[Illustration: THE RIGHT REV. JOHN HORDEN, BISHOP OF MOOSONEE]
FORTY-TWO YEARS
AMONGST THE
INDIANS AND ESKIMO
PICTURES FROM THE LIFE OF
THE RIGHT REVEREND JOHN HORDEN
FIRST BISHOP OF MOOSONEE
BY
BEATRICE BATTY
LONDON
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
56 PATERNOSTER ROW AND 65 ST PAUL’S CHURCHYARD
1893
PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
LONDON
PREFACE
The contents of the present volume are in a large measure the outcome of
a long-continued personal correspondence with the late Bishop of Moosonee.
As Editor of the _Coral Magazine_ I received from him many appeals
for aid in the various departments of his work. I asked for graphic
descriptions of the surroundings; and I did not ask in vain. Questions
concerning the daily life of himself and those about him, the food and
habits of the people, modes of travel, dress, climate, products, seasons,
and special incidents were duly answered and fully entered into. The
bishop had the pen of a ready writer, and all that he wrote was graphic
in the extreme. He was, however, modestly unaware of his talent in this
respect, until his eyes were opened to the fact by the well-deserved
appreciation of the letters and papers which came more frequently and
more regularly increasing in interest as time wore on.
The bulk of this book is made up of extracts from this correspondence,
with just enough information supplied to give the reader a clear idea
of the bishop’s life and work. The journal of his first voyage to the
distant sphere of his future labours he sent to me in quite recent
years, with the expressed hope that it might be published. The various
papers and letters afford not only a vivid picture of life amongst the
Indians and Eskimo, but a valuable example of what may be accomplished,
even under the most untoward circumstances, by indomitable perseverance,
unwavering fortitude, and cheerful self-denial, accompanied always by
prayer and a firm reliance upon God. ‘I can do all things through Christ
who strengtheneth me’ was the bishop’s watchword. His motto—‘The happiest
man is he who is most diligently employed about his Master’s business.’
Should the pictures of life and work offered in the accompanying volume
lead others to follow in Bishop Horden’s footsteps, their purpose will
have been indeed fulfilled.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE VOYAGE OUT 13
II. ACQUIRING THE LANGUAGE 18
III. EARLY LIFE 23
IV. WINTER AT MOOSE FORT 28
V. A VISIT TO THE ESKIMO AT WHALE RIVER 42
VI. SCHOOL WORK 50
VII. FIRST RETURN TO ENGLAND 56
VIII. AGAIN AT WORK 60
IX. DAYS OF LABOUR 70
X. THE BISHOPRIC OF MOOSONEE 76
XI. A PICNIC AND AN INDIAN DANCE 83
XII. ORGANISATION AND TRAVEL 92
XIII. YORK FACTORY 105
XIV. THE RETURN TO MOOSE 116
XV. TRYING TIMES 132
XVI. CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S DAY AT ALBANY 150
XVII. THE PACKET MONTH 160
XVIII. CHURCHILL AND MATAWAKUMMA 172
XIX. A DAY AT BISHOP’S COURT 183
XX. CLOSING LABOURS 193
XXI. LAST DAYS 219
[Illustration: A LOG HUT]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE RIGHT REVEREND JOHN HORDEN, BISHOP OF MOOSONEE _Frontispiece_
A LOG HUT 9
MAP OF MOOSONEE 12
A TRADER’S STORE 36
A GROUP OF ESKIMO 46
SHOOTING A RAPID 99
CANADIAN TIMBER 119
MOOSE FACTORY 124
A PAGE OF THE CREE ‘PILGRIM’S PROGRESS’ 145
A DOG SLEDGE 151
ALBANY, HUDSON’S BAY 156
AN INDIAN TRAVELLING ON SNOW-SHOES 161
THE CHURCH AT FORT GEORGE 169
CHURCHILL IN SUMMER 173
ON THE CHURCHILL RIVER 177
A LARGE CANOE SHOOTING A RAPID 189
[Illustration: MAP OF MOOSONEE (SCALE, 400 MILES TO THE INCH).
_Stanford’s Geogˡ. Estabᵗ. London_]
FORTY-TWO YEARS AMONGST THE INDIANS AND ESKIMO
CHAPTER I
THE VOYAGE OUT
In the year 1670, a few English gentlemen, ‘the Governor and Company of
Adventurers of England trading to Hudson’s Bay,’ obtained a charter from
King Charles II. The company consisted of but nine or ten merchants. They
made large profits by bartering English goods with the Indians of those
wild, and almost unknown, regions for furs of the fox, otter, beaver,
bear, lynx, musk, minx, and ermine.
