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METLAKAHTLA
THE NORTH PACIFIC MISSION
OF THE
CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY
WITH A MAP
"If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of
the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me and Thy right hand shall hold
me"--Ps. cxxxix 9, 10
Shores of the utmost West
Ye that have waited long
Unvisited noblest,
Break forth to swelling song
High raise the note that Jesus died
Yet lives and reigns the Crucified
NOTE
The third, fourth, and fifth chapters of this little book are
substantially a reprint of parts of a pamphlet entitled, "Metlakahtla,
or Ten Years' Work among the Tsimshean Indians," published by the Church
Missionary Society in 1868. Almost all the rest, or three-fourths of the
whole, is new matter--new, that is, in a separate form, for the greater
part has appeared at various times in the Society's periodicals. One or
two facts are taken from the Rev. J. J. Halcombe's excellent book,
"Stranger than Fiction," which has done so much to make the Metlakahtla
Mission known. For much valuable information I am indebted to Admiral
Prevost.
E. S.
CONTENTS.
CHAP
I. THE FIELD OF LABOUR
II. THE CALL, AND THE MAN
III. BEGINNING WORK
IV. FIRST-FRUITS
V. THE NEW SETTLEMENT
VI. METLAKAHTLA--SPIRITUAL RESULTS
VII. " MATERIAL PROGRESS AND MORAL INFLUENCE
VIII. " TWO CHRISTMAS-SEASONS
IX. OUTLYING MISSIONS--KINCOLITH.
X. " QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S ISLANDS
XI. " FORT RUPERT
XII. LORD DUFFERIN AT METLAKAHTLA
XII. ADMIRAL PREVOST AT METLAKAHTLA
XIV. THE DIOCESE OF CALEDONIA
METLAKAHTLA
AND
THE NORTH PACIFIC MISSION.
I.
THE FIELD OF LABOUR
British Columbia, now forming part of "The Dominion of Canada,"
includes within its limits several islands, of which Vancouver's is the
principal, and that part of the continent of North America, west of the
Rocky Mountains and east of Alaska, which is included between the 49 deg.
and the 60 deg. parallels of north latitude.
English connection with this part of the world may be said to date
from an exploratory voyage made by Captain Cook in 1776, when he landed
at Friendly Cove and Nootka Sound, and took possession of them in the
name of his sovereign. He supposed at the time that these places were
on the mainland, and it was not until Captain Vancouver, an officer in
the English Navy, was despatched in 1792 to the Pacific, that he
discovered that Nootka and Friendly Cove were on the west side of the
island which now bears his name, and which is sometimes spoken of as
the gem of the Pacific.
In 1793, Alexander Mackenzie, one of the most enterprising pioneers in
the employment of the North-West Fur Company, who had already
discovered the mighty river since named after him, crossed the Rocky
Mountains, and pushed his way westward, until he stood on the shores of
the Pacific. Some years later, in 1806, Mr. Simon Frazer, another
_employe_ of the same Company, gave his name to the great river
that drains British Columbia, and established the first trading post in
those parts. After the amalgamation of this Company with the Hudson's
Bay Company, other posts were established, such as Fort Rupert, on
Vancouver's Island, and Fort Simpson, on the borders of Alaska, then
belonging to Russia, but subsequently sold by her to the United States.
In 1858, the discovery of gold in the basin of the Fraser river, on
the mainland, attracted a large number of gold-diggers from California,
and among them a considerable body of Chinese. To maintain order among
a motley population of lawless habits, British Columbia was formed into
a colony, with its capital at Victoria, on Vancouver's Island.
Official returns, made a few years ago, gave the number of Indians in
British Columbia as 31,520, distributed over the islands and mainland.
They belong to several distinct families or nations, speaking distinct
languages, subdivided into a multitude of tribes speaking different
dialects of their own. Thus the Hydahs of Queen Charlotte's Islands are
altogether distinct from the Indians of Vancouver's Island, where,
indeed, those on the east coast are distinct from those on the west.
Again, on the mainland, the Indians on the sea-board are distinct from
the Indians of the interior, from whom they are divided by the Cascade
range of mountains. These inland Indians are of more robust and
athletic frame, and are altogether a more vigorous race.
Among the coast tribes, however, there are great differences, those to
the north being far superior to those in the south. Those who know the
Indians well declare that it would be impossible to find anywhere finer
looking men than the Hydahs, Tsimsheans, and some of the Alaskan
tribes. "They are," writes one, "a manly, tall, handsome people, and
comparatively fair in their complexion."
The Indians on the sea-board of the mainland, and those on the east
coast of Vancouver's Island who have affinity with one another, have
been grouped into three principal families or nations. The first of
these is met with at Victoria and on the Fraser river, and may be
called the Chinook Indians, from the language which is principally in
use. In the second division may be comprised the tribes between Nanaimo
on the east coast, and Fort Rupert at the extreme north of Vancouver's
Island, and the Indians on the mainland between the same points. The
Tsimsheans, a third family, cluster round Fort Simpson, and occupy a
line of coast extending from the Skeena river to the borders of Alaska.
