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[We are indebted to the Society for the Propagation of the Gos- pel for permission to print the following interesting letter, describing a country and people generally but little known.] St. James's, Assiniboia, Rupert's Land, 29th July, 1851. Rev. and dkar Sir, — You will naturally expect that I should i address you as soon as I well could, and report to you the character and circumstances of the people of Assiniboia, and give you such in- formation as I can afford of my work and ministry among them. I now I gladly undertake to do so, though I have nothing of an extraordinary Pacific N.W.Histor- 0^2^^^ PROVING! A'^ LIBRARY VlCTOirliA, B. 0, 'Mtmm^JMmmsmmmmimmmam^^&l^jmmimisifm'i t,.-*^m^^mm0vm»a£ :^::ie'fi>'%t'^ 214 Assinibola. nature to report. I liave not yet been in the cliocese a iwelvemontli, Iiaviu;^ entered it in September last. I was preferred, in about a month after, to the district and charge of Assiniboia, and I have, with- out any let or liindrancc, though living six miles off, continued to hold regular and stated services, and to visit them at tiieir own houses. I have seen most of the people during this period, and am beginning to understand their characters and requirements. I will just describe to you the locality, and the people who inhabit it. Assiniboia is a long district, extending, I think, 300 miles or more up the River Asslniboine. It is a flat country, capable of cultivation to a gi-eat extent, and might afford the means of subsistence to hun- dreds of families. Of this vast and beautiful prairie, only about fifty iniles come under the jurisdiction of the government of Assiniboia. The same distance, if I remember right — that is, fifty miles north and south, and, I suppose, east, as well as west, on the Assiniboine, and centering at Fort Garry, where the Assiniboine unites with the Red River — is the nominal extent of the Colony of Red River. The Red River at this place is broad and spacious, and the farms and dwellings of the settlers are along its banks. The French settler.^, or habitaus, are chiefly on the eastern side, and the half-breeds, with the original colonists brought in by Lord Selkirk, occupy tho western bank. This forms a natural boundary between the two, and as each person, or settler, seems to hold a narrow slip of river, or waterside premises, the settlement is very long and straggling. The occupiers of the western side of the Red River are chiefly Scotch and their connexions ; but on the Assiniboine, they are chiefly natives, half-breeds, and pensioners. The district of Assiniboine, as at present occupied, is between twenty and thirty miles in extent. At the distance of twenty miles from the fort is the little French settlement, called Grant Town. This is entirely French, and has a small chapel, with a resident priest. This small village was the place we made when coming into the countjy from St. Peter's, United States. We had been six weeks or more journeying over the vast and extensive prairies which lie between that country and this, and very glad, indeed, were we to find enter- tainment and lodging in the house of Mr. Grant, Assiniboia. We had biien in the wilderness, exposed to the savage hordes of Indians who range at large in this beautiful country, and the wild beasts, scarcely less fearful than the Indians, and the sight of neat and quiet dwellings, with their apparent safety and comfort, was most pleasing. The little cottages are all whitewashed, which gives them an air of neatness and cleanliness. As we travelled down the Assiniboine to the settlement of Red River, we could see the little farms on the river's banks, and the yards filled with stacks of corn and fodder, with vast herds of cattle grazing at large in the plains, all of which proclaimed that we had approached the abodes of humanity and civilization. Then the French Church, the Fort, with its round tower, and the flag flying at the staff, and, in the distance, the Episcopal Church and the Bishop's house, told us that we were again in a land where the true God was known and worshipped. But I must speak of the people of Assiniboia, and the extent of the district under my charge. Its boiinda wards t , town, sent tii( being i\ is done l)roduct and hav just gn steady ti reside w go furtl] have th( duty, .service- push hi attend tl the For which is about th by tlie 1 in it sim has cont the cond iar belli Idistance indeed, ( They pr fji'easing Worship |!oniing ie;3ii su |hem ; |nd stil |liere ar IPniung ||nd ueco iold, ye hurge, ill the degree ith of feather ly eoui find a^. i'ive wa )i)e.s 01 linter )w col( .«5#*iw ^r^aon*- tjt^iutitmisa feM ':iM'i£i}':£^'M.£.'.^^^T,.'\<.. jUsinibolii. 215 remontli, about a ire, witli- inued to leir own , and am . 1 will it. J or more iltivation e to hun- bout fifty )oia. The lortli and oine, and 1 the Red The Red dwellings hahitans, [Q original ank. This person, or premises, era of the mnexions ; •eeds, and jcupied, is of twenty ant Town, ent priest. T into the c weeks or ie between find enter- i. We had idians who ;s, scarcely , dwellings, ng. The an air of iniboine to I the river's ', with vast proclaimed tion. Then nd the flag ch and the I'e the true e people ot large. iboundary commcnccfj about two miles from the Fort, and extends up- Wiinis to Sturgeon Crook, and through White- Horse Piiiiii to Grant TowJi. By the river it might be a distance of fifteen miles. At pre- sent the people have nut settled quite up to Grant Town, but it is being fast occupied, and the ground reclaimed for cultivation. Tiiis is done with very little laboui-, and the soil is capable of wonderful productions. Some of the natives, i.e. half-breeds, have settled hei'e, and have their little farms in good order. They are generally poor, just growing enough for their own support. They are, however, steady and industriou.'