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 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 EDUCATION 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 Hudson'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 religious
instruction;" 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 route from Montreal to York 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 encouraging 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 the
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 circulated 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 prosperity. They appeared to me to be a different description
of settlers, from what the colony, in its infancy of improvement, was
prepared to receive; as consisting principally of watchmakers and
mechanics. The hardy husbandman was the character we wanted; who would
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 marriages and baptisms took
place; and it was no small encouragement to me, in my ministerial
labours, to have the patronage and cordial co-operation of the Director
I had the pleasure of meeting, in establishing an Auxiliary Bible
Society, for "Prince Rupert's Land and the Red River Settlement." It
was formed with great liberality on the part of the Company's officers,
who met on the occasion; and more than one hundred and twenty pounds
were immediately subscribed, in aid of an institution, (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
diffusing blessings through the four quarters of the globe: Europe,
Asia, Africa, and America, are partakers of its bounty; and the tide of
its beneficent liberality 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 cordial feelings of regard, as
he stepped into the boat, on the morning of the 13th of September, to
embark in the Prince of Wales, on his return to England; and immediately
afterwards, I set off 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 informed us, that one of their party was accidentally
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
covered 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 encampment for six or seven days;
and having scarcely any other subsistence than a little boiled barley,
I experienced at times the most pressing hunger. Every one rambled in
pursuit of game, but generally returned unsuccessful. One evening, a
servant brought in from his day's hunt a large horned owl, which was
immediately 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 immediately 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 encampment. 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
tomorrow. I landed at Fort Douglas on the 4th, and could not but
recount the mercies of 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 Redemption,
may ever actuate me in whatsoever things may tend to the promotion of
the happiness, and of the _best interests_ 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 attachment 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 prospect of provisions
for the winter. Those of the Germans, who were Catholics, applied to
the Canadian Catholic Priests to solemnize their marriage; but they
refused, because their intended wives were Protestants; and such was
their bigotry in this matter, in refusing to marry a Catholic to a
Protestant, that they expressed an opinion, that a Catholic could not
be present, even as a witness, "_sine culpa_"[4] when I performed the
marriage ceremony, "_inter Catholicos et Hæreticos_."[5]
[4] Without blame.
[5] Between Catholics and Heritics.
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 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 'Chargè
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, in their savage fondness to exhibit the scalp in their
war-dance, and obtain possession of the toes and fingers of the slain,
made several attempts by night to disturb the graves, 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 disappointed in not having the building so far finished, as to
have accommodated the schoolmaster with a residence, as well as to have
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 of 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 them from many unpleasant circumstances arising from barter and
payment by bills.
I found the Scriptures at some of the Company's Posts I visited, most
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 different languages, enabled me to circulate many copies of
the Bible among the colonists, in _English_, _Gaelic_, _German_,
_Danish_, _Italian_, and _French_. They were gratefully received by
them in general, and by none more so than the Highlanders, one of whom
on receiving a Gaelic Bible well remarked, "that one word in the heart
was worth more than the whole volume in the pocket neglected." The
Catholic priests, however, opposed this circulation, 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 question, "From
whence, Sir, do you get 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 possession 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 we would encourage, in opposition to such a
priestly objection, that is contrary to the liberal conduct of more
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 an authoritative command to
the Jews to "_search the scriptures_," and it is recorded of Timothy
that "_from a child he had known the Holy Scriptures_." They are the
means of affording that instruction which man's wisdom 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 name.
From the British and Foreign Bible Society.
"Sondez les Ecritures." St. Jean, v. 39.
A short time after it was returned, the Canadian 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 avee 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_ nécoute pas l'Eglise regardez le comme un Paién,
et un Publicain." Matth. xviii. 17; adding the following observations:
"Dans ce livre, on ne dit pas un mot de la penitence qui afflige le
corps. Cependant il est de foi qu'elle est absolument necessaire au
salut aprés le péché, c'est a l'Eglise de J. C. qu'il appartient de
determiner le sens des Ecritures."
The prejudices which the Canadian priests at the Colony express against
Catholics marrying Protestants must tend to weaken the religious and
moral obligation of the marriage contract, as entered into between
them. I 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 the rigid statutes of the Papal see.
