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This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmd au taux de reduction indiqud ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X •y 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X re Idtails es du modifier er une filmage es The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanl; T. H. I5ENTLKY, PRINTER. CONTENTS, I.NTRODt'CTOnY MIS8IONARY MeMOKIALS LETTER I. The Rev. John Ryerson leaves King&^ton— The Railroad— De- troit— StecTiner—Ciroiinfled rropciler— America IIS— Reaches J^aiilt <'e t^te Marie— Meets tlie Missioeary I'arty— Villaije— 'J'lie t?anlt Canal — Atteiilions of Mr. llari^rave— 'I'he halielia— Mit-r^ions— Shores of Lake Superior— Naiiahat'Iioo — Michi|)icoton—Attcn- tiniis of Mr. ."McKenzie— Religious Services— Marriage (.'ereinony — Cabin Scene— Mines — Anchors in 'J'liunder Day. . . . I'age 1 LLTTKR IT. Attentions of Mr. Iloiicher — Estaiilishinont of Fort William— Sahl;alli Services— nnplisiii— An Excursion— The River Du Cnr- rer— lis Ealls- Roman Catholic Mission— (.'anoes not arrived — Scotch kindness- Second Sal)l)ath at the Fort— iJesire of the In- (iaiisibr Instruction— Arrival of th(! ('anoes— Arrangements of 8ir G. Simpson for the Missionary Party 13 LETTER in. Preparations for the Interior— Exciting embarkation— First Dinner out— Numerous Rapids— The Kaministaquoiah River — Fertile Soil— Trees- The Mountain Fall— Sublime Scenery — Portages — Terrific Storm— Discomfort — Strong; Rapids — Perilous position— Lac Uu Ohien— Old Fortification- Indian tragedy. 22 LEPTER IV. Lac Du Chein River— Rich Land— Well wooded— Pmall Lakes —Reaches the Savan Portage — ("old night — Coing down stream — Met the Covernor of Hudson's 15ay— Welcome uuelligeiice— A jam in the River— Lac Du Mille— Parren country— Mr. Ryerson calls the guide— Canadian IJoat Songs — Portages— Hay fruits and flowers— Crooked creeks— Bark cutting— Descending a Rapid- Doings in the rain— Splendid Fall— Crafts in the Rapids, ... '29 LETTER V. Camping on a rock— Meets with friendly Indians— Lac La Pluie— Saw maple growing— Fort Frances— Kind reception — Rev. A. Salt — Council with Indians— The beautiful V^ac La Pluie River — Fine land— Journalizing at miiinight — Lake of the Woods — Hundreds of Islands— 'J'he canoe seeks shelter--Lake scenery — Salutation of an Irulian — Call the men early— Indians at Rai Portage Station— Thundering waters — Pa.«sed an Indian encamp- ment—The weary resting 39 LETTER VL Leaping Rapids before breakfast— Passed the White Dog Epis- copal Mission— Tedious journeying— Precipitous Rapid--(Ji)ening Day—Roar of cataracts— Portages— Ant l.ills— Mr. Ryerson's load — The Voyageurs — SuccesBion of Lakes and Rapids— Thun- IV CONTKNTS. (I'T ami lii,'liiiiii ^;— ."'rvcral rntnpsof Indiitis — l,ornlitv for n Mis- Hiuii — II. ml r;iiii — IUo.kI ^^iiiukt — vliulc M'vniK'cii puriiit,'!': — Ar- rives ;il {''urt Ai('X;iihlcr — I'liiily >itiiiU.'i| — I .iiMiriiiit vciriaiion — I'lirc (ijr ;i Mission Villimr — iri — Vi-it to liisiuip Anilersoii — rroioiani ('alin- ral — rrcaclies ill llKj l"re«li>ieriaii » hiirch— 'I'lit' Rev. Mr. Illark— llrirl oi !>'elkirl< — l'ii|nilaiioii and Occiiiiaiioiir* — Soil and Au'icnltiire— Keliuioii — Roiian I ailiolirs and rroKMaiits — l-;|iir«c(.(ipaliaii> — ^re^l)yl('- riaiis — Kdiicalioii— Coiiinion ScIhoIm— (Jovcrnmt'nt — t ouitd 61 LKTTEK VI 11. Red F{iver — Lilic Winiivit — A tlimidpr-sform — JoMrnnli^'inK in IMusijiiiloe rontp.iiiy — A tornado— I liiloso|rlii/,ii n — Meets a licet of llcj,t.s — Uerens I'ort — Attfiiiioiis of Mr. ("niiiinens— I'ainiiy reh^'oiis servji'o — Kxcedeiit land near— Desiie lor a V\e-ley.Mi I\li.->ion.ir\ — Visited r-oiiie Indian faiiiilie> — 'reiii|ieft— Mi.-craMe niglit — ULi Jock — An interrogation — Anuifer ton die biurni. 75 I.KrTKR IX. Mr. Rvorsoii'p tent in jo jparrly—Siw twenty Ratteaux going wo-t — vrrives at Norway Mouse — Mr. Uarnston's atientions — The t-'oii — :; irdoii — Ho-svilie v\ esleynn Mi.-b^iun — Srtiuol K.xain- in tioa — Piililic ."'crvice.' — l!a|lli^Ill — Vi>ils to the Indian dwel- ling.- — re-liiiiony to the laiiienip I Kvaiis — 'I'he lla!-ii>Ion Family — liii>\ p eiiaratioiif — Uj) heiore Bruce — Kiinning a Rjipid— Nifrlit in a willow awanip bl LKTTF.R X. Watory co:ic]i— ,\ half-portage— Haiit-do-Terre — nrigadc cros- siiii^ a p irt i^e— Marre.iiie-is of the country— !{iiiinin^ a loarl'iil Rapid— Jackson's IViy Wesh-yan Miscion— Mr IJariision's iiroseiil of a Hoat— ().\ti)r(l l.ake-Kecoptioit at Oxiord ilouso l)\ JMr. WiNoii— \ new L'lnef t'uok— *iany Rapid?i rim— L'Lv-iieranoe veatiirosunie — Cscapc — l'ictiire>que scenery 93 LI'/J'TER XI. liOnjT dav's travel — Honts injured — Hank of cinv — River Hayes — lioats left to drift— Kin. lly received at York Hepot liy Mr. .\lc- Tavisli — I'he Kstahli-linient — Nt.'l?o:i River — Archieacon Hunter — '^aliliatii Services — IlieSliipin si^ht- Dr. Rae — Sir lolin Frank- lin— Unlnadint; and loading — Christian Indians refuse to work on !r!iiiida> — Present Ironi iMr. Mc I'avi-li — The Elk — The Moose — Baptism of Inuiaiis — Last Sahhalh in the Territory 102 LKTTER XII. The Iliidson's Ray Company— Its charter— Unites with the NoTihV\ est Coinpany — Territory— DepartmentB—Uistiicts— Forts ArrKNDix. V — Dcpnts — Men — Moats — novcrninriif — Oflli'rrs— 'I'rnilc — (^iiirio- Hy to Wr. HuTMiii— r.xtract ul' a l.tilrr i.i tl:f Kov. iMr. llruuhiri,' — I'lie roitijiany's suppuri of Clirisii.m ^ll^siuu!» Hi LKriKR Mil. ()! jcct-i f-rrurcil t)y ttic llii !soii'»4 liay Coinpatiy — Iiiiimrtntice of linliaii iiti|iri)V('iii«'iii — I'.'isi siirrfVh — rlaims ol An criraii In- dians — rrfsi-nt i'rijli'siaiii ^^i^^iulls — liiviiini.' ,Mi-sioiiar\ tii-lils — 'I'jie WcsliMan V]i-<>ii)iiarv Sue civ — I Jay aiid .-aMiatli Sr liui Is inili-|i('n>al)l»' — ln(l(l^trial Inciiiniion r ci nunt'inlid — \ Nalive At:c'iir> —< 'ap.iliilitif's t)l' tlif Ai'oritrincs — I'.li ()i n,r<'— Nol le hlt'.'i — .Mr. R3cr.>on's lo^t;•clu'ri^llt■d \vi>h nrcomiiiislied Ill LEI'TKR XIV. fJor's on lioard the " Piincc cd" VVaIrs"— ra«.srn2frs to Knizland — The <'art.'i; — I'litaimlcd in tlic ire — ''inr> — !• ii'Ss Isl.iml — Nar- row Slraiis — Wcaihcr •■xtn'rnc'y ndrl — I'apc lo k Out — l.ari/e IcciH rys — A present — IniniiiKMil d.MiL'rr— 'I'rtMi.f ii 'nus ^ra^l. — Dani.'iL'i' to ijif ship — I'raise for di'livrranr'e — Many Ircl (tl'-' in Biiilii — I crrililo L'alc— Ueaclit'd the nioiiMi of the .*=iraii^— Tavonr- aldf winds — Captain Heard — .A^recahc |ia-seiiKrrs — Arrival-- 'i'liinks of Canada 130 LETTCR XV. General remark? — Tjoave* Kimlnnd — Boston — Arrives nt home — \ L'rafiou-* I'rovi' ence— Traxt'llinL' in ih'* Terniorv — .^novv- sho(!---Sle(ii;r'): — Doi^s — llndsons Ba\' propfr — Feriil • Soil — Snit- aide localities lor Wesleynn Missions— Nnnd er of Indian — W'il- jineness to he taut'lit — Most mimerous I rihef — llnntin!: — Ta Cullie- — The (Vee — Dr. lino':' hest im'n— Cne v\oinen — ("hris- tiaii L'rees — Music in the Soul — Visit to a Christian camp. . . j:JU LHTTKR XVI. The Paean Trees — Old hahits al olished — Manitnv^' — Success- ful Missiiuis aniotii.' the Creep — A new evidenre of ChrisiianiiN — Beponed cnirdhalism in Rup'Tl's I, and — Not from choice — Tr.i'.'ical anecdote — Tho Territory opon to thu vVcj-leyan Mi*- sloiiary Society — Appeal 147 APPENDIX. rilAPIF.R I. Ponversation with a friend — Red River — I's source — 'Rivpr .Assiiielioiti — Its junct'on wiih R''d Piver — IndiMn ."^eitlf im nt — Selkirk ("olotiv — French popidntion — Furope m and llaif'^red poulatioM— The Farmers — 'I'he llnniers — Produce — I'rices — Mi'ls — t'limate — Winter — No rain — No thaws — reinicaii — I fried meat 157 CHART BR IT. Letter from the Rev. R. Rrookhisr— Mr Pyerson's Visit to fliid- Bon's Bay Territory — Oxlbrd Lake Mission — I'ar.-onnge House — VI ArrKNDix . Tho ('hiircli— ItnprovfMiK'iitH — Mr. H. works with lii-( own liiiii'ls — Winter's work — iJooil laiiil ;>l the Mission— lloiiii' of twcniy I'.iiiiilii'S — Soricty furrii'-d — ( 'oiiu'rcj:iiion of one liuiilrL-d — lluil- fion's Hay (:oiii|iany— rhcapin'HH of ^oods jfohl to tlio Inillnny — No int(;m|i('ranr(.' — Articles iioodoii lur tiie .Mission — I'lio prayers ul' others ilcnirud lii-2 CHAl'TKR III. Letter from Ma-to-ne-kc-so-kwa-wc-lie-kp-niow, n Crro Indian — Rapid pri)«rc.ss of (>lirisiiaiiiiy at Oxiord VV'cslcyan .Mission — IManv liapti/.ed — Infant liapti/.eil John Ryorson— Idolatrou-i wtir- Bhi(i ^ivea up — No Sichool — Want of books — 'I'ho writer, his roii- vorsion — (Jrat.tiidc! for Missionaries — Children al tli(> Mi.-siun — Readiiii; and Sin^ini,' — Destitution of the children — Clothini,' nooiied— Cilad to bo taught— A lame indian boy 1(37 CHAFTHR IV. Dr. Rae's Lettor to the Adtniraliy— Trohahle fitc of Sir .lohn Franklin's party— Meets with Ksimitnau,x in I'elly l!ay — Kin^ William's Land — Indians meet a |)arty of White men in l.s')0 — Great Fish River — Thirty-five dead hoiiies discovered — l-'ears en- Itrtaiiied that they wore comjiolled by liun(;or to eat human llesh — List of article:! iturchascd lioiu the Esquimau.ic i'i,i rilAPTER V. Piihlic Mitfsfatomonts— \o Ksiiuimauv ever resided at Ros«- ville— Heard noihin;,' from tlio (^'ree wiio accompanied Dr. Rae of Sir John Franklin beinf^ found dead — Dr. Rae says iiothin;,' about it in his Letter and Journal — What he does say — (furious state- ments — No (Jod-?end — lm|)rol)abilities — The Hs(piimaux never saw Sir John's ships — The Lsijuimau.v not American Indians — 178 Their territory — Habits — bmployment— temale Ue|,'radaiiOii. Kt CIIAPTCR VI. O. R. Johnson.F-sq— Names and distances of Portaae«— Names mid lengths of Lakes — Names and lengths of Rivers — P'ort Wil- liam to Red River — l^eiiiith of Lake Winipojj;— Distance from Lake W'inipeg to York Depot— Number of Portages it:7 ILLUSTJIATIOXS. PiilJInr/ a Cnnoo vp the Rapids 27 Porta (je du Chicn 28 Wcdciian Mission Premises, Eossville 88 Pi;/ Hill Rapids 9G Wcslei/an Mission Premises, Jackson's Pay. . . iKS York' Factor^/ lOG Horns of the Elk 114 Horns of the Moose 114 The Prince of Wales running ayainst an Iceberg 1[>G Hog Cariole Travdling . . ■ 140 Indian Snow Shoe 141 iXTRODUCTORY M I S .S I O N A 11 Y M !•: M O U 1 A 1. S , We need not {^o to naturo for " ;;roat and mar- vpIIoms" pliennmcna, as if in (hat direction only tlioy could bo found. ModL-rn C'liri.-Jtianity lias placed before the world objects more niarvi'llous than any which nature presents; not l;y ANcaithaud a sin- ister agency, nor by political jiolicy, nor by the crosier, the sword, or the pajjal cross, certainly not by the miracles of imposture, but by a power too ethereal for sense, and too holy to have its source in mau'is depraved and sanguinary sellishness. Our prefatory paj^es are much too limited for amplilica- tion ; but we mean by the marvellous, the distin- guished and numerous Cueistian' Missionauy Insti- TiTTioxs ■which God has created, — [)henoniena this Laving a dilVercnt aspect from nature's, and a pro- founder meaning, — more beauteous than the most finished symmetry of art, more sublime than the lof- tiest achievement of human energy, more inii)ortant than the secular acts of the studio, the forum, the lyceum, the senate, or the throne ; phenomena link- ing itself on the one hand with the will of (lod and redeeming love, and on the other with the hapless condition, salvation, and eternal destiny of Adam's race. And not in vain ; for these Institutions — British, American, Continental, and Colonial, have made millions believers in Christianity, and millions more are on their way to the Cross. " It was," as Bishop lleber observes, '' no superfluous revelation to confirm which so many miracles were xs'iwught, vm INTRODUCTOUY SO nmny propliecles delivered, so pure and precious blood i)Ourcd forth on the rocks of Culviiry.' These inonuiiiouts have liccu reared at great cost. What an expenditure, even to millions of pounds, — what thouj^ht, consultation, anxiety, — -^vhat self-re- proaches for sui)ineness, and i)urposes for full and uninterrujitcd consecration, — what assemblies, what advocacy, what appeals, what pri»yer, — what acts of dedication, what tearing away from kindred and country — embarkations — voyaging — trembling re- ceptions among pagans — fears — lal)ours — sullerings — temptations — perils — alllictions — bereavements ! The j)rico of concpiest is life. Henry Martyn dies prematurely at Tocat, in Persia ; John Williams ia murdered in Polynesia ; Threlfall by assassination falls in an African desert ; Richard Williams is fam- ished on the beach of Terre-del-Fuogo. These Institutions have given existence to a new and precious literature. We concede to no other publications the interest and usefulness which such as are Missionary possess. A Missionary library is one of the golden things which Missionary Associ- ations have provided ; and it is not meagre ; and we are not ashamed of it either on plebian, or philo- sophic, or royal shelves. The author of " Hudson's Bay," to his praise, now contributes a Missionary volume for posterity. These Institutions confer benefits which reach and raise the most dark, and degraded, and desi)ised of the human species of every clime, by Him who is for " salvation unto the end of the earth.-' It is not ad- mitted that man can receive any good which Chris- tian Missions do not bestow. Let Tonga witness. I is MISSIO.VAUY MKMOKIAI.a. IX The l)encfit3 ftro personal, (loniofltlc, national ; and to (Miristians there id bron;;lit hack a reward and atiniiiliH. Tiie plantiiif,' of (.'hristian villaj^'o-i in bar- barous regions, while it is an act of darin;:,', eon- froiitinj^, as they do. remaining barbarism, isto beau- tify the earth ; for we eannot conceive of an earthly scene more lovely, more needed, than a Missionary establishment in some valley, or on some summit or shore where the " father of lies'' has from time im- memorial had dominion. Here is the true picturesciuc for the man of taste and poetry. These labours of love are augmenting the renown of the iSaviour, and giving majesty to the inimitable language of Missionary Associations, and pre-eminence to i'ro- testantism. " Blessed be the Lord God !" The basis of these Institutions, — be they K[)iscopal, Presbyterial, Congregational, Baptist, or Wesley an, is Revelation, the unspeakable merits of Christ, and the scvcn-fuld energies of the Holy Ghost, — all indis- pensable. Concomitant with these immutable essentials there is needed an agency rich in spiritual attainments, sound sense, various gifis, i)bysical ability, and in- domitable will, — and for some positions, increasing yearly — learning, breeding, erudite application, and most patient research, and faultless judgment, — and in all, self-sacrifice, endurance, heroism, integrity, faith, in conjunction with mental independence, and ofticial submission, — every motive sustained and sanctified by the conviction, that the call to, and the duties of, " this ministry" are imperative. A Native Agency has already settled the question of its utility by its efficiency. Of fidelity, one of the mo.-t popular llissionarics of the Cliurch of Eiiglniul exclaimed, — '* Earth niid hell shall never keep me back from my work." Female excellence is more and more demanded in the spheres where modern Missionaries move; and all Churches have their Hannahs and Marys. Names already enshiined in Missionary biography, and others unknown to the public, but not to God, have often exhibited a supernatural intrepidity ; and cheered under sorrows when there was only the wife to soothe. "We thank you. Christian heroines of the wilderness! Of Mrs. Judson it is said, she was the first female that ever left America as a Mis- sionary. But the Mothers of Israel are the most munificent benefactors to ]\Iissionary Societies, and to mankind ; and there is now hardly a vessel that goes far but takes gifted sons or daughters to the heathen. Of the mother of Swartz it is recorded — and let the record be imperishable — " When dying, she called her husband and her pastor to her l)ed- side, and made known to them that she had devoted her son to God, and adjured them to train hira up to His service alone." The means employed have been ample and select, but certain: the Scriptures, the ])ulpit, Christian fel- lowship, prayer ; the press, translations, tracts, and other publications; day and Sabbath-schools, indus- trial schools, and higher institutions. With some tribes there have been long and depressing watch- ings for results, and years have fled before a Kaiarnac has stepped up to the table at which the Missionary read the story of the Mount of Olives ; but many have at length, like that Grecnlander, approached saying in loud and affecting voice, "How was that? -) tell me once more, fov I wouM fiiiu be saved too." With other tribes the first Impression has l)ecn so uiioxpectciUy sudden and extensive that the servants of the Lord have been embarrassed by the jubilant sliouts of converts. It is delightful that the honours of the immense Missionary work are not exclusivelv obtained bv anv one Cliurch. The catalogue of diverse translations of tlie Scriptures, printed by the c(jlos3al P*ritish and Foreign Dible So. iety, proclaims this grateful fact, that many minds, and many Churches have contri- buted to open the Inspired Volume to all nations. Kingdoms, States, Provinces, Territories, and Is- lands have conspired to invest with magnificence the Protestant Missionary undertaking; but none will say we are invidious when we distinguish tlie radiant Royal Isle across the Atlantic, which James Mont- gomery said was a "little paradise/' and "worth the price it cost." •* Move Thoo,— wlion I h'^ar ihy voice Hill a (losp.'iirin^ world rejoice, Ami ioiiii from sl)ore lo sliort- [)roclairn, In everi/ tongue, Messiah'^ n;iine !" However much of joy and profit attends such a survey of the general Missionary work, we must pro- ceed to specify a well-known Institution — the Wes- LKVAN Missionary Society of Great P,ritain, whose operations are closely connected with the publication of tliis volume. For the reasons of its success wo are not to go to philosoi)hy, to morality, to sentimentalisin, but to the bottom of the Wesleyan movement ; and one word will supply every reason— Love. Wesley be- lieved and avowed, in the face of the fair but fatal —_ M Xll INTRODUCTORY M dogmatism of J)r. Taylor, ol'Norwich, the universality of man's corruption and condemnation, and insisted that Divine Love })ilicd the whole depraved race, and devised a universal Remedy ; tliat the same love made justification by faith, and sanctification from all sin here, and now blessings accessible to all. This was his adamantine standing-i)lace, and his doctrine, and its felt power made him emphatic, whetlier at Oxford, in the "house," or in the amj)hi- theatre at Gwennap. This has been the standing- I)lace of his successors, and it has been their concern to inherit his faith, his ardour, his emphasis. First, the love of CJod ; secondly. Christian love inspired by it. Here is the " magic" key to the entire '* mys- tery" of Wesleyan success and enterprise. We submit this as the sole test for critics and cen- sors, though a Sydney iSmitli, or a Southey be among them. As to its Doctrines, whether alluring or alarming, they Avould not have been promulgated had they been any otlier than the pronunciations of Divine Love: and when the Wesleyan Missionary has gone forth with them, what but love could fol- low the tones of love? As to its Spirit, the love of Christ has first been in the heart, and everything else has followed. This has produced sanctity, — pietism, expansiveness, yearnings, promptings ; this has given clearness to the vision when men far from God had to be sought; swiftness to the feet when they had to be pursued ; tears over their woes when found ; extacy when reclaimed. This has made Wes- leyan Missionaries pioneers to the Churches. As to its means, they are expressly divine, and prudential ; and when we say prudential, we intend to be under- i i stood as saying divine in princiide. How simple the system of preaching the Word, of reading it, of j)rayer to Cod, of the conunnnion of saints! Where tliese arc, the " Bread-fruit-tree" towers in perennial ver- dure and beauty, and satisfies not its dependants, as naturally it does in Southern climes, with only four delicate and wholesome crops a 3'car, but all the year ; and while that national tree is food, clothing, and habitation to the listless people, this still better production of Divine beneficience, which flourishes in the North as in the South, is every thing to man. As to its Discipline, the world knows it is promotive of order, liberty, miinlinoss, piety, safety, hai)i)iness, and usefulness. Its jui'isprudence is paternal : indeed Wesley made it that providentially ; and the British Conference, '• through honour and dishonour,"' wise- ly saves from demolition its palladium of Conncction- alism, and benignantly maintains its patriarchal character. There are, then, the doctrines of love, the spirit of love, the means of love, the government of love ; and everywhere the dauntless aggressions of love, for the rescue of man, and for the glory of Christ. Fr(^n the establishment of Wesleyan Methodism in England these have been its fundamentals ; and when its Missionary Society had to be organized, others were not required. These essentials were })lastic enough for compression within the bounds of Britain; they were expansive enough for the globe. The pre- siding Spirit was there as at every former advance of the Methodists, and nothing was necessaTy but to give the vitality of their faith and system a new di- rection. As in the case of language the grammar comes after terms and phrases, so in this case, Method- ■S ■> I ism was alwuvs Missionarv ; sont its first forei^rn Missionaries out in ITOO; l)iit did not form its Mis- sionary Society until 1810: and before its formation tlie VVesleyans liad more than one linndred Mission- aries in (Iifl\'rent parts of the world, and many Dis- trict Missionary Societies in En;iland. This is not the order of worldly men. The Methodists did the work largely first, and then God moulded it. Dr. Coke had wept burning tears for India before the (Jonference, and was about to depart with seven men of his own s])irit. The Rev. George Morley had recommended the formation of a Society for Leeds, and the Uev Jabez Bunting had brought his great mind to bear on the novel subject, and in October, 1813, a public meeting was held in ^lethodisi Leeds, though the fearful doul)ted, and sceptics laughed at this innovation. Thomas Thompson, Esq., won the first honours of chairmanship under such cii'cumstan- ces ; "and the interest created was deep and exten- sive." That celebrated Missionary advocate, Uichard Watson, ])reached one of the sermons from the lotty invocation, "Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe ujjou these slain, that they may live ;" and it was then that he uttered the conviction of the Wes- leyan body : " The valley is still full of dead. It is only in a few places on its verge that the prophets of the Lord are seen On the rest of the valley the gloom of despair settles, and sin and death hold un- disturbed dominion." This was the commencement of Missionary Meetings among the Methodists ; and they have ministered to the delight of tens of thou- sands — millions since; have emancipated many minds from their littleness : furnished an amazing impulse to the; (lospcl chiiriot ; iirid oivcn to the religion, gen- erosity, ;ui(l cHorts of tlie Wcsleviui coniuuinity an U'i{)r('ce(iento(l eminence and glory. ll has l)een diflicult to Siiy ^vhcther the Ileiithcn have l)e('n more benefitted by the disinterested servi- ce- of Dritish Methodists, than British .Methodism has been ennobled by Christianized Heathenism. Happy reciprocity — ainj)le repayment ! The re-iiivigoration of the Body has often been the effect of this reciprocity, and in conjnnction with the stated means and usage.:! the graces and gifts of many members have been discovered, and called into requisition for the service of the Church in remote countries. While the Christianity of the ^Ve.4eyan.s is known for its life and activity, it will be so; and the admirable Wesleyan Theological Institution shall continue to send forth to every land Christian and Wesleyan labourers able to say, " God hath not given us the s[)irit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." We want space to ensure deserved conspicuousness to the names of Missionaries which the Wesleyan Society can claim. What form of credulity and aiiie- ism has abashed them? What ini(|uity, what scene of blood and of cannibalism deterred them? What strong hold of i)antheism, of i)olytiieism, of polygamy, of incantation, imposture, and devilism have they not assailed? But they have given sanctity (o the vile — made atti'active the abhorrent — convinced and calm- ed the ferocious 1 We shall not go to Clarendon or Macau'ay fo;' the moral sublime while we have Wes- leyan annals. Hamilton, of Leeds, was right when XVI INTRODUCTORY he said, "Here is a form of character, — original, un- paralleled." AVc must remark briefly, that whether opposition to this Hociety has been stealthy or open, — whether it has come from a Korah, a Shemai, or a Philistine, it has been repelled. It has lengthened the list of the world's worthies. It has found authorship for many priceless Missionary publications. It has made practicable a Lay Agency, and taught the incredu- lous, that however much the ordained ministry is in the order of God, he calls and owns other faithful coadjutors. Many Churches have been provoked to imitation. This volume is too pleasing an evidence of the diffusiveness of Wesleyan Missions for us to forget to remark, that this Society is possessed of inherent powers of propogation ; and its recent ecclesiastical proceedings in the Colonies, have reminded us for- cibly of the journeys of the Apostle of the Gentiles. The inspiring watchword is — " To the regions be- yond !'' A missionary body is a true propogation society. Wesleyan Methodism in the British Colon- ies of America, Africa, and Asia is a transcript of Home Methodism in doctrines, means, and discipline; but forbearance on this prolific, happy topic is, for want of space, our duty. What transformations take place ! What consummations are the new Colonial Conferences ! The members many of them are far away ; but they are of the legitimate progeny, the same love in their hearts, and the same Scriptures their heritage. Hereditary Wesleyanism I First a sermon from some Missionary, and a few are convert- ed and united in class, and the few are a society, and i m ftf> ical br- ie 3. le- tion on- of a MISSIONARY MEMOIilALS. XVU the society becomes a circuit, antl tlie circuit a dis- trict, and the district districts, and tlie districts a Conference. There is an imperial tree whose rich and beneticent branchesslrctch, and bond, and strike, — and stretcliing farther still, bend, and strike ajj^ain, and in its web omo recesses whole families take shel- ter, and pluck its fruit. What shall we call thee, thou Uritish Parent Wesleyan Missionary Society? — A sacred (josj)el Banyan! This Society had, in 1854, 3Gl Central Stations in difierent parts of the world — not cram])ed positions, but many of them embracinj^ much country, or tens of thousands of human beings, on perhajjs, lil'teen or twenty islands, with a paid agent on each, superin- tended by European or other Ministers ; 311G ('hapels, or other places of worshi]) ; 507 Missionaries ; 70(i other salaried Agents; 8779 gratuitous laborers; 115,000 persons in the Church ; and nearly 90,000 in schools — Sabbath, day, and superior. Its spacious and classic Mission House in London shows what the oi)ulence of a Missionary community can do ; and its Missionary Museum is enriched with objects that en- chant the Missionary heart more than the ancient or modern splendors of the British Museum. Of the ex- ecutive of the Society what can be said when such are the results, but that the General Committee, and Secretaries, and Treasurers have been, and are men of sanctified motive, comprehensive observation, in- flexible fidelity, and commanding abilities? Com- parison is notmadefor sectarian purposes, but thank- fully, that the care and power of Cod may be known ; yet here is a Missionary status — geographical, numerical, financial, educational, and spiritual not XVlll INTHODUCTORY u reached by any other Society of a voluntary Church, And still kce])ing the primitive calling of Methodism in view, the " si)read of scriptural holiness," there is sung in many tongues with anticipation and conti- deuce, as wlien the joys of its primeval converts re- warded expectation, and the Holy Spirit encouraged the Society's Managers to progress — ♦'Thy people saved below, i''roMi every sinful staiti, Shall multiply and grow. If thy command ordain ; And one into a thousand rise. And spread thy praise through earth and skies !" Much space would be necessary for the astonishing history of the Mktiiodist Episcopal Church, in the United States, originated by the Rev. John "Wesley, A. M. With America upon his heart, he apostolically asked at the Conference of 17(50, — who will go? and I>oardman and Pilmoor rose, and each with Liitherati simplicity replied, " I will go." They came, they la- boured, they conquered; and since their day, Avith Asburys, McKendries, and Ileddings for Bishops, what pioneering, toils, sacrifices, vigilance, perils, valour, hardihood, revivals, enlargement, victories,! The candour of General Conference documents has ac- knowledged the aid of British Methodism, which had no distant country at first from which to draw talent, members, and tried rule and usage ; but from Britain subsidies like these have year after year with emigra- tion been generously granted by Providence, Despite persecution and obloquy, from the Lakes to the Gulph of Mexico, and from tlie Atlantic to the Pacific— -and farther still — the Methodism of the States has spread— ^not devastation, like the prairie fire— but the doctrines of "Christ crucified,"' and J^ MISSIONARY MKMORIAI.S. XIX " llu' beauties of holiness.'' The .Meniliershi|> of all its sections there, we believe, is about lifteen hundred thousaml; its Hearers five or six millions; its .Minis- ters ei;,dit thousand ; its Schools, Academies. Colleges, ami I'niverslties numerous : its l?ook establishments massive and very popular : its ('hur(die.s and other jiropcrties more accumulateil than those of any other Church; and its vast Missionary field is glorious for benevolence and triumph. Here is displaced by the fi'.ithfulness of the Omuii)otcnt, and in brilliant eir- cumslaneo.s, a sublime answer to I)eltt)rah's sublime prayer : " I.,ct them that lov e Him be as the sun, Avhen he goeth forth in his might."' Thirty years ago the MissioNAitY Society or thk ^riiTHoDisT Curucu IS ("anad.v was founded. In the memorable year of iTi'l the New York Conference of the Methodist Church sent the first .Methodist .Mission- ar\' to r[)per Canada, and very soon other ministers, — and these, with able ministers from the British Con- ference, laboured and fainted not, though ruggedness, hardshi})S, dangers, sufferings met them in their i)ro- gress, and ecclesiastical dislike misrc])rcsented, and political zealots calumniated them. The Canada Conference has now within its jurisdiction more than '200 Circuits ami Missions ; more than 270 Evangelists; about ^0,000 members; its funds liberally supported; its College, Industrial Institutions, ami Schools very successful ; its Book Room, ami periodicals widely patronised ; and its noble Missionary Society had, with an increase of £1800, an income last year of £7,r.oo. The Wesleyans of Canada have always felt that their resolution to supply the new settlers with the XX INTRODUCTORY Gospel, involvec duty, piety, i)iitri()tisni, and loyalty; the civil, cducationiil, and coniniorcial j)r()gro.