Frontispiece. 
 
STRANGER THAN FICTION 
 
 BY ,THE 
 
 REV. J. jf*HALCOMBE, M.A., 
 
 READER AND LIBJ&RIAN 
 
 AT CHARTF-RHOUSE. 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 unticr i\)t Btrectton of tfje &ract CCommtitec 
 
 LONDON : 
 SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWEDGE; 
 
 SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORIES : 
 
 77, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS; 
 
 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE ; 48, PICCADILLY ; 
 
 AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 1873 
 
LONDON: 
 
 GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, 
 ST. JOHN'S SQUARE. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. A VENTURE OF FAITH i 
 
 II. DIFFICULTIES REALIZED 13 
 
 III. WORK COMMENCED 22 
 
 IV f A CRISIS , . . 34 
 
 V. PROGRESS 49 
 
 VI. A VISIT TO VICTORIA 70 
 
 VIL BUILDING UP 82 
 
 VIII. METLAHKATLAH . 99 
 
 IX. A TIME OF TRIAL 108 
 
 X. BRIGHTER DAYS 117 
 
 XL THE INDIAN FISHING-STATION . . . .135 
 
 XII. AN IN-GATHERING 147 
 
 XIII. PAUL LEGAIC . . . . . . . .167 
 
 XIV. THREE YEARS' WORK , . . . . .179 
 
 XV. LA\V AND POLICE 205 
 
 XVI. GALA DAYS 221 
 
 XVII. SOCIAL PROGRESS 233 
 
 XVIII. CONCLUSION 245 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER 257 
 
gittium. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A VENTURE OF FAITH. 
 
 ijTRANGE and weird beyond expression 
 was the scene from which, as from a 
 starting-point, commences a series of 
 events wholly without parallel in the 
 Missionary annals of the Church \ 
 
 Issuing from a populous Indian settlement, built 
 in close proximity to one of the trading forts of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company, pours forth a motley 
 crowd, all apparently worked up to the highest 
 pitch of excitement. Decked with paint and 
 feathers, and hideous masks, and headed by two 
 
 1 The writer is much indebted to the courtesy of the Secretaries 
 of the Church Missionary Society for the facilities which they have 
 kindly afforded him of consulting all the printed and MS. records of 
 the work described in the following pages ; and also to the Rev. R. 
 Doolan, for some time a fellow-labourer with Mr. Duncan, for his 
 kindness in correcting the proofs and supplying information on 
 various points. 
 
 B 
 
an dfutum. 
 
 unearthly-looking beings, stark naked, and covered 
 thickly over with paint, they rush from their camp 
 to the neighbouring beach. There, as if in mockery 
 of the peaceful sound of the waves of the Pacific 
 breaking gently on the shore, the horrid too-too of 
 the " medicine drum," the most discordant of 
 musical instruments, bursts forth ; the medicine 
 men work their rattles, and the crowd, dancing 
 wildly about, raise the while a dismal howl. 
 
 Now the two leaders, proceeding in a stooping 
 posture, and stepping like high-mettled horses, 
 separate from their followers. Shooting forward 
 each arm alternately, and holding it out for some 
 time in a sort of defiant attitude, whilst ever and 
 anon they fling back the long black hair which 
 falls loosely over their shoulders, they begin to 
 sniff about like hounds hunting for a trail. Well 
 enough they know that only that morning a slave 
 has been butchered, and the body cast into the sea, 
 and that it would certainly have been left by the 
 receding tide at no great distance from the spot 
 which they had reached. 
 
 Now they find it ; and, swarming round and 
 rushing on it like a pack of hungry wolves, they 
 rend it asunder, and bear away each his portion in 
 triumph. For a brief space the band of followers 
 
Venture of 
 
 closes in and hides from view the hideous orgies 
 which follow; then again it opens, and forth 
 again come the, naked leaders, each bearing but 
 how describe the climax of the sickening sight ? 
 Suffice it to say that each, in presence of the 
 assembled multitude, duly vindicates his claim to 
 the envied title of cannibal, and, with it, to the 
 highest rank amongst the various grades of flesh- 
 eaters. 
 
 Standing on the "gallery'' of one of the bastions 
 of the neighbouring fort, in full view of the whole 
 scene, is one whose heart might well have fainted 
 within him at the sight he has witnessed. He is 
 a Missionary schoolmaster and catechist Mr. 
 William Duncan, a name now familiar as a house 
 hold word to philanthropists and travellers through 
 out the civilized world. He has just landed from 
 England, and in the painted savages before him he 
 sees his future pupils and catechumens. 
 
 With what feelings does he regard that scene ? 
 The bright hopes and sanguine anticipations which 
 lured him from home, and friends, and country 
 will they survive the rude shock of this first contact 
 with the actual work to be done ? The visions of 
 docile scholars, earnest converts, and devout wor 
 shippers hastening to the newly-built house of God, 
 B 2 
 
tijan dFtctton. 
 
 which had been the subject of his waking thoughts 
 and nightly dreams will they not now seem to 
 him as having been but the fantastic combinations 
 of a mere mental mirage, to which distance and a 
 too sanguine temperament had alone lent the 
 enchantment of reality? 
 
 Happily, in Mr. Duncan's case, a sanguine tem 
 perament was only a synonym for that unbounded 
 faith in a great cause which must ever be a main 
 characteristic of the successful pioneer in new 
 fields of enterprise, and which alone can give 
 to such a temperament the buoyancy and self- 
 righting power requisite to make it proof alike 
 against the depressing influences of unlooked-for 
 difficulties, and the rude shock of adverse circum 
 stances. Thus it happened that the very hateful- 
 ness of the abominations which, as we have seen, 
 stood suddenly revealed to his view, seemed only 
 to make him feel more deeply than ever the urgent 
 need of some determined effort being made to 
 " snatch the prey," as he expresses it, "from the 
 lion's mouth, and to arrest, in the name of God, 
 poor self-destroying creatures." 
 
 The circumstances under which Mr. Duncan had 
 come out to Fort Simpson may be told in a few 
 words. A naval officer, Captain Prevost, strongly 
 
Venture of dfattf). 5 
 
 impressed with the necessity of making some efforts 
 to save the Indians of Vancouver's Island, and 
 British Columbia, from the demoralizing effect of 
 the constantly increasing tide of emigration, had 
 presented a formal petition on the subject to the 
 Church Missionary Society. The publication of 
 this document had immediately produced an ano 
 nymous contribution of 500?. towards the proposed 
 object, and Mr. William Duncan, then one of the 
 Society's students at Highbury Training College, 
 was selected to fill the newly-created post. 
 
 Through the influence of Captain Prevost, who 
 had just been appointed to the Pacific Station, Mr. 
 Duncan at once obtained a free passage to his 
 destination, whilst, by the kindness of Sir James 
 Douglas, formerly the Director of all the Hudson's 
 Bay Company's forts, and then Governor of British 
 Columbia,, he was met, on his arrival, with the 
 promise of accommodation in the fort, and all the 
 moral support which local authority could give 
 him. 
 
 Like most of the stations of the Hudson's Bay 
 Company, Fort Simpson consists merely of a few 
 dwellings and warehouses, giving sufficient accommo 
 dation for some twenty employes, and the usual 
 trading stores, workshops, &c. The whole is built 
 
Stranger tfjatt dff 
 
 in a square of about a hundred yards, enclosed 
 by a palisade of trunks of trees sunk into the 
 ground, rising some twenty feet above it, and 
 protected 'at the corners by a wooden bastion, 
 mounted with cannon ; whilst along the top of the 
 palisade, runs a gallery, or platform, on which 
 the garrison can take exercise, and from which 
 they can see a considerable distance over the 
 country. 
 
 The Indian Camp consisted of some 250 sub 
 stantially-built wooden houses, stretching in single 
 file along the beach on either side of the fort ; 
 many of them, especially those of the chiefs, being 
 of considerable size. The population numbered 
 some 25000 belonging to the Tsimsheean tribe, 
 and divided into nine subordinate tribes or 
 crests. 
 
 As frequent reference to these crests will have to 
 be made in the course of our narrative, we may as 
 well at once give some description of them. Each 
 crest is ruled over by four or five chiefs, one of 
 whom takes precedence of all the others on ordinary 
 occasions, and represents the crest in any general 
 gathering. Amongst the representative chiefs one 
 again is always recognized as " the chief of chiefs." 
 A chiefs rank is marked by the height of the pole 
 
Venture ot 
 
 erected in front of his house, on which the crest 
 which distinguishes his division of the tribe is carved. 
 No offence leads to more frequent quarrels than 
 the attempt on the part of a chief to put up a 
 pole higher than his rank warrants. Even the 
 least powerful chief who has been insulted by an 
 inferior in rank out-topping his pole, will find any 
 number of allies to take up his cause and compel 
 the offender, either literally or figuratively, to " cut 
 his stick 2 ." The animals most commonly selected 
 as a crest are the porpoise, the eagle, the wolf, and 
 the frog. The social relations of the people are in 
 many ways regulated by this curious method of 
 classification. Thus, e.g., members of the same 
 crest may not intermarry. A whale may marry a 
 frog, but the union of two whales or two frogs 
 would probably be entirely without precedent in 
 the annals of any tribe. 
 
 At the time of Mr. Duncan's arrival in October, 
 1857, what might be termed, par excellence, the 
 Indian season, was just setting in. Then, it is that 
 the " medicine mysteries," with all the abomina- 
 
 2 Whence the expression which in England defines a man as 
 cutting his stick ? We have always liked to fancy that, as we once 
 heard an old antiquarian assert, it dated back to the time when the 
 first, if not the only, preparation of the pilgrim about to start on his 
 travels was to go into a neighbouring wood, and cut his staff. 
 
8 Stranger tfyan 
 
 tions which they give rise to, are in full force. 
 Then the chiefs vie with each other which shall 
 impoverish himself the most by the magnificence 
 of his liberality to all around him. Then is the 
 time for feasting, and house-building : then, with 
 ceremonies as various as they are loathsome, the 
 young of the several tribes are admitted into the 
 mysterious craft called by the Indian " allied " by 
 the European " medicine work." Then, too, is the 
 time for theatrical displays, when the medicine men 
 nightly exhibit their skill, or brutality, or supposed 
 supernatural powers. 
 
 No sooner is the winter session of the medicine 
 men come to an end for with them almost every 
 thing that goes on is in some way connected 
 than the camp is deserted. All then flock off 
 to the rivers, to lay up a stock of fish for the 
 coming year. The fishing over, the women and 
 children return to their homes, whilst a large pro 
 portion of the men go off on various trading 
 expeditions, often taking them to posts several 
 hundred miles distant. 
 
 Under these circumstances, Mr. Duncan could 
 not probably have chosen a better time of the year 
 at which to reach his post. Arriving in October, he 
 would have an opportunity of seeing one season 
 
H Venture of dfat'tl). 9 
 
 through, whilst, from the very necessity of the 
 case, he was still only an outside observer of what 
 was going on. He would thus have nearly a year 
 in which to study the language, the prejudices, and 
 character of the people before he came into actual 
 collision with this cherished medicine superstition, 
 and the various deeply-rooted prejudices and vested 
 interests connected with it. 
 
 To the study of " Tsimsheean," therefore, Mr. 
 Duncan at once devoted himself. With the assist 
 ance of an Indian, named Clah, who had for some 
 years acted as interpreter at the fort, he first went 
 through an English Dictionary, and taking some 
 1500 of the most essential words, soon obtained 
 the Tsimsheean equivalents for them. He next, by 
 various contrivances, succeeded in getting some 
 1 100 short sentences written down. Plaving thus 
 a fair vocabulary and a number of examples of the 
 construction of the language, he was not long be 
 fore he began to make good progress. Happily, 
 his Indian tutor threw himself into his novel task 
 with the greatest enthusiasm. Even when the 
 unaccustomed strain told upon him, as it often did, 
 and though from time to time he would " complain of 
 his head," he would not be persuaded to relax his 
 efforts. The pride which he took in his pupil was 
 
io Stranger tfjait dfutt'on. 
 
 evident. As he went about the " camp," he would 
 stop again and again and hold forth to the knot of 
 Indians who would gather round him, all curious to 
 know when the chief who had come so far to teach 
 them would be able to talk to them in their own 
 language. At times some of the more curious 
 would penetrate, on one pretext and another, into 
 the room where Mr. Duncan was at work. On such 
 occasions, a little crowd would gradually collect, 
 all of whom would enter, with the greatest eager 
 ness, into the work of " finding equivalents," exult 
 ing, with an almost childish delight, at each new 
 discovery. 
 
