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!•«

! i

A JOURNAL.

. I

/ f

I \

^■\

**'

PRINTED BY L. B. SEELEY.
WESTON GREEN, THAMES DITTON.

THE

SUBSTANCE OF A JOURNAL

DURING A RESIDENCE AT

THE RED RIVER COLONY,
ISriti0l^ Notll^ ^tnrrira :

AND FREQUENT EXCURSIONS
AMONG THE NpRTH-WEST AMERICAN INDIANS,

IN THE YEARS 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823.

BY JOHN WEST, M. A.

LiVTE CHAPLAIN TO THE HON. THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.

PRINTED FOR L. B. SEELEY AND SON,
FLEET STREET, LONDON.

MDCCCXXIV.

f^.

f \06

TO THE

REV. HENRY BUDD, M. A.

"*'""' '" '";;;3 "<'"--' "-■"«« o, ...„...,, p„„.,„,

*ND H.0TOR „F WHIT. ROOTHINO, .„,x.

AS A TESTIMONY

OF GRATITUDE FOR HIS KINDNESS AND FRIENDSHIP

AND OF HIGH ESTEEM FOR HIS UNWEARIED EXERTIONS IN EVERY

CAUSE OF BENEVOLENCE AND ENLIGHTENED ENDEAVOUR

TO PROMOTE THE BEST INTERESTS OP MAN.

THE FOLLOmNG PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR.

-1

■>-J£

PREFACE.

We live in a day when the most distant parts
of the earth are opening as the sphere of Mis-
sionary labours. The state of the heathen
world is becoming better known, and the sym-
pathy of British Christians has been awakened,
in zealous endeavours to evangelize and soothe
its sorrows. In these encouraging signs of the
timeSj the Author is induced to give the follow-
ing pages to the public, from having traversed
.some of the dreary wilds of North America,
and felt deeply interested in the religious in-
struction and amelioration of the condition of
the natives. They are wandering, in unnum-
bered tribes, through vast wildernesses, where
generation after generation have passed away,
in gross ignorance and almost brutal degra-
dation.

Should any information he is enabled to give
excite a further Christian sympathy, and more
active benevolence in their behalf, it will truly

PREFACE.

rejoice his heart: and his prayer to God, is,
thpt the Aborigines of a British Territory, may
not remain as outcasts from British Missionary
exertions ; but may be raised through their in-
strumentality, to what they are capable of en-
joying, the advantages of civilized and social
life, with the blessings of Christianity.

September, 1824.

1 .V v.

CONTENTS.

FAOX.

Chapter I. — Departure from England. — Arrival at the
Orkney hies. — Enter Hudson's Straits. — Icebergs. —
Esquimaux. — Killing a Polar Bear. — York Factory.
— Embarked for the Red River Colony. — Difficulties
of the Navigation. — Lake Winipeg. — Muskeggowuck,
or Swamp Indians. — Pigevris, a chief of the Chipe-
ways, or Saulteaux Ttibe. — Arrival at the Red River.
— Colonists. — School established. — Wolf dogs. —
Indians visit Fort Douglas. — Design of a Building
for Divine Worship

Chapter II. — Visit the School. — Leave the Forks for
Qu'appelle. — Arrival at Brandon House. — Indian
Corpse staged. — Marriages at Company's Posts. —
Distribution of the Scriptures. — Departure from
Brandon House. — Encampment. — Arrival at Qu'ap-
pelle. — Character and Customs of Stone Indians. —
Stop at some Hunter's Tents on return to the Colony.
— Visit Pembina. — Hunting Buffaloes. — Indian ad-
dress. — Canadian Voyageurs. — Indian Marriages. —
Burial Ground. — Pemican. — Indian Hunter sends his
son to be educated. — Mosquitoes. — Locusts 28

CONTENTS.

I'AOE.

Chapter III. — Norway House. — Baptisms.— Arrival
at York Factory. — Swiss Emigrants. — Auxiliary Bible
Society formed. — Boat wrecked. — Catholic Priests. —
Sioux Indians killed at the Colony. — Circulation of
the Scriptures among the Colonists. — Scarcity of
i rovisions. — Fishing under the Ice. — Wild Fowl. —
Meet the Sioux Indians at Pembina. — They scalp an
Assiniboine. — War dance. —Cruelly put to death a
Captive Boy. — Indian expression of gratitude for the
Education of his Ch'ld — Sturgeon 64

Chapter IV. — Arrival of Canoe from Montreal. —
Liberal Provision for Missionary Establishment. —
Manitobah Lake. — Indian Gardens. — Meet Captain
Franklin and Officers of the Arctic Expedition at '
York Factory. — First Anniversary of the Auxiliary

Bible Society. Half-Caste Childi'en. Aurora .

Boreahs. — Conversation with Pigewis. — Good Har-
vest at the Settlement, and arrival of Cattle from
United States. — Massacre of Hunters. — Produce of
Grain at Colony 94

Chapter V. — Climate of Red River. — Thermometer.
— Pigewis's Nephew. — Wolves. — Remarks of General
Washington. — Indian Woman shot by her son. —
Sufferings of Indians. — Their notions of the Delugie.
— No visible object of adoration. — Acknowledge a
Future Life. — Left the Colony for Bas la Riviere. —
Lost on Winipeg Lake. — Recover the Track, and
meet an intoxicated Indian. — Apparent facilities for
establishing Schools West of Rocky Mountains. —
Russians aflbrding Religious instruction on the North

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

West Coast of North America. — Rumours of War
among the surrounding Tribes with the Sioux Indians. 1 10

Chapteu VI. — Progress of Indian Children in reading.
— Building for Divine Worship. — Left the Colony. —
Arrival at York Fort. — Departure for Churchill Fac-
tory. — Bears. — Indian Hieroglyphics. Arrival at

Churchill. — Intervievir with Esquimaux. — Return to
York Factory. — Embark for England. — Moravian
Missionaries. — Greenland. — Arrival in the Thames. . . 150

DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.

1. The engraving of meeting the Indians, to face

THE title page. ^;|

2. Scalping the Indians to face page 85.

3. The Protestant Church, to face page 155,

'■ »

THE RED RIVER COLONY ;

AND THE

NORTH-WEST-AMfcRICAN INDIANS.

CHAPTER I.

DEPAHTURE FROM ENGLAND. — ARRIVAL AT THE ORKNEY
ISLES. — ENTER HUDSOn's STRAITS. ICEBERGS. ES-
QUIMAUX. — KILLING A POLAR BEAR. YORK FAC-

■*

TORY. EMBARKED FOR THE RED RIVER COLONY.

DIFFICULTIES OF THE NAVIGATION. LAKE WINIPEG.

— MUSKEGGOWUCK, OR SWAMP INDIANS. PIGEWIS, A

CHIEF OF THE CHIPFEWAYS OR 3ALTEAUX TRIBE.

ARRIVAL AT THE RED RIVER.— COLONISTS. SCHOOL

ESTABLISHED. WOLF-DOGS. INDIANS VISIT FORT

DOUGLAS.— DESIGN OF A BUILDING FOR DIVINE
WORSHIP. *

On the 27th of May, 1820, I embarked at
Gravesend, on board the Honourable Hudson*s
Bay Company's ship, the Eddystone ; accom-
panied by the ship, Prince of Wales, and the
Luna brig, for Hudson's Bay. In my appoint-
ment as Chaplain to the Company, my in-

♦= «

3 ORKNEY ISLES.

structions were, to reside at the Red River
Settlement, and under the encouragement and
aid of the Church Missionary Society, I was to
seek the instruction, and endeavour to melio-
rate the condition of the native Indians.

The anchor was weighed early on the follow-
ing morning, and isailing with a fine breeze, the
sea soon opened to our view. The thought
that I was now leaving ail that was dear to me
upon earth, to encounter the perils of the ocean,
and the wilderness, sensibly affected me at
times ; but my feelings were relieved in the
sanguine hope that I was borne on my way
imdcr the guidance of a kind protecting Provi-
vidence, and that the circumstances of the
country whither I was bound, would soon
admit of my being surrounded with my family.
With these sentiments, I saw point after point
sink in the horizon, as we passed the shores
of England and Scotland for the Orkneys.

We bore up for these Isles on^ the 10th of
June, after experiencing faint and variable winds
for several days : and a more dreary scene can
scarcely be imagined than they present to the
eye, in general. No tree or shrub is visible ;
and all is barren except a few spots of cultivated
ground in the vales, which form a striking con-
trast with the barren heath-covered hills that

SABBATH AT SEA. 3

surround them. These cultivated spots mark
the residence of the hardy Orkneyman in a
.wretched looking habitation with scarcely any
other light, (as I found upon landing on one
or the islands) than from a smoke hole, or from
an apertwre in the wall, closed at night with a
tuft of grass. The calf and pig were seen as
inmates, while the little furniture that ap-
peared, was either festooned with strings of
dried fish, or crossed with a perch for the fowls
to roost on.

A different scene, however, presented itself, as
we anchored the next day in the commodious
harbour of Stromness. The view of the town,
with the surrounding cultivated parts of the
country, and the Hoy Hill, is striking and
romantic, and as our stay here was for a few
days, I accepted an invitation to the Manse,
from the kind and worthy minister of Hoy, and
ascended with him the hill, of about 1620 feet
high.

The sabbath we spent at sea was a delight to
me, from the arrangement made by the captain
for the attendance of the passengers and part
of the crew on divine worship, both morning
and afternoon. Another sabbath had now re-
turned, and the weather being fair, all were
summoned to attend on the quarter deck. We

B 2

i.'

4 DAVIS'S STRAITS.

commenced the service by singing the Old
Hundredth Psalm, and our voices being heard
by the crews of several ships, lying near to us at
anchor, they were seen hurrying on deck from
below, so as to present to us a most interesting
and gratifying sight —

" We stood, and under open sky adored

The God, that made both ' seas/ air, earth, and heaven."

There appeared to be a solemn impression ; and
I trust that religion was felt among us as a
divine reality.

June 22.- -The ships got under weigh to
, proceed on our voyage ; and as wc passed the
rugged and broken rocks of Hoy Head, we
were reminded of the fury of a tempestuous
ocean, in forming some of them into detached
pillars, and vast caverns; while they left an
impression upon the mind, of desolation and
danger. We had not sailed more than one
hundred miles on the Atlantic before it blew a
strong head wind, and several on board with
myself were greatly affected by the motion of
the ship. It threw me into such a state of
languor, that I felt as though I could have
willingly yielded to have been cast overboard,
and it was nearly a week before I was relieved
from this painful sensation and nausea, peculiar
to sea sickness.

■#.

RESOLUTION ISLAND. *

Without any occurrence worthy of notice we
arrived in Davis*s Straits on the 19th of July,
where Greenland ships are sometimes met with,
returning from the whale fishery, but we saw
not a single whaler in this solitary piart of the
ocean. The Mallemuk, found in great numbers-
off Greenland, and the " Larus crepidatus," or
black toed gull, frequently visited us ; and for
nearly a whole day, a large shoal of the " Del-
phinus deductor," or leading whale, was ob-
served following the ship. The captain ordered
the harpoons and lances to be in readiness ia
case we fell in with the great Greenland whale,
but nothing was seen of this monster of the
deep.

In approaching Hudson's straits, we first saw
one of those beautiful features in the scenery of
the North, an Iceberg, which being driven with
vast masses of ice off Cape Farewell, South
Greenland, are soon destroyed by means of
the solar heat, and tempestuous force of the sea.
The thermometer was at 27° on the night of
the 22nd, with ice in the boat; and in the after-
noon we saw an iceblink, a beautiful effulgence
or reflection of light over the floating ice, to the
extent of forty or fifty miles. 'The next day
we passed Resolution Island, Lat. 61° 25', Long.
65° 2' and all was desolate and inhospitable in

ICEBERGS.

the view over blaek barren roeks, and in the
aspect of the shore. This being Sunday, I
preached in the morning, catechized the young
people in the afternoon, and had divine service
again in the evening, as was our custom every
sabbath in crossing the Atlantic, when the
weather would permit : and it afforded me
much pleasure to witness the sailors at times
in groups reading the life of Newton, or some
religious tracts which I put into their hands.
The Scotch I found generally well and scrip-
turally informed, and severalof them joined the
young people in reading to rae the New Testa-
tament, and answering the catechetical ques-
tions. In our passage through the Straits, our
progress was impeded by vast fields of ice, and
icebergs floating past us in every form of deso-
late magnificence. The scene was truly grand
and impressive, and mocks imagination to
describe. There is a solemn and an over-
whelming sensation produced in the mind, by
these enormous masses of snow and ice, not
to be conveyed in words. They floated by
us from one to two hundred feet above the
water, and sometimes of great length, re-
sembling huge mountains, with deep vollies
between, lofly cliffs, and all the imposing objects
in nature, passing in silent grandeur, except

ESQUIMAUX.

at intervals, when the fall of one was heard, or
the crashing of the ice struck the ear like the
noise of distant thunder.

When nearly off Saddle Back, with a light
favourable breeze, and about ten miles from the
shore, the Esquimaux who, visit the Straits
during summer, were observed with their one
man skin canoes, followed by women in some of
a larger size, paddling towards the ship. No
sooner was the sail shortened than we were
surrounded by nearly two hundred of them:
the men raising their paddles as they ap-
proached us, shouting with much exultation,
* chimo! chimo ! pillattaa I pillattaa!* expressions
probably of friendship, or trade. They were
particularly eager to exchange all that they
apparently possessed, and hastily bartered with
the Eddystone, blubber, whalebone, and sea^
horse teeth, for axes, saws, knives, tin kettles,
and bits of old iron hoop. The women pre-
sented image toys, made from the bones and
teeth of animals, models of canoes, and various
articles of dress, made of seal skins, and the
membranes of the abdomen of the whale, all of
which displayed considerable ingenuity and
neatness, and for which they received in ex-
change, needles, knives, and beads. It was
very clear that European deception had reached

• ESQUIMAUX.

them, from the manner in which they iena-
ciously held their articles till they graspedwhut
was offered in barter for them; and immediately
they got the merchandise in possession, they
licked it with their tongues, in satisfaction that
it was their own. The tribe appeared to be
well-conditioned in their savage state, and
remarkably healthy. Some of the children, I
observed, were eating raw flesh, frbm the bones
of animals that had been killed, and given them
by, their mothers, who appeared to have a
strong natural affection for their offspring. I
threw one of them a halfpenny, which she
caught ; and pointing to the child she immedi-
ately gave it to him with much apparent fond-
ness. It has been supposed that in holding up
their children, as is sometimes the case, it is for
barter, but I should rather conclude that it is
for the purpose of exciting commiseration, and
to obtain some European article for them. A
few of the men were permitted to come on
board, and the good humour of the captain in-
vited one to dance with him : he took the step
with much agility and quickness, and imitated
every gesture of his lively partner. The breeze
freshening, we soon parted with this barbarous
people, and when at a short distance from the
ship, they assembled in their canoes, each

•'.\

POLAR BEAR.

taking hold of the adjoining one, in apparent
eonsultation, as to what bargains they had made,
and what articles they possessed, till a ^canoe
was observed to break off from the group,
which they all followed for their haunts along
the shores of Terra Neiva, and the Savage
Islands. Having a copy of the Esquimaux
Gospels from the British and Foreign. Bible
Society, it was my wish to have read part of a
chapter to them, with a view to ascertain, if
possible, whether they knew of the Moravian
Missionary establishment at Nain, on the Labra-
dor coast ; but such was the haste, bustle, and
noise of their intercourse with us, that I lost
the opportunity. Though they have exchanged
articles in barter for many years, it is not
known whether they are from the Ijabrador
shore on a summer excursion for killing seals,
and the whale fishery, or from the East main
coast, where they return and winter.

The highest point of latitude we reached
in our course, was 62° 44' — ^longitude 74° 16',
and when off Cape Diggcs we parted company
with the Prince of Wales, as bound to James's
Bay. We stood on direct for York Factory,
and when about fifty miles from Gary Swan's
Nest, the chief mate pointed out to me a
polar bear, with her two cubs swimming

FLOATING ICE.

towards the ship. He immediately ordered
the jolly-boat to be lowered, and asked me to
accom{)any him in the attempt to kill her.
Some axes were put into the boat^ in case the
ferocious animal should approach us in the
attack; and the sailors pulled away in the
direction she was swimming. At the first
sliotj when within about one hundred yards,
she growled tremendously, and immediately
made for the boat ; but ha^ng the advantage
in rowing faster than she could swim, our
gims were reloaded till she was killed, and one
of the cubs also accidentally, from swimming
close to the mother ; the other got upon the
floating carcase, and was towed to the side of
the ship, when a noose was put around its
neck, and it was hauled on board for the
captain to take with him alive, on his return to
England.

August 3. — ^We fell in with a great deal
of floating ice, the weather was ^very foggy,
and the thermometer at freezing point. The
ship occasionally received some heavy blows,
and with difficulty made way along a vein of
water. On the 5th we were completely
blocked in with ice, and nothing was to be
seen in every part of the horizon, but one vast
mass, as a baiTier to our proceeding. It was a

WEATHER.

terrific, and sublime spectacle ; and the human
mind cannot conceive any thing more awful,
than the destruction of a ship, by the meeting
of two enormous fields of ice, advancing
against each other at the rate of several miles
an hour. " It may easUy be imagined,'* says
Captain Scoresby, " that the strongest ship can
no more withstand the shock of the contact of
two fields, than a sheet of paper can stop a
musket-bail. Numbers of vessels since the
establishment of the Whale Fishery have been
thus destroyed. Some have been thrown upon
the ice. Some have had their hulls completely
thrown open, and others have been buried
beneath the heaped fragments of the ice.** —

Sunday, the 6th. — ^Text in the morning 1st
book Samuel, 30th chapter, latter part of the
6th verse. The weather was very variable,
with much thunder and lightening ; which was
awful and impressive. On the 12th the ther^
mometer was below freezing point, and the
rigging of the ship was covered wiiu large
icicles. Intense fogs often prevailed, but of
very inconsiderable height. They would
sometimes obscure the hull of the ship, when
the mast head was seen, and the sun was
visible and effulgent.

In the evening of the ISth, the sailors gave

■a.

J":

YORK FACTORY.
three cheers as \
°P«ni„g of the ice bff ,.""'" """'^^ "" »-

for many days. The nlf ^^^ •'""""'"'"» '"
'"•"l. and came to th/ ."^ ""' ''^ *«
f '««« the toUo^l^J^. '""'^°"'S' »' York
°f gmtitude to gX-T^' '''* '""timents

dence through the periU of 7'°''"""^ ^«'^■-
sea, and for the liwu • ! " '"^ ""^ of the

f «rp«>fesst,?fS:t"r'°!; "" "«^ ""«'

during the voyage '**^ "'*« weather,

^°"'8BayCompa„; ""'P*,' ^^^P^' °f «>e Hud-
arrangement ,vas ^^L ." *" *"''«'">. every

,»»* parts of the Z ob,"" •'"'""' '^"'^''ip.

'-■f-Oreed children^„r:i""^ « "««ber li
;" .gno^nee and idleness HT 'f ^""^«^ "P
that they were a Tm """^ '"^wwed

Europeans by IndL ^'■°'" °%ring of

;^b 1 submitted to J; Go " "" " P'""'

eet,ng a certain number of I '''"' *"• "<"-

tomed, clothed, and edLf ^ *"' *° ^ ■""»-

INDIANS. m

lected race, had induced them to send seveml
schoohnastcrs to the country, fifteen or sixteen
years ago; but who were unhappily diverted
from their original purpose, and became en-
gaged as fur traders.

During my stay at this post, I visited several
Indian families, and no sooner saw them
crowded together in their miserable-looking
tents, than I felt a lively interest (as I antici-
pated) in their behalf. Unlike the Esquimaux
I had seen in Hudson's Straits, with their flat,
fat, greasy faces, these ^Swampy Crees* pre-
sented a way-worn countenance, which de-
picted " Suffering without comfort, while they
sunk without hope." The contrast was strik-
ing, and forcibly impressed my mind with the
idea, that Indians who knew not the corrupt
influence and barter of spirituous liquors at a
Trading Post, were far happier, than the
wretched-looking group around me. The
duty devolved upon me, to seek to meliorate
their sad condition, as degraded and emaci-
ated, wandering in ignorance, and wearing
away a short existence in one continued suc-
cession of hardships in procuring food. I was
told of difliculties, and some spoke of impossi-
bilities in the way of teaching them Christi-
anity or the first rudiments of settled and

i9ft:

WITHAWEECAPO.

civilized life ; but with a combination of
opposing circumstances, I determined not to
be intimidated, nor to " confer with flesh and
blood," but to put my hand immediately to
the plough, in the attempt to break in upon
this heathen wilderness. If little hope could
be cherished of the adult Indian in his wander-
ing and unsettled habits of life, it appeared to
me, that a wide and most extensive Jield,
presented itself for cultivation in the instruc-
tion of the native children. With the aid of
an interpreter, I spoke to an Indian, called
Withaweecapo, about taking two of his boys
to the Red River Colony with me to educate
and maintain. He yielded to my request; and
I shall never forget the affectionate manner in
which he brought the eldest boy in his arms,
and placed him in the canoe on the morning
of my departure from York Factory. His two
wives, sisters, accompanied him to the water^s
edge, and while they stood gazing on us, as
the canoe was paddled from the shore, I con-
sidered that I bore a pledge from the Indian
that many more children might be found, if an
establishment were formed in British Christian
sympathy, and British liberality for their edu-
cation and support.
I had to establish the principle, that the

HILL RIVER.

North-American Indian of these regions would
part with his children, to be educated in whit6
man's knowledge and religion. The above
circumstance therefore afiforded us no small
encouragement, in embarking for the colony.
We overtook the boats going thither on the
7th of September, slowly proceeding through
a most difficult and laborious navigation. The
men were harnessed to a line, as they walked
along the steep declivity of a high bank,
dragging them against a strong current. In
many places, as we proceeded, the water was
very shoal, and opposed us with so much force
in the rapids, that the men were frequently
obliged to get out, and lift the boats over the
stones ; at other times to unload, and launch
them over the rocks, and carry the goods upon
their backs, or rather suspended in slings from
their heads, a considerable distance, over some
of the portages. The weather was frequently
very cold, with snow and rain ; and our
progress was so slow and mortifying, particu-
larly up Hill River, that the boats' crews were
heard to execrate the man who first found out
such a way into the interior.

The blasphemy of the men, in the difficulties
they had to encounter, was truly painful to me.
I had hoped better things of the Scotch, from

HMMWIPWMM

LAKE WINIPEO.

i i

their kncivn moral and enlightened education;
but their horrid imprecations proved a degen-
eracy of character in an Indian country. This
I lamented to find was too generally the case
with Europeans, particularly so in their bar-
barous treatment of women. Tliey do not
admit them as their companions, nor do they
allow them to eat at their tables, but degrade
them merely as slaves to their arbitrary inclin-
ations ; while the children grow up wild and
uncultivated as the heathen. «,

The scenery throughout the passage is dull
and monotonous (excepting a few points in some
of the small lakes, which are picturesque), till
you reach the Company's post, Norway House ;
when a fine body of water bursts upon your
view in Lake Winipeg. We found the voyage,
from the Factory to this point, so sombre
and dreary, that the sight of a horse grazing
on the bank greatly exhilirated us, in the as-
sociation of the idea that we w'ere approaching
some human habitation. Our provisions being
short, we recruited our stock at this post ; and
I obtained another boy for education, reported
to me as the orphan son of a deceased Indian
and a half-caste woman ; and taught him the
prayer which the other used morning and
evening, and which he soon learned : — " Great

LAKE WINIPEG.

Father, bless me, through Jesus Christ." May
a gracious God hear their cry, and raise them
up as heralds of his salvation in this truly
benighted and barbarous part of the world.

It often grieved me, in our hurried passage,
to see the men employed in taking the goods
over the carrying places, or in rowing, during
the Sabbath. I contemplated the delight with
which thousands in England enjoyed the pri-
vileges of this sacred day, and welcomed divine
ordinances. In reading, meditation, and prayer,
however, my soul was not forsaken of God, and
I gladly embraced an opportunity of calling
those more immediately around me to join in
reading the scriptures, and in prayer in my tent.

October the 6th. The ground was covered
with snow, and the weather most winterly,
when we embarked in our open boats to cross
the lake for the Red River. Its length, from
north to south, is about three hundred miles ;
and it abounds with sunken rocks, which are
very dangerous to boats sailing in a fresh
breeze. It is usual to run along shore, for the
sake of an encampment at night, and of getting
into a creek for shelter, in case of storms and
tempestuous weather. We had run about
half the lake, when the boat, under a press of
«ail, struck upon one of these rocks, with so

! i

MUSKEC.GOUCK INDIANS.

-I

much violence as to threaten our immediate
destruction. The idea of never more seeing
my family upon eai*th, rushed upon my mind ;
but the pang of thought was alleviated by the
recollection that life at best was short, and that
they would soon meet me in * brighter worlds/
whither I expected to be hurried, through the
supposed hasty death of dro\vning. Providen-
tially however we escaped being wrecked ; and
I could not but bless the God of my salvation,
for the anchor of hope afforded me amidst all
dangers and difficulties and possible privations
of life.

As I sat at the door of my tent near a fire
one evening, an Indian joined me, and gave
me to understand that he knew a little English.
He told me that he was taken prisoner when
very young, and subsequently fell into the
hands of an American gentleman, who took
him to England, where he was very much
frightened lest the houses should fall upon him.
He further added that he knew a little of Jesus
Christ, and hoped that I would teach him to
read, when he came to the Rfed River, which
he intended to do after he had been on a visit
to his relations. He has a most interesting
intelligent countenance, and expressed much
delight *at my coming over to his country to

.- »

MUSKEGGOUCK INDIANS.

teach the Indians. We saw but few of them in
our route along the courses of the river, and
on the banks of the Winipeg. These are
called Muskeggouck, or Swamp Indians, and
are considered a distinct tribe, between the Na-
hathaway or Cree and Saulteaux. They subsist
on fish, and occasionally the moose deer or elk,
with the rein deer or caribou, vast numbers of
which, as they swim the river in spring and in
the fall of the year, the Indians spear in their
canoes. In times of extremity they gather
moss from the rocks, that is called by the
Canadians * tripe de roche,' which boils into a
clammy substance, and has something of a
nutritious quality. The general appearance of
these Indians is that of wretchedness and
want, and excited in my mind much sympathy
towards them. I shook hands with them, in
the hope that ere the rising generation at least
had passed away, the light of Christianity, like
the aurora horealis relieving the gloom of tiieir
winter night, would shed around them its
heavenly lustre, and cheer their suffering ex-
istence with a scriptural hope of immortality.

In crossing the Winipeg, we saw almost
daily large flocks of wild fowl, geese, ducks,
and swans, flying to the south ; which was a
sure indication to us that winter was setting in

C 2 "

: 1

i ■

THE CHIEF, PIGEWIS.

with severity to the north. In fact it had
already visited us, and inflicted mueli suffering
from cold; and it was with no small delight
that we entered the mouth of Red lliver, soon
after the sun rose in majestic splendour over the
lake, on the morning of the I3th of October.
We proceeded to Netley Creek to breakfast,
where we met Pigewis the chief of a tribe of
Saulteaux Indians, who live principally along
the banks of the river. This chief breakfasted
with the party, and shaking hands with me most
cordially, expressed a wish that " more of the
stumps and brushwood were cleared away for
my feet, in coming to see his country." On
our apprising him of the Earl of Selkirk's death,
he expressed much sorrow, and appeared to
feel deeply the loss which he and the colony
had sustained in his Lordship's decease. He
shewed me the following high testimony of his
character, given him by the late Earl when at
Red River.

" The bearer, Pigewis, one of the principal
chiefs of the Chipeways, or Saulteaux of Red
River, has been a steady friend of the settle-
ment ever since its first establishment, and has
never deserted its cause in its greatest reverses.
He has often exerted his influence to restore
peace; and having rendered most essential

RED RIVER SETTLEMENT. 21

services to the settlers in their distress, de-
serves to be treated with favour and distinction
by the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company,
and by all the friends of peace and good order."

(Signed.) SELKIRK.

Fort Douglas, July 17, 1820.