>'^, and religious happiness, and greatness' of Canada; and they are fully aware of the indissoluble connexion there is l)et\vccn thiir prolonged services, and the past anil i)rescnt marked prosj)erity of the country, — a pr()S])erity resulting as well, in various degree-^, from the services of other I'rotestant Churches. No work done by the Wesleyans has been more joyous, and sooner rewarded effort, than ihat among the Aborigines of the wilds. Providence has made it apparent that to the Wesleyans, chiefly, has been committed Indian elevation. As the early, judicious, and unwearied friend of the Red Tribes, we rejoice to mention with gratefulness the venerable Wni. Case, yet living to publish the Land) of God ; and we an- ticipate that, when dying, the words of the departing Missionary, Elliot, at the age of ninety, will be his ; '• Let no dark cloud rest on the work of the Indians : let it livcAvhen I am dead." At a time when the Wesleyans of Canada were steadily discharging their prescribed duties as wit- nesses for their Lord, and rejoicing in their success- fulness, and in their connexional harmony, and in- creasing facilities, and were resolved on greater things, and a wider outlet for their benevolent feel- ings was a desideratum, the Parent ]\Iissionary Society of England, in the most honorable manner, gener- ously arranged that its Missions in Eastern Canada, and in Hudson's Bay Territory, should be incorpora- ted with the Wesleyan Methodism of Western Ca- nada ; and the English Conference of 1854 consum- mated the union of the AVest, the East, and the North I MISrilONAUY MKMOUIALS. XXI cs. No witli piitcriml cordiality. Tliiit both fonfcronrcs readily and adoctioiiatcly agreed on tiie preliminaries; that the respected nuiii;;terial and lay hiethreu in the Hast acted with lii'.aniiiuty ; that the Mastern dcpartuu'iit is very valuable; that Hudson's Hay is a very irnj)ortant ac(iui.-ition, la very gratiryinj;^ to ng to aeknowledjj'e ; bntjudj^in;^ from the last Address of the Canadian to the Kuj^lish Conference, and the facts of the case, it is evident, as the Address states, that " the happy and important consummation in which we exult is mainly to be attributed" to the Rev. Knoch Wood, now for ei<;ht vears the valued President of the Canada Conference, and for four years the (Jeneral .Superinteudeirt of Wesleyan Mis- sions in Canatla and Hudson's Ihiy. About the period when the nepjociations were began, there was a conviction on the mind of the Rev, John llyerson, the Wesleyan Co-Delegate, that he had a duty to perform for the Wesleyan Missions and pa- gun tribes of the Hudson's Ray Territory, and such was its vivid and abiding character, that he willingly, and in the fear of CJod, offered himself for a tour of ^lissionary exploration, regardless of the obstacles and dangers which i)reseutcd themselves. We thought then, as we do now, that the hand was held out which guided Wesley in his wondrous way. The Missionarv Roard of Management selected him as its Deputation to the Wesleyan Missions in that Terri- tory, and the Conference approved of the selection, reluctantly consenting to be deprived of his counsels for a protracted j)eriod. Last June, after a deeply interesting valedictory service had been held, he commenced his journey, accompanied by devoted Ji xxn INTRODrCTORY ' I brclliroii, the Rev. Messrs Thoiims Iliulburt, Holtcrt Drooking, and Allen Sjilt, lui ordiiined Native Mis- siomirv, and their riiniilics. As thev left Canada Avitli many pro-yers and warm regards, — so tliey were cheered on their tedious way with marks of respect, and received at their appointed posts of labour with much courtesy and hospitality by the oHiclal gentle- men at the forts of the Honourable Hudson's liny Company. The Deputation relates in his letters, now published, liis i)rogre9s through the Territory, and its interesting condition, making it supererogatory for us to do it. lie returned after an almost fatal voyage by way of England, where he was greeted by the Parent Mis- sionary Committee as a brother beloved, and a faithful messenger of the Weslcyan Church in ('anada. Not until winter had commenced did he reach home, and in excellent health and spirits ; and there he had the inexpressible joy of making this record at the beginning of his fifteenth Letter: "I had travelled nearly ten thousand miles ; was exposed to all kinds of weather; endured all kinds of fatigue; was ex- posed to all kinds of danger, yet without receiving any personal injury, or being one day detained during the whole tour by sickness." At the first meeting of Missionary Board, held at the Conference Office in Toronto, after his return, while the preserving care of Almighty God was devoutly acknowledged, the meeting with a sincere Avelcome, unanimously pre- sented to the esteemed Deputation " its very cordial thanks for his able and successful management of the important Mission which, in the spirit of self-denial, he so cheerfully undertook." I MIHSIONAUY MKMORIALg. XXUl Tdis elp;,'nnt ftnd iiptfiil Volume is unionj^ the (irst- fr^iitH of his inniortiint Mis-iion, and is puhlislied very ()I>|iorluncly It id wriftcn with perspicuity, ability, luul force ; the fcjpics arc very numerous, well select- ed, iind the stateineuts ori^'inivl iiud .•iiithentic ; its description.^ of novel scenery luilurul and correct ; the subjects of soil, production.^, ftj(ri< nlture, extent of country, and of the calublishnients, travel, trade, governujcnt of the Hudson's IJay Company, well and iiLstructivcly brought out. The arrangeinents of Sir (jleorgo Simpson, Oovcrnor of the Territory, conduced much to Mr. llyerson's comfort, and facilities for observation. Tliere is much for the tourist, the mer- chant, and the christian. The chief value of the author's work is derived from the intelligence it com- municates of the number, habits, and wants of the population of the distant and uni(iue region ; the state of mind, body, morals, and religion there it presents ; the readiness of the pcoj)le to receive religious and secular instruction; the immensity of the mental and moral field for cultivation; the condition of the Wes- leyan and other Missions ; and the numerous, invit- ing openings for the Gospel. For these reasons and for reasons of economy, this reliable volume will be a valuable directory for the Managers of the W'esleyan Missionary Society and others for many years. As the first volume published at the Book Room by the Weslcyan Missionary Society of Canada ; and so beautiful in its typogra])hy and illustrations, it must gratify the Managers, — and further, that the author is an influential official member of the Canada Con- ference. Still more, this volume exceedingly gratifies I m XXIV I: I INTRODUCTORY, ETC. US as it is a production of Wcsleyan unity in Canada and JIudson's IJay ; and as such it is commondod to the Ministry and Laity of tlie Wesleyan family in Canada, and to the patrons of Christian Missions in Britisli North America, tlie United States, and Great Britain. Co-operation for Christ is the duty of all who glorify Christ. The Wesleyan Missionary Society is one in object, spirit, purpose with the illustrious Pro- testant Missionary Societies of the age ; and with that prince of writers, Dr. Harris, we say, " Nothing shall be too great for them to attempt ; and every conflict shall be a victory." The present demand of the waking world is for sanctified men, talent, aggressiveness, heroic zeal, faith, intercession, and systematic benevolence. What shall the result of Christian Missions be a century hence ? What when millennium wonders and delights come ? What when the many souls saved shall have been gathered from the east and west, and sat down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven? There is effort needed : there is a day of remunera- tion promised. " They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament ; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." J. Scott. C. W., May 1st, 1855. Letter I. Fort William. Rev. and Dear Sir, — Owing to tlie detention, by fog, of the river mail boat, we did not leave Kingston until eight o'clock on Friday evening, June 9th, and consequently did not reach Hamilton before a quarter to three the next day — Saturday. This was thirty-five minutes before. the time for the cars leaving ; plenty of time to have got our baggage on board, and to have gone with that train. But for the want of know- ing ivhich way to proceed, and the total neglect of the managers of the railroad, to send any one to their oicn wliarf (to which the steamer went in order that the passengers might roach the cars in time,) to direct the passengers, we failed in getting our trunks in the baggage-car before the train was off. I have travelled a good deal, but so ill and shat&efully- managed an affair, I never before witnessed. The cars kept running backwards and forwards, not stopping three minutes in any one place, the porters and carters running and driving first one way then another, hallooing, one one thing, and another, another thing, until the independent gentlemen, as it would seem, having sufficiently sported themselves with our confusioa and perplexity, started off. Mrs. Ryerson had got into th? car, and was taken REV. J. RYERSON S VISIT TO u on, while I and the higgage were left behind. This caused me a detention of nine hours at Hamilton, and the night train meeting no train from Brantford at Paris, I was there detained five hours more, so that I did not reach Brantford until Sabbath morning at 9 o'clock. All this detention, causing, as it did, an additional expense of between four and five dollars, was anything but pleasant. I have heard a good deal about the completeness of the "Great Western Railroad," and the punctual regularity and correct- ness with which its matters were managed ; but everything I saw in going from Hamilton to "Wind- sor made a very difierent impression on my mind. I saw baggage most shamefully handled. At the Paris station trunks were thrown out of the bag- gage-car on the platform, a distance of several feet, with such violence as to endanger the trunks being crushed to pieces ; in one of my trunks articles of considerable value were destroyed. The man, while dashing the baggage out of the car in this manner, was at the same time swearing most profanely because some one did not come to help him ; but whether it was to help him to swear, or destroy the luggage, I did not ascertain. The night cars arrived at Hamilton an hour behind their time, and the Monday express train was equally late ; and being behind our time the train had to wait at Chatham some fifty minutes for the Western train ; 80 that we did not arrive at Windsor until nine o'clock, instead of fifteen minutes of seven. In fiunsoN s HAY territory. Detroit I stopped at the " Xiitional Hotel," a large aud wt'll-k( pt house. At ten o'clock on Tuesday morning, on board the American Steamer ' , I started for Sank Stc. Marie. This was one of the most splendid vessels I ever saw, and the tablcs,attendance, itc. were in complete agreement with the beauty and elegance of the ship. There were between two and three hundred cabin passengers on board. In the middle of Luke St. Clair, where the channel for large vessels is not more than four or five rods wide, there had grounded a large propeller, which totally choked up the channel ; not being able to proceed, we came to anchor : there were collected about this unfortunate propeller ten or twelve steamers and sailing-vessels. Some of these vessels were assisting in towing the propeller off ; othci's, like ourselves, were detained, not being able to pass, all the navigable waters in this part of the lake, for large ^essels, being monopolized by this monster water-craft However, after a detention of five hours, the propeller was got off, and we were enabled to proceed on our voyage, which we did with great speed, as the weather was remarkably fine, and our ship was a very fast sailer. In the middle of Lake Iluron, we came up with an old steamboat, without an engine, from Cleveland, loaded with coal ; this huge concern we took in tow, and had the honour of leading her oil the way to the Sault ; but the pleasure that such a leading position might have caused, was very much lessened by this REV. J. RYERSONS VISIT TO M u piece of gallantry, very much retardinj^ our progress. These Americans know well how to kill " two birds with one stone ;" for while towing the coal ship along, the men were employed in supplying the steamer with coal for the voyage to the Sault and back again to Detroit. I never saw a finer article of the kind than this Ohio coal ; it is singular to me that more of it is hot used in Canada. We ar- rived at the Sault on Wednesday the 15th, at 7 A. M. Shortly after, Mr. Brooking came over from the Canada side, and conducted me across the river to a very comfortable Hotel, kept by a Mr. Pien, where I met the whole party in good health and spirits, and ready to embark In the Company's schooner, lying at the upper end of the rapids. The village on the American side of the river is pleasantly situated ; and is a beautiful little town. It is a military port and naval depot, and has a strong post, in which there are stationed fifty or sixty soldiers. The Sault Canal, which is intended to connect the waters of the Lake Superior, and its tributary rivers, with the St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean, is now being made. When finislied, it will be a work of great magnificence and incon- ceivable utility, connecting, as it will, these immense Western waters, and opening the trade of these vast regions with the Atlantic, and the cities of the old world. The cans^ is intended to be sufficiently large for vessels of the largest size to pass through ; it will be a mile and three hundred feet long, 120 feet wide on the top, and of a depth to allow of vessels draw- ^^ \n^ twelve feet of ^vater to pass through. The lockage is only about twenty-two feet ; the full of the river being o: ly a few inches over twenty feet. The Company engaged with the Anierican Govern- ment to build the canal for six hundred thousand acres of land, and it is said that by the transac- tion thy will make immense riches. John Ilar- grave, Enquire, is the gentleman in charge of the Hudson's Bay stores and affairs at the Sault. — From this gentleman we received very kind at- tention. Mr. II. did everything he could to pro- vide our company with necessaries, and conveniences to make our voyage and journey comfortable and pleasant. I shall always entertain a pleasurable and grateful recollection of the noble hospitality of Mr. II. and his excellent lady, with whom our party had the pleasure of taking dinner before embark- ing on board of the schooner. We went on board at four p. M., but did not sail until next morning at day-break. The "Isabella" is a fine vessel of eighty- six tons burthen. She is exceedingly strong and well made, built after the old P^nglish style of ships. The Captain, a plain, sensible man, well acquainted with his business — treated us with great kindness and respect, and did everything he could to promote the comfort of our company. Fourteen miles from Sault Ste. Marie, just before we enter Lake Superior, we pass an Indian Mission, belonging to the Mission- ary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. This Mission was commenced between two and three years ago, a number of Ji REV. J. RYERSON 8 VISIT TO ^ Indians have been converted, and joined to the Church, a school has been established, and the Mission at the present is in a very prosperous state. There is a Churcli, parsonage, and a number of Indian houses in the village. The Missionary So- ciety has built a substantial wharf for the accommo- dation of vessels sailing on the lake, and the Lake Superior steamers stop here and take in wood, which is supplied by the Indians, and proves to them quite a source of revenue. Our captain told me that quite a number of Indians from Moose Factory, at the South end of Hudson's Bay, had left their old residence and were settling in the neighbourhood of this mission, that they might enjoy, as in time past, the instruction of Methodist Missionaries, and receive the ordinances as administered by Wesley an Clergymen. Fifteen miles north-west of the Methodist Mission Station, is a Baptist Mission among the Indians. The Missionary is a Mr. Campbell, who was educated for, and ordained a Minister in the Episcopal Church in Canada. Mr. C. was appointed by the Bishop of Toronto to be Missionary to the Indians and half-breeds on the Canada side of the Sault, the Protestant part of which consists of about 150 souls. But Mr. C. became acquainted with the Baptist Minister residing on the American side of the river, and by this Baptist man, was converted to the doctrine of Anti-pedobapti -^ and joined the Baptist Church. Mr. C. is now it zealous Missionary nUDSONS BAY TERRITORY. to the and the us state. ml>cr of imry So- jcoinnio- he Lake 1 wood, to them iiber of a end of md v«ere on, that jction of dinances Mission Indians. ducated Church Bishop ms and lult, the »ut 1.50 ith the side of 3rted to aed the ;sionary under the direction of the Baptist Missionary Soci- ety in the United States. All day on Thursday we were sailing- before a pleasant breeze at the rate of five or six knots an hour, but about eight in the evening the wind died away ; so that we made very little progress during the night Friday morning it was almost a perfect calm ; not a breath of air to be felt, although there was so much of a swell as to produce a little rolling of the vessel — sufficient to cause illness with some of our party, especially Mrs. Salt, who was something more than comfortably sea-sick. This morning we caught a very fine salmontrout : it weighed twelve or fourteen pounds, and upon which we made an excellent breakfast ; made the more pleasant because of the novelty of taking it on the deck of our petit vaisseau. We are now quite near the shore of this iron-bound lake, as it is usually designated, and certainly it is very properly named. A more sterile, dreary-looking region I never saw ; one barren waste of rocks, rising one above the other, some of the peaks to very great height, and covered with very little vegetation. All along the shore of the lake there arc bold prominences and high cliflfs, for each of which our captain had a name. On one of these mountain-heights, the Indian tradition says, that Nanabashoo had his residence, whose wonder- ul doings in days of yore, we have frequently heard, Peter Jones and others relate. At half past one o'clock, p. m., we arrived at ji 8 RKV. J. RYERSON S VISIT TO Michipicoton, one of the North-west Company's stations, situated at the mouth of the river of the same name, and distant from Sault Ste. Jifarie 120 miles. A large cove at the mouth of this river makes an excellent harbour ; the water in the cove is from two to six fathoms deep, and of a surface sufficiently large to give commodious anchorage to two hundred vessels of every size. The entrance to the harbour is very easy, and the anchorage ground of the best quality. On one side of the cove there is a kind of indenture of flat and arable land of several acres ; and it is said that the Roman Catholics intend building a village here, and establishing an Indian Mission. Our vessel being deeply laden, could not go up to the Station establishment, which lies some distance up the river ; we therefore came to an anchor in the lower part of the harbour, some three miles distant from the Station. At four o'clock, two boats came to take our com- pany and some portion of the cargo to the Depot on shore, where we arrived safely about six o'clock, and were very kindly received by Mr. McKenzie, the gentleman in charge of the Station. By this gentle- man we were treated with much attention and kind- ness during our stay at Michipicoton. At eleven o'clock on Sabbath, I preached to a small company, consisting of our party, the officers in charge of the station, the captain of our schooner, his wife, and several other persons belonging to the establishment. In the afternoon Mr. Salt preached to the Indians, HUDSON S BAY TERRITORY. m the congTogation nurabering about twenty. These simple children of the forest listened with great attention to the word, and seemed to bv. affected by it. In the evening, I married a Frenchman to an Indian woman, both of whom conducted themselves with serious propriety ; much more so than many persons whom I have married elsewhere. Monday, at nine o'clock, we left the Michipicoton Station, and returned to our vessel, but were not able to set sail and resume our voyage until near twelve o'clock. Our schooner got out of the cove without difficulty ; but there being scarcely any wind, we made but slow progress during most of the day. We sailed along near the shore, on the land or rocks adjacent to which hardly a green thing is to be seen. I was told that a few years ago most of every living thing of a vegetable kind, all over the country was destroyed by fire, since which it has presented little to the view except one interminable waste of sterile and barren rocks. We had on board four men, miners from Corn- wall, England, on their way to Michipicoton Island, to be employed as laborers in a copper mine belong- ing to a company in Montreal. This Island lies north-west from Michipicoton Station about thirty miles. In order to land these men, we ''hove-to," and not being able to discover the landing-place because of the thick fog, we were compelled to stay there until morning. During the time the wind died -\ i0f 10 REV. J. RYERS0N8 VISIT TO i away, and by the force of the current, we came nigh being drifted on shore : but fortunately when near the shore, we found soundings ; and so we then "cast forth the anchor, and wished for the day." But when the day came, no wind came ; however after waiting with some anxiety for several hours, a light breeze sprung up, which enabled our skilful captain to extricate us from our rather uncomfortable situation. On this island there are two mines, one of silver and one of copper ; I did not learn whether or not they both belonged to the same Company. Both of these mines are now being successfully worked. One of the miners informed me that th \ silver mine pro- duced last year seven or eight barrels of very rich ore, which was sent to England to be smelted. About eleven o'clock in the day the wind began to rise, and continued to rise until it blew nearly a gale, accompanied with rain, which made it much more disagreeable, as it drove all our company, and the captain's wife, who was on board, into the cabin— a room not more than twelve feet square. You may judge what kind of grotesque appearance we made ; sixteen of us, with some dozen trunks and carpet-bags, the women and children sick, Mr. H. lying on his back groaning, and with others, looking terrible things, and all in the space too small for a petite chamhre. 1 enciuired next morning of Mr. Salt, how he had got on the niglit before. lie said he was not sick, but he saw some things that liked to have made him sick. I told him I heard things for a Mr. said iked ing3 HUDSON d BAY TBRRIT()R\ il I thouf^ht equally calculated to produce maladie. Fortunately for myself I waa not sick, although u poor sailor, and much subject to sea-sickness. Brother Brooking was also quite well, but Mrs. B. and the little girl suffered greatly. Tuesday the 20th, the wind was very lip^ht all day, and part of the time what little wind there was, was against us, so we made very little progress during the day. In the course of the day we passed the head of "Isle Royal" a long island belonging to the United States. This Island is sixty miles long, and averages from six to eight miles in breadth. There are a num- ber of rich copper mines on it that are now being worked by American Companies. Indeed this whole country seems to be rich in minerals, and abounds with rich ores of silver, copper, and very likely gold also. At Sault Ste. Marie, I saw a piece of pure virgin copper, weighing 3,200 pounds, taken out of the Copper Harbour Mine — a mine belonging to an American Company, and situated three hundred miles north west of the Sault, on the South side of the Lake. There are two hundred miners constantly employed at thia mine. The " Eagle Mines" are ten miles distant from the Copper, and are as extensive as the Copper, and there are also employed working them 200 men. At both of these mines immense quantities of copper are pro- cured in its pure state without the least admixture of alloy ; and I was told by persons well qualified to jud^e, that minerals and metals would be found as ^ 12 REV. J. KYERSON S VISIT TO tS rich and in as great abundance on the British as on the American side of these inimense waters, if sought for, and worked with equal skill and diligence. Thursday evening at half-pjust eight o'clock we came to anchor in "Thunder Bay," three miles distant from Fort William ; but it being too late to land, we remained on board until next morning. Friday morning a boat was sent to take us and our luggage on shore, where we arrived about half- pjist seven o'clock, and were very respectfully received by Mr, Boucher, the gentleman in charge of the Station. The canoes which are to take us to Norway House have not yet arrived, and are not expected before the 30th inst., or the 1st of July, so that it is probable we shall be detained here a week or ten days. The " Isabella" returns to Sault Ste. Marie imme- diately, so I have not time to write any more, or correct, much less to re-write what I put down on paper during my six days' voyage on board of our little ship " Isabella." "We were just a week from Sault Ste. Marie to Fort William. By Sir George Simpson, whom I expect to meet between this and the Winnepeg Lake, I will send you some additiona notices. I am, as ever. Rev. and Dear Sir, Yours most respectfully, J. Byerson. The Rev. Enoch Wood, President of the Conf., &c. &c. &c. § HUDSON 8 BAY TKRRITORY. 13 Lettek II. Fort "SVilliam, July 3rd, 18r)4. Rev. and Dear Sir,— I closed my last letter by mcntionini,' thftt we had just arrived ut this j)la('e, and were kindly received by Mr. IJoucher, the Superintendent of the Station. Fort Williiun is an old business depot, established, in the first place, and occupied many years by the " North West Company ;" but when that Company was merged in the Hudson's Bay Company, this station with all the other stations and property belonging to the former, were transferred to the lat- ter corporation. There was lurmerly a fort here, as its name signifies. 'I'he enclosure was four square, and made of high strong pickets. At each corner of the enclosure there was some sort of a tower. All that now remains of these fortifications and buildings, is an almost dilapidated block-houso, and a large fire-proof store-house, built of stone, with a tin roof and iron window shutters. The walls of this singu- lar looking and most substantial building, are three and a half feet thick ; indeed such is the massive- ncss of the walls and compactness of the entire struc- ture, that it is said nothing ever freezes in it during the coldest winters, notwithstanding the intensity of the frosts in this northern latitude. The scenery around Fort ^Yilliam is rather pretty. 14 EEV. J. RYERSON S VISIT TO In the immediate vicinity, the land consisting of an alluvial soil, is entirely flat, covered with small hem- lock trees and willow bushes ; but in the distance rise stupendous and rugged mountains, and in the opposite direction, or to the left as you face the river, the noble expanse of the Lake Superior, with hundreds of rocky and mineral islands on its mighty bosom, and thousand^i of abrupt and towering hills on its shores, stretch out to the horizon. The Station, which is situated at the mouth of the Hamenistaquoia River, has a large farm connected with it, on which they raise barley, peas, potatoes, and garden vegetables of every kind. They also keep horses, horned cattle, sheep, and hogs. They usually have from fifteen to twenty-five cows. In their dairy, they make not only what cheese and butter the Fort William Station requires, but, more or less supply other stations with these articles. There is also an observatory here, — or as the Captain of the Isabella called it, "a look-out place,'" — from which you have an extensive view of the surround ing scenery and Lake Superior. There are a large number of canotes de maitre, or very large canoes, always kept at this Station ; indeed they are made here for the use of the Company's agents and other travellers. The canoes are kept in a large house built for this purpose. It requires four men to carry one of these large canoes, whereas two men are sufficient to carry the lighter canoes of the north. of an I hem- "^;| stance ■''w in the M Lce the i -^.■■' r, with nighty jg hill3 . The of the ]nected • )tatoe3, ey also They ; [n their tter the or les3 There )tain of 1 — from Irround la large 1 Ipanoes, 1 L made h other 1 house B) carry Ln are 1 north. i ^1 1 Hudson's bay territory. 