 At the same time Mr. Duncan lost no oppor 
 tunity of trying to establish friendly relations with 
 the natives. As it happened that early in January 
 the snow and intense cold kept most of the people 
 indoors, he would often take Clah as his inter 
 preter, and go and pay a round of visits. Now and 
 then he would be told that he might not enter a par 
 ticular house, as the medicine work was going on, 
 but generally he was very well received. The sight 
 on entering an house, of a crowd of half-naked and 
 painted savages, was at first a little apt to put him 
 out of countenance ; but the reception he met with 
 was such as to make him very quickly feel much 
 
of dfaitl). n 
 
 more at ease. On entering, he would be saluted 
 by the leading personages with " Clah, how yah ! 
 Clah, how yah ! " the complimentary expression of 
 welcome, in the trading jargon. When this had 
 been repeated several times, a general movement 
 and squatting would ensue ; then a breathless 
 silence, during which the visitor was of course the 
 observed of all observers. After a while several 
 would begin nodding and smiling, at the same time 
 reiterating, in a low tone, " Ahm, ahm ah ket, ahm 
 shimauyet," " Good, good person, good chief." In 
 some houses they would insist on his taking the 
 chief place by the fire, where they would place a 
 box with a mat upon it for a seat. 
 
 The intercourse thus carried on was necessarily 
 very limited. The general impression which it left 
 upon Mr. Duncan's mind was, that amongst the 
 great mass of the people, degraded as they were, 
 there was not only an anxious wish for instruction, 
 but a strong feeling that the white people were in 
 possession of some grand secret about eternal 
 things which, even if it involved the overthrow of 
 their most cherished superstitions, they were still 
 intensely anxious to know. 
 
 Such were the few encouraging circumstances, of 
 which Mr. Duncan did not fail to make the most, 
 
12 
 
 tfjan ^fiction. 
 
 but which, according to any mere human estimate, 
 would have made but a poor set-off against the 
 difficulties and discouragements which beset him 
 on all sides. 
 
MURDER OP QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDER. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES REALIZED. 
 
 engaged in the study of the 
 language, Mr. Duncan had ample 
 opportunity of observing the state of 
 wild lawlessness and recklessness of 
 human life which characterized the people with 
 whom he had cast in his lot. A single incident 
 will serve to illustrate the kind of scenes which 
 were continually recurring with more or less fre 
 quency. 
 
 The occupants of the fort had just finished 
 dinner when the second officer, who had only gone 
 out a few minutes before, came running back to say 
 that an Indian had just been murdered outside the 
 gates. On going to the gallery, they saw a group 
 of Indians with muskets in their hands, surround 
 ing a man who was evidently seriously wounded ; 
 suddenly two others rushed up, and despatched the 
 wounded man on the spot. The murderer proved 
 
i4 Stranger rtjau dTfctfon. 
 
 to be the head chief (one who will occupy a very 
 prominent place in our future narrative), Legaic by 
 name, who, being irritated by some other chiefs, 
 had vented his rage on the first stranger that came 
 in his way, and, after shooting him, had ordered two 
 of his men to finish the horrible deed. 
 
 His victim was a Queen Charlotte Islander, who 
 had been working at the fort. In order to ex 
 tenuate his crime, Legaic gave out that one of the 
 same tribe had killed a brother of his many years 
 ago. But the matter could not end here. The 
 chief under whose care the murdered man was 
 living, would be bound to revenge his death in 
 order to maintain his dignity, choosing as a victim 
 any one belonging to the same people as the mur 
 dered man, who might be living under the protec 
 tion of the murderer. Thus would one foul deed 
 continually beget others in a never-ending succes 
 sion. 
 
 But more discouraging even than this state of 
 continual strife and bloodshed, was the manifest 
 strength of the forces of superstition, and the ex 
 tent to which they were evidently intertwined with 
 the whole tribal life of the people. 
 
 The medicine men proved to be a distinct class 
 numbering about one-tenth of the whole popula- 
 
15 
 
 tion, and possessing unbounded influence. Through 
 out the winter months, the initiating and admitting 
 fresh pupils into their arts was the main source of 
 occupation and excitement to the whole popula 
 tion, a separate party being told off to take in hand 
 each pupil. All these parties fell under one of three 
 general divisions: first, cannibals; second, dog- 
 eaters ; and, third, those who had no custom of 
 the kind. At the same time each had some cha 
 racteristics peculiar to itself. During the winter 
 months there were commonly as many as eight 
 or ten parties at work. 
 
 The proceedings in every case partook more or 
 less of the same general character. Early in the 
 morning the pupil, who, in spite of the intense cold, 
 was prohibited from wearing the slightest vestige 
 of clothing, would go out on to the beach or the 
 rocks and there take up his station in front of the 
 dwellings of his own tribe, and then begin scream 
 ing and jerking his head about until a body of men 
 rushed down, and, forming a circle round him, com 
 menced a wild song. If the party belonged to the 
 dog-eaters they would then bring a dead dog to 
 their pupil, who would forthwith commence tearing 
 it in the most dog-like manner, whilst the atten 
 dants, accompanied all the time by a screeching 
 
1 6 tranger Ujarc dficttrm. 
 
 instrument supposed to be the abode of a spirit, 
 kept up a hideous noise, alternating between a low 
 growling and a loud whoop. In a little time the 
 naked youth would again start up, and assuming a 
 crouching posture, pushing his arms out behind 
 him, and continually tossing back his flowing black 
 hair, would proceed a few yards. Meanwhile he is 
 intently watched by the group about him, and 
 whenever he pleases to sit down, they again sur 
 round him, and commence singing ; after this has 
 gone on for some time, the youth suddenly dashes 
 off, and, followed by his train, makes a dart into 
 every house belonging to his tribe in succession. 
 This over, he usually takes a ramble on the tops of 
 the same houses, carefully watched all the time by 
 his attendants. By-and-by he condescends to 
 come down, and makes off to his den, which is 
 distinguished and kept sacred from intrusion by a 
 rope of red bark hung over the doorway, and into 
 which none are allowed to enter but the initiated ; 
 those outside being only able to guess at what is 
 going on by the alternate hammering, singing, and 
 shouting, which for some time is kept up almost 
 incessantly. 
 
 Of all these parties, the cannibals are by far the 
 most dreaded. One morning Mr. Duncan, induced 
 
I.VUIA.N DOG-KATEttS. 
 
 To face p. 16. 
 
Qifli'culttts' 
 
 by an unusual commotion in the camp to go out 
 on to the gallery of the stockade, saw hundreds 
 rushing to the beach and taking to their canoes, as 
 though flying for their lives. Inquiring the cause 
 of so strange a proceeding, he was told that the 
 cannibal's party, having failed to find a dead body 
 to devour, were expected to seize upon the first 
 living one they met with ; hence the precipitate 
 flight of the population. 
 
 Both before and after this stage of initiation, 
 other proceedings, to which an almost equal amount 
 of importance is attached, take place. Before it 
 the pupils have to pass several days alone in the 
 woods, where they are supposed to receive super 
 natural gifts ; as, however, on their return they are 
 supposed to be invisible, the encouragement to 
 evade the greater part of the ceremony is mani 
 festly great. 
 
 As a grand finale to the whole proceedings, the 
 pupil is expected to give away all his property, and 
 as no one is admitted amongst the " allied " unless 
 he or his friends have not only amassed considerable 
 wealth, but are willing to reduce themselves to 
 absolute beggary, this forms no unimportant part 
 of the ceremony. The chiefs being the persons 
 who benefit most by this distribution of property 
 
 c 
 
1 8 Stranger tljau 
 
 the practice has an evident tendency to enlist the 
 interest of all the most powerful men of the tribe in 
 favour of the existing state of things. 
 
 The first occasion on which Mr. Duncan wit 
 nessed this ceremony was one Sunday morning not 
 long after his arrival. Startled by a peculiar noise 
 which he had not before heard, he was induced to 
 go out towards the camp, where he quickly saw 
 the cause of the excitement. A man who had 
 finished his education as an " allied " was going to 
 give away his goods. He was proceeding to a 
 distant part of the camp, and stepping all the way 
 like a proud unmanageable horse ; behind him were 
 fifteen or twenty men, all holding on to a kind of 
 rope which went round his waist: they were 
 pretending either to hold him back or to prevent 
 him from escaping ; all the time they kept up a 
 deafening noise with the peculiar instrument which 
 has so much to do with their superstitions. Pre 
 sently this party was joined by another, and shortly 
 after by a third, all bent on the same errand. The 
 competition between them seemed to be to see 
 which could make the greatest noise and look the 
 most unearthly. 
 
 Whether in connexion with the initiation of the 
 " allied," with house-building, or with any other of 
 
IBtfficulttts &ta%tt. 19 
 
 the numerous occasions on which it commonly 
 takes place, this giving away of property is one of 
 the most characteristic features of the domestic 
 life of the Tsimsheean Indians. Their sole object 
 in attaining wealth is to hoard it up till they can 
 indulge in a grand display of liberality in giving it 
 away. The chiefs, when they have thus reduced 
 themselves to poverty, can rely on being quickly 
 recouped by return presents, but the poorer sort 
 are often involved in great suffering owing to their 
 compliance with the prevailing custom. Mr. Dun 
 can mentions the case of one chief who gave away 
 at one time as many as 480 blankets, worth to him 
 as many pounds. 
 
 The camp on these occasions presents a very 
 animated appearance. Hanging from house to 
 house, or on lines put up for the purpose, 
 hundreds of yards of cotton flap in the breeze. 
 Furs are nailed up in front of the houses, 
 blankets and elk-skins are exhibited on men 
 perambulating the village in single file, whilst hun 
 dreds of yards of cotton, after hanging out for the 
 best part of twenty-four hours, are brought down 
 to the beach, run out at full length, and trium 
 phantly borne away by a number of bearers, walking 
 about three yards apart, to their new possessor. 
 C 2 
 
20 Stranger tijait fiction. 
 
 It is a. point of honour with the members of every 
 tribe to enable their chief to make a good display. 
 The gifts are thus first given to the chief, and then 
 appointed by him to fresh owners. 
 
 It should, however, be added that every chief is 
 looking forward to the time when, by virtue of a 
 certain number of these free distributions, he shall 
 have acquired the right to receive only, and not 
 to give. To the chiefs, therefore, the custom is 
 nothing more or less than a rude form of life assu 
 rance. 
 
 These were the scenes which, during the day, 
 Mr. Duncan was continually witnessing all through 
 the winter months. The nights, he found, were 
 given up, to a much greater extent than any one 
 would have expected, to amusements, especially 
 singing and dancing, varied by exhibitions of tricks 
 by the medicine men, who generally appear either 
 disguised in the skins of different animals or in 
 huge masks, the different parts of which are 
 moved by strings. The great feature of the enter 
 tainments on these occasions was for the medicine 
 men to pretend to murder, and then to restore to 
 life. The cannibals, as a matter of course, were 
 supplied with human bodies, which they tore to 
 pieces before their audience. 
 
21 
 
 Such was the stronghold of Satan which had to 
 be assailed. That the medicine men would not 
 readily yield their pre-eminence there seemed, 
 unhappily, no doubt ; whilst it was only too pro 
 bable that self-interested motives, if not superstitious 
 fear, would enlist on their side the sympathies and 
 the active support of all the chiefs. Those who 
 had been long resident at the fort, and knew the 
 tenacity with which the Indians cling to their 
 ancient customs, shook their heads, and doubted 
 much whether any good could possibly be done 
 against such apparently overwhelming odds. Mr. 
 Duncan alone was confident throughout. He 
 alone did not even regard the attempt as a mere 
 " forlorn hope." True, the " strong man armed " 
 was " keeping his house," and " his goods were in 
 peace ;" but in the strength of One " stronger than 
 he " he hoped to be enabled to " take away his 
 armour in which he trusted, and to spoil his goods." 
 The word of God, faithfully preached, was the 
 weapon sharp and powerful which he proposed 
 to wield, and which he trusted to find mighty to the 
 pulling down of this apparently most impregnable 
 fortress. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 WORK COMMENCED. 
 
 JOWARDS the middle of June, 1858, by 
 which time the fishing season was well 
 over, and those who had been away 
 trading or hunting were beginning to 
 return, Mr. Duncan had, by hard study and con 
 stant intercourse with the people, made sufficient 
 progress in the acquisition of Tsimsheean to en 
 courage him to make the long-looked-forward-to 
 attempt of addressing the Indians publicly in their 
 own tongue. 
 
 Thinking it most prudent at first to read what he 
 had to say, he had for some time been engaged in 
 preparing a written address, which, with the assist 
 ance of Clah, he had at length completed, not of 
 course entirely to his own satisfaction, but still, as 
 \vell as he could expect. 
 
 His next step was to go round to all the chiefs, 
 and ask permission from each one to use his house 
 
Work Commenced. 23 
 
 to address his people a request which was readily 
 granted. 
 