^. Tiic pensioners, it appears, are compelled to reside within two miles of the Fort, but many of them are allowed to go further, and they are spreading up the Assiniboine. Here the/ have their farms, which they quietly cultivate when not required on duty. As these old defenders of our country multiply, or leave the service — for they engage only for a term of W\q years — they must l)usli higher up. The pensioners within two miles of the Fort, attend the afternoon service, which is held in the Court-House within the Fort; and those without attend my service at the Schoolroom, which is about three miles and a-half from the Fort, and at present about the centre of the little settlement. The room has been licensed by the Bishop for Divine Service, which has regularly been performed in it since November last. The attendance was then very good, and has continued so up to the present time. It is always well filled, and the conduct of * he poor people is very orderly and devout. They arc far behind the 'tlier districts in the diocese, as they, from their lUistance from th old Church, have been far less favoured, and, indeed, quite out of reach of the stated means of grace and instruction. They pay the greatest attention to the services, and are daily in- creasing in the knowledge of the Scriptures, and the doctrines and Worship of the Church. Thankful, indeed, am 1 to say, that since my fjoniing to the Cure, a large number of Bibles and Prayer-books have \)(i'.t\\ supplied to them, the people gladly and eagerly purchasing them ; and other good and useful books have been lent among them, and still the demand is greater than we can at present supply. As ^icre are no houses to let here, and we are unable to get lodgings pnu)ng the families on the Assiniboine, we have been kindly lodged and accommodated by the Bislu>p, who, though he has a large house- |uld, yet had a room to spare. From the time of njy taking the harge, I have not been once prevented from holding Divine service, dl the winter through, I went my journey of six or seven miles with %, degree of ease unexpected. The weather so clear and fine, and the ith of beaten snow so level and easy for the sleigh. True, the [eather was very cold — that is, the thermometer was lower than in ly country we had hitherto been in, and now and then there was a [ind against \\diich nothing could stand, blowing over the plains; but lore was not^one rough Sunday, and with blanket, coat, and buffalo »bes, one could go through a great deal of cold. Altogether, the inter here is very cnjoyaLile ; and all the winter through, no matter w cold, the attendance on Divine worship very good. As the spring Its '^ 216 Aiiitln'iboia, advanced, the travelling was not good. The sleigh or carriole was given up, and the journey obliged to be performed on horseback. The soil, naturally soft and sticky, let in the horse so deep, and adhered so fast to the legs and hoofs of the poor animal, that it was the greatest work to get along at all. Then the creeks were all swollen with the melting of the snow, and were in places so wide and deep as to be crossed with great trouble and difficulty One of my troubles about this time I will relate. I left as usual with my trusty horse, and managed three or four miles pretty well. AVhen 1 came to the Great Creek which is between this and the Schoolroom, I thought it appeared rather unsafe; and yet I could see recent marks of some one's crossing. I ventured, and the ice broke, letting both myself and horse into the stream that was running underneath. The more the horse plunged, the greater the hole ; and I found that in order to get out, 1 must dismount. Off I got, and was struggling with the great pieces of ice, while the horse, landing on the opposite side, was going briskly for the Schoolroom. A neighbour, on his way to the School, seeing the horse without a rider, expected what had happened, and catching the horse, brought it back for me. I remounted, and, without further accident, reached the School. There I borrowed some dry things from the Master, and went through the day's services without feeling any harm. In the evening, I put on my own clothes, which had been dried, and riding out into the plains several miles to head the Creek, reached home in safety. No untoward accident has since happened to me in my travels, and all goes on most encouragingly. For the hopeful beginning of a Church, and the gradual and steady improvement of the same, in the district of Assiniboia, I feel very glad, and am encouraged to go on and persevere in the good work, firmly believing that God has ,i people there, and that a Church will be raised to His praise and glory, I have but one full service at present — that is, in the morning. From two P.M. to four, I devote to the Sunday school — a thing just now of the greatest importance. The attendance of children and young people is very good, and all need instruction familiarly given in the great and fundamental truths of Christianity. "VVe have generally from forty- eight to fifty-two, and make up six classes. The senior classes con- sist of twelve young women, and four young men — for some time I had five : they learn, and