15 They arc paddled or rowed by ten, twelve or six- teen men. There are now building two very fine canoes of this large class, for the purpose of convey- ing Sir George Simpson and his party to the Sault Ste. Marie, on their return from Norway House and the Red River. Sabbath, the 25th, we had divine service in the dining-room, which was attended by Mr. Boucher and a number of the persons belonging to the estab- lishment. In the afternoon, Mr. Salt went over the river and held a meeting with a number of pagan Indians. There were encamped on that side of the rivcreightorten families to whom Mr. vS. gave a word of exhortation, and sung and prayed with them. Mr. S. says they seemed desirous to receive instruction, and listened with attention to his address. Mr. S. agreed to visit them again next Sabbath, should we remain so long in the place, and the Indians expres- sed a strong desire that he should do so, and pro- mised to let others know, and get together of their people as many as they could at the time. I baptized the infant daughter of Mr. McKenzie, the " chief trader'' of Michipicoton station, his lady and children not having yet gone down, he having been but lately removed to that place. Mrs. !McKen- zie requested me to rc-baptize another of her child- ren, who had been baptised by a Roman Catholic priest— no other minister being accessible. But this I was compelled to decline doing, not believing '■m rc-baptism lawful, although the baptism had been performed by a person not duly authorized, or even by a false teacher of religion. Monday morning, the 25th, in company with Messrs. Brooking and Salt, in a bark canoe, I went on a hunting and fishing excursion to the mouth of the 'River DuCurrer'a place seven miles distant from Fort William. In the morning when we started, the wind was favourable, but we had hardly got out of the river on the lake, when the wind shifted round and came strongly against us, so that although we used our paddles and oars with all the skill and applica- tion we were capable of, yet we did not reach the place of our destination until after one o'clock which was two hours and a-half from the time we star*ted. This was my first experiment in the business of hunting and fishing ; and but for my fish-line breaking, and my gun missing fire, when the one should have showed itself a true conservative and theother a real progressionist, I should have caught a fish and killed a patridge — but to my great disap- pointment, just as I brought a large speckled trout to the top of the water, my fish-line broke and away went the trout, line, hook, and all : and after dis- playing some skill in hunting, as I think, I came near a partridge, which was pointed out to me by Mr. Brooking, who, by-the-bye, made as great a fuss about it as an Indian would have made in meeting with a drove of bufikloes. "Well, I presented Mr. HUDSON S RAY TERRITORY. 17 lad been , or even my with ;, I went nth of the Tom Fort , the wind ut of the ound and a we used I applica- reach the le o'clock e time we le business fish-line the one ative and caught a eat disap- ed trout and away after dis- I came tome by eat a fuss n meeting jnted Mr. Salt's rifle in due order at the bird, which was not more than two rods from mc, but the gun missed fire, and snapped the second time, when the bird walked off — not deigning to fly — with as much in- difference as though I and my gun too were unworthy of its notice. The River Du Currer is about as large as the River llumber, near Toronto. Some twenty roda from the mouth there is a fall in the water of about twenty feel. The fall is not perpendicular, but nearly so, presenting to the eye a large surface of white foam, which, at a distance, has the appearance of a bank of snow. At these falls, water-power to any amount could be obtained. The land for a large distance round is very rich, and no doub* could be most profitably cultivated. At 6 J p. m., we left our fishing-ground to return home, where we arrived safely at 8 o'clock. This was my first and probably will be my last fishing and hunting-day. Wednesday, the 28th, I availed myself of the kind offer of J. Willson, Esq., Custom- House officer, at Sault Ste. Marie, who was on an exploring tour along the North Shore of Lake Superior, in com- pany with Messrs. IT., B. and S., to a seat in his boat, to visit the Roman Catholic Mission Establish- ment. This is beautifully locnted on the bank of the river, about a mile and a half above Fort-Wil- liam depot T called on the Rev. Mr. Shuny, the super- intending priest of the Station, who received and •>:ii. m 18 REV. J. RYERSONS VISIT TO treated us with courteous respect. I had an half- hour's conversation with Mr. Shuny, and learned from him that it had been between three anu four years since the commencement of the mission ; thai he himself, assisted by one or two men, part of the time, had built the church and parsonage ; that there are now between twenty-five and thirty dwelling- houses in the village, occupied by the Indians, and that Indian families were constantly coming to the station for the purpose of building and settling in the village. The church is comfortable, and, for the place, is a fine building. It is built of logs and neatly clap-boarded, it is about 30 by 40 feet in size, (with the addition of a large veslry at the back end,) and will accommodate from 200 to 300 persons. The parsonage is a neat house, 30 by 36 feet on the ground, and one story high. It is built of logs, clap-boarded, and painted white. The building of these two substantial structures, with a number of out-houses, &c., was accomplished principally by Mr. S.'s own hands, and during the same time he performed his ordinary work as priest, besides assisting in the day school, visiting it twice every day, catechising and instructing the children. Mr. S. has only been eight or nine years among the Indians, yet speaks their language fluently, and preaches in it with great ease. His bed-room is also his workshop, study, and sitting-room. In one cor- ner of the room is the bed, consisting of a pillow and two buffalo skins ; in another corner of the room w 1 an half- d learned anu four ion ; that irt of the that there dvrelling- dians, and ing to the lettling in , and, for flogs and eet in size, ' at the DO to 300 30 by 36 It is built te. The es, with a Dmplished uring the as priest, it twice children. mong the ntly, and om is also 1 one cor- illow and he room are wide shelves, holding his carpenter and joiner tools, and in another corner is his desk, writing-ap- parratus, and a few books ; in another part of the room a box, stool, and two chairs. I remarked to our brethren, that such laborious and self-denying zeal was worthy of a better cause than the spreading of Popery, and that it was humiliating to ourselves, contrasted with the exertion and success of some of our own missionaries, who seemed to measure out their work, both with regard to kind and extent, with as much care and exactness as a Jew would measure silk velvet. I recollect one missionary, if not more than one, who objected to teaching a day-school on the ground that it was not quite can- onical, and was beneath the dignity of the ministe- rial office ; that he was called to be a minister and not a school-teacher. One tbing is certain, that the Roman Catholic missionaries t'iroughout these ex- tensive regions, in zeal, in labour, self-denial, and in guccess in their work, are much, very much before us, and unless we bestir ourselves with very much more united, earnest, and persevering exertion than what we yet have, this whole country will be over- spread and hedged in with the briars, thorns, and hedges of popery. July the 1st. This is the ninth day since we came to this place, and the canoes that are to con- vey us to the Norway House have not yet arrived. Of course we are now looking for them with some degree of anxiety. Since I came here I have been IH' 20 REV. J. RYERSONS VISIT TO as comfortable as circuinstancea would admit. To be sure my bed was not very fine or downy, but it was the best that, for the time being, I could pro- cure. It consisted of three boards and three or four Indian blankets, with my over coat for a pillow- But two nights since, the thing on which my bed rested, called a bedstead, gave way, and down went one end of my three boards, and their incumbent, on the floor. Well, next morning I reported in due form the disaster to the Superintendent of the Sta- tion, and forthwith the carpenter was sent for to ex- amine the state of affairs, and make the necessary repairs. When the carpenter came, who proved to be a farmer also — an old ijitelligent Scotchman from Glasgow, by the name of Mclntyre — he inquired where my bed was ; and being informed that all the furniture of my dormitory was before him, he shook his head, and expressed surprise that the establish- ment could afford nothing better. Well, having repaired my bedstead, the old fanner went home, but shortly after returned -sv ith his good old lady, bring- ing with him a fine buffalo-robe and a large nice pillow for my bed ; and then, in the evening, the servant man, John, a Highland Scotchman, brought to my room his own little feather-bed, which he would have me take a:id use during the remainder of my stay at Fort William. So, after this, I luxuria- ted on a comfortable feather-bed until I left for the North ; and then these honest and noble-hearted people insisted that I should take the pillow with me, which 1 did, and at the same time not fogettiug (.»»*' lit. To y, but it luld pro- e or four I pillow- my bed \vn went jumbent, id in due the Sta- or to ex- leeessary roved to nan from inquire d ,t all the le shook tablish- having me, but [', bring- e nice g, the rought lich he iider of luxuria- for the iiearted iv with retting HUDSON S BAY TERRITOHT. 21 to remunerate them for their di.:;intcrested and Chris- ti.ui kindness — siuiple, but noble generosity, which I take great pleasure in recording, and ahall alwaya have pleasure in recollecting. Sabbath, 2nd July. This is the 2nd Sabbath and the warmest day we have had since coming to Fort William. At 11 o'clock we again had divine service. Mr. ITurlburt preached and led the leligioua exercises. In addition to the company present last Sabbath, this day wo had Mr. Willson from Sault Ste. Marie, who was present and took part with us in our devo- tions. In the afternoon, Mr. Salt, accompanied by Mr. Hurlburt, again visited and held a meeting with the band of pagan Indians on the other side of the river. All the Indians in the encampment attended the meeting, and, besides, there were present two or three Roman Catholics and other Indians, who had been called to the meeting by the party belonging to the camps. The brethren say that the Indiana listened with great attention to their address, and manifested a still stronger desire than the last Sab- bath, to be taught the " neio way.'^ This evening at 8 o'clock the canoes arrived, and well pleased we were to see them. As the voyagers will require rest, wc cannot leave Fort William before Wednesday morning ; in the mean time, we shall be very busily employed in making prepartory arrange- ments for our long voyage. By Mr. Black, a pas- senger in the canoes from Red River, I received a letter from Sir George Simpson, in which his Excel- 22 REV. J. BYERSONS VISIT TO Icncy says, that with the caiioc^s, and ut the stations, every possible arrangements had been made to pro- vide for our safetv and comfort durinj? the vova'^e. His Excellency also says that he expects to meet us somewhere this siice higlicr, by many feel, than the Nia^'aru Fails. 'I'lic concave slieet comes toj^etlier about three-fourtlis of the way to tlie bottom, from whiMice the spray springs high into tlie air, bedewing and whitening the proeii)itous and wild-looking crags ■with wliich the fall is compassed, and clothing with drapery of foam tlic gloomy pines that hang about the clefts and fissures of the rocks ; indeed the falls and the whole surrounding scenery, fur sublimity, wildness, and novel grandeur, exceed anything of the kind 1 ever saw. Thursilay evening was clear and pleasant; but in the night the sky quickly became overcast with clouds, and it conmienced raining, and contin- ued to rain until morning, so that in the morning the bushes and grass were thoroughly saturated with water ; and our way, for some distance, being prin- cipally over portages, one succeeding another in quick succession, and one of them being more than a half mile long, we were induced to remain until the middle of the day, to give the bushes and grass time to dry. At Ij we left our place of encanip- ment, and in the di>t.ince of five miles passed three portages — one of wdiich was long and diflicult ; at the end of it our guide determined to stop and camp for the night. It was early, but a diflicult road of rapids and waterfalls was before us; and, besides, it looked very much like rain ; and indeed we had hardly got -our tents pitched when the storm was upon us in almost irresistible fury. But fiercely as i!' !i 'O v^h a space a. pr(.'('ij)ice Falls. The hrc'c-fourtlis 3 the spray 1 whitening with which I drapory of it the clefts ills atul the y, wildness, ' the kind I lid pleasant; ne overcast and contin- ic morning uratcd with being prin- another in ' more than Mnain until I and grass of encamp- assed three ifficult ; at • and camp lilt road of d, besides, ied we had storm was fiercely as T, HUDSON .-^ IJAY TKUKITORV. *>7 fe V: w\\ "if; \\m m tiie .stonii coinnu'iici'd, it conliiiuiMi irreiitly to in- crG;is(.', till' l(tiul Viutling thunder, the viviil and forked ri;;iuiruii^', tin; tdrronts nfraiu couihi)'; down as thou.^di poured (Hit oi'ljuckets, tlio waveriiiu; and rocking of the troos, and tho liov.Iin;^ of tl;o forest, all constituted sucli a scene of nuijebtic and to 'ijjic p;randeur ajt I do not wish a;^ain to witness. Tho water <'ame down in such torrents as to Hood th<' ground : one part (tf the /.'oo/- of (,)ur tent served as a channel for a ereek. But after two liours con- tinuance, the storm subsided, and -we were enalded Ko to adjust matters to the exigency of t!ie times as to get part of a night's comfortable repose, not- withstanding the lurnddo through which we had passed. Saturday morning we started at four o'clock. I Hiring the day we ]^assed a larg(^ numl^er of strong and some dangerous rapids. J^everal times the canoe, in spite (jf the most strenuous exertion of the men, ^vas driven ba(dv ; such was tho violence of the currents. Several times the men had to get (nit of the canoe and attach to it a long rope, while they at the other end would wend their way alrn;! the shore, sometimes up to their middle in water, sometimes crawling, ('ree})ing amidst the l)riars and thorns, and clinging to tho rocks and bushes on the bank of the river. On one occasion such was the vi(denco of the currents, that though four strong men were holding the rope, it Avas wrenched out of their hands in an instant, and we were hurried down the rapid with 28 REV. J. RYERSON S VISIT TO violent speed, at the mercy of tlie foamiiij; vravcs and irresistible torrent, until fortunately, in safety, we reached an eddy below. After a good while spent in fixing and arranging, we were enabled to resume the perilous etlbrt to ascend this torrent- rapid, whicli, happily for us, proved successful, and we found ourselves, by the mercy of Provi- dence, at the upper end of this cataract ; but not without having received great damage to our canoe. The canoe was badly broken in several places, but by continual bailing she kept afloat until we got to a suitable landing, when the men took her out of the water and repaired her. These perilous accidents occasioned us a detention of more than three hours. Towards the close of the day we entered a little lake called Lac Du Chien or Dog Lake, at the far end of whicli we came to a portage of the same name, and said by our voyageurs to be three miles long, although to me it seemed to be a good deal less than this distance. We made the portage the same evening, and put up for the night at the far side. It was after dark before all our things were over, our tents pitched and we prepared to commence preparations for supper, which was not over and we reclining on our terra firma bed until eleven o'clock. This portage is called Chien, or Dog Portage: it is the same name as the little lake you pass in coming to it ; and the beautiful sheet of water, about fifty or sixty miles in circumference, you cross immediately on leaving it, is known by the same name also. The Chien g waves n safety, )d ■while labled to torrcnt- ceessful, )f Provi- but not ir canoe. ices, but il we got : her out perilous ore than day we or Dog portage irs to be to be a ado the 'or the ore all and we supper, r terra 'tage is e name xnd the y miles caving Chien rjiir- :v. ::>■; chien i- i 'I, )! ■ '!' I. ■ i HUDSON S RAY TERRITORY. 29 Portage is the first long portage I made : I endur- ed tlie fatigue of it, although I carried several parcels, with little inconvenience. On the morning of the 9th, we crossed the Chien Du Lac, a distance of fifteen miles, and at the other side we entered a beautiful river of the same name. Near the mouth of the river we passed a point of land or rocks, on which there still stands the remains of an old breast-work fortifica- tion, said to have been built many years ago by the Indians. I was told that one time a body of the Sault Indians concealed themselves behind this breast work when ten canoes of their enemies were passing, upon whom they fired, and with one single exception, killed and destroyed every one in the ten canoes. The Indian who escaped saved himself by jumping into the water, and swimming to an island between two and three miles distant. Letter IV. Eev. and Dear Sir, — We were three hours crossing the Lac du Chien or Dog Lake ; on the other side we entered a beau- tiful river of the same name, up which we paddled for two hours, when we stopped to take dinner. The land is beautiful, rich and well timbered on both sides of this river for the distance of more than twenty-five miles from its mouth. A most de- i^- il ll I ! I 30 IlEV. J. RYERrSON S VISIT TO liL-'litful sottloiiKMit could i}(' fornietl lioro, and, if the JIudsoii's-15ay ('omptmy ^70uld encourage it, no dou1)t would bo formed in fi very sliort time. Alonu: the banks of the river l)u Chion I noticed the first Norway pine that I had peeu since comin;^ into the territory : it Vvas ;^-enerally of the middliiycf size, very straight and free from knots. «^/ 3^ o'clock on the iOlh, our guide called us : by four o'clock we were iu our canoes and j)addling on our way. We had nut gone far when we entered a succession of small lakes, dotted all over with little inlands covered with grass an(i> willow buslics. This day at live o'clock p. m., wo reached tlie Savaji or Prairie Port- a':;:'-, the height of land IxHween Fort- William and \'i>rk Uepots. It is between three and four n>ile3 long, ami a continuous cedar-swamp IVom one end to the otlier, and is thei-e fore very properly nain(!d the.'^-rtivf/i or swamp portage. This jiortauv is the divich'ng ridge between the lakes Superior and Winnipeir, and lies 840 feet above them, and I,G83 feet above the sea. In going from Lake Suj>erior to these /dir/i huids of swaiii]>s, whi'di separate the waters flowing ir.to Hudson's IJay from those flowing inh.t Lake ^'u- perior, you ascend 830 I'cet ; and IVjm thence to Lake Winnipeg you descend ti^ii f< ■•1 ; and from Ijuke AVinnipeg to Y'oik Depot, at Hudson's Bay, you descend 830 feet more ; making the whole de- scent from the Suvan-portage to York-depot, 1,683 feet. AVe passed on die portage a short distance , and finding a dri/ spa!, we pitched our tent.;, and ar- ranged to make this little spot our lodging-pliR'C for the niixht. Most of our lug^xau'e was taken over OO *CJ^ \. and, if the irugc it, no ijno. Along cod tlie fir.-it in<^^ into tlie iddlinrr size, ^ o'clock on V o'clock we • way. We accession of nds covered diiy at five 'i-airie Port- k'ilHam and rn>ile3lonav. On \Vednesdav morning, the Tith iu.stant, at four o'clock, we started down the Savan liiver. which, in this part, runs at the rate of two ini!( s an hour. We were now fairly emharlicd on the waters that How into lludsons IJay, and the j)!t';isin\: of finding myself once more sailing (/ou'/i stream, \vas trulv «lelicious; rendei'ed nnicli the more so, hy the toil and daiiger of the uphill work we had had for the past six days. AVe hail rtroceeded on our vovat^e this morning about six miles, when we met iSir (jeorge Simpson, aiul Mr. Hopkins, his private secretary, who were on their return from tlu; Norway House anil U(id Kivcr.^ His Excellcncv had two canoes, each manned with eight men. These canoes were of the same size with our own, but fitted up in a more elegant, or a<, least a more fantastic stvlc. 1 had the nletisure of beinjr informed by Sir George, that instructions had been given to the Company's ofQcers at all the stations we should pass, to provide for us every necessary, and to convey us on our way with the least possible delay ; that a house had been provided lor Mr. Salt and his family, at Lac La Pluie, and that the Hon- ourable Iludson's-Bay Company had granted £50 per annum to each of our missions in the territory. His Excellency saluted me very cordially, and with his usual frankness and kindness expressed his hearty wishes for the health and safety of the mis- sionary families, and the success of our missionary work. After parting with Sir George, we proceeded on our way three or four miles, and then stopped for breakfast. After breakfiist we had not gone but a mile or two, when we were suddenly stopped by a jam in the river, that stopped up the channel, and closed the passage, so that we were compelled to make a full portage. This was very aimoying, hav- ing so lately been quite " used up'' by this portage business. But it was no use to murmur ; the trees and driftwood heeded not our complaints ; so at work we went, and despite of the pexplexing jam, we made the portage, and in an hour and a half, we were in our canoes, voyaging on again. This after- noon Mr. Brooking had the good fortune to shoot a fine duck, upon which, in the evening, we made an excellent supper. 'j'he river Savan empties into the Lac Du Mille, or the Lake of Thousands, so called because of the innumerable islands which are in it I should judge that this lake is sixty or seventy miles in circumfe- rence ; we were five hours in crossing it. At 7 J o'clock, we reached the other side of the lake, and east possible lor Mr. Salt lat the Ilon- ?ranted £50 he territory. \y, and with pressed his of the mis- [• missionary e proceeded stopped for t gone but stopped by hannel, and mpelied to oying, hav- lis portage the trees nts ; so at Xing jam, a half, we This after- e to shoot e made an Du Mille, ise of the uld judge circumfe- At 7J lake, and HUDSON S RAY TERUITORY. 33 camped on a rocky point just at tlie moutli of the river Du Mille. The water in this lake and river looks mucli clearer and is very much better tasted than any of the waters through which we have passed since leaving Fort William : but the country for many miles is extremely rocky and barren, totally unfit for any agricultural purposes. Thursday morning the 13th, I rose at 3 o'clock, and the old guide not yet moving 1 called out at the top of my voice, leve, live, Itve ; this soou brought the old fellow from his bed o^down and he repeated my call for the men to rise. By 3 J we were fairly " under way," and the weather being cool and the water smooth we made rapid progress for three hours, when we came to a short but very pre- cipitous and high portage, which in crossing and getting breakfast, took us more than two hours. — The scenery all along this chain of lakes, is most at- tractive and delightful. We are now alongside of Mr. Salt's canoe, and the men of both canoes are singing one of their Canadian boat-songs, which over the calm waters, and amidst the surrounding islands, sounds enchantingly delightful. At five o'clock we an'ved at the French Portage, the fourth that we had made during the day. The canoes and our luggage were carried over, our tents were pitched, and we were partaking with a good relish, of our even- ing's repast, before nine o'clock. At the point where this portage is usually made, it is more than two miles long, but the water this year in the streams i M r 34 RKV. .1. RYKRSON H VISIT TO and hikvi.s \mnix ronu)i-ka)>lv liiuli, oiir ing succession of crooks, windings, and turn- ings, and io short the turns and so narrow the pas- sage in hundreds of places, that it seemed impossi- ble that the canoes could (loat or pass through them. The men dozens of times had to jump out of the canoes and quite carry them. It had rained the night before, so that tlie treea and bushes were thoroii'jhlv saturated with water ; and from the bougiis hanging over our course and through which we had to force our way, ^ve got more than comfort- ably wet. At 10 o'clock reached the Lac duMort, a small lake into which this horrible stream of wa- ter empties it.-e^f: here we stopj)ed for breakfast ; after which we resumed our journey and nia and taking a shower hath pretty much at the same time ; but though I had so many irons h\ the fire, none of them seemed to bum until I went to put away my tools, when I found ft rather a perplexing business to dress, dry my razor, &c., in thxj midst of a rain- storm. To-dav we did not start until vcrv late: the heavy rain of the previous day and night, and the conscqaent fatigue a»*'^ exposure of the men, ren- dered a little rest a^ i .in opportunity of drying clothes, &c., necessary. Six miles from our night's lodging-place, at tlie commencement of the River Mechagn, we *!? mi to a portage made round a splen- B did fall in the water, of between thirty and forty feet. The full is not quite perpendicular, bot is pre- cipitated down the banks with great force, present- ing a g'beet of foaniin*^ ■whiteness and surpassing beauty. 'J'ho stream is perhaps ten rods wide, divided in the middle by a little island of rocks, apon which, in apparent thriftiness, there is growing a clamp of Nor- way pine and fir trees. "Were these falls in the neigh- borhood of the civilized world, they would deservedly excite more attentioi^ than nine-tenths of the curi- osities of this kind, now so famed in Europe and Ameiica. A short distance from t]ie fall-portage, we came to a series of rapids, extending more than a mile. I hnd passed a gretit number of rapids be- fore, but had seen nothing to be compared with these ; I will not attempt to describe thcTn. or to portray the scene of our liMle fleet of bark canoes, conveying passengers and voyageurs, to the number of thirty-three persons, dashing into the foaming water, whose confused and tumultuous binows,which by the violence of the current, are thrown up to four times the height of the canoe, in the midst of which, you would not suppose that the frail bark would live an instant ; but the tiny thing flies on at lightning speed ; and before you have time to fear, you find yourself safe in the tranquil and unruffled waters below, retaining no marks of your precipitate passage, but the little wetting you may have got from the spray thrown up by the dashijig of the waves, and the jumping, running, HUDSON S HAY TERF.ITOKT 39 -i.W.i...^j. and forty bot is pre- D, present- surpassing le, divided 1 which, in ip of Nor- the neigh- leservedly !" the curi- trope and Nportage, no re than apids be- ared with CTn, or to k canoes, ; nnmber foaming vs, which 3 to fonr »f which, k would CD at time to nil and arks of ing you by the nnuing, ••VJt I ' m skipping of the nutsliell crafts iu tlic midst, over, and tlu'ough them. I am, liev. and Di'nr Sir, Very fuithrully yours, The Bcv. Enoch Wood. Sayan Foi'luLre, July 10th, 1854. L E T T E n V. 1*0RTA0R OK tun Falls, July 21f^T, l8;Vi. Rev. AMI Dear Sir,"- From the Mile rapids, the distance of two or three miles, we enlered the small lake Xatnacan, which is about nine miles across. The wind was blowing freshly and directly agai.. i u?, but the voyagcurs worked at their paddles bravely, and we made good progress. At 7 o'clock, we stop^ ped for the night on a little island of rocks, where we found not cnoUgh of earth to hold our tent pins, and we had to fasten the sides of the tent with poles and stones. To-day, we passed several Indian camps, and there came otit to us from them several canoes. One was paddled by two little girls. They were in a state of perfect nudity, with the exception of a rag about the lower parts of their bodies. They were fine looking children, apparently sisters, of ten and twelve years of age. A man in another canoe was also naked, with the exception J if of a piece of blanket about his waist; he was in stature six fecthigh, and was ofabuild every way in proportion, and luid a manly, generous, open countenanec : he, with several other Indian?, saluted us in a manner most friendly, followed Us to the next portage, and assisted us in making" it. I like the appearance and bearing of these Indians much, and have no doubl that were rclij^^ious teachers sent to them, they would re- ceive the Ciospel and become Christians. On the morning' of the ITth, I was up, and called the men before 3 o'clock, and we were in our canoe, pursu- ing our journey by half after three ; eight miles of paddling brought us to a short portage, which we made, and then after a half mile of water carriage we reached the portage Neafs, at the far end of which we entered a river of the same name ; on this river we paddled seven miles, when we arrived at the east end of Lac-La-Pluie, wherc we stopped, jind on the surface of a smooth rock took our breakfast. Along, for forty or fifty miles past I have noticed several kinds of wood, that I had not seen before since leaving SaultSte. Marie; such as iron-wood, maple, both soft and hard, and a few white oak trees of very small growth. Lac-La-Pluie, or the Rainy Lake, is a beau- tiful sheet of water, it is forty-eight miles long, and averages about ten miles in breadth. The wind was fair, so we sailed delightfully before the j)leasant breeze until near noon, when the wind dying away, we again took to our paddles. Notwithstanding that the after part of the day was excessively hot HUDSON S BAY TERRITORY. 