 When the day arrived, it turned out very wet, 
 and as the time drew near for the gathering in the 
 first chief's house it poured in torrents. In spite, 
 however, of this drawback, upwards of a hundred men 
 had assembled. For a moment, as he stood up to 
 speak for the first time under sueh novel circum 
 stances, Mr. Duncan's heart fainted in him, and 
 the thought flashed across him, that, after all, he 
 had better use his Indian tutor, who had accom 
 panied him, as an interpreter. Happily, Clah 
 refused to entertain such an idea for a moment, so 
 that he saw at once that no assistance could be ex 
 pected from him, and that he must brace himself 
 up for the effort. 
 
 Telling the Indians to shut the door, he knelt 
 down and prayed that God would give him strength 
 and power of utterance. Then he read his 
 address to them. All were very attentive, and 
 showed plainly enough by their looks that they 
 understood, and to some extent appreciated, what 
 was being said. 
 
 After the address, they at once complied with his 
 request that they would kneel down whilst he 
 prayed to God to bless the work thus begun. 
 
24 Stranger t!)an dftctum. 
 
 At the house of the next chief all was in readi 
 ness, a canoe sail having been spread for Mr. 
 Duncan to stand upon, and a box, covered with a 
 mat, placed as a seat. About 150 persons were 
 present ; and again all were most attentive, and 
 knelt during prayer. In this manner each of the 
 other seven divisions of the tribe were visited in 
 succession, the gathering in each case taking place 
 in the chiefs house. The friendly reception, the 
 care with which the requisite preparations had been 
 made, and the thoughtful attention with which he 
 was listened to, were all sources of encouragement. 
 The smallest congregation was ninety, and the 
 largest 200. The compliance with the request 
 about kneeling was universal. In the house where 
 there were over 200 present there was some con 
 fusion, but the moment the prayer was begun they 
 were perfectly silent. 
 
 In all about 900 persons, including some strangers 
 from surrounding tribes, must thus, for the first 
 time, have heard the sound of the Gospel. 
 
 Thus was granted the earnest prayer with which 
 Mr. Duncan had commenced his labours, that " He 
 to Whom belongs all power in earth and heaven 
 would bid all difficulties vanish before His feeble 
 servant, and bring another long-estranged tongue 
 
25 
 
 from the confusion of Babel into His blessed and 
 soul-raising service." 
 
 The conduct of two chiefs about whose friendly 
 bearing some doubts had been expressed was, as 
 far as it went, encouraging. The head chief, 
 Legaic, whose house had been visited second in 
 order, was notorious for his evil deeds, but in spite 
 of this, he was not only present but earnestly 
 admonished his people to behave well. 
 
 Another chief had, only a few days before, killed 
 a slave merely by way of gratifying his pride ; his 
 house was prepared as neatly as any, but he had 
 himself gone away some distance, probably being 
 ashamed to be present. 
 
 As Mr. Duncan for the first time unfolded the 
 gospel plan of salvation, and exhorted them to leave 
 their sins and seek pardon for them through Christ, 
 warning them of the consequences if they refused, 
 and setting forth the happiness of obedience, it was 
 evident, from the significant looks which passed from 
 one to another, that his meaning was clearly enough 
 understood ; on many countenances, indeed, alarm 
 was the predominant expression, yet, on the whole, 
 there seemed a general willingness to receive the 
 message as one which commended itself alike to 
 their judgment and conscience. This was probably 
 
26 &trangtr tfjan dftctum. 
 
 to be accounted for by the extent to which the new 
 doctrines propounded to them harmonized with 
 the general principles of their own traditional belief 
 in the existence and attributes of a Supreme 
 Being. 
 
 The Indian name for the Supreme Being, Shi- 
 mauyet-lakkah (from Shimauyet, chief, and Lak- 
 kah, above) would seem to indicate a more 
 limited and material view of 'the nature and attri 
 butes of the Deity than they really entertain. 
 Though regarding Him only in the light of a great 
 chief, they believe that He is immortal, that He 
 observes all that is going on amongst men, and 
 that He is frequently angry and punishes offenders. 
 The idea of two states after death one above 
 for the good, and another below for the evil is 
 also a familiar one to them. They believe the good 
 will be greatly honoured, and the bad treated as 
 slaves. That in both states life will be supported 
 by food, they take for granted. As a curious 
 illustration of this may be mentioned the fact that 
 when, in the fishing season, the fish escape their 
 nets, they attribute it to the activity of the wicked 
 beneath ! 
 
 They have no idea of God having made them or 
 the universe, but of His general moral government 
 
OTorit Commttuttt. 27 
 
 they have a keen perception : appealing to Him con 
 tinually for pity or deliverance, especially in times 
 of sickness. 
 
 The extent to which they regard Shimauyet- 
 lakkah as the direct author of any misfortune which 
 may befall them, is very remarkable. Not less so 
 is the way in which, when driven to desperation by 
 an accumulation of troubles, they will vent their 
 anger against him. Losing all self-control, raising 
 their eyes and hands in savage anger to heaven, 
 stamping their feet furiously upon the ground, and 
 uttering fearful imprecations, they will again and 
 again revile him as a "great slave" the strongest 
 term of reproach which their vocabulary affords 
 them. 
 
 A few days after this first attempt, Mr. Duncan 
 went round to call upon all the chiefs, taking each 
 of them a trifling present, to mark his sense of the 
 kindness which they had shown him. A few caps, 
 and one or two articles [of clothing, all taken from 
 a box sent out by some English ladies, were re 
 ceived with a gratitude which could not have been 
 surpassed had the gifts been of considerable value. 
 They were evidently as much pleased as surprised 
 by the recognition of their courtesy and assist 
 ance. 
 
28 granger tfjan dTictton. 
 
 The immediate result of the kindly feeling which 
 these events created was the offer by one of the 
 chiefs of the use of his heuse for holding school 
 in. 
 
 Some time before this, Mr. Duncan had com 
 menced school with a few very young scholars, and 
 had only been watching his opportunity for begin 
 ning on a more extended scale. He, therefore, 
 gladly closed with the offer ; and as soon as he 
 had completed a few necessary preparations, again 
 started to visit all the chiefs and inform them of 
 his intention to commence school on the following 
 Monday. Not only was he received as usual with 
 great courtesy, but, to his great delight, consider 
 able satisfaction at his proposal, and a general 
 desire for instruction was expressed, not always by 
 words, but by looks and gestures no less signifi 
 cant. 
 
 On the Monday morning, Mr. Duncan duly 
 arrived at the chiefs house, to commence his new 
 work. He found that the chief and his wife had 
 made every possible preparation. Every thing was 
 as clean and neatly arranged as possible, and a tent 
 placed upon a mat was ready for his use. 
 
 Mr. Duncan had arranged to have the children 
 in the morning and the adults in the afternoon. 
 
Commcncttt. 29 
 
 About twenty-six children made their appearance, 
 all, with one exception, looking unusually neat and 
 clean. In the case of the only child of whom this 
 could not be said, it turned out that it was not 
 disrespect or poverty which prevented his dressing 
 as his companions, but superstition. The winter 
 before, his initiation into the medicine mysteries 
 had commenced ; and to have worn any thing be 
 sides a blanket or a skin during the next twelve 
 months would have been an offence for which he 
 would have expected to have been visited by some 
 terrible calamity. 
 
 The children proved themselves very attentive 
 and promising scholars. 
 
 The afternoon gathering was not, on the whole, 
 so satisfactory. There seemed a superstitious 
 dread amongst the people as to the probable effect 
 of this new movement, and none liked to be the 
 first to try the experiment ; even the few, fifteen 
 in all, who did muster courage, to brave the 
 dangers, which their medicine men had doubtless 
 instilled into their minds, were evidently very 
 nervous about the possible effect of their rashness. 
 The chief and his wife, in whose house the school 
 was held, were themselves most anxious to learn. 
 But after due consideration they had decided to 
 
30 Stranger tljan 
 
 attend in the morning with the children, sheltering 
 their dignity under the specious pretext of helping 
 to keep order. 
 
 Just as the school work was getting fairly under 
 weigh, the settlement was suddenly thrown into a 
 state of confusion, which at first seemed likely to 
 render it necessary to close the school again for a 
 time. A party of Indians had arrived from Queen 
 Charlotte's Island. As they had a large quantity 
 of food to trade with, and were likely to prove 
 profitable lodgers, a difficulty arose as to which 
 tribe should entertain them. This led to a good 
 deal of contention, and in the midst of a great deal 
 of firing and shouting the strangers were hustled 
 and robbed, one or two wounded, and several taken 
 prisoners. A second party from Queen Charlotte's 
 Island coming a day or two after in three canoes, 
 were also attacked and driven into the woods, 
 their canoes being plundered, and then broken up. 
 Some of the tribes now espoused the cause of the 
 strangers ; thus the quarrel spread, and fighting 
 was soon going on in all directions. This lasted 
 for some days, most of the people keeping their 
 houses shut, and retiring to holes sunk for such 
 occasions (truly a significant fact !), and a few of the 
 more daring carrying on the contest. 
 
OTorfe Commenced. 31 
 
 At one time it seemed almost impossible to con 
 tinue the school in consequence of the firing and 
 shouting and general disturbance. But, happily, 
 before the necessity for suspending work had been 
 admitted, a truce was concluded, and matters again 
 settled down into their usual course. 
 
 The only serious difficulty which now presented 
 itself to the rapid development of the school work, 
 was the jealousy excited amongst the other chiefs 
 and their people, by the preference given to the 
 chief in whose house the school was held. 
 
 " You will have all the people to teach as soon as 
 your own house is built," said one chief. Another, 
 when Mr. Duncan visited him, pointed with evident 
 pride to the work in which he was engaged. He 
 had got one of the most promising scholars from 
 the school, and was learning from him the letters 
 of the alphabet, which were chalked out on a board 
 before him, and said that he did not intend that 
 any one should be able to read before him. 
 
 About the desire for instruction, therefore, there 
 was happily no doubt. Under all the circum 
 stances, Mr. Duncan decided that as the chief who 
 had lent him the use of his house was going away 
 for a time, it would be well to give up the school for 
 a few weeks, and in the mean time to make arrange- 
 
32 Stranger tijan Jfutum. 
 
 ments for getting such a room as was required 
 built. 
 
 Towards the middle of July, Mr. Duncan deter 
 mined to give a second public address to the 
 people. As the preparation of a sermon in Tsim- 
 sheean was still a work of considerable labour, 
 and he was soon continuously engaged, not only 
 with his school work, but with evening classes, and 
 Sunday services for the residents in the fort, it was 
 not until the middle of July that he was able to 
 make this second attempt to bring home to the 
 people the real object of his coming among them. 
 
 As on the first occasion, he went to each of the 
 tribes separately, and, indeed, followed throughout, 
 precisely the same plan of proceeding. 
 
 Of all who were present at these gatherings, one 
 man only Quthray, another name of especial note 
 in our history one of the chief medicine men, and 
 head of the cannibal gang, refused to kneel when 
 asked to do so. The angry scowl with which he 
 regarded the whole proceeding showed that he saw 
 in it danger to his " craft." 
 
 The exception was more noteworthy than it 
 seemed at the time. Had he known then half as 
 much as he learned afterwards by painful ex 
 perience, Mr. Duncan would have been at no loss 
 
Commence*. 
 
 33 
 
 to recognize in the muttered imprecation with 
 which, as the meeting broke up, Quthray went his 
 way, the first faint rumbling of the storm which 
 was so soon to burst upon him. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A CRISIS. 
 
 |RITISH COLUMBIA presents a coast 
 line abounding in deep indentations, in 
 one of the largest and most northern of 
 which stands Fort Simpson. About 
 the centre of the bay the sweeping curve of the 
 coast is broken by a channel which forms a small 
 peninsula. On this is situated the fort and the 
 Indian camp. For the convenience of launching 
 their canoes, the Indian houses are all built along 
 the beach, and as near as possible to the line of 
 high-water mark. Behind the settlement the ground 
 rises for about half a mile towards an impenetrable 
 forest. The intervening space, having been cleared 
 by the constant cutting of firewood, presents nothing 
 but a waste of grey stumps of trees, a few bushes, 
 and dead grass. Looking northwards, the eye rests 
 upon a rugged, mountainous coast-line, and nume 
 rous lovely islands, one or two of the southernmost 
 
Crfcfc. 35 
 
 of which help to protect the bay from the heavy 
 splash of the Pacific, and to make it a safe harbour 
 for ships seeking refuge in bad weather. 
 
 As the Indian settlement extended along the 
 shore on both sides of the fort, it was necessary, in 
 order that it should be as central as possible, that 
 the school-house which Mr. Duncan proposed to 
 build should be erected close to the fort. The in 
 convenience of this arrangement, as bringing it into 
 close proximity with the back of the house of the 
 head chief, was not at the time foreseen. 
 
