There are however splendid specimens of
men, and beautiful looking women, among the aborigines. Extremes meet;
and it is certain that the ease and grace of highly civilised life do
not surpass those of untutored nature, that neither concedes nor
claims a superiority to others. She was altogether of a different
stamp from her sister, who was a common-looking person, and resembled
the ordinary females to be found in savage life. Stout, strong, and
rather stolid, accustomed to drudge and to obey, rather than to be
petted and rule; to receive and not to give orders, and to submit from
habit and choice. One seemed far above, and the other as much below,
the station of their father. Jessie, though reserved, would converse
if addressed; the other shunned conversation as much as possible.
Both father and daughters seemed mutually attached to each other, and
their conversation was carried on with equal facility in Indian,
French, Gaelic, and English, although Peter spoke the last somewhat
indifferently. In the evening a young man, of the name of Fraser, with
his two sisters, children of a Highland neighbour, came in to visit
the McDonalds, and Peter producing his violin, we danced jigs and
reels, in a manner and with a spirit not often seen but in Ireland or
Scotland. The doctor, unable to withstand the general excitement,
joined in the dances with as much animation as any of us, and seemed
to enjoy himself amazingly.
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