41 sin stature )i'oportion, :'c:he,with nner most nd assisted id bearing oul)( that would re- . On the the men '^0, pursu- it miles of which we irring-e we 'whic'liwe 5 river we lastendof 10 surfare long, for ral kitids leaving both soft ry small i a bcau- ong, and rind was pleasant S away, standing ely hot m and sultry, the men worked exceedingly hard, being resolved, if possible, to reach Lac-La-Pluie that night During the day we made two portages, and travoll'.i fifty-five miles. We arrived at Luc-La-Pluie before 8 o'clock : Mr. Johnson, the gentleman in charge of Fort Frailces, was not at home, but we were received with great kindness by the chief clerk, whose name I do not now recollect, who did every- thing he could to make us comfortable during our stay, and to supply us with such things as we needed when we departed. Fort Frances, so called in hon- our of the late lady of Sir George Simj)son, is rather an old building, situated at the bottom of a small bay or curve in the river, near the foot, and fronting a magnificent water-fall, whose soft and melodious sound forms a ceaseless music to the inhabitants. The -ite of the Fort is admirably chosen, and the scenery in all directions unsurpassed in richness and beauty. July the 18th. — Lac-La-Pluie, you will recollect, is the place where Mr. Salt is to be stationed, so this morning we had the discomfort of parting with him. As a good man, and CMiristian minister, I very much esteem Mr. Salt. He daily grew in my affec- tions and confidence during the month of our jour- neying together. On his way to Montreal, Sir George Simpson had given directions to have a house, &c., prepared for Mr. Salt and his family, on their arrival, which was done accordingly, and we found things in readiness ; and I believe every thing I 42 RKV. J. RVERSON S VISIT TO that can be, will be done to make our excellent missionary and his excellent companion as comfort- able as circumstances will admit. Before leaving the Fort, I had an interview through Mr. Salt, as inicrpreter, with six or seven of the Indians. One of them was an old conjuror, representing' himself as commissioned to speak on ))eluilf of the other Indians : he said that they had heard of our coming, that they had held a council respecting the object of our mission, and had determined not to receive the gospel and become Christians, but were resolved to stick to the religion and custom? of their fathers. I, of course, endeavoured to c jiivincchim that such a a determination was very wicked, and that if persisted in, would destroy him and his people. The clerk after- wards informed us, that the statements of this old con- juror could not be relied on, that ho knew there were many of the Ijac-La-Pluie Indians who were desirous to secure Christian instruction, and to have a school for their children. I cannot speak very confidently of Mr. Salt's prospects, but as yet I have seen nor heard nothing that is particularly discouraging, but on the contrary, I believjthat the Head of the church is directing this movement, and that the Gospel will yet prove the power of God unto the salvation of many of the poor benighted and degraded Lac-La- Pluie Indians. Messrs. Ilurlburt and Brooking did not go on to-day but proposed to remain until next morning, in order to give their ladies an opportunity to do something in the culinary business, and time for HUDSON g BAY TEPRITORV. 43 excellent * conifoi't- i 5 leaving Salt, as IIS. One imself as le other coming, e object * receive resolved fathers. t such a ersisted rkafter- c>ld con- re were esirous school idontly 'cn nor ig, but t church el will ion of ■i ac-La- ig did 1 next f tunity i no for ■■«' piittingthings in order. I was muck affected, and found it difficult to supress ray feelings on parting with Mr. lUid Mrs. Salt. May our heavenly Father graciously protect them, and underneath and around them, place his everlasting arm. We left at 10 o'clock; it was raining at the time, and the gentlemen in charge and our company thought that I should not start in the rain, but having done what I had to do at Lae La Pluiein making arrangements forMr. Salt, and having no time to lose, I determined to be off without fur- ther delav, notwithstanding the unauspiciousness of the weather. Our canoe now being lightly load^d^ and having six able voyageurs, snd the swift current of the Lac-La-riuie River in our favour, we made rapid progress, and by seven and a half 1*. M., had shortened the distance which I had to travel from Fort Frances to Fort Alexander, forty miles. 'Jhe Lac-La-riuie River is a magnitieent stream of water; it is decidedly the most beautiful river of any 1 have seen siuoe coming into ike territory, it has a rapid current, &nd is about a, quarter of a mile wide ; its noble banliG are covered with the richest foliage of every hue: the trees along them are large and more varied than any I have yet seen : ask, poplar, cedar, red and white pines, Oiik and birch, And an aLund- aace of flowers of gaudy and variegated eolourg everywhere beautify tlue se«ne. Large quaiititifts of as rich and fine land ae is to be found ia Amertea also lies along on both banks of this splendid river. The climate is also very fine, and as thriving a set- 44 REV. J. RTBRSDNa VISIT TO tlement of agriculturists and trades-people could be formed bere as are found m Canada. Oa our Avay to-day I shot a doc!*, and jttst before we put ashare for tlie night, there appeared on ^he beash a black J>ear ; he- stood looking at us until we citnie within forty yards of him: as I presented) the gu« he turned to scamper off ; I fired, but there beii>g aoth- in^ btft shU in the gaii it is likaly I did not Lit him; although the report of the gun, or scnietbijag else, very nMkterirJly quickened Bruin's spead. Whalo seated on tlie ground in my little tent, tlic fish gambolling and jumping in the water of the river that is ftowio'^ hard by, and the voyagsurs soundly sleeping and lustily snoring ar&nnd the door of any tent, I write thcLu lines in refcr-ence to the doings aod scenes of the day, and, as it is now 12 o'clock, and we have to start fco-morrow n>orning at 3 o'clock, 1 must lay dowa to rest or sbap the re- maining- thrse hours of the night,, if I can. Wednesday maniing at 2 J oclouk, J-oak, the guide, caiied us, and bcft>re -io^cloik we were all on boapd, aad o»ir ship was under way. At 12 o'clock we reached ^he mouth df the Lac-La-Fluie River, which erapties itself into Lac-Du-Bois, or Lake of. the Woods, as i* is now frequently called. The Lake of the Woods is a splendid sheet of wa*xr siaty-eight miles in. leagtli^ and from fifteen to tw3Dty-five miles in bneadth ; dotted all over with hundreds of beautiful islands, many of which arc covered with a heavy and luxuriant foliage. At 2 4i' , I UIDS0N3 BAY TERRITORY. 45 clock, * MJ at 3 'f i€ re- the ,' -■' 5 all .112 *luie !, or lied. • at>cr ^ to vith arc t 2 1 o'clocK we put ashore on a rocky island for dinner. TliO men seemed tired or lazy, and for the past few honr3 we made but comparatively slow progress, and I was glad when the canoe was turned to the shore, hoping that some refreshment would renew their strength, or reanimate their industry. We did not get away from our dining place until fifteen minutes to 4 o'clock ; soon after we started the wind began to rise, and continued to rise until it blew nearly a gale ; we were driven quite out of our right course ; the canoe shipped a good deal of water, and we were ultimately compelled to take shelter behind a rocky point that projected a long way into the lake. It was with much difficulty that we made the shore, but having succeeded in doing so, we found a suitable place for pitching our tent, and for our abode during the night Gladly did I find this resting place, rude and wild though it was. How sweet is a place of repose and safety after a season of exposure, trial and anxiety. July 20th— The wind blew very hard during the night and continued to blow until 6 J o'clock in the morning when it began to abate, and by 8 o'clock it had entirely subsided. We breakfasted before starting, but the day being calm and clear and our voyageurs working incessantly, we found at night that we had voyaged a. long distance. It is impos- sible to describe the beauty, and with any degree of accuracy, to state the number of islands in this lake. ,^ I I 46 REV. J. RYER80N 8 VISIT TO It is not surprising that as Mr. Ballimtyne with his voyageurs " floated out upon tlic glorious expanse of Lac-Du-Bois," he shouhl have been excited with feelings that occasioned the following eloquent re- marks : — " There is nothing, I think, better calcu- lated to awaken the more solemn feelings of our nature, [unless, indeed, it be the thrilling tones of sacred music] than these noble lakes, studded with innumerable islets, suddenly bursting on the travel- ler's view as he emerges from the sombre forest rivers of the American wilderness. The clear unruffled water, stretching out to the horizon — here intersecting the heavy and luxuriant foliage of an hundred wooded isles, or reflecting the wood- clad mountains on its margin, clothed in nil ♦ne variegated hues of autumn ; and there glittering with dazzling brilliancy in the bright rays of the evening sun, or rippling among the reeds and rushes of some shallow bay, where hundreds of wild fowl chatter as they feed with varied cry, rendering more apparent, rather than disturbing, the solemn stillness of the scene : all tend to raise the soul from nature up to nature's God, and remind one of the beautiful passage of Scripture, ' Lord, how marvellous are thy works 1 in wisdom hast thou made them all : the earth is full of thy riches.' " This afternoon, an Indian in a canoe with his wife and three children came alongside ; he was a fine looking person, of athletic size and w^ell built, and his wife, in appear- ance and person, quite superior to most of her sex I 4 HUDSON S BAY TERRITORY. 47 among the natives of this country. The Indian saluted me very cordially, and inquired if I were the minister who was to conic up with Peter Jacobs, and said he knew Peter Jacobs. We gave him in exchange for some berries, some flour and pemican — and then proceeded on our way, receiving from him, on parting, warm expressions of good will and a hearty shake of the hand. At 7 J o'clock coming to a suitable place we landed, raised our ship on a dry dock to repair her, built our house, cooked, and ate our supper. I then sat down on the ground, and wrote my journal for the day, and then rendering thanks to the Supreme Being lor His unnumbered mercies, and commending myself and the voyageurs to His still continued care, I laid me down on my bed to take my needed repose. On Friday morning, the 21st, I rose at 2 J o'clock, called the men and at ten minutes after 3 o'clock, we were on our way. There was not a breath of wind stirring, the heavens were as clear and as calm as nature's laws could make them ; the birds were singing sweetly, all things seen and heard were calculated to inspire one with delightful and devo- tional feelings as we speeded on our voyage over the undisturbed and silvery looking element on which we sailed. At half-past six, the wind rose a little and it being fair we hoisted sail, and continued sailing before a most delightful breeze until half-past twelve o'clock, when we arrived at the Rat portage, the first we have had since leaving Lac La Pluie, a 48 REV. J. RVERSON 8 VISIT TO distance of near two hundred miles. Tliis ])ortagc is at the far end of Lac du Bois ; we made it, and then crossing a small lake a quarter of a mile wide we came to Rat Torta^^e Station, a small lurt belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, presided over by a half-breed who could not speak a word of English. I liad no sooner got into the house and sat down to write, when not less than a " dozen" of monstrously black and half-naked Indians rushed into the room begging for tobacco. I had none to give them, having forgotten to bring some with me from Lac La Fluie ; they continued talking all the while I was writing, greatly to my annoyance and perplexity. ! to what a depth of degradation human nature can be brought, but the Gospel preached to the poor can reach even these, low as they are in the scale of humanity, — raise them to be Ziou's sons, and make them heirs of God, and joint lieirs with Christ. There is a splendid fall in the water at the Rat portage. The waters from Lac La Fluie, Lac du Rois, and their tributary streams are all here gathered into a narrow channel not more than six rods wide, and hurled over a precipice between thirty and forty feet high with most terrific and crashing violence. I stood looking at the jump- ing, leaping, and foaming waters and listening to their thundering roar, until dizzied with the noise and grandeur of the scene I could not but exclaim' " how terrible is God in his doings, how wonderful His workr, to the children of men." The wattr i . I I i below the falls widens out into small l.ikes and ponds, connected together by short and narrow rivers, the most of them very rapid, some of them precipitately so. There is a considerable quantity of good land in the neighbourhood of the Kat ISta- tion; the potatoes and other vegetable I saw grow- ing there looked very fine. We left the Fort at half-past three ; four or five miles below we passed an Indian village of camps ; four women in a canoe came to us, and offered for sale part of a sturgeon, which the men took and gave in exchange some biscuit; the sturgeon, however, we very little needed, as the man in charge of the fort, on our leaving, had kindly furnished us with the largest and finest half of a large sturgeon, and two fine ducks. We con- tinued our voyage over the lakes and down the rivers until half-past seven o'clock, when finding a suitable place for landing and pitching our tents we put to shore for the night. We were all well tired and glad of a resting place, having been voyaging sixteen hours during the day. I am Rev. and Dear Sir, As ever, yours most respectfully, J. Ryeuson. Rev. Enoch Wood, &c., &c. no REV. J. UYERSON S VISIT TO L K T T F n y I . Fort A.>^ n'jeh July 2ith, lSr).l. Rev. and Dear Sir: — On the 22nd we started at five minutes past 3 o'clock a. in., and beft)re break fa.st male two portaj^es and run five rapids. Tlic.-;c rapids were all short, but two of them were terridcully preci- pitous. In the midst of each of these rapids we made a leap of five or six feet over nearly a per- pendiciUar fall in the river, into the anpryaiul foam- injj billows below, that seemed spitefully resolved to swallow us up ; indeed it would seem, in looking at the falls and the ratings of the water below them, that there could be no possibility of escaping destruction ; that the canoe must inevitably pitch under water and dash to pieces ; but our fears proved to be groundless ; we dashed over the falls and through the waters, receivitig no harm but a sprinkling from the spray, and a little wetting from the crest of an impudent wave that now and then obtruded itself into our boat. AVe breakfasted at the end of the second portage, and at 10 o'clock were travelling on again against a strong head wind that seemed intent on obstinately disputing with us every inch of the way ; we consequently got on slowly, though we worked hard. At 2 o'clock we put ashore for dinner, and no great distance from our dining place, we passed a small village of In- dians, where the Episcopal Church has a mission, llUimu.N S KAY TikURITOItT. &l *j I cuHcmI White Do<; Mij^sion. I luul a letter to the Uev. W. McDomihl, the tuiniMler inehurge ; but be- ing in great haste to get on, and meeting with a bout belonging to the niij^nion, I tlid not stop to deliver it, but gave it to one of the men in the boat* 'J'he mission village, if a village it e;in be called, is beautifully situated on a rising j"pot of ground fa» cing a snudl bay that opcuN into the river. A snnill tract of land in the immediate neighborhood seems to be good, and would, doubtless, admit of pro* ductive cultivation. I noticed potatoes, oatff, »fce., growing finely. I learned from one of the men in the bout, that it was now three years since the mis- sion was commenced ; that as yet they have no church, but have religious service twice every Sub- bath in a place fitted up for that purpose ; they nlso have a day and sabbath school, and a considerable Dundjcr of Indians are camped in the vicinity most of the time. 1 counted in the Village only live bouses, and six or seven Indian camps. This was the most tedious day of travelling we have had, since leaving Lac La Tluic. A head and high wind all the day. After dinner we made a portage, and passed a rapid— the most dilTicult and dangerous of all the many perilous rapids we have passed since I commenced the voyage. So deep and precipitous was the pitch, in the middle of the rapid, and so violent the force of the water that it seemed impossible for the bowsman to keep the cauoe from driving against a rock that projected into the water at the lower end of the fall ; indeed, by the utmost I .(. ; REV. J. RYKRSON* 3 VISIT TO exertion the canoe Was saved from striking the rock, but by a hair's breadth ; but great effort and skilful managenjent, by the blessing of a niorciful Provi- dence, brought Us safely through. At the lower end of the fall, the st»3ersman missing a stroke of his paddle, the canoe was whirled round like a top, and for a few moments wc seemed to be at the mercy of the violently agitated waves, The 23rd was one of the finest davs I ever saw; clear, calm, and not Very hot,— a day the perfect contrast of the one preceding. Twenty minutes before three o'clock, I called the men, and we were in our canoe, paddling along through the silvery and unruffled watci-s, just as the day began to dawn. How gloriously splendid does the opening day and rising sun appear in these regions of isles, hill and dale, rock and water ! As the sun arose, how enchanting to behold the blazing waters, the gilded hills, the crimsoned heavens, all radiant and reful- gent with sparkling brightness ond splendour.— Before dinner ve made five portages and passed as many rapids ; the falls of water in the rapids were from twelve to twenty feet ; some of the portages were short, and the sheets of water between were also very narrow : indeed in several instances, before the thundering of one cataract died away from the ear it was saluted with the hollow roarings of another. At one of the portages I saw two ant hills, four or five feet high, and not less than sixteen or eighteen feet in circumference :— at first I was at a loss to know -what they were; they looked like immense * 1' UUDS0N3 BA.Y TKRRITORY. 53 ful- I heaps of brewers' gruius. In looking at thcru it occurred to me what a iessou of industry and perse- verance men might learn from the works of thistiuy insect — "(Jo to the ant, uud for one poor grain, see how she toils and strives.'' At all of the portages to day I carried my carpetbags, blankets &.C.: one of the portages was a quarter of a mile long, and as the heat was most intense, whcii we got to the end of it, I was wet with {respiration and quite exhausted. Close at hand however there was a mammoth rock, afibnling a ('on\})lete shelter from the scorching rays of the sun ; under the shadow of this rock 1 sat down with great delight — 1 thought of the gracious promises. "A man shall be a hiding j>lajcc from the wind, a covert from the tempest, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." At live minutes to three o'clock we stopped for dinner, which d(!taiii- ed us fifty minutes, this was a very short time com- pared to the usual time of detention for mcMils, which is seldom less than an hour or an hour and a half. These voyageurs will fuss and talk alwut boiling a piece of pork, or a buuch -af pemmican, and eatiug it, as long as it would take any body else ti» prepare and j)artake of a sumptuous repast olhalf a dozen couyses. My cook, Francis, this evening asked me if 1 wore not sick, ho thought I must be so as 1 " eat so little.'* 1 told him I never had euteu so much in the same time in my life : he thought it " very stran<;"e." — Directly after dimmer we cauje to the si.xth portage that we passed Lo-day, where there is another magni- ficont fall in the river, or the chain of lakes. We then 54 REV. J. RYERSON S VISIT TO proceedod throuprli and over one continual succession of lakes and rapids for twelve or fifteen miles, aiM finished the series by passing a rapid, the very ap- pearance of which was suiricient to make a person not armed with the strongest nerves shudder. We passed it however in safety, and a short distance below it put ashore and pitched our tents for tho night. The weather during most of the night was extremely inclement : it thundered, lightened and rained most terrifically, and the wind blew a very gale. I never heard such peals of thunder; I never saw such lurid fhishes of lightning ; for two hours and a half clap succeeded clap, and flash succeeded flash, until the whole heavens seemed to resound with terrific roarings and blaze with vivid light : the rain also fell in torrents; at times it came down asthoujih it was poured out of buckets: for a time I thought the tent would inevitably come down and be carried away by the tempest, and that I might be prepared for such a catastrophe, I got up and dressed myself; but after a while the storm abated, my frail habita- tion was undemolished, and I remained sheltered beneath its canopy in safety. I did not however again retire to rert, but improved the short time that elapsed until the minute of departing should arrive, in writing. At 2 J o'clock I called the men, and by five minutes before three o'clock we were voyaging on the water. IJefore breakfast, which we stopped to take at 7 J o clock, we made seven porta- ges and run five rapids. \Vc stopped for breakfast at the head of the Lac De Bonnelle, or Lake of Sails. nUDSONS BAY TERRITORY. 55 )« 'I'liis lake is twcnij-fivo miles loiifr, and avcraj^es from one to throe miles in breadth. Between breakfast and dinner we made tliree portaires, the last of which called " Cap de Bonet" Portajre, was a quarter of a mile lon^^ We passed several camps of Indians: four of the men in two canoes came to us and assisted us in makini^ a portage: we L'"ave them some tobacco, with which ihoy scorned well pleased. 1 am of the oj)inion that this would be a pood locality to establish a mission and build a mission villajj^e; there is about liere a preat deal of excellent land, the climate is healthy, and it is in the midst of numerous bands of Indians, who arc teachable and friendly disposed. In the afternoon we niade seven more portages, and would have made the eighth, and reached Fort Alexander the same evening, but for the heavy rain that com- nu'Mced falling in good earnest about 5 J o'clock, and poured down in torrents d iring the greater part of the night. It had been thun.dering, and threatening r;iin the most of the day, but still we had onlv a few showers until after five o'clock. A harder rain I seldom ever witnesse(l and what made it the worse for us, it commenced just as wc came to a portage, and in the midst of it we were compelled to make two por- tages. We consequently, by this exf)Osure, together with many of our things got thoroughly wet. The rain came down in torrents, and the wind blew most tempestously ; but wc were obliged in the midst of this warring of the elements, and the grotid completely soaked with water to pitch my 50 RKV. .\ RVERSON S VISIT TO tent. I made my supper on bread for we could cook iiothiu;^ for the want of a fire, wliicli it wiia impoftsible to kindle. I lay down in my wet clothes, beinj^ quite overcome with fiiti;,nie. I slept several hours quite soundly, and in the morning felt no particular inconvenience from the exposures and fatigue of the previous day. — During the day we made seventeen i)ortages, varying in length from six rods to three (piarters of a mile, over these portages 1 carried my two carjxit-hags, blankets, pillow itc. Tuesday the *2.")th, the morn- ing was cold and gloomy, the ground perfectly satu- rated with water, aiul our clothes any thing but in a comfortable plight. "We started at a quarter to four o'clock, and after having made one portage and j)addled our canoo for twelve miles against an obsti- natelv strong and head wind. At nine o'clock, we arrived at Fort Alexandi'r, well ))leased and thankful that another stage of our long and wearysome journey .was accomplished. Fort Alexander belongs to the Lac La J*lnie District, and although ^fr. Dallantine, in his book, says that it is not " famous for its appear- ance " ^et in my judgment it is not sur])assed, if equalled in beauty and pleasantness by any station belonging to the Company, between St. Marie and Red River. It is situated on an elbow of land made by a bend in the river Wiunijieg, three miles from the river's mouth. The bunk of the river where the Fort stands is about twenty feet high. The scenery for many miles around is strikingly beautiful. The climate for iludson'sliay Territory is remarkably I s re ho il. fine, and salubriou.s, tho land timaziiit;ly rich and productive. 'Vhv water in the hdIishnient.s, received and treated us with <,n-eat civility and attention. We were also introduced to several other latlies of the estal)lishuuMit, whose de- portment towards us was most resj)ectful and i)ropcr. The teacher of music;, with j^'reat skill and beauty, played for our entertainment several [ueccs on the piano. After spending two hours visiting the con- vent, looking at *'" grounds, church, &c., we re- turned to the l'\ ^ratified, at least not di.>pleased, with what we had seen. On my return to the Fort I found Mr. IJallandyne ready with his horse and carriage to take me to call on l»ishop Anderson and several other gentlemen in the neighbourhood. His lordship the Bishop received me kindly, and treated mcwith suitable attention and respect : he cordially invited me to dine with him, and expressed a warm desire for the success of our Missionary work in Ilu- pert's Land. After leaving the Bishop's residence, we called on Adam Tom, I']sq., who for fifteen years has discharged the duties of recorder, or chief-justice, of the Territory. Mr. Tom is a gentleman of learn- ing and superior ability in the legal profession. He has now resigned his ortice, and with lis family will return to England by the Company's ship next month ; so I shall have the pleasure and profit of Us company as fellow-passenger : I also called on IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. 1.0 I.I 1.25 |50 "■'^ Hf 1^ 12.0 M 2.2 — 6" lU 14 IIIIII.6 '/ Photographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 i !'1 I I'm P' 'M\v. i "«. i:i't . •I 7 'i il Governor Coldwill, from whom and his very accom- plished lady, I received every mark of considerate respect ; and I left their residence gratified by the interview with them with which I was honoured. — In the afternoon in company with Mr. Ballandyne I went down to the Presbyterian Church to hear a lecture from Adam Tom, Esq., " on the state and progress of the Red River Settlement," — a subject on which, from his long residence in the settlement, and his opportunities of observation, Mr. Tom was well qualified to treat, and he did so with great ele- gance, beauty and ability ; with the lecture I was delighted and instructed. At the close of the lec- ture I was introduced to the Rev. Mr. Hunter, Arch- deacon of the Northern District of the Territory, and Missionary at Cumberland Station, situated on the Sascatchawin River, between two and three hundred miles from its mouth. I was also intro- duced to the Rev. Mr. Black, Clergyman of the Presbyterian Church in the settlement. Mr. Black pressed me to preach for him the following sabbath, which I engaged to do at three o'clock, p. m., de- clining to take the pulpit in the morning, as I in- iutended to visit the cathedral church at eleven o'clock, to hear Bishop Anderson. At seven o'clock, in company with my kind and attentive host, Mr. Ballandyne, I returned to the Fort, not a little fatigued with the unceasing engagements of the day. On Sabbath morning, the 30th, I heard Bishop Ander- son preach a very good sermon, although it was more than forty minutes too long, he occupying an :-f iii: HUDSON S BAY TERRITORY. 65 liour and twenty minutes in delivering it. His lordship is certainly not a very great preacher, but he is a good man, and, I should think, very well qualified, especially by the general blamelessness of his character, to promote the interests of virtue and education in the bounds of his diocese. The cathe- dral-church is a very poor, dilapidated building, which has to be propped up all round the outside, with skids and braces, to keep the walls, which are of stone, from falling down. The congregation is not large ; still there are several respectable fami- lies belonging to it. In the afternoon at three o'clock, I preached in the Presbyterian Church, which is distant from the Upper Fort six miles. The con- gregation was large and very attentive. The church is built of stone, and has sittings for four or five hun- dred people. Mr. Black told me that the cost of its erection exceeded a thousand pounds sterling. — This surprised me, for in Canada such a church could be built for a less sum than five hundred.— Mr. Black is a minister of excellent ability; is uni- versally esteemed and well spoken of : he is very useful, labouring indefatigably and successfully in promoting the spiritual interests of his Church, and the religious and social welfare of the people gene- rally. His congregation is the largest of any in the settlement, with the exception of the Episcopal con- gregation that worships in what is called the "Rapids Church," ministered to by the Rev. Mr. Cockrin.