On his arrival at Fort Simpson, on the 1st of October, 1857, Mr.
Duncan found located there, to quote his own words in a recent official
report, "Nine tribes, numbering (for I counted them) about 2,300 souls.
These proved to be just one-third of the tribes speaking the Tsimshean
language. Of the other eighteen tribes, five were scattered over 100
miles of the coast south of Fort Simpson, other five occupied the Naas
river, and the remaining eight tribes lived on the Skeena river--the
whole of the twenty-seven tribes numbering then not over 8,000 souls,
though I at first set them down at 10,000. In addition to the Tsimshean
tribes which I have mentioned, I found that Indians of other two
distinct languages frequented the Fort for trade. These were the Alaska
Coast Indians, whose nearest village was only some fifteen miles north
of Fort Simpson, and the Hydahs from Queen Charlotte's Islands."
The tribal arrangements among the Tsimsheans are very much the same as
among other Indian clans. Each tribe has from three to five chiefs, one
of whom is the acknowledged head. Among the head chiefs of the various
tribes one again takes preeminence. At feasts and in council the chiefs
are seated according to their rank. As an outward mark, to distinguish
the rank of a chief, a pole is erected in front of his house. The
greater the chief the higher the pole. The Indians are very jealous in
regard to this distinction.
Every Indian family has a distinguishing crest, or "totem," as it is
called in some places. This crest is usually some bird, or fish, or
animal; particularly the eagle, the raven, the finback whale, the
grisly bear, the wolf, and the frog. Among the Tsimsheans and their
neighbours, the Hydahs, great importance is attached to this heraldry,
and their crests are often elaborately engraved on large copper plates
from three to five feet in length, and about two in breadth. These
plates are very highly valued, and are often heir-looms in families. No
Indian would think of killing the animal which had been taken for his
crest. While two members of the same tribe are allowed to intermarry,
those of the same crest are prohibited from doing so under any
circumstances. The child always takes the mother's crest: if she
belonged to a family whose crest was the eagle, thru all her children
take the eagle for their crest.
The most influential men in a tribe--not excluding the chiefs--are the
medicine men. Captain Mayne, R.N., thus speaks of them:--[Footnote:
_Four Years in British Columbia, and Vancouver Island_, p. 260
(Murray, 1862).]
"Their initiation into the mysteries of their calling is one of the
most disgusting ceremonies imaginable. At a certain season, the Indian
who is selected for the office retires into the woods for several days,
and fasts, holding intercourse, it is supposed, with the spirits who
are to teach him the healing art. He then suddenly reappears in the
village, and, in a sort of religious frenzy, attacks the first person
he meets and bites a piece out of his arm or shoulder. He will then
rush at a dog, and tear him limb from limb, running about with a leg or
some part of the animal all bleeding in his hand, and tearing it with
his teeth. This mad fit lasts some time, usually during the whole day
of his reappearance. At its close he crawls into his tent, or falling
down exhausted is carried there by those who are watching him. A series
of ceremonials, observances, and long incantations follows, lasting for
two or three days, and he then assumes the functions and privileges of
his office. I have seen three or four medicine men made at a time among
the Indians near Victoria, while twenty or thirty others stood, with
loaded muskets, keeping guard all round the place to prevent them doing
any mischief. Although a clever medicine man becomes of great
importance in his tribe, his post is no sinecure either before or after
his initiation. If he should be seen by anyone while he is communing
with the spirits in the woods, he is killed or commits suicide, while
if he fails in the cure of any man he is liable to be put to death, on
the assumption that he did not wish to cure his patient. This penalty
is not always inflicted, but, if he fails in his first attempt, the
life of a medicine man is not, as a rule, worth much. The people who
are bitten by these maniacs when they come in from the woods consider
themselves highly favoured."
Mr. Duncan, in 1857, gave the following painfully curious description
of the medicine men--
"The superstitions connected with this fearful system are deeply
rooted here, and it is the admitting and initiating of fresh pupils
into these arts that employ numbers, and excite and interest all,
during the winter months. This year I think there must have been eight
or ten parties of them, but each party seldom has more than one pupil
at once. In relating their proceedings I can give but a faint
conception of the system as a whole, but still a little will show the
dense darkness that rests on this place.
"I may mention that each party has some characteristics peculiar to
itself, but, in a more general sense, their divisions are but three,
viz, those who eat human bodies, the dog eaters, and those who have no
custom of the kind. Early in the morning the pupils would be out on,
the beach, or on the rocks, in a state of nudity. Each had a place in
front of his own tribe, nor did intense cold interfere in the slightest
degree. After the poor creature had crept about, jerking his head and
screaming for some time, a party of men would rush out, and, after
surrounding him, would commence singing. The dog eating party
occasionally carried a dead dog to their pupil, who forthwith commenced
to tear it in the most dog like manner. The party of attendants kept up
a low growling noise, or a whoop, which was seconded by a screeching
noise made from an instrument which they believe to be the abode of a
spirit. In a little time the naked youth would start up again, and
proceed a few more yards in a crouching posture, with his arms pushed
out behind him, and tossing his flowing black hair. All the while he is
earnestly watched by the group about him, and when he pleases to sit
down they again surround him and commence singing. This kind of thing
goes on, with several different additions, for some time. Before the
prodigy finally retires, he takes a turn into every house belonging to
his tribe, and is followed by his train. When this is done, in some
cases he has a ramble on the tops of the same houses, during which he
is anxiously watched by his attendants, as if they expected his flight.
