THIRTY YEARS WAITING FOR A MISSIONARY.
At 8 p.m. Chief Winchaub came over, having had a friendly cup of tea,
he delivered his promised answer.--The Indians, he said, approved all
that we had said; they were glad to see us, and that we had built this
big teaching wigwam for Indian boys, they would like to have their
children educated, but most of them thought it was too far to send
their children. He, for his part, if he had a child, would send him,
and another man was willing to send his little boy when older, at
present he was too young. We asked him about one promising-looking lad
we had seen, the dark-eyed boy with the bow and arrows. The Chief said
he had spoken to that boy's father, but he was not willing to send him,
it was too far, and he would never know how it fared with him.
The Chief then said he had one other thing he wished to speak about,--
there was one band of Indians on the lake, not belonging to him, who,
he understood, wished to embrace Christianity and become members of the
Church of England. At the time of the great council at Sault Ste.
Marie, thirty years ago, the great White Chief had told them that they
should have a Missionary of the English Church, and they had been
waiting for him ever since. After telling us this he bade us adieu and
left.
We had already gone to bed, in preparation for an early start in the
morning, and I was lying awake, when my attention was attracted by the
splash of paddles and an animated conversation going on upon the water.
Esquimau came to my tent and said, "One of those men that the Chief
was talking about has just arrived, and he has two boys with him." I
said to William, "This is God's doing," and we both got up and went out
to see the man; the Bishop also got up and came out. It was a most
interesting interview. We stirred up the dying embers of the camp fire
and sat around it on logs. This man, whose name we found was Mesten,
had travelled about forty miles, not knowing that we were here till he
met Esquimau. He said that he and his people, though at present pagans,
were prepared to accept the English religion. Their former chief, who
was now dead, had told them to do so thirty years ago. He had waited
for a Missionary to come until he died, and since then they had been
waiting on year after year; they would not accept the French religion,
but were waiting for an English Black-coat to come and teach them.
He did not know how many they were in number, but he thought about a
hundred; our guide, Uhbesekun, he said, was one of their number. We
then made inquiries as to their location, and found it would take us
about ten miles out of our way to visit them. The Bishop was so
impressed with the evident leading of God's Providence in the matter
that even, though it might cause some alteration in our plans, we
determined to pay them a visit.
_August 12th_.--Uhbesekun was commissioned to wake everyone at
half-past four, but I was the first to wake, and sent William to arouse
the others. A head-wind was blowing, so we had to paddle and row hard;
we accomplished about thirty miles in seven consecutive hours. We had
dinner on a rocky island, and then five or six miles more brought us to
the Indian encampment in Chiefs Bay. There were only two wigwams
visible, with six or seven people in each, a few canoes on the shore,
and seven or eight large dogs prowling about. After introducing
ourselves to the men and telling them the object of our visit, we
paddled on about a mile further to deposit our baggage at the portage,
and left two boys and the guide to light a fire and erect the tents,
and then the Bishop, Joseph, William, and myself, returned to the
Indian camp. The men were away when we got there, so I sat down and
made a sketch of the camp and our boys showed the photograph of the
Shingwauk Home to the women, and told them all about it. By this time
the men had returned, a fish-box was brought for the "Big black-coat"
to sit on, and a tub turned up for me, and then the pow-wow began.
The Bishop briefly related what had led us to visit them, how one of
their number had fallen in with us the night before, and had told us
that they were desirous of embracing the English religion, and so we
had come on purpose to see them.