As we proceeded, the banks were covered
with oak, elm, ash, poplar, and maple, and rose
gradually higher as we approached the Colony,
when the praries, or open grassy plains, pre-
sented to the eye an agreeable contrast with
the almost continued forest of pine we were
accustomed to in the route from York Factory.
On the 14th of October we reached the settle-
ment, consisting of a number of huts widely
scattered along the margin of the river; in
vain did I look for a cluster of cottages,
where the hum of a small population at least
might be heard as in a village. I saw but few
marks of human industry in the cultivation of
the soil. Almost every inhabitant we passed
bore a gun upon his shoulder and all appeared
in a wild and hunter-like state. The colonists
were a compound of individuals of various
countries. They were principally Canadians,
and Germans of the Mcuron regiment; who

WINTER.

, r

i:. •

were discharged in Canada at the conclusion of
the American war, and were mostly Catholics.
There was a large i)opulation of Scotch
emigrants also, who with some retired ser/ants
of the Hudson's Bay Company were chiefly
Protestants, and by far the most industrious
in agricultural pursuits. There was an un-
finished building as a Catholic church, and a
small house adjoining, the residence of the
Priest; but no Protestant manse, church, or
school house, which obliged me to take up my
abode at the Colony Fort, (Fort Douglas,)
where the * Charge d* Affaires * of the settlement
resided ; and who kindly afforded the accom-
modation of a room for divine worship on the
sabbath. My ministry was generally well
attended by the settlers ; and soon after my
arrival I got a log-house repaired about three
miles below the Fort, among the Scotch popu-
lation, where the schoolmaster took up his
abode, and began teaching froin twenty to
twenty-five of the children.

Nov. the 8th.—- The river was frozen over,
and the winter set in with severity. Many
were harnessing and trying their dogs in
sledges, with a view to trip to Pembina, a
distance of about seventy miles, or to the
Hunters' tents, on the plains, for buffaloc meat.

WOLF DOGS.

The journey generally takes them a fortnight,
or sometimes more, before they return to the
settlement with provisions ; and this rambling
and uncertain mode of obtaining subsistence
in their necessity, (the locusts having then
destroyed their crops,) has given the settlers a
fondness for trippings to the neglect of im-
proving their dwellings and their farms. The
dogs used on these occasions, and for travel-
ling in carioles over the snow, strongly
resemble the wolf in size, and frequently in ^
colour. They have pointed noses, small sharp
ears, long bushy tails, and a savage aspect.
They never bark, but set up a fierce growl,
and when numerous about a Fort, their howl-
ing is truly melancholy. A doubt can no
longer exist, that the dogs brought to the
interior of these wilds by Europeans, engen-
dered with the wolf, and produced these dogs
in common use. They have no attachment^
and destroy all domestic animals. They are
lashed to a sledge, and are often brutally
driven to travel thirty or forty miles a day,
dragging after them a load of three and four
hundred pounds weight. When fat, they are
eaten by the Canadians as a great delicacy;
and are generally presented by the Indians at
their feasts.

ABORIGINES.

Many Indian families came frequently to tlic
Fort, and as is common, I believe, to all the
aborigines were of a copper colour com-
plexion, with black coarse hair. Whenever
they dressed for any particular occasion, they
anointed themselves all over with charcoal and
grease, and painted their eyebrows, lips and
forehead, or cheeks, with vermillion. Some
had their noses perforated through the car-
tilage, in which was fixed part of a goose
quill, or a piece of tin, woni as an ornament,
while others strutted with the skin of a raven
ingeniously folded as a head dress, to present
the beak over the forehead, and the tail spread-
ing over the back of the neck. Their clothing
consisted principally of a blanket^ a buffaloe
skin, and leggings, with a cap, which hung
down their back, and was fastened to a belt
round the waist. Scoutaywauho, or fire water,
(rum) was their principal request; to obtain
which they appeared ready to bartfer any thing,
or every thing they possessed. The children
ran about almost naked, and were treated by
their parents with all the instinctive fondness of
animals. They know of no restraint, and as
they grow up into life, they are left at full
liberty to be absolute masters of their own
actions. They were very lively, and several of

ft'

■S'i^

ABORIGINES.

them had pleasing countenances which indi-
cated a capacity for much intellectual improve-
ment. MoRt of their ears were cut in large
holes, to which were suspended various oma-
ments, but principally those of beads. Their
mothers were in the practice of some disgust-
ing habits towards them particularly that of
devouring the vermin which were engendered
from their dirty heads. They put into their
mouths all that they happen to find, and will
sometimes reserve a quantity, and present the
choice collection as u bonne louche to their
husbands.

After a short stay at the settlement, they left
us to roam through the forests, like animals,
without any fixed residence, in search of pro-
visions, till the rivers open in the following
spring, when they return to the Company's
Post, and trade with the skins and furs wiiich
they have taken in hunting.

December the 6th. My residence was now
removed to the farm belonging to the late
Earl of Selkirk, about three miles from Fort
Douglas, and six from the school. Though
more comfortable in my quarters, than at the
Fort, the distance put me to muvh inconve-
nience in my professional duties. We con-
tinuedj however, to have divine service regu-

I- {

MARRIAGE OF SETTLERS.

f-t

It I

larly on the Sabbath; and having frequently
enforced the moral, and social obligation of
marriage upon those who were living with, and
had families by Indian, or half caste women,
I had the happiness to perform the ceremony
for several of the most respectable of the
settlers, under the conviction, that the insti-
tution of marriage, and the security of
property, were the fundamental laws of society.
I had also many baptisms; and with infants,
some adult half-breeds were brought to be
baptized. I endeavoured to explain to them
simply and faithfully the nature and object of
that Divine ordinance ; but found great diffi-
culty in conveying to their minds any just and
true ideas of the Saviour, who gave the com-
mission, on his ascension into heaven " To go
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost." This difficulty produced in
me a strong desire to extend the blessing of
education to them : and from this period it
became a leading object with me, to erect in a
central situation, a substantial building, which
should contain apartments for the school-
master, afford accommodation for Indian
children, be a day-school for the children of
the settlers, enable us to establish a Sunday

SCHOOL HOUSE AND CHURCH.

a
jh

school for the half-caste adult population who
would attend, and fully answer the purpose of
a church for the present, till a brighter
prospect arose in the colony, and its inhabi-
tants were more congregated. I became
anxious to see such a building arise as a Pro-
testant land-mark of Christianity in a vast field
of heathenism and general depravity of man-
ners, and cheerfully gave my hand and my
heart to perfect the work. I expected a willing
co-operation from the Scotch settlers ; but was
disappointed in my sanguine hopes of their
cheerful and persevering assistance, through
their prejudices against the English Liturgy, and
the simple rites of our communion. I visited
them however in their affliction, and performed
all ministerial duties as their Pastor ; while my
motto, was — Perseverance.

•

\ ,

{'•'

CHAPTER II.

VISIT THE SCHOOL. — LEAVE THE VORKS FOR Qu'aPPELLE.

ARRIVAL AT BRANDON HOUSE. INDIAN CORFSE

STAGED. — MARRIAGES AT COMPANY'S POST. — BAP-
TISMS. DISTRIBUTION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

DEPARTURE FROM BRANDON HOUSE. — ENCAMPMENT. —
ARRIVAL AT Qu'aPPELLE. — CHARACTER AND CUSTOMS

OF STONE INDIANS. STOP AT SOME HUNTERS* TENTS

ON RETURN TO THE COLONY. — VISIT PEMBINA. —

HUNTING BUFFALOES. — INDIAN ADDRESS. CANADIAN

VOYAGEURS. INDIAN MARRIAGES. BURIAL GROUND.

— PEMICAN. — INDIAN HUNTER SENDS HIS SON TO BE
EDUCATED. — MOSQUITOES. — LOCUSTS.

.\l

January 1, 1821. — I went to the school this
morning, a distance of about six miles from
my residence, to examine the children, and
was much pleased at the progress which they
had already made in reading. ^ Having ad-
dressed them, and prayed for a divine blessing
on their instruction : I distributed to those who
could read a little book, as a reward for their
general good conduct in the school. In
returning to the farm, my mind was filled with
sentiments of gratitude and love to a divine
Saviour for his providential protection, and

CLIMATE.

gracious favour towards me during the past
year. He has shielded me in the shadow of
his hand through the perils of the sea and of
the wilderness from whence I may derive
motives of devotion and activity in my pro-
fession. Thousands are involved in worse than
Egyptian darkness around me, wandering in
ignorance and perishing through lack of know-
ledge. When will this wide waste howling
wilderness blossom as the rose, and the desert
become as a fruitful field ! Generations may
first pass away; and the seed of instruction
t^«t is now sown, may lie buried, waiting for
the early and the latter rain, yet, the sure
word of Prophecy, will ever animate Christian
liberality and exertion, in the bright prospect
of that glorious period, when Christianity shall
burst upon the gloomy scene of heathenism,
and dispel every cloud of ignorance and super-
stition, till the very ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of the Lord.

As I returned from divine service at the
Fort, to the farm, on the 7th, it rained hard
for nearly two hours, which is a very unusual
thing during winter in this northern latitude.
We have seldom any rain for nearly six
months, but a continued hard frost the greater
part of this period. The sky is generally clear,

CLIMATE.

1 :'

and the snow lies, about fifteen, or at the
utmost eighteen inehes deep. As the climate
of a country is not known by merely measuring
its distance from the equator, but is affected
differently in the same parallel of latitude by
its locality, and a variety of circumstances,
we find that of Red River, though situated in
the same parallel, far different from, and in-
tensely more cold than, that of England. The
thermometer is frequently at 30° and 40° below
zero, when it is only about freezing point in
the latter place. This difference is probably
occasioned by the prevailing north-westerly
wind, that blows with piercing keenness over
the rocky mountains, or Andes, which run
from north to south through the whole Conti-
nent, and over a country which is buried in
ice and snow.

As my instructions were to afford religious
instruction and consolation to the servants in
the active employment of the Hudson's Bay
Company, as well as to the Company's retired
servants, and other inhabitants of the settle-
ment, upon such occasions as the nature of the
country and other circumstances would permit ;
I left the Forks * in a cariole drawn by three

* So called from the junction of the Assiniboine River with
the Red River. * .

FROST.

dogs, accompanied by a sledge with two dogs,
to carry the luggage and provisions, and two
men as drivers, on the 15th of January, for
Brandon House, and Qu'appelle, on the Assini-
boine River. After we had travelled about
fifteen miles, we stopped on the edge of a
wood, and bivouacked on the snow for the night.
A large fire was soon kindled, and a supply of
wood cut to keep it up ; when supper being
prepared and finished, I wrapped myself in my
blankets and buffaloe robe, and laid down with
a few twigs under me in place of a bed, with
my feet towards the fire, and slept soundly
under the open canopy of heaven. The next
morning we left our encampment before sun-
rise ; and the country as we passed presented
some beautiful points and bluffs of wood. We
started again early the following morning,
which was intensely cold; and I had much
difficulty in keeping my face from freezing, on
my way to the encampment rather late in the
evening, at the * Portage de Prair^/ In
crossing the plain the next morning, with a
sharp head wind, my nose and part of my face
were frozen quite hard and white. I was not
conscious of it, till it was perceived by the
driver, who immediately rubbed the parts af-
fected well with snow, and restored the circu-

FROST.

1.)

If'

lation, so that I suffered no inconvenience
from the circumstance, but was obliged to
keep my face covered with a blanket as I lay
in the cariole the remaining part of the day.

On the 19th we were on the march as early
as half past four, and had a sharp piercing wind
in our faces, which drifted the snow, and made
the track veiy bad for the dogs. This greatly
impeded our progress; and our provisions
being short, I shot some ptarmigans, which
were frequently seen on our route. We per-
ceived some traces of the buffaloe, and the wolf
was frequently seen following our track, or
crossing in the line we were travelling. Jan.
20. We started at sunrise, with a very cold
head wind; and my favourite English watch
dog, Neptune, left the encampment, to follow us,
with great reluctance. I was apprehensive that
he might turn back, on account of the severity
of the morning; and being obliged to put
my head under the blanket in the cariole, I
requested the driver to encourage him along.
We had not pursued our journey however more
than an hour, before I was grieved to find that
the piercing keenness of the wind had forced
him to return ; and the poor animal was pro-
bably soon after devoured by the wolves.

We arrived at Brandon House, the Company's

DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD.

, I

•o-

pravision post, about three o'clock; and the
next day, being Sunday, the servants were all
assembled for divine worship at eleven o'clock :
and we met again in the evening at six, when
I married the officer of the post, and baptized
his two children. On the following morning,
I saw an Indian corpse staged, or put upon a
few cross sticks, about ten feet from the ground,
at a short distance from the fort. The property
of the dead, which may consist of a kettle, axe,
and a few additional articles, is generally put
into the case, or wrapped in the buffaloe skin
with the body, under the idea that the deceased
will want them, or that the spirit of these
articles will accompany the departed spirit in
travelling to another world. And whenever
they visit the stage or burying-place, which
they frequently do for years afterwards,
they will encircle it, smoke their pipes, weep
bitterly, and, in their sorrow, cut themselves
with knives, or pierce themselves with the
points of sharp instruments. I could not but
reflect that theirt is a sorrow without hope :
all is gross darkness with them as to futurity ;
and they wander through life without the
consolatory and cheering influence of that
gospel which has brought life and immortality
to light.

©■

34 DEPARTURE FROM BRANDON HOUSE.

Before I left this post, I married two of the
Company's servants, and baptized ten or twelve
children. As their parents could read, I dis-
tributed some Bibles and Testaments, with
some Religious Tracts among them. On the
24th, we set off for Qu'appelle, but not without
the kind attention of the officer, in adding two
armed servants to our party, from the expecta-
tion that we might fall in with a tribe of Stone
Indians, who had been threatening him, and
had acted in a turbulent manner at the post a
few days before. In the course of the afternoon,
we saw a band of buffaloes, which fled from us
with considerable rapidity. Though an animal
apparently of a very unweildy make, and as
large as a Devonshire ox, they were soon out
of our sight in a laboured canter. Ir the
evening our encampment was surrounded by
wolves, which serenaded us with their melan-
choly howling throughout the night: and when
I first put my head from under the buffaloe
robe in the morning, our encampment pre-
sented a truly wild and striking scene; — ^the
guns were resting against a tree, and pistols with
powder horns were hanging on its branches ;
one of the men had just recruited the fire, and
was cooking a small piece of buffaloe meat on
the point of a stick, while the others were

ENCAMPMENT.

lying around it in every direction. Inter-
mingled with the party were the dogs, lying in
holes which they had scratched in the snow for
shelter, but from which they were soon dragged,
and harnessed that we might recommence our
journey. We had not proceeded far before we
met one of the Company's servants going to
the fort which we had left, who told us that
the Indians we were apprehensive of meeting
had gone from their track considerably to the
north of our direction. In consequence of this
information we sent back the two armed ser-
vants who had accompanied us. In the course
of the day we saw vast numbers of buffaloes ;
some rambling through the plains, while others
in sheltered spots were scraping the snow away
with their feet to graze. In the evening we
encamped among some dwarf willows; and
some time after we had kindled the fire, we
were considerably alarmed by hearing the In-
dians drumming, shouting, and dancing, at a
short distance from us in the woods. We
immediately almost extinguished the fire, and
lay down with our guns under our heads, fully
expecting that they had seen our fire, and
would visit us in the course of the night. We
dreaded this from the known character of the
Stone Indians, they being great thieves; and

D 2

3()

ARRIVAL AT QU'APPELLE.

it having been represented to us, that they
murdered individuals, or small parties of white
people, for plunder ; or stripped them, leaving
them to travel to the posts without clothing, in
the most severe weather. We had little sleep,
and started before break of day, without having
been observed by them. We stopped to break-
fast at the Standing Stone, where the Indians
had deposited bits of tobacco, small pieces of
cloth, &c. as a sacrifice, in superstitious ex-
pectation that it would influence their manitou
to give them buffaloes and a good hunt. Jan.
2/th. soon after midnight, we were disturbed by
the buffaloes passing close to our encampment :
we rose early, and arrived at Qu'appelle about
three o'clock. Nearly about the same time,
a large band of Indians came to the fort from
the plains with provisions. Many of them rode
good horses, caparisoned with a saddle or pad
of dressed skin, stuffed with buffaloe wool, from
which were suspended wooden stirrups ; and a
leathern thong, tied at both ends to the under
jaw of the animal, formed the bridle. When
they had delivered their loads, they paraded
. ^ fort with an air of independence. It was
not long however before they became clamor-
ous for spiritous liquors; and the evening
presented such a bacchanalia, including the

■f

STONE INDIANS.

women and the children, as I never before
witnessed. Drinking made them quarrelsome,
and one of the men became so infuriated, that
he would have killed another with his bow, had
not the master of the post immediately rushed
in and taken it from him. Tlie following day,
being Sunday, the servants were all assembled
for divine worship, and again in the evening.
Before I left the fort, I married several of the
Company's servants, who had been living with,
and had families by, Indian or half-caste women,
and baptized Iheir children. I explained to
them the nature and obligations of marriage
and baptism ; and distributed among them
some Bibles and Testaments, and Religious
Tracts.

With the Indians who were at the Fort,
there was one of the Company's servants who
had been with the tribe nearly a year and a half,
to learn their language as an interpreter. They
were very partial to him, and treated him with
great kindness and hospitality. He usually
lived with their chief, and upon informing him
who I was, and the object for which I came to
the country, he welcomed me by a hearty shake
of the hand ; while others came round me, and
stroked me on the head, a a fond father would
his favourite boy. On one occasion, when I

)

STONE INDIANS.

'■•/

particularly noticed one of their children ^ the
boy's father was so affected with the attention,
that with tears he exclaimed, " See ! the God
takes notice of my child." Many of these In-
dians were strong, athletic men, and generally
well-proportioned ; their countenances were
pleasing, with aquiline noses, and beautifully
white and regular teeth. The bufialoe supplies
them with food, and also with clothing. The
skin was the principal, and almost the only
article of dress they wore, and was wrapped
round them, or worn tastefully -over the shoul-
der like the Highland plaid. The leggins of
some of them were fringed with human hair,
taken from the scalps of their enemies ; and
their mocasins, or shoes, were neatly orna-
mented with porcupine quills. They are noto-
rious horse-stealers, and often make predatory
excursions to the Mandan villages on the banks
of the Missouri, to steal them. They sometimes
visit the Red River for this purpose, and have
swept off, at times, nearly the whole of our
horses from the settlement. Such indeed is
their propensity for this species of theft, that
they have fired upon, and killed the Company's
servants, close to the forts for these useful
animals. They run the buffaloe with them in
the summer, and fasten them to sledges which

STONE INDIANS.

they drag over the snow when they travel in
the winter ; while the dogs earry burdens upon
their backs, like packs upon the pack-horse. It
does not appear that chastity is much regarded
among them. They take as many wives as they
please, and part with them for a reason, or
permit others to cohabit with them in their
own lodges for a time, for a gun, a hor^e, or
some article they may wish to possess. They
are known, however, to kill the woman, or cut
off her ears or nose, if she be unfaithful without
their knowledge or permission. A^U the lowest
and most laborious drudgery is imposed upon
her, and she is not permitted to eat till after
her lord has finished his meal, who amidst the
burdensome toil of life, and a desultory and
precarious existence, will only condescend to
carry his gun, take care of his horse, and hunt
as want may compel him. During the time the
interpreter was with these Indians the measles
prevailed, and carried off great numbers of them,
in different tribes. They often expressed to
him a very low opinion of the white people who
introduced this disease amongst them, and
threatened to kill them all, at the same time
observing, that they would not hurt him, but
send him home down the Missouri. When their
relations, or children of whom they are passion-

HUNTER'S TENTS.

ately fond, were sick, they were almost con-
stantly addressing their manitou drumming,
and making a great noise ; and at the same
time they sprinkled them with water where
they complained of pain. And when the inter-
preter was sick, they were perpetually wanting
to drum and conjure him well. He spoke to
them of that God and Saviour whom white
people adore ; but they called him a fool, saying
that he never came to their country, or did any
thing for them, " So vain were they in their ima-
ginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.''
Jan. 30. — ^\^^e left Qu'appelle to return to
the colony, and stopped for the night at an
encampment of Indians, some of whom were
engaged as hunters for the company. They
welcomed me with much cordiality to their
wigwams. We smoked the calumet as a token
of friendship ; and a plentiful supply of bufialoe
tongues was prepared for supper. I slept in one
of their tents, wrapt in a buifaloe robe, before
a small fire in the centre, but the wind drawing
under it, I suffered more from cold than when
I slept in an open encampment. As we were
starting the next morning 1 observed a fine
looking little boy standing by the side of the
cariole, and told his father that if he would send
him to me at the Settlement by the first oppor-

HUNTER'S TENTS.

tunity, I would be as a parent to him, clotiie
him, and feed him, and teach him what I knew
would be for his happiness, with the Indian
boys I had already under my care. Wc pro-
ceeded, and after we had travelled about three
hours, the whole scene around us was animated
with buffaloes ; so numerous, that there could
not be less, I apprehend, than ten thousand, in
different bands, at one time in our view. It
took us nearly the whole day to cross the plain,
before we came to any wood for the night. We
resumed our journey at the dawn of the fol-
lowing morning, and after travelling about
three hours we stopped at a small creek to
breakfast : as soon as we had kindled the fire,
two Indians made their appearance, and point-
ing to the willows, shewed me a buffaloe that
they had just shot. They were very expert in
cutting up the animal, and ate some of the fat,
I observed, with a few choice pieces, in a raw
state. Soon afterwards I saw another Indian
peeping over an eminence, whose head-dress at
first gave him the appearance of a wolf: and,
fearing some treachery, we hurried our break-
fast and started.

Feb. 2. — ^The night was so intensely cold
that I had but little sleep, and we hurried from
our encampment at break of day. The air was

♦ J

0. BRANDON HOUSE.

filled with small icy particles ; and some snow
having fallen the evening before, one of the
men was obliged to walk in snow shoes, to
make a track for the dogs to follow. Our pro-
gress was slow, but we persevered, and arrived
at Brandon house about four o'clock. We saw
some persons at this post, who had just come
from the Mandan villages : they informed us of
the custom that prevails among these Indians,
as with many others, of presenting females to
strangers ; the husband his wife or daughter,
and the brother his sister, as a mark of hospi-
tality: and parents are known to lend their
daughters of tender age for a few beads or a
little tobacco ! During our stay, a Sunday
intervened, when all met for divine worship in
the morning and evening, and I had an oppor-
tunity of baptizing several more children, whose
parents had come in from the hunting grounds,
since my arrival at the Post, in my way to
Qu'appelle. On the 5th we left the fort, and
returning by the same track that we came, I
searched for traces of my favourite lost dog,
but found none. The next morning I got into
the cariole very early, and the rising sun gra-
dually opened to my view a beautiful and
striking scenery. All nature appeared silently
and impressively to proclaim the goodness and

I •

RETURN TO THE COLONY.

wisdom of God. Day unto day, in the revolu-
tions of that glorious orb, which shed a flood of
light over the impenetrable forests and wild
wastes that surrounded me, uttereth speech.
Yet His voice is not heard among the heathen,
nor His name known throughout these vast
territories by Europeans in general, but to

swear by. Oh ! for wisdom, truly Christian

faith, integrity and zeal in my labours as a
minister, in this heathen and moral desert.

Feb. 9,- The wind drifted the snow this
morning 1 .v. a thick fog, that at times we could
scarcely see twenty yards from the cariole. It
did not stop us however in our way, and I
reached the farm about five o'clock, with grate-
ful thanks to God, for protecting me through a
perilous journey, drawn by dogs over the snow
a distance of between five and six hundred
miles among some of the most treacherous
tribes of Indians in this northern wilderness.

March 4. — ^The weather continues very cold,
so as to prevent the women and the children
from attending regularly divine service on the
Sabbath. The sun however is seldom obscured
with clouds, but shines with a sickly face;
if7lthout softening at all at present, the piercing
north-westerly wind that prevails throughout
the winter.

VISIT PEMBINA.

A wish having been expressed to inc, that I
would attend a general meeting of the principal
settlers at Pembina, I set off in a cariole for this
point of the Set lement, a distance of nearly
eighty miles, on the 12th. We stopped a few
hours at the Salt Springs, and then proceeded
on our journey so as to reach Fort Daer the
next morning to breakfast ; so expeditiously
will the dogs drag the cariole in a good track,
and with a good driver. We met for the pur-
pose of considering the best means of protec-
tion, and of resisting any attack that might be
made by the Sioux Indians, who were reported
to have hostile intentions against this part of
the colony, in the Spring. They had frequently
killed the hunters upon the plains ; and a war
party from the Mississippi, scalped a boy last
summer within a short distance of the fort
where we were assembled ; leaving a painted
stick upon the mangled body, as a supposed
indication that they would return for slaugh-
ter.

The 18th being the Sabbath, I preached to a
considerable number of persons assembled at the
Fort. They heard me with great attention ; but
I was often depressed in mind, on the general
view of character, and at the spectacle of human
depravity and barbarism I was called to witness.

HUNTING BUFFALOES.

During my stay, I went to some hunter's tents
on the plains, and saw them kill the buffaloe^ by
crawling on the snow, and pushing their guns
before them, and this for a considerable dis-
tance till they got very near the band. Their
approach to the animals was like the appearance
of wolves, which generally hover round them
to devour the leg- wearied and the wounded ;
and they killed three before the herd fled. But
in hunting the buffaloes for provisions it aflbrds
great diversion to pursue them on horseback. I
once accompanied two expert hunters to witness
this mode of killing them. It was in the spring:
at this season the bulls follow the bands of cows
in the rear on their return to the south, whereas
in the beginning of the winter, in their migra-
tion to the north, they preceded them and led
the way. We fell in with a herd of about forty,
on an extensive prarie. They were covering
the retreat of the cows. As soon as our horses
espied them they shewed great spirit, and be-
came as eager to chase them as I have under-
stood the old English hunter is to follow the
fox-hounds in breaking cover. The bufialoes
were grazing, and did not start till we ap-
proached within about half a mile of them, when
they all cantered off in nearly a compact body.
We immediately threw the reins upon the

•v»

HUNTING BUFFALOES.

t 1

: I

'"•i

^ i

horses' necks, and in a short time were inter-
mingled with several of them. Pulling up my
horse I then witnessed the interesting sight of
the hunters continuing the chase, till they had
separated one of the bulls from the rest, and
after driving it some distance, they gallopped
alongside and fired upon the animal, with the
gull resting upon the front of the saddle. Im-
mediately it was wounded, it gave chase in the
most furious manner, and the horses aware of
their danger, turned and cantered away at the
same pace as the buffaloe. While the bull was
pursuing them, the men reloaded their guns,
which they do in a most expeditious manner, by
pouring the charge of powder into the palm of
their hand half closed, from a horn hung over
the shoulder, and taking a ball from the pouch
that is fastened to their side, and then suddenly
breaking out of the line, they shot the animal
through the heart as it came opposite to them.
It was of a very large size, with long shaggy
hair on the head and shoulders, and the head
when separated from the carcase was nearly as
much as I could lift from the ground.

The Indians have another mode of pur-
suing the buffaloes for subsistence, by driving
them into a pound. They make the inclo-
sure of a circular form with trees felled on

I i

HUNTING BUFFALOES.

the spot, to the extent of one or two hundred
yards in diameter/ and raise the entrance with
snow, so as to prevent <■' retreat of the
animals when they ha> one ntered. Assoo 4
as a herd is seen in the horizon coming in the
direction of the pound, a party of Indians ar-
range themselves singly in two opposite lines,
branching out gradually on each side to a consi-
derable distance, that the buffaloes may advance
between them. In taking their station at the
distance of twenty or thirty yards from each
other, they lie down, while another party
manoeuvre on horseback, to get in rear of the
band. Immediately they have succeeded they
give chace, and the party in ambush rising up
as the buffaloes come opp'" ite to them, they all
halloo, and shout, and fire their gunis, so as to
drive them, trampling upon each other, into the
snare, where they are soon slaughtered by the
arrow or the gun.

The buffaloe tongue, when well cured, is of
excellent flavour, and is much esteemed,
together with the bos, or hump of the animal,
that is formed on the point of the shoulders.
The meat is much easier of digestion than
English beef; and many pounds of it are often
taken by the hungry traveller just before he

>•' r'

INDIAN ADDRESS.

i i

wraps himself in his buffaloe robe for the night
without the least inconvenience.