By-and-bye he condescends to come down, and they then follow him to his
den, which is marked by a rope made of red bark being hung over the
doorway, so as to prevent any person from ignorantly violating its
precincts. None are allowed to enter that house but those connected
with the art; all I know, therefore, of their further proceedings is,
that they keep up a furious hammering, singing, and screeching for
hours during the day.
"Of all these parties, none are so much dreaded as the cannibals. One
morning I was called to witness a stir in the camp which had been
caused by this set. When I reached the gallery I saw hundreds of
Tsimsheans sitting in their canoes, which they had just pushed away
from the beach. I was told that the cannibal party were in search of a
body to devour, and if they failed to find a dead one, it was probable
they would seize the first living one that came in their way; so that
all the people living near to the cannibals' house had taken to their
canoes to escape being torn to pieces. It is the custom among these
Indians to burn their dead; but I suppose for these occasions they take
care to deposit a corpse somewhere, in order to satisfy these inhuman
wretches.
"These, then, are some of the things and scenes which occur in the day
during the winter months, while the nights are taken up with amusements
--singing and dancing. Occasionally the medicine parties invite people
to their several houses, and exhibit tricks before them of various
kinds. Some of the actors appear as bears, while others wear masks, the
parts of which are moved by strings. The great feature in their
proceedings is to pretend to murder, and then to restore to life, and
so forth. The cannibal, on such occasions, is generally supplied with
two, three, or four human bodies, which he tears to pieces before his
audience. Several persons, either from bravado or as a charm, present
their arms for him to bite. I have seen several whom he has thus
bitten, and I hear two have died from the effects."
One of the most curious and characteristic customs of the the Indians
of British Columbia is the _giving away of property_ at feasts.
Mr. Duncan gives the following account of it:--
"These feasts are generally connected with the giving away of
property. As an instance, I will relate the last occurrence of the
kind. The person who sent the aforementioned invitations is a chief who
has just completed building a house. After feasting, I heard he was to
give away property to the amount of four hundred and eighty blankets
(worth as many pounds to him), of which one hundred and eighty were his
own property and the three hundred were to be subscribed by his people.
On the first day of the feast, as much as possible of the property to
be given him was exhibited in the camp. Hundreds of yards of cotton
were flapping in the breeze, hung from house to house, or on lines put
up for the occasion. Furs, too, were nailed up on the fronts of houses.
Those who were going to give away blankets or elk-skins managed to get
a bearer for every one, and exhibited them by making the persons walk
in single file to the house of the chief. On the next day the cotton
which had been hung out was now brought on the beach, at a good
distance from the chief's house, and then run out at full length, and a
number of bearers, about three yards apart, bore it triumphantly away
from the giver to the receiver. I suppose that about six hundred to
eight hundred yards were thus disposed of.
"After all the property the chief is to receive has thus been openly
handed to him, a day or two is taken up in apportioning it for fresh
owners. When this is done, all the chiefs and their families are called
together, and each receives according to his or her portion. Thus do
the chiefs and their people go on reducing themselves to poverty. In
the case of the chiefs, however, this poverty lasts but a short time;
they are soon replenished from the next giving away, but the people
only grow rich again according to their industry. One cannot but pity
them, while one laments their folly.
"All the pleasure these poor Indians seem to have in their property is
in hoarding it up for such an occasion as I have described. They never
think of appropriating what they gather to enhance their comforts, but
are satisfied if they can make a display like this now and then; so
that the man possessing but one blanket seems to be as well off as the
one who possesses twenty; and thus it is that there is a vast amount of
dead stock accumulated in the camp doomed never to be used, but only
now and then to be transferred from hand to hand for the mere vanity of
the thing.
"There is another way, however, in which property is disposed of even
more foolishly. If a person be insulted, or meet with an accident, or
in any way suffer an injury, real or supposed, either of mind or body,
property must at once be sacrificed to avoid disgrace. A number of
blankets, shirts, or cotton, according to the rank of the person, are
torn, into small pieces and carried off."
The religion of the Tsimsheans is thus described:--
"The Tsimsheans, I find, believe in two states after death: the one
good, and the other, bad; the morally good are translated to the one,
and the morally bad are doomed to the other. The locality of the former
they think to be above, and that of the latter is somewhere beneath.
The enjoyment of heaven and the privations of hell they understand to
be carnal. They do not suppose the wicked to be destitute of food any
more than they were here, but they are treated as slaves and are badly
clothed.