— After service in the Presbyterian Church, Mr. Lock- art took me to the Lower Fort, where I stayed two days. In conversation with you on several oceasons, I have expressed the conviction, that in view of more extensive and effective missionary operations in the Territory, we should have a Mission in the Red-Ri- ver Settlement : and on this subject 1 believe your judgment accorded with my own. I therefore di- rected my most earnest attention to this matter dur- ring my stay in the neighbourhood, the result of which I will communicate to you when I shall have the pleasure of seeing you ; in the mean time, allow me to give a more particular account of the colony, than is contained in the above few hastily- written notes. Some of the following facts are matters of history. Of some I was personally cognizant : all of them I have on the most unquestionable au- thority. Under conditions of colonization, the late Earl of Selkirk, in 1811, purchased from the Hudson's-Bay Company, as chartered proprietor of Rupert's Land, a very large tract of country, stretching about ten degrees of longitude on the American frontier, which was then understood to run along the heights of land between the feeders of Hudson's Bay and those of the Gulf of Mexico; and penetrating north- ward, so as to comprise the entire basons of Red River, and its principal tributary, the Assineboine. Soon afterwards, His Lordship, under a quit rent, secured by a written treaty, bought up the aboriginal title to the soil, on a depth of two miles from either i f bank of each river. Subsequently, however, to His Lordship's death, the Hudson's-Bay Company, by an arrangement with his representatives, resumed its grant, undertaking at the same time, the payment in all time to come, of the quit-rent already referred to. Lord Selkirk's single colony, in this extensive region, was established in 1814, near the confluence of the lied River and the Assineboine, about fifty miles or so, from the entrance of the united streams into Lake Winnipeg. From the one river, the whole of Lord Selkirk's territorv was called the " District of Assineboine" ; while from the other the colony came to be called the Red-River Settlement, though lately distinguished by the Americans, and perhaps with better taste, as the " Selkirk Colony." His Lordship's earliest colonists were Scotch Highland- ers, and some few years afterwards, they w^ere fol- lowed by a band of Swiss; and in 1823, another ac- cession was made to the settlement, by a large num- ber of French Canadians. Almost immediately af- ter the commencement of the settlement, it was ex- posed to the hostility of the North- West Company, whose parlizans and adherents twice expelled the handful of settlers ; Governor Semple lost his life on the occasion of the second expulsion. The number of inhabitants, taking the last cen- sus as a basis, must be between six and seven thou- sand : they are divided pretty equally between Ro- man Catholics and Protestants, the former princi- pally French, and the latter generally English. The original elements of the population have in a great 1 > ;!l Vh • J 'ill m r '*'■■ ! ; »"■'■ ' '\ t': I - u •.^ r 68 RBV. J. RYERSONS VISIT TO measure disappeared. The Swiss have left the set- tlement to a man ; and many of the Scotch High- landers; and have migrated to the Upper Waters of the Mississippi. The great bulk, therefore, of the existing population, has been derived from the fur trade, being the retired servants, themselves gene- rally Orkneymen or Canadians, with their Indian or half-breed wives, and their children by such wives. In these two principal sections of the population, the pure Europeans are necessarily very few, and in proportion are becoming fewer and fewer every day. The only other section that might require a sepa- rate notice, is the remnant of Lord Selkirk's Scotch Highlanders, who, with very rare exceptions indeed, have intermarried entirely with each other. In ad- dition, by the bye, may be reckoned a small body of Enrolled Pensioners, who, several years ago, were induced to come to the Settlement in prospect of gain, but being mostly disappointed, many have mi- grated, and others are preparing to do so. With regard to agriculture, nominally every set- tler is an agriculturist, but really half of that num- ber is almost exclusively buffalo-hunters. Independ- ently of the Company's purchases, and that at fixed prices, these two classes afford a ready market to each other, every hunter requiring agricultural pro- duce, and every agriculturist requiring what are called " plain provisions" — pemmican, fat and dried meat. Besides these two grand distinctions of oc- cupation, there are very few settlers indeed, more :t HUDSON S BAY TERRITORY. 69 particularly of the agricultural class, who have not, more or less, some other means of gaining a sub- sistence, such as carpenter's work, or blacksmith's work, or lumbering, or trading. With regard to this last-mentioned source of income, every settler is permitted to import everything but spirits, enjoying in this, the advantage secured to the company itself, and that without the delays pad difficulties of a cus- tom-house : he is also permitted to buy and sell, with the exception of furs, all the productions of the country. As the natural result of this system, any individual of industry and economy, who has ever been able to scrape together such a trifle as ten pounds, for a first venture from England, is in a fair way of becoming a man of wealth and consequence; and thus there is gradually springing up a middle class of substantial people, though the circumstan- ces of the country do too often prevent the father's social rank from descending to the children. The agricultural productions are such as might be expected. With a soil of black mould, and a summer of blended heat and moisture — though drought occasionally occurs, — the settlement yields good crops of wheat, barley, oats, pease and pota- toes. Turnips have also been tried with success, but they are not likely to be zealously or extensively cultivated, so long as the same spacious prairies, which afford pasture in the open season, furnish abundance of hay for the winter. Over these boundless pastures there roam thousands of sheep, and black cattle and horses. The horses are seldom i i, 1 i II I > f ! ih ]% 11 70 REV. J. RYEKSON 8 VISIT TO used, though gradually more than formerly, for agri- cultural purposes, being ehiefly reserved for hunting and pleasure. 'J'he oxen and cows form the true wealth of the great body of the settlers, the sup- plies affording beef in the winter, and helping to establish, at little expense or inconvenience, young couples when marrying and settling in the world. — The sheep are valuable chiefly on account of their wool, which is wrought up by the more industrious families into what is called " country cloth." Regarding the religious matters of the colony, I would observe that the Roman Catholics and the Protestants are very nearly equal to each other in point of numbers. The former almost universally speak French, and the latter almost universally speak English. They are separated, too, by locality as well as by language, very few of the Roman Ca- tholics being found among the Protestants, and still fewer Protestants among the Roman Catholics. — Hence the two denominations live, so far as religion is concerned, in perfect harmony, without collision, and without proselytisra. The Protestants are again subdivided into Episcopalians, and Presbyte- rians in connexion with the Free Church of Scot- land — the latter consisting chiefly of the remnant already mentioned, of Lord Selkirk's original colo- nists. The Roman Catholics are under the Super- intendence of a bishop and several priests. They have two places of worship : one of them, the stone cathedral already mentioned, is a really creditable edifice, in point of size, and form, and solidity. — ., ,., J -.5 «:i[ !i:;( ;ii]ti»> I Their ecclesiastical establislimcnt is maintained partly by tithes — not the tenth sheaf of Englantl, but the twenty-sixth bushel of Lower Canada — partly by fees and dues of various kinds, and partly by a grant of money from the Iludson's-Bay Com- pany, but chiefly by the aid of the Propaganda College, amounting last year, according to the offi- cial statements, to 12,000 francs, or £480 sterling. The Episcopalians have in all seven places of worship : three of the number, however, are merely of a provisional and temporary character. They enjoy the ministrations of a bishop, who takes his title from llupert's Land, and six clergymen, all sup- ported from sources wholly independent of their congregations, PJis lordship's revenue is derived in nearly equal parts, from the fur trade, and the 1 ite Chief-Factor Leiton's bequest of £10,000 sterling, amounting in all to nine hundred or a thousand pounds a year. It is said that the Bishop expends not only his clerical stipends, but also much of his private fortune, mainly on spiritual objects, within the diocese. Two of his lordship's six resident cler- gymen are connected with the Church Missionary Society, one with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and one with the Colonial C) 3rch and School Society ; while the remaining two are res- pectively Chaplain to the Hudson's-Bay Company, and Master of the Bishop's Classical School. The Presbyterians possess two places of worship, the same minister ministering in both. They find 1 - 1> 'I I both parsonage and stipend for their pastor, without any extraneous assistance, though the present in- cumbent, as a matter of special consideration for himself, does receive from the IIudson's-Bay Com- pany, a spontaneous gift of fifty pounds sterling a year. Education. — The Roman Catholics have two se- minaries of education, under the management of ladies connected, it is said, with the Grey Nunnery of Montreal. The larger of the two is, beyond doubt, the most spacious dwelling in the whole set- tlement, and has extensive accommodations for fe- male boarders. The Bishop of Rupert's Land also conducts a boarding-school, — or rather two board- ing-schools, in neighbouring houses, one for boys and the other for girls. These establishments had been originally set on foot under the immediate auspices of the fur-trade, by the late Rev. Mr. Jones, but were transferred in 1838, to his assistant, the late Rev. Mr. Macallum ; and as that gentleman was not there at the time of the Bishop's arrival on the Red River in 1849, his lordship undertook the su- perin tendency of the schools, which seem to have been rather singularly thrown in his way. In addi- tion to Bishop Anderson's two schools, for the sup- port of which the fur-trade grants a hundred pounds sterling a year, a boarding-school for commercial purposes has recently been opened by Mr. Donald Gunn, a leading member of the second congregation of Presbyterians. Of common schools there are in all in the settle- i HUDSON'S HAY TKRRITOUY. mcnt, iMit cij2:lit,-~rivc of tlioin maintaiiiod wholly or partly by the Church Missionary Socioly, two of them (lopuiiding nion.' or Ic.-.s on the I^ishop's indi- vidual bounty, and ou^y one, namely that attached to the princii)al conj^m'^rafioii of rresbytcrians, l)c- in^^ supported entirely by the fees of the pupils. In illustration of thi.>^ subject, it may be renuirked, that the Governor and (.\juncil of Assineboine, two or three years ago, granted X13() sterling, of public money, in aid of common schools, and also that the same municipal body liad, a few years b(ifoi-c, ap- proifdated fifty pounds sterling, to promote the ob- ject of the Red River Public Library, an institution now numbering nearly two thousand volumes, with a very s nail proportion of works of fiction. Govcrnmcnt.-^Thd ITudson's-Bay Comj)any, un- der the charter of Charles the Second, dated May, 1670, exercises over Rupert's Land the rights of subordinate sovereignty, subject only in fealty and homage to the Crown and Parliament of England. The machinery by which the IIudsou's-Bay Com- pany governs the settlement, consists of its Gover- nor as an executive officer, and of its Governor and Council as a Legislative body. This Legislature enacts laws or rules with respect to roads, bridges, police, gaols, courts, &c. ; such rules being required by the charter, to be not repugnant to the laws of England. For these purposes it draws funds from a duty of four per cent, on the invoice value of all imports, with the exception of certain articles of ! ■! IJi 1 1? II REV. J. rwYKIlSON S VIHIT TO necessity and iiistniiiic»its of CMjlUvatioii, sucli ns stoves, books, ])riuts, plnlosopliical apparatus, cliurch bells, 110(1 every tliin^j,') in K'''>fi''il tendiii'r to promote aj^rieulture unci the iniiiiufuetures. The Conneil as at ])reseiit composed, coiitjilus about twelve iiienil)ers oiic-thir«l beiii^' clergyiiieu — two Ivoiiiim Cut holies and two Kplseoi)uluins ; of the laymen a majority ui'e half-breeds, while of the mi- nority only one is not intimutely connected with na- tive blood. Courts of Jvnticc. — T'y the lludson's-Bay Com- pany's charter, the adjninistration of justice is com- mitted to the (.Jovcrnor and Council. For local convenience, however, inferior courts have been in- vented, with a civil jurisdiction over the settlement, strictly so called, up to £5 sterHnij;, deciding by a majority of votes. Jjeyond this, the civil jurisdic- tion for the District of Assineboine, — and virtually also, the criminal jurisdiction for the whole country, — arc vested in the courts of the Governor and Council, with the help of a jury. Though the Go- vernor nominally presides, yet the real president of the tribunal is the Recorder, or Chief-Justice, of Rupert's Land. I have written more lengthily respecting, and have detained you. Rev. and Dear Sir, in the Red-River Settlement, much longer than I at first intended, feeling the subject to be of some interest and im- portance, and being very desirous of putting you in possession of all the facts I learnt of this interesting ^ HUDSON S n.VY tkruitorv. . 7i> colony, is my apolofry for hiiviiig driiwii so lurgely upon your valiuiblt! time. I uni, llcv. and Dear Sir, na ever, Yoiira most rospcctrully. The Kov. Knocli Wood, } J. Uycuson. etc., &L'., «fec. ^ Lkttkr A'Ifl. Norway House, August lOtli, 18.)'1. Rev. and Dear Sir, — At 4 J on the evening of the 1st inst., we left Lower Fort CJarry, and Ijy nine o'elock made the mouth of the river, a distance from the Fort of twenty-two Englisli miles. The measures of distances used in the Territory are English, not American or Canadian. The banks of the Red River continue to diminish in height as you descend the stream from the Upper Fort, until you come within seven or eight miles of the mouth, you find no banks at all ; indeed, the whole river below the neighbourhood of the Indian settlements is a very swampy, sedgy, flat looking affair, covered wilii bull- rushes, and swarming with flics, musquitocs and water fowl. On Wednesday the 2nd, by four o'clock we were on our way over the smooth waters of the Lake Winnipeg. Lake Winnipeg is much larger than either Lake Eric or Ontario, though the water ]'4 1:!' *" ;» '■« 7G REV. J. RYERSON S VISIT TO is very shallow, it is three hundred miles long and about sixty miles wide, and eight hundred and lil'ty- threo feet above the level of the sea. There ajjpears to be but little land that would admit of cultivation, though I was told there were localities in the neigh- bourhood of the lake where are foimd large tracts of land of most excellent (juality. Along the eastern shore the granite and tr;»p rocks are every where exposed, the latter being the most extensive, and no where do these masses rise to the altitude of hills. On the north and west shores the bird's eye lime- stone is the prevailing rock, and fomis low cliffs in a country otherwise every where flat. By 8i we had made a distance of about fifteen miles, we put ashore for breakfast on the point that was but just visible to the eye when we started. "We had fine sailing until near night, the wind was fail and as strong as the canoe would bare, and we did not sail during the day a less distance than sixty-five or seventy miles. Towards evening the wind very much in- creased : we reefed sail : soon it came to blow a very tempest and we took down the sail, and it was only by the greatest exertions that we succeeded in reaching the shore. Lake AVinnipeg is very much subject to winds and storms, which many times rise so suddenly as to give the mariner no warning of their approach, until like a giant in his strength, they arc upon him. Imagination caimot paint much loss can language describe the sul)liraity luid grandeur of a thunder storm, as seen in the forest on ii • I) ■ I HUDSON f? HAY TERRITORY. 77 the slioic of the lake wheu the wild waters are rai^ini^ ; the hirid ghire of the vivid lij^'htniiig seems brii^^liter, and tlic chx])S and roariiip^s of the thunder seem hjwer and deeper than any where else. 0! I never shall fori^et the terrific grandeur of that dre.id- ful thunder storm, the sheets of flame for minutes at a time, plaj-ed round the frail tent as if eairer to de- vour it, while the rollin'^ tbunder shook the verv ground on which it rested ; the foaming billows in their snowy whiteness were lashed into fury and the torrents of rain came down as if poured out of ves- sels. It was with the greatest dilliculty, recjuiring the utmost exertion to prevent the tempest from sweeping the tent away. At eleven o'clock, however* the storm abated and the latter part of the night was calm and pleasant. On Thursday morning by four o'clock we were on the water paddling away towards Norway ITouse, but the wind was against us and with the sun con- tinued to rise until 9^ ; "\,r were compelled to put ashore and seek protection from the raging of the waters on terra iirma. The men soon pitched my tent and I sat down in my petit viaison to pen these notes, all the time being annoyed and teased almost to madness by the pestiferous musquitoes. The wind having abated at five o'clock we put to sea again and continued our voyage until nine o'clock, when we stopped for the night ou the point of a rocky prairie that runs out into the lake a long way. Fri- * day the 4th by three o'clock, a. m., I was up and dressed and called the men, I had to call several I 'I , i\ '1 if 78 REV. J. RYERSON S VISIT TO times at tlic top of my voice be^'orc I coaUl arouse thorn ; poor fellows they seemed unusually indispos- ed to rise and go to work. It was very late the night before when they laid down, and then the nius(piitocs would not let them sleep, these horrible pests of human beings drove the poor voyageurs from under their canoe, and they were compelled to flee to the lake shore and lay down on the naked rock to obtain a little relief from the persecutions of their blood-thirsty enemies. We started at 3j and were soon relieved from the fatigue of the paddle by a favourable light breeze, which continued to waft us pleasantly and speedily forward until five in the afternoon ; but then, as according to the old adage " it never rains but it pours," so our breeze was soon converted into a gale ; in an hour we were com- pelled to run our canoe into shoal water, to save her from being swamped in the deep water, and each man getting out waded with the baggage to a place of shelter where the canoe also was secured ; but we had scarcely got our tent pitched and the things put in order, when the tempest was upon us; and a tem- pest which in severity and duration exceeded the one the night but one before — it was a perfect tornado ; ! the loud claps and hollow rolling of the thunder, the vivid flashes and streaming light of the lightning, the descenuing torrents of the water floods — all, all, not only surpasses the power of description but ex- ceeds the fancy of the Hveliest imagination. We were wind bound all day yesterday, the wind was very high and directly against ug. At four o'clock, p. m., we attempted to maivc an evening voyage and if possible to reach Berren's Station, where we in- tended to spend the Sabbath ; but we had not pro- ceeded more than a mile when the violence of the wm\ compelled ua to seek refuge from the waves in a little cove behind a point of rock that seemed to extend its sheltering flank into the sea as for the purpose of sheltering our frail bark from the raging of the waters. Nothing is more trying to one's constancy than to be wind bound on the shore of these lakes. " On the wide ocean raging,''you are more resigned, for you ex- pect it from the imperious element, but to be stopped for an indeffinite time in the midst of flics and mus- quitoes, in the sight of birds and animals, and within a few miles of the place of destination ; and all this when you have no time to lose, is a species of an- noyance which is apt to overcome one's philomphy At 5 J, six large boats passed near the shore where we were lying, conveying Mr. Swanson the Chief Factor of the Lac La Pluie district and the winter supplies of merchandise and provisions for that de- partment of the Hudson Bay Company's most ex- tensive and lucrative business. The sight was a very imposing one, six very large boats abreast under fuU sail and goin'g at the rate of eight knots an hour. Sabbath the sixth the wind being fair, at three o'clock I called the voyageurs and in two hours we were at Berren's Fort, a station of the fur trade, situated near the inouili of tlic Berren Iliver. "We were very kindly reeeived by Mr. Curaniens, llie irentleiiian in charge of the Station, Avho did all he could to niaku me comfortable during my stay in the place. ;Mr. Ciinnnens requested me to have religious service with them, andwilh this rcquci^tl gladly com- ])lied. The service was attended by the family and the servants at the Fort, in all about fifteen or twenty persons. During the day I went out to look at the premises, ^-c. The neighbourhood is very rocky, but still there are spots of rich land dispersed among the ledges of rocks which produce any kind of grain or vegetables grown in the countrj'. The wheat, bar- ley, potatoes and the giirden vegetables on the pre- mises look remai kably well. No where in the ter- ritory have I seen the fruit of the ground look bet- ter. There is a river called Pigeon Kiver, that puts into the narrow bay on the opposite side from the Fort, along the banks of which, I was told by Mr. Cummens, there is a great deal of excellent land, a sufficient quantity to form a large settlement. This in my opinion would be a good position for a Mis- sion Station. Besides occasional visitors, there are fifty or sixty Indian families belonging to the place, and there is no Mission of any church on this side of the "Winnipeg Lake, between Fort Alexander and Norway House. Mr. Cummens expressed a strong desire that our society would send a missionary to the neighbourhood, and said he would do any thing he could to promote the object ; he also remarked ^ l» I nUDSOXS BAY TERRITORY. 81 that promises had been made at different times by both the Church and Wcsleyan Societies to occupy the ground, but as yet nothing had been done, how- ever extensive and inviting the tiehl unquestionably was ; that the Indians in this region were favourably disposed towards the Christian religion, and were anx- ious that a Missionary should be sent to them, and a school established among them for the education of their children. In the afternoon I went over to the opposite side of the bay to visit some Indian families who were camped there. There were five camps, which were occupied by twice or three times that number of families. My interpreter was not a very good one, and the interview with the Indians was not so satisfactory as I had been led to anticipate, from the conversation I had had witb Mr. Cummens. But still the two Indians who acted as the spokes- men for the rest, were, as I afterwards learned, medicine men or conjurers, who derive a profit from their craft, and are therefore opposed to whatever may endanger it. Mr. Cummens said we must attach no importance to any thing they said, that they were great liars every one of them, and not the least reliance could be placed on any of their declarations. In the evening I again held services in Mr. Cummens' dining room ; several Indians were present who had come over from the camps I had visited in the afternoon. Monday morning at four o'clock, we started from the Fort, although the wind t high, ap- i|: f: Ml: . If fl 82 REV. J. RYERSON S VISIT TO pearance of the weather every way unfavourable ; we however kept our course for twelve or iiftccii miles, when the increased inclemency of the weatlier forced us to the shore for safety ; the clouds grew heavier and sent forth at intervals hollow-sounding gusts of wind, the sure harbingers of a strong gale; soon the lake resembled one rolling sheet of white foam, which contrasted strangely with the calm pla- cidness of its surface the preceding day. By reason of the great tempest that was upon us we were detain- ed in our place of refuge until after three o'clock, when the wind havinleasure in here recording the feelings of grateful respect which I entertain for Mr. and Mrs. Jjarnston and their esti- mable family, by whom I was treated with so much attention, and from whom I received several kind and most welcome presents. Long may that lovely family live in the enjoyment of every domestic bles- sing ! long may they live to adorn the domestic cir- cle of which they are now so bright ornaments ! A'cry early, on "Wednesday morning, the boats ar- rived, and we immediately commenced packing and making arrangements for our departure ; but the changing of boats, getting supplies of provisions for the men, etc., prevented us getting away from the fort until 5^ o'clock in the evening. At five, p.m., we went on board of our new craft — indeed all things were quite new — new voyageurs, new water- crafts, totally dilTorent from those in which we had previously voyaged. The boats used in the terri- tory are coarse, awkward-looking aft'airs as you ever saw. Each boat will carry two or three tons weight, and costs from £20 to £25, and is usually manned by eight, ten, or twelve voyageurs. I was \-:4 ; -y m i ipi It'') I Mission in tlio third bout. AVc travc^lled some ei.uht or ten miles, and at sun-set stopped for tlic nialit. Bruce had my tent immediately pitched, cedar boufxhs gathered and laid down for my bed ; tea was directly prepared, of which I ])artook with a good appetite, and then sat me down to write these notes. On Thursday morning, at 3| o'clock, the men were called from their slumbers by the guide ; but before I heard Bruce's clear voice crying, "love, It-vC) l6ve,"I was up ;;nd dressed, liaving arisen before three o'clock ; indeed I slept very little during the night, and was glad when the time came for me to leave my uncomfortable couch. "VVe travelled twelve miles, and at 8^ o'clock stopped for breakfast. Du- ring the day we run a rapid. This was the first rapid I had seen run by a boat, and it seemed to me more difiicult and dangerous than running the rapid in the canoe. The principal fall in this rapid was several feet, and vvhen the boat passed over it, the jar was as though she had struck upon a rock. — After passing over a series of little lakes, amidst innumerable little islands of rocks, we entered the river Sion, a narrow, sluggish, crooked stream, hardly wide enough to admit the boats passing, the oars of which were continually getting entangled in grass and willows that grew on either side of the narrow space of open water. I have seen no coun- -••'f I Wk.. d HUDSON S BAY TERRITORY. 93 try, since leaving Canada, tliat seems so tlrcary and utterly worthless as the desolate and barren rej^Ions through which we have passed to-day. We found no ])Iace to stop for dinner, and we liked not to have found a place for lodg lent during the night. Our poor weary voyageurs worked away until dark, hoping to reach some spot where a sufficient quan- tity of dry earth could be found upon which wo might pitch our tents ; but they looked in vain, and we had at last to take up our quarters in a willow swamp, where, almost every step you took, you sunk into the mud and wa^er. I am, Rev. and Dear Sir, as ever, Most truly yours, J. Kyerson. The Rev. E. Wood, &c. Letter X. Oxford Place, Jackson Bay Mission, August 20th, 1854. Rev. and Dear Sir:—- After having attempted to repose for a few hours on a bed of decayed vegetables, which were no sooner trampled upon than they became quite wet, I rose from my watery couch, and before 3 J on Friday morning the ISth, I was all ready for march- ing. I may here say that, throughout my long tour thus far, iu uo instance haA'C I detained the voyageurs, in a majority of cases, I have called the men ; in no instance have they icaitcd one moment for mc. All this day wc M-crc voyaging against the stream of lilack River, very |)ro}:erly named from the blackness of the water, and in nmny places so narrow that the men could not use their oars, and were compelled to take to their poles. At 11 we made a luilf portage occasioned l)y a dam that had been thrown across the river for the purpose of raisinr^, the water above it to a sufficient depth for navigation. A half portage is, when the lading is carried over and the boat is ngt, there being a sufii- cient depth of water for the boat when disburthened of her load. Here the luggage was all carried over and the boat through a kind of race. At 2^ we arrived at the portage "haute de terre," or Height of Land portage, so named because of its being a ridge of land that divides the waters flowing into the Hudson's Bay, through the Jack and Hill rivers. The portage was not a very long one, but it was the first full jDortage I had seen made with the boats. The freight is always carried over first, and each crew carry the lading of their own boats only ; but it requires all the crews of the brigade — that is thirty men — to carry or take over one boat ; the boats are run over on slides, rollers or poles. The freight bateau in the territory are large, and ap- parently awkward and unwieldly things ; they are long, broad, and shallow, capable of carrying fifty hundred weight, and nine or ten men, besides three or four passengers with provisions for themselves [I- 1 ^ed the loniont UKt the d from Jiug is and for the crew. The boats arc built ofliglit material, and it is said arc very light for their size, and that they do not draw more than three fiict of water when loaded, perhaps less. This morning— h^atur- day the 19th, before 4 o'clock, we were marcliing over the ocean wave to the Robinson portage, where we arrived at 7 J o'clock. The Kobinson portage is a mile long, and the road across it is a smooth highway, two rods in width. Immediately on landing, the passengers went over to the far end of the portage, where we breakfasted. We were not troubled with musquitoes; but the sand flics were exceedingly annoying. To convey a brigade of boats over a portage, especially a long one, is a tedious, tardy piece of work, as I have said, it requires all the men of the brigade to each boat and conse- quently only one boat can be taken over at a time. Twenty of the men are harnessed two and two, drawing with straps across their breasts, the others are on either side of the boat, lifting, shoving, &c., as the occasion may require. It was 2i o'clock before all the boats were got- over, so we dined before leaving the portage. After starting we rowed on without stopping until 8 o'clock, when we landed on a rocky point, and pitched our tents for the night ; within fifteen minutes after leaving the boats, our tents were pitched, and a half dozen fires were blazing, which appeared all the more brilliant and pleasing, because of the darkness and stillness of the surrounding regions. Since leaving the Robinson portage we were navi- 9G REV. J. RYERSON S VISIT TO f'i ;i: 11' f- J ■^.i: gating a narrow stream of water between hills and mountains of rocks, some of which were of immense altitude, and eame so close together from opposite sides of the river, as hardly to admit of the boats passing between them. 