 The Indians were anxious to render every assist 
 ance in completing the new building, and, under 
 Mr. Duncan's direction, the timbers were soon cut 
 at a spot some distance along the coast, hauled 
 down to the beach, formed into a raft and floated 
 down to the settlement. Hardly, however, had 
 they commenced to carry the wood up the hill than 
 an event occurred which, but for the confidence with 
 which Mr. Duncan had inspired all about him, 
 might have led to serious results. In making a 
 great effort to raise a heavy log, one of the work 
 men suddenly fell dead. The news instantly spread 
 ing through the camp, a crowd quickly assembled, 
 all in a state of the greatest alarm. 
 
 Mr. Duncan at once suspended the work, leaving 
 D 2, 
 
36 J^trangtr tljait Jftrtum. 
 
 it to the people themselves to propose its being re 
 commenced. This, after a few days, they did, and 
 a day, the lyth of September, was accordingly fixed 
 for making a fresh start. 
 
 By six o'clock in the morning of the day named, 
 Mr. Duncan went down to the raft, hoping to find 
 all ready to commence. But for some time it almost 
 seemed as if the superstitious fear caused by the 
 recent event would, after all, prevent any progress 
 being made. With the exception of some half- 
 dozen, the Indians contented themselves with sit 
 ting, Indian-like, at their doors, as if wishing only 
 to be spectators. 
 
 After waiting for some time, one of the half-dozen 
 men on the raft suddenly sprang to his feet, and, as 
 a sign for starting, gave a peculiar whoop, on which, 
 inadequate as their numbers were, they all sprang 
 to the work with a will. Animated by their 
 example, about forty more rushed down at full speed 
 from their houses, and set to with an enthusiasm 
 which was almost alarming. Those who were too 
 old to work gathered round and urged on the others 
 with the most spirit-stirring words and gestures. 
 The heavy blocks and beams now began to move 
 up the hill with amazing rapidity, and by three 
 o'clock in the afternoon all were safely deposited on 
 
& CrfetU. 37 
 
 the proposed site. Two or three days later, the 
 work of building was commenced, and carried on 
 with the same zeal. 
 
 During the building, the only cause of uneasiness 
 arose from the superstition of the Indians, and their 
 dread of the slightest accident which could be con 
 strued into an omen of future evil ; but, happily, 
 nothing further occurred to interfere with the suc 
 cessful completion of the work. 
 
 Mr. Duncan had proposed to buy the bark re 
 quired for the roof and flooring ; but, to his great 
 gratification, the Indians volunteered to contribute 
 boards for both purposes, urging that their own 
 houses were roofed with bark, and that the white 
 chiefs teaching-house ought to have a roof and 
 flooring of boards. The offerings were all presented 
 with a great deal of ceremony and show of good 
 feeling : many, who could not otherwise have con 
 tributed, taking boards from their own houses, or 
 even planks which formed part of their beds. 
 
 By November the zyth the school-house was 
 finished, and furnished with about fifty forms and 
 desks, manufactured by the same willing hands. 
 
 Hardly was the work thus happily completed, 
 than an unlooked-for reverse occurred: a great 
 portion of the roof being blown off in a violent 
 
38 $frangtr tljan dft'ctum. 
 
 storm. This was, however, quickly rectified, and 
 in the course of a day or two all was ready for use. 
 
 Mr. Duncan now reaped the fruit of his prelimi 
 nary work in the chiefs house during the summer. 
 No sooner did he make his appearance on the day 
 appointed for recommencing school, than his former 
 scholars rushed eagerly to the new building : whilst 
 one mounted the platform underneath the " steel," 
 which served for a bell, and, to summon his more 
 timid companions to the place, made it ring again 
 with his repeated blows. 
 
 Nothing could have been more auspicious than 
 the result so far of this new effort. Not only did 
 some fifty adults, and the same number of children, 
 at once enrol themselves as regular attendants, but 
 the chiefs of four out of the nine tribes actually 
 signified their intention of discontinuing their usual 
 heathenish ceremonies, for entering upon which the 
 time had again come round. Nor were there want 
 ing evidences that the " medicine work" was likely 
 to be carried on but feebly amongst the other tribes. 
 
 A marked improvement too was observable 
 amongst the scholars. Every day their number 
 increased, whilst fewer of them appeared with their 
 faces painted according to their usual custom. 
 
 But what, in the meantime, of the "medicine 
 
CrtetsL 39 
 
 men"? That they would tamely submit to see 
 their craft thus brought to nought was not to be 
 expected. Of their opposition to all that was going 
 on they made no secret ; nor was it long before 
 they induced several of the chiefs who had proposed 
 to abandon their usual ceremonies to reverse their 
 decision. Many were the arguments which Mr. 
 Duncan had with those who seemed most amenable 
 to reason ; and at times it seemed as though he 
 had gained the day, and that they would still hold 
 to their first resolution. 
 
 A crisis was evidently approaching. Again and 
 again Mr. Duncan would come upon one of the 
 medicine parties engaged in all the revolting de 
 tails of initiating new pupils/ and though they did 
 not in any case offer him violence, but seemed rather 
 ashamed than otherwise of what they were doing, 
 rumours began to be whispered about pretty freely 
 that they were " talking bad," in other words, lay 
 ing plans for some decided movement to vindicate 
 their position, and once for all free themselves from 
 an opposition which seemed to threaten serious 
 consequences. 
 
 Matters were precipitated by the arrival of a 
 number of strangers from another tribe, to take 
 part in the "medicine rites" which were being car- 
 
40 Stranger tfyan ^Fiction. 
 
 ried on in the house of Legaic, the head chief, which 
 it will be remembered was in close proximity to the 
 school. 
 
 Irritated by the interruption caused by the strik 
 ing of the " steel," and by the scholars constantly 
 passing and repassing his door, Legaic appealed to 
 the governor of the fort to induce Mr. Duncan to 
 close his school for at least the month during which 
 the medicine mysteries would be at their height. 
 
 After a long consultation with the officers of the 
 fort, Mr. Duncan decided to go on as usual. The 
 result was, that the chief came down in his de 
 mands to a fortnight, declaring that if the school 
 was not closed for that time, he would shoot any of 
 the pupils who continued to attend. 
 
 In the meantime parties of medicine men began 
 to assemble in groups about the school, as though 
 minded to carry their threats into execution. In 
 spite of this, however, Mr. Duncan not only went 
 on with his work as usual, but induced as many as 
 eighty scholars to continue a pretty regular attend 
 ance. 
 
 At last the medicine men proposed, as an ulti 
 matum, that four days should be allowed them free 
 of interruption. 
 
 This, again, was refused. 
 
8 Crtsfe. 41 
 
 All was now excitement. The next day, the 
 medicine party carrying on their work near the 
 school broke out with renewed fury, asserting that 
 the child of the head chief who was being initiated 
 had just " returned from above." First came a 
 message from Legaic to know whether Mr. Duncan 
 intended to persevere in holding school that day 
 a question which was answered in the affirmative. 
 Then, on reaching the school, Mr. Duncan found 
 Legaic's wife, who had come to beg him to give 
 way, declaring that it was not so much her husband 
 as the tribe which insisted on it. Feeling, however, 
 that the battle must sooner or later be fought, Mr. 
 Duncan still held firm, and went himself to strike 
 the steel to call the scholars together. 
 
 During the morning all went on as usual, but in 
 the afternoon, just as the steel was about to be 
 struck, up came Legaic with a party of medicine 
 men, all dressed out in their usual charms, and in a 
 very angry voice ordered the boy who was about to 
 strike the steel, to cease. With some seven of his 
 followers, Legaic then came into the school-room, 
 the rest standing about the door. 
 
 His first object was to drive out the few scholars 
 who had already collected, and shouting at the top 
 of his voice, he bade them be ofT. 
 
42 J^tvangtr tfyan ^Fiction. 
 
 Mr. Duncan at once came forward, and seeing 
 that their object was to intimidate him by their 
 numbers and frightful appearance, spoke to them 
 in as calm and conciliatory a tone as he could 
 assume. Telling them plainly of the evil of their 
 ways, he explained that threats could not possibly 
 affect him, as God was his Master, and he was 
 bound to obey Him rather than them. The parley 
 lasted for more than an hour. At times Legaic 
 seemed to be inclined to give way, but he soon 
 broke out with more violence than ever. Drawing 
 his hand across his throat, he declared that he knew 
 how to kill people. Then looking to two men who 
 were with him, he said, " I am a murderer, and so 
 are you, and so are you, and what good is it for us 
 to come to school ?" 
 
 To this sally, Mr. Duncan responded by re 
 minding them how often he had declared to them 
 that there was pardon through Christ even for 
 murderers. 
 
 Towards the close of the scene, two of the vilest- 
 looking of his followers went up to Legaic, and 
 whispered something in his ear, upon which he got 
 up from a seat he had just sat down upon, stamped 
 his foot on the floor, raised his voice to its utmost 
 pitch, and exhibited all the rage and defiance of 
 
Crisfe. 43 
 
 which he was capable. Finding, however, all his 
 efforts either to persuade or intimidate alike un 
 availing, he at last withdrew, and, some sixteen 
 scholars being still left in the room, school was 
 resumed. 
 
 We are not surprised to find entered in Mr. 
 Duncan's journal, written on the evening of the 
 same day, expressions of the deepest thankfulness 
 for his preservation. " I am still alive," he writes. 
 " I have heartily to thank that all-seeing Father, 
 Who has covered and supported me to-day." 
 
 To those who knew the Indian character, to say 
 nothing of the personal reputation of Legaic for 
 bloodthirsty cruelty and uncontrollable violence of 
 temper, the whole affair seemed well-nigh incom 
 prehensible. 
 
 Here was a man the greatest chief, not only in 
 that locality, but in the surrounding country, to 
 whom precedence and the place of honour would 
 have been at once accorded amongst the chiefs of 
 any tribe living within a radius of sixty miles a 
 man, too, who had scarcely known what it was to 
 have his will disputed in the smallest matter, and 
 who had never before hesitated to sacrifice the life 
 of any who opposed him thwarted and set at 
 nought, and that, too, not only in a matter in which 
 
44 Stranger tj)an tfittion. 
 
 all his strongest feelings were concerned, but 
 openly, in the presence both of his tribe and of 
 strangers. And yet the comparative stranger who 
 had ventured thus to set him at defiance seemed 
 likely to enjoy a perfect immunity from harm, and 
 to be destined, powerless as he really was, to carry 
 out his own plans without further let or hindrance. 
 
 Reviewing the whole circumstances of the case, 
 it is hardly possible to escape the conclusion that 
 they constitute one of the most striking instances 
 on record of the manner in which God's servants are 
 often carried safely through any great danger which, 
 in the path of duty, they meet calmly and trustfully. 
 Nor will it lessen, but rather intensify, this feeling, 
 if we pause for a moment to trace out the human 
 instrumentality by which, in the Providence of God, 
 this result was directly brought about. 
 
 From information given some time after by the 
 Indians themselves, it would seem, that whenever 
 medicine-men had threatened Mr. Duncan's life, 
 Clah, who had now become his constant attendant, 
 had declared that he regarded him as under his 
 protection, and that he should instantly avenge his 
 death. 
 
 Nor was this a mere idle threat likely to be dis 
 regarded by those to whom it was made. Partly 
 
Crfefe. 45 
 
 by virtue of his property, and partly in consequence 
 of the influence he gained by his intimate relations 
 with the European traders, Clah was recognized as 
 holding the rank of a leading chief. He was a man 
 of about forty. Generally holding a good deal 
 aloof from his own people, he was at the same 
 time a man of singularly determined character, 
 and keenly sensitive of any wrong, real or imagi 
 nary, done to any one who had any claim on his 
 protection. Only just before Mr. Duncan's arrival, 
 a woman, by some silly expression, had excited the 
 belief that it was owing to her influence that a piece 
 of wood, which was being carried by some Indians, 
 had fallen from their shoulders and seriously injured 
 one of his relations, a fact quite possible, according 
 to the superstitious belief of the Indians. Clah, on 
 hearing it, had instantly gone out, and finding her, 
 shot her dead on the spot, braving the revenge of 
 the woman's son, who, in spite of the compensation 
 of thirty blankets which Clah had at once paid, 
 would never forego the hope of taking blood for 
 blood. On the day of the concerted attack on 
 Mr. Duncan, Clah, who usually wore a European 
 dress an ordinary pea-jacket and trousers ap 
 peared in his blanket, loitering about the school. 
 No sooner did Legaic and his followers force their 
 
46 Stranger tljan dftctton. 
 
 way in than he instantly followed, and leaning 
 against the wall just inside the door, an apparently 
 unmoved spectator of all that was going on, literally 
 stood guard over his pupil and protege. His skill 
 in the use of fire-arms, acquired during his long 
 intercourse with Europeans, was well-known ; and 
 Legaic was perfectly conscious throughout the 
 whole scene that it only needed the blanket to be 
 dropped aside for a revolver to be brought instantly 
 to bear upon him, and that in the event of any 
 injury being done to Mr. Duncan, whoever else 
 might escape, he certainly would not. 
 