are exercised in, the Collects, Epistles and Gospels, the Lessons, and portions of the daily Morning and Evening Services. The younger ones are exercised in the Collects, Catechism, Hymns, &c. &c., thus grounding them well, and I trust savingly in some cases, in matters of the highest moment. They take a great deal of pains, and show much patience and perseverance, and some of them a good measure of intelligence. This is very encouraging, considering that they are half-breeds, pensioners, children, &c., of whom some persons are too apt to form no very bright and pleasing notions. But the Gospel, and that alone, can make " wise unto salvation through faith that is in Christ Jesus." May it be so here, and may many of these be brought to know Him whom to know aright is eternal life! Ofth been and h familj fruits ascrib vouch Yoi the st< grace liisho] tiy an Distrit mence design Parsor was sc tliis hi this ol people, and to all wa when 1 the Bi Churd central * formed and im not be 'that, in Ulso. ' j|purpos( fof the ^nd not tjnay be jdeparte fieather Tuel r emple nd is lelves i ilany c wful ^ hey a ^ nd the lace 1 1 bout i nd in ! emaine \ NaT 'Jsm^:F'T;F^w:^^!^m Assiniboia. 217 irriole was back. The adhered so ne greatest n with the >p as to be ibles about ree or four is between nsafe; and itured, and m that was greater the unt. Off I ! the horse, Jchoolrooni. } without a •se, brought snt, reached Master, and m. In the and riding led home in . my travels, ^inning of a same, in the ed to go on God has a ie and glory, ng. From just now of oung people le great and from forty- classes con- some time ipistles and md Evening , Catechism, savingly in a great deal ome of them considering ivhom some )tions. But ion through nay many o( eternal life! Of this, wc have already had some sign— one young person has already been called away, leaving behind a hope beaming with immortality; and her removal, we trust, has been blessed to the survivors in the family in many ways. This I have been led to look upon as the fiist- fruits of my ministry in Assiniboia, and for it I bless God, and wn^nld ascribe to Him all the glory. May His rich blessing be increasingly vouchsafed both to congregation and school ! You will be glad to learn that from this hopeful beginning, and the steady and uniform perseverance and attendance on the means of grace and instruction brought to the poor people of Assiniboia, the liishop is anxious to build a Church, and to establish a stated mini:'- try among them. As I have before said, it has been made a separate District or Parish, and my labours are fairly and hopefully com- menced. Now we want a Church, and for this the Bishop has some designs and plans. It is to be called St. James's. A neat little Parsonage is in building, and we shall hope soon to occupy it. It was some time ere matters seemed to favour this step ; for though this had been long thought of, and a great desire to accomplish this object had been long felt by the Bishop and expressed by the people, yet many things tended to throw some obstacle in the way, and to raise a doubt as to its ultimate success. At length, however, all was clear and promising, and on the first fine day in spring, when the snow was melted, and everything beaming with freshnes.-', the Bishop and myself started to select a spot for the projected Church and Parsonage. We might have gotten a plot, now quite central, and near the School, in which service is at present per- % formed, by paying the present occupiers the value of their buildings - and improvements — but it was found that in a few years it would not be at all central, for the tide sets higher; and we concluded that, in order to meet the people settling above, we must go higher 'also. The Company had promised to make a grant of land for that Ipurpose. The spot was selected — a vacant spot — near the rendezvous |of the poor Indians who come into the settlement during summer, |and not far from the Indian burial-ground; so that from our dwellings fimay be seen the scalps suspended over the graves of the poor dark ideparted ones; and on that spot where for years, perhaps for ages, the 'fieathen revels have been celebrated, and where the rites of a dark and iruel religion have been performed, will be built, in due time, a temple to the living God. It is the highest spot in the settlement, ind is the very knoll to which the inhabitants fled and saved them- selves in the year of the great flood, or overflowing of the river. Many old people remember it, and tell us strange accounts of that ^vful visitation, and the way in which their lives were preserved. -hey all vacated their cottages and farms, both on the Red River |nd the Assiniboine, and pitched their tents on tl^s spot as the only Jlace that offered them protection. From this spot they sailetl [bout in their canoes, over their once flourishing fields and gardens, id in and out at the windows of their houses, those of them that jmained, and brought away their little stores of wheat and other NO. T.IV. 8 r?