"The idea they entertain of God is that He is a great chief. They call
Him by the same term as they do their chiefs, only adding the word for
above--thus, 'shimanyet' is chief, and 'lakkah' above: and hence the
name of God with them is Shimanyet Lakkah. They believe that the
Supreme Being never dies: that He takes great notice of what is going
on amongst men, and is frequently angry, and punishes offenders. They
do not know who is the author of the universe, nor do they expect that
God is the author of their own being. They have no fixed ideas about
these things, I fully believe; still they frequently appeal to God in
trouble; they ask for pity and deliverance. In great extremities of
sickness they address God, saying it is not good for them to die.
"Sometimes, when calamities are prolonged or thicken, they get enraged
against God, and vent their anger against Him, raising their eyes and
hands in savage anger to Heaven, and stamping their feet on the ground.
They will reiterate language which means 'You are a great slave!'"
A very curious tradition respecting the first appearance of white men
on the coast was related some years ago to Mr. Duncan by an old chief:--
"A large canoe of Indians were busy catching halibut in one of these
channels. A thick mist enveloped them. Suddenly they heard a noise as
if a large animal was striking through the water. Immediately they
concluded that a monster from the deep was in pursuit of them. With all
speed they hauled up their fishing lines, seized the paddles, and
strained every nerve to reach the shore. Still the plunging noise came
nearer. Every minute they expected to be engulfed within the jaws of
some huge creature. However, they reached the land, jumped on shore,
and turned round in breathless anxiety to watch the approach of the
monster. Soon a boat, filled with strange-looking men, emerged from the
mist The pulling of the oars had caused the strange noise. Though
somewhat relieved of fear, the Indians stood spell bound with
amazement. The strangers landed, and beckoned the Indians to come to
them and bring them some fish. One of them had over his shoulder what
was supposed only to be a stick, presently he pointed it to a bird that
was flying past, a violent poo went forth, down came the bird to the
ground. The Indians died. As they revived again they questioned each
other as to their state, whether they were dead, and what each had
felt. The whites then made signs for a fire to be lighted. The Indians
proceeded at once, according to their usual tedious fashion of rubbing
two sticks together. The strangers laughed, and one of them, snatching
up a handful of dry grass, struck a spark into a little powder placed
under it. Instantly flashed another poo and a blaze. The Indians died.
After this the new comers wanted some fish boiling. The Indians
therefore put the fish and water into one of their square wooden
buckets, and set some stones in the fire, intending when they were hot,
to cast them into the vessel, and thus boil the food The whites were
not satisfied with this way. One of them fetched a tin kettle out of
the boat, put the fish and the water into it, and then, strange to say,
set it on the fire. The Indians looked on with astonishment. However,
the kettle did not consume, the water did not run into the fire Then,
again, the Indians died. When the fish was eaten, the strangers put a
kettle of rice on the fire. The Indians looked at each other and
whispered, 'Akshahn, akshahn,' or 'Maggots, maggots.' The rice being
cooked, some molasses were produced and mixed with it. The Indians
stared, and said, 'Coutzee um tsakah ahket,' or 'The grease of dead
people.' The whites then tendered the rice and molasses to the Indians,
but they only shrank away in disgust. Seeing this, to prove their
integrity, they sat down and enjoyed it themselves. The sight stunned
the Indians, and again they all died. Some other similar wonders were
worked, and the profound stupor which the Indians felt each time come
over them they termed death. The Indians' turn had now come to make the
white strangers die. They dressed their heads and painted their faces A
nok nok, or wonder working spirit possessed them. They came slowly, and
solemnly seated themselves before the whites, then suddenly lifted up
their heads and stared. Their reddened eyes had the desired effect. The
whites died."
Among the Indians of British, Columbia no Protestant Missionary had
laboured prior to 1857. Some Roman Catholic priests, however, had been
in the country, and of them Captain Mayne writes:--[Footnote: "_Four
Years in British Columbia_," p. 305.]
"If the opinion of the Hudson's Bay people of the interior is to be
relied upon, the Roman Catholic priests effected no real change in the
condition of the natives. The sole result of their residence among them
was, that the Indians who had been brought under their influence had
imbibed some notions of the Deity, almost as vague as their own
traditions, and a superstitious respect for the priests themselves,
which they showed by crossing themselves devoutly whenever they met
one. Occasionally, too, might be seen in their lodges, pictures
purporting to represent the roads to Heaven and to Hell, in which there
was no single suggestion of the danger of vice and crime, but a great
deal of the peril of Protestantism. These coloured prints were
certainly curious in their way, and worth a passing notice. They were
large, and gave a pictorial history of the human race, from the time
when Adam and Eve wandered in the garden together, down to the
Reformation. Here the one broad road was split into two, whose courses
diverged more and more painfully. By one way the Roman Catholic portion
of the world were seen trooping to bliss; the other ended in a steep
bottomless precipice over which the Protestants might be seen falling.