 From the first moment, therefore, that he entered 
 the school, Legaic was aware that he was powerless, 
 and though excited at the time with drink, his 
 extreme rage and threatening attitude were pro 
 bably merely assumed. Never a man of any great 
 courage, he was by no means prepared to face 
 instant death in defence of a system in which his 
 faith was probably already more shaken than he 
 cared to admit. 
 
 Thus, even after making all allowance for the 
 moral influence which, especially in religious 
 matters, the strong mind invariably exercises over, 
 the weaker, we can hardly doubt that, humanly 
 speaking, Mr. Duncan owed his life, on this occasion 
 
Crfete. 47 
 
 to the friendship and determined character of the 
 one Indian whom he had especially made his 
 friend. 
 
 The excitement created by the attack upon Mr. 
 Duncan, and the indignation amongst the medicine 
 men against Legaic for allowing himself to be 
 thwarted, were naturally very great. Threats of 
 violence to the scholars, if they continued to attend, 
 were again renewed, and with such an evident pro 
 bability that they would be put into execution, that 
 Mr. Duncan at once decided that it would be well 
 to take the opportunity of the moral victory which 
 he had gained to make arrangements for holding 
 school for a short time in another part of the camp. 
 Happily there was no difficulty in inducing one of 
 the chiefs, who had throughout held firm to his 
 intention of abandoning the medicine mysteries, to 
 lend his house for the purpose ; and in it, accord 
 ingly, the day after the scene which we have 
 described, the school was reopened, and upwards of 
 a hundred scholars attended. 
 
 Thus, in the good Providence of God, was the 
 crisis, for the issue of which all had been looking, 
 safely passed. 
 
 If the stand which Mr. Duncan had made was bold, 
 as some may think, almost to rashness, the result 
 
48 granger tf)an dTutton. 
 
 of the victory gained was such as, in his most 
 sanguine moments, he had hardly ventured to 
 expect. 
 
 This was especially the case with regard to the 
 " medicine " system. The chiefs who had at first 
 proposed to give it up were still plainly " halting 
 between two opinions," and needed but very little 
 to make them adhere to their proposed abandon 
 ment of its mysteries. Of course a custom which 
 for ages had been so universal, and so unhesitatingly 
 accepted, and round which clustered so many tra 
 ditions and cherished superstitions, was not likely 
 to be set on one side at once. It was much that 
 the blow struck at it had manifestly produced so 
 great an effect as it had. Not only did many of 
 the chiefs show plainly enough that their confidence 
 in the whole system was gone, but they could no 
 longer conceal the fact, that they were thoroughly 
 ashamed of it. Like revellers overtaken by the 
 daylight as the dawn of divine truth began to 
 break upon them, and the false glare of superstition 
 faded before the " true light," they seemed to recoil 
 instinctively from that in which they had so lately 
 gloried, but of which they were now ashamed. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 PROGRESS. 
 
 j HE events related in the last chapter took 
 place only five days before Christmas 
 (1858). On Christmas-eve Mr. Duncan 
 gave his scholars a long address explain 
 ing why the season was to be observed, not as they 
 had previously known it, merely as a special time 
 of riot and drunkenness amongst white people, but 
 as one of " great joy" to " all people." At the same 
 time, he urged them all to bring their friends with 
 them on the following day. 
 
 Next morning there were some 200 people pre 
 sent. Mr. Duncan had determined to try the 
 experiment for the first time of dispensing with a 
 written address. He succeeded better than he had 
 expected. The Indians seemed to follow his 
 meaning very fairly ; and as he set before them the 
 love of God and His hatred of sin, and then enu- 
 
 E 
 
50 Stranger t!jan dftctum. 
 
 merated the various sins, especially of drunkenness 
 amongst the men and profligacy amongst the women, 
 of which they were guilty, he could see that his 
 warnings as to their present and future consequences 
 went home to the consciences of many. 
 
 It so happened that whilst he was speaking, a 
 woman who was suffering under a frightful affliction, 
 the effect of her own vices, was seized with a sudden 
 illness, and obliged to be removed. A more striking 
 illustration of the effects of the sins against which 
 they had just been w-arned, or one more likely to 
 give force and point to any exhortation against 
 them, could not well have been imagined. 
 
 Aftes his address, Mr. Duncan questioned the 
 children on some simple Bible truths, concluding 
 the service by singing two hymns which he had 
 previously taught in the school. 
 
 Every Sunday much the same plan of proceeding 
 was adopted. Hymns already known were sung, 
 new ones were said over by the whole congregation 
 together, answers to questions in religious truth 
 were repeated in the same manner, a short address 
 was given, and the service concluded with singing 
 and a short prayer. 
 
 In addressing the people Mr. Duncan soon found 
 the necessity of adopting as much as possible the 
 
51 
 
 figurative style of language so common among the 
 Indians ; for instance, he would adopt such argu 
 ments as the following: "If a chief is injured, 
 recompense must be made ; if the offender is too 
 poor to make it, his relatives pay it. Unless 
 compensation is made, there is no reconciliation. 
 We have all made the Great Chief angry ; we 
 could not pay ; Jesus Christ undertakes to pay for 
 us." 
 
 Or again. "When we die, we shall have to 
 appear before the Great Chief; if our hearts are 
 dirty, if our sins are not washed away, He will be 
 angry. ' The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from 
 all sin.' If we do not go to Him to wash away 
 our sins, what excuse shall we have to offer to the 
 Great Chief?" 
 
 As a rule the Indians were very quick in applying 
 to their own cases any thing which was said. Thus 
 we find Mr. Duncan about this time recording in 
 his journal : 
 
 "During my address this morning I observed 
 one man (a spirited, bad man he is) to be very un 
 easy, and after a little time he shouted out some 
 thing which I did not understand, but from his 
 looks and tone of voice I knew it was something 
 bad. I went on as if nothing had happened. He 
 E 2 
 
52 Stranger tfyan Jfictum. 
 
 looked enraged at me, and then hid his face in 
 his blanket. Occasionally he would give me another 
 severe look, and then put down his head again. 
 When we stood up to pray, he moved towards the 
 door ; I went on, and he kept still. On my finish 
 ing, he walked up to a woman, and whispered 
 something in her ear, and then very quickly disap 
 peared. As I was walking from school, one of the 
 little boys told me that this man had been 'talking 
 bad ;' and afterwards I inquired of a man that was 
 present what it was all about, and he told me that 
 the man thought that I was speaking about him, 
 and telling the people his bad ways, and he was 
 ashamed." 
 
 But it must not be supposed that preaching and 
 Sunday services were exclusively or even mainly 
 relied upon as the means of conveying religious 
 instruction to the people. 
 
 Immediately after Christmas Mr. Duncan had 
 again taken possession of his own school-house, 
 and was soon hard at work with a large and in 
 creasing number of scholars. His first difficulty 
 had been how to deal with such large numbers at 
 once ; but by dividing them into classes, and 
 carefully adjusting the work which each class was 
 to do, he was able to make fair progress. 
 
53 
 
 His next and chief anxiety was how best to 
 make the school work subserve the primary object 
 of Christianizing the people. As a rule, both on 
 opening and closing school, he would give a short 
 address on some passage or narrative of the Bible ; 
 he would then make the whole school, children and 
 adults, learn one or two texts in their own language, 
 and repeat them together. These he would explain 
 again and again, taking care that a text once 
 learnt should be repeated sufficiently often, at 
 various times, to fix it deeply in the mind. 
 
 Singing again, which was perhaps, of all others, 
 the most popular part of the school work, proved 
 an important vehicle of instruction. Various simple 
 hymns, embodying the leading truths of Christianity, 
 were soon translated, and were learned with the 
 greatest possible interest by young and old. 
 
 Early in 1859 a set of illustrated Scripture lessons 
 was sent up from Victoria. These proved of the 
 greatest use. One of the first pictures represented 
 Noah and his family sacrificing after leaving the 
 ark. The Indians at once recognized in the sacri 
 ficial act a custom long in use amongst themselves. 
 This of course afforded a stepping-stone from their 
 own system to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. 
 Seeing an evident reason for the custom of sacri- 
 
54 Stranger tjan 
 
 ficing, they seemed at once to gain a clearer 
 conception of the object to be gained by the sacri 
 fice of the death of Christ. 
 
 The whole subject of the Flood proved to be one 
 of peculiar interest. The Tsimsheeans, it appears, 
 have a tradition that many years ago all people, 
 with few exceptions, " perished by water." Amongst 
 the few who were saved were no Tsimsheans ; and 
 how their nation was reproduced is to this day, they 
 say, a mystery to them. 
 
 But the tradition of a widely-extended Flood is by 
 no means confined to particular tribes. Preaching 
 at a later period at a spot nearly a hundred miles 
 from Fort Simpson, and alluding to the Flood, as 
 described in Scripture, Mr. Duncan saw at once 
 that he had touched upon a favourite topic ; and 
 on talking afterwards to one of the chiefs on the 
 subject, the latter at once volunteered the following 
 story : 
 
 "We have a tradition," he said, "about the 
 swelling of the water a long time ago. As you are 
 going up the river you will see the high mountain 
 to the top of which a few of our forefathers escaped 
 when the waters rose, and thus were saved But 
 many more were saved in their canoes, and were 
 drifted about and scattered in every direction. The 
 
55 
 
 waters went down again ; the canoes rested on the 
 land ; and the people settled themselves in the 
 various spots whither they had been driven. Thus 
 it is the Indians are found spread all over the 
 country ; but they all understand the same songs 
 and have the same customs, which shows that they 
 are one people." 
 
 But to return to Mr. Duncan and his school. 
 During the rest of the winter all went on well. Not 
 only were many of the scholars making considerable 
 progress in learning to read simple sentences in 
 their own language, but there were many indications 
 that some at least were ready to be " doers of the 
 Word, and not hearers only." 
 
 In the school this was shown, both by the in 
 creased attention and earnestness, and by the con 
 tinually-decreasing number of those who persisted 
 in painting their faces, and wearing the hideous 
 lip and nose rings. 
 
 But it was not only in the school that there was 
 evidence of some real good having been effected. 
 In spite of an unusual quantity of spirits having 
 been brought to the camp by traders, there had 
 been scarcely any fighting or quarrelling throughout 
 the winter, and not a single murder had been com- 
 mitted^ an event quite without precedent. 
 
56 Stranger tfyan dftctum. 
 
 At the same time the " medicine work" had been 
 carried on with much less spirit, being entirely 
 dropped by one or two tribes, and robbed of half its 
 horrors amongst others. 
 
 Another fruitful source of the influence which Mr. 
 Duncan was now daily gaining with the Indians, 
 was the constant and friendly intercourse kept up 
 with the people by means of house-to-house visiting, 
 and, as far as possible, by constant ministrations to 
 the sick. 
 
 Here is an extract from Mr. Duncan's journal 
 which will serve to illustrate the manner in which 
 these visits were often turned to account. 
 
 Writing on December 29th, 1858, not many days 
 after his contest with Legaic, he says, " After school 
 to-night I went to take a little medicine to a sick 
 man, and found in his house a group of Indians of 
 the tribe which have lately sent a party of medicine 
 men here to show themselves off. I therefore felt 
 an increased desire to set the Gospel forth on this 
 visit, that these poor creatures might go back and 
 tell their people something of the glad tidings they 
 had heard. Their village is about eighty to a 
 hundred miles away from here, I think. For some 
 time I could not begin ; however, I would not 
 go away, but stood musing and praying, my heart 
 
5 7 
 
 burning, but full of misgiving. At last an oppor 
 tunity was afforded me, and I began ; and by God's 
 blessing I was enabled to set the Gospel clearly and 
 fully before them, that is, as to the essential and first 
 great truths of it. While I was speaking one 
 or two would make remarks as to the truth and 
 reasonableness of what I said. Several times 
 one man exclaimed, 'A km melsh ! ahm melsh!' 
 'Good news ! good news !' And another, when I had 
 done, said, ' ShimkowJ which means, 'It is true;' 
 and it is adequate, in their way of speaking, to 
 ' Amen,' ' I believe.' They all seemed thankful for 
 my visit ; and I hope the Lord will bless it. I tried 
 to enforce the duty of love and obedience to God, 
 by alluding to the attachment and obedience they 
 expected from their children. To this they agreed, 
 and expressed their full belief that the Indians 
 would not be long before they would be altogether 
 changed." 
 