The company established forts, and garrisoned them with Highlanders and
Norwegians. The climate was too cold and the food too coarse to attract
Englishmen to the service. The forts, or posts, were about a hundred
and fifty or two hundred miles apart, and to them the Indians resorted
in the spring of the year with the furs obtained by hunting, snaring,
and other modes of capture. In return for these they obtained guns,
powder and shot, traps, kettles, axes, cloth, and blankets. The standard
of value for everything was a beaver skin. Two white foxes were worth
one beaver skin, two silver foxes were worth eight beaver skins, one
pocket-handkerchief was worth one beaver skin, one yard of blue cloth
was worth one-and-a-half beaver skins, a frying-pan was worth two beaver
skins. As time went on, and the value of furs in the market rose or fell,
the prices of certain things altered. But this is a sample of what they
were when the hero of our tale first went out to Hudson’s Bay in 1851.
Let us accompany the young missionary on his voyage to Moose Fort, the
chief of the company’s trading posts. ‘We, that is, my dear wife and
myself,’ he writes, ‘went on board ship at Gravesend on June 6, 1851.
Our ship was strongly built, double throughout; it was armed with
thick blocks of timber, called ice chocks, at the bows, to enable it
to do battle with the ice it would have to encounter. At Stromness we
remained a fortnight, taking in a portion of our cargo and a number of
men who were going to Hudson’s Bay in the service of the company. It
was a solitary voyage. All the way we saw but one vessel. On a Saturday
afternoon we entered the Straits.
‘The weather had been very foggy; but the fog rose, the sun shone out,
and a most beautiful spectacle presented itself. The water was as
smooth as a fish-pond, and in it were lying blocks of ice of all sizes
and shapes, some of them resembling churches, others castles, and others
hulls of ships, while at a considerable distance, on either side, rose
the wild and dreary land—a land of desolation and death, without a tree
or a blade of grass, but high and mountainous, with masses of snow lying
in all the hollows. The captain and mates became very anxious. The
dangers of the voyage had commenced. An ice-stage, raised eight or nine
feet above the deck, was erected, and on this continually walked up and
down one or two of the ship’s officers. A man, too, was constantly at
the bow on the look out, and yet the blows we received were very heavy,
setting the bells a-ringing, and causing a sensation of fear.
‘When we had got about half-way through the Straits, we saw some of the
inhabitants of this dreary land. “The Eskimo are coming,” said a sailor.
‘By-and-by, I heard the word _Chimo_ frequently repeated, which means
“Welcome,” and presently we saw a number of beautiful little canoes
coming towards us, each containing a man. These were soon followed
by a large boat containing several women and children. They all came
alongside, bringing with them seal-skins, blubber, fox-skins, whalebone,
and ivory. These they freely parted with in exchange for pieces of iron,
needles, nails, saws, &c., they setting a very great value on anything
made of iron. Now these people, who were very, very dirty, were not
dressed like English people, but both men and women wore coats made of
seal-skins, breeches of dog-skins, and boots of well-dressed seal-skins,
the only difference between a man’s and a woman’s dress being that the
woman had a long tail to her coat, reaching almost to the ground, and
an immense hood, in which she carried her little naked baby, which was
perched on her shoulders.
‘Again hoisting our sails, in two or three days we cleared the Straits
and entered Hudson’s Bay. Danger was not over. Our difficulties had
scarcely commenced. Ahead, stretching as far as the eye could reach,
is ice—ice; now we are in it. More and more difficult becomes the
navigation. We are at a standstill. We go to the mast-head—ice! rugged
ice in every direction! One day passes by—two, three, four. The cold is
intense. Our hopes sink lower and lower; a week passes. The sailors are
allowed to get out and have a game at football; the days pass on; for
nearly three weeks we are imprisoned. Then there is a movement in the
ice. It is opening. The ship is clear! Every man is on deck. Up with the
sails in all speed! Crack, crack, go the blows from the ice through which
we are passing; but we shall now soon be free, and in the open sea. Ah!
no prisoner ever left his prison with greater joy than we left ours.
‘A few days afterwards, as evening was closing in, there was a great
commotion on board: heavy chains were got on deck; we were nearing the
place of our destination; in the midnight darkness the roar of our guns
announced the joyful intelligence that we were anchored at the Second
Buoy, only twenty-five miles from Moose Fort.’
Looking at the map of North America, a little inland from the coast of
Labrador, you will find Hudson’s Bay, and in the south-west corner, at
the mouth of the Moose River, Moose Fort. Here is the residence of the
deputy governor and his subordinate officers; a number of people are
anxiously looking out; they are expecting the one ship that comes to them
in the course of the year. A small vessel lying a little way out to sea
has raised the long-looked-for signal, and rejoicing is the order of the
day.