* BE 218 ' Atisuiiboia> things frojii the garrets where, for i)rcservation, tliey had stowed them. , All wds one vast lake, and continued so for a long time. The occurrence is still sometimes alluded to by the Rev. Mr. Coch- rane, who was here then — and who is still hero — the oldest Missionary in the country, lie and his fumily dwelt for some time on the toj) of his house, and at lust found it necessary to quit that, and betake himself to the hill, or knoll, with the peojile. There they pitched, and on that spot of dry ground they lived, and thei'e they met together for the purposes of Christian worsliip. As the waters receded, they went off in their little boats, and sowed small patches of wheat and barley as the ground appeared. The barley gi'ew and ripened, but the wheat did not ; so that for the next year they were in danger of perisliing by famine. Such is the account of that fearful deluge, which seems imprinted dt'C'j)ly on many minds, and is referred to with a melancholy thankfulness. Tiiis very spot, then, on whicli, in due time, the little Church of St. James will stand, is associated with a wonderful and mighty deliverance in the minds of many; and may it please God, that as the lives of the people were tlten preserved from a great destruction, so now, by tlie preaching of His holy word, and the right and due administration of llis holy sacraments, assisted by the operations of His Divine Spirit, many may be brought out of darkness into ligh% and their souls saved by a still mightier deliverance! May the gracious messages of pardon and mercy througli Christ there be fully made known ; may the true light shine there a? in a dark place, casting its bright beams over many a mind — perhaps many an Indian mind — who can tell ? and may many be there built up in their most holy faith, and so grow up into a spiritual temple for the Lord! As I have said, the little Parsonage will si(.r>n be ready, and if we are spared, and God prosper the work ot oui Is, in the coming winter, preparations for the Church will be mr .. ^. m time, a new Schoolroom will be necessary, and it is pro- posed that this should be an object on the other side of the Church, corresponding, in some measure, to the little Parsonage-house. Here then, l)y God's blessing, would be centred the means of grace and religious instruction for that growing parish. But for these objects the Chui'ch especially, we want means. The ground has been fur- nished gratuitously by the Honourable Hudson's Bay Company, anc the Parsonage is in a good measure at our own private expense; bu; the Church cannot be carried on without extraneous help. It vvoulc cost at least 300/.; and if the Society could, by any means, grant f sum of oOl. for that glorious object, I have no doubt but that an equa sum will be raised to meet it, and with this we might commence The people are very poor, being, as I have said, chiefly lialf-breeds little farmers, who ^row only enough for tlie support of life— and there is no market for more — and pensioners, with their families For these, the last especially, who have fouglit our battles, am defended our countiy, and extended our empire, the means of grao and religious instruction ought to and must be provided. May Goi put it into the hearts of some of our more favoured qountrv im-' , ■-I.J ...:i_. ili! *.v' id etowcd ing time. Mr. Cocli- liesionary >n the to[> ml betake iclied, and t togethei" eded, they wheat aixl pened, but in danger ful deluge, referred to ich, in due ited with a and may it jrved from ■ word, ami assisted by jjht out ot il mightier •cy througli ine there a.« a mind — y many be up into a Parsonage the work ol ireh will be it is pro- le Church, use. IIer( grace and ese objects been fur- mpany, anc spense; bu; It woulii ins, grant f lat an equa commence lalf-breeds of life- sir families )attles, ant ,ns of grac May Go> Qountrj men and friends at home to help us in this laudable nnd work ! There are at present within the limits, more than 4*^ containing: 200 souls. 1 do not count the French Canadian relii glOUS nilies, e, _.,w ^„^.„. — v,.^..v ...^ - . ^„.„.«.„... on the Other side the river. The Day-school is at present supported partly by the Church Alissionary Sociciy, and might be enlarged extensively if means were at hand. Of the valuable Sunday-school I have already spoken. This seems far too large a number to leave destitute of the means of grace, and the settlement is rapidly increasing, and in time will call for further outlay in providing for this portion of the Church's family. We cannot, we must not leave them a prey to the destroyer ; we must not leave them either to be led away by crafty and designing men into error and schism — which will indeed be the result if the present opening be not filled, and the ground pre-occupied, — or to perish for the lack of knowledge, and the constant and regular minis- trations of the Church. During the time I have been in charge of this District, I have had regular service, except on the days when the holy sacrament has been administered at the old church. On these occasions, the communicants have come down to the church, and I have «ssisted at some one of the churches. I have performed 12 occasional eervices, 12 baptisms, 4 marriages, and 6 burials. On Easter-day and Whitsunday I officiated at St. Andrew's, fifteen miles below this. On the former occasion, the minister of that church was sick, and on the Jatter he had gone on a mission to the Indians at White-Dog, 300 . jjmiles eastward. The number of conmiunicants at this church on J^^aster-day was 188, and on Whitsunday I administered the Holy ^^acrament to about 170, and had one public Baptism. Such days as Ihese are indeed glorious days, though they try one's strength a little. I must now draw my letter to a close, and, humbly praying for God's blessing on the Church at home, and that we, in this distant and dark land, may not be entirely forgotten by her, and by friends whose hearts f,re in the good work. — I remain, &c. W. Taylor. *I*IS