[Footnote: A fac-simile of a similar picture appeared in the _Church
Missionary Gleaner_, of March, 1880.] Upon the more sensible and
advanced of the Indians, teaching such as this had little effect. I
remember the chief of the Shuswap tribe, at Kamloops, pointing out to
me such an illustration hanging on his wall, and laughingly saying, in
a tone that showed quite plainly how little credence he attached to it,
'There are you and your people,' putting his finger as he spoke on the
figures tumbling into the pit."
"Of such kind was the only instruction that the Indiana had received
prior to 1857. Its influence was illustrated in that year at Victoria,
where a Roman Catholic Bishop and several priests had been resident for
some time, and were known to have exerted themselves among the Songhie
Indians who reside there. A cross had been raised in their village, and
some of them had been baptized; but when these were called before the
bishop for confirmation, they refused to come unless a greater present
of blankets was made to them than had been given at their baptism. The
bishop was said to have been very angry with the priests when this came
to his knowledge; he having very possibly been deceived by them as to
the condition of the Indians. I am informed that he had a large heart
painted upon canvas, through which be drew a blanket, and represented
it to the Indians as symbolical of their condition."
How the Indians were brought to know the way of God more perfectly,
and to choose it for themselves, it will be the purpose of the
following chapters to show.
II.
THE CALL, AND THE MAN.
The Red Indian is in a peculiar sense, the child of the Church
Missionary Society. More exclusively so, indeed, than even the Negro.
In those efforts for the evangelisation of Africa with which the
Society's name has, from the first, been so indissolubly associated, it
has but shared the field with other excellent societies. In the Far
North and Far West of British America, it has laboured almost alone.
Nearly sixty years have passed away since its missionaries penetrated
into the then remote regions of the Red River, and since that time,
nearly the whole of the vast territories, stretching northward to the
Arctic Sea, eastward to the borders of Labrador, and westward to the
Rocky Mountains, have been trodden by their untiring feet. It was
fitting, therefore, that when, in the providence of God, the day came
for the Gospel to reach beyond the Rocky Mountains to the tribes on the
shores of the Pacific, it should be carried thither by the Church
Missionary Society.
But long before that time arrived, the eye of the Committee, passing
round the globe, had rested upon those distant shores. In their Annual
Report for 1819-20, the following interesting passage is to be found:--
_From the C. M. S. Report_, 1819-20.
"It has been suggested to the Committee that the Western parts of
British America, lying between the high ridge called the Rocky
Mountains and the North Pacific Ocean, and extending from about the
42nd to the 57th degree of North Latitude, offer a more extensive,
promising, and practicable field for Missionary labours than any other
in that quarter of the globe. The climate is, in general, temperate,
the soil reasonably productive, and the surface of the country level.
[Footnote: Some of the information given to the Committee at that early
date was not very accurate. The surface of British Columbia is anything
but level and the soil is not too productive.] The people are not
savage, ferocious, and wandering but settled in villages and in several
respects somewhat civilized, though still in the hunter state, with few
arts, no letters, no general knowledge, but a great desire to be taught
by white men, whose superiority they clearly discern. Numbers of them
are scattered over this great range of country, and it has hitherto
been very little known that so great a portion of the North American
continent is covered with a stationary, aboriginal people, still,
however, very much in a state of nature. The North West Company trades
through all the great space which lies between Montreal and the North
Pacific, a longitudinal distance of not less than 4,000 miles, and
keeps up a direct communication, by sea, between London and the mouth
of the river Columbia, on the North West coast of America. A member of
that Company, who is a highly respectable merchant in Canada, informs
your Committee that he has been frequently among the Indians in
question, and thinks the prospect of the introduction of Christianity
very promising, while many of the principal persons in Upper Canada are
anxious for the promotion of that object."
The Society's work, however, among the Red Indians, which was begun in
the following year, was concentrated on Red River, and thirty-six years
passed away before the attention of the Committee was again drawn to
the more remote field on the Pacific shore.
In the spring of 1856, the late Rev. Joseph Ridgeway, Editorial
Secretary of the Society, attended, as a deputation, the anniversary
meeting of the Tunbridge Wells Church Missionary Association. There he
met a naval officer, Capt. J. C. Prevost, R.N., who had just returned
from Vancouver's Island. While in command of H.M.S. _Virago_, he
had been much impressed by the spiritual destitution of the Indians of
the Pacific coast of British North America and the adjacent islands.
They were "scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd," and he, like
his Divine Master, was "moved with compassion on them." No Protestant
missionary had ever yet gone forth into the wilderness after these lost
sheep; and in addition to their natural heathenism, with its degrading
superstitions and revolting cruelties, a new danger was approaching the
Indians in the shape of the "civilisation" of white traders and miners,
with its fire-water and its reckless immorality. Capt. Prevost
earnestly inquired of Mr. Ridgeway what prospect there was of the
Church Missionary Society undertaking a Mission on the coast.