 The Indians, being in the habit of attending their 
 sick with great kindness, seemed thoroughly to ap 
 preciate any sympathy and attention shown them ; 
 at the same time, such were their strange notions 
 on the subject of disease, that the greatest caution 
 was necessary to avoid coming into collision with 
 some deep-rooted superstitioa 
 
58 Stranger tfjau 
 
 Nearly all bodily afflictions, and most deaths, 
 are attributed to the secret working of some male 
 volent person. This being the case, when a person 
 of importance dies, it is thought essential that his 
 friends should fix upon some one as the cause of 
 his death. A slave, a stranger lately arrived, or 
 any one known to have had a quarrel with the 
 deceased, is usually fixed upon, and nothing short 
 of his death will expiate his supposed crime. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it has sometimes hap 
 pened that a white man, giving medicine which has 
 failed to save the patient's life, has been looked 
 upon as the cause of his death, and an instance is 
 on record, amongst the American Missionaries, of 
 one of their body falling a victim to this absurd 
 suspicion of his motives. 
 
 As a rule, sick persons would of course send for 
 one of the native doctors, a class differing in some 
 respects from the ordinary "medicine men." He 
 would probably try some of the simple remedies 
 resorted to in ordinary cases, and, in the failure of 
 these, to incantation. This latter process is thus 
 described by Mr. Duncan : 
 
 " The instrument used is a rattle, generally in 
 the shape of a bird or a frog, in the body of which 
 a few small stones are placed. This is whirled 
 
59 
 
 about the patient while a song is sung. Occa 
 sionally the doctor applies his ear, or his mouth, to 
 the place where the pain or disorder chiefly rests. 
 It is also very common at this stage to make 
 incisions where the pain is felt, or to apply fire to 
 the place, by means of burning tinder made of dried 
 wild flax. If relief follows these measures, the 
 doctor asserts that he has extracted the foul sub 
 stance that has done the mischief : which substance 
 is supposed by them to be the bad or poisonous 
 medicine some evil-disposed one had silently 
 inserted into the invalid's body. At such an an 
 nouncement, made by the doctor, the patient, and 
 the patient's friends, overjoyed at his success, 
 liberally present him with such property as they 
 have got. If, however, a relapse ensues, and the 
 invalid dies, the doctor returns every particle of the 
 property he has received. When no relief follows 
 the first trial, a more furious attack is made another 
 time. If still without effect, there is but little hope 
 of the patient's recovery. 
 
 "Another curious matter connected with this 
 operation is, that when the doctor has got pretty 
 warm in his work, he boldly asserts that he can see 
 the soul of his patient if it is present. For this 
 he shuts his eyes for some time, and then pro- 
 
6o J^tvanjjtt* tfjan Jfution. 
 
 nounces his sentence. Either the soul is in its 
 usual place, which is a good sign ; or it is out of its 
 proper place, and seems wanting to take its flight, 
 which makes the patient's case doubtful ; or else it 
 has flown away, in which case there is no hope for 
 the invalid's recovery. The bold deceiver does not 
 even hesitate to tell the people that the soul is like 
 a fly in shape, with a long curved proboscis." 
 
 The first occasion on which Mr. Duncan visited a 
 sick person, who, with the consent of his friends, 
 had deliberately refused the aid of the native 
 doctors, was towards the close of the year 1 858. 
 
 " Last night," he writes, " was the first time I had 
 ventured out in the camp during dark. It was to 
 see a poor dying woman, sister to the late head 
 chief. I had seen her three or four times before, 
 but could do her no good ; still, as her friends had 
 come to the fort desiring aid, I accompanied them 
 back. On arriving at the house, I found the sick 
 woman laid before a large wood fire, around which 
 some, twenty Indians were squatted. After admi 
 nistering a little medicine, I began speaking to them 
 a few words which the solemn scene suggested. I 
 pointed out to them our condition and only remedy 
 in Jesus our adorable Saviour, adding, too, upon 
 what conditions we are saved by Him. They all 
 
6 1 
 
 understood what I said, and two of the women that 
 sat close at the head of the sick person very 
 earnestly reiterated to her my words, and ques 
 tioned her if she understood them. It was, I think, 
 the most solemn scene I have witnessed since I 
 have been here. Before I went away, one man said 
 that she and her people did not know about God, 
 but they wanted to know and learn to be good." 
 
 Contrasting this scene with one described at 
 about the same date in the following year (1859), 
 we see clearly enough the progress which had been 
 made, and the extent to which it was traceable 
 to the school teaching. 
 
 " I was informed, on coming out of the school 
 this afternoon, that a young man, who has been a 
 long time suffering in consumption (brought on by 
 a severe cold), and whom I have visited several 
 times, was dying ; so, after a little reflection, some 
 misgiving, and prayer, I started off to see him. I 
 found him, as his wife had said, dying. Over 
 twenty people were about him : some were crying, 
 and two, I am sorry to say, were partly intoxicated. 
 I looked on for some time in silent sorrow. When 
 I wished to speak, silence immediately ensued. I 
 rebuked the noise and tumult, directing the dying 
 man to fix his heart on the Saviour Jesus ; to forget 
 
62 Jtrans*r tijan tfiction. 
 
 the things about him ; and to spend his little re 
 maining time in praying in his heart to God to save 
 him. 
 
 " His reply was, ' Oyes, sir ! O yes, sir ! ' and for 
 some moments he would close his eyes, and seem 
 absorbed in prayer. On one occasion he spoke of 
 his heart being happy or resigned ; I could not make 
 out the exact expression, as there was some talking 
 at the time, and the remark was in Tsimsheean. 
 
 " He begged me with much earnestness to con 
 tinue to teach his little girl. He wanted her to be 
 good. This little girl is about seven years old : her 
 name is Cathl. She has been very regular at school 
 since I commenced, and has made nice progress. 
 Much to my comfort, a young woman sat by his 
 side who has been one of my most regular pupils. 
 She is in the first class, and can read portions of 
 the Bible. Her intelligence is remarkable ; and I 
 have observed her to be always listening to religious 
 instruction. Thus here was one sitting close to the 
 dying man who could tell him, much more accu 
 rately than I, the few directions I desired to utter. 
 What remarkable providence it seemed to me ! With 
 tears in her eyes, she begged him to give his heart to 
 God, and to pray to Him. I longed to pray with 
 him, and watched anxiously a long time for the 
 
63 
 
 opportunity. The opportunity came, and the 
 strength came with it. I knelt down by his side. 
 All was hushed, and I prayed from a full heart to 
 the Lord our God to have mercy upon the poor 
 soul about to come into His presence, for the sake 
 of His dear Son Jesus." 
 
 To one who was so anxiously watching for every 
 sign which could indicate how far the good seed, 
 which he was so continually sowing, was taking 
 root, there was much cause for encouragement in 
 such a case as this. From the first this man had 
 refused to allow the native doctor to operate upon 
 him. He showed that he understood and appre 
 ciated the leading truths of the Gospel, and was 
 constant and earnest in prayer. At his death, 
 which took place the next day, he had again assured 
 all about him of the certain hope of a joyful resur 
 rection in which he died; and in parting with his 
 child had, with much feeling, repeated his wish that 
 she should not be allowed to fall back into the old 
 ways of his people. 
 
 In the spring of 1859, when the season for the 
 annual migration to the fishing-grounds came round, 
 many of the Indians were anxious to know whether 
 they ought to leave their children to attend the 
 school, or take them with them. Knowing how 
 
64 Stranger tfyait ffiittitm. 
 
 important their help was to their parents, and feel 
 ing sure that if any failure of the year's provision 
 occurred, they would, whether rightly or wrongly, 
 attribute it to him and the school, Mr. Duncan in 
 every case urged their taking them with them. 
 
 Accordingly, about the middle of March, the 
 first grand detachment, consisting of about 200 
 canoes, started for the fishing-station, situated some 
 distance up a river which falls into the sea some 
 distance to the north of the fort. 
 
 After this the school was still kept on, though 
 the number of scholars was reduced to about forty. 
 
 During the period of comparative leisure which the 
 absence of so large a proportion of the population 
 afforded him, Mr. Duncan devoted all the time which 
 he could possibly afford to the preparation of several 
 hymns and prayers, a short catechism, and a num 
 ber of texts divided into classes, the first marking 
 the difference between the good and bad, the 
 second setting forth simple doctrinal truths, and 
 the rest referring to various practical duties. He 
 also prepared a series of reading lessons and a 
 number of books to be used by the scholars at 
 home. 
 
 The day on which the main body of the people 
 had started for their fishing-grounds was destined 
 
65 
 
 from that time forward to be a red-letter day in 
 Mr. Duncan's calendar. The constant stress which 
 he had laid upon the evils resulting from rum 
 drinking, and from the frightful immorality which 
 prevailed on all sides, and the contrast which the 
 scenes of riot and drunkenness afforded to the order 
 and general decorum which had now become the 
 rule of some few parts of the camp, had at last 
 decided the chiefs to take some steps in the matter. 
 Accordingly, a meeting was held at the house of 
 the head chief Legaic, at which all Mr. Duncan's 
 arguments were freely discussed and entirely 
 approved. In the end, the chiefs agreed to send a 
 message that they hoped Mr. Duncan would con 
 tinue to " speak strong " against the bad ways of 
 their people, and that they would themselves second 
 what he said with "strong speeches." But the 
 grand climax of all was, that Legaic himself sent 
 word that he intended to come to school an in 
 tention which he happily soon carried into effect. 
 
 " April 6tk, 1859. The head chief," writes Mr. 
 Duncan, " was at school to-day. His looks show 
 that he well remembers his past base conduct ; but 
 I try to disregard the past, and show him equal 
 kindness with the rest." 
 
 Legaic's example was quickly followed by others, 
 
 F 
 
66 Stranger tljan Jfittitm. 
 
 so that in the course of the summer as many as 
 four or five of the chiefs were often at school at the 
 same time. 
 
 One old chief (Neeslakkahmoosh), though he 
 held back himself for a long time, either from com 
 ing to the school or Sunday services, went so far as 
 to urge Mr. Duncan strongly to try and get another 
 teacher to come out and help him. " We are will 
 ing," he said, " to give you our children to teach ; 
 but as for the grown people, we think it is well for 
 us to die as we are." 
 
 The daughter of this old chief was one of the 
 most intelligent and regular attendants at the 
 school, and never failed to repeat to her father all 
 that she heard and learnt. Gradually softening 
 under this influence, he at last consented to come 
 himself to school. The first day he made his ap 
 pearance he formally presented Mr. Duncan with a 
 token of his good-will, in the shape of a carved 
 spoon of his own workmanship an offering which, 
 though of no great intrinsic value, must, from his 
 age and dimness of sight, have cost him no little 
 time and labour. 
 
 On the whole, the general state of feeling through 
 out the settlement towards Mr. Duncan underwent, 
 in the course of the summer of 1859, a very marked 
 
67 
 
 change for the better. This was particularly mani 
 fested on one occasion. A notoriously bad cha 
 racter, named Cushwaht, on being refused some 
 medicine at the fort, on account of his recent bad 
 conduct, had, Indian-like, sought to revenge him 
 self on the first property belonging to a white man 
 which he could get at. Taking a hatchet, he had 
 broken into the school and smashed all the win 
 dows. 
 
 On Mr. Duncan going on to the beach with the 
 chief who had come to tell him what had happened, 
 he found the people in a state of great excitement, 
 one old man calling out to him " that the whole 
 camp was crying, and that many guns were waiting 
 for the villain, if he dared to appear." 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that all Mr. Dun 
 can's efforts were directed to allay the excitement, 
 and to make every one understand that he bore no 
 ill-will to the offender, and that nothing would 
 grieve him more than that any thing should occur 
 which might be construed into an act of retalia 
 tion. 
 
 Had the school been assembled at the time of 
 
 Cushwaht's attack, the affair might have proved 
 
 much more serious, as he was under the influence 
 
 of drink at the time, and always had fire-arms in 
 
 F 2 
 
68 Stranger tfjan dftctton. 
 
 his possession. Indeed, it was only a few weeks 
 later, that on a quarrel, of which he was the cause, 
 taking place in his house, pistols were freely 
 used, and two women were shot, and he himself 
 wounded. 
 
 Happily, so far from acting injuriously on Mr. 
 Duncan's work, these and such-like scenes only 
 tended the more powerfully to awaken the minds 
 of those who had been regularly under instruction, 
 and to deepen the impression of the teaching they 
 had received ; whilst to all they served as a prac 
 tical illustration of the truth which he was so con 
 stantly pointing out to them, viz. that even on the 
 lowest grounds of expediency a thorough reform 
 was desirable. 
 
 Such, so far at least as it can be estimated from 
 the outward indications we have enumerated, was 
 the general result of the first two years of Mr. 
 Duncan's work. 
 
 His own views as to the nature of the foundation 
 which up to this time he had laid, we shall perhaps 
 best understand by glancing at the superstructure 
 which he hoped to rear upon it. 
 
 What, then, at this time were his hopes and plans 
 for the future ? 
 