There were two principal men listening to us, and they several times
expressed their approval as the Bishop proceeded. One of them then
replied at length. He said, "Thirty years ago all the Indian Chiefs were
called together at the Rapids (Sault Ste. Marie) to meet the Great White
Chief in order to make a treaty with him about surrendering their lands
to the Queen, My father was chief at that time; his name was
Muhnedooshans. The Great White Chief (Sir John Robinson) made a treaty
with us. We were each to receive L6 a year as an annuity. My father
often spoke to us about it when he was alive. My eldest brother is now
our chief; his name is Cheyadah. The chieftainship has been in our
family for many generations past. We still carry out the precepts of our
father; we do not do as the other Indians do. The Great White Chief gave
my father a paper which showed the boundaries of the land set apart for
our use by the Queen. My eldest brother now has this paper. My father
said to us, 'Do not travel about all the time as the other Indians do,
but settle upon this land and farm like the white people do.' We obey
the precepts of our father. We have already cleared some land, and every
year we plant potatoes. We cannot do much more than this until we have
some one to teach us. We have built also three log-houses like the white
people. Some of us live in these houses in the winter time. Our land is
about four miles in extent. At present it is our fishing season, so we
are scattered about fishing, and live in wigwams as you see us now. This
is how we gain our living. Another thing that the Great White Chief said
to my father was, that we should not join the French religion, but he
would send us an English black-coat to teach us. So every year my father
was waiting for the English teacher to come; he waited on in vain, year
after year, and died a pagan. His last words to us were that we should
still wait for an English teacher to come, and that when he came we must
receive him well and ask him to open a school for our children to be
taught. He also told us never to sell our land to the white people, but
always to keep it, and not to scatter about, but to keep together. Thus
to this present day have we kept to the precepts of our father, and we
now welcome you as the English teachers that our father told us to look
for."
The Bishop then spoke again, and told them that he felt most thankful
in his heart to hear their words; he was very thankful that the Great
Spirit had directed his steps to come and see them. He had it in his
heart to do all he could for them; he was sorry that he could not at
once send them a teacher; that was impossible for the present. All that
he could offer was to take one or two of their boys into our
Institution at Sault Ste. Marie. Then, at the Bishop's request, I gave
the people a full account of the origin and history of our Shingwauk
Home, much the same as I had said to Chief Winchaub the night before.
They seemed much interested, though afraid to send any children on
account of the great distance.
After this the conversation became general. They told us their names;
they said they were very thankful we had come to see them; they knew the
white man was right about religion, for he knew everything, their knives
and axes and clothing were all made by white men; Indians were poor and
ignorant, and needed to be taught. They had almost given up looking for
a Missionary. When they went to the Hudson Bay Post in the spring, they
were told they had better join the Roman Catholics, but they said, No,
they would still wait, and they were glad now that they had done so. I
then made a list of the heads of families and the number belonging to
each, the total being about seventy. We showed them a hymn-book printed
in Indian at the Shingwauk Home, which interested them greatly, though
at first they held it upside down. Then I showed them the Indian
Testament, and told them this was the Book that God had given to us.
They handled it very reverently, and answered readily in the affirmative
when asked if they would like to hear some of the words it contained. I
read part of the 8th chapter of St. Mark, about the feeding of the four
thousand, the curing of the blind man, and our Lord's words about the
worth of the soul. The people listened most intently, indicating their
wonderment by suppressed ejaculations as I read anything that especially
struck them, such, for instance, as the fact that 4000 men were fed with
the loaves and fishes; but what produced the most intense attention was
the account of our Lord's mockery, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. Their
sympathy with the suffering Saviour was most marked, and their simple
astonishment most evident when I came to the part about the stone rolled
away and the angels telling the women that Jesus was risen from the dead.
When we were preparing to go back to our camp, Oshkahpuhkeda said to
me, "Well, if my son is not too big, you may take him with you; I know
I shall be sad without him, I shall weep often for him, but I want him
to be taught, and I will try to control myself until he returns to see
me next summer." I said I should be very glad to take the boy, and
would treat him as my son, and I would write to the Hudson Bay
Company's agent at Red Rock, that through him he might hear how his son
fared, and next summer his boy should go back to him, and he need not
send him again unless he wished. I also asked him whether he would be
willing that the lad should be baptized after he had received
instruction. "Yes, yes," he said, "that is what I wish; I wish my son
to be educated and brought up as a Christian. My wife," he continued,
"is dead; I also have a sickness working in my body--perhaps I shall
not live long. If I die, I wish you to take all my children: this boy
who is going with you, his brother whom you saw with Meshen last night,
this little girl sitting here (about ten years old), and that papoose,--
you may have them all and bring them up as Christians."
We thought it would be better to take the younger of the two boys, if
Meshen (with whom he had gone) should get back in time, and to this the
father also agreed.