The reply was not encouraging. The Committee had just determined to
signalise the conclusion of the Crimean war by planting a Mission at
Constantinople, to extend their work in the Punjab by the occupation of
Multan; and to accept Sir Robert Montgomery's invitation to Lucknow;
and there was little hope of their having men or money to spare for the
"few sheep in the wilderness" to be found scattered over British
Columbia. The Editorial Secretary's sympathies, however, were touched,
and he, at least, did what he could. He invited Captain Prevost to
write a memorandum on the subject for the _Church Missionary
Intelligencer_. The offer was thankfully accepted; and in the number
of that periodical for July, 1856, appeared an article entitled
"Vancouver's Island," in which Mr. Ridgeway briefly stated the case,
and introduced Capt. Prevost's contribution. After an interval of
twenty-four years, and remembering what wonderful and blessed fruit has
sprung from the seed thus quietly sown, it will be interesting to
reproduce here the Christian officer's own words:--
_Captain Prevost's Memorandum, July, 1856._
"The country within which the proposed Mission is designed to operate
extends from about the 48 deg. of north latitude to 56 deg., and from the
Rocky Mountains on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west. It includes
several beautiful and fertile islands adjoining the mainland, of which
the largest, most important, and most populous, is Vancouver's, being
about 290 miles in length and 55 miles in its average breadth.
"The Government, impressed with a sense of its great commercial, and
its growing political, importance, combining also great advantages as a
naval station, erected it into a colony in 1838, and gave to the
Hudson's Bay Company a charter, conferring on them certain privileges
on condition of their carrying into effect the intentions of the
Government. The climate of this island is more genial than that of
England, its soil is more productive, and its coasts abound with the
finest fish. It contains, too, the only safe harbours between the 49 deg.
north latitude and San Francisco, and there have been discovered lately
fields of fine coal of immense extent, from which the entire coast of
the Pacific, and the steamers trading there, can be supplied. What has
been stated with regard to these natural advantages of Vancouver's
Island applies generally to the mainland."
"The seat of the Colonial Government is at Fort Victoria, where there
is a chaplain, the only Protestant minister within the limits of the
above mentioned territories. About three years since a Roman Catholic
Bishop, a British subject, arrived at the same place, accompanied by a
staff of Jesuit priests, and purchased a site for a cathedral there.
Hitherto their success has been very doubtful."
"It is difficult to ascertain, with any degree of accuracy, the total
amount of the native population, a mean, however, between the highest
and lowest estimates gives 60,000, [Footnote: Since 1856 many thousands
have died of disease and from vicious habits (see p. 2).] a result
probably not far from the truth. It 13 a fact well calculated to arrest
the attention, and to enlist in behalf of the proposed Mission the
active sympathies of every sincere Christian, that this vast number of
our fellow subjects have remained in a state of heathen darkness and
complete barbarism ever since the discovery and partial surveys of
their coasts by Vancouver in 1792 1794, and that no effort has yet been
made for their moral or spiritual improvement, although, during the
last forty years a most lucrative trade has been carried on with them
by our fellow-countrymen. We would most earnestly call upon all who
have themselves learned to value the blessings of the Gospel, to assist
'in rolling away' this reproach. The field is a most promising one.
Some naval officers, who, in the discharge of their professional
duties, have lately visited these regions, have been most favourably
impressed with the highly intelligent character of the Natives, and,
struck by their manly bearing, and a physical appearance fully equal to
that of the English, whom they also resemble in the fairness of their
complexion, and having their compassion excited by their total
destitution of Christian and moral instruction, they feel it to be
their duty to endeavour to introduce among them the knowledge of the
Gospel of Christ, under the conviction that it would prove the surest
and most fruitful source of social improvement and civilization, as
well as of spiritual blessings infinitely more valuable, and would be
found the only effectual antidote to the contaminating vices which a
rapidly-increasing trade, especially with California and Oregon, is
bringing in its train.
"There is much in the character of the Natives to encourage missionary
effort. They are not idolaters: they believe in the existence of two
great Spirits--the one benevolent, and the other malignant; and in two
separate places of reward and punishment in another world. They are by
no means bigoted. They manifest a great desire and aptitude to acquire
the knowledge and arts of civilized life; and, although they are
addicted to some of the vices generally prevalent amongst savages, they
yet possess some virtues rarely displayed by them. Some of the servants
of the Hudson's Bay Company, who have married Native women, bear the
highest testimony to their characters as wives and mothers, and to the
manner in which they fulfil all their domestic relationships.
Drunkenness was almost wholly unknown, until lately introduced by
increasing intercourse with Europeans; but it is now spreading with
rapid and destructive effect among the tribes. Loss of chastity in
females was considered an indelible disgrace to the family in which it
occurred, and was consequently uncommon. But here, again, European
influence has made itself felt, and this is now far from being the
case. Persons who are acquainted both with this people and with the New
Zealanders, are of opinion that the former are mentally and physically
equal, if not superior, to the latter; and that, were like measures
taken to convert and civilize them, they would be attended by similarly
happy results. As to the medium of communication, although the number
and variety of languages is very great, yet the necessities of trade
have given rise to a _patois_ generally understood, and easily
acquired, which might be made available for missionary purposes, at
least as far as oral teaching is concerned.