69 
 
 Nothing more or less than to propose a general 
 exodus of the whole body of those who had been 
 brought more immediately under his teaching, to 
 bid them come out from among their heathen 
 brethren, and form a separate Christian settlement, 
 where their young children could be brought up in 
 a purer atmosphere, and their young men and 
 women could be freed from the contaminating 
 influences which then surrounded them. 
 
 Such, in its briefest outline, was the plan, then 
 first put forward, which during the next two years 
 and a half we shall see gradually assuming shape 
 and consistency, until it finally issued in the esta 
 blishment of the native settlement, the singular and 
 successful development of which has already con 
 stituted it one of the marvels of the day, and 
 promises ere long to revolutionize the whole policy 
 of American statesmen towards the Indian races, 
 and to lead them to commit to the messengers of 
 the Gospel of Peace a task for which in turn every 
 other agency has proved wholly inadequate. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A VISIT TO VICTORIA. 
 
 scenery. 
 
 must be, I think, the most 
 lovely and beautifully situated place in 
 the world. In the summer it must be 
 exquisite. There is every sort of 
 Sublime mountains, placid sea, noble 
 forest trees, undulating park-like glades inter 
 spersed with venerable oaks, inland lakes and rivers 
 abounding with fish. The climate is thoroughly 
 English a little milder. It is astonishing to see 
 the rapidity with which the place grows. The 
 houses at present are chiefly of wood, but can be 
 made very comfortable and picturesque. They run 
 up with great speed, and sometimes run along, for 
 it is not uncommon to meet a house proceeding 
 down the street to some other location. The shops 
 are excellent ; there is nothing no luxury, no 
 comfort which you cannot procure 1 ." 
 
 1 Letter of the Bishop of Columbia. 
 
Wteit to Wittovia. 
 
 Such were the first impressions produced upon 
 the traveller on entering the capital of British 
 Columbia some ten years back. Describing the 
 population of the city, another writer says, " One 
 cannot pass along the principal thoroughfares with 
 out meeting representatives of almost every tribe 
 or nationality under heaven. Within a limited 
 space may be seen : of Europeans Russians, Aus- 
 trians, Poles, Hungarians, Italians, Danes, Swedes, 
 French, Germans, Spaniards, Swiss, Scotch, Eng 
 lish, and Irish ; of Africans negroes from the 
 United States and West Indies ; of Asiatics 
 Lascars and Chinamen ; of Americans Indians, 
 Mexicans, Chilians, and citizens of the North 
 American Republic ; and of Polynesians Malays 
 from the Sandwich Islands. Thus Victoria has 
 become a nucleus for the waifs and strays of 
 humanity, drifting thither from the east and west. 
 What could be expected of a population so consti 
 tuted, the unfavourable elements of which are con 
 tinually stirred by an influx of miners migrating 
 to and fro ?" 
 
 Into this vortex of vice and dissipation for such 
 it was the Indians, both from the coast and the 
 interior of British Columbia, were continually 
 drawn, only to return to their homes tainted with 
 
72 Stranger tfyan tfiction. 
 
 evil the most degrading and destructive, and pos 
 sessed with a craving for ardent spirits, which 
 the traders who first encouraged it took every 
 opportunity afterwards of gratifying. 
 
 In the first instance the visits of the natives to 
 Victoria had been solely for the legitimate purposes 
 of traffic. Now they came with their wives and 
 daughters for the express purpose of keeping, with 
 the white settlers, a carnival of debauchery, and to 
 obtain money, often in large sums, from the most 
 profligate of the settlers, which they would gene 
 rally spend as soon as it was obtained in the com 
 pound of the whisky-seller, or accumulate to take 
 back to their native villages. 
 
 Shortly before the time of which we are writing, 
 the Bishopric of Columbia was founded by the 
 noble offering from Baroness then Miss Burdett 
 Coutts of the sum of 25,ooo/. by way of endow 
 ment. On Dr. Hills, the first Bishop, going out in 
 1860, one of the first objects to which he directed 
 his attention was the state of the Indians in and 
 near Victoria. His first impressions are thus 
 given : " The tribes have much decreased since 
 1846. More than half of the Songish are gone 
 these live here ; their destruction is occasioned 
 principally by drink and dissolute habits. Those 
 
2Ft$tt to Wictoria. 73 
 
 nearest the whites are the worst. Slavery has in 
 creased ; female slaves are in demand ; distant 
 tribes make war upon each other, and bring their 
 female slaves to the market. You will hardly 
 credit it, but it is strictly true, women are pur 
 chased as slaves to let them out for immoral 
 purposes. A female slave has been known recently 
 to be purchased for 200 dollars (4O/.). The Indians 
 buy their wives, but slaves are more costly. Upon 
 an Indian woman recently killed in a brawl was 
 found 300 dollars (6o/.), the wages of iniquity. 
 There is a white man, we trust not an Englishman, 
 near Langley, who owns such slaves, and hangs 
 out a sign over his door to signify the horrible 
 iniquity there pursued. An Indian named Bears'- 
 skin makes large profits by the traffic in female 
 slaves. The language uttered by Indians is some 
 times very bad. They will exclaim in violent oaths 
 when put out, but, to our shame, the oaths are in 
 the English language, which they have learned 
 from Englishmen and Americans. They have no 
 oaths in their own language ! Even the children 
 catch quickly and use readily these horrid sounds. 
 Two Indian children who come to the Sunday- 
 school were striving together the other day, when 
 the older said to the other, ' What the h 11 are 
 
74 Stranger tijan ffittion. 
 
 you about ?' Alas ! that their first English words 
 should be such as these." 
 
 The evil thus described had grown to such a 
 pitch, and had become such a crying disgrace, that 
 the Governor and other leading men in the colony 
 readily agreed to the Bishop's proposal that some 
 vigorous effort should be made to put a stop to it. 
 
 The influence which Mr. Duncan had gained 
 with the Indians at Fort Simpson, the fact that he 
 was the only person in the country who could speak 
 the native language with any fluency, and, above 
 all, the marked improvement in the manners, and 
 bearing, and religious feeling which had been ob 
 served in the Fort Simpson Indians, all seemed to 
 point to him as the person of all others best able to 
 advise or help in the matter. 
 
 Bishop Hills' own impression of the value of Mr. 
 Duncan's work is thus given in one of his early 
 letters : 
 
 " Jan. 1 8, 1860. An Indian came to call. He 
 looked like a respectable English young man, of 
 pleasing countenance ; he could speak English a 
 little. He was a Tsimsheean, from Fort Simpson. 
 I visited his lodge yesterday. It was neat and 
 clean, and had comforts : a nice stove, bedstead ; 
 there was also a desk. The wife, named Tarx, 
 
^tett to Victoria. 75 
 
 neat and pleasing. He is called John Clark a 
 pure Indian. He has come to trade, and keeps a 
 stall. He complained of the Hyder Indians near 
 his lodge another tribe, more fierce : ' Fight all 
 day, all night drink bad I get no sleep my 
 wife frightened my little boy cry.' He told me 
 he prayed. He knew some of the leading points 
 of the Christian faith. He asked for a Prayer 
 Book. I promised I would bring one. 
 
 " Jan. 21. I went with Mr. Duncan to the Tsim- 
 sheean village. The Indians there come from Fort 
 Simpson to trade. Found the lodge of Clark, to 
 whom I gave the Prayer Book. It was Saturday. 
 There were beautiful white loaves of bread, which 
 he had brought home. The whole interior resembled 
 that of a cotter in England on Saturday night. He 
 placed seats. He was pleased with his book. He 
 brought out a box with writing books and account 
 books. He writes a good hand, and spells fairly in 
 English. He repeated the Lord's Prayer in a most 
 reverent and touching way. He could tell of the 
 dying of Christ for us, and said he loved Christ. 
 We had interesting Conversation, in which he evi 
 dently took pleasure. We all knelt down : he put 
 his hands together, made his wife and child do the 
 same, and I prayed our heavenly Father's blessing 
 
76 Stranger tfyan dTtctton. 
 
 upon our plans, and upon these poor Indians ; that 
 He would cause His truth to be known by them, 
 that all might be brought to have the same hope, 
 and be meet partakers of heaven through His dear 
 Son. I see John Clark occasionally at church. 
 This pleasing result is owing a good deal to the 
 zealous and successful exertions of our Church 
 Missionary Catechist, Mr. Duncan." 
 
 Under these circumstances, the Governor had 
 urged strongly upon Mr. Duncan the service which 
 he would render by coming down to Victoria, and 
 advising on the best measures to be taken to rescue 
 the Indians from the state of degradation into 
 which they had fallen. Accordingly, as soon as 
 the great body of his people left Fort Simpson for 
 their fishing-grounds, Mr. Duncan, after making 
 two expeditions, to which we shall have to refer 
 hereafter, started for Victoria. 
 
 On his arrival there, he at once entered, with the 
 Bishop and the Governor, upon the object of his 
 visit, and, in deference to their strongly expressed 
 wish, consented to remain a sufficient time to or 
 ganize a Missionary settlement near Victoria. A 
 public meeting upon the subject was then called, 
 and a sufficient sum of money having been sub 
 scribed to build a school-house, Mr. Duncan at 
 
& Wteit to Victoria. 77 
 
 once entered upon the work of organizing the new 
 Mission, preaching, teaching, and visiting the people, 
 just as at Fort Simpson. 
 
 Amongst the Indians congregated at the new settle 
 ment were a considerable number belonging to the 
 Tsimsheean and Niskah tribes, who at the close of the 
 fishing-season had come down for trading purposes. 
 Just before starting for Victoria, Mr. Duncan had 
 visited the Niskahs at their main camp on the Naas 
 river, and as he had been very hospitably and cour 
 teously received, Captain Prevost, whose ship was 
 now in harbour, determined, by way of returning 
 their hospitality, to ask some twenty-eight of the 
 chief men of the two tribes to an entertainment 
 on board the " Satellite." After being regaled 
 with rice and molasses, strong tea and biscuit, they 
 were shown over the ship. The size and weight of 
 the guns, the quantity of powder in a cartridge, and 
 especially a portrait of the Queen, are enumerated 
 by the Victoria Gazette as the objects which most 
 excited their wonder and admiration. The fact of 
 their being invited on board a man-of-war was a 
 compliment which they evidently much appre 
 ciated, and all the more from the sort of myste 
 rious dread with which they had before regarded 
 such vessels. As an acknowledgment of their 
 
78 Stranger tfjan tfictitm. 
 
 sense of the kindness shown to them, they insisted 
 on presenting to Captain Prevost several handsome 
 bear, ermine, and other skins. 
 
 It may not be amiss here to draw attention to 
 the importance of such a simple effort as the above 
 to strengthen the hands of those engaged in Mission 
 work. Who cannot imagine the tales which the 
 favoured few who had been the guests of the great 
 chief of the English nation on board one of her 
 own ships would have to tell round their camp- 
 fires, and how much of the prestige of the whole 
 affair would belong to him to whose influence they 
 would naturally attribute the fact of their being so 
 courteously treated ? 
 
 English governors and officials are happily now- 
 a-days seldom backward in doing all in their power 
 to aid the Missionary clergy ; but it may well be 
 doubted whether many realize as fully as those 
 staunch friends of all Columbia Mission work, Sir 
 James Douglas and Captain Prevost, the extreme 
 value of the indirect support which in such ways as 
 the above may so often be accorded them. 
 
 Early in August, a long-looked-for coadjutor in the 
 work at Fort Simpson the Rev. L. S. Tugwell 
 arrived at Victoria from England, and it was decided 
 that Mr. Duncan should go up there with him and 
 
Wteit to Victoria. 79 
 
 settle him in his work, and then return himself, and 
 give up the winter to carrying on the new Mission 
 at Victoria. Accordingly, on the i3th of August, 
 Mr. Duncan started with Mr. and Mrs. Tugwell in 
 a steamer for Fort Simpson. On their way they 
 touched at Fort Rupert, where the Indians were 
 loud in their complaints of a white teacher having 
 been sent over their heads, as it were, to the Tsim- 
 sheean tribes beyond them, and were most urgent 
 in their request to have a Missionary settled 
 amongst them as soon as possible. 
 
 On arriving at Fort Simpson, Mr. Duncan de 
 cided not to return to Victoria by the same steamer, 
 as he had purposed, but to remain for a short time 
 with Mr. and Mrs. Tugwell, and to go down again 
 in a canoe, a plan which would enable him to visit 
 the various Indian settlements along the coast, at 
 which it would otherwise have been impossible for 
 him to stop. Happily, however, before he was 
 ready to start, he received a letter from the Bishop, 
 informing him, to his great relief, that a clergyman, 
 the Rev. A. C. Garrett, had been found ready 
 to devote himself to the Indian work at Vic 
 toria. 
 