On my return to the Fort, I had an oppor-
tunity of hearing from a chief of a small tribe of
Chippeways, surrounded by a party of his young
men, a most pathetic account, and a powerful
declaration of revenge against the Sioux Indians,
who had tomahawked and scalped his son.
Laying his hand upon his heart as he related
the tragical circumstance, he emphatically ex-
claimed, * It is here I am affected, and /eel my
loss ;' then raising his hand above his head, he
said, * the spirit of my son cries for vengeance.
It must be appeased. His bones on the
ground uncovered. We want ammunition:
give us powder and ball, and we will go and
revenge his death upon our enemies.' Their
public speeches are full of bold metaphor,
energy and pathos. " No Greek or Roman
orator ever spoke perhaps with more strength
and sublimity than one of their chiefs when
asked to remove with his tribe to a distance
from their native soil." ^ We were born,' said
he, * on this ground, our fathers lie buried in it,
shall we say to the bones of our fathers, arise, .
and come with us into a foreign land? *

One of the Indians left his wampum, or belt.

|: t

CONDUCT IN WAR.

at the Fort as a pledge that he would return and
pay the value of an article which was given
to him at his request. They consider this
deposit sacred and inviolable, and as giving
a sanction to their words, their promises and
their treaties. They are seldom known to fail
in redeeming the pledge ; and they ratify their
agreements with each other by a mutual
exchange of the wampum, regarding it with
the smoking of tobacco, as the great test of
sincerity.

In conducting their war excursions, they act
upon the same principle as in hunting. They
are vigilant in espying out the track of those
whom they pursue, and will follow them over
the praries, and through the forests, till they
have discovered where they halt ; when they
wait with the greatest patience, under every
privation, either lurking in the grass, or con-
cealing themselves in the bushes, till an oppor-
tunity offers to rush upon their prey, at a time
when they are least able to resist them. These
tribes are strangers to open warfare, and laugh
at Europeans as fools for standing out, as they
say, in the plains, to be shot at.

On the 22nd I reached the Farm, and from
the expeditious mode of travelling over the
snow, I began to think, as is common among

.*;■

1, /

/, '

r>o

CANADIAN VOYAGEURS.

the Indians, that one hundred miles was little
more than a step, or in fact but a short distance.
It often astonished me to see with what an un-
wearied pace, the drivers hurry along their dogs
in a cariole, or sledge, day after day in a journey
of two and three hundred miles. I have seen
some of the English half-breeds greatly excel
in this respect. Many of the Canadians how-
ever are very expert drivers, as they are ex-
cellent voyageurs in the canoe. There is a
native gaiety, and vivacity of character, which
impel them forward, and particularly so, under
the individual and encouraging appellation of
* hon homme* When tripping, they are com-
monly all life, using the whip, or more com-
monly a thick stick, barbarously upon their dogs,
vociferating as they go " Sacres Crapeauxy*
" Sacrie Marnet* " Saintes Diahles^* and utter-
ing expressions of the most appalling blasphemy.
In the rivers, their canoe songs, as sung to a
lively air and chorus with the paddle, are very
cheerful and pleasing. They smoke immedi-
ately and almost incessantly, when the paddle
is from their hands ; and none exceed them in
skill, in running the rapids, passing the portages
iij^th pieces of eighty and ninety pounds weight
upon their backs, and expeditiously performing
a journey of one thousand miles.

INDIAN MARRIAGES.

April 1. — Last Friday I married several
couples, at the Company's Post ; nearly all the
English half-breeds were assembled on the
occasion, and so passionately fond are they
of dancing, that they continued to dance
almost incessantly from two o'clock on Friday
afternoon, till late on Saturday night. This
morning the Colony Fort was nearly thronged
with them to attend divine service ; and it was
my endeavour to address them, with plainness,
simplicity, and fidelity. There was much
attention; but, I fear, fi'om their talking,
principally, their mother tongue^ the Indian
language, that they did not comprehend a
great deal of my discourse. This is the
case also, with a few of the Scotch Highland
settlers, who speak generally the Gaelic
language.

Marriage, I would enforce upon all, who
are living with, and have children by half-
caste, or Indian women. The apostolic in-
junction is clear and decisive against the too
common practice of the country, in putting
them away, after enjoying the morning of
their days ; or deserting them to be taken by
the Indians with their children, when the
parties, who have cohabited with them, leave

E 2 -

li,^!

INDIAN MARRIAGES.

the Hudson's Bay Company's territories*
And if a colony* is to be organized, aiul
established in the wilderness, the moral obliga-
tion of marriage must be felt. It is " the
parent;' said Sir William Scott, "not the
child of civil society." Some form, or religious
rite in marriage is also requisite, and has
generally been observed by enlightened and
civilized nations. It is a civil contract in civil
society, but the sanction of religion should be
superadded. The ancients considered it as a
religious ceremony. They consulted their
imaginary gods, before the marriage was
solemnized, and implored their assistance by
prayers, and sacrifices ; the gall was taken out
of the victim, as the seat of anger and malice,
and thrown behind the altar, as hateful to the
deities who presided over the nuptial cere-
monies. Marriage, by its original institution')-
is the nearest of all earthly relations, and as
involving each other's happiness through life,
it surely ought to be entered upon by professing
Christians, with religious rites, invoking
heaven as a party to it, while the consent of
the individuals is pledged to each other, rati-
fied and confirmed by a vow.

* 1 Corin. vii. 12. f Gen. ii. 24.

INDIAN MAUIUAGES.

Incestuous cohabitation is common with the
Indians, and in some Instances, they will
espouse several sisters at the same time ; but
so far from adopting the custom of others in
presenting their wives, or daughters as a mark
of hospitality due to a stranger, the Chipeways
or Saulteaux tribe of Red River, appear very
jealous of them towards Europeans. There is
something patriarchal in their manner of first
choosing their wives. When a young man
wishes to take a young woman to live with
him ; he may perhaps mention his wishes to
her, but generally, he speaks to the father, or
those who have authority over her. If his
proposal be accepted, he is admitted into the
tent, and lives with the family, generally a
year, bringing in the produce of his hunting
for the general mess. He then separates to a
tent of his own, and adds to the number of
wives, according to his success and charactr* a^^
a hutiter. Tlie Indians have been greatly cor-
rupted in their simple and barbarous manners,
by their intercourse with Europeans, many of
whom have borne scarcely any other mark of
the Christian character thau the name; and
who have not only fallen into the habits of
an Indian life, but have frequently exceeded
the savage in their savage customs. When ia

INDIAN MARRIAGES.

i'i

female is taken by them, it does not appear
that her wishes are at all consulted, but she
is obtained from the lodge as an inmate at the
Fort, for the priifie of her days generally,
through that irresistible bribe to Indians, rum.
Childbirth, is considered by them, as an event
of a trifling nature ; and it is not an uncom-
mon case for a woman to be taken in labour,
step aside from the party she is travelling with,
and overtake them in the evening at their
encampment, with a new-bom infant on her
back. It has been confidently stated that
Indian women suffer more from parturition
with half-breed children than when the &ther
is an Indian. If this account be true, it can
only be in consequence of their approach to
the habits of civilized life, exerting an in-
jurious influence over their general constitu-
tion. When taken to live with white men,
they have larger families, and at the same time
are liable to more disease consequent upon it,
than in their wild and wandering state. They
have customs, such as separation for forty days
at the birth of a child, setting apart the
female in a separate lodge at peculiar seasons,
and forbidding her to touch any articles in
common use, which bear a strong resemblance
to the laws of unclcanness, and separation

BURIAL GROUND.

commanded to be observed towards Jewish
females. These strongly corroborate the idea,
that they are of Asiatic origin ; descended from
some of the scattered tribes of the children of
Israel : and through some ancient transmigra-
tion, came over by Kamtchatka into these wild
and extensive territories. When they name
their children, it is commpn for them to make
a feast, smoke the calumet, and address the
Master of life, asking him to protect the child,
whom they call after some animal, place, or
object in nature, and make him a good hunter.
The Stone Indians add to the request, a good
horse-stealer. Tlie women suckle their children
generally, till the one supplants the other,
and it is not an uncommon circumstance to
see them of three or four years old running to
take the breast. They have a burial ground at
the Settlement, and usually put the property
of the deceased into the grave with the corpse.
If any remains, it is given away from an
aversion they have to use any thing that be-
longed to their relations who have died. Some
of the graves are very neatly Covered over with
short sticks and bark as a kind of canopy, and
a few scalps are affixed to poles that are stuck
in the ground at the head of several of them.
You sec also occasionally at the grave, a piece

EXCESS IN DRINKING.

t II

of wood on which is either carved or painted
the symbols of the tribe the deceased belonged
to, and which are taken from the different
animals of the country.

April 6. — One of the principal settlers
informed me this morning, that an Indian had
stabbed one of his wives in a fit of intoxication
at an encampment near his house. I imme-
diately went to the Lodge to inquire into the
circumstance, and found that the poor woman
had been stabbed in wanton cruelty, through
the shoulder and the arm, but not mortally.
The Indians were still drunk, and some of
them having knives in their hands, I thought
it most prudent to withdraw from their tents,
without offering any assistance. The Indians
appear to mc to be generally of an inoffensive
and hospitable disposition; but spirituous
liquors, like war, infuriate them with the
most revengeful and barbarous feelings. They
are so conscious of this effect of drinking, that
they generally deliver up their guns, bows and
arrows, and knives, to the officers, before they
begin to drink at the Company's Post; and
when at their tents, it is the first care of the
women to conceal them, during the season of
riot and intoxication.

A considoi'ablc quantity of snow fell on the

III

PEMICAN,

night of the 12th, and the weather eontinuing
very cold, it is not practicable yet to begin any
operations in farming. Though I see not as
yet any striking effects of my ministry among
the settlers, yet, I trust, some little outward
reformation has taken place, in the better ob-
servance of the Sabbath.

May 2. — ^Ti^e rivers have broken up this
spring unusually late, and the ice is now
floating down in large masses. The settlers,
who went to Pembina and the plains, for
buffaloe meat in the Fall, are returning upon
rafts, or in canoes formed by hollowing the
large trunks of trees : many of them are as
improvident of to-morrow as the Indians, and
have brought with them no dried provisions
for the summer. This is not the case however
with the Scotch, who have been provident
enough to bring with them a supply of dried
meat and pemican for a future day. The dried
meat is prepared by cutting the flesh of the
buffaloe thin, and hanging it on stages of wood
to dry by the fire; and is generally tied in
bundles of fifty or forty pounds weight. It is
very rough, and tasteless, except a strong
flavour of the smoke. Pemican is made by
pounding the dried meat, and mixing it with
boiled fat, and is then ])ut into bags made of

88 PLAINS ON FIRE,

bufialoc skin, which weigh about eighty and
a hundred pounds each. It is a species of food
well adapted to travelling in the country ; but
so strongly cemented in the bag, that when it
is used, it is necessary to apply the axe ; and
very much resembles in appearance tallow-
chandler's grease.

The 10th. — ^The plains have been on fire to a
considerable extent for several days past, and
the awful spectacle is seen this evening,
through the whole of the northern, and western
horizon. Idle rumours prevail that the Sioux
Indians will attack the Settlement; which
unhappily unsettle the minds, and interrupt
the industry of the colonists. But none of
these thingf: move me, in carrying on my
plans, and making arrangements to erect a
substantial building, sixty feet by twenty. The
Red River appears to me, a most desirable
spot for a Missionary establishment, and the
formation of schools ; from whence Christianity
may arise, and be propagated among the
numerous tribes of the north. The settlers are
now actively employed in preparing to sow
the small lots of land which they have cleared :
but this season is short from the great length of
the winter. — ^The 20th being Sunday more than
one hundred of them assembled at the Fort for

\y .,

INDIAN BOY.

divine service; and their chilc^en from the
school were present for public examination.
They gave general satisfaction in their answers
to questions from the " Chief Truths of the
Christian Religion, and Lewises Catechism." —
Text Proverbs iii. 17.

By the arrival of the boats from Qu*appelle,
on the 25th, I received the little Indian boy, I
noticed, when leaving the Hunter's Tents,
during my excursion to that quarter in January
last. Soon after my departure, the father of
the boy observed, that '' as I had asked for his
son, and stood between the Great Spirit and
the Indians, he would send him to me ;*' and
just before the boats left the Post for the Red
River, he brought the boy, and requested that
he might be delivered to my care. Thus was
I encouraged in the idea, that native Indian
children might be collected from the wandering
tribes of the north, and educated in " the
knowledge of the true God, and Jesus Christ
whom he hath sent."

Every additional Indian child I obtained
for this purpose, together with the great in-
convenience of having no place appropriated
for public worship, gave a fresh stimulus to
exertion in erecting the proposed building.

CAVIARE FROM STURGEON.

There was but little willing assistance however,
towards this desirable objeet ; as few pi>ssessed
any aetive spirit of public improvement ; and
the general habits of the people being those of
lounging and smoking, were but little favour-
able to voluntary exertions.

Sturgeon are caught at this period, from sixty
to one hundred pounds weight and more, in
great abundance at the Settlement ; and also
for about a month in the fall of the year, a
little below the rapids towards the mouth of
the river. The oil of this fish is sometimes
used as lamp oil by the settlers; and the sound,
when carefully and quickly dried in the shade,
by hanging it upon a line in a good breeze,
forms isinglass^ the simple solution of which
in water makes a good jelly, and may be sea-
soned by the addition of syrup and wine, or
of the expressed juices of any ripe fruit. The
roe is often cooked immediately it is taken
from the fish; but, when salted and placed
under a considerable pressure until dry, it
forms the very nutritious article of food named
caviare. They generally afford us an abun-
dant supply of provisions for about a month
or five weeks ; and when they leave the river, we
have usually a good supply of cat fish, weighing

APPROACH OF SUMMER,

about seven or eight pounds each, and which
are taken in greater or less quantities for the
most part of the summer months.

June the 20th. llie canoes arrived from
Montreal, via Lake Superior, and brought me
the gratifying intelligence, in letters from
England, that my family were all well. It
was my intention that they should have em-
barked with me in my mission to this country,
but circumstances prevented it ; and now that
I was surrounded with unexpected difficulties,
situated in the very heart of an Indian terri-
tory, most difficult of access, and without
military protection, I deemed it most advisable
that they should defer the voyage, in the hope
that another year might lessen these difficul-
ties, and bring a better arrangement for the
prosperity of the colony. I could undergo
privations, and enter upon any arduous official
duties, for the best interests of the natives and
the settlers ; but I could not subject Mrs. West
(and infant children) to the known existing
trials of the country, whose useful talents
would otherwise have greatly aided me in the
formation and superintendence of schools.

July 2nd. An agreeable change has taken
place in the scenery around us ; the trees are
breaking into leaves, and many plants are in

■ (

MOSQUITOES.

blossom, where, but a short time ago, every
thing bore the aspect of winter. But this
almost sudden and pleasing change has brought
an unceasing torment : night and day we are
perpetually persecuted with the mosquitoes,
that swarm around us, and afford no rest but
in the annoying respiration of a smoky room.
They hover in clouds about the domestic
cattle, and drive them (almost irritated to
madness) to the smoke of fires lighted with
tufts of grass for their relief. The trial of this
ever busy and tormenting insect is inconceiv-
able, but to those who have endured it. We
retire to rest, enveloped in clothes almost to
suffocation, but the musquitoe finds its way
under the blankets, piercing with its enven-
omed trunk, till we often rise in a fever. Nor
are we relieved from this painful scourge until
the return of a slight frost, in the beginning
of September.

20th. The weather is extremely hot, the
thermometer more than 90° above zero. Ve-
getation is making an astonishingly rapid
progress, and the grain in its luxuriant growth
upon a rich soil, presents to the eye the fairest
prospects of a good harvest. But the locust,
an insect very like the large grasshopper, is
beginning to make sad ravages, by destroying

;;#■!

\. J

LOCUSTS.

the crops, as it has done for the last three
years, at the Settlement. These insects mul-
tiply so rapidly, that they soon overspread the
land, or rather the whole country; and had
not tt wise Providence limited their existence
to a year, they would no doubt (if permitted
to increase) soon destioy the whole vegetative
produce of the world. They seem to devour,
not so much from a ravenous appetite, as from
the rage of destroying every vegetable sub-
stance that lies in the way; and their work
of destruction is frequently so regular in a
field of corn, as to have the appearance of
being cut with a scythe. Where they are
bred, from eggs that are deposited in the earth
the autumn before, they stop during the
months of April, May, and June ; towards the
latter end of July, they get strong, and have
wings, when they rise together, sometimes so
numerous as to form a black cloud, which
darkens the rays of the sun. Their first direc-
tion is against the wind, but afterwards they
appear to be driven by its course, and fall,
as a scourge, as they become exhausted by
flight. " The land may he as the garden of
Eden before them, but behind them it is a de-
solate wilderness.**

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CHi^PTEU III.

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>fOnWAY IIOUSE.-

-BAPTISMS.-

-ARRIVAt. AT YORK

VACTORV. — SWISS EMIGRANTS. — AUXILIARY BIRLE

SOCIETY FORMED. BOAT WRECKED. CATHOLIC

PRIESTS. — SIOUX INDIANS KILLED AT THE COLONY. —
CIRCULATION OF THE SCRIPTURES AMONG THE COL-
ONISTS. — SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS. FISHING UNDER

THE ICE. — WILD FOWL. — MEET THE INDIANS AT

PEMBINA. THEY SCALP AN ASSINIBOINE. WAR

DANCE. CRUELLY PUT TO DEATH A CAPTIVE BOY. —

INDIAN EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE FOR THE EDUCA-
TION OF HIS CHILD. — STURGEON.

The late Earl of Selkirk having suggested that,
" In the course of each summer, it would be
proper that the minister should visit the Hud-
son's Bay Company's factory at Norway House,
and also at York Fort, as a great number of
their servants are assembled at these places,
for a few weeks in summer, and have no other
opportunity for any public religiouc instruc-
tion;" I left the settlement on the first of
August, and met, at Norway House, one of
the Directors of the Hudson's Bay Company,
and a gentleman of the North West, on their

Ifj

SWISS EMIGRANTS. «S

route from Montreal to Yort Fort, to make
arrangements for the future trade of the
country, in consequence of a coalition between
the two Companies. This was a circumstance
which I could not but hail, as highly encour-
aging in the attempt to better the condition of
the native Indians, and likely to remove many
of the evils that prevailed during the ardour of
opposition.

The 12th of August, being Sunday, we had
divine service ; after which I baptized between
twenty and thirty children, and married two of
llie Company's officers. On the 14th, we left
this Post, and arrived at York Factory, the
27th, where we found a considerable number
of Swiss families, who had left their country,
as emigrants to the Red River Colony. They
shewed me a prospectus, which had been cir-
culated in the Swiss Cantons, by a gentleman
who had been in Canada, but had never seen
the Settlement ; and were anxious in their
inquiries whether it was rising to prosjierity.
They appeared to me to be a different de-
scription of settlers, Irom what the colony,
in its infancy of improvement, was prepared
to receive ; as consisting principally of watch-
makers and mechanics. The hardy husband-
man was the character we wanted ; who would

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^ s.

AUXILIARY BIBLE SOCIETY.

work his persevering way through the thickets,
clear the surface, and spread cultivation around
us ; and not easily repine if a storm overtook
him in the wilderness.

During my stay at the Factory, several mar-
riages and baptisms took place; and it was
no small encouragement to me, in my min-
isterial labours, to have the patronage and
cordial co-operation of the Director I had the
pleasure of meeting, in establishing an Auxi-
liary Bible Society, for " Prince Rupert's Land
and the Red River Settlement." It was formed
with great liberality on the part of the Com-
pany's officers, who met on the occasion ; and
more than one hundred and twenty pounds
were immediately subscribed, in aid of an insti-
tution, (the British and Foreign Bible Society,)
which justly challenges the admiration of the
world. Pure in its principle, and simple yet
mighty in operation, it is dif][using blessings
through the four quarters of the globe: Europe,
Asia, Africa, and America, are partakers of its
bounty ; and the tide of its beneficent liber-
ality is flowing towards all nations, kindreds,
tongues, and complexions of our fellow men,
that they may read in their own tongues the
wonderful works of God.

We cheered the Director, with the most

BOAT WRECKED.

cordial feelings of regard, as he stepped into
the boat, on the morning of the 1 3th of Sep-
tember, to embark in the Prince of Wales,
on his return to England ; and immediately
afterwards, I set oif on my return to the Red
River. We overtook the second division of
boats, with the Swiss emigrants, on the 20th,
slowly proceeding, and greatly harassed with
the difficulties of the navigation. They in-
formed us, that one of their party was acci-
dentally drowned, soon after they left the
Factory ; and that several of their children had
died on the passage. We were late on our
return to the colony, and under considerable
apprehensions that the rivers would be frozen
over before our arrival. We experienced very
cold weather the beginning of October; and
our encampment at night was frequently co-
vered with snow. One of the Swiss got his
feet dreadfully frozen, from the careless neglect
of not taking off his shoes and socks to dry,
before he lay down to rest. In crossing
Winipeg Lake, one of the boats was wrecked,
but providentially no lives were lost. This
accident, however, detained us in an encamp-
ment for six or seven days; and having
scarcely any other subsistence than a little
boiled barley, I experienced at times the most

F 2

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RETURN TO FORT DOUGLAS.

pressing hunger. Every one rambled in pur-
suit of game, but generally returned unsuc-
cessful. One evening, a servant brought in
from his day's hui^t a large horned owl,
which was imruediately cooked, and eagerly
despatched. The next day, I was walking
along the shore with my gun, when the waves
cast at my feet a dead jack-fish; I took it
up, and felt, from the keenness of my appetite
for animal food, as though I could have im-
mediately devoured it, notwithstanding it bore
the marks of having been dead a considerable
time. At this moment, I heard the croaking
of a raven, and placing the fish upon the bank,
as a bait, I shot it from behind a willow, where
I had concealed myself, as it lighted upon the
ground ; and the success afforded me a welcome
repast at night.

We reached the mouth of the Red River on
the 2nd of November, and found our friend
Pigewis, the Indian chief, at his old encamp-
ment. He received us most hospitably, giving
us a good supply of dried sturgeon. Our
hungry party put the liberality of the Indians
to the test, but it did not fail; as I believe
it seldom does, in their improvidence of to-
morrow. I landed at Fort Douglas on the
4th, and could not but recount the mercies of

4ft-

CATHOLIC SCRUPLES.

God in my safe return. They have followed
me through many a perilous, and trying scene
of life ; and I would that a sense of a continual
protecting Providence in the mercy of Re-
demption, may ever actuate me in whatsoever
things may tend to the promotion of the hap-
piness, and of the best biterests of my fellow
men, in the journeyings of my life, through a
disordered and distracted world.

No sooner had the Swiss emigrants arrived,
than many of the Germans, who had come to
the Settlement a few years ago from Canada,
and had houses, presented themselves * in
search of a wife,' and having fixed their at-
tachment with acceptance, they received those
families, in which was their choice, into their
habitations. Those who had no daughters to
afford this introduction, were obliged to pitch
their tents along the banks of the river, and
outside the stockades of the Fort, till they
removed to Pembina in the better prospc ct of
provisions for the winter. Those of the Ger-
mans, who were Catholics, applied to the
Canadian Catholic Priests to solemnize their
marriage ; but they refused, because their in-
tended wives were Protestants ; and such was
their bigotry in this matter, in refusing to
marry a Catholic to a Protestant, that they

\ •:;

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SIOUX INDIANS KILLED.

expressed an opinion^ that a Catholic could not
be present, even as a witness, " sine culpa" *
when I performed the marriage ceremony,
" inter Catholicos et Hoereticos."^

The locusts which had begun the work of
destruction at my leaving the Colony for York
Factory, had completely destroyed the crops ;
and during my absence, a party of Sioux
Indians, came to Fort Douglas, in expectation,
it was said, of receiving presents from the
stores. It was thought advisable to promise
them some goods, on their returning peaceably
to their own country, and they manifested no
other than a peaceable disposition to all parties.
The Saulteaux Indians, however, of Red River,
between whom and the Sioux nation, a hostile
feeling has existed from time immemorial,
became very irritable; and a small party of
them fired upon a straggling party of the
Sioux, in a garden on the Point below the
Colony Fort ; they killed two, and wounded a
third ; and fled with such precipitation by
swimming the river, and running through the
willows, as to escape the vengeance, and
almost the view of those who survived. It is

* Without blame.

t Between Catholics and Heritics.

J»-™i»-

ASSASSINATION PREVENTED.

the glory of the North American Indian to
steal upon his enemies like a fox, to attack like
a tiger, and flee after the attack like a bird.
The Indians were not seen any more till after
the Sioux had left the settlement, who went
away murmuring, that powder and ball had
been given, as they said, at the Fort, to the
Saulteaux, to kill them. In fact they had
formed a deep laid scheme to scalp the person
in charge of Fort Douglas, in the absence of
the * Charge d' Affaires' of the Colony, and
were only prevented carrying it into execution
by one of the party giving information to a
person at the Farm, as to their intentions.
They buried those who were shot near the
Stockades of the Fort, and for more than a
week after they were gone, the Saulteaux, i :i
their savage fondness to exhibit the scalp i»;
their war-dance, and obtain possession of tho
toes and fingers of the slain, made several
attempts by night to disturb the graven but
were prevented getting these trophies, by a
watch that was kept.

November 11. — ^The winter is again set in
with severity, and I have been greatly disap-
pointed in not having the building so far
finished, as to have accommodated the school-
master with a residence, as well as to have

-I

SCARCITY OF LABOURERS.

afforded a place for divine worship before this
period. He is now resident with the Indian
boys, at the Post which formerly belonged to
the North West Company : but being so far
distant from the body of the Protestant settlers
his number of scholars is not so large as it was,
nor have we so many on the Sabbath, for
divine worship as formerly. The difficulties
which we have hitherto met with in obtaining
provisions, and the mode oi procuring them,
have formed the character of the Colonists
principally into that of hunters and fishermen ;
so that labourers are not obtained but at a high
remunerating price, or at a dollar a day each.
A circulating medium would no doubt reduce
the price of labour. It has frequently been
requested by the settlers, and would relieve
then: from many unpleasant circumstances
arising from barter and payment by bills.

I found the Scriptures at some of the Com-
pany's Posts I visited, mo5t of the copies of
which had been sent into the country, together
with the Book of Common Prayer, by one of
the Directors, who ever expressed to me a
lively interest for its moral improvement : and
the liberal supply which I had received from
the British and Foreign Bible Society, in
several ditfcrcnt languages, enabled me to cir-

CIRCULATION 01 THE SCRIPTURES.

culate many copies of the Bible among the
colonists, in English^ Gaelic, German, Danish,
Italian, and French. They were gratefully re-
ceived by them in general, and by none more
so than the Highlanders, one of whom on
receiving a Gaelic Bible well remarked, " that
one wor^. in the heart was worth more than the
whole volume in the pocket neglected." The
Catholic priests, however, opposed this circula-
tion, and one of them called on a Catholic, to
whom I had given a Bible at his own particular
request, and after anathematizing our great
reformer, asked him to give it up. The man
refused with this pointed and pertinent ques-
tion, " From whence. Sir, do you got your
knowledge of religion?" In this refusal, he
acted upon the enlightened principle, that we
derive all true sentiments in religious subjects
from the Bible, and the Bible alone ; and that
the exercise of private judgment in the posses-
sion of the Bible, was the birth-right privilege
of every man. Therein is contained the great
charter of salvation, and the awful code of
divine communication to the human race.
" A Bible then to every man in the world,"
is the sentiment wc would encourage, in
opposition to such a jiricstly objection, that
is contrary to the liberal conduct of more

OPPOSITION AND CONDUCT

enlightened Catholics, and manifestly opposed
to scriptural examples, and the divine command
of the Founder of Christianity himself. The
Eunuch was reading the scriptures^ searching
for, and inquiring after divine truth, when Philip
received a commission from heaven to " join
himself to his chariot." The Saviour gave ov
autt'oritative command to the Jews to " search
the scriptures^'* and it is recorded of Timothy
that "from a child he had known the Holy
St:i ipfures.*' They are the meai:3 of aifording
that instruction which man's v/isdom cannot
teach, while they bear every mark of a divine
revelation, in a manner worthy of God, and
plain to the meanest capacity.

I had given a French Testament to one of

the Canadians, whom I married to a Swiss

Protestant, which excited the farther active

prejudice of the Catholic priest. He called on

him, and requested that he might have it, but

the Canadian objected, saying, that as his wife

was a Protestant, she wished to read it. He

then asked to borrow it, promising to return the

Testament in a few days, and took it home with

him. I had written on the inside of the cover —

The man's liame.

From the British and Foreign Bible Society.

" Sondez les Ecritures." St. Jean, v. 39.

OF A CATHOLIC PRIEST.

A short time after it was returned, the Cana-
dian shewed me the remarks which the priest
had written, and gave me the Testament, at my
request, in exchange for a Bible.