"The expense of establishing and supporting a Mission would not, it is
hoped, prove large. Fish and game are extremely cheap. Fuel, both coal
and wood, is cheap and abundant. It is proposed that the first
missionary station should be at Fort Simpson, on the mainland, as it
offers many advantages for prosecuting the objects of the Mission.
There the Missionaries would enjoy the protection, and, it is hoped,
the cordial co-operation, of the Hudson's Bay Company; and, in return,
the Company's servants would receive the benefit of the ministrations
of the members of the Mission. The position is central to all the most
populous villages; and here, in the spring of each year, a kind of
great national fair is held, where the tribes from the most distant
parts of the coast and interior assemble, to the number of about
15,000, and receive the commodities of the Company in exchange for the
skins collected during the preceding season. On these occasions
valuable opportunities would be afforded to the missionaries of
conversing with the natives, and giving them religions instruction.
Here, too, a school might be opened for the Native children, where they
would receive an industrial as well as religious and secular education,
and be secluded from the prejudicial influence of their adult
relatives."
This earnest appeal was not long in eliciting a response. Shortly
afterwards, in the list of contributions published monthly by the
Society, appeared the following entry:--
Two Friends, for Vancouver's Island, L500.
Still the Committee hesitated; but two or three months afterwards,
Capt. Prevost came to them again with the news that he was re-appointed
to the same naval station, and was to proceed thither immediately in
command of H.M.S. Satellite; and, with the sanction of the Admiralty,
he offered a free passage by her to any missionary the Society could
send out.
Here was the opening, here were the means; but where was the man to
go? There did not seem to be anyone available; but, at length, only ten
days before the "Satellite" was to sail, a student, then under
training, was thought of. Who was this?
A few years before, one of the Society's Missionaries had addressed a
village meeting in the Midland Counties. It was a very wet night, and
but a handful of people attended. The Vicar proposed to postpone the
meeting; but the missionary urged that the few who had come were
entitled to hear the information they were expecting, and proceeded to
deliver a long and earnest speech. Among the listeners were three young
men, and the heart of one of these was deeply touched that night. He
subsequently offered himself to the Society, and was sent to the (then
existing) Highbury Training College to be trained as a school master,
under the Rev. C. R. Alford, afterwards Bishop of Victoria, Hong Kong.
That young man's name was WILLIAM DUNCAN, and it was he to whom now
came the call of the Committee to start in ten days for British
Columbia.
William Duncan was ready. On December 19th, 1856, he took leave of the
Committee, and on the 23rd, he sailed with Capt. Prevost from Plymouth
in the Satellite. [Footnote: An interesting notice of Captain Prevost's
offer, and of the valedictory dismissal of Mr. Duncan, appears in the
recently published "Memoir of Henry Venn" p. 137.]
The voyage to Vancouver's Island took nearly six months. It was on
June 13th, 1857, that the Satellite cast anchor in Esquimault Harbour,
Victoria. But Mr. Duncan had still five hundred miles to go. His
mission was to the Tsimsheans, and for them Fort Simpson was the point
to aim at. Unable, however, to obtain a passage thither at once, he
remained at Victoria three months, patiently preparing for future work
by studying the language. Meanwhile the officers of the Hudson's Bay
Company raised some objections to his settling at Fort Simpson. The
Indians, they said, could not be allowed to come into the fort to him,
and it would be quite unsafe for him to venture outside; and they
recommended him to turn his attention to the tribes of Vancouver's
Island, who, having been brought more into contact with white men, were
presumed to be on that account more accessible to Christian influence.
Mr. Duncan, however, justly felt that the advantage was rather the
other way; besides which to Fort Simpson he was appointed, and to Fort
Simpson he would go. The Governor of the Colony warmly entered into his
views, and gave him letters to the officer in charge, directing that
accommodation was to be found for him, and all facilities given him for
the prosecution of his work.
III.
BEGINNING WORK.
On the night of October 1st Mr. Duncan landed at the Fort. Like other
Hudson's Bay Company trading posts, this "Fort" consisted of a few
houses, stores, and workshops, surrounded by a palisade twenty feet
high, formed of trunks of trees. Close by was the Tsimshean village,
comprising some two hundred and fifty wooden houses, well-built, and
several of them of considerable size. A day or two after his arrival,
Mr. Duncan had a significant glimpse of the kind of savages to whom he
was presently to proclaim the Gospel of Peace:--
"The other day we were called upon to witness a terrible scene: An old
chief, in cool blood, ordered a slave to be dragged to the beach,
murdered, and thrown into the water. His orders were quickly obeyed.
The victim was a poor woman. Two or three reasons are assigned for this
foul act: one is, that it is to take away the disgrace attached to his
daughter, who has been suffering some time from a ball wound in the
arm. Another report is, that he does not expect his daughter to
recover, so he has killed this slave in order that she may prepare for
the coming of his daughter into the unseen world. I think the former
reason is the most probable. I did not see the murder, but, immediately
after, I saw crowds of people running out of those houses near to where
the corpse was thrown, and forming themselves into groups at a good
distance away. This, I learnt, was from fear of what was to follow.