'J'he sterile barrenness of this part of the countr}\exceeds description; it seeing incai)able of affording existence to any thing having animal life; indeed it is perplexingly unknowable for what purpose such a waste, howling wilderness of rocks, swamps and bogs could have been created. Sabbath morning, the 20th, I was up and had done all the business of the toilet before 3 o'clock, and by 3 J o'clock Captain, or Commodore Bruce had his fleet under w^ay. At 5 o'clock we came to the Big Hill rapids, the most dangerous and diflirult of passing of any I ever saw. The loading was all taken out of the boats and carried round the rapids, and theneach boat was rundown the rapids by Bruce the guide, who stands in the bow, the steersman and four men at the oars. I was desirous of remaining in the boat while it run the rapid, and obtained the reluctant permission of Bruce to do so. The scene was novel and grand, and withall, rather terrifying ; in a moment of time we were hurled through and over the water for the distance of nearly a quarter of a mile. I enjoyed the thing exceedingly, and was well pleased that I had ventured on making the practical experiment of running one of the most fearful and dangerous rapids in the territory. — After I had run the rapid, ]Mr. Brooking thought he must do so too, and he came down in the third a ij. - ■ti i X ■1^ I k. • HUDSON 3 BAY TERRITORY. \ifl boat safely, and because of tlio feat, my friend's countenance jrlowed with unusual li{,rlit.sonione.ss, and he seemed taller and straighter than ever. 8oon after leaving Big Hill Portage and rapids, we en- tered a little hike called "Lac I)e Vent"— or Lake of Wind— so named because of the extreme tem- pestuousness of it. The boatmen say they never cross this lake without having to encounter high winds, and most times tempests. It blew nearly a gale when we passed, but the wind being favourable we sailed at such a rate as I had never done before ; we went at the rate of twelve miles an hour; the boats flew over, and rushed through the water like things of life. This was the Sabbath, yet voyageurs, in their long voyages, are required to travel on the Sabbath as well as on the week days, but after breakfast, before starting, Bruce, the guide, called all his Ro- man Catholic men, who constituted almost all the crews, together, and they united in the jrayers of the Roman cliurcli, iu which they apparently en- gaged with sincerity and earnestness. Monday the 21st, at 4 o'clock, when we left our encampment the day was wet and gloomy, but as the sun arose the mist cleared away, and towards noon the weather became fine and pleasant. At 11 o'clock we arrived at the Oxford House, or Jackson Bay Mission ; the brigade, by the direction of Mr. Barnston, having gone eight or ten miles out of their way, in order to land us there. We found only one Indian family at the Mission ; all the other Indians and their families being absent c2 *1 It 1^./ lius bueii inct by tb(> lludsou's Day (ViUipiuiy, but it ^vill HMjuiio XTU or £100 to com])lftL' them : when fuiisaijd, they will bo very Huiliible buildiiigi for the object for wiiieh th(y wen) ereetLnl. There iire unlv u tow houses here ; the inost of the Indian himilies, whe)i ut th« Mi.j.->ion, still ludj;- ing" in ciini])S. Tins was also the case with several faniilies at llossville Mi.ssion. Mr. lirookinj;- intends to do all he can to induce all the Indiaiv families to build them housed to dwell hi ; and there is no doul)t, sliould ho be spared, in a short time the num- ber of 2! CO CO •-I o CO w (O o w u o SD td Il,; ■1$' I ' •- ■■'■:il' . it •m .. HUDSON S BAY TEPwRITOKY. 99 land on the peninsula, all of which is ]\Iis;iion property. The land is of a most excellent quality, producinu; abundantly most kinds of useful vegeta- bles. There arc now growing more than an acre of excellent potatoes, several patches ol turnips, and in the gardmr, beets, parsnips, carrots, onions, &c., in great abundance. At dinner we had a feast of fine potatoes and turnips, and when leaving, we took with us enough to last us all the way to York. Much fatigued, at 1 o'clock, a. m., I retired to rest, and at 6 o'clock the following morning we were all busily engaged in preparing for my departure. There is a large boat here worth £20, belong to the mission ; it was j)rcscntcd to the Society last year by Mr. Barnston, of Norway House, another evi- dence of the goodness of Mr. Barns(on's character, and the sincere and firm friendship he feels toward the cause of Christian missions. Mr. Steinhaur being absent from the mission for two or three months, the boat was entirely neglected, and was half full of mud and water, so it was no trifling job to prepare it for use. We had everj- thing prepar- ed for our departure, when we saw a boat approach- ing the wharf ; this proved to be one of the four boats belonging to L'l^^sperancc's brigade ; it v as L'Esperance's own boat that had been directed by Mr. Barnston to come round by the mission and take me down to York. Mr. Brooking, in order to secure stores, &c., concluded to accomijany me to York, and Mrs. Brooking accompanied us as far as Oxford House, distant twenty miles from the mis- 100 REV. J. RYERSON S VISIT TO It hion. AVe left the mission at 9 J o'clock, and arrived at Oxford House at 2^ o'clock. Oxford lake is one of the most ])cautiful sheets of water in the territory; it is thirty-five miles long, and averages from eight to twelve miles in width ; it is covered over with beautiful islands, and abounds with fish of the rich- est quality, and finest flavour. Oxford House is situated at the north east end of the lake on the brow of a grassy hill that gradually rises from the margin of the water to a considerable hci<2:lit. The fort establishment consists of a small number of wooden houses, one story high, built in the form of a square, and surrounded with high stockades, pointed at the tops. Rather a high flag staff towers above the buildings, upon which a flag is always raised on the occasion of the arrival of boats at the fort. We were kindly received and courteously treated during the three hours we remained at the fort, by Mr. AVilson, the gentleman in charge. The premises of this establishment cover several acres of land, in a state of excellent cultivation, and upon which there are now growing in fine order, barley, peas, potatoes, &c. At 5 o'clock, p. m., we left the fort ; I was in L'Esperance's boat, Mr. Brooking and Steinhaur in two other boats. AVe travelled for twelve or fifteen miles, and at 7 o'clock went on shore, and pitched our tents for the night. At the approach of tea time we found ourselves rather in a " fix," there not being a cook belonging to L'Esperance's brigade ; but as necessity knows no law, Mr. Brooking undertook the business of chief cook, calling to his assistance i 1 If r: \i\ . If, , HUDSON S BAY TERRITORY. 101 Mr. Stcinhaur and .vo of the vovac^curs. In three quarters of an hour it was announced that tea was ready, and, when we came round the board, there was spread out before us, on a clean white cloth, that rested on the floor of the tent, for a table, fried fish, roast ducks, boiled ham, boiled potatoes, bread and butter, and sweet cakes ; and the tea made so strong and sweet that even I could drink but little of it; and just as we were commenc- ing tea, one of the voyage urs brought two large fat rabbits, neatly dressed, and proposed to cook them for us also. AVhethcr or not the chief cook would have proposed the rabbits for our tea dessert, I can not say, as I did not wait to know his intentions, but at once urged the necessity of being excused having any part in the work of demolishing two fat rabbits, in addition to all the fine and fat things be- fore us. AVednesday the 23rd. Last night wo camped at the upper end of a series of rapids, which, this morn- ing, as soon as we started, we commenced running. There are ten or twelve rapids in this series, some of which are most dilficult and dangerous. One of the rapids is almost always passed by making a por- tage, but in consequence of the very high water this season the guide ventured to run the rapid. — L'Ksperance says that, although he had passed this rapid forty times, he had never attempted to run it but once before. In running this rapid the boats struck several times, and, from one of them, a piece of wood was torn from the keel, two or three inches u ■ i,;■v^ ;■#■ m thick and six feet lonj^. At 6 o'clock, a. m., we came to the Fall portage ; a short, but a most diiTi- cult one : the hcit>ht and ru"-" over which the boat and loading have to be carried, render the work of making the portage very slow and laborious. The scenery all along this Hill river is novel and fantastic, exceedingly so. The stream L'bulent and unfriendly in the but y, noi extreme romantic variety, and in some sort of bei can exceed the scenery which surrounds it. High rocks beetling over the rapids like towers, or rent into the most diversified forms, gay with various coloured mosses, or shaded by over-hanging hills — now a tranquil pool lying like a sheet of silver — now the dash and foam of a cataract — these arc parts only, of its p>icturesque and striking pictures. I am as ever, llev. and Dear Sir, Very affectionately yours, J. Hyeuson. The Rev. Enoch Wood, &c., &c., (fee. *f Letter XI . York, Hudson's Bay, Aug. 31st, 1854. Rev. and Dear Sir : — On leaving the Fall portage wc entered Knee Lake, a sheet of water fift3^-six miles long, and about ten miles wide. The wind being fair and high, wc ;^ sailed across this lake with great speed, reaching the lower, or north east, end of it at 5 J o'clock. Passing out of Knee Lake, we entered Jack Kiver, rapidly down which we went for ten or twelve miles, through a series of as many rapids, when we came to Jack portage, where we stopped all night. AVe travelled to-diiy about seventy miles, run ten or twelve rapids, and made one very difficult portage. This night the aurora was most brilliant, and continued in rapid motion until after midnight. The farther north you go the more brilliant are the northern lights and the more rapid is their motion. The portage where we stopped last night is at the mouth of Jack River, where it empties into a small lake ten miles across, named Swamp Lake. On Thursday morning, at the lower end of this lake, on a small rocky island, we stopped for breakfast. Leaving Swamp Lake, we entered Hill Kiver, which is little else than a continued series of fearful rapids and difficult portages. All day we were running rapids, and making portages. The boats ground on rocks frequently, and several times our boat struck so hard that it would seem to break her to pieces. All the boats were more or less injured. One boat stranded on the rocks, and had several of her knees broken, and a hole broken through the plank, ten inches wide, and three feet long ; the loading had to be taken out of her, which was done with difficulty, and she taken to the shore, hauled up, and repaired. At 7 o'clock, p. nj., WT stopped to camp, still in the midst of rapids or waterfalls. I would name the 1^ .1^ % Y ■J ■i- i 1^ 1< most of these watcrfiills, for merely to call these cataracts rapitls, conveys a very imperfect and even erroneous idea of them. In many places the water pitches down quite perpendicularly, several feet ; and the boats, in passing over these precipices, do not run, but leap. We are now come to that part of Blill River where the banks are of clay, and very high. A high clay bank of a river, or lake, is so novel a thing, in this part of the country, and so greatly contrasts with the no banks at all, or the marshy low sedgy banks, or the barren — broken, up and down, every shape, rocky ones, every where seen, on the lakes and rivers, that a high smooth bankof clay is most reviving and refreshing to the eye. We are now in full view of a mountain of considerable height, although the altitude of it I should think, is not quite so great as certain mountains in the McKenzie River country, about which I heard a Scotchman, from that part of the territory,telling the vo} ageurs,wliile last night seated round the fire, at the door of my tent. This Scotch- man, who was returning to Scotland, after having served out his time, said there were mountains in the part of the territory where he had been, so high that they reached above the stars, that he himself had carried boats and packages over them — that in the winter the weather was so cold, it froze your breath as soon as it passed the lips, and that you could hear ifjiiss as the frost took hold of it on its coming out of the mouth ! I Friday the 25th. To-day, after passing two two nipitls, and making two portages, we entered Steel River, about forty niflcs above where it puts into tlie lliver Hayes. The Steel River is a wide, deep, rapid stream of water ; the current in it runs about two miles an hour ; but tliere are no strong rapids and no portages ; indeed there are no more portages to make between this and York. AVe made more than thirty fromXorwayllouse to this i)lacc,andrun rapids almost without number. The banks of the river are day, and high ; in some places, very high ; fifty, eighty, and perhaps a hundred feet high ; in many places they are smooth and white, not a little re- sembling in appearance the chalky cliffs of Dover. AVe reached the mouth of Steel River, where it empties into Hayes River— sixty miles from York depot. At 7 o'clock we entered Hayes River. The Hayes River is a beautiful stream ; it averages a quarter of a mile in width, and its current runs at the rate of three knots an hour. On entering the river the boats were all fastened together, side by side, and then with one man to steer them, they were left to drift with the current, during the night. We then addressed ourselves to the business of pre- paring for bed, which, when done, we lay down to rest, or sleep, or pass away the still and silent hours of the night, as best we could. When day-light fully appeared on the following morning, we found ourselves within thirty miles of York, we having drift- ed thirty miles during the night. Within a few miles of York we put ashore for breakfast, which was prepared and disposed of very expeditiously, all f iif' V. '•In I' lOG REV. J. RYERSONS VISIT TO feeling much anxi(!ty to see Yoik, and with some of us to see tlie end uf our inland voyag'inf!;. AVe arrived at York di^pot at 10^,, and were kindly re- ceived ])y AVilliaiu McTavisli, K.S(j., a chief factor, and the gentleman in charge of the station. Mr. McTavish conducted Messrs. ]>rooking, Pteinhaur, anduiyself, to our ({uarters, and showed us the a})art- raents we were to occupy during our stay at York. AVc were greatly surprised, and not a little trouble:], in learning that the ship had not yet arrived ; although it was then the 2Gth, and the usual time of the vessel reaching York is the 10th, or at the latest, the lijth of the month. To lue it was a circumstance calculated, at least, to try my faith. I could not think of remaining during the winter at York ; and to return into the interior to any place where I might advisedly I'cmain during the winter season, would involve a journey of several hundred miles, and five or six weeks to perform it in, and this, too, in the inclement si-ason of a ITudson's Bay autumn. But still, with feelings of resignation and submission, I was enabled to commend myself and the whole matter to the direction of the gra- cious Being, who does all things "VAelh At 3^, p.m., on their way to England, the Rev. Archdea- con Hunter and lady, Adam Tom, Esq., lady and family, the llev. INFr. Mason, and Mr. Boss, arrived, so we were not likely to be lonely during our stay at York. The Fort at York, as all the fac!ories or depots arc called, is a large square, of about ten acres, inclosed within high stockades, and built on I 71 -1 1 1 til some of ^•iii^'-. A\'e kiii(]Iv IV- ief factor, 'ioM. Mr. '*^teiii]iaur, tlie aj)ai-t- ■ at Yoi'k. trouble;], arrived ; al liinc of )r at tlie it was a •niltli. I vintcr at Lny place le winter liiindred in, and fud.son's ignation myscU he gra- i p.m., I'clidea- (ly and irrivcd, ir stay rics or ut ten uilt on o o ..■■V 'ftfe' HUDSON S DAY TEUUI TORY. 107 tlie banks of lliiyo.s llivcr, about five miles from its mouth, where it empties itself iuto ]lu(]son's IJay, The houses are of wood, ami certainly can make/no pretensions to architectural beauty, but still their regularity, and clean white appearance have a very pleasing- elfect on the eye. The pnncijjal building is the general store, where the goods to the amount of two years outtit for the whole northern depart- ment are stored. This general store is the centre building, and is built with an open space, or court, in the centre of it, after the manner of French hotels. On each side of the centre building is a long low white painted house, with window frames and edgings painted. In one of these, visiters- and company residents are lodged in the summer season ; the other is the mess room or dining hall. Four large stores stand at right angles to these houses, and forming thus three sides of the front square. Behind the front building stands a row of small and low buildings, painted yellow, for the labourers and tradesmen ; and on the right hand is the dwelling- house of the chief factor, and adjoining it is the clerk's house, calL J " bachelors' •■all;" and in front of the chief factor's house, Mr, McTavish is now build- ing a parsonage for the chaplain. Ou the left hand is the provision store and tL3 Indian trading shop. A few other buildings, the oil store, the lumber- house ; among which is seen a tall singularly-looking building, the observatory, called the look-out place, from which the inhabitants have an extensive view of their wild domains ; and just near it stands the f i ). ..f 108 RKV. J. RYKUSONS VISIT TO ice house. The ice-hoiiso is filled every si)riii;]f with ice, which does not melt diirini^ the siimiriL^, althout^^h the weather for two inoiitlLS is iiiteiiselv hot. In the ice-house a store of IVesh meat is laitl up auHi- cient to supply the people in the fort to the com- meucenieiit of winter ; also, fish are there kept fresh foi any leiiirth of time. As I have said, the ice ill the Ice-house never melts, so neither does the lower stratum of soil in the surroundinjj: count rv, the uppersoil only meltini^ to the dejjth of two ^r two and a half feet; the subsoil is perpetually frozen. The country around the fort is one immense swamp, as level as a floor, thickly covered with willow bushes and dotted, hereand there, with bunches of pine trees. The only larj^c timber in the vicinity grows on the banks of Hayes river, several miles above the fort, and consists chiefly of spruce fir. The spruce fir is the principal article used for fire-wood, and is brou:,dit on rafts, or in boats, from several miles up the river. Nelson River is a broad, rapid, beautiful stream, which discharges itself into the lludi^on's Bay, near the mouth of Hayes River ; between the rivers is a belt of low swamp, known by the name of the " point of Marsh." Sabbath the 2Uh. There was Divine service held in the dining room at 10^ o'clock. Archdeacon Hunter, from Cumberland Mission read the service, and Mr. Brooking preached. The congre- gation was large, consisting of the officers and ser- vants belonging to the fort, voyageurs, a few Indians, and several persons, who, like myself, had come to HUDSON S HAY TKUIUTORY. 109 York to tiilvo i)iiss;i<(0 in tlio sliip for Kn«^liin(l. In tlio tifturnoon, iit [\ o'clock, Mr. Hunter read tliu service uiul prcaclicil in (.'ree. Mr. Ifiuitor U a pooil Cree scholar ; he has translated the prayer book and tlie CJospel of St. ilolui into Cree, and tlie translations have hecn [jrinted by the Church ^lissionury iSoeiety. Mr. Jlunter has also nuide a good coinniencenicnt in forming a grammar for the Crec language ; he has written out the verb in all its moods, tenses and persons, and is now on his way to I'ingUind to get it ])ublished, with portions of the Scriptures, which he has translated, and which liave not yet been })rintcd. Monday the 28th. — This morning, at Oh o'clock, the announcement was made by the skipper, from the top of the observa tory, that the sliip was in sight. The tidings pro- duced great excitement, and great joy, in which feeling, 1 can assure you, 1 i)articipated. I went into my room, and on my knees gave thanks to the glorious Kuler of events, who holds the winds in liis list, and the waters in the hollow of his hand, for thus giving tliis timely relief from painful anxiety. The packet boat and the skipper, with his fine little vessel, were immediaiely sent off to the ship, but she being distant twenty miles, and the wind high, they did not reach her until near night. At 12 o'clock at night the packet boat returned, bringing the mail and a few packages. At 1 o'clock, on Tuesday morning, the schooner returned from the ship, with a full cargo, when immediately all hands, who could find room to work, were employed in unload- D i 110 UKV. J. RYERSONS VISIT TO it m |- ^ f fi I *'} ing and conveying the goods to the store-houses. It is sur])risin<5 with what activity and ordei" the men in the company's eni})loy work. 'J he schooner is one hundred tons burthen, and she was i'ully hjaded, but the whole cargo was discharged, and in tlie store-liouHCs before seven o'chjck in tlic morning. On AVednesday, Capttnn Jleard, with tlie caljiu passengers, came on shore, among whom was a Mr. (ieorge, a catccliist of tlie Chur-jh of England, who is on his way to ]ted lliver, where he expects to receive ordination from ])ishop Anderson lor the missionary work some where in the Territory. IMr. George's station is not yet determined, Ijut he says, although ayoung man, he lias come out with Ihe inten- tion of not returniuL'', having consecrated his life to the missionary work, in the Uudson'sjiay Territory; and he had not been at York a day before he com- menced learning the Cree huiguiige. I am sure, my dear sir, you will unite with me in saying, that, this is as it should be. On 'I'hursday, the 30th, at 1 o'clock, a. m.. Dr. Kae arrived on liis return from his exploring expe- dition in the Arctic regions. You are aware that Dr. llae, a year ago, was sent out by tlie Hudson's Day (..ompany, to complete the survey of tlie west shore ofJ3oothia. Dr. llae appears to me just the man for such an expedition, lie is very nuiscular and active, full of animal spirits, and has a fine in- tellectual countenance ; he is considered by those who know liim well, to be one of the best snow-shoe walkers iu the territory, and is also a most excellent HUDSON S BAY TERRITORY. Ill G-houscs. )rcler tlic scliooncr y loaded, d ill IJie 111 on 1 ill r^. ic cabin as a Mr. lid, who pects to lor the •y. Mr. he says, beiiiteii- is life to rritory; le corn- Ill sure, g, that. n., Dr. : cxpe- c that idson's e west 1st the sciilar iiie in- thosc r-shoe client marksman. ])r. }h\.r failed in completiii!:;' Ilic survey of th(.' west shore of I'xxithia, but lu; has obtained a knowledge of the probable fate of r^ir J(jhn Frank- lin's party, wliicli cannot fail of being' deeply inter- esting to tliousands in Knrope and America. As Dr. liae will himself pnblisli an account of the matter, it will not be necessary for me liere to miMition what 1 have lu'ard stated in conversations whi4 S ! nunsoNs hay territory. 113 in from brou"lit ticcrti to 2 lionie- iilgo tlic ch)g on towards During tic aiiimiils Unit ronni throiitrh the forests of North America. 'J'licy slit.'d tliuir horns in tlio month of Fehrntirv or M ;ur li ; and I)v Auirust the now ones are nearly nt their full oTowth. Xet vitlistanchng the sixe and strenu'th of these animals and the moans of defence witli which they are furnished — they are tus titnoroas as a hare. Their skins arc very useful, and will dress as well :is that of a buck. They feed on LiTass and buds, and the twig's of trees. Their flesh is tend.'r — of a very fine flavour." The moose is. in siz-, next to the l)uflralo, among the :uiiinals of the north west. The bod}^ in shape, is sitmothiiig like that of an ox — raw boned, with hig-li haunches : but its neck and head resemble those of the horse. The ears are large, like those of an ass. Tlie horn:; are flat and branch out only behind, and are shed every year. The feet resemble ^■■^-e of the deer, excepting as they are much lon- L • and broader ; and when the animal puts them on the ground the hoofs separate, two or three inches. 'I'he head is a1)out two feet long. 'J'he upper is much longer than tlu; ..nder lip of this animal ; and the n(»strils are so wide that a man might thrust his hand into them to a considerable distance. The colour of the moose is a light grev, mixed with a deep red, and the hair is so elastic that its shape can not be altered by beating. The flesh of this animal is exceedingly good food, it bein"- easy of digestion, and very nourishing, tis well as very palatable. The nose, and upper lip which is hirge a!id loose from the gums, u re esteemed a great 114 REV. J. RYERSON S VISIT TO delicacy ; it is of a consislencc between marrow nnd gristle, and when properly dressed, is certsiinly a rich and luxurious dish. The hide of the moose makes excellent leather, as it is thick and sironf^, and when dressed, it is remarkably soft and ])liiilile. The pace of the moose is a walk or trot, and it is exceeded in swiftness by veiy few of its fellow ten- ants of the forest. It will with ease trot over a fallen tree five feet in diameter. This animal is commonly fjund in low pTound, where it feeds on moss ami the buds of trees. The moose niMierally remains alone, although sometimes five or six of them are found together. 'J'heir senses of hearing and smelling are amazinalv acute, and therefore the least noise, made by a hunter, such as the rustling of dry leaves, or the breaking of a small branch, will be heard by this animal at a great distance, and will instantly alarm its fears. AVhcn put to flight, the moose does not, like the deer and most animals, run a short distance and then stop until it perceives some new api)earance of danger ; l)ut very frtquently he will not make the least halt until he has run ten or fifteen miles. No other animal that runs in the woods is so difficidt to approach. The elk and moose horns, presented to me by my kind friend ]\Ir. McTavish, I intend, through you, my dear sir, to present to the Missionary ]3oard in Toronto ; and perhaps they may»be seen, and may be objects of interest when you and I shall have passed away, and shall be known on earth no more. On Sabbath the 10th, at half-past ten o'clock, ^ HORM3 OF THE ELK limy liave BORN3 OF THE M^OSE ■4\. HUDSON S BAY TERRITORY. 115 Mr. Hunter road pruycrs, and preaeheil an excellent sermon, by which T was instructed and spiritually boncfitted. i\[r. Mason by the sacrament oC I'ap- tism, received into the Christian Cliurch, seven adults, Indians, besides several children. It was pleasin^f^ to see those once heathen, and ehihlren of the forest, givinj; themselves to the Saviour, and "wit- nessing- a good confession before many \\itnesscs." 0:i Sal)batli the 17th at half-])ast ten o'clock I preached, Mr. .\[ason reading ihe s , ice. At half- past three, P. M., Mr. Mason prL.: ;hed in Crec to between twenty and thirty Indians. I am, ]lev. and Dear Sir, Most alfectionately yours, J. Hyerson. The Kev. Enoch "Wood, Sec. &c. kc. i Letter XII. York, Hudson's Bay, 10th Sept., 1854. ItRV. AND Dear Sir, — Defore concludinpc the let- ters which I have taken the liberty to address to you respecting the matters and things as I saw them in Ru})ert's Land, during my tour, — I beg to make a few remarks respecting the Hon. Hudson's Bay Com- pany, and I will state what I have to say, in as few words as I can. It was in the year 1(5(!9 that the Hudson's Bay Company, under the direction of ? t; ■' • :iii \ ... '• 1 ' *'i 1\ ■ '-'i I. II. gave to them and tlieir successors, under the style and t'tle of the (Jovernor and Company of Ad- venturers trading in Hudson's Bay, the exchisivo right of trading in all tlu^ country watered l)y rivers flowing into the Hudson's Bay. The charter also authorized them to build and fit out men of war, build fortilications, establish forts, and to do anything necessary to protect them- selves, and to prevent any other company from car- rying ou trade with the Indians in their territories. The charter at the same time rccpiired them to do all in their power to promote discovery, and the reliirious and moral interests of the natives. Armed with such atnple powers the Company forthwith established a fort or trading ])lace near the head of James' Bay, now called Moose Factory; very soon afterwards a number of other forts were built in dif- ferent parts of the territory; so that before long, the Company being wealthy, extended their trade and spread over regions, far beyond their originally char- tered limits. The Hudson's Bay Companj', however, found a strong and active rival in the Korth-West Company, which had been engaged in the fur trade in many parts of the country before them. Between the officers and servants of the two Companies there was a continual strife, and very frequently most serious feuds occurred, even to the t]ie pur ions siir- nrlc's (lie idor the 'Of Ad- "^c'liisivo y rivers il(] and (al)Iish t them- m car- it uries. to do in] tlie ^^niK'd liwith ?ad of ■ soon in dif- ?, the L^ and cliar- cver, lV(>st rade two very the HUDSON S BAY TRRKITORY. 