Over the above text, the Catholic priest
wrote, " Lisez avec soin les Ecritures, mais ne
les explicuez point d'apres vos lumieres," and
immediately following my name, which I had
put at the bottom of the cover : " Si quelquun
n^coute pas TEglise regardez le comme un
Pai^n, et un Publicain." Matth. xviii. 17 ;
adding the following observations : " Dans cc
livre, on ne dit pa ^ un mot de la penitence qui
afflige le corps. Cependant il est do foi qu'ellc
est absolument necessaire au salut apres le
p^ch^, c'est a 1' Eglise de J. C. qu'il apparticnt
de determiner le sens des Ecritures."

The prejudices which the Canadian priests at
the Colony express against Catholics marrying
Protestants nmst tend to weaken the religious
and moral obligation of the marriage contract,
as entered into between them. 1 have known
the priests refuse to marry the parties of the
above different persuasions, at the time that
they were co-habiting together, as though it
were better for them to live in fornication,
than that they should violate tlie rigid statutes
of the Papal see.

BIGOTRY OF PAPISTS.

t I

I married a couple a short time ago, and
afterwards found that the priest had been un-
wearied in calling upon the woman who was a
p> ofessed Protestant, and never ceased to repeat
t her their opinions of heretics, till, with the
porsuasion of her husband, they prevailed
upon her to be re-baptized, and re-married by
t em in the nominal profession of the Catholic
fuith. And I was assured by a Swiss gentle-
man at the Settlement, who had married a
Catholic from Montreal, that some months
after their marriage, one of the priests called
upon his wife, and told her that it would have
been better for her to have married a heathen,
t an a Protestant. A heathen, he said, might
bo converted to the Catholic faith, and be
Siived, but httle hope could be entertained of a
Protestant. These circumstances prove that
Fopery, as it now exists, at least in this quarter
of the globe, is not contrary to what it was in
the days of the Reformation.

Christmas is again returned, and appears to
be generally known amongst us, as in Euix)pe,
only as a season of intoxication. Will not the
very heathen rise up in judgment, at the last
day, and condemn such a gross perversion of
the supposed period of the Redeemer's birth ;
tlic knowledge of whose name, they have

NEW YEAR'S DAY.

hitherto been unacquainted with. We had
divine service at the Fort: — text, Luke ii.
8 — 11. The Indian boys repeated some
hymns, and joined in the singing Hallelujah !
to the " Emmanuel, which being interpreted,
is, God with us." I meet with many dis-
couraging circumstances in my ministerial
labours ; but my path is sometimes cheered
with the pleasing hope, that they are not alto-
gether in vain ; and that the light of Christianity
will break in upon the heathen darkness that
surrounds me. The promises of God are sure ;
and when cast down, I am not disheartened.

January 1, 1822. — Oh thou God of mercy,
as thou hast brought me hitherto, be pleased
to support and direct me in the wilderness ;
order my footsteps, and make my path accepta-
ble to thyself—" Hoping all things, may I
endure all things," in the desire of usefulness,
as I proceed in the journey of life, and be en-
dued with a Spirit of Love, and of a sound
mind, as year after year revolves over my
head.

The 16th. We are suffering great privations
at the Settlement. Very little buffaloe meat
has been obtained from the plains, and our
principal subsistence is from grain boiled into
soup. Few have cither pepper, salt, flour, or

FISHINU UNDER THE ICE.

I ^ !

I *

vegetables. One of the Swiss was lately frozen
to death on the plains : and a Meuron settler
returning to the colony with a horse sledge of
provisions perished also from the severity of the
winter.

Frii. 14. — ^I'imcs do not yet wear a more
favourable aspect, and most of the settlers are
upon an allowance of a pint of wheat each a
day. Sometimes a few fish are taken with nets,
from mider the ice, which arc put down by
making holes at the distance of about fifteen or
twenty feet from each other, and affixing the
net line to a pole of this length, by which the
net is *lr;iwn in the water from one opening to
the other, till it is easily set. The fish that
are caught, are pike, perch, and a species of
herring, called gold-eyes, and for which an exor-
bitant price is frequently paid. The northern
Indians angle for fish in winter, by cutting
round holes in the ice about a^ foot or two in
diameter, and letting down a baited hook. This
is always kept in motion to prevent the water
from freezing, and to attract the fish to the spot.
Immediately they take a fish, they scoop out
the eyes and swallow them, thinking them as
great a delicacy as the European does the
oyster.

My professional duties calling me to Pembina,

PEMBINA.

I left the Farm in a cariole on the 20th, and was
sorry to find on my arrival many Swiss families
suttering from the want of a regular supply of
provisions from the plains. This was occasioned
in a great measure from the irreg^ului v and
eagerness with whieh the hunters pur the
butlaloes immediately they made their appear-
ance. Had they suffered some of the leading
bands to have passed in the direction they were
going towards the Settlement, instead of pur-
suing and turning them as soon as they were
seen in the horizon, others would probably have
followed, and plenty of provisions had been ob-
tained. But the fugitive supplies of the chase
are generally a poor dependanec; and the
colony will be greatly encouraged should the
domestic cattle that have been purchased arrive
from the United States. The difficulties which
the Swiss emigrants have had to encounter, and
the severity of the climate have disheartened
many of them from settling in the country, and
they have determined on going to a settlement
on the Ohio in the Spring. They attended
divine service on the Sabbath during my stay,
and expressed much gratitude for my reading
to them the French Testament and the minis-
terial duties I performed among them.

I returned to the Farm, where a report

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reached me, which was in circulation, upon
strong grounds of suspicion, that a most deli-
berate and barbarous miurder had been com-
mitted by one of the half-breeds on a Canadian
freeman. He was supposed to have been insti-
gated to the bloody deed by a woman he lived
with, and whom he received from the Canadian
for so many bufiG^iloes as provision. Evidence
however was wanting, it was thought, that would
justify his being sent down to Montreal, or to
England for trial, to convict him there ; as there
was no criminal jurisdiction established within
the territories of the Hudson's Bay Company.

March 25. — ^The thaw has come on unex-
pectedly early, and caused many of the hunters
to return from the plains with scarcely any pro-
visions. There were a few tame bufi&loes that
had been reared in the colony, which have been
slaughtered, and to save as much seed com as
possible, the allowance of grain is given out to
the settlers with the most rigid economy by
the Charg^ d'Affaires. There was a general
shout to day in the Settlement at the sight of
some swans and geese, as the sure harbingers of
Spring, and of immense flocks of wild fowl, that
bend their course in the Spring to the north, as
in the fall of the year they fly to the south. It
was indeed a cheerful sight, as nearly all the

WILD FOWL.

81.

feathered tribe leave us during a long and severe
winter. In this season, we hear only, and that
but very seldom the croaking of the raven, the
chattering of the magpie, or the tapping of
the woodpecker. But as summer bursts upon us,
' the call of the whip-poor-will is heard in the
dusk of the evening, and the solitude of the
woods is enlivened with a rich variety of birds,
some of which dazzle the eye with the beauty
of their colours. They have no notes however
in their gay plumage, or melody of sound, which
catch, and delight the ear. The wild fowl are
mere birds of passage at the Red River, and
but few were shot, as they passed over the
colony, for our relief, in the want of provisions.
Our numbers increased almost daily, from the
return of the settlers from the plains, and it
was the general opinion that it would be for
better to kill all the horses and dogs in the Set-
tlement for food, than distribute the whole
of the grain, so as to be without seed corn.

April 5. — One of the chief officers of the
Hudson*s Bay Company arrived, and gave us
the welcome promise, (before we were actually
driven to the above extremity,) that the Colony
should receive some wheat to sow from the
Company's Post at Bus la Riviere, on Lake
WinepCj^, where there is a good farm, and the

ll.

' iri

SIOUX INDIANS.

crops had escaped the ravages of the locusts.
When cheered by this prospect, the information
reached us, that a party of Sioux Indians were
on their way to the Settlement. Jh their inten-
tions in visiting us were not known, and being
apprehensive that more blood would be shed
by the Saulteaux if they came down to Fort
Douglas, it was resolved that two boats should
be manned to prevent if possible their proceed-
ing any farther than Pembina. It was far
better to present an imposing force to them on
the borders of the colony, than to suffer them to
come down amongst us, where we should have
been completely in their power, in our scattered
habitations. At the request of the chief officer
I accompanied the boats, and set off with him
for the Company*8 Post at Pembina, about the
middle of May. We arrived on the Friday, and
soon after divine service on the Sunday morn-
ing the Sioux Indians were seen marching over
the plains, with several colours flying, towards
the Colony Fort, which was immediately oppo-
site to that of the Company. When at the dis-
tance of about five hundred yards from us, they
halted, and a Saulteaux Indian who happened to
be at Pembina, immediately stripped himself
naked, and rushed towards them as a proof of
his courage. They received him with a cold

tV I

SIOUX INDIANS.

reserve, while some of them pointed their guns
close to his body. He then mingled with the
party, and we conducted them to the Colony
Fort, as is customary when Indians are supposed
to visit with peaceable and friendly intentions.
As soon as they had entered the Fort they
placed two sentinels at the gate, one with a
bow and arrows, and the other with a gun.
There was jomething like military discipline
among them, which they had probably learned
during the late American war, in which
they were engaged by the English; many of
them were of a remarkably fine stature, and
well-proportioned, but more formed for agility
than strength. Their countenances were
stamped with a fierce and barbarous expression,
and being all armed with either long knives,
tomahawks, guns, or bows, they soon encircled
and formed a guard for the Chief of their party.
After a short time, they became very restless,
and searched every comer and outhouse of the
Fort, under the suspicion that some treacherous
attack might be made upon them. A few of
them then crossed over to the Company's Post,
and no idea was entertained but that they would
conduct themselves peaceably. Liquor was
given them at both posts ; and as I was standing
within the stockades of that of the Company, at

G 2

\\\

:i'

i<. '

il-i

SIOUX INDIANS.

eight o'clock in the evening, a Chief of the
party named Wanatou, came in apparently in-
toxicated, and snatching a gun from an Indian
who stood near him, he fired it with ball in a
manner that indicated some evil design. Leav-
ing the Fort he wrestled with another for his
gun which he fired in the air, and went imme-
diately to the other post, where it was supposed
they had taken up their quarters for the night.
A guard being mounted, we retired to rest, but
were disturbed about eleven o'clock with the
cry, that the Sioux Indians had shot and scalped
an Assiniboine, who with two others had tra-
velled a considerable distance to smoke the
calumet with them at Pembina. The bloody
and unsuspected deed was committed by
Wanatou, whose intention was to have killed
the other two had they not immediately fled,
because some one, or a party of their nation
had stolen a horse from him about a year
before. As soon as the scalp was taken they
all started for the plains with this notorious
Chief, who had shed the blood of ten or twelve
Indians and Americans before ; and who bore
the marks of having been several times pierced
with balls by his enemies. It was formerly the
custom to cut off the heads of those whom they
slew in war, and to carry them away as trophies ;

SIOUX WAR-DANGE.

but these were found cumbersome in the hasty
retreat which they always make as soon as they
have killed their enemy ; they are now satisfied
with only tearing off the scalp. This is usually
taken from the crown of the head, of a small
circular size ; sometimes however they take the
whole integuments of the skull, with which they
ornament their war jackets and leggins, or twist
into a brush for the purpose of keeping off the
mosquitoes. The scalp is their glory and
triumph, and is often carried by women stretched
upon a stick, and hung with various articles so
as to make a jingle to men when they perform
the war-dance.

This is very animated and striking, as they
generally dance completely armed, and with
gestures to represent their mode of going to
war, their attack upon their enemy, the scalping
of those who are slain, and their triumphant
return as conquerors. They go through these
evolutions in such a wild and savage manner as
frequently to excite the fears of the European,
who witnesses the war dance, lest it should ter-
minate in a bloody conflict, and the death of
most of the party.

We returned to the Forks, after having seen
a party of half-breeds set off witii their horses
and carts for buffaloe meat, in the same direc-

SIOUX INDIANS.

tion the Sioux Indians were gone. They were
advised not to follow their track so immediately ;
but the want of provisions led them to neglect
this advice ; and in about a fortnight afterwards
we were informed, that they had been fired
upon in their encampment in the dawn of the
morning (the time when Indians generally make
their attack) that two of them were killed, a
third mortally wounded, and that all their
horses were stolen. It was strongly suspected
though never ascertained as a fact, that this
savage deed was committed by the Indians who
had so recently left Pembina; as well as the
scalping of one of the Company*s servants who
was killed a short time afterwards within a mile
of the Fort.

The Sioux are a great nation, spread over a
vast tract of country, between the Missisippi
and Pembina ; along the banks of the Missouri,
and towards the Saskashawan. They are divided
into numerous tribes, called Sisatoones, Yank-
toons, Wapatoones, and others, with the Assini-
boines or Stone Indians, who are recognized as
descendents or seceders, by a similarity of
language and customs. On the banks of the
Missisippi and Missouri rivers they have small
villages, where they grow Indian com, pump-
kins, and water melons ; but they live princi-

SIOUX INDIANS.

pally on the plains in the chase of the buffaloe.
Their language is very guttural and difficult,
and superstitious ceremonies and customs pre-
vail amongst them which are similar to those
observed by the Tartars. The Sioux, like the
Tartars, sometimes offer water as a symbol of
peace and safety to a stranger, or of pardon to
an offender, which strongly corroborates the
idea that they were originally from Asia. Some
time ago I was informed by an officer, who had
numbers of them under his influence in the
American war, that a Sioux Indian was doomed
to die for an offence which he had committed,
and taking his station before the tribe, and
drawing his blanket over his face, in expectation
of the fatal shot, the Chief stepped forward and
presented some water to him, as a token of par-
don, when he was permitted again to join the
party. They considei It also as a very bad omen
in common with the Tartars, to cut a stick that
has been burnt by fire, and with them they
consign every thing to destruction, though it
be their canoe, as polluted, if it be sprinkled
with the water of animals. And it is a remark-
able fact, that the laws of separation and un-
cleanness, being forty days for a male child and
eighty for a female, observed by these Indians,
exactly correspond with the Levitical law im-

CRUELTY OF SIOUX INDIANS.

posed upon, the Jews in the birth of their
children.

They are truly barbarous, like the Indians
in general, towards their captive enemies. The
following circumstance, as related to me by
an Indian woman, whom I married to one of
the principal settlers, and who was a near
relation of one of the women who was toma-
hawked by a war party of Sioux Indians, some
time ago, is calculated to fill the mind with
horror. They fell upon four lodges belonging
to the Saulteaux, who had encamped near
Fond du Lac^ Lake Superior, and which con-
tained the wives and children of about twelve
men, who were at that time absent a hunting ;
and immediately killed and scalped the whole
party, except one woman and two or three of
the children. With the most wanton and
savage cruelty, they proceeded to put one of
these little ones to death, by first turning him
for a short time close before a fire, when they
cut off one of his arms, and told him to run ;
and afterwards cruelly tortured him, with the
other children, till he died.

It is almost incredible the torture to which
they will sometimes put their prisoners; and
the adult captives will endure it without a tear
or a groan. In spite of all their suflerings.

CRUELTY OF SIOUX INDIANS.

which the love of cruelty and revenge can
invent and inflict upon them, they continue
to chaunt their death song with a firm voice ;
considering that to die like a man, courting
pain rather than flinching from it, is the noblest
triumph of the warrior. In going to war, some
time ago, a Sioux chief cut a piece of flesh
from his thigh, and holding it up with a view
to animate and encourage the party who were
to accompany him to the ferocious conflict,
told them to see how little he regarded pain,
and that, despising torture and the scalping
knife and tomahawk of their enemies, they
should rush upon them, and pursue them till
they were exterminated ; and thereby console
the spirits of the dead whom they had slain.,
' It does not appear that cannibalism is prac-
tised by any of the North American Indians ;
on the contrary, the eating of human flesh
is held in great abhorrence by them : and
when they are driven to eat it, through
dire necessity, they are generally shunned by
other Indians who know it, and who often take
their lives secretly. It is not an uncommon
practice, however, for them to cut flesh from
their captives, and, when cooked, to eat small
bits of it, as well as to give some to their
children, with a little of their blood, no doubt

ARRIVAL OF ANOTHER

under the idea that it will give them courage,
and a spirit of hatred and revenge against
their enemies. What can calm these fero-
cious feelings, and curb this savage fury of the
passions in the torturous destruction of de-
fenceless women and sucking infants? what,
but the introduction and influence of Chris-
tianity, the best civilizer of the wandering
natives of these dreary wilds, and the most
probable means of fixing them in the pursuit
of agriculture, and of those social advantages
and privileges to which they are at present
strangers.

May 24. — ^By the arrival of the boats from
Qu*appelle, I received another little Indian
boy for admission into the school; and felt
encouraged in the persuasion, that should we
extend our travels among the Indians, and
make known to them our simple object in
visiting them as Missionaries, many probably
among the diflerent tribes who traded at the
Company's Posts, would be gradually led to
give up their children for education. I had
now several under my care, who could con-
verse pretty freely in English, and were be-
ginning to read tolerably well, repeating the
Lord's prayer correctly. The primary object
in teaching them, was to give them a religious

BOY FOR EDUCATION.

education; but the use of the bow was not
to be forgotten, and they were hereafter to
be engaged in hunting, as opportunities and
circumstances might allow. As agriculture
was an important branch in the system of
instruction, I had given them some small
portions of ground to cultivate ; and I never
saw European schoolboys more delighted than
they were, in hoeing and planting their separate
gardens. Nor were the parents of these boys
insensible to the care and kindness that were
shewn to them. I was told by one of the Com-
pany's officers, that before he left Qu'appelle
for the colony, he saw the father of the boy
I had received from the Indian tents, after my
visit to that quarter, and asked him to part
with a fine horse that he was riding, which he
refused to do, saying that he kept it for the
" Black Robe," a name by which they dis-
tinguished me from the Catholic priests, whom
they call the " Long Robe," for taking care
of his boy. He repeated his af^lication for
the horse, with the tempting offer of some
rum ; but the Indian was firm in his intention
of keeping it, as a present for kindness shewn
to his child. This was gratitude; and I left
directions, in my absence from the Settlement,
that should he bring it down, he should be

EDUCATION.

treated with all possible kindness ; and amply
repaid with blankets, or any useful European
articles that he might want and which could
be procured, in return for the gift of his horse.

It was now hinted to me, that the interest
I was taking in the education of the native
children, had already excited the fears of some
of the chief factors and traders, as to the extent
to which it might be carried. Though a few
conversed liberally with me on the subject,
there were others who were apprehensive that
the extension of knowledge among the natives,
and the locating them in agricultural pursuits,
where practicable, would operate as an injury
to the fur trade. My reply on the contrary
was, that if Christian knowledge were gradu-
ally diffused among the natives throughout the
vast territory of the Hudson's Bay Company,
from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the
North Pacific, it would best .promote the
honour and advantages of all parties con-
cerned in the fiir trade, and which I was per-
suaded was the general enlightened opinion of
the Directors in London.

The 28th. The Settlers have been busily
employed of late in getting in their seed corn,
and much more has been sown than was ex-
pected a short time ago, from the prudent

STURGEON.

management of the grain, by the Charge
d* Affaires of the Colony, in the dearth of pro-
visions; and from the supply which we have
received from Bos la Riviire. The sturgeon
season also has been very successful, which
has in some measure brightened the coun-
tenances of a people, who have passed a long
and severe winter, without " the sound of the
mill stones, and the light of the candle"

)

•

t (

CHAPTER IV.

ARRIVAL OF CANOE FROM MONTREAL. — LIBERAL PROVI-
SION FOR MISSIONARY ESTABLISHMENT. MANITOBAH

LAKE. — INDIAN GARDENS. MEET CAPTAIN FRANKLIN

ANi> OFFICERS OF THE ARCTIC EXPEDITION, AT YORK
FACTORY. — FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE AUXILIARY

BIBLE SOCIETY. HALF-CASTE CHILDREN. AURORA

BOREALI8. — CONVERSATION WITH PIGEWIS. GOOD

HARVEST AT THE SETTLEMENT, AND ARRIVAL OF

CATTLE FROM UNITED STATES. MASSACRE OF

HUNTERS. PRODUCE OF GRAIN AT THE COLONY.

On the 20th of June, the light canoe arrived
from Montreal, which brought me letters from
England ; and no one ever received news from
a far country, which gladdened thp heart more
than these letters did mine. My family were
all well; and a liberal provision had been
made, for a Missionary establishment at the
Red River, for the maintenance nd education
of native Indian children, by the Church Mis-
sionary Society. In conveying this information
to me, an active friend to the communication
of Christianity to the Indians, observes, " I hope

LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.

a foundation is now laid to extend the blessings
of Christianity, religion, morals, and education,
wherever the representative of the Company
may set his foot." God grant that it may ! and
that the Light which first sprang up in Judea,
may break forth upon every part of these vast
territories, dissipate the present darkness of
the natives, and lead them to the enjoyment
of " the fulness of the blessings of the gospel of
Christ."*

All, all, is encouraging to proceed: yet I
will not conceal my fears, that expectations
may be raised too high, as to the progress that
may be made in that vast field of labour which
presents itself. — " There are a great many
willows to cut down, and roots to remove," as
an Indian chief said to me, when he welcomed
me to the country, " before the path will be
clear to walk in." The axe, however, is laid
to the root of the tree, in the establishment of
schools, as the means of instruction and of
diffusing Christian knowledge in this moral
wilderness; and we may anticipate the hope
that numbers will arise to enjoy what they are
capable of feeling, the endearments of social
life, as well as of moral and religious education.

Soon after the express canoe arrived, a Di-
rector of the Hudson's Bay Company and an

SCHOOL-HOUSE.

executor of the late Earl of Selkirk, came to
the Settlement, via Montreal. I accompanied
him to Pembina ; and he acted upon the
opinion, that the inhabitants of this distant
and extreme point of the colony, who were
principally hunters, were living too near the
su{^osed line of demarcation, between the
British territories and the United States ; and
that it would be far better for them to remove
down to the Forks ; where, if the industry of
the colonists was more concentrated, it would
tend more to their protection and prosperity.
Many promised to comply with this suggestion.
On our return, I took the opportunity of open-
ing, with divine service, the building (though
it was not finished) which was intended as a
school-house, and a temporary place for divine
worship ; and, at the same time, baptized two
of the boys who had been under my charge,
one as James Hope, and the other as Henry
Budd ; they being able to read the New
Testament, repeat the Church Catechism, and
to understand the chief truths of the Christian
Religion. -^ . . v

July 18. — We have the satisfaction of seeing
the new sown grain promise well for a crop ;
and great hopes are entertained that it will
this year escape the ravages of the locusts.

INDIAN GARDENS.

Under this sanguine expectation, I left the
colony, with the Director, on the 22d, on my
annual visit to York Factory, taking the route
of Manitobah Lake. As we passed this fine
and extensive sheet of water, we saw occasion-
ally some beautiful points, or blu£& of wood
and the most striking and romantic scenery
that can be presented to the eye. The waters
abound with fish ; and the alluvial soil of some
parts, near the banks of the lake, promises
every encouragement to the active industry
of the agriculturist. A tribe of Indians, who
traverse this part of the country, have gardens,
in which they grow potatoes and pumpkins;
and were encouragement given them, by the
presence and superintendence of a Missionary,
in the cultivation of the soil, and the assistance
of a plough and seed corn, afforded them from
the Colony, with the view to establish them in
a village, there is little doubt, that they would
gradually, or indeed soon, become so tea civil-
ized, as to promote the formation of a school
among them for the education of their chil-
dren. We proceeded on our way, through
the Dauphin River, into Lake Winipeg, and
arrived at Norway House, in about a week
after we left the Settlement.

When within about fifty miles of York

CAPTAIN FRANKLIN.

r -:/■

,!'

^(/

Fort, two Indians paddled their canoe to the
side of the boat, and requested that I would
take a little boy, who was with them, under
my charge. This I consented to do, if they
would bring him to me on my return to the
Colony ; and I threw him a blanket, as he was
almost naked, and suffering apparently fi'om
cold. In landing at the Factory, I had the
pleasure of meeting Captain Franklin, and the
gentlemen of the Northern Land Expedition,
recently returned from their arduous journey
to the mouth of the Coppermine River, and
waiting for the return of the Company's ship
to England. An Esquimaux Indian, who ac-
companied the expedition as one of the guides,
named Augustus, and who survived the sup-
posed fate of his companion, Junius,'**' often
came to my room, and interested me with his
conversation in English, which was tolerably
well understood by him, from 'the instructions
he had received during his travels. He belongs
to a tribe that annually visits Churchill Fac-
tory, from the northward; and often assures
me, that " Esquimaux want white man to come
and teach them;" and tells me, that they

* See Captain Franklin's Journey to the Coppermine
River, Vol. II. p. 270, second edition. ; ;

AUXILIARY BIBLE SOCIETY.

would " make snow house, good, properly, for
him in winter ; and bring plenty of musk oxen
and deer for him to eat.*' Captain Franklin
expressed much interest for this harmless race
of Indians: and having spoken to the Go-
vernor of this northern district, I have resolved
upon visiting Churchill, next July, in the hope
of meeting the tribe on their visit to that
Factory, and to obtain information, as to the
practicability of sending a schoolmaster amongst
them, or forming a school for the education of
their children.

During my stay at the Factory, we held the
first anniversary meeting of the Auxiliary Bible
Society, and were warmly assisted by Captain
Franklin arid the gentlemen of the expedition.
It appeared that the amount of donations and
annual subscriptions for the past year, i. e. from
Sept. 2nd, 1821, when the Society was first
formed, to Sept. 2nd, 1822, was 200/. Os. 6d.
the whole of which sum was remitted to the
parent institution in London; and the very
encouraging sum of sixty pounds was sub-
scribed at the meeting, towards the collection
for the second year.

There were but few persons who came out by
the ship for the Colony this year, as the succession
of difiieulties we had met with, had lessened the

H 2

100

HALF-CASTE CHILDREN.

.-J

encouragement to emigrate to this quarter.
Among those who came^ however, was a young
woman, as the intended wife of the schoohnaster,
who was appointed by the Church Missionary
Society, to assist in teaching at the Mission
Establishment at Red River. I obtained a little
boy and girl from an Indian tent at the Factory,
to accompany her, in addition to those who
were already there. The features of the boy
bore a strong resemblance to those of the
Esquimaux : but there was a shade of difference
between the little girl, and Indians of entire
blood, which was particularly seen in the colour
of her hair. It was not of that jet black, which
is common with the Indians in general, and
which is the case with many of the children
belonging to the tribes, or individual families
who visit, or are much about the different
Factories. I often met with half-caste children,
whose parents had died or deserted them ; who
are growing up with numbers at the different
posts in great depravity. Should their educa-
tion be neglected, as it has hitherto been, and
should they be led to ^^ find their grounds,** i
with the Indians, it cannot be a matter of sur- .
prise, if at any time hereafter they should col-
lectively or in parties, threaten the peace of the
country, and the safety of the trading Posts.

AURORA BOREALIS.

101

Sept. 4. — ^The Indians who brought the boy in
the canoe to the boat on my way to the Factory
met mc on my return, and he is taking his
passage vnth the other two children to the Set-
tlement. Though I have now made the voyage
several times from York Fort to the Colony, I
do not find that the labour and difficulty of the
way are at all relieved. Some parts of the
tracking ground might evidently be improved
by cutting away the willows at the edges of the
river ; and the track over a few of the portages
might also be made better ; some of the large
stones likewise might be removed when the
water is low, which is expeditiously done by
digging a large hole by the side and undermin-
ing them ; when they are rolled over and buried.
But to imjM'ove the passage materially, appears
to nie to be impracticable, from the shallowness
of the water, and the rapidity of the current in
many of the rivers. We savi^ that beautiful
phenomenon called the * Aurora Borealis,' or
the northern lights, on most clear evenings,
consisting of long columns of clear white
light, shooting across the heavens ^yith a trem-
ulous motion, and altering slowly to a variety
of shapes. At times they were very brilliant,
and appeared suddenly in different parts of the
sky, where none had been seen before. It has

102

AURORA BOREALIS.

been observed, that this phenomenon is not
vivid in very high latitudes, and that its seat
appears to be about the latitude of 60°.

Many of the Indians have a pleasing and
romantic idea of this meteor. They believe the
northern lights to be the spirits of their departed
friends daneing in the elouds, and when they
are remarkably bright, at which time they vary
most in form and situation, they say that their
deceased friends are making merry.

The northern Indians call the Aurora Borealis
" Edthin, i. e. Deer, from having found that
when a hairy deer-skin is briskly stroked with
the hand in a dark night, it will emit many
sparks of electrical fire as the back of a cat
will."

