven Methodists, with a clergyman and a school-house used as a church. The Indians take great interest in their religion.

Characteristics and Progress. - These Indians are industrious, but all the same they do not appear to make much progress in material welfare.

Temperance and Morality. - There certainly has not been any progressive movement in temperance, but the morality of the tribe has improved.