117 F,hoddinf( of blood and takin;i: life. IJut in the year 18'Jl the Companies united and were merited i)i one, under the name of the IludvSon's Bay Company, since which time the united Company's Inu-iness has been much more prosperous, and the covern- ment and nninag(imeiit of their allairs much more wise and religious. The extent of territory over which the Hudson's Bay (Jompany cany on their trade, and tlu-oughout which Dej-'ots and Forts arc established, is very great. As the crow flies the distance between Fort Van Couver, on the Oregon, and Fort Confi- dence, on Bear Lake, exceeds IIMO geographical miles, and the sj)ace between the Company's posts on the Labrador coast, or their station at Sault Ste. Marie, and Fort Simpson on the Pacific, measure3 more than 2r)00 miles ; the territory is supposed to be somewhat more than 4,000,000 of s(juare miles, or about one third greater than the whole extent of Europe. Throughout this vast extent of terrritory, a regular communication is kept up between the Governor and the numerous scattered Posts, and supplies are forwarded to all the districts annually with a regularity and exactness truly wonderful. The country is divided into four large depart- ments, called the Northern, Southern, Montreal, and Columl)ia Departments. The Northern Depart- ment includes all the Company's establishments in the far north and frozen regions. The Southern department includes those stations to the south of York, the forts at the head of James Bay and along 118 RKV. J. RYRRSON S VISIT TO ia i 'A the shores of Lake Superior. The Montreal l>c- piirtmcjit indudes the country in the neighbourhood of Montreal, up tiio Ottawa Kivcr and ulon^' the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Es- quiinaiix IJf.y, atid the Cohnnbia Department com- prehends an immense extent of country to the West of the Itocky Mountains, incUidin'^ the Oregon Ter- ritory, in wiiicli the Iludson'a Bay Company still continues to tra.l(\ These departmenta are again divided into anialler portion^i called Districts, each of which i3 under tlie din.-ction of a superintending olTicer ; and tlie.^e again are subdivided into numer- ous minor establishments, U^via, posts, and outposts „ The-ie forts or posts have a complement of men, varying from fi>ur to forty each, with an ofTicer who has ( harge. There is connected with each district a depot to which all the supplies for the district are lorwarded, and to which all the furs, &e., from the forls are sent to be onvarded to England. York Fort is a depot of the Northern Ih^partment. — Moose Factory is the depot of the Southern Depart- ment. Ijachine is the depot of the Montreal De- partment ; and Fort Van Couver is the depot of the Columbia Department There are belonging to the Northern Department, thirty-five Forts or Stations; to the southern twenty- five, — to the Montreal, thirty-four, — and to the Columbia Department twenty-one, making in the whole Territory one hundred and sixteen depots, and trading stations, in each of which, as I have stated, there is a superintending oC&cer and from I rt' four to forty nion, niocliani(.*.s, Inborn ers, scrvunta^ &c. Besides, the (joinpaiiy employ multitudes of nieu aa voyayeurs, mauning and workiiif; the boats and canoes, in every part of the Territory. 'I'iiere are uow tit the York Depot not leas than forty boats tliat have brought down hjads ol furs from the interior, and us sooti as liiey can be loaded will return freighted with the winter supply of R-oods for the various inland stations. Besides tliese now waiting;- for their loadin^r, I have metHinee I left Red Kivor, between forty and tifty moreboatti which liad been down, and were rcturnliij^- with their load?. — ■ Each of these boatn will carry from four to five tons, and is manued with frojn seven to twelve m<^n. 'I'licre are eighty or ninety boats with their crews of some seven or eiii:ht hundred voyageiirs ; and this is but a mere fraction of the water craft and hands to man it, which the Company has employed. It is sup- posed by gentlemen connected \'. ith the Company that th(jy have not less than forty thousand pounds invested in sliippiLg and boats alone. The Company is governed by a (lovernor and Committee, residents in London, elected by the stock- hohUrs, who meet once a vear for the Irans- action of general business, and to discuss and re- ceive reports, &c. The Committee in London appoints a resident Superintendent or (jiovernor who presides at the Councils of Chief Factors and Chief Traders, by whom the business in /America is con- ducted, and the instructions of the liome Ccmmit- '»," b ■i : ;' i u yoiw. 1 lie iiexl ollircr iti llie uoscu'iidinji,- line, is iiiai oi (.'hid' 'I'radcr, ov liull" isliurL'-liuitlcr ; next come the (Jlci'ks, tlnai AppriMitice Clerks, llieu the PostMuster, usually a proniutetl lahoiuvr, who for <^a)o(l beha- vH)ur or railhfiil service liad l)e(>n partly j)ut upon a fooliiii^ with tlie g'eiitieineii of the serviee. Then then.' is tlio iiiterfjreter, who lor the most part is a more than onliuaiy intelligent lahonrer of jnetty long standini^ in tlie service, who, having obtained some knowledge of the Indian tongue, is found to be very useful in trading with the natives. Every officer knows his j)lace and his work : tlie laws regu- lating their duties are clearly defined, and well un- derstood, and arc enforced with a strictness and rigour trul^' military and naval. Hence tlie har- monious working of the whole extensive and com- plicated machinery, and the wontlerful tlnan- cial results of its operations. For instance, there were eight boats in the two brigades, with which I came to York, from Norway House ; these boats were loaded with furs from the Mackenzie lliver ; in each of these boats they were forty-two packs of furs, each of which, I was told, •■"!;: RKV. J. HYKltSON S VISIT TO 121 was of llio avcrnm' \uluo of .CT.'i — so tli:it tlioro were broui^ht to this tlcpot l»y cii^lit lio^ts only, fiir.s timt in lii(» Kii;;lisli .Murkft will briii^' nioru than tw('nly-(lv(! thousand pounds. We may infer from this what tho annual !l•rl;T0^^1to product of tlie Comj)any's trade must he throuj;h these im- mense territories. There was sold at tlie Company 'a premises in London in the year IS-tH, 21, 318 beaver skins, .'it lbs of coat beaver and j)i('('es ; 0,r),S8 ottei-, 1102 fisliers, 900 silver foxes ; 1I>, t-ll> cross, white, red, (fee. ; 31,1 1.") lynxes ; 11,21)2 wolf; 908 wolvereen ; l.'iO.TH;-) martin ; :}8,10.3 mink; 1!)., sea otter, I'A) fur seal ; 2997 bear ; is.j.'tiWnusk nts ; lOfjls'-an; 032 cat ; 2,889 deer; 2090 raccoon, and sundry sir\dler lota. The sales in London alone ar-'ount t more than £200,000 jter annum, and this foriiis but a small part of the yearly returns from the Oom})any Territories, lar;^e (piantities beini:^ exporte*, i ■ the continent, to the United States, and to Canaia ; anay Company towards the religious matters of the ter- ritory, I cannot speak very confidently, not having been long enough in the country, nor had an op- portunity to form a perfect judgement. That many of their officers are gentlemen o. ' ated and noble minds, and are decidedlv favorable to the cliri.-tian- izing of the natives, there can be no doubt. I never received more kinay Company, \vc poreeive evidenee of an industry, and energy, and persevcranee, exceedingly creditable to tlic members of it, as men of enterprise and business. Tliey have explored the AVestern wilds, and planted numerous establishments over an immense tract of country — a tract of country thousands of miles in extent. They have made the wandering savages of the wilderness extensively tributary to the comforts and enjoy- ments of civilized society in almost every part of the civilized world, and in thousands of instances have displayed amazing fortitude and courage in exposing themseh -j to, and cheerfully enduring hardships a!iroj)ortion to the ellorts which have been made, no missions to the heathen have been crowned with greater success, than those to the aborigines of America. The Indian tribes of America have ])e('uliar and strong claims on the millions of American Christians who live in freedom, and hav(» grown rich upon their soil ; and to me it seems that no part of the extensive field to be cul- 12G KEV. J. RYKRSON S VISIT TO tiviitc'd on the Amcriefin coiitinont is iiioro wliito unto tlio liarvcsl, or preseiit-i more oi'Oii doors for useful iiess, in proportion to tlie number of souls, tluin the territory of the llonounible Hudson's Ii;;y Com- pany. The Protestunt Missions in the eountry are few and fur between, notwitlistaiulin'jc nineleen- twentieths of tlie natives arc willir,[^, thousands of them anxious, to have missionariea sent to them, that they may be brou^iht to tlie Cln-i-t an reliiiion. There are in this va:il)lv; a«1- jiincts (() jli(/ Mis.-ioiis amoiii^ llic riidiaiis : \\'A\ (jualiih'.l iru'.'In'rs arc, ilicivfoi'o iiliiio^l as ncce-saiv ill f'aiT}iii;i;' on niissioiiavy work as the Missioiiai'ies tliciiiscives. Tho schools are in tlic I'liiirli-h hm- Lruap', liwt. llic teacher must uiiderstaiid tlic Indian also, au'l hence the nrcnt nc( essitv of the Socielv inc)re earne-^lly (linMtin.ti^ its attention to tiic e(luca- tiiiLi' and tiaininL'; of siiitahi',' i)ci'sonst() lie enijihiycd as teachers in the schools. ] hi'Iicve thai a school (tn some snch plan as the Industrial School- at Mnnc-'v town and Aldervllle. should, and mi;-;ht, 1,'e sucees^;- fully estahlished in soruf; eenti'al [)lace in the Terri- tory. A school for the instruction (d' (diihlrui, I)otli male and female, in the arts of life, and tlie I'udiments of science, as well as in the princijiles of tlic (dii'is- tian reliuion, forms the husis of the most eirudent missionai'v exertions amonu: the Indians ; and if sufdi a school was cstablislied at a convtMiicnt ))laec in the country, it would i)e as tlu^ dav ppi'iuL'' from on liiu'h to a re;j^ioii now, in a irreat deirree, over- spread by an intellectual and moral midnight. As the Hudson's l»ay romi)nny, from motives of inter- est, as well as from more noble considerations, woidd doubtless contribute sonu'thin;^^ to the support of such an institution, should it meet their a])]M'.)bation> the e.vitense of it would be less to the Missiouarv Ho- piety than iseoiu'iionly incMirr(Ml in similar edablish- mcnts, The ehildren and youth already mentioned iiii"iit be instructed in the arts of eiviliz(>d life, in if '■ ! snicuro, and in Cliristianitv ; and wlicn so Instructed they uould bo efjually useful as the instruments of spreading:' civilization, and tiio religion of the Gosj)el among the Indian tribes ; siicli persons l)cing fa- miliarly acquainted with the manners and customs and feelings of their own people, and being able to speak tin; language correctly and fluently, as well as liaving Indian blood circulating in their veins, would have ready access to the natives, and would doubt- less exert a most powei'ful influence over them. The aborigines of America arc cajiable of being exalted in the scale of existence, and of arriving even at eminence in 'he arts and sciences. 'J'lie eloquence and native oratory of some of these is proverbial in civilized countries, and has caused them to be enroIliMl among tlie sons of genius. Many of them afford abuiulant proof that they j)osses3 acute and ( omprehensive minds; and, as a people, their capacities are not Inferior to the whites ; and is there a people to be found on the earth, who are not raised above them by superior cultivation and rncntal improvement, who possess greater elevation of feeling, and who appear more nnijestic In mind ? Their virtues and their vices too are not those of an ignoble and mean mind Let their condition he im- proved by the arts of civilized life, their minds en- lightened and enlarged by science, and their hearts softened and renewed by the elevating influences of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they will assume if not a high, at least, a respectable rank UUDSONS RAY TEKKITOKY. 129 nmon^ the nations. Could wc hear some of their cleverest ni' n unfohl to \hv.\v coiiiilrvmen the won- derfiil s'henie of man's redemption thrtxiL;]! the sae- riliee of the lte" |)ar(v separated. All day 'I'ucsdav, the ll>lh.\vo were eonrmed in the "Five I'athom Hole," not Iieiu^^ aMe to get out for the want of strong favuiiraMe wind, llie wind being' a,i(ainst us. Wedncs- dav at H o'floc.l-:, a. ^r. we sailed. There were passeniCiTs in the cabin, Mr. and Mrs. Tom and two sons, Miss Bird, Mr. and Mrs. Hunter and child, Neal Finiinson, llsij., Doctor llac, Messrs. Boss jiml Steinhtiur. There were also about twenty-five steerag-e passeng'ers. The crew consists of twenty- four m"!i, besides the captain and first and second males, twcntv-sevcn in all. The " Prince of Wales" is a lint! s!ii[) of five hundred and fifty tons measure- ment. l)nt capable of carryinu^ ci^^ht hundred tons. Hhe has now on board more than live hmulred tons of fur skins. The trade of the North-west comj)any nuist lie immense. The cargo with which the ship is now freighted is estimated as worth not less than Xl'JO.OOO ^ta'dui^^. The three first days after sail- in'j; t!i(> brce/,e was light vet favourable ; but on Saturdav the 2 ilh the wind turned against us, and during the night we got entangled in the ice, or the ice became so thick around the ship that we were ol)liged to lay to and "wait for the morning;" but when the morning liidit came it did not brinove the water, and some half an a(!re in extent of surface ; it apj)e.ired HI)otlessly while and more like tin; dri|)j»in^ tinow tl »an iee. .lust as Die sun was settmi^ we passed five more icebergs : the rays of the seltini,' sun fall- int^ upon them pive them tlie appcaranee, in some j);u'ts, of variej^Mtcd eolours; and in other parts of brilliant whitentHs, which as seen in the distance were objects of beauty surpassinjii^ description. Saturday the 30th. — Last night we sailed about thirty mile} and are now in hit (53, and west long. 71. In the evening at tea during a conversation respecting the Esfjuimaux Indians, L'jiptain Heard presented me with an l'ls(piimau.\sj)ear which he had obtained from some natives on the Labrador coast. This ciu'iosily, with other articles, dear Sir, 1 will j)re- scnt througli you to the Missionary Committee, to be kept in your oflice, should I be sparcd to return to my native country. This morning the weather is line, and the wind fair, although we are nuiking slow progress, the breeze being very light. There is a splendiil iee-bcrg near us, the drapery of which is so Avhite as no fuller could whiten it. At two o'clock, p.m., we j)assed the "Savage Islands," situated in lat. Go, and long. 70 50. Another ice-berg just by, looms up to the height of uinety or a hundred feet above the water. Ircd -] -r IM'DSON's BAY TKUniTOIlY. 135 s i1»l);i 111, t he 1st of Scplcnilicr. I M.4 ni jjlit lit Iwcl V<'()'( ■l.H-l, ,\V(' cjiinc within iiliairsltiv a<)tli( iI'lxMti;^ (lest r(>V('( ll.y cotiiitiu: ill contact willi an icc- "TK — 'I'll.' •(• w: H ;i thick \vl iit(! loi; on tlic water at tlm tiiiit', ainl tlu! lirst the watch saw of the ice-bcr;^ wa;^ the (hisliin;^^ of tlie waves a,i,Minst its side. We were then witiiiii a few rods of it, and f^oin;^ at th(; rate (if lietween six and seven knots an hour. 'I'lie watrh sifaii',' from tiie 1)0W on tlie deck, and at the toj) of his voice, cried — " IJreakers ahead — down with tlie lu'hn — hanl up !" Tiic shij) instantly (d)ey- ed the ht'hn, and tliis saved us ; had we been one rod nearer to tlie ice-l)er;r, when it was discovered ; or had there been one half-nriiiiile's more delav, in •jjiviii^' the command ; or the ship have been one atom more tardy in obeyiii;,^ the helm — we should have fi,'one with our bow directly airainst the ice-lxM-pr, in which case all ap'co that nolhinjj^ could have pnnented the instant destruction of the vessel, and, as the captain afterwards said, in live minutes not one would have been left to tell the tale of the sad dis- aster. As it was, wli'Mi the ship came in contact with the ice-ber«r, she was turned perliaj)S one quar- ter round, and therefore struck with the cheek' of her bow, ami keelinu^ over a little, raked aloni^ the side of it, the collision breakini^ to atoms and carry- ing away the "cat-head,'' the spritsail-yard, the bumkin, the captain's boat called the near two acres in surface. 'J'he sid(; which the vessel struck was smooth or even, or comparatively so : this was most fortunate ; for had it been otherwise, we, should still havti l»een broken to pieces, or at least our masts would have been carried awav. The crash as it was, was tremendous. When the bulwarks <::avo way, the souml was as tliouiih the ship was break- iii'^ in t tiiose fearful fifteen minutes, I will not attem|)t to describe. All the days of my life will 1 nnider praise and thanks to the Supreme lieiiiL;-, for tlu; peace and composed- ness of mind he y'ave me durinij^ the tryinti^ crisis. — Throui^h this day the captain and all hands have been hard at work, endeavorini^ in some di'gree to repair the injury sustained by the ship, tliroui;h the sad oc- currences of last iiiirht. The captain supposes the amount of damaij^e done the ship to be more than (50 pounds : he seems a good deal (lesj)ondent, and says that no such accident had ever before befallen a vessel on which he sailed. The wind is hi-ih, and V. >:'^' X ''■ 1 '■6 ' ! - Ji 1 '7<^.^^' HUDSON S HAY TEI^^ITOKV. i;r directly airaiiist us ; we arc mukinjr, perhaps, no pro- press, but arc heatinf,^ about to avoid the iee-berj^s with wliirli we arc surrouutled ; fur two or three hours w(^ have been near the monster iee-lier*,' we struck hist night ; it ahiiost inuUes one'sbhjoil freeze in the veins to look at lis bold front of brea>i work, seventy-five or a Innulred feet aljovi^. the water ; it appears to be near!} four-stpiare. There are now in sit;ht thirteen icc-l)cri2;s : they surround us on every Ki(Je, like herculean beasts uf prey, waitinir to swal- low us up. I h)rLrot to say in the proj)er jihu-c, that we struck the ice-lnru' in lat. (Vi ;52, and huifr. 71 west. Tuesdav, Oct. .'5d. For six or seven davs we have beeu cimtendinu,' with a stroiii;' wind, tluu ('(Uitiinics to blow most spitv'fuDv atrain^t us. Jt is now the fourteenth day since we left the i'lve l'\ilh(>ni Hole at York, and we have vet more .he.n a hundred miles \o nnike, before reaching- tlu^ nioulli of the Straits I We arc also still surrounded witli ice- beri(s ; a few moments a^o tlu;i'e were ( ii;iiteen in sij^ht. Tlic win»l b in^- hiiih ;i;id elircctly against us, our ln'iter way would be tn i.a-to, but fur the ice- bei"L(s ; biit, that wh' may kccji nut of tlieir way. we are oldiged to keep the >liij) constantly sailing'. On the -Ith we cn'ountcreil one of the mo.-t ten-i- fie gales ever met \\ iili in tlicse waters. Our sails were torn to pieces, the jolly boat broken, andotlu'r- wise nnich injury done to the shijt, ami be-ides wei'c driven forty-live miles back towards I lud>on's ]>ay ; but by h'riday the (Jth, we ii ai rt gained our lost ground, and had reach', J the I'uttons Islands, at the i> ' 138 RKV. J. liYEllSONd VISIT TO .] moiitli of the Straits, passing tlicm at six o'clock in the eveiiinu^. For five days after we got out of tlie Straits, we had a fair wind and fine sailing. During the time we made more than a thousand miles of our voyage. We then met witli another gale, that last- ed for the most ])art of forty-eight hours, and did the ship much harm. During the rest of our voyage, the wind was mostly favourable. AVe arrived in London Oct. the 21)th, 1854. Allow me to remark in conclusion, that Vaptoin Heard is a most active and skilful commander ; and from no odicer with whom 1 ever sailed did 1 ever receive so manv acts of kiudness, and experience so much attention. — The passengers in the gentleman and ladies' cabins, amounting to sixteen in number, were also most kind and agreeable. AVe lived together like a family of brothers and sisters, all endeavoring to contribute to the welfare aad hapi)iness of each other. I expect to sail from Liverpool, for America, about the 2r)th ])roximo ; so I hope soon to have the pleasure of vitsiiigmy native land and home, and of seeing }ou, my Dear Sir, and my friends iu Canada. As ever. Rev, and Dear Sir, iSlost respectfully yours, J. KVKRSOX. The Rev. i:. AVood, kc. o'clock in out of the :. louring- liles of our , til at last- ndditl the r vovao^c}, irrivcd in to remark ost active leer with nariy acts eution. — s' cabins, ilso nio.st ?r like a orinf,'- to of each America, lo have oriie, and iends in urs, ORSOX. HUDSON S BAY TERRITORY. 139 L E T T K R XV. Ir'iNGSTOX, Feb. 8tli, 185;"). Kev. and Dear ^^ir, — Understandin<^ that it is your intention to publish the Letters respecting my late tour throuuh the 1 1 ud- son's r>ay Territory, (which 1 have taken the liberty of addressing to you,) in a more substantial form than in the colunms of a newspa])er, it has occurred Lo me that some general remarks in rdcreiiie to several of the matter.^ mentioned in the ct)rres|)on- dence nnght'.ot be o''t of place in an additional let- ter or two. In my last letter I stated that I arrive, 1 was detained on the road between Boston ajid liranfford three days and two nights, so that T (bii not reach home until Fri- day evening, the ^'Jth of December. On arriving I '!■ MO REV. J. KYRRSONS VISIT TO '.,'? at lioino T found my f;unily and friends well, and I need not tell you that 1 was <2;Iad (o meet and em- brace them after an al.»sencc of seven months; durini^ which time I had travelled nearly ten thousand miles; was exposed to all kinds of weather ; endured all kinds of fati^'ue ; was exposed to all kinds of dan- gers, yet without roceivin.ur any ])ersonal injury, or LM'in;^' one day detained duriuL,^ the whole tour by niekin'ss. To that gracious J'rovidence which watches over the servants of (lod with more than parental kindness, numliering the hairs upon their heads, and guidinii' their (]\'ery step, I desire to ren- der hearty praise luid thanks fr the many deliver- ances wrought out forme, and ihc secure protection that was continually aliorded me. 'I'he nu)de of travellin;j,- in \hi Hudson's l^ay Ter- ritory is nov(d, and for tiie most part dane!-t's Land is either on foot, with sno\v-.>ho('s, or in slei.ges drawn by dogs. The In- dian snow -slitii' is formed of two pieces of light wood, fastened together at both ends, and spread out near the mid -1 :4 m n'Mi.'"ii|;jii;:'i!i;:'*i \ n fi 1 M ': I' 'i, J I .1: HUDSON S HAY TKKKITORV. 141 five feet long, and from fourt(;en to citrlitecii inclics wide. On llioso shoos an Indian, or any •,'ood trav- cll(!r, for instance sucli as Dr. liac, will travel thirty, forty, and they sometimes, when hard pressed, even aecomplish lifty miles a day, or within the twenty- four hours. The Hudson's IJay sleigh, or eariole, is made of a very thin board, usually not more than half a:i inch thick, and twenty or twenty-four inches wide, and ten feet lon^', turned up at the front end two and a-half leet. On this thin and smooth ])lat- form U !)ui!t a V)oxof very lij^ht wooden frame-work, covered with the skin of animals, leaving' a sunicient space behind for the traveller's casette, or trunk. 'J'hesc sleiuhs are drawn by four, six, or eight dogs, and attended or driven by two Indians — one of them going before the dogs to guide them, the other fol- lowing the sledge to steady it, and keep it from up- setting. With such a team, travellers journey thirty, forty, and fifty mil(\s a day ; and they have been known to make over sixty miles in a day. The British territory north of Saultdc Ste. Marie, and extending from the Labrador coast, in the cast, 142 IlKV. J. RYKRSONS ViaiV TO ■'f ]^: t'l. to N'cw Calcduiila, iiiid the ^liorc of Iln> riU'ific Ot'ciui, west ; in the houinls of wliicli is Kiipcrt'.s liiiTi'l, or tic ITudson's IJiiy Territory jjroper, isoiie-ihiril hirizi'P thun nil Miirope. \n (nimy jKirtsof tills iiinneiisc country tliure is a fjjrcut le lo- calities iii tlu; Territoi'v for Missions, wheri^ tli(! Indi- ans coidd he coiij:^rei;ated to<^etherand settleil in villa- p,es i>r on farms, and where the sciences, as also the an- or agriculture and mechanism could he scien- tilically and practically tauj^dit them. The lowest estimate I heard made of the number of Indians in the 'IVrritory, was two hundred thou- sand souis ; and some persons supposed there mitzht be, and ])robably were, not less than three, four, or even five hundretl thousand. What an invitinij" (ield, " whiteninj;' unt(> ilie harvest," does this reu;ion open up to the philanthropist, and the Christian Church! and the more so liocau.se of the friendliness and so- briety of the numerous Indian tribes, their great o r Iho ]»ariflc li is Iiiipci't'.s itory )ii'()|)('r, (iiiiiiy parts of (loal of L'xcel- I'ul purposes ; ilitio-^ sdtitli of auiiiiK'r uraiii illi tli(! ^nvut- 'licro is not to riclici-, and a M'lkirlv Settlo- JviTs ; and in re niillions of pially suited, dautieiiltural of siiital)!L' lo- ior(! tli(! Iiidi- L'tt!e(l in villa- s, as also tlio )uld l)t! scicii- f tlio iiiMuber niidrod thon- 1 there miiiht lireo, four, or invitiiii;- tield, 1 region open tian Churcli! iiiess and so- tlieir great hidson's hay tkimmtory. ija favoiiraldeness towards Clirlstianily, tliejr iM.tirc wiliiii-(iehed anion- them for the education of their eliildren and the risiiiL,^ ueiieration. '''•'■^' rnliov/in;,^ are the prineipal, or at least the mo>t nninen.ns and noted trihes in the country :— Seauteaiu or (Miippi-uas, Trees, Stone In.hany, Siou.v, IJhiek Feet, Ohipeu-yans, rn.us, Shive- Iiidians, and Flathea, w- ^^Ta IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 ' ^ 112.2 I.I I. ^ 2.0 1.8 Photographic Sciences Corporation 1.25 1.4 1.6 ■9 6" ► '^" ^-^^ ^^St> 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 t/j I f %^ ■ '?:!l 'I ,? .I*^ 'F % ilr 144 REV. J. RYERSON S VISIT TO deal, yet tliey prefer tlie bow and arrow, which they use with surprisinj^ skill and cxpertness. The Carriers, who call themselves " Ta Cullies," which it i.s said sij^iiifics " The people that go upon the waters," all reside west of the Rocky Moun- tains ; their language is very similar to that of the (Miinewyans ; they are very friendly with the white people, and well disposed to the white man's religion. The Crce Indians inhabit the country on the Hudson's Bay, north and south of Hayes River, some two or three hundred miles each way, and thence westerly, to Norway House, and thence up the Sascatchawin River, a thousand miles to Ed- monton Place, near the Rocky Mountains. Of the Cree Indians I learnt the most, and with them had the most intercourse, and, therefore, with respect to them, may be allowed to say the more at length. The personal appearance of the men of this nation is prepossessing and inviting ; they have active looking figures, fine intelligent countenances ; and their ever active eyes are black, clear, and quick. Their average height is about five feet six inches ; their persons are generally not very muscular, but they are wiry, well built, and are capable of endur- ing great fatigue. Dr. Rae's best men were Creo Indians, and one of the most vigorous and active of his party wiis a Wesleyan, from the Rossville Mis- sion. Perhaps the Indian women of this tribe, on the ■whole, are not so good looking as the men ; many of them have a down-cast look, and are rather awk- HUDSON S BAY TERRITORY. 145 kvliicli tlioy 1 CullieV it go upon ;ky Moun- :o til at of : witli the liito man's ry on tlio lyes River, way, and thence up les to E(l- is. Of the I them liad respect to at length, this nation ave active mces ; and and quick, six inches ; scular, but 3 of endur- were Cree d active of ssville Mis- ribe, on the len ; many "ather awk- ward in their gait ; this may arise from the hard- ships they endure, and the unkind treatment of their husbands ; for the Cree Indian in his pagan state, like all other aborigines of America, makes a complete slave of his wife, and all the females de- pendent upon him, or subject to him. But still I saw many Cree women who were not a whit inferior in their personal appearance to their husbands, and in intellect and propriety of conduct were vastly their superiors. This was especially observable among the Christian Crees. Christianity raises woman to her proper position ia the social circle, and they, devoting themselves to the cultivation of the mind, and the pursuits of religion, with more earnestness and diligence than the men, have made proportiona- bly greater improvements. Mr. Ballantyne says, " There is no music in the soul of a Cree." This may be, and probably is true, of the soul of a pa^an Cree, but it is not true of the soul of a christian Cree, or any other christian Indian. Paganism has no music in it any where, or with any people ; it i3 a monotonous system of unkindness, gloom and sor- row, from the beginning to the end ; but Christian- ity, the constraining love of Christ — the sweet music of the Saviour's name — puts music into the soul of the heathen, even of the pagan Cree, and brings out the music also in fervent aspirations after Christ, and in melodious songs of praise to the honour of his name. I wonder at the statement, " that there is no music in the soul of a Cree," by the amiable and clever author of " Every Day Life in the Wilds E I t ^1 '-3' * I 146 REV. J. RYERSON S VISIT TO of North America"— seeing that Mr. B. had tisited the Wcsleyaii Mission among the Crees at Iloss- ville, near Norway House, and hud tliere the oppor- tunity of witnessing the power of the (iospel on the souls of th.o Crees, and of listening to the harmonious notes of sacred music, which well-tuned voices poured forth in sounds sera- phic, in honour of the Saviour who had redeemed them, and Avashed them from their sins in his own blood. I had also the opportunity of witnessing their devotions ; of looking on their glad and lighted up countenances, and of listening to the sweet melodious music with which they thanked and praised their great Creator : and then, especially, it seemed to me strange that any one could venture the assertion " that there is no music In tl; ■ soul of a Cree" When I was at York depot, there were encamped outside of the fort some dozen families of Cree Indians ; three or four of the camps were in- habited by christians, a number of whom were excellent singers. I seldom passed the camps of these christian Indians without hearing them singing; this was especially the case on the Sabbath days. I was many times delighted and refreshed with the sound of old and familiar tunes, which reminded me of by-gone days, and of a home and a land that were then afar off. And then the melodiousness and correctness of their singing, I have seldom heard equalled, and still more seldom excelled. '• No ' music in the soul of a Cree ;" why, when converted, his soul is full of music, and he has a voice well m IIUD80NS BAY TERRITORV. 