On the 5th of October we reached the en-
campment of Pigewis, the chief of the Red
River Indians ; and on pitching our tents for the
night a little way farther up on the banks of
the river, he came with his eldest son and
another Indian and drank tea with me in the
evening. It was the first time that I had met
with him, since I received the encouraging
information from the Church Missionary So-
ciety, relative to the Mission School at the
Colony, and I was glad of the opportunity of
assuring him, through the aid of an interpreter.

CONVERSATION WITH PIGEWIS.

103

who was of our party, " that many, very many in
my country wished the Indians to be taught
white man's knowledge of the Great Spirit, and
as a proof of their love to them, my countrymen
had told me to provide for the clothing, main-
tenance, and education of many of their
children ; and had sent out the young person
whom he then saw to teach the little girls who
might be sent to the school for instruction.**
Though not easily persuaded that you act from
benevolent motives ; he said it was good ! and
promised to tell all his tribe what I said about
the children, and that I should have two of his
boys to instruct in the Spring, but added, that
' the Indians like to have time to consider about
these matters.' We smoked the calumet, and
after pausing a short time, he shrewdly asked
me what I would do with the children after
they were taught what I wished them to know.
I told him they might return to their parents if
they wished it, but my hope was that they
would see the advantage of making gardens,
and cultivating the soil, so as not to be exposed
to hunger and starvation, as the Indians gene-
rally were, who had to wander and hunt for
their provisions. The little girls, I observed,
would be taught to knit, and make articles of
clothing to wear, like those which white people

A GOOD HARVEST.

wore ; and all would be led to read the Book
that the Great Spirit hud given to them, whieh
the Indians had not yet known, and whieh
would teaeh them how to live well and to die
happy. I added, that it was the will of the
Great Spirit, whieh he had deelared in His
Book, * that a man should have but one wife, and
a woman but one husband.* He smiled at this
information, and said that * he thought that there
was no more harm in Indians having two wives
than one of the settlers,* whom he named. I
' grieved for the depravity of Europeans as noticed
by the heathen, and as raising a stumblingbloek
in the way of their receiving instruction, and our
conversation closed upon the subject by my
observing, that * there were some very bad white
people, as there were some very bad Indians,
but that the good book condemned the practice.*
We had an unusually fine passage from the
Factory ; and in our approach to Fort Douglas,
we were cheered with the sight of several stacks
of corn standing near to some of the settlers
houses, and were informed, not only of a good
harvest, but also of more than a hundred and
fifty head of cattle having arrived at the colony,
from the Illinois territory. These were encour-
aging circumstances, and I saw with peculiar
pleasure, a stack of wheat near the Mission

MASSACRE OF HUNTERS.

105

School, which had been raised, with nearly two
hundred bushels of potatoes, from the ground
that we had cultivated near it ; and having
purchased two cows for the establishment, our
minds were relieved from anxiety as to provisions
for the children during the winter, as well as
from the quantity of grain that might be
collected, till another harvest. Our fears were
kept alive however, as to the safety of the
Settlement, by being informed of another horrid
massacre of four hunters, a woman, and a little
girl, on the plains near Pembina, by the Sioux
Indians. Their bodies were dreadfully mangled,
and the death of the little girl was attended with
atrocious barbarity. When the Indians first ap-
proached and made their attack on the party, she
concealed herself under one of the carts ; but
hearing the screams of her friends as the savages
were butchering them, she ran from the place
of her concealment, and was shot through with
an arrow as she was running to escape. The
frequent massacre of the hunters by the Sioux
Indians, and the constant alarm excited at the
Settlement, by reports that they would come
down with the savage intention of scalping us
call for some military protection. A small
party stationed at the Colony, would not only
be the means of enforcing any civil process in.

106

STAG-HUNTING.

tlie punishment of delinquents among the Colo-
nists, but afford that security in their habita-
tionSj which v/ould stimulate them to make
improvements, and to a more active industry
upon the soil, while it would have the best
effect upon the minds of the Indians at large.

Nov. 4. — ^A party of hunters have just re-
turned, bringing in some venison of the red
deer, or stag, which is sometimes killed at the
distance of about ten or twelve miles from the
Colony. It is astonishing with what keenness
of observation they pursue these animals : their
eye is so very acute, that they will often discern
a path, and trace the deer over the rocks and
the withered leaves, which an European passes
without noticing, or being at all aware, that any
human being or game have directed their
course before him. Thv^y distinguish the car-
dinal points by the terms, sun-rise, sun-set, cold
country, and warm country; and reach any
destined point over the most extensive plains
with great accuracy, or travel through the
thickest woods with certainty, when they have
nothing to direct them but the moss that grows
on the north side of the trunks of the trees, and
their tops bending towards the rising sun.
■' The 18th. The attendance on divine worship
is much improved on the Sabbath, from the

* *

HALF-CASTE CHILDREN.

107

accommodation the building alFords, and I
hope to complete it in the ensuing spring.
Wc have a considerable number of half-caste
children^ and some adult Indian women^ mar-
ried to Europeans, who attend a Sunday-
school, for gratuitous instruction ; and I have
no doubt that their numbers will increase
considerably in the spring. These children
have capacity, and would rival Europeans,
with the like instruction, in the developement
of their mental faculties. Extensive plans
might be devised, and carried into effect, if
patronized by an active co-operation, which
would ultimately result in producing great
benefits to the half-caste population, and
the Indians in general. There is an open-
ing for schools on the banks of the Saskas-
hawan, where the soil is good for cultivation,
as well as on the banks of the Athabasca river ;
and frequent applications reached me to for-
ward their establishment in those quarters,
under the prospect of their being supported
through the produce that might be raised from
the soil, and the supplies to be obtained from
the waters and the chase.

The winter has again set in, and many of
the settlers are threshing out their crops ; and
from the best information I can obtain, the

108

PRODUCE OF GRAIN.

i i

{

return of wheat has been from twenty to
twenty-five bushels per acre. Barley, may be
stated at the same produce : but where sown
in small quantities, and under particular culti-
vation, I have heard of thirty, forty, and fifty
fold being reaped. Taking the average of the
general crop, however, I think it may be fairly
stated at the above increase, without the
trouble of manuring. That useful article of
food, the potatoe thrives well, and returns upon
an average thirty bushels for one. Indian
corn is grown ; and every kind of garden
vegetable, with water melons, and pumpkins,
comes to great perfection, when spared by the
locusts. Some have raised the tobacco plant, but
it has not yet met with a fair trial, any more
than the sowing of hemp and flax. I failed in
the experiment of sowing some winter wheat,
which I brought with me from England ; but
I attribute this failure, to its being sown in an
exposed situation, and too early in the autumn,
the plant having been of too luxuriant a growth,
before the severe frosts came on. — If sown in
sheltered spots, and later in the season, there is
every probability of its surviving the winter,
which would be of great advantage in agricul-
ture, from the short period we have for pre-
paring the land and sowing it in spring. We

FRUIT-TREES, ETC.

100

have no fruit trees^ but if introduced^ they
would no doubt thrive at the Colony. We get
a few raspberries in the woods^ and strawberries
from the plains in summer ; and on the route
to York Factory, we meet with black and red
currants, gooseberries, and cranberries. There
is a root which is found in large quantities,
and generally called by the settlers, the Indian
potatoe. It strongly resembles the Jerusalem
artichoke, and is eaten by the natives in a raw
state ; but when boiled it is not badly flavoured.
The characteristic improvidence of the Indians,
and their precarious means of subsistence, will
often reduce them to extreme want, and I have
seen them collecting small roots in the swamps,
and eating the inner rind of the poplar tree, and
having recourse to a variety of berries, which
are found in abundance in many parts of the
country.

CHAPTER V.

CLIMATE OF RED RIVEU. — TIIEIIMOMETER. — PIOEWIS S
NEPHEW.- -WOLVES. — REMARKS OF GENERAL WASH-
INGTON. — INT)IAN WOMAN SHOT BY HER SON. SUF-
FERINGS OF INDIANS. — THEIR NOTIONS OF THE

• DELUGE. NO VISIBLE OBJECT OF ADORATION. —

ACKNOWLEDGE A FUTURE LIFE. — LEFT THE COLONY
FOR BAS LA RIVIERE. — LOST ON WINIPEG LAKE. —
RECOVER THE TRACK, AND MEET AN INTOXICATED

INDIAN. APPARENT FACI -ITIES FOR ESTABLISHING

SCHOOLS WEST OF ROCKY MOUNTAINS. RUSSIANS

AFFORDING RELIGIOUS INSRUCTION ON THE NORTH
WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICA. — RUMOURS OF
WAR AMONG THE SURROUNDING TRIBES WITH THE
SIOUX INDIANS.

January 1, 1823. — ^Once more I have to
record the goodness of God in preserving my
Ufe, and granting me the invaluable blessing of
health throughout the past year.

" God of my life ! to thee belong
'/ The thankful heart, the grateful song."

May my days be spent with renewed ardour
and watchfulness in my Christian profession;

A NEW YEAR.

Ill

•A'

never yielding to supincness and discourage^
ments in my Ministerial labours, and toils in
the wilderness. Of all men, the Missionary
most needs strong faith, with a simple reliance
upon the providence and promises of God
in the trials that await him. His path is
indeed an arduous one. Many unexpected
circumstances will oppose his conscientious
endeavours to fulfil his calling ; and difficulties
will surround him in every shape, so as to put
his patience, his hopes of usefulness and
steady perseverance severely to the test. He
will often exclaim in the deep conviction of
his mind, who is sufficient for the great under-
taking? — ^Experience in the Missionary field
has convinced me, that there are indeed but
few among a thousand qualified for the difficult
and exalted work. If that eminent Missionary,
St. Paul, abounding in zeal, and in all the
graces of the Spirit, thought it needful to
solicit the prayers of the Churches that " the
word of the Lord might run, and have free
course," how earnest ought our entreaties
to be of all friends of missions to " pray for
us," who, if we feel aright, must feel our own
insignificance, in our labours among the
heathen, and in our services to the Christian
church, when compared with the labours of

112

CLIMATE OF RED RIVER.

the Apostles^ or with those of a Swartz, a
Brainerd^ or a Martyn.

The climate of Red River is found to be
remarkably healthy, and the state of the weather
may be pretty accurately ascertained from the
following table for the last two years. We
know of no epidemic, nor is a cough scarcely
ever heard amongst us. The only cry of
affliction, in breathing a sharp pure air, that
creates a keen appetite, has been, ' Je riai
rien pour manger,' and death has rarely taken
place amongst the inhabitants, except by acci-
dent and extreme old age. It is far otherwise,
however with the natives of the country, who
from the hardships and incessant toil they un-
dergo in seeking provisions, look old at forty,
and the women at a much earlier age : while
numbers die, at an early stage of their suffer-
ing existence, of pulmonary consumptions.
These are so common, that they ipay be con-
sidered as the unavoidable consequence of
privations and immoderate fatigue, which
they endure in hunting and in war ; and of
being continually exposed to the inclemency of
the seasons.

CLIMATE OF RED RIVER.

113

THERMOMETER.

Month and Year

1821.

January. . . 23

February... 2

March.... 17

April 9

Date.

May

June... . ..

July

August....
September.
October....

November
December..

1822.
January. . .
February ..
March.. ..
April

May

June

July

August .. . .
September.
October . . .

November .
December..

8
3

28
3
4

26
17

28
3

13
8

28
9

21
8

13
4

29
14

A.M.

Below

5
38

34
32

• •

24
49

A.M

Above
o

50
72
76
70
58
45

7
5

65
68
75
74
59
54

Below

16
25

16
15

25
19

• •

2
25

Above
o

77
84
91
84
68
62

• •

P.M

Below
O

25
18

77
76
87
83
79
72

P.M.

Above

16
16

25
23

• •

15
28

77
88
90
88
70
65

10
21

78
76
81
84
78
71

Aver-
age
Below

Aver-
age
Above

12
23

28
25

• •

14
34

• •

68
81
85
84
65
27

• •

14
15

73
73
81
80
72
66

• •

I have selected the day in each month of the
year, when the thermometer was at the lowest

CLIMATE OF RED RIVER.

and highest degree of Zero ; which will give a
general idea of the change of the state of the
air. Tliough I have been informed of the
thermometer having been several degrees
higher and lower at the Colony, than here
stated, the winter is nearly the same, as to
the time it sets in and breaks up, as that of
Montreal ; but the frost is rather more intense,
with less snow, and a clearer air. During the
winter months, a north-westerly wind, which
is synonymous in this quarter of the globe,
with excessive cold, generally prevails; and
even in sultry weather, the moment that the
wind veers from the south to that quarter, its
chilling influence is immediately felt in the
sudden transition from heat to cold. In
summer, a southerly wind blows commonly
with considerable heat, and often in heavy
gales, is accompanied with violent torrents of
rain, and much thunder.

The 4th. — ^The Indians around us generally
divide into small parties for the better support
of their families during the winter months ;
and in their rambling existence in search of
animals for provisions. Pigewis and a few
others, occupying two lodges, called on me
to-day, saying that they were starving. The
woods which they generally hunted were burnt

PIGEWIS.

115

to a great extent during the last autumn, and
they had only killed a bear, and a few martins,
with occasionally a rabbit, as a subsistence for
the last two months. This was their report,
though they often deceive in their lounging
habits of begging at your residence. I
assisted them with a little Indian rice and
some potatoes, on their promise to strike their
tents, and proceed to some other hunting
grounds on the following day. When they
visit under these destitute circumstances, they
are often exceedingly troublesome, acknow-
ledging no right of restraint in being shut out
from your presence ; they enter your dwelling
without ceremony, and covet almost every
thing that they see. With a view, therefore,
to keep them from my room in the evening,
I sent some tea and sugar with a little flour,
for the purpose of taking my tea with them in
one of their tents. I was accompanied by one
of the Indian boys from the school as an inter-
preter, who now acted well in that capacity,
from the great progress he had made in speak-
ing English, and found them all encircling a
small fire, by the side of which they had
placed a butfaloe robe for me to sit down upon.
The pipe was immediately lighted by an Indian
whom we generally call ' Pigewis's Aid-de-

I 2

116

PIGEWIS.

Camp;' and having pointed the stem to the
heavens and then to the earth, he gave the
first whifF to the Master of Life, and afterwards
handed it to me. Pigewis then delivered what
I understood to be an address to the Great
Spirit, and the party seated around him used
an expression, apparently of assent, in the
middle and conclusion of his: speech. Though
addressing an unknown God, what a reflection
does his conduct, in returning thanks for his
short and precarious supplies, to the Master of
Life, cast upon multitudes who profess Chris-
tianity and the knowledge of the true God,
and yet daily partake of the bounties of his
providence, without any expression of grati-
tude, or whose only return, is to live in the
known violation of his laws, and to blaspheme
his holy name, in the midst of his goodness
towards them I

Pigewis breakfasted with me on the following
morning ; and his general remarks in conver-
sation gave me, as they had done before, a
favourable opinion of his penetration and
mental ability. The active efforts of his
mind, however, are confined principally to
those objects which immediately affect his
present wants or enjoyments. Savages talk of
the animals that they have killed, and boast of

NATIVE INDIAN HABITS.

117

the 8(!a1ps thnt they have taken in their war
excursions; but they form no arrangement,
nor enter into calculation for futurity. They
have no settled place of abode, or property,
or acquired wants and appetites, like those
which rouse men to activity in civilized life,
and stimulate them to persevering industry,
while they keep the mind in perpetual exer-
cise and ingenious invention. Their simple
wants are few, and when satisfied they waste
their time in listless indolence ; and are often
seen lying on the ground for whole days to-
gether, without raising their heads from under
the blanket, or uttering a single word. The
cravings of hunger rouse them ; and the scar-
city of animals that now prevails in many
parts of the country, is a favourable circum-
stance towards leading them to the cultivation
of the soil ; which would expand their minds,
and prove of vast advantage, among other
means, in aiding their comprehension of Chris-
tianity. It must not be expected, however,
that the Indians will easily forsake a mode of
life that is so congenial to man, in his natural
love of ease and indolence and licentious
freedom. Necessity, in a measure, must
compel them to do this ; hut the children may
he educated, and trained to industry upon the

IIH

PIOEWISS NEPHEW.

jioil, in tlic hope that they may be recovered
from their savage habits and customs, to see
and enjoy the blessings of civilization and
Christianity. This objeci is highly important,
and no means should be s^Nifcd in attempting
its accomplishment, where practicable. Where
is our humanity and Christian sympathy, and
how do we fulfil the obligations which Chris-
tianity has enforced, if we do not seek to raise
these wandering heathen, who, with us, are
immortal in their destiny, from a mere animal
existence to the partaking of the privileges and
hopes of the Christian religion ?

Before Pigewis left me, his sister arrived,
who was then living with a very lazy bad
Indian, and asked me to take her eldest boy,
whose father was dead, into the school. Though
much above the usual age of admission upon
the establishment, I consented to receive him ;
and they both took an affectionate leave of
him, remarking that they were siire I should
keep him well. The whole party then set off
towards some fresh hunting grounds, and it
was my hope and expectation that I should see
nothing more of them till the spring. The
boy was comfortably clothed, and he appeared
to be well satisfied with the rest at the school,
and had begun to learn the English alphabet.

PIGEWIS'S NEPHEW.

when, to iny surprise, I found the mother, with
tlie Indian, in my room, in about a week after
they had left the Settlement with Pigewis,
saying that they had parted from him in con-
sequence of their not being able to obtain any
provision; and that " tliey thought it Ion'-"
since they had seen the boy. He was per-
mitted to go from the school-house to their
tent, which they had pitched near me in the
woods, almost daily without restraint, till at
length he refused to return. I repeated my
request for him without effect ; and having
my suspicion excited, that they would take
him away for the sake of the ?lothing and
blankets which I had given him, I determined
upon having them again, as an example to
deter others from practising the like imposition.
The parties were angry at my determination,
and \o' king upon the medicine bag that was
suspended on the willows near the tent, and
which is carried by most of the Indians, as a
sacred depository for a few pounded roots,
some choice bits of earth, or a variety of ar-
ticles which they only know how to appreciate
with superstitious regard, they told me that
" they had bad medicine for those who dis-
pleased them." I insisted, however, on the return
of the articles I had given to the boy, and ob-

iiMMMW

■■■

120

WOLVES.

tained them ; at the same time promising that
if he would go back to the school-house, he
should have his clothes again ; but added, that
" it would never be allowed for Indians to bring
their children to the school, which was esta-
blished to teach them what was for their hap-
piness, merely for the purpose of getting them
clothed and provided with blankets, and then
to entice them to leave it.'*

Jan. 20. — ^The severity of the winter has
driven a number of wolves to hover about the
Settlement in search of provisions; they are
perfectly harmless however, as they are met
singly, and skulk away like a dog conscious of
having committed a theft. But in packs, they
kill the horses, and are formidable to en-
counter. In the pursuit of buffaloes and the
deer on the plains, they are known to form a
crescent, and to hurry their prey over pre-
cipices, or upon the steep muddy banks of
a river, where they devour them. ' No instance
has occurred of their having seized any of the
children of the settlers, though they some-
times kill and eat the carcases of the dogs
close to their houses.

February 3. — It appears that I have given
great offence to one of the remaining Swiss
emigrants, for refusing to baptize, at his im-

mmm

i^"***"

IMMORALITY.

121

mediate request, the child of his daughter,
born of fornication, and cast away by her, as
living in adultery. I deeply lamented the cir-
cumstance, but felt the obligation to defer the
administration of the sacrament, from the con-
viction that the profligacy of the case called
for an example which might deter others
among the Swiss from acting in the like
manner; and at the same time be a public
expression of disapprobation, on my part, of
such unblushing depravity, in the eyes of a
numerous young people growing up at the
Colony. Unless chastity be considered as a
virtue, what hope can be entertained of forming
any organized society? and if the Colonists
fearlessly commit crimes, because they have
stepped over a certain line of latitude; and
live in a wild profligacy, without the curb of
civil restraint, the Settlement can hold out but
faint hopes of answering in any way the ex-
pectations of its patrons. Till morality and
religion form its basis, disappointment must
follow. Nor can I imagine that the system
taught by the Canadian Catholic priests will
avail any thing materially in benefitting the
morals of the people ; they are bigotted to
opinions which are calculated to fetter the
human mind, to cramp human exertion, and to

■i

»4I

122

IDOLATRY.

keep their dependants in perpetual leading-
strings. Their doctrine is —

'' Extra Ecclesiam Romanam, salus non esse potest." *

They appear to me to teach Christianity only
as a dry system of ecclesiastical statutes, with-
out a shadow of spirituality. While they mul-
tiply holidays, to the interruption of human
industry, as generally complained of by those
who employ Canadians, they lightly regard
the Sabbath; and sanction the practice of
spending the evenings of this sacred day at
cards, or in the dance. In their tinkling
service of worshipping the elevated ^r>st as
the very God himself, they fall down also in
adoration to the Virgin Mary, addressing
her, as —

. " Reine des Cieux !

Intercedez pour nous,
M^redeDieu!"

and proudly arrogate to the Church of Rome, the
absolute interpretation of Scripture ; forbidding
the people to examine whether she does it
rightly or not. I thank God that I am a Pro-
testant against such idolatry and ecclesiastical
tyranny !

* There is no salvation beyond the pale of the Roman
Church.

"^f^

GENERAL WASHINGTON.

123

The able and enlightened remarks of that
renowned general and eminent statesman,
Washington, in his farewell address to the
people of the United States, relative to the
well-being of a nation, are equally applicable
to the existence and prosperity of a Colony :
" Of all the dispositions and habits which lead
to political prosperity (he observed), religion
and morality are indispensable supports. In
vain would that man claim the tribute of pat-
riotism, who should labour to subvert these
great pillars of human happiness, these firmest
props of men and citizens. The mere politician,
equally with the pious man, ought to respect
and cherish them. A volume would not trace
all their connexions with private and public
fehcity. Let it be simply asked. Where is the
security for property, for reputation, for life,
if the sense of religious obligation desert the
oaths which are the instruments of investiga-
tion in the courts of justice ? And let us with
caution indulge the supposition, that morality
can be maintained without religion. What-
ever be conceded to the influence of refined
education, or minds of a peculiar structure;
reason and experience forbid us to expect that
national morality can prevail in exclusion of
religious principle."

'■I •

! '?!

\% .1

;i;

124

INDIAN SUFFERINGS.

A daughter has driven her aged Indian
father, lashed, in his buffaloe robe, on a sledge,
to the Colony. He appeared to be in a very
weak and dying state, and has suffered much
from the want of provisions. I was much
pleased with this instance of filial aifection and
care. Sometimes the aged and infirm are
abandoned or destroyed ; and however shocking
it may be to those sentiments of tenderness
and aifection, which in civilized life we regard
as inherent in our common nature, it is prac-
tised by savages in their hardships and extreme
difficulty of procuring subsistence for the
parties who suffer, without being considered
as an act of cruelty, but as a deed of mercy.
This shocking custom, however, is seldom
heard of among the Indians of this neighbour-
hood ; but is said to prevail with the Chipwyan
or Northern Indians, who are no sooner bur-
dened with their relations, broken with years
and infirmities, and incapable of following the
camp, than they leave them to their fate. In-
stead of repining they are reconciled to this
dreadful termination of their existence, from
the known custom of their nation, and being
conscious that they can no longer endure the
various distresses and fatigue of savage life, or
assist in hunting for provisions. A little meat.

•w*

I '1

A WOMAN SHOT BY HER SON.

135

with an axe, and a small portion of tobacco,
are generally left with them by their nearest
relations, who in taking leave of them, say,
that it is time for them to go into the other
world, which they suppose lies just beyond the
spot where the sun goes down, where they will
be better taken care of than with them, and
then they walk away weeping. On the banks
of the Saskashawan, an aged woman prevailed
on her son to shoot her through the head,
instead of adopting this sad extremity. She
addressed him in a most pathetic manner, re-
minding him of the care and toil with which
she bore him on her back from camp to camp
in his infancy ; with what incessant labour she
brought him up till he could use the bow and
the gun ; and having seen him a great warrior,
she requested that he would shew her kindness^
and give a proof of his courage, in shooting
her, that she might go home to her relations.
" I have seen many winters, she added, . id am
now become a burden, in not being able to
assist in getting provisions ; and dragging me
through the country, as I am unable to walk,
is a toil, and brings much distress : — take your
gun." She then drew her blanket over her
head, and her son immediately deprived her of

126

SUFFERINGS OF THE INDIANS.

life : in the apparent consciousness of having
done an act of filial duty and of mercy.

The old man who was brought to the Settle-
ment, by his daughter for relief soon recovered,
so as to become exceedingly troublesome by
coming almost daily to my room. I succeeded
at length in starting them for some hunters'
tents on the plains, where they expressed a
wish to go, if supplied with provisions to carry
them there, by killing a small dog, and giving
it to them for food. An ox would not have
been more acceptable to a distressed European
family than this animal was to these Indians.
But on leaving me two more families came to
my residence in a state of starvation. Necessity
had compelled them to eat their dogs, and they
themselves were harnessed^ to their sledges,
dragging them in a most wretched and ema-
ciated condition. One of the men appeared to
be reduced to the last stage of .existence, and
upon giving him a fish and a few cooked pota-
toes, such was his natural affection for his
children, that, instead of voraciously devouring
the small portion of food, he divided it into
morsels, and gave it to them in the most affec-
tionate manner. His children from their ap-
pearance had partaken of by far the largest

Il»ll

SUFFERINGS OF THE INDIANS.

127

share of that scanty supply which he had lately
been able to obtain in hunting. They pitched
their tents at a short distance below in the
woods, and the poor man came to me next
morning with the request that I would bleed
him for a violent pain which he complained of
in his side. This I refused to do, and gave
him a note to the medical gentleman of the
Colony, promising to call on him the next day.
When I saw him I found that he had not de-
livered the note, but had bled himself in the
foot with the flint from his gun, and spoke of
having experienced considerable relief. The
party were dreadfully distressed for provi-
sions, and had actually collected at their tents
the remains of a dog which had died, with part
of the head of a horse, that had been starved
to death in the severity of the winter, and
which was the only part of the animal that
was left by the wolves. The head of the dog
was boiling in the kettle, and that of the horse
was suspended over it, to receive the smoke of
the fire in the preparation for cooking ; while
the children were busily employed in break-
ing some bones which they had picked up,
with an axe, and which they were sucking in
their raw state for their moisture. This was
the suffering extremity not of lazy bad Indians,

I ^

M h

> 1

I 1
\

■m i

SUFFERINGS OF THE INDIANS.

but of those who bore the character of good
hunters, and were particularly careful of their
families ; and I fear it is the case of many more
from the exhausted state of animals in the neigh-
bourhood of Red River : and from the frequent
fires that occur in the plains, which extend also
to the destruction of the woods.

Towards the conclusion of the month we had
another melancholy proof of the Indians suffer-
ing extreme want from the few animals that
were to be met* with during the winter. An
Indian with his wife on their arrival gave me to
understand that they had been without food for
twenty days, and had lost their three children by
starvation. Their appearance was that of a melan-
choly dejection, and I had my suspicions excited
at the time that they had eaten them. This was
confirmed afterwards by the bones and hands of
one of the children being found near some ashes
at a place where they said they had encamped,
and suffered their misery. It appears that two of
their children died from want, whom they cooked
and eat, and that they afterwards killed the
other for a subsistence in their dire necessity. I
asked this Indian, as I did the other, whether from
having suffered so much, it was not far better
to do as the white people did and cultivate the
ground ; he said, " Yes ;" and expressed a desire

. ft

DIFFICULTY OF IMPRO¥EMENT.

129

to do SO if he could obtain tools, seed wheat
and potatoes to plant. Though it is the char-
acter of the savage to tell you what he will do
in future at your suggestion, to prevent the
calamity which he may be suffering from want
of food or the inclemency of the weather, and as
soon as the season becomes mild, and the rivers
yield him fish, or the woods and plains provi-
sions, to forget all his sufferings, and to be as
thoughtless and improvident as ever as to
futurity ; yet, I think that a successful attempt
might be made by a proper superintendance,
and a due encouragement to induce some of
the Indians of this quarter to settle in villages,
and to cultivate the soil. The voice of hu
manity claims this attention to them, under
their almost incredible privations at times : but
prejudices may exist in the country which pre-
vent this desirable object being carried into
effect. There was a time when the Indians
themselves had begun to collect into a kind of
village towards the mouth of the Red River,
had cultivated spots of ground, and had even
erected something of a lodge for the purpose
of performing some of their unmeaning cere-
monies of ignorance and heathenism, and to
which the Indians of all the surrounding
country were accustomed at certain seasons to

•fjl

i ;v

130 INDIAN NOTIONS OF THE DELUGE.

repair ; but fears were entertained that the
natives would be diverted from hunting furs to
idle ceremonies, and an effectual stop was put
to all further improvement, by the spirit of
opposition that then existed in the country
between the two rival Fur Companies.

