Note 55 — Chapter II · GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF SLAVERY.

Amongst the Crees or Knisteneaux, according to McLean, adoption of aliens was practised. A missionary, who had unintentionally killed a Cree boy, offered himself in his stead, and was adopted. Kane speaks of “the universal custom of Indian mothers eagerly seeking another child, although it may be of an enemy, to replace one of her own, whom she may have lost.… This child is always treated with as great, if not greater, kindness than the rest.” The existence of this custom, together with the fact that none of their describers makes mention of slaves, renders it most probable that they did not keep slaves55.