Presently two bands of furious wretches appeared, each headed by a man
in a state of nudity. They gave vent to the most unearthly sounds, and
the two naked men made themselves look as unearthly as possible,
proceeding in a creeping kind of stoop, and stepping like two proud
horses, at the same time shooting forward each arm alternately, which
they held out at full length for a little time in the most defiant
manner. Besides this, the continual jerking of their heads back,
causing their long black hair to twist about, added much to their
savage appearance. For some time they pretended to be seeking the body,
and the instant they came where it lay they commenced screaming and
rushing round it like so many angry wolves. Finally they seized it,
dragged it out of the water, and laid it on the beach, where I was told
the naked men would commence tearing it to pieces with their teeth. The
two bands of men immediately surrounded them, and so hid their horrid
work. In a few minutes the crowd broke again in two, when each of the
naked cannibals appeared with half of the body in his hands. Separating
a few yards, they commenced, amid horrid yells, their still more horrid
feast. The sight was too terrible to behold."
Just at the same time another feature in the character of the Indians
was painfully illustrated. On October 7th he wrote:--
"Immediately after dinner the second officer of the Fort, who had not
been absent more than a minute, came rushing back, to report that an
Indian had just been murdered close to the Fort gates. On repairing to
the gallery, I saw this shocking sight. Several Indians, with muskets
in their bands, were hovering about the dying man, and one or two
ventured to go near and assist him. He was shot in the right breast,
and apparently dying, but seemingly conscious of what had happened. In
a few minutes two Indians, looking as fierce as tigers, carrying
muskets, came bounding to the spot, and, after ordering all away, one
of them immediately fired at the poor fellow as he lay on the ground,
and shot him in the arm. They then as quickly bounded away. The head
chief was the murderer. Being irritated by some other chiefs while
partly intoxicated, he vented his rage upon the first stranger that
came in his way, and, after shooting him, ordered two of his men to
finish the horrible deed."
But the young missionary, though saddened, was not discouraged. The
more barbarous and degraded he found the Indians to be, the more vivid
was his sense of their need of the Gospel; and was anything too hard
for the Lord? So he continued vigorously his study of the language,
assisted by an Indian named Clah. Taking an English dictionary, he
succeeded, by unwearied industry, in ascertaining the Tsimshean
equivalents for fifteen hundred of the most necessary words. At the
same time he set about making friends with the people. During the
winter, when the severe cold and the deep snow kept them much indoors,
he visited every house in turn, and on Jan. 14th he wrote:--
"To-day we have finished our calls. I have been inside 140 houses, all
large and strong buildings. The largest would measure, I imagine, about
sixty by forty feet. One house I was not permitted to enter, as they
had not finished their sorceries for the season. However they sent me
out an account of their family. In all, I counted 2,156 souls, namely,
637 men, 756 women, and 763 children; and, making an addition for those
away procuring fuel, and those at the Fort, I estimate the sum-total of
residents to be 2,325, which is rather over than under the true number.
The total number rendered by themselves, which of course includes all
that belongs to them, whether married into other tribes or living
south, is 2,567. These are divided into nine tribes, but all speak the
same language, and have one general name--Tsimshean, So far as I am at
present able to make out, I calculate that there are seventeen other
tribes, all living within fifty miles of this place, which either speak
Tsimshean or something very near to it.
"It would be impossible for me to give a full description of this my first
general visit, for the scenes were too exciting and too crowded to admit
of it. I confess that cluster after cluster of these half-naked and
painted savages round their fires was, to my unaccustomed eyes, very
alarming. But the reception I met with was truly wonderful and
encouraging. On entering a house I was saluted by one, two, or three of
the principal persons with 'Clah-how-yah,' which is the complimentary term
used in the trading jargon. This would be repeated several times. Then a
general movement and a squatting ensued, followed by a breathless silence,
during which every eye was fixed upon me. After a time several would begin
nodding and smiling, at the same time reiterating, in a low tone, 'Ahm,
ahm ah ket, Ahm Shimauyet' ('Good, kind person, good chief'). My
interpreter would then ask them to let us know how many they had in their
family, which was instantly followed by a deafening clamour. Sometimes the
vociferation was so general that it was really bewildering to hear it.
Everybody was talking and trying to outdo the rest, and nobody was
listening. This storm, would be abruptly succeeded by a general hush, when
I was again pleasantly but rigidly scrutinized. Of course the attempt of
everybody to count was a failure, and so the business at last was taken up
by one of the leading persons, who generally succeeded to the satisfaction
of all. While this was going on, I managed to count and class the inmates
of the house, and look at the sick. In some houses they would not be
content until I took the chief place near the fire, and they always placed
a mat upon a box for me to sit upon. My enquiries after the sick were
always followed by anxious looks and deep sighs. A kind of solemn awe
would spread itself at once."
At length, after eight months' patient preparation, Mr. Duncan was
able to make his first attempt to convey to the Indians, in their own
tongue, the message of salvation through a crucified Saviour, by means
of a written address, which he had composed with infinite pains, and
which he proceeded to deliver at the houses of the different chiefs:--