March 10. — ^The ringing of the Sabbath bell
now collects an encouraging congregation ;
and some of us, I trust, could experimentally
adopt the language of the Psalmist, in saying,
'' I was glad when they said unto us, let us go
into the house of the Lord." — ^My earnest
prayer to God is, that I may exercise a spiritual
ministry; and faithfully preach those truths
which give no hope to fallen man, but that
which is founded on God's mercy in Christ. I
often felt rejoiced in spirit in the prospect of
doing good amidst the wild profligacy of man-
ners that surrounded me, and of making known
the doctrines and precepts of Christianity, where
Christ had never before been named. Several
adult married Indian women attended the
Sunday School, with many half-caste children
to be taught to read, and to receive religious in-
struction, which gave me an opportunity of as-
certaining what the notions of the Indians were
concerning the flood and the creation of the
world.. They appeared either to be ignorant, or

THE DELUGE.

131

unwilling to relate any traditionary stories that
they might have as to the original formation of
the world, but spoke of an universal deluge,
which they said was commonly believed by
all Indians. When the flood came and des-
troyed the world, they say that a very great
man, called Wsesackoochack, made a large raft,
and embarked with otters, beavers, deer, and
other kinds of animals. After it had floated
upon the waters for some time, he put out an
otter, with a long piece of shagganappy or
leathern cord tied to its leg, and it dived very
deep without finding any bottom, and was
drowned. He then put out a beaver, which was
equally unsuccessful, and shared the same fate.
At length he threw out a musk-rat, that dived
and brought up a little mud in its mouth, which
Wsesackoochack took, and placing in the palm of
his hand, he blew upon it, till it greatly enlarged
itself, and formed a good piece of the earth.
He then turned out a deer that soon returned,
which led him to suppose that the earth was not
large enough, and blowing upon it again its
size was greatly increased, 90 that a loom which
he then sent out never returned. The new
earth being now of a sufficient size, he turned
adrift all the animals that he had preserved. He
is supposed still to have some intercourse with

K 2

132

THE CREATION AND DELUGE.

If'

and iK)wer over them as well as over the Indians,
who pray to him to protect them and keep
them alive. Sir Alexander Mackenzie, in
speaking of the Chepcwyan or Northern In-
dians, who traverse an immense track of country,
to the north of the Athabasca lake, says, " that
the notions which these people entertain of the
creation are of a singular nature. They believe
that the globe was at first one vast and entire
ocean, inhabited by no living creature except a
mighty bird, whose eyes were fire, whose
glances were lightning, and the clapping of
whose wings was thunder. On his descending
to the ocean, and touching it, the earth in-
stantly arose, and remained on the surface of
the waters. They have also a tradition amongst
them, that they originally came from another
country, inhabited by very wicked people, and
had traversed a great lake, where they suffered
much misery, it being always winter, with ice
and deep snow. At the Copper-Mine River,
where they made the first land, the ground was
covered with copper. They believe also that in
ancient times their ancestors lived till their feet
were worn out with walking, and their throats
with eating. They describe a deluge, when
the waters spread over the whole earth, except
the highest mountains, on the tops of which

1 1

THE CREATION AND DELUGE.

133

they preserved themselves." There api)ears to
be a general belief of a flood among all the tribes
of this vast continent ; and the Bible shews mc
from whenee spring all those fables, and wild
notions whieh they entertain ; and which pre-
vail in other parts of the heathen world upon
ti\ese subjects. They are founded upon those
events whieh the sacred scriptures record, and
whicl:. have been corrupted by different nations,
scattered and wandering through the globe as
the descendants of Noah, without a written
language. The Hindoo therefore in his belief
that the earth was actually drawn up at the
flood, by the tusks of a boar, and that it rests
at this hour on the back of a tortoise : and the
North American Indian in his wild supposition
that Wsesackoochack, whose reputed father
was a snake, formed the present beautiful order
of creation after the deluge, by the help of a
musk-rat, aflbrd no inconsiderable proof that
the Bible is of far greater antiquity than any
other record extant in the world, and that it is
indeed of divine origin. While its sacred page
therefore informs and decides my judgment
by the earliest historic information, may its
principles influence my life in all Christian
practice, and joyful expectation of the world to
come, through faith in Him, whom it records

134 NO VISIBLE OBJECT OF ADORATION.

as the Redeemer of mankind; and in whom
believing " there is neither barbarian, Scythian,
bond; nor free."

' One song employs all nations, and all sing.
Worthy the Lamb ! for he was slain for us.
The dwellers in the vales and on the rocks
Shout to each other ; and the mountain-tops.
From distant mountains catch the flying joy ;
Till, nation after nation taught the strain,
?:, Earth rolls the rapturous hosannah round/

I could never discover that the Indians
among whom I travelled had any thing like a
visible object of adoration. Neither sun, moon,
nor stars, appear to catch their attention as
objects of worship. There is an impression
upon their minds, of a Divine Being, whom
they call the Great Spirit^ whom they ignor-
antly address, and suppose to be too good
even to punish them. Their general idea is,
that they are more immediately under the
influence of a powerful Evil Spirit. Expe-
rience has taught them this melancholy fact,
in the trials, sufferings, afflictions, and multi-
form death which they undergo ; and therefore
their prayers are directed to him, when any
severe calamity befalls them. To avert his
displeasure, they often have recourse to super-

A FUTURE STATE.

135

^i^

stitious practices^ with the most childish cre-
dulity ; and will drum and dance throughout
a whole night, in the hope of bringing relief
to the sick and dying. They know not that
the great enemy of man's haj^iness and sal-
vation, is a chained enemy, and a captive to
Him who triumphed in his resurrection and
ascension to glory, and under the control and
permissive will of Him, whom they denominate
Keetchee Manitou, or Great Spirit ; and, con-
sequently they are enslaved to all that is
pitiable in ignorance and superstition. Ac-
knowledging the being of a God, the unculti-
vated minds of these savages have led them to
shrink from the thoughts of annihilation, and
to look forward with hope to a future life.
They have no idea however of intellectual
enjoyments ; but a notion prevails among them,
that at death they arrive at a large river, on
which they embark in a stone canoe ; and that
a gentle current bears them on to an extensive
lake, in the centre of which is a most beautiful
island, in the sight of which they receive their
judgment. If they have died courageously in
war, they are particularly welcomed in landing
upon the island, where they, with skilful
hunters, enby perpetual spring and plenty,
and live with all the good in an eternal enjoy-*

136

VISIT BAS LA RIVlfeRE.

ment of sensual pleasures. If they die with
their hands imbrued with the blood of their
countrjrmen, and are lazy bad characters^ the
stone canoe sinks with them, leaving them up
to their chins in water, that they may for ever
behold the happiness of the good, aiid struggle
in vain to reach the island of bliss.

The 17th. I left the Colony in a cariole,
to visit the Company's Post at Bas la Riviere ;
we stopped the night, near the mouth of
the Red River, and crossed the point ui
Lake Winipeg, on the ice, the following day^
in time to reach the Fort the same evening.
It is pleasantly situated by a fine sheet of
water; and is the way the canoes take their
route to Fort William, Lake Superior, and
Montreal. During my stay, the officer of the
Post gave me the much admired fish of the
country, called by the Indians, tittameg, and
by the Americans, white Jish. Its usual weight
is about three or four pounds ; but it is caught
in some of the lakes of a much larger size ;
and, with the stiu*geon, is a principal article of
food, and almost the only support of some of
the establishments. Before I 1^, the officer
was married to one of the best informed and
most improved half-caste women I had seen.
She was the daughter of one of the chief

t^tx Wfc

-JSI M

LOST ON WINIPEG LAKE.

137

i"/-

'jt-tt*

factors^ who was particularly fond of his family ;
and afforded an instance of superiority of cha-
racter among this class of people, from the
care and instruction which she had received.
The Motifs, or, as they are sometimes called,
Bois bruits, have displayed the most striking
ability as steersmen of boats, through the most
difficult rapids, and in the navigation of the
rivers ; and if advantages were given them in
education, they have capacities of usefulness
which might adorn the highest stations of
civilized life. Of the moral degradation, how-
ever, of these people, in common with that of
the Canadian voyageurs, it is difficult to exhibit
an accurate picture^ Suffice it to say, that it
is. a degradation which, in some respects,
exceeds even that of the native Indian him-
self.

In starting from the Company's Post, on my
return to the Colony, it was my hope that we
should cross the point of Winipeg Lake to the
mouth of the Red River, in one day, as we had*
done in our way thither ; but about two o'clock
in the afternoon, I perceived, as I was in the
cariole, that the driver had mistaken his way.
I told him of his error, but he persisted in the
opinion that he was right, and drove on till
the evening closed upon us, without his finding

iliiMli

■

138

LOST ON WINIPEG LAKE.

the entrance to the Red River. Night came
on, and the dogs were exhausted with fatigue,
which obliged us to stop, though not before
one of them contrived to slip his head out of
the collar. It happened that we were near
some wood on the ed^e of the lake, but in
reaching it we sank in soft drift snow up to
the middle; and it was a considerable time
before we could make our preparations for the
night, under the spreading branches of a pine
tree. We got but little rest from the small
fire that we were able to make, and from our
bad encampment. The next morning, I found
that the driver was greatly embarrassed in his
idea of cur exact situation, and he led me
throughout the day from one point of wood to
another, over the ice, on the borders of the
lake, in a directly contrary way to that in
which we ought to have gone. We had no
food for our dogs, and on coming to our en-
campment for the night, the aitimals were
completely worn out with fatigue; and what
added to our trials, was the loss of the flint,
which the man dropped in the snow, the first
time he attempted to strike the steel to kindle
a fire. After some difficulty we succeeded,
with a small gun-flint, which I found in my
pocket, and we bivouacked upon the snow,

■ 1

• I

>«'

•1

REGAIN THE TRACK.

before an insufficient fire, from the scanty
wood we were able to collect. It was my wish
to have divided the little provision that re-
mained with the dog*s, as they had eaten nothing
for two days, and I considered them scarcely
able to move with the cariole the next morn-
ing, at the same time intending to kill one of
them the following evening, to meet our wants,
should we not succeed in recovering our track.
The driver assured me, however, that they
would go another day without giving up.
From the conversation I had with him, before
we started on the following morning, I found
that he had no knowledge of our situation on
the extensive lake before us, and supposed
that the Red River lay to the north, while I
thought, from the course of the sun, that it was
to the south, and insisted upon his taking that
direction, which we did accordingly ; and after
a laborious and rather anxious day*s toil, we
saw some points of small and scattered willow
bushes, like those which I knew to be near the
entrance of the river. This providentially
proved to be the case, otherwise our tria,l8
must have been great ; the driver having be-
come nearly snow-blind, and incapable of
driving the dogs, and the weather becoming
more intensely cold and stormy. It may easily

140

REGAIN THE TRACK.

be conceived what our feelings were, in re-
covering a right tracks after wandering for
several days upon an icy lake, among the in-
tricate and similar appearances of numerous
and small islands of pine. They were those,
I trust, of sincere gratitude to God ; and I
often thought what a wretched wanderer was
man in a guilty world, without the light of
Christianity to guide, and its principle to direct
his steps. Infidelity draws a veil around him,
and shrouds all in darkness as to a future life.
All, all is uncertainty before him, as the tem-
pest-tossed mariner without a compass, and the
wearied wandering traveller without a chart or
guide. Let me then prize the scriptures more,
which have " God for their author, truth un-
mingled with error for their subject, and sal-
vation for their end." They are the fountains
of interminable happiness, where he who hun-
gers and thirsts alter righteousness, may be
satisfied ; and when received in principle and
in love, are a sure and unerring guide, through
a wilderness of toil and suffering, to the
habitations of the blessed, " not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens.'*

As we passed along the river towards the
Settlement, wc met an intoxicated Indian, who
had been drinking at the grave of his child.

BURIAL OF A CHILD.

141

whom he had buried in the fall of the year. In
going to the spot, I found that all the snow
and the grass had been removed, and that a
number of Indians, with Pigewis, had encircled
the pla ' V jcre the body had been deposited;
and, as is their custom, they smoked the cal-
umet, wept, and sacrificed a little of what they
possessed to the departed spirit of the child.
They do this, under the idea that the deceased
may want these articles in the world whither
they are gone ; and it is very affecting occa<
sionally to hear the plaintive and mournful
lamentations of the mother at the grave of her
child, uttering in pitiful accents, " Ah ! my
child, why did you leave me ! Why go out of
my sight so early! Who will nurse you and
feed you in the long journey you have under-
taken ! ** The strength of natural affection will
sometimes lead them to commit suicide, under
the idea that they shall accompany the spirit,
and nurse their departed child in the other
world. This persuasion, that the spirits of the
deceased want the same attendance in their
new station as in the present life, is so deeply
rooted in the minds of the Indians, that the
Carriers f west of the Rocky Mountains, some-
times burn the widow; and a chief, on the
North-West coast of America, sacrificed a

142

REACH HOME.

human victim, who was a slave, on the death
of his son. In some provinces of America,
historians have mentioned that, upon the
death of a Chief, a certain number of his
wives, and of his skives who had been taken in
war, were put to death, and interred together
with him, that he might appear with the same
dignity in the world of spirits, and be waited
upon by the same attendants. Some have
solicited the honour to die, while others have
fled, as marked for victims, under this cruel
and superstitious practice.

April 4. — On my arrival at the Church
Mission House for divine worship, a poor In-
dian idow with five children, asked me to
admit two of the boys into the schools, which I
immediately did, and particularly wished her to
leave the two girls also, one about six, and the
other eight years of age ; but she would not com-
ply with my request. The boys were very wild
and troublesome, and often ran away from the
school to their mother, who was generally living
about the Settlement. They were getting at
length however better reconciled, and had
begun to be attached to the schoolmaster, when
I was informed the Catholics were prejudicing
her mind against the school ; and that some of
the women of that persuasion had told her, that

<ji

THE SCHOOL.

I was collecting children from the Indians with
the intention of taking them away to my
country. This idea was spread amongst them,
and an Indian calling at my residence told me
that he would give his boy to the school, if I
would not leave them, as he understood I in-
tended to do. In vain did I tell him, that in
going home to see my wife and children I should
be glad to return and bring them with me, to
assist me in teaching those of his country ; and
that on my going away, my brother Minister
would come, and love, and take care of the
Indian children as I did. He was not satisfied,
and took his boy away with him, saying he
must wait, and see what was to be done. The
Saulteaux woman took her two boys away
clandestinely, saying, as I was afterwards in-
formed, that " they would be all the same as
dead to her, if what she had heard was true,"
and though I had not an opportunity of seeing
her afterwards, she had the honesty to return
the children's clothes which I had given to them.
These circumstances with others that had oc-
curred, convinced me that it would be far
better to obtain children for the school, from a
distance than from the Indians in the immediate
neighbourhood of the Colony, as all those chil-
dren who were under our charge, and whose

144

THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.

parents were more remote, soon became recon-
ciled to restraint, and were happy on the estab-
lishment. This desirable object might soon be
obtained by visiting the different tribes of
Indians, more especially were there a powerful
interest excited in favour of the Native School
Establishment at Red River, by the officers at
the different Trading Posts.

In tkie attempt however to spread the know-
ledge of Christianity among the natives, it
appears that the least expensive mode of pro-
ceeding and of ensuring the most extensive
success for the Missionary is, to visit those parts
of the country where they are stationary, and
live in villages during the greater part of the
year. He should direct his way and persever-
ing attention towards the rocky mountains, and
the Columbia. He may meet with difficulties
and obstacles such as have tried the faith and
patience of Missionaries in other parts of the
heathen world, but let him persevere through
the aid of the Company's officers, who may in-
troduce him to the Indians trading at their
respective Posts. Near to the foot of the rocky
mountains the Indians are known to dwell in
their villages nearly nine months of the year.
During these months they live on salmon, either
dried or taken fresh from the rivers. They are

CLIMATE AND PRODUCE.

146

not ferocious, but very indolent, and where this
is the case, are generally very licentious ; but
as they are stationary for so long a period, an
attempt might be made through the co-opera-
tion of the Company's Officer, to lead them to
cultivate the soil, which at certain points will
grow turnips, cabbages, and barley : this pro-
duce, with the natural resources of the country
would greatly encourage an establishment for
the education of their children throughout the
year : to the support of which the Indians them-
selves might greatly contribute, and which
would be attended with the most beneficial
results. In following the track towards the
North Pacific Ocean, the climate is much milder
than to the East of the mountains, and a vast
encouragement would be found in seeking to
benefit the natives, from their being strangers
to the intoxicating draught of spirituous liquors,
in barter for their articles of trade. So little
acquainted with the effects of intoxication are
some of the Indians in this quarter, that the
following circumstance was related to me by an
Officer from the mouth of the Columbia. A Chief
who had traded but little with Europeans came
to the Fort with two of his sons, and two young
men of his tribe. During their stay the servants
made one of his sons drunk. When the old man

I4G

COLUMBIA.

saw him foaming at the mouth, uttering the
most incoherent expressions, and staggering
under the power of the intoxicating draught,
he immediately concluded that he was mad, and
exclaimed, * Let him be shot/ It was some
time before he could be pacified, which was
only effected in a measure by his being assured,
that he would see his son recovered from the
disorder of his faculties. And when the aged
Chief saw him again restored to his right mind,
and found him capable of conversing, he mani-
fested the greatest joy.

The Columbia presents every advantage in
forming a settlement for the natives or others,
particularly so to the south of its entrance to the
sea, on the banks of the Willammette River. The
soil is excellent ; fish and wild fowl are found in
abundance, and a good supply of indigenous ani-
mals is met with from the praries, or natural mea-
dows. The summer months ^re very pleasant,
but those of winter are frequently rainy, and
subject to heavy fogs, which may occasionally
render it unhealthy. The Chinnook Indians
are six months in villages in the neighbourhood
of the Company's Post, Fort George, at the
mouth of the Columbia, and afford facilities, with
other surrounding tribes for the benevolent
attempt of introducing the knowledge of Chris-

RUSSIAN SCHOOLS.

149

tianity among them. In their war excursions
they adopt a different mode of warfare to that
of the Red River Indians, and those towards
the Atlantic coast, by openly taking the field
against their enemies ; imd keeping their pri-
soners aliv? for slaves. These are numerous
aiiiong some of the tribes ; and many might be
obtained, withonib pui i^hasing them, for religious
instruction. In faoc then appear to be many
points in this vast terrilny where there is a
prospect of establish i n g well-cone^ < Qted missions
to the great and lasting benefit of the natives.
But the object should be pursued upon a regular
and persevering system, and while the Mis-
sionary needs the active co-operation of the
resident Officer in his arduous engagement with
the Indians ; no idle prejudice should ever pre
vent his endeavours to civilize and fix them in
the cultivation of the soil where it may be
efifected

The ilvossians it appears are affording reli-
gious instruction in the establishment of schools
for t]>.e education of half-caste children, with
lb jse of the natives in their Factories on the
North-west coast of North America. A gentle-
man informed me that he saw, at their Establish-
ment at Norfolk Sound, a priest and a school-
master, who were teaching the children, and

L 2

MMM

148

r).

RUSSIAN SCHOOLS.

instructing the natives, not as the Spanish
priests do, at Fort St. Francisco, in South
America, by taking them by force, and com
pelling them to go through the forms and
ceremonies of their religion, but by mild per-
suasion and conviction; and the report of their
success in general is, that a considerable num-
ber of savages of the Polar Regions have been
converted to Christianity.*

May 23. — ^The Settlers have been very in-
dustrious in getting in their seed corn ; but the
weather has been, and continues to be very
cold, with a strong north and north-easterly
wind, which has cheeked vegetation ; and the
woods around us still wear the dark hue of
winter. We now take a plentiful supply of
sturgeon, and with the return of the feathered
tribe we are much annoyed by myriads of black-

* Since my return to England I have been favoured with
the following communication from a gentleman, who tra-
velled in Siberia, to promote the object of the British and
Foreign Bible Society, in the general circulation of the
Scriptures ; and which corroborates the above report. " The
Russians have made many proselytes to the Greek Churchy
(he observes,) from among the natives of the North- West
coast of North America, and two different supplies of
copies of the Scriptures in the Slavonian and modern Russ
languages have been forwarded to that quarter, for the use
of their settlements there^ by the Russian Bible Society."

SIOUX INDIANS.

149

birds that destroy a good deal of the new sown
grain^ as well as when it is ripe for harvest.
Multitudes of pigeons also now appear^ and
unless they are continually shot at, they devour
the fruits of husbandry. They fly by millions,
and are often seen extending to a vast distance
like a cloud ; when one flock has passed another
succeeds, and we often profit by this kind gift
of Providence, by shooting them in their migra-
tions, as excellent food.

There is a general talk among the surround-
ing tribes of Indians, of going to war against
the Sioux nation. A strong band of the Assi-
niboines are directing their course towards
Pembina; and Pigewis, who is by no means
a war Chief, is setting oflF in that direction to
join them. Their rage of vengeance towards
the Sioux Indians appears to know no bounds ;
but the scalp of some poor solitary individuals
among them will probably terminate the cam-
paign. They cannot keep long together in
numerous parties from the want of foresight to
provide for their subsistence ; and accordingly
a little more than a week's absence brought
Pigewis back again, with his party, without
their having seen an enemy, and in the
destitute condition of being without food and
moccassins.

W«*W"

i:i-

> i''-_.

CHAPTER VI.

PROGRESS OV INDIAN CHILDREN IN READING. — BUILD-
ING FOR DIVINE WORSHIP. — LEFT THE COLONY.

ARRIVAL AT YORK FORT. — DEPARTURE FOR CHURCH-
ILL FACTORY. — BEARS. INDIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. —

ARRIVAL AT CHURCHILL. — INTERVIEW WITH ESQUI-
MAUX. RETURN TO YORK FACTORY. — EMBARK FOR

ENGLAND. MORAVIAN MISSIONARIES. GREENLAND.

ARRIVAL IN THE THAMES.

Je,

June 2. — I have been adding two small
houses to the Church Mission School, as sepa-
rate sleeping apartments for the Indian children,
who have already made most encouraging pro-
gress in reading, and a few of them in writing.
In forming this Establishment for their religious
education, it is of the greatest importance that
they should be gradually inured to the cultiva-
tion of the soil, and instructed in the knowledge
of agriculture. For this purpose I have allotted
a small piece of ground for each child, and
divided the different compartments with a
wicker frame. We often- dig and hoe with our

INDIAN CHILDREN.

151

little charge in the sweat of our brow as an
example and encouragement for them to labour;
and promising them the produce of their own
industry, we find that they take great delight in
their gardens. Necessity may compel the adult
Indian to take up the spade and submit to
manual labour, but a child brought up in the
love of cultivating a garden will be naturally
led to the culture of the field as a means of
subsistence : and educated in the principles of
Christianity, he will become stationary to par-
take of the advantages and privileges of civili-
zation. It is through these means of instruction
that a change will be gradually effected in the
character of the North American Indian, who
in his present savage state thinks it beneath the
dignity of his independence to till the ground.
What we value in property, and all those cus-
toms which separate v.h from them in a state of
nature, they think lightly of, while they con-
clude that our crossing the seas to see their
country is more the effect of poverty than of
industry. To be a man, or what is synoni-
mous with them, to be a great and distinguished
character, is to be expert in surprising, torturing,
and scalping an enemy ; to be capable of en-
during severe privations ; to make a good hunter,
and traverse the woods with geographical accu-

itmtm

152

SELF-CONCEIT OF INDIANS.

racy, without any oher guide than the tops of
the trees, and the c( urse of the sun. These are
exploits which, in their estimation, form the
hero, and to which t le expansion of their mind
is confined. Their i itellectual powers are very
limited, as they enter into no abstruse medita-
tions, or abstract ideas ; but what they know in
the narrow range of supplying their wants, and
combating with their fellow men, they know
thoroughly, and are thereby led to consider
themselves the standard of excellence. In their
fancied superior knowledge they are often heard
to remark, when conversing with the European,
" You are almost as clever as an Indian." They
must be educated before they can be led to
comprehend the benefits to be received from
civilization, or ere a hope can be cherished that
their characters will be changed under the mild
influence of the Christian religion. Man is as his
principles are, and wandering under the influ-
ence of those savage-taught habit, in which
he has been nurtured, which tend to harden
the heart, and narrow all the sources of sympa-
thy, the character of the North American
Indian is bold, fierce, unrelenting, sanguinary,
and cruel ; in fact, a man-devil in war, rejoicing
in blood, exulting in the torments he is inflicting
on his victim, and then most pleased when his

CHARACTER OF AN INDIAN.

153

'.nflictions are most exquisite. We should not
be astonished at this character, so repugnant to
the sympathies of our nature, nor should we
conclude too hastily against him, — he also has
his sympathies, and those of no common order.
He also loves his parent that begat him, and
his child whom he has begotten, with intense
afTection ; he is not without affection from na-
ture ; but perverted principle has perverted
nature ; and as his principle is, so is his prac-
tice. Our surprise ceases when we learn
that he is trained up in blood, that he is
catechized in cruelty, and that he is instructed
not in slaughter only, but in torment. Nothing
that has life without the pale of his own imme-
diate circle not only does not escape destruction,
but is visited with torment also inflicted by his
infant hand. If his eye in passing by the
lake observes the frog moving in the rushes he
instantly seizes his victim, and does not merely
destroy it, but often ingeniously torments it by
pulling limb from limb. If the duck be but
wounded with the gun, his prey is not inst; itly
despatched to spare all future pain, but feather
is plucked out after feather, and the hapless
creature is tormented on principle. I have fre-
quently witnessed the cruelty with which
parents will sometimes amuse their children,

154

INDIAN EDUCATION.

by catching young birds or animals, that they
may disjoint their limbs to make them struggle
in a lingering death. And a child is often seen
twisting the neck of a young duck or goose,
under the laughing encouragements of the
mother for hours together, before it is strangled.
At one moment he satisfies the cravings of na-
ture from the breast of his mother, and instantly
rewards the boon with a violent blow perhaps on
the very breast on which he has been hanging.
Nor does the mother dare resent the injury by
an appeal to the father. He would at once say
that punishment would daunt the spirit of the
boy. Hence the Indian never sufiPers his child
to be corrected. We see then the secret spring
of his character. He is a murderer by habit,
engendered from his earliest age ; and the
scalping knife and the tomahawk, and the un-
forgiving pursuit of his own enemy, or his
father's enemy, till he has drenched his hands
in, and satiated his revenge with his blood, is
but the necessary issue of a principle on which
his education has been formed. The training
of the child forms the maturity of the man. *
Our Sunday school is generally attended by
nearly fifty scholars, including adults, indepen-
dent of the Indian children ; and the con-
gregation consists upon an average of from one

' (

SUNDAY SCHOOL.

155

hundred to one hundred and thirty persons.
It is a most gratifying sight to see the Colonists,
in groupes, direct their steps on the Sabbath
morning towards the Mission house, at the
ringing of the bell, which is now elevated in
a spire that is attached to the building. And it
is no small satisfaction to have accomplished
the wish so feelingly expressed by a deceased
officer of the Company. " / must confess, (he
observed) that I am anxious to see thejirst little
Christian church and steeple of wood, slowly
rising among the wilds, to hear the sound of the
Jirst sabbath bell that has tolled here since 'the
creation^ I never witnessed the Establishment
but with peculiar feelings of delight, and con-
templated it as the dawn of a brighter day in
the dark interior of a moral wilderness. The
lengthened shadows of the setting sun cast upon
the buildings, as I returned from calling upon
some of the Settlers a few evenings ago ; and
the consideration that there was now a land-
mark of Christianity in this wild waste of
heathenism^ raised in my mind a pleasing
train of thought, with the sanguine hope that
this Protestant Establishment might be the
means of raising a spiritual temple to the
Lord, to whom " the heathen are given as an

156

CHURCH.

inheritance^ and the utmost parts of the earth
as a possession.'*

I considered it as a small point gained, to
have a public building dedicated to religious
purposes, whose spire should catch the eye,
both of the wandering natives, and the sta-
tionary Colonists. It would have its effect on
the population generally. The people of
England look with a degree of veneration to
the ancient tower and lofty spire of the Esta-
blishment; and they are bound in habitual
attachment to her constitution, which protect^
the monument and turf graves of their ances-
tors. And where the lamp of spiritual Chris-
tianity burns but dimly around her altar, it
cannot be denied, that even her established
rites and outward form have some moral eftect
on the population at large.