147 d tisited at Koss* e oppor- (iospel uiing to •, which ds sera- cdcemed sins in unity of beir glad ig to the liked and cially, it venture soul of a 3re were milies of were in- )m were araps of singing; th days', with the nded me md that 'iousness seldom d. "No inverted, >ice well adapted to give delightful exprension to that music, and the heart-stirring and cheering emotions which Christianity, and cln*istiunity alone, inspires. One day, unattended by an interpreter, I went into one of the cliristian Indian camps, the inmates of which could speak no English, or French ; T con- sequently could hold no conversation with them ; but the Indian took down a parcel, and after re- moving six or eight covers of skin, y saying' that most of his relations had dicid before he ate them. In a few days after this the party of Indians took their departure from the house, to proceed to their village in the forest ; and, shortly after, Westagun and Natappe also left to rejoin their tribe. The news of their deeds, however, had preceded them 80 they were received very coldly ; and soon after \Vessagun pitched his tent,the other Indians removed, with one accord, to another place, as though it were impossible to live happily under the shadow of the same trees. This exasperated Wessagun so much, that he packed up his tent and goods, launched his canoe, and then, before starting, went up to the vil- lage, and told them it was true he had killed his re- latives, and that he was a conjuror, and had both power and inclination to conjure them to death too. lie then strode down to the banks of the river, and embarking, with hisson, shot out intothe stream. The unhappy man had acted rashly in his wrath. There is nothing more dangerous than threatening to kill a savage, as he will certainly endeavour to kill the person who threatens him, in order to ren- M: HUDSON rt HAY TKPUITORY. 155 ins wan- th(! firo, viis still >il Wos- loiiation ipo, and iMr. C. n of the [1^' tliut them, lis took to their essagun c. The id them on after enioved, 1 it were w of the much, chcd his > the vil- d his re- lad both death :hc river, ; stream, is wrath, eatening ivour to r to ren- der the execution of his purpose impossible. Wos- s.i,niii hat] no sooner dfparted, than two men coolly to.»k up their guns, entered a ca-joe, and followed tlu'Mi. V\)on arriving at u sijcliidc!;! spot, one of tlu^'in raised his gun ami fired at Wcssagun, who fell over th;; yide of the canoe, and sunU to rise no more. With the rapidity of tliought, Natappe seized his father's gun, sprang ashore, and bounded up the bank ; a shot was firetl, which went through the fleshy part of his arm, and the next moment he was beliin;! a tree. Here he called out to the Indians, wiio were reloading their guns, not to kill him, and he would tell them all. After a little consideration, they agreed to spare him ; he (mibarkcul with them, and was taken, soon nfteiwards, to the fort, where he remained many years in the Company's service." Now it is quite evident that Wessagun was indu- ced to kill his relatives from the ahkorrcnce of what is called by some persons, cannibalism ; and though, by the bitings of starvation, he liimself was subse- (pKMitly driven to commit the same dreadful deed, yet, because of it, he was treated as an outcast, being shunned and abhorred by all the members even of his own tribe. or the food, the dress, the camps, the hunting, &c., of the Indians of Rupert's Land, 1 have no time to say anything at present ; but will conclude my too long letter, by begging to remind you, my dear Sir, atul the Christian public generally, that the exten- sive field of the Hudson's Bay Territory, is now open before you and the Missionary Society. This ■'1; i .ft?' >£;!:; '\r 15G REV. J. RYERSON S VISIT, ETC. large portion of tlic Saviour's vineyard, before His servants lies ; in every part of it there are efTectiial doors open, into which your missionaries may at any lime enter and cultivate Kmmanucrs land. Indeed this innnensc Territory is every where whitening unto the harvest, and the Macedonian cry, "come over and help us," with an unmistakable distinctness, is heard from all parts of it. AVill the friends of the Saviour, the friends of hu- manity, respond to this call ? " Shall we. wliosc souls are lii,'hte(l Willi wisdom fiotn on h\a;h; Shall we, lo iiicii htiiij^liteiJ, The lainporiiCe deny ."' No, no, this ca-mot, this must not be ! I am, as ever. He v. and Dear Sir, Most faithfully, and aflectionately, yours, J. Hyekson. The Rev. Enoch Wood, President, &c. &c. &c. APPENDIX. CHAPTER I . THE SELKIRK COLONY. In conversation with an esteemed friend, a few days since, he expressed a refrret, that I had not in my letters respectinpr the Hudson's Bay, given a more particular account of the Assineboine and Hod llivcrs ; and the locality and extent of the Selkirk Settlement. In order to supply as far as I can, any defect in my notice of the Colony, I have thought it right to make the few following remarks respcoting it: — The Red Iliver rises in thcTM-ritory of Minnesota, in the United States, a little west of the Mississippi llivcr and considerably to the south of the sources of tiie latter ; it runs northward, and eventually discharges its waters through Lake Winnipeg, into Hudson's Bay. It is navigable for boats, for more than one hundred and fifty miles from the mouth. The Assineboine River takes its rise west of the mouth of the Red River, some hundred and fifty, or two hundred miles north of Swan Lake. It forms a junction with Red River, fifty degrees forty minutes north latitude, and fifty-five mile^ from the r\ Wi ■Miri'-; 158 REV. J. UYERSON S VISIT TO month of the hitter, where it empties itself into Lake Wiiinipef^ ; consequently, the united stream is fiCtv-five miles lon<^. There is no habitiible land on either side of lied River, for twelve miles from its mouth. Ascending the river twelve miles, you come to the Indian settlement, where the Church Missionary Society has a Mission. This settlement extends five miles along the river on both its banks, at the upper end of which and five miles below Lower Fort Garry, commences the Selkirk Colony, or Red River Settlement, extending thirtv miles on cither side of Red River, to Upper Fort Garry, (which is situated at the point of junction between the Assiiieboine and Red Rivers) ; from thence twenty-five or thirty miles on either side of both rivers : so that the settlement lies in the form of the letter Y. The French settlement is on loth sides of Red River, above its junction with the Assineboine, to the upper end of the settlement, and below the junction only on the east side. That })ortion of the settlement consisting of Kurojieans and Jlalf- breeds, is situated on the west side of Red River, and from the junction ofthe two rivers, on both sides of the Assineboine, to the upper end of the western branch of the settlement. All the settlers are professedly farmers, though half of them live a great deal more by hunting, voyaging, or fishing than by farming. There is no second tier of farms ; they all front no the river, are deep, narrow, and much like those of the French on the River St. Lawrence. 'I'lic settlement is on an extensive plain, or prairie, which extends, somewhat broken and inter- spersed with timber, north-east towards Lake Win- nipeg- ; to the west, it is a vast, unbroken plain to the Rocky Mountains. Above the settlement on Red River, and below it on Lake WinnipeL*", are ex- tensive tracts of timber,— pine, oak, white-wood, poi)lar and cedar. The river is free from ice about the first of May, and closes about the fiist or tenth of November. The thermometer in winter some- times falls as low as 42 degrees below zero, of Fahrenheit ; but the general temperature is from 5 to 15 degrees above zero. From three and a half to four feet of snow falls in the winter, but rain is unknown from November to April, during which period a thaw never occurs. The almost miraculous rapidity of Spring compensates for the long winter months. The farmers raise wheat, outs, barley, pota- toes, and all kinds of garden vegetables in abun- dance, also horses, horned cattle, sheep and hogs. The wheat is equal to any in the world, weighing from O.") to TO pounds to the bushel ; barley and oats are also heavy, and the potatoes of the best quality. Indian Corn is raised, but it is not relied on as a sure crop. The land is never manured, for it never needs it. The Hudson's Bay Company pay regularly, only however, for what they wish to consume, except in seasons of scarcity, four shillings and four pence, Canada currency, per bushel lor ■'' ll •Hi IGO REV. J. RVERSON S VISIT TO fi ;. i'! i < wheat ; 2s. Gd. for oats and barley, and Is. 3d. for potatoes, There is no export trade in the colony. They receive their supplies of dry goods, woollen cloths, and liquors, from York Factory, a store of the Hudson's Bay Company, on Hudson's Bay, eight hundred miles from Red Klver. Some of the tra- ders, perhaps most of them, order their goods from England, but they are always brought to Vork Depot in the Company's ships. It requires more than two months to make the journey from Red River to York Factory ; and there are thirty-seven portages to be made in that distance. The wheat is ground by wind mills, of which there are eighteen, and two water millf. : there are no suw mills, aU the deals or boards used being cut by whip saws. In the settlement there are no fulling mills, or manufactories of any kind. The hunters, who are mostly half-breedg, do little else than hunt buflfalo. They make two grand ex- cursions each year— one commencing on the 20th of June, and lasting two months, and the other on the 20th of September, lasting to the 10th of No- vember. Besides providing themselves with buffalo meat— upon which the professed hunters chiefly live, they bring in great quantities of it for sale. They also prepare great quantities of pemican, which is used for food, and buffalo tallow, which is used for light; indeed, the buffalo fat makes as good candles as beef tallow. The buffalo meat, both fat and lean (: paclvct to the South, of writing to you. I shall ever esteen^ it a privilege to communicate with you from time to time as opportunities present, and I hope you will not fail to write us occasionally as your numerous engagements will allow. Mrs. Brook- ing and myself frequently dwell with gratification on the kindness and respect we received from you during our long and arduous journey to this coun- try. Every day more strongly convinces iie that your coming to Hudson's Bay was of the utmost impor- tance to the future well being of these Missions. I am thankful that we have now got our house very comfortably fixed for the winter, though not quite finished, we hope to have it completed HUDSON S BAY. APPENDIX. 163 in tlio inside by Cliristmiis. The great clay chim- ney 'whicli stood in the centre of the house I removed altogether, and have got a small one erected in the roof for the two stove pipes. 15y this arrangciment we have an excellent passage through the house, and a good celhir where the chimney stood. Out of the large room on the right hand side, we have now a comfortable living-room, asnmll but convenient bed-room, and a small store closet. On the other side we have a good bed-room, and a small sitting-room, on which I am now at work, and hope to have it finished in about a week. All this I have done, besides making several articles of fur- niture, with my own hands, and busy enough I have been, I can assure you. It is true I had the servi- ces of a young man, a boat-builder, who came out in the ship, that assisted in rough-plaining some of the boards, but he has returned to Oxford House, his services being required there. In addition to this, we have erected a good fish-house ; so you see that we have not been idle. I have still a hard winter's work before me, as you must be aware, in getting out wood, and erecting the other necessary buildings for the successful carrying on of this Mis- sion. We have also got our Church in such a state as to answer our purpose during the present winter. I am glad that I have as yet no cause to alter my opinion in reference to the situation of the Mission. We have already upwards of twenty families who 164 REV. .J. RYERSON S VISIT TO make tliis tliuir home, and more are coiniiiji^ in tlie sprinj^ on their return from luinting. AVe cannot of course, expect tliat all the Indians ivill at once. give vp their icandcrinif habit, and settle doicn into civilized life ; thi.s wouUl be contrary to tlio nature of thinf^a. It nnist 1)0 a work of time ; and 1 am fully convinced that when the large mass of tliom see the superior advantages of such a course, that no insuperable dinicultieswill be met with in iicttiiig them together. I also think that no better place could be selected, as there is more good land extend- ing along for four or five mil(!S on the slior(;s of this beautiful bay, than can be found in one place, any- where else in this neighbourhood. We have already formed a Society by receiving upwards of twenty on trial ; and the blessed Lord is evidently carrying on a gracious work. AVhen the Indians are all at liome our usual comrreiz-ation consists of upwards of a hundred persons, and at times considerably more ; not one who is not pre- vented by sickness, in the whole settlement, but what attend the means of grace ; and their apj>oarance would do credit to those whose circumstances are more propitious than theirs. Just now our congre- gation consists of women and children, the men being absent on their winter hunt. They return again at Christmas, and remain a few days, when they go off aud remain away until the ice breaks up in the spring. My opinion in reference to the Honourable Com- pany's treatment of the Indians has undergone no n HUDSON K BAY. — API'ENDIX. 165 change. I Jim quite convinced that, all things con- aiiloi\hl, it is the best system that could well be de- vised. The Indians here are far better oil' than they arc in Canada. The Company supplies them with articles of excellent quality, at prices far more reasonable than the same articles can be obtained for in Canada. Those who from old age and infir- mities are not able to procure their own living arc greatly assisted, and in some cases wholly maintain- ed at the Company's establishments. Then as to intemperance, I have seen no persons, either tvhite or red since I came to the country who have shown the lea-;t symptom of this detestable vice. I have every reason to believe, therefore, that the Company's treatment of the Indians is highly conducive to their welfare. I, of course, speak in reference to those who are more immediately under the Com- pany's controul. The striking contrast between those and the Lac La Pluie Indians, wlio have ac- cess to the Ameriean Fur Traders, will best illustrate this. For they, as you are aware, are a set of raga- muiTiiis, if indeed such a ter n can be applied to those who, when we passed them, were nearly in a state of nudity. I must now proceed to mention a few of our wants. I was greatly perplexed for a bell to call our people together at the services, and puzzled my brains to find out a substitute ; we had not even a tin horn, which would have done pretty well. I at length bethought me of the large pit saw, which s ;'?; 4 j;r, 166 RKV. J. RYKR80N 8 VISIT TO wlien hun<( up and beaten with a Btiek imide a tolerable substitute ; but it cannot be heard very far. A bell, therefore, we must have as soon as possible. We also want a Sacramental Service, if one can bo obtained. I believe Mrs. ]>. has written her friends both in Canada and England for sonic such things as worsted thread, needles, itc, in or- der that the females may be instructed in knitting and sewing «tc.; and also j)iece§ of prints and calico, and such things as will make the litlle school girls dresses. A)iy of these things which our friends in Canada are disposed to contribute, should be sent off to England, so as to arrive there early in May, as the shi]) leaves London about the first of June. We also want above all things the prayers of the faitliful : ours is an arduous and important undertak- ing. Our position is an isolated one. We have none here to sympathise with us, and have many difficulties and temptations peculiar to the position we occupy. Urge this upon the attention of our dear people at home, and then I am sure we shall not fail to have an interest in their prayers, and a share in their benevolence. I had almost forgotten to say that your name is likely to be perpetu- ated in these parts ; Mr. Sinclair, our Schoolmaster and Interpreter, has given to his youngest son, born since his arrival on this Mission, the name of Joim Ryerson, as a token of respect. Yours, &c., U. Brooking. The Rev. John Ryerson, Co-Delegate, &c., HUDSON S BAY. — ArPEKDIX. 167 niiide a ml very soon U8 Tvicc, if 5 written or Konic c, in or- knittiug d calico, lool girls ricnda in 1)0 sent in May, f June. re of the mdertak- V'e have /■e many position n of our we shall s, and a brgotten Dcrpetu- olmaster on, bora of John OKING. r II A r T fi R III. LETTER 1<1U)M A CUEE LABOURER. Oxford House, Dec. 9th, 1854. To TiiR Rev. Jonx IlyFRsoy. Having been called upon by you to bibour with the Missionary at this i)hu'e, I cannot let thin oppor- tunity pass without dropping you a few lines, because I know you are very anxious to hear from the Mission field ; and I believe many of your Christiana in Canada will uc interested to hear of the rapid progress of Christianity among the people of this place. Since our arrival at this place many of then\ have been bapti/.ed, and embraced the truth of Christianity ; but we still look forward, praying to our heavenly Father that more souls may be added to our numbers. But we are sorry to state, though not utterly cast down, that we still have heathenish ignorance around us to destroy, horrible darkness to dispel, hearts of stone to break, as you beheld on your way down to York Factory. But we are not discouraged ; we are looking for- ward to see the final triumph of the blessed Gos- pel in every part of this habitable place. Wc thank you with our hearts for your visit to Oxford Mission, and we earnestly pray you to remem- ber us now that you are in Canada among yout friends. la memory of you, and your visit to this 168 RKV. J. RYKIWON S VISIT TO >^ place, I liiivc given your liotioured name, " John llyerHon/' to my infant, who was baptised by the ]lev. 11. BrookiBf^ two weelvs aji^o. Althou' HUDSON S BAY. AITRNDIX. Si There is another curious statement in this lected article ; it says l)r. llae and his party " were 100 miles beyond the region inhabited by the Es- quimaux," Now, Dr. Kae went no farther north than the neighborhood of IVlla Bay, where through- out all the region round about there arc found Ks- quimaux. But the most curious of all is the " god-send" affair of this article ; — it says " the sliip was a great god-send to these people, and tliey now all have good sledges, spears, canoes, &c., of oak wood." Is it not very mysterious that Dr. ]{ae, with his inter- preter at his side, should know nothing of these god- sent " sledges, spears, canoes, &c., of oak wood," among the Esquimaux with whom he had inter- course, and that one of his servants should know all about these articles ? "Why one would suppose that charity itself, if nothing else, would have in- duced this man to let his master know somethin"" about these "canoes, &c^ of oak wood ;'' l<»r cer- tainly nothing could have been more gratify in" to Dr. Rae and the friends of Sir John Franklin, than to have procured even a splinter of the " oak-wood" belonging to the ship on board of which the lament- ed hero had sailed und perished. It is also very wonderful how these Esquimaux of Pella Day region found &?ir John Franklin's ships, — how they got to the dismembered fragicents; and after reaching them, how they were able with no tools of their own, and with no knowledge of the tools used in civilized so- ciety, to convert the materials of the ships into good •'I ■, It m . 182 HKX. J. RYKRS0N8 VISIT TO oak wood canoes, — a kind of canoe that no Kscjuitnaux (imd porlmps no))ody else) ever saw, — and a canoe that wouhl be as great a curiosity at J'elhi Hay, as wouhl the sight of a man walking on his head through the streets of Toronto. -An Ks- quiniaux wouhl know as much about building a canoe of "oak wood" as a shipwright in Liverpool would know abont building one of birch bark. The idea of an Ksquimaux throwing away his little "tub skin boat" (for the canoes are made of skin and very light) and undertakingto manufacture one of oak wood! How preposterous I Why you might as well talk about the Indians or voyagcurs between LakeSupcrior andNorway] louse throwingaway their bark canoes and undertaking to build others of ?Von. I3ut how did the Esquimaux find the ships, and get to them ? The territory occupied by the Esquimaux in those parts, for the purpose of hunting and fish- ing, does not extend within several hundred miles of the place where it is supposed (by those who have had the best opportunities of being well in- formed on the subject, and therefore are the best qualified to give an opinion) Sir John's ships were lost. Dr. Rae supposes that he himself was not within at least five or six hundred miles of the whereabouts of the ships' fatal disaster, and yet he was certainly at the very northern outskirts of the region where the Esquimaux roam and hunt. The selected article says Dr. Rae was "100 miles be- beyond the region inhabited by the Esquimaux." Well then how could those untutored Esquimaux HUDSON A HAY. — AITENDIX. 183 The luive found their Wiiv, and made the journev over tlio hills anil inonntiiiiis of jicrpetuid snow mid ice ; uiul over ehanncls of water too, — for they would have to cross wi(h3 erack.s or openin^r-^ in the iee ; — all this, in search of ships of which they liad never licard ; inch-ed, it is more tlian probable 'that tlu'y did not even know of the existence of any such thiiii^ as a ship. Surely, if the Ksquimaux of Repulse ]>ay, found and succeeded in gettinj:^ to Sir John's shi])S, it must liave been a '• godsend," for in no other way than by su])ernatural agency, does it seem to me they )uld have known the one or ae- comj)lished the other. The undou1)ted trutli is, tluit the Ksquinuiux never saw anything of the ships, and therefore never got anything from them, with the exception of a few articles, such as Dr. llao men- tions, and which seem to have been found near the bodies of those who had perished. As so little seems to be known of the Esquimaux in this country, you will allow me before closing this letter to make one or two remarks respectmg them. My knowledge of this singular people is princi- pally derived from Dr. llae, and Neal Finlinson, Esq. ; the latter having spent forty-one years in the Territory, in the service of the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company, five years of which he was at the Esquimaux station in Ungava Bay. Mr. Firdinson was at York during my stay at that fort ; he was also fellow passenger from York to London, when I !''i :: i 'I :.i' f ft ■ ,■!■ ) :Pfi: 'i 18i REV. J. ryp:rso\3 visit to frequcMitly saw him and had with him many highly interesting interviews. We sometimes speak of the Esquimaux as 7.i- dians, and I have IVei^uently fallen into the error myself,— however, they are not American Indians, but a race quite distinct from, and in many respects very dissimilar to them. It is believed, and not without the strongest evidence, that the Esquimaux, particularly those from the mouth of Beck's Iliver, eastward, are of the same origin with the native Greenlanders, and I suppose there is no dispute among historians, with regard to th^ aborigmes of Greenland, being of European origin. Grant, in his history of (Jreenland asserts on the authority of the Moravian Missionaries, that the Esquimaux and the Greenlanders are of the same origin, and that their language, at present, " does not differ as much as the high and low Dutch." It is remarkabje that the Es- quimaux are never found far in the interior of the country, but their dwelling places and hunting grounds are all along on the coasts, — never perhaps one league from them, and very seldom more than half that distance. The length of their territory on the northern shore of the western continent, is immense. In coming from Europe you first meet with the Esquimaux on the coast of Labrador, — thence they are to be met with on both sides of Hudson's Strait, — on the western coast of Fox Channel, — then west to Victoria District ; still proceeding west you find them all along on the coast of the Polar Sea, to the Esquimaux Lake and HUDSON S I5AY. AITKNOIX. 185 ly highly x: as 7.1- he error Indians, respects and not luimaux, 's Kiver, e native dispute ignies of nt, in his tj of the : and the lat tlieir :;h as the : the Es- Dr of the Imntin"' perliaps ore than territory inent, is rst meet rador, — sides of of Fox t; still : on the lake and the mouth of Mackenzie liivor,— thence in the Rus- sian 'I'erritory, on the coast of the Icy Ocean, to Belu-ing's Straits ;— tlicnce .^o'.illi along the eastern shore of the Straits to Norton's Sound, und indeed all along the coast as far as Prince William's Sound, a distance of firteen iiundred leagues, or four thou- sand five hundred miles from the Labrador coast. The Esquimaux in his pagan state has no fixed abode, but roves from place to place on the coasts, and it is said that those of Labrador sometimes come south as far as Newfoundland. I have said that the J']squimaux are of a dliu.'rent race from the other native Americans, fur they not only o])eak entirely a different language, but while other tribes have no beards, they have them so thick and long that it is sometimes difficult to discern any feature o^f their faces ; they are likewise the only savages that eat their food in a raw state. They are of' a mid- dling stature, generally robust, but lazy, and of a brown colour. Their head is large, and their face round and flat ; they have thick lips, a fiat nose, long black hair, large shoulders, and, it is said, un- commonly small feet. In cold weather, (and it is almost always cold where they roam,) they are well clothed, for there is nothing to be seen but part of their faces, and their hands. I am informed that they have a sort of shirt, made of the entrails of fish, with coats made of bear, deer, or bird skins, and that they also wear ca])s on their heads. They likewise wear breeches nuide of skins, with the hair inwards, and covered with furs without ; also, two Uf . tl ■^(J' m g. :■•■ If ' iS. .i i! - I '?(■■■ p?. ■ pairs of boots, one over the other, of the same sort of skins. In the summer, like the voyageurs of Hud- son's Bay Territory, they have nothing to cover them in the night ; and in the winter they lodge in tents made of hides, or in caves. Their chief em- ployment is hunting and fishing. As a general thing they are a remarkably mild tribe or nation, particularly those who dwell in the eastern part of the continent. Murder is seldom heard of among them ; a murderer is shunned and detested by all the tribe, and forsaken even by his relations and former friends. The women, in their heathen state, as is the case with all American pagans, perform the most laborious offices ; they pitch the tent, carry or haul burthens, make and mend clothes, and prepare the victuals. "When anything is prepared for eating, the wives and daughters are never served until all the males have taken what they think proper. The dress of the women is not very dissimilar to that of tlie men. Of the Christian Esquimaux, belonging to the Moravian Mission, on the Labrador coast, I for- bear to say anything, as sources of information with regard to them are within the reach of almost every person. As ever, yours, Yery affectionately, J. Ryerson. The Rev. Enoch Wood, &c., &c., &c. amc sort of llutl- to cover lodge in jbiei'em- i general r nation, I part of ' among (1 by all ions and en state, form tbo carry or l)repare r eating, until all r. The that of to the I for- on with it every RSON. CHAPTER VI. PORTAGES, DISTA^'CES, &c. Aamcs of Portages and the Distances betiveen them—^Yames of Lakes, and their lengths— JS'ames of Rivers and their lengths, tj'C. — obli- gingly furnished by G. E. Johnson, Es(iuire, Re- corder of Rupert's Land, ivho accompanied His Excellency, Sir Geokge Simpson, Governor, in the Spring of 1854, from Montreal to Red River. KAMINISTAQUOIAII RIVER. From Fort William to rarapliiic Portage 25 miles. "Mountain " 7 « " li]carte " l « " De I'isle " 4 « " Recousi " i « " Contcnu " ^ « "Martin " 19 « " Little Dog " J «' "Dog " 8 J « "Dog " 15 « FROM DOa RIVER to Barricre Portage 37 « " Jourdain " 3 « " Coldwater " 8 « " Praiiio " (5 miles long.) ... .4} « " Milieu " I " J,'', To Savanne " (4 J miles long)* • • • li miles. Small Lakes 1 " Savanne River 24 " Mille Lacs 32 " Portage Pante • • • » " Little DichargePortage 11 " French Portage (2^ miles long) 5 " PortagedesMortes 13 " Portage deux Rivieres 3 " Sturgeon Lake (to Riviere Maligne) • . 25 " RIVIERE MALIGNE. To First Portage 1 " " Second " J " Third " 8 " " Portage I)e Tile 5 " " Lac laCroix»««» ••• 2 " Across Lac La Croix to River Namacaa* 10 " RIVER NAMACAN. To First Portage 2 « " Second " 5 " " Third " 8 « " Fourth " 2 " " Lake Namacan 7 " Lake Namacan • • 9 " Portage Neufs and Creek down to Lac La Pluie 7 " Lac La Pluie to River 38 " To Fort Frances 2 " Lac La Pluie to Lake of the Woods. ... 83 " HUDSON S BAY. APPENDIX. 189 (< <( (( it <( II (( u (( « u « ti i( a i( Lake of the Woods to Rat Portan^e 08 miles. WINIPEG RIVER. Dalles 14 " Grand Dechargc 20 " Terre Jaiinnc Portage 3 " Charette " 100 yards. Terre Blanche " 1 mile. Cave " 100 yards. Portage De Tile 18 miles. Chute a Jacquct 26 I'ointe du bois Portage 9 " Pointc aux Chenes " 100 yards. lloches Brulles " 1 mile. Chute des Esclaves" 5 " Barriere " 7 " Grand Rapid 8 " AVhiteRiver * 8 " Six portages together in White River* • 5 " Lac de Bonet 8 " Aeron " 13 " ^'ap de bonnet Portage. 1 «' Middle " 1 Grand " 5 " Petites Roches " | " Terre Blanche " 4 " 1st Eau que meut 3 " 2nd " » 100 yards. 3rd " " 8 miles. Fort Alexander 7 " - ¥l • 190 REV. J. RYERSON S VISIT, ETC. LAKE VVINU'EO. Pointe dc grand marais 24 miles. lied River Beacon • 25 " lied lliver to Lower Fort Garry. ... 23 " " " Upper Fort Garry.... 24 " Lake Winipeg, long « 300 " From Lake ^^'inipeg to York Depot 000 " Number of Portages from Lake AV'in- ipegto York Depot •• 37 FINIS. 4 miles. )