I married a couple a short time ago, and afterwards found that the
priest had been unwearied in calling upon the woman who was a professed
Protestant, and never ceased to repeat to her their opinions of
heretics, till, with the persuasion of her husband, they prevailed upon
her to be re-baptized, and re-married by them in the _nominal_
profession of the Catholic faith. And I was assured by a Swiss
gentleman 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, than a Protestant. A heathen, he said, might be
converted to the Catholic faith, and be saved, but little hope could be
entertained of a Protestant. These circumstances prove that Popery, 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 Europe, 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; the
knowledge of whose name, they have 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
discouraging circumstances in my ministerial labours; but my path is
sometimes cheered with the pleasing hope, that they are not altogether
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 acceptable 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 endued 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 either
pepper, salt, flour, or 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.
FEB. 14.--Times 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 under the ice, which are
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 drawn 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
exorbitant 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, I left the Farm in a
cariole on the 20th, and was sorry to find on my arrival many Swiss
families suffering from the want of a regular supply of provisions from
the plains. This was occasioned in a great measure from the
irregularity and eagerness with which the hunters pursued the buffaloes
immediately they made their appearance. Had they suffered some of the
leading bands to have passed in the direction they were going towards
the Settlement, instead of pursuing and turning them as soon as they
were seen in the horizon, others would probably have followed, and
plenty of provisions had been obtained. But the fugitive supplies of
the chase are generally a poor dependance; 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
ministerial duties I performed among them.
I returned to the Farm, where a report reached me, which was in
circulation, upon strong grounds of suspicion, that a most deliberate
and barbarous murder had been committed by one of the half-breeds on a
Canadian freeman. He was supposed to have been instigated to the bloody
deed by a woman he lived with, and whom he received from the Canadian
for so many buffaloes 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 unexpectedly early, and caused many of
the hunters to return from the plains with scarcely any provisions.
There were a few tame buffaloes that had been reared in the colony,
which have been slaughtered, and to save as much seed corn as possible,
the allowance of grain is given out to the settlers with the most rigid
economy by the Chargè 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 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 far better to kill all the horses and dogs in the Settlement 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 _Bas la Rivière_, on Lake
Winepeg, where there is a good farm, and the 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. As their intentions 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 proceeding 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's Post at Pembina, about
the middle of May. We arrived on the Friday, and soon after divine
service on the Sunday morning the Sioux Indians were seen marching over
the plains, with several colours flying, towards the Colony Fort, which
was immediately opposite to that of the Company. When at the distance
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 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
something 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 corner 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 eight o'clock
in the evening, a Chief of the party named Wanatou, came in apparently
intoxicated, and snatching a gun from an Indian who stood near him, he
fired it with ball in a manner that indicated some evil design. Leaving
the Fort he wrestled with another for his gun which he fired in the
air, and went immediately 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 travelled 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; 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 terminate, 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 with their horses and carts for buffaloe meat, in the same
direction 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, Yanktoons, Wapatoones, and others, with the
Assiniboines or Stone Indians, who are recognized as descendents or
seceders, by a similarity of language and customs. On the banks of the
Mississippi and Missouri rivers they have small villages, where they
grow Indian corn, pumpkins, and water melons; but they live principally
on the plains in the chase of the buffaloe. Their language is very
guttural and difficult, and superstitious ceremonies and customs
prevail 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 pardon, when he was permitted again to join the
party. They consider 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
remarkable fact, that the laws of separation and uncleanness, being
forty days for a male child and eighty for a female, observed by these
Indians, exactly correspond with the Levitical law imposed 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 tomahawked 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 contained 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 sufferings, 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 practised 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 under the idea that it
will give them courage, and a spirit of hatred and revenge against
their enemies. What can calm these ferocious feelings, and curb this
savage fury of the passions in the torturous destruction of defenceless
women and sucking infants? what, but the introduction and influence of
Christianity, 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 different 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 converse
pretty freely in English, and were beginning to read tolerably well,
repeating the Lord's prayer correctly. The _primary_ object in teaching
them, was to give them a _religious_ 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
Company'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 distinguished me from the Catholic
priests, whom they call the "Long Robe," for taking care of his boy. He
repeated his application 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 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 gradually 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
concerned in the fur trade, and which I was persuaded 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 expected a short
time ago, from the prudent management of the grain, by the Chargè
d'Affaires of the Colony, in the dearth of provisions; and from the
supply which we have received from _Bas la Rivière_. The sturgeon
season also has been very successful, which has in some measure
brightened the countenances of a people, who have passed a long and
severe winter, without "_the sound of the mill stones, and the light
of the candle_."