On the 10th, I addressed a crowded congre- %^
gation, in a farewell discourse, from the pulpit,
previous to my leaving the Colony for the
Factory: and having administered the sacra-
ment to those who joined cordially with me
in prayer, that the Missionary who was on his
way to officiate in my absence, might be ten-
fold, yea a hundred fold, more blessed in his
ministry than I had been, I parted with those

LAKE WINIPEG.

upon the Church Mission Establishment with
tears. It had been a lon,^, and anxious, and
arduous scene of labour to me ; and my hope
was, as about to embark for England, that I
might return to the Settlement, and be the
means of effecting a better order of things.

The weather was favourable on the morning
of our departure; and stepping into the boat
the current soon bore us down the river towards
Lake Winipeg. As the spire of the church re-
ceded from my view, and we passed several
of the houses of the Settlers, they hailed me
with their cordial wishes for a safe voyage, and
expressed a hope of better times for the Colony.
Then it was that my heart renewed its supplica-
tions to that God,

— * who is ever present, ever felt,
In the void waste, as in the city full,'

for the welfare of the Settlement, as affording a
resting place for numbers, after the toils of the
wilderness in the Company's service, where they
might dwell, through the divine blessing, in the
broad day-light of Christianity ; and being
bound to the country from having families by
native women, might find the protection and
advantages of civilized life.

With light favourable winds we soon crossed

■.'.*'i

.3^:. *

158

ARRIVAL AT YORK FACTORY.

fXiJ"

the Lake and arrived at Norway Housc^ and
such is generally the quickness of the passage
from this point to York Factory, that in the
rapid stream of the rivers, a loaded boat will
reach the depot in a few days, which will take
three or four weeks to return with excessive
toil, from the strength of the opposing current.
It appears dangerous to the inexperienced tra-
veller to run the rapids in the passage to the
Factory, but it is seldom attended with any
serious accident. The men who have charge
of the boats are generally experienced steers-
men, and it is an interesting sight to see them
take the rush of water with their boats, and
with cool intrepidity and skill direct the sweep,
or steer-oar to their arrival in safety at the
bottom of a rapid of almost a perpendicular fall
of many feet, or through a torrent of water of a
quarter of a mile or more in length. Some-
times, however the boats strike in the violence
of their descent, so as to cause a fracture, and
hurry the crew to pull ashore to save the
cargo from damage. This accident befel us
several times in our passage down, but a kind
Providence protected us, and we arrived in
safety at York Factory.

Immediately on my arrival, I made arrange-
ments for fulfilling my Missionary engagement

DEPART FOR CHURCHILL FACTORY. 169

to visit the Esquimaux at Cliurchill, the Com-
pany's most northern Post on the Bay. It was
the adviee of Captain Franklin, that I should
walk uie distanee of about one hundred and
eighty miles, from York Fort to that Factory,
as I might be delayed in a ranoe, by the vast
quantities of floating ice in the Bay, so as not
to meet these Indians in time. I followed this
advice, and having engaged one of the Com-
pany's servants, with an Indian who was an
excellent hunter, we set off on our expedition,
on the morning of the 11th of July, accom-
panied by two Indians, who had come expresaj
from Churchill, and were returning thither.
It was necessary that we should embark in a
boat, to cross the North River ; and in rowing
round the Point of Marsh, we perceived a
brightness in the northern horizon, like that
reflected from ice, usually called the hlinkf
and which led us to suppose that vast fields of
it were floating along the coast in the direction
that we were going. It happened to be low
water when we crossed the mouth of the river,
so that the boat could not approach nearer
than about a mile from the shore, which
obliged us to walk this distance through the
mud and water, to the place where we made
our encampment for the night, and where the

160

MOSQUITOES.

■i

'Si

mosquitoes inflicted their torments upon U8.
We were dreadfully annoyed by them, from
the swampy eountry we had to traverse, and
I was glad to start with the dawn of the fol-
lowing morning, from a spot where they
literally blackened a small canvass tent that
was pitched, and hovered around us in clouds
so as to render life itself burdensome. The day,
however, afforded us very little relief, while
walking, nearly ancle deep in water, through
the marshes ; and such was their torture upon
the poor animals, that we frequently saw the
deer coming out of the woods, apparently
almost blinded and distracted with their num-
bers, to rush into the water on the shore for
relief. This gave an opportunity to the hunter
to kill two of them in the course of the after-
noon, so that we had plenty of venison, and a
good supply of wild fowl, which he had shot
for our evening repast. We , started at sun-
rise the next morning, after having had but
little sleep, as I had been wrapped in my
blanket almost to suifocation, to escape in a
degree the misery of our unceasing torment.
Towards noon, we had much better walking thon
we had before met with, and were relieved from
the mosquitoes by a change of wind blowing cold
from off the ice, which was now seen from the

STONEY RIVF.Il.

161

horizon to the shores of the bay. The rcUef
to us was like a eessatioii from an api'ony of
ymn ; and as the hunter had just killed another
deer, and tlie wild fowl flew around us in
abundanee, we pitched the tent, and halted for
several hours, and refreshed ourselves with
sleep, after the irritation and almost sleepless
nights that we had endured. We were on the
march again at five o'elock ; and after we had
forded Stoney River, we eamc upon the track
of a polar bear. The Indian hunter was very
keen in his desire to fall in with it, and I
lamented that I had not an opportunity of
seeing him engage the ferocious animal, which
seemed to have taken a survey of the party,
and to have gone into the wood a short dis-
tance from us. The bears are now coming off
the ice in the Bay, on which they have been
for several months past, to live upon seals,
which they catch as they lie sleeping by the
sides of the holes in the drift ice, when it
dissolves or is driven far from shore. They
seek their food among the sea-weed and every
trash that is washed up along the coast, or go
upon the rocks or to the woods, for berries,
during the su^rmer months. Savage, however,
as this animal is, it is not so much dreaded by
the Indians as the grizzly bear, which is more

162

BEARS.

f)l

((.I

ferocious and forward in his attack. These are
found towards the Rocky Mountains, and none
but very expert hunters like to attack them.
A gentleman who was travelling to a distance
on the plains to the West of the Red River
Colony, told me of a narrow escape he once
had, with his servant boy, in meeting a grizzly
bear. They were riding slowly along, near
the close of the day, when they espied the
animal coming from the verge of a wood in
the direction towards them. They immediately
quickened the pace of their horses, but being
jaded with the day's journey, the bear was soon
seen to gain upon them. In this emergency,
he hit upon an expedient, which was probably
the means of saving their lives. He took the
boy, who was screaming with terror, behind
him, and abandoned the horse that he rode.
When the ferocious animal came up to it, the
gentleman, who stopped at some distance,
expected to see the bear rend it immediately
with his paws ; but to his surprise, after having
walked round and smelt at the horse, as it
stood motionless with fear, the bear returned
to the wood, and the horse was afterwards
recovered without injury.

The morning of the 14th was very cold,
from the wind blowing off the ice in the Bay ;

OWL RIVER.

163

and when we stopped to breakfast, I was
obliged to put a blanket over my shoulders,
as I stood by the fire, for warmth. The com-
fortable sensation however was, that we were
free from the annoyance and misery of the
mosquitoes ; cold, hunger, and thirst, are not
to be compared with the incessant suffering
which they inflict. We waded knee-deep
through Owl River, in the afternoon of the
15th. The weather was cold, and nothing was
to be seen in the Bay but floating ice. It was
rather late before we pitched the tent, and we
met with some difficulty in collecting a suf-
ficient quantity of drift wood on the shore, to
kindle a fire large enough to boil the kettle,
and cook the wild fowl that we had shot. The
next dey we forded Broad River, on the banks
of whi 2h we saw several dens, which the bears
had scratched for shelter: and seeing the
smoke of an Indian tent at some distance
before us, in the direction we were going, we
quick* ned our step, and reached it before we
stopped to breakfast. We found the whole
family clothed in deer-skins, and upon a
hunting excursion from Churchill. The In-
dian, or rather a half-breed, was very com-
municative, and told me that though he was
leading an Indian life, his father was formerly

M 2

saB5

164

CURIOUS HIEROGLYPHIC.

a master at one of the Company's Posts, and
proposed accompanying our party to the Fac-
tory. He had two ^mn, he said, who were
gone in the pursuit of a deer ; and, on quitting
the encampment to travel with us, he would
leave some signs for them to follow us on their
return. They were the following, and drawn
upon a broad piece of wood, which he prepared
with an axe.

1. To intimate that the family was gone forward.

2. That there was a Chief of the party.

3. That he was accompanied by a European servant.

4. And also by an Indian.

5. That there were two Indians in company.

6. That they should follow.

It is a common custom with the Indians to
paint hieroglyphic characters on dressed buf-
faloe skins or robes ; and a variety of figures
are drawn on many of those which they barter
at the Company's Posts. In the representation
of H ^'ictory achieved over an enemy, the

MODE OF TRAVELLING.

165

picture of the Chief is given, with the mark
of his nation, and those of the warriors who
accompanied him. A number of little images
point out how many prisoners were taken;
while so many human figures without heads
shew the number who were slain. Such are
the expressive signs of a barbarous people, in
recording their war exploits, and communi-
cating information wichout the knowledge of
letters and the art of printing.

We proceeded, after the wife had put some
kettles upon the back of a miserable looking
dog, and had taken her accustomed burden,
the tent with other articles, a her own. The
little ones were also severally laden with a
knapsacl.^ tnd the whole !»u 1 the appearance of
a camp or gypsies moving through the country.

Th\; 17tii Beture we struck our tents this
morning, the signs vvhich the old man left
upon the piece oi wood yesterday, brought his
two sons, whom he had left hunting, and who
had walked nearly the whole of the night to
overtake us. We had now no provisions but
what we shot on our journey, and the addition
to our party made every one active in the
pursuit of game as it appeared. The next day
we passed Cape Chuvchill, and came to a tent of
Chipewyan or Northern Indians. The question

_JL

166

HOSPITABLE CHIPEWYANS.

was not asked if we were hungry, but imme-
diately on our arrival the women were busily '
employed in cooking venison for us ; and the
men proposed to go with us to Churchill. As
soon as we had finished eating, the tent was
struck, and the v/hole ])arty proceeded, \^dth
the old man a-head, with a long staff in his
hand, followed by his five sons and two daugh-
ters, and the rest of us in the train, which
suggested to my mind the patriarchal mode of
travelling. The 19th, our progress was slow,
from being again annoyed with mosquitoes, in
a bad track, through a wet swampy ground.
As soon as we had passed the beacon, which
was erected as a landmark to the shipping that
formerly sailed to Churchill, as the Company's
principal depot, before its destruction by
P^rouse, two of the Indians left us, to take a
circuit through some islands by the sea, to huni
for provision. We pitched our tents early, in
expectation that they would join ug, but wc
saw nothing of them that evening. It is cus-
tomary, as we were then travelling, to take only
one blanket, in which you roll yourself for the
night, without undressing. On laying down,
upon a few willow twigs, I soon afterwards felt
so extremly cold, from the wind blowing strong
off a large field of ice drifted on the shore, that

ARRIVAL AT CHURCHILL.

167

I was obliged to call the servant to take down
the tent, and wrap it round me, before I could
get any sleep. The sudden variation of the
weather, however, gave me no cold, nor did it
interrupt a good appetite, which the traveller
ill these regions usually enjoys.

Had we not been delayed by the absence of
the Indians a hunting we might have reached
the Factory to-day, the 20th. They came in
from their excursion at the time we w^ere tak-
ing our breakfast, but without much success.
They had killed an Arctic fox that supplied them
with a meal, and a few ducks which they
brought to our en ampment, among which wa»
the Eider duck, so remarkable for the beautiful
Koftness of its down. In the evening one of
the Chipewyan Indians, sent me some dried
venison ; and the next morning early we arrived
at Churchill. The Esquimaux, Augustus, who
accompanied Captain Franklin to the shores of
the Polar Sea, came out to meet us, and ex-
pressed much delight at my coming to see his
tribe, who were expected to arrive at the Fac-
tory every day. He had not seen his country-
men since he acted as one of the guides in that
arduous expedition, and intended to return
with them to his wife and children, laden with

108

PROCURE TWO MORE BOYS.

presents and rewards for his tried and faithful
services.

July 25. — ^The servants, with the Officers,
assembled for divine service, and laborious as
is the office of a Missionary, I felt delighted
with its engagements ; and thought it ]a high
privilege to visit even the wild inhabitants of
the rocks with the simple design of extending
the Redeemer s kingdom among them ; and
that in a remote quarter of the globe, where
probably no Protestant Minister had ever
placed his foot before. The next day a northern
Indian leader, came to the Fort with his family ;
and upon making known to him the object of my
journey to meet the Esquimaux, he cheerfully
promised to give up one of his boys, a lively
active little fellow, to be educated at the Native
School Establishment at the Red River. He
appeared very desirous of having his boy taught
more than the Indians knew ; and assisted me
in obtaining an orphan boy from a widow
woman, who was in a tent at a short distance,
to avicompany his son. I told him that they
must go a long way, (Churchill being about a
thousand miles distant from the Colony) but
that they would be taken great care of. He
made no objection, but said that they should

INDIAN CONFIDENCE.

169

if^

go, and might return when they had learnt
enough. This was a striking instance of the
confidence of an Indian, and confirmed the
opinion that they would part with their chil-
dren to those in whom they thought they could
justly confide, and to whose kind tuition they
were persuaded they could safely entrust them.
The Company's boat» were going to York Fac-
tory, and would take them there ; where, on
my return, I expected to meet my successor
as a Minister to the Settlement, on his arrival
from England by the ship ; and who would take
them under his care in continuing the voyage
to the school. " Religion, (says Hearne) has
not as yet began to dawn among the Northern
Indians ; for, though their conjurors do indeed
sing songs and make long speeches to some
beasts and birds of prey, as also to imaginary
beings, which they say assist them in perform-
ing cures on the sick, yet they, as well as their
credulous neighbours, are utterly destitute of
every idea of practical religion."

The Company's present Establishment is about
five miles up the river, from the point of rock at
its entrance where the ruins of the old Factory
are seen ; which was the point Hearne started
from on his journey to the Coppermine River,
in the year 1770; and which was blown up by

170

OLD FACTORY.

tli

P^rouse about tlie year 1 784. It appears to have
been strongly fortified, and from itiS situation
must have been capable of making a formidable
resistance to an enemy ; and it can never cease
to be a matter of surprise that it should have
been surrendered without firing a shot. The
walls and bastions are still remaining, which are
strewed with a considerable number of cannon,
spiked, and of a large calibre. Augustus used
to visit this point every morning, in anxious ex-
pectation that his countrymen would arrive by
the way of the coast, in their seal skin canoes.
One day he returned to the Factory evidently
much agitated ; and upon inquiry I found that
there was an Esquimaux family in a tent by the
shore, under one of the rocks, one of whom
had greatly alarmed him with the information,
that soon after he left his tribe with Junius,
(who is supposed to have perished as a guide
in the Arctic Expedition,) one of Junius's
brothers took his wife, and thinking that Au-
gustus was displeased with him, and that he
possessed the art of conjuring, had determined
upon his death, and that this superstitious no-
tion had so preyed upon his spirits as to te'rmi-
nate his existence. This circumstance, he added,
had led a surviving brother to threaten revenge,
and supposing that he might come to the Fac-

INTERVIEW WITH ESQUIMAUX.

171

tory with the Esquimaux who were expected,
he advised him to be on his guard. The next
day, July the 29th, Augustus returned to the
point of rock on the look out, but not without
having first requested a brace of pistols, loaded
his musket, and fixed his bayonet, yet nothing
was seen of his countrymen. The next morning
I accompanied him to the Esquimaux tent,
with an interpreter, under the idea that I
might obtain some interesting information ; and
was much pleased to find the family living in
the apparent exercise of social affection. The
Esquimaux treated his wife with kindness ; she
was seated in the circle who were smoking the
pipe, and there was a constant smile upon her
countenance, so opposite to that oppressed de-
jected look of the Indian women in general. I
asked the Esquimaux of his country : he said it
was good, though there was plenty of cold and
snow ; but that there was plenty of musk oxen
and deer ; and the corpulency of the party sug-
gested the idea that there was seldom a want of
food amongst them. I told him that mine was
better, as growing what made the biscuit, of
which they were very fond, and that there was
much less cold, and that we saw the water much
longer than they did. Observing that the
woman was tattooed, I asked him when these

172

EbOUlMAUX.

I >■■■■

marks were made, on the chin, partieularly, and
on the hands. His reply was, when the girls
were marriageable, jmd espoused to their hus-
bands ; who had generally but one wife, though
good hunters had sometimes two. Wishing to
know whether they ever abandoned the aged and
the infirm to perish like the Northern Indians,
he said, never ; assuring me that they always
dragged them on sledges with them in winter
to the different points where they had laid up
provisions in the autumn, ' en eache ; ' and that
they took them in their canoes in summer till
they died. Knowing that some Indians west
of the rocky mountains burn their dead, I
asked him if this custom prevailed with the Es-
quimaux, he said, no ; and that they always
buried theirs. The name of this Esquimaux
was Achshannook, and as Augustus could write
a little, which he had been taught during the
time he was with the expedition, I gave him my
pencil, that the other might see what I wished to
teach the Esquimaux children, as well as to read
white man's book, which told us true of the
Great Spirit, whom the Esquimaux did not
know, and how they were to live and die happy.
The woman immediately caught up her little
girl about five years of age, and holding her to-
wards me manifested the greatest delight, with

WHITE WHALES.

173

Achshannook, at the wish I had expressed of
having the Esquimaux children taught to write
and read the book. They often pointv I ]rs the
direction the others were coining, and tjfave me
t( » understand that they would soon arrive. We
n ned to the Fort, and walking by the side
o. AC river we saw numbers of white whales
which frequent it at this season of the year, and
many of which are harpooned from a boat that
is employed, and usually carries three or four
of the Company's servants. The harpooner
killed one to-day, which measured fourteen feet
long, and eight in girth, and weighed it was
supposed a ton weight. The blubber is boiled
at the Fort, and the oil sent to England as an
article of the Company's trade. When the Es-
quimaux visit us from the tent, they generally
go to the spot where the carcases of the whales
are left to rot after the blubber is taken, and
carry away a part, but generally from the fin or
the tail ; they have been known, however, to
take the maggots from the putrid carcase, and to
boil them with train oil as a rich repast. They
are extremely filthy in their mode of living.
The Esquimaux who was engaged at the Fort
as an intepretcr, used to eat the fish raw as he
took them out of the net, and devour the head
and entrails of those that were cooked by the

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174

BEAVER.

Company's servants. And it is their constant
custom, when their noses bleed by any accident
to lick their blood into their mouths and swallow
it.

Though the beaver, which furnishes the
staple fur of the country, is not common in
this immediate neighbourhood, an Indian was
successful enough to kill one at a short dis-
tance down the river, which he brought to
the Fort. It was roasted for dinner, and
proved of excellent flavour, though I could not
agree that the tail, which was served up in a
separate dish, was of that superior taste it
is generally considered to be. The sagacity
of this animal has often been described ; and I
have frequently been surprised at the singular
construction of their houses, the care with
which they lay up their provision of wood, and
the mode in which they dam up the water near
their habitations. They cut with their teeth
sticks of a considerable size, and when larger
than they are able to drag, they contrive to fell
them on the bank, so that they may fall and
float down the stream to the place where they
design to make the dam ; and then entwine
them with willow twigs, which they plaster with
mud, so as effectually to obtain a head of
water.

■ -ir

ARRIVAL OF ESQUIMAUX.

175

We met again on the Sabbath for divine
worship on both parts of the day, as we had
done on the previous Sunday. As the Esqui-
maux did not make their appearance, we began
to think that the ice in the Bay might have
prevented their coming to the Factory. We
were relieved from our doubts however, on the
2nd of August, by Augustus running to the
Fort with the information that his countrymen
were seen coming along in their canoes. He
waited till he ascertained that Junius*s brother,
who was said to have threatened his life, was not
of the party, and then went to meet them.
Some of them came over the rocks with the
canoes upon their heads, as being a much
nearer way to the Company's Post from the
spot where they left the Bay, than following the
course of the river. Their number, with a
small party that came soon afterwards, was
forty-two men, who brought with them a con-
siderable quantity of the Arctic fox skins, musk-
ox, and deer skins, with those of the wolf and
wolverine, together with sea-horse teeth, and
the horn of a sea-unicorn about six feet long
for barter at the Company's Post. In appear-
ance they strongly resembled each other, and
were all clothed with deer-skin jackets and
lower garments of far larger than usually Dutch

176

ESQUIMAUX.

;i-

size, made of the same material. Their stature
was low, like that of the wife of the Esquimaux
at the tent who was not five feet in height. They
were all very broad set, with remarkably small
eyes, low foreheads, and of a very fine bronze
complexion. A few of the men however were
nearly six feet in stature, and of a strong robust
make. As soon as they had bartered the arti-
cles which they brought with them for those
they requested in return, which were guns, am-
munition, beads, and blankets principally, they
were informed that I had travelled a long way
to see them, and to have some talk with them.
The next day, they gathered round me, and
with Augustus and an interpreter, I was
enabled to make the object of my visit to them
well understood. I told them that I came very
far across the great lake, because I loved the
Esquimaux ; that there were very many in my
country who loved them also, and would be
pleased to hear that I had seen them. I spoke
true. I did not come to their country, thinking
it was better than mine, nor to make house
and trade with them, but to enquire, and they
must speak true, if they would like white man
to make house and live amongst them, to
teach their children white man's knowledge,
and of the Great and Good Spirit who made

'/■ "

■%

ESQUIMAUX.

177

I I

the world. The sun was then shining in his
glory, and the scenery in the full tide of the
water before us was striking and beautiful;
when I asked them, if they knew who made
the heavens, the waters, and the earth, and all
things that surrounded us, so pleasing to our
sight ? their reply was, * We do not know
whether the Person who made these things is
dead or alive.' On assuring them that I knew,
and that it was my real wish that they and
their children should know also the Divine
Being, who was the Creator of all things ; and
on repeating the question, whether they wished
that white man should come and give them
this knowledge, they all simultaneously ex-
pressed a great desire that he should, laughing
and shouting, " heigh ! heigh ! augh ! augh !"
One of them afterwards gave me a map of the
coast which they traversed, including Chester-
field Inlet, and whfch he drew with a pencil
that I lent him, with great accuracy, pointing
out to me the particular rivers where the
women speared salmon in the rapids in sum-
mer, while the men were employed in killing
the deer, as they crossed in the water some
points of the Inlet ; or were hunting on the
coast, catching seals. Being provident, and
not so regai'dless of the morrow as the Indians

178

ESQUIMAUX.

in general^ they lay up provisions at these
different places for the winter, and probably
seldom suffer from want of food ; nor are they
long in summer without their favourite dish
of the flesh and fat of the seal, mixed with
train oil as a sauce, which they prefer to
salmon ; and when not mixed with their food,
they drink the oil as a cordial.

The Esquimaux often surrounded me in
groupes, during their stay at the Factory, and
cordially shaking hands, were fond of saying,
that the Northern Indians, or Chepewyans,
sprang from dogs, but that they were formerly
as white men. I encouraged them in the idea
that we were originally of the same parents,
but that they being scattered, we knew now a
great deal more than they did, and therefore
came to see if it were possible to teach their
children our knowledge, for their happiness,
and also themselves, if it were their desire.
They appeared to be quite overjoyed at this
conversation, and laughed heartily, shouting,
" Heigh I heigh ! " saying, (as the interpreter
expressed it,) " We want to know the Grand
God."

I told them that there were stones on the
edge of the water, in their country, and that
with a little wood, a house might be made like

MISSIONS TO ESQUIMAUX.

179

what they saw at the Fort. Should I, or any
other person, ever come from across the great
lake, to build this house, where their children
might live, and be taught what I had told
them ; I asked if they would assist to bring
the stones, and help to raise the building.
They signified their willingness by shouting
again in their usual manner. I mentioned
the above circumstance, as conceiving it to be
practicable and advisable, 'from the best in-
formation I could obtain, that the first attempt
to form an establishment on the shores of the
Bay, to educate the children of the Esquimaux,
should be made at Knapp's Bay, or, as called
by the Esquimaux, Aughlinatook. Augustus's
tribe traverse this part of the coast, which is
about two hundred miles north of Churchill;
from whence the frame of die building and
some dry provisions in casks might be taken in
boats, to maintain the party, at first making
the settlement, independent of the common
resources of the country, and of the Esqui-
maux ; and a communication kept up with tiie
Company's Post, which might easily be done,
both in summer and winter. It is said that
the word, difficulty, is not known in the English
Military dictionary, and surely ought not to be
found in that of the Missionary ; and a mission

N 2 ,

180

MISSIONS TO ESQUIMAUX.

undertaken to the Esquimaux, upon the plan
suggested, conducted with prudence, intre-
pedity, and perseverance, can leave little doubt
as to its ultimate success. They tied knots
upon a sinew thread, tieing a knot for each
child as it was named, to inform me, at my
request, of the number of children they had
belonging to their tribe, and which they would
bring to the school for instruction. The num-!
ber on the sinew thread was sixty-two boys
and sixty-four girls. Whenever I spoke to
them about provisions, they uniformly said
that they would bring plenty ; but should the
establishment be made, a small number of
children would at first of course be taken, and
increased in proportion as the resources of the
country, and the supplies afforded by the
Esquimaux towards the support of their chil-
dren, were pretty accurately ascertained. It
is true that they live in a country, as those do
on the Labrador coast, of hopeless barrenness,
and endure almost a perpetual winter's blast ;
but the success of the faithful devoted Mora-
vian Missionaries, on the coast of Labrador,
and on that of Greenland, in their labours,
privations, and perseverance, to impart the
knowledge of Christianity, which has been
blessed of God to the salvation of the Esqui-

.1.

MISSIONS TO ESQUIMAUX.

181

maux, holds out every encouragement to the
intrepid Missionary, in his attempts to benefit,
with Christian instruction, those on the shores
of Hudson's Bay. "^

Is,

le •
m

U-

• ';>

* Cold is the clime, the winds are bleak,

And wastes of trackless snow,
Ye friends of our incarnate Qod ! « »

Obscure the paths ye go.

' But hearts more cold, and lusts more fierce,
And wider wastes of sin,
Ye Preachers of redeeming love!
Obscure the soul within.

, * Yet go : and though both poles combine,

To freeze the sinner's soul.
The sinner's soul shall yield to grace,
For grace can melt the pole.

* Then blow ye winds, and roll ye waves,

Your task assigned perform :
The God of grace is nature's God,
And rides upon the storm.

* Nature and Providence obey

The dictates of his grace ;
V Go! for each drop subserves his cause

Each atom has its place.'

A few of the Esquimaux who came to the
Fort, were from Chesterfield Inlet, and pro-
posed to return, before the other party left us

)

182

DEPARTURE FROM CHURCHILL.

for Knapp's Bay. Before they started, Augustus
was very desirous that I should see his coun-
trymen conjure ; and bringing a blanket and a
large knife, he assured mc that one of them
would swallow the knife, and not die ; or fire a
ball through his body, leaning upon a gun,
without being injured. I understood that he
was to perform this jugglery with the blanket
round him, which I objected to, if I saw it ;
but told him that I had great objections to
such deceptions and art, by which they im-
posed on each other ; and observed, that if his
countrymen could really conjure, they should
conjure the whales to the shore, which were
then sporting in the river before us. He was
not pleased, however, with my refusal, and it
was with difficulty that I prevented the exhi-
bition. When the party left us, they encircled
me, and said that they would tell all of their
tribe what had been mentioned about teaching
the Esquimaux children white man's know-
ledge of the Great Spirit. They informed me
that a great many of the Esquimaux meet in
summer about Chesterfield Inlet ; that some
come down from the great lake to the north,
and that they had met some, who had seen two
very large canoes when there was no ice ; and
when one of these canoes stood in towards the

CAPTAIN PARRY.

