I have  read this Report with  interest  &          Commiseration         Having no  funds at  their own  command,  the Indians  should be  protected  in the  possession  & enjoyment of their Land  [at] the [expense] of the [Church] or the [Province]

The Commissioners appointed by His Excellency  the Lieutenant Governor to superintend the affairs  of the Indians in the County of Gloucester, beg leave  to report that in pursuance of their duty in that  respect, they find that the Indians in this County  are in very indigent circumstances having among  them a great number of aged and infirm persons, both  male and female, whose support is altogether dependent,  upon alms and the still more uncertain assistance  of the younger branches of their own families.  The  Indians generally are not in the habit of cultivating  the lands reserved for their use, but devote their attention  chiefly to fishing and hunting: pursuits which as  settlement and civilization advance become less  profitable, and even now are barely sufficient to  supply the wants of the younger and more active branches of the tribes directly engaged therein.           The Indian land reserves in this County  are for the most part unimproved and of little advantage to these people.  This arises principally from their  natural disinclination to agricultural pursuits,  but also in some degree from their exposure to tresspassers and encroachments, - evils for which they are unacquainted  with a remedy.  On one reserve situate about six miles from the mouth of the Big [Nepisighet] River, a  quantity of timber between one and two hundred tons was cut and manufactured about three years ago, by persons connected with the Lumber Trade, part of which timber was seized by the deputy Commissioner of Crown Lands, and only delivered up upon the extra duty being paid into the Land Office- no part of which                                                                        was