183

shore where they were, they were so alarmed
as to run off over the roeks, and that they did
not return till the big canoes were out of sight
towards where the sun rises. This information
led me to suppose that they were the Discovery
Ships, under the command of Captain Parry ;
and to conjecture that the ice had been a
barrier to his progress in search of a North-
West Passage, and that he was returning down
tlic Bay to England. The object of the Es-
quimaux in meeting from different tribes at
Chesterfield Inlet every year, is to barter with
those principally who trade at Churchill Fac-
tory, and also with some Northern Indians,
who exchange what European articles they
may have for fish-hooks made of bone,' and
sinew lines, and skins. I then shook hands
with them, and gave to each individual a clasp-
knife, some tobacco, and a few beads, to take
with them to their wives, with which they were
much pleased, telling me, not to be afraid to
come to their country, as Esquimaux would
treat me well.

August 7. — ^When the remaining party re-
turned to Knapp^s Bay, it was proposed by the
Master of the Company's Posts, that they
should stop for a few days at Seal River, about

114

SPEARING WHALES.

fifty miles north of Churchill, and spear white
whales for the blubber. This they readily
assented to, and the day after they started, I
accompanied the officer in a boat to the point
where they were to be employed. We pitched
our tents near the place where they rested at
night, and were much amused at their dexterity
in spearing a number of whales on the following
day. In the course of two days they har-
pooned about forty, so numerous were these
animals in the Bay at the mouth of the river.
These Esquimaux were not unacquainted with
habits of cleanliness, for they were no sooner
ashore from spearing whales, than they changed
their dirty skin dress for one of a newer and
cleaner character; and in seating themselves
in a circle, around a small fire they had made,
I observed that while they boiled the skin of
the whale, and some partook of it, others were
eating the tail and the fin in a raw state. I
never knew natives more orderly and less
troublesome ; we were in their power, but so
far from annoying us, they never even came to
our tents, importuning for tobacco and other
articles, as is generally the case with Indians
when near their own encampment.

Wishing to talk with them again on the

ESQUFMAUX.

185

subject of teaching their children^ I invited to
my tent seven of the oldest men among them ;
and repeated to them the questions which I
had put to the whole of them before. They
expressed the same feelings in favour of in-
struction, and a hope that I was not afraid to
come to their country, promising, when white
man came, not to steal from him, a vice which
they are sometimes guilty of at the Factory.
I found that they believed in a future state ;
and acknowledged that there was a bad Spirit,
who made them suffer, and to whom they prayed
that he would not hurt them. They thought
that when a bad man died, the bad Spirit took
him^ and put him in a hole under ground,
where there was always fire, but this idea they
might have got from their intercourse with
Europeans at the Fort : and when a good man
died, they believed that the moon took him
up, where he lived as he had done below, only
that he had always plenty to enjoy, and less
paddling to do. In parting with these Indians,
as with the others who returned to Chesterfield
Inlet, I gave to each individual a clasp knife,
some tobacco, and a few beads to take to their
wives ; and my prayer to God was, that some
effectual step might be taken to communicate
to these heathen, that knowledge which they

! 1

186

THE COAST.

appeared desirous of receiving, and which would
ameliorate their condition through a scriptural
hope of a future life.

We returned to the Factory, along a coast
the most dangerous to navigate that can possibly
be conceived, from fragments of rocks being
studded in the water for miles from the shore,
and which are only visible at the reflux of the
tide. The safest course to take is to run out
to sea, and sail along out of sight of land ; but
this is hazardous in an open boat, if the weadier
be stormy, or the water is much ruffled by the
wind. The Company lost a boat's crew last
fall, as they were returning to Churchill, from
one of the points of rock where they ha*! been
to collect geese, which the Indians had shot,
and which are salted as part of the winter
supply of provisions at the Establishment. At
first it was supposed that the boat had been
driven out to sea, and all had perished in a
most painful manner; but during 'our stay, an
Indian came to the Fort, to inform the officer
that the empty boat was lying on the beach,
about six or seven miles to the south of
Churchill River. Re immediately sent men to
the spot, and to search along the coast for
some remains at least of the bodies of the crew,
but not the least appearance of them could be

If!

CHIPEWYANS.

187

found. The boat filled and went down^ with
the sail set and fastened to the mast, which was
the state in which it was found ; but whether
she struck upon the point of a sunken rock,
or swamped at the conflux of the waters off the
mouth of the. river at the return of the tide,
not a man survived to tell the melancholy tale.
The 10th. — I began to make preparations
for my return to York Factory, in the supply
of ammunition and a couple of days' provisions
for our journey. As every thing we took was
borne on the back of the men, we deemed this
sufficient, with the supply we were likely to
obtain in our walk through a country which
at this season of the year generally abounds
with wild fowl. It was painful to see several
Indian women in an infirm state of health and
lame, continually begging for a little oatmeal,
or picking tripe de roche for a subsistence,
being unable to follow the tribe they belonged
to; and, upon inquiry, I found that it was a
common custom among the Chipewyans, to
leave the aged, the infirm, and the sick, when
supposed incapable of recovery, to perish for
want ! and that one-half of the aged probably
die in this miserable condition ! The common
feelings of humanity suggest the question, —
Could not some cstablislunent be formed, as

1S8

CHIPEWYANS.

a hospital for the reception of a certain number
at least of the aged and infirm ; towards the
maintenance of which, the Indians themselves,
in bringing their relations, might be induced
to contribute, were it only the tenth skin from
the produce of their hunting? If this esta-
blishment could not be formed near the coast,
might not one be made as an experiment on
the borders of their country in the Athabasca ?
where grain and Indian corn might be raised
towards its support. The subject at least
challenges inquiry, and is fraught with deep
interest, as calling forth the best feelings of
benevolence; for a more deplorable situation
in existence cannot be conceived, than for
persons to be deserted in afflictive old age,
suffering infirmity, and left at the last stage of
life to expire in want, when, of all other periods
in our mortal career, we most need attention,
and sympathy, and kindness.

These Indians have a singular custom of
wrestling for any woman to whom they are
attached ; and she has to witness the contest,
which consists in hauling each other about by
the hair of the head, without kicking or striking,
till the strongest party carries her off as his
prize. And instead of stabbing one another in
their quarrels, as is frequently the case with

LEAVE CHURCHILL FACTORY.

189

the Southern Indians, these generally decide
them by wrestling. They may permit a weak
man, if he be a good hunter, to keep the object
of his choice ; but otherwise he is obliged to
yield his wife to a stronger man, who may
think her worth his notice. This barbarous
custom I should suppose prevails among the
Esquimaux who visit Churchill Factory, as
they pointed out to me, at the time I saw them,
a weakly looking man, who they said had his
wife taken from him by another of superior
strength. They shewed me also how they
decided their quarrels, by each party alter-
nately bending the body in a horizontal posi-
tion, and receiving from each other a blow of
the fist on the temple or side of the face.

On the 12th, we left Churchill Factory, and
in our track killed plenty of wild-fowl, and
were again tortured with the mosquitoes, till
after the second day's march, when we waded
through a low swampy ground, frequently half-
leg deep in water, to some dry ridges of land.
The wind blew again off the ice in the bay,
which enabled us to walk without much annoy-
ance ; and in our progress, we often passed
large holes, which the bears had scratched in
these ridges to lie in, and which, from the

190

BEARS.

i i

impression of their paws on the sand^ several
had recently left. On the 17th, we came to a
tent of Indians, who were encamped on the
shore, for the purpose of killing them, in the
front of which was the head of one that they
had lately shot, stuck upon some painted sticks,
in expression of some superstitious notions
respecting the animal. They have a great
dread of bears, and are very fond of wearing
their claws round their necks, ornamented as a
necklace, under the idea that they shall be
preserved from their ferocious attacks. A short
time before I left the Red River Colony, a
Saultcaux Indian came to my residence with a
necklace strung with some large claws; and
prevailing upon him to part with it for some
tobacco, he addressed it in a very grave speech,
when he took it from his neck, and laid it for
me on the table, in language to the following
effect: — *' My grandfather! you and I have
been together some time — ^we must now part.
Go to that Chief ; and in leaving me, be not
angry, but let me kill bufialoe when I am
hungry, and another bear when I meet with it,
and then I will make another necklace of the
claws." I smiled at this address, when, looking
at me very seriously, he said, " If you offend

ARRIVE AT YORK FACTORY.

191

the bear," (I supposed he meant the spirit of
the bear, whose claws he had given me,) " the
bears will be sure to eat you."

On the 18th, some Indians whom we met,
told us that they had heard the great guns
of the ship, on her arrival from England,
though they had not seen her at anchor. The
next day convinced us of the fact; and we
reached York Factory early the following
morning, after having walked on our return
from Churchill, the supposed distance of one
hundred and eighty miles, through a trackless
path in swamps and long grass, in less than
seven days.

Here I had the happiness of meeting the Rev,
Mr. Jones, arrived by the ship, on his way to
the Red River Settlement, my fellow-labourer in
that situation ; to whom I committed the two
Chepewyan Indian boys. After a few days, he
proceeded with his little charge to his destina-
tion. And may God, whom we serve in the
gospel of his Son, abundantly bless his exer-
tions, on entering upon a field of anxious and
laborious toil, which I have just left, to visit
the land of my nativity and affection, after an
absence of more than three years.

York Factory, as the principal dep6t, is
rapidly improving in appearance, and in the

192

YORK FACTORY.

' *

extent of its buildings. A number of the chief
Factors and Traders meet here eveiy summer,
and a council is held for the management of
the Northern Factory; while another is also
annually held at Moose, in St. James's Bay,
for the direction of the Southern Factory. This
division of the Company's territory, comprises
the whole of the country, from the furthest
known point to the north to the boundary line
of the United States, and from the waters of
the Pacific to those of the Atlantic. In carrying
into effect the moral improvement of the coun-
try, which has long been contemplated, it
would be very desirable that schools should be
established at the Company's chief depots;
where it is presumed provisions might be ob-
tained, for the support at least of a limited
number of the half-caste children. And the
most beneficial results might follow the regular
performance of divine worship on the Sabbath,
by a Clergyman, throughout the summer months
at least, in a building erected and appropriated
as a chapel. These are arrangements, which
every benevolent mind, truly desirous of pro-
moting the best interests of the country, where
the progress of moral and religious instruction
would be but slow, would rejoice to see prac-
tically entered upon. .>'

EMBARK FOR ENGLAND.

193

It may be stated with pleasure that directions
have been given to lessen the quantity of spirit-
uous liquors in barter with the natives. The
baneful effects of such a medium of trade have
long been deplored by all who have regarded
the amelioration of their state, and sought to
improve their wandering condition. Cruelty,
disease, and premature decay have for centuries
past been generated wherever Europeans have
introduced the exchange of ardent spirits with
the Indians. No act therefore can be more
beneficial and humane than that of gradually
altering a system which is at once so prejudicial
to the native, and injurious to the morals of the
trader. It is to be hoped that the benevolent
intentions of the Honourable Committee will
be carried into full effect, together with the re-
solutions passed in council at York Factory,
July 1823, for the purpose of improving the
moral state, both of the Indians and of the
European inhabitants of the Company's terri-
tory; an event highly interesting to every
friend of humanity and religion.

Sept. 10. — We embarked on board the ship
Prince of Wales on her return to England, and
left the anchorage next day with a favourable
wind. The weather being moderate, on Sun-

194

AT SEA.

U ■

day the 14th we enjoyed the privilege of having
two full services.

The 16th. — ^llie wind continues light and fa-
vourable, and I have been much interested in
reading Mr. Wilberforce's pamphlet, entitled,
" An Appeal in behalf of the Negro Slaves."
When will men regard each other as brethren,
connected by the common ties of humanity,
and as generally responsible to God, the Judge
©fall.

Sunday, 21st. — ^When off Cape Charles at
the entrance of Hudson*s straits, the Thermo-
meter I observed was as low as 24°; and the
land as we passed along was covered with snow.
The prospect was most chilling and dreary.
Though it blew fresh, there was not however
a heavy swell of the sea, which gave us the
opportunity of having divine service both
morning and afternoon. I felt humbled in
going through the Ministerial duties of the day ;
and the experience of my heart imposes on me
the obligation of labouring more and more after
humiliation. What a consolation is it to know
that we are saved by hope, even in Him, who
sitteth upon the circle of the heavens, directing
the course of the elements — ^who commandeth
the waters and they obey Him.

TEMPESTUOUS WEATHER

195

' On the 23d we encountered a heavy gale of
wind, with a short and angry sea, insomuch
that the ship was covered with waves, and all
on board were reeling to and fro, and staggering
like a drunken man. Towards evening it blew
a hurricane ; the heavens were black with
tempest, and all around us appeared awfully
dangerous. Self-examination is at all times
profitable and incumbent on the Christian, but
when dangers press around him in a tumultuous
scene of waters, it is peculiarly consolatory for
him to find upon examination, that the sheet
anchor of his hope is well grounded ; and that
he has laboured in the cause of his divine Lord
with a conscious integrity, though with a con
scious imperfection of character. It was well
said by the wife of a Missionary, in her last
moments, when it was observed to her that she
was dying a sacrifice in the cause of missions, " I
would rather (said she) die a penitent sinner at
the cross of Christ'* Every day, in the smooth
unruffled calm of life, or on the tempestuous
ocean of its existence, would I feel the senti-
ment so expressive of the Christian's securityj
and simple reliance upon the omnipotent arm
of the Saviour, as uttered by St. Peter, when
ready to sink amidst the threatening waves>
" Lord save us, we perish." •

196

BECALMED NEAR ICEBERGS.

ii*

Wi\

During the 26th we were becalmed off the
Upper Savage Islands, amidst several large ice-
bergs, some of which were stranded on the
shore, and would receive the accumulation of
another winter's fall of snow, from not being
driven out of th? Straits into the Atlantic Ocean,
where they are dissolved. The winter was again
setting in with a cold frosty air, and frequent
snow storms. The next morning the wind
freshened, and on the 27th, when we were off
Saddle Back, we experienced another heavy
gale of wind, which was so Violent about eight
o'clock in the evening, that it broke the mizen
top sail yard, while nine of the sailors were
furling the sail. Providentially the broken
part of the yard slung with the ropes, or every
soul must inevitably have perished, from the
violent rolling of the ship. A more rough and
stormy night could not well be experienced,
with the aggravated danger of sailing among a
number of large isles of floating ice ; the run-
ning foul of one of which would be immediate
destruction, as upon a rock.

The next day the wind moderated, and was
favourable, but from the rolling of the ship I
could only read the morning and evening
prayers, and that with some difficulty, when we
met for divine worship. In the evening we ap-

ENTER THE ATLANTIC.

proached Resolution Island, and the waters of the
Atlantic opened to lis with the encouraging pro-
spect of having more sea room to encounter any
storms that we might afterwards meet with. As
we left the barren rugged shores of the Straits,
and the chain of rocks terminating in ragged
points on the coast of Labrador, there was a
general spirit of congratulation ; and the pro-
spect of crossing the great Western Ocean in
safety raised in my mind the ascription of
praise uttered by the Psalmist, " Praise the Lord>
O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.**

Oct. 4. — We were off Cape Farewell, South
Greenland, with strong gales of wind. This
point called to my mind the labours of the
Moravian Missionaries who had formed several
settlements, the most southern of which I be-
lieve is Lichterau, among the Greenlanders,
under far greater difficulties, than are likely to
assail the Missionary, in his attempt to form an
establishment for the instruction of the same
race of people in the principles of divine truth
on the shores of Hudson^s Bay, with the aid and
co-operation of the Hudson's Bay Company.
These pious, simple, devoted Missionaries, have
proved that missions to the heathen on the
most inhospitable and barren shores are not
visionary schemes, but succeed effectually under

198

MORAVIAN MISSIONS.

the blessing of heaven to the conversion of the
natives ; and they have established the principle,
that wherever the wat'^is roll, and however
barren the rock on which man is to be found,
there man may be benefitted with the saving
knowledge and blessings of Christianity. The
account given of the first Missionaries of the
United Brethren, whose entrance upon the in-
hospitable and icy coasts of Greenland was in
1733, among whom was that eminent servant of
the mission, Matthew Stach, is truly interesting.
Leaving Hemnhutt, they first proceeded to the
Danish capital, as Greenland was under that
government, to obtain the sanction of the King,
in their intended mission. Their first audience
with the Chamberlain was not a little discour-
aging, but being convinced, by a closer ac-
quaintance of the solidity of their faith, and the
rectitude of their intentions, this Minister be-
came their firm friend, and willingly presented
their memorial to the King, who was pleased to
approve of their design, and wrote a letter with
his own hand, recommending them to the notice
of the Danish Missionary, Egede, who had un-
dertaken a mission to Greenland in 1721, but
had hitherto accomplished very little in the way
of success, notwithstanding his indefatigable
exertions.

MORAVIAN MISSIONS,

199

The Chamberlain also introduced them to
several persons distinguished by rank and piety,
who liberally contributed toward the expense of
their voyage and intended settlement. Being
asked one day by his Excellency, how they pro-
posed to maintain themselves in Greenland, they
answered, that they depended on the labour of
their own hands and God*s blessing ; and that
not to be burdensome to any one, they would
build themselves a house and cultivate the
ground. It being objected that they would find
no wood to build with, as the country presented
little but a face of barren rock. " Then," replied
they in a true Missionary spirit, " we will dig
into the earth and lodge there." " No," said
the Minister, " to that necessity you shall not
be reduced ; you shall take timber with you for
building a house ; accept of these fifty dollars
for that purpose." With this and other dona-
tions, they purchased poles, planks and laths ;
instruments for agriculture, and carpenter*s
work, together with several sorts of seeds and
roots, with provisions. Thus equipped, says
Crantz, thev took an affectionate leave of the
Court where they had been so hospitably enter-
tained, and embarked on the 10th of April, on
board the King's ship, Caritas, Capt. Hildebrand.
The congregation at Hernhutt had already

200

MORAVIAN MISSIONS.

.ih

adopted the custom of annually compiling a
collection of scripture texts for every day in the
year, each illustrated or applied by a short verse
from some hymn. This te:^t was called the
" daily word," it supplied a profitable subject
for private meditation, and a theme for the pub-
lic discourses. The daily word on the morning
of their embarkation on a mission which so often
appeared to baffle all hope, was, ' Faith is the
substance of things hoped for^ the evidence of
things not seen.*

*' We view Him, whom no eye can see,'
With faith's keen vision stedfastly." "

In this confidence they set sail ; nor did they
suffer themselves to be confounded by any of
the unspeakable difficulties of the following
years, till they and we at last beheld the com-
pletion of what they hoped for in faith.

They sailed by Shetland, April 22nd; and,
after an expeditiousi and agreeable voyage, en-
tered Davis's Straits in the beginning of May.
Here they encountered a field of floating ice,
while enveloped in a thick fog ; but the next
day a terrible storm arose, which dispersed the
ice and freed them at the same time from their
fears. On the 13th they came in sight of the
coast of Greenland, when a violent tempest of

MORAVIAN MISSIONS.

four days' continuance, preceded by a total
eclipse of the sun, drove them back more than
sixty leagues. May 20th, they cast anchor in
Ball's River, after a voyage of six weeks ; and
joyfully welcomed the snowy cliffs and savage
inhabitants of a country which had so long been
the chief object of their wishes. The word of
the day was. The peace of God, which passeth
all understanding J shall keep your hearts and
minds through Jesus Christ. By this they were
frequently encouraged to a peaceful and be-
lieving perseverance, during the first ensuing
years, amidst all the oppositions which they
met with, and the slender prospect they enter-
tained of the conversion of the heathen.

The sight of the first Greenlanders, though
they could not speak a word to them, was ac-
companied with sensations of lively pleasure ;
their pitiable condition pierced them to the
heart, and they prayed the Lord, the Light to
enlighten the gentiles , that he would grant them
grace, wisdom, and power, to bring some of
them at least out of darkness into His marvel-
lous light. Immediately on their landing they
repaired to Mr. Egede. He gave them a cordial
reception, congratulated them on their under-
taking, and promised them his assistance in
learning the language. They next fixed on a

202

MORAVIAN MISSIONS.

spot for their building, on the nearest habi-
table part of the coast, to which they afterward
gave the name of New Hernnhutt ; and having
consecrated it with prayer began to run up a
Greenland hut of stones and sods, in which
they might find shelter, until they had erected
a wooden house. At first the natives regarded
them with contempt, concluding from the
readiness with which they engaged in every
kind of manual labour, that they were the Fac-
tor's servants ; and being scattered among the
islands and hills to fish, catch seals, and hunt
deer, while in winter they made journies on
sledges to their acquaintance upwards of a hun-
dred leagues North or South ; the Brethren had
little access to them, and but faint hopes of
making any permanent impression on their
minds in their wandering mode of existence.
Some of the natives, however, paid a visit to
them, but it was only fix)m curiosity to see their
buildings, or to beg needles, fish hooks, knives,
and other such articles, if not to steal ; and no
proffered advantages could tempt them to re-
main for a short time at the Settlement. Till
at length when they understood that the object
of these faithful, tried, and persevering Mission-
aries was not to trade with them, but to make
them acquainted with their Creator ; and when

* t

MORAVIAN MISSIONS.

203

t. r

they observed their modest and gentle carriage,
so different from that of other Europeans, they
paid them more attention, pressed them to come
to their huts, and promised to return the visit
themselves. A more frequent intercourse gra-
dually commenced, and the Greenlanders would
sometimes spend a night with the Brethren.
The motives of their visits were, indeed, glar-
ingly selfish. They wanted either food and
shelter, or presents of needles and other things.
They even bluntly declared, that if the Mission-
aries would give them no stock-fish, they would
no longer listen to what they had to say : and
during the winter, which was intensely cold, the
Brethren could not refuse their request for pro-
visions. They did not altogether discontinue
their visits in summer, but they generally came
after spending the night in feasting and revell-
ing, too drowsy to support a conversation, or
intent only upon hearing some news, or on
begging or purloining whatever might strike
their fancy. Their pilfering habits made their
visits not a little troublesome to the Brethren,
but the latter did not wish to frighten them
away ; and were content for the present, that
they came at all, especially as a few of them
discovered a satisfaction in being present at the
evening meetings, though held in German, and

204

MORAVIAN MISSIONS.

made inquiries into the design of them. After
a series of trying hardships ; and after enduring
privations for years, they were encouraged in
their mission, established in much long-suffering
and patience, by one of the natives visiting
them, and desiring to " see their things." They
showed him what they had, supposing that he
wished to barter some Greenland food for their
iron ware. But after remaining quite silent for
some time, he at last said that he had been with
the Minister, (Mr Egede) who had told him
wonderful things of One, who was said to have
created heaven and earth, and was called God.
Did they know any thing about it ? If they
did, they should tell him something more,
as he had forgotten a good deal. This dis-
course made a deep impression on their minds.
They told him of the creation of man, and the
intention it ; of the fall and consequent corrup-
tion of the human race ; of the redemption
through Christ ; of the resurrection ; and of
eternal happiness and damnation. The poor
Greenlander listened very attentively, was
present at their evening meeting, and slept all
night in their tent. Further inquiries were
afterwards made among the natives, till the
Brethren had their two Greenland houses com-
pletely filled, and a native congregation col-

MORAVIAN MISSIONS.

205

lected. The word of the gospel "was eventually
propagated by the Missionaries through a vast
extent of country, and its glad tidings spread
still farther by the savages themselves, so that
a numerous company of Greenlanders have
been gathered to Jesus Christ by the preaching
of his word — moulded into a spiritual congre-
gation by the operation of the Holy Ghost
(says the above historian,) and furnished with
such provisions for its good discipline, both
within and without, that amidst all defects, it
might in truth be called a living, flourishing,
fruit-bearing plant of the heavenly Father's
planting.

Such an example of success in Missionary
exertions, in the frozen and uncultivated regions
of Greenland and of Labrador, as the United
Brethren have set, holds out every encourage-
ment to hope that a mission would succeed
among the Esquimaux at Hudson's Bay. They
resemble the Greenlanders in their aspect,
dress, and mode of living ; and speaking the
same language, it would greatly aid the mission
to them, if one or two Christian natives could
be obtained and prevailed upon to join it from
the coast of Greenland. They are shouting
from their native rocks for instruction, and have
appealed to the Christian sympathy and bene-

, !

' *.

]

206

MISSIONS.

volence of every friend of missions, in language
of the same import as the call of Macedonia, —
" We want to know the grand God."

** Shall we, whose souls are lighted

With wisdom from on high,
Shall we to men benighted

The lamp of life deny?
Salvation ! oh, salvation !

The joyful sound proclaim,
Till each remotest nation

Has learn'd Messiah's name.
Waft, waft, ye winds, his story,

And you, ye waters, roll,
Till, like a sea of glory, ' '

It spreads from pole to pole ;
Till o'er our ransomed nature.

The Lamb for sinners slain,
Redeemer, King, Creator!

In bliss returns to reign."

Bishop of Calcutta.

The 5th. — Sunday. The wind has blown
hard all day, so as to permit, from the rolling
of the ship, of my only reading the Morning
and Evening Prayers, for divine worship. I
know that God, who made heaven, earth, and
seas, is not confined to forms of prayer, how
ever excellent, any more than to temples made
with hands. But as a formulary, how full and
comprehensive is that of the Church of Eng-

AT SEA.

307

land ! and how well adat -" co express the
feelings of the mind, humbled, and peniten-
tially exercised, yet exalted in hope at the
throne of a covenant God in Christ Jesus.
When the prayers are prayed^ and not merely
read in the cold formality of office, instead of
wearying the mind by repetition, how often
are they the means of arresting our wan-
dering thoughts, and awakening a devotional
feeling ! This effect, I trust, was produced
in our minds, as we met together, for the
public services of the day, in the cabin of the
ship.

From the 5th to the 9th, we had stiff gales of
wind from the same quarter, which caused the
sea to roll with a majesty and grandeur that I
never before witnessed. I stood on the quarter-
deck, in admiration of the scene, and of the
wonders of God in the deep, as wave rolled
after wave, occasionally breaking on its moun-
tainous top into a roaring and foaming surge.
But while the waves roar and the winds howl
around me, I am borne in safety through the
mighty waters towards the desired haven.
What a fit emblem is this experience of the
spiritual and eternal safety of the Christian,
in the ark of the covenant, amidst the foaming
billows of affliction, the wind of temptation,

SPSS

MHwaHMBaai

''^m^

1 1

if'

,«

ft'

208

ARRIVE IN THE THAMES.

! S

-I ^

■

4«-

and every storm of trial raised by man in a
fallen and disordered world, branded with so
many marks of its Creator's displeasure.

We were prevented from meeting in the
cabin, for divine service, on Sunday the 12th,
from its blowing a hard gale, and the violent
tossing of the ship. We now experienced a
sensible alteration in the weather, as being
much milder; and a couple of black wolves
and a bear, which we had on board, were evi-
dently aftected by the change of the atmos-
phere, as we were bearing up for the Orkney
Isles. On the 15th, we anchored in Stromness
harbour, and, leaving this anchorage on the
17th, we reached Yarmouth Roads, October
the 23d ; and through a kind protecting Pro-
vidence, I landed, on the following day, from
the ship, in the Thames.

Since my departure from England, in May
1820, to this period of my return, not one acci-
dent have I met with, nor have I been called to
experience a single day's illness. Though in
perils oft by land and by sea, and exposed to
threatened dangers of the ice, and of the desert,
still my life has been preserved.

1 !

Praised be the Lord God of my salvation

ST^i^

i jH« i« tl^

CONCLUSION.

200

In sending this volume to the press, I feel
that I am discharging a duty which I owe to
the natives of the rocks and of the wilderness,
whom I have seen in the darkness and misery
of heathenism ; and I ardently desire that the
Mission already entered upon, may become the
means of widely extending the knowledge of
Christianity among them. I have no higher
wish in life, than to spend and be spent in the
service of Christ, for the salvation of the North
American Indians. Not my will, however,
but His be done, who alone can direct and
control all Missions successfully, to the ful-
filment of His prophetic word, when " The
wilderness shall become a fruitful field," and
" the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the
rose."

. Since the foregoing sheets were sent to the
Printer, very gratifying intelligence has been
received of the improved state of the Colony ;
and a sanguine hope is entertained that several
native Indian children from different nations

f , ' ■ i j.' i I iiwii M l I

ft '^^ '^Sil

210 CONCLUSION.

will be added to the number of those already
upon the Church Mission School establishment
at the Red River.

THE END.

I'l

ERRATA.

Page 1, line 7, for Salteaux, read Saulteaux.

21, line 6,/or 1820, read 1817.

36, lin« 2 from bottom,^ spiritous, read spirituous.

67, line 24,_/br forty read sixty.

70, bottom of the page, for Heritics, read Heretics.
131, line 24, for Loom, read Loon.
156, line 3, for a, reiui no.
180, line 3, for intrepedity, read intrepidity.
204, line t9, for intention it, read intention of it.