 The first impressions made upon a new-comer as 
 to the progress up to this time of the work at Fort 
 
8o Stranger tfyan 
 
 Simpson are thus conveyed in a letter from Mr. 
 Tugwell : 
 
 " How I wish," he writes, " the friends of Missions 
 in England could see Mr. Duncan's congregation 
 on the Sunday. They would indeed ' thank God, 
 and take courage.' I have never seen an English 
 congregation more orderly and attentive. With 
 but few exceptions, both the children and adults 
 come clean and neatly dressed. The children sing 
 several hymns very sweetly a morning and even 
 ing hymn, composed by Mr. Duncan ; a hymn to 
 our Saviour ; and another, beginning, ' Jesus is my 
 Saviour,' ' Here we suffer grief and pain/ &c., and 
 some others in English ; also one in Tsimsheean. 
 The Indians all up the coast are crying out for 
 teachers : ' Come over and help us.' " 
 
 Writing about the same time, Mr. Duncan ur 
 gently presses the necessity for more men being 
 sent out, especially urging that with each Missio 
 nary clergyman should be sent a Missionary school 
 master, able to teach some industrial occupation, 
 with a view to finding employment for the Indians, 
 and thus keeping them from that " sink of corrup 
 tion," Victoria. 
 
 " There should be," he writes,-" six stations north 
 of Fort Rupert : one for the Tsimsheean, one for 
 
Wtiit to Victoria. 81 
 
 the Niskah Indians, two for Queen Charlotte's 
 Island, one for Fort Rupert, and one on the 
 adjacent mainland." 
 
 Hitherto, owing to the want of funds, the work 
 thus indicated has been left in a great measure 
 unattempted. Is it unreasonable to hope that the 
 record of the result of Mr. Duncan's own labours 
 may yet stir the hearts of some of those whom God 
 has blessed with this world's goods, to dedicate 
 some portion of them to an effort so manifestly 
 tending to His glory, and the welfare of His 
 creatures ? 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 BUILDING UP. 
 
 |N Mr. and Mrs. Tugwell joining Mr. 
 Duncan at Fort Simpson the Hud 
 son's Bay Company being no longer 
 able to offer the requisite accommoda 
 tion it became necessary to commence at once 
 to build a dwelling-house. 
 
 For a payment of a shilling a-day a sufficient 
 number of native workmen were obtained, and by 
 the end of February, 1861, the foundation of the 
 house was laid, the planks adzed, and the frame 
 ready for putting up. Towards the end of Feb 
 ruary Mr. Duncan was absent for some weeks on a 
 visit to Victoria, and on his return found the house 
 finished, and Mr. and Mrs. Tugwell already located 
 in it. As it had been built on a plan " to accom 
 modate Indians," it was decided that, during the 
 summer months, when the school would be small 
 and the congregation on Sunday would seldom 
 
33utlKmg up. 83 
 
 exceed a hundred persons, school and Divine Ser 
 vice should be held in it, instead of in the old 
 school-house. 
 
 The old school-house having been found to be 
 too small for the various purposes for which it was 
 required in the winter, preparations were next 
 made for erecting a new one. Taking sixteen men 
 and several boys with him, Mr. Duncan himself 
 superintended the cutting and squaring the re 
 quisite timber, camping out for that purpose for 
 about a fortnight at a spot some distance along the 
 coast. At the end of that time the wood was 
 made into a raft, and drifted down to the settle 
 ment. The old building was then pulled down, 
 and a fresh site chosen farther from the " camp." 
 
 The new building was seventy-six feet long by 
 thirty-six feet broad, and was estimated to cost 
 5o/., a considerable portion of which was sub 
 scribed by the Indians themselves in the form of 
 native work baskets, spoons, dishes, &c., which 
 were always saleable at Victoria. Owing to the 
 incessant rains during the summer the completion 
 of the building was delayed till quite the end of 
 the year (1861), by which time Mr. Duncan was 
 again left, as will be explained in the next chapter, 
 to labour single-handed. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 Stranger tf)an ^fiction. 
 
 On the first day of opening the new school- 
 house, upwards of 400 Indians were present, the 
 largest number which, up to this time, had ever 
 attended one service. 
 
 One object of the present narrative is, as far as 
 possible, to enable those who may be engaged in 
 any work of a kindred character to form an opinion 
 as to the advantages and disadvantages of the par 
 ticular methods adopted, and to contrast the results 
 attained with those which they have themselves 
 known to follow efforts made under conditions more 
 or less similar. 
 
 With this view, and especially in order to register 
 as accurately as possible the extent of the progress 
 made at particular periods, we must again, at the 
 risk of seeming tedious, dwell separately on the 
 different influences brought to bear upon the people, 
 especially preaching, school-work, visiting the sick, 
 and constant personal intercourse with individual 
 members of the community. 
 
 During the whole of the winter 1 860-61 the 
 attendance at the Sunday services was most en 
 couraging the congregation always numbering 
 from 300 to 300. The strings of well-dressed 
 Indians going to and from their homes had a very 
 home-like, English look, and, as was constantly 
 
up. 85 
 
 remarked by the officers at the fort, served more 
 almost than any thing else to mark the change from 
 savage to civilized life which had already fairly 
 set in. There were always three services on the 
 Sunday two for adults and one for children. 
 Prayers and a hymn, and a portion of Scripture 
 read and explained, all in Tsimsheean, made up 
 the service, which generally lasted about three- 
 quarters of an hour. 
 
 But Mr. Duncan by no means confined his 
 preaching to Sundays. True, he could here speak 
 to those who would come to kirn, but he wanted to 
 get at all, especially at those most committed to 
 the observance of heathen rites, and who would be 
 least likely to come to any regular services. 
 
 Here are some notes made from his journal, 
 which will show the plan he from time to time 
 adopted to secure the Gospel message being pro 
 claimed to all : 
 
 " Jan. *]th, 1861. Decided to call each tribe 
 together again separately, as some would not come 
 to school or church. First went to tribe of head 
 chief, called Heeshpokahlots. Got there at five 
 o'clock. Found a large fire, and many round it. 
 House neatly arranged, and a seat placed for me. 
 Spoke to 200 for two hours. Many answered. 
 
86 Stranger tljan dTwtion. 
 
 " Jan. %th. Addressed Kitlahn tribe. 200 pre 
 sent. Spoke at length. Many replies. Children 
 sang Tsimsheean hymn. 
 
 " Jan. gth. Visited Keetseesh tribe. 150 pre 
 sent. Several spoke. One chief said, ' Our fore 
 fathers did not have the book sent to them ; it has 
 come to us, and our children will understand it.' 
 Children sang hymns. 
 
 "Jan. loth. Visited smallest tribe, Keetsah- 
 clahs. Eighty present. No replies. Chief young, 
 and no old men, or leading minds. 
 
 " Jan. nth. Visited Keetandol tribe. 200 pre 
 sent. 
 
 "Jan. T.itk. Visited Keenahtawik tribe. 150 
 present. Several responded. 
 
 " Jan. i^th. Visited Keenakangeak tribe. An 
 swered their speeches. A prolonged meeting. 
 
 " Jan. 17 th. Visited Killotsah tribe. 150 present. 
 
 " Jan. 2cth (Sunday). In evening visited Keet- 
 willgeeant's tribe. 150 present. 
 
 " Thus 1400 Indians have had the Gospel pro 
 claimed to them." 
 
 Visiting the sick afforded another constantly 
 recurring opportunity of preaching. Here, again, 
 a few notes of Mr. Duncan's journal will serve best 
 to illustrate the course adopted : 
 
up. 87 
 
 "Dec. 5//z, 1860. Visited and prayed with three 
 sick persons. As I knelt, an Indian of another 
 tribe came in. When I left, he followed me, and 
 said that the man I had been praying- with had 
 spoken much against me and the Mission. Told 
 him of the Christian law, to return good for evil. 
 
 "Dec. \\th, 1860. Last night, as I was leaving 
 school, a young man, a scholar, asked me to visit 
 and give the news to his friends. They were 
 ashamed to come. Went. Ten persons present. 
 Gospel preached. 
 
 "Dec. nth. Went at night to visit sick woman. 
 Thirty persons round the fire. Waited opportu 
 nity, and preached to them. All impressed. One 
 man, holding both hands out before him, gave a 
 sudden turn over, saying, ' Thus it will be with the 
 hearts of the Tsimsheeans.' Old chief sat with 
 eyes on the ground ; listened to what was said 
 about the rum-drinking, immorality, &c., and then 
 repeated what I said to the rest. Visited a sick 
 woman. She had heard and understood about 
 God and Christ. Gave her and her friends simple 
 prayers. On leaving, came on a large medicine 
 party making a furious noise. They saw my lan 
 tern approaching, and began to restrain their 
 hubbub, then sneaked away between two houses, 
 
88 Stranger tfjan fiction. 
 
 annoyed at my not being afraid of them. An 
 Indian would as soon face death as go near these 
 creatures when they are ' exhibiting.' " 
 
 As he gained the confidence of the people, Mr. 
 Duncan found the knowledge of medicine which 
 he possessed of material service in securing him a 
 cordial welcome to many houses to which he could 
 not otherwise have gained such ready access. " I 
 have/' he writes in 1860, "constant and numerous 
 calls from the Indians for medicine, which is a sure 
 mark of their growing confidence. Many times, 
 when leaving school, I have found strings of people 
 on the way to see me for advice and medicine for the 
 sick. After dismissing these, my plan has been to 
 take my pockets full of medicine and proceed to 
 the camp. It would be difficult, indeed, to give 
 you any thing like a correct idea of this very inte 
 resting part of my duty. I can only say, that 
 many times, when I have gone out wearied in body 
 and dejected in mind, I have been so refreshed 
 with what God has permitted me to do and witness, 
 that I have returned with a heart leaping for joy." 
 
 The preparation of his discourses seems to have 
 been, in spite of the perfect mastery of the language 
 which he had now gained, a source of constant 
 and anxious labour, though, at the same time, 
 
33 tufting up. 89 
 
 one which, more than any thing else, helped to 
 strengthen his own spiritual life. 
 
 " My plan has been to take the prominent por 
 tions of Old Testament history and the most strik 
 ing passages of the New Testament, in every case 
 pointing to ' The Lamb of God, which taketh away 
 the sins of the world/ My great difficulty hitherto 
 has been the language. Many times have I gone 
 to an assembly of Indians with my heart, as it were, 
 on fire, and stood before them with a stammering 
 tongue, and dropped my words with fear and un 
 certainty. But now, thank God, my tongue is 
 loosed ; I can stand now and speak the Tsimsheean 
 tongue with plainness, fervency, and fluency. 
 Though I have not been able to devote much time 
 specially to the study of the language, yet I have 
 felt myself progressing daily. The little time I 
 have afforded to it has served me to hunt out some 
 very important words to add to my vocabulary, 
 also to translate hymns for school work ; but most 
 of the little time I could spare I have spent in 
 studying the grammatical construction of the Tsim 
 sheean. The language is copious and expressive, 
 and, with few exceptions, the sounds are soft and 
 flowing. There are five languages spoken along 
 this coast, and I have learnt a little of each, but 
 
po Stranger tijan tfittion. 
 
 find the Tsimsheean much the easiest to pro 
 nounce." 
 
 But of all other work, that of direct instruction in 
 the school continued to occupy the largest share of 
 attention. The following extracts from a journal, 
 kept by a boy named Shooquanahts, of between 
 fourteen and fifteen years of age, given to Mr. 
 Duncan on his return from Victoria, will serve to 
 illustrate the progress already made with the 
 younger pupils : 
 
 "No good lazy very bad. We must learn to 
 make all things. When we understand reading and 
 writing, then it will be very easy. Perhaps two 
 grass, then we understand. If we no understand 
 to read and write, then he will very angry, Mr. 
 Duncan. If we understand about good people, 
 then he will very happy. 
 
 "April 17 th. School, Fort Simpson. Shoo 
 quanahts not two hearts not always one my heart. 
 Some boys always two hearts. Only one Shoo 
 quanahts not two hearts no. If I steal any thing 
 then God will see. Bad people no care about Son of 
 God. When will come troubled hearts, foolish peo 
 ple. Then he will very much cry. What- good cry ? 
 Nothing. No care about our Saviour; always forget. 
 By-and-by will understand about the Son of God. 
 
33utftrtng up. 91 
 
 "May I7//2. I do not understand some prayers 
 only few prayers I understand. Not all I under 
 stand no. I wish to understand all prayers. When 
 I understand all prayers, then I always prayer our 
 Saviour Jesus Christ. I want to learn to prayer to 
 Jesus Christ our Saviour. By-and-by I under 
 stand all about our Saviour Christ. When I under 
 stand all what about our Saviour, then I will happy 
 when I die. If I do not learn about our Saviour 
 Jesus, then I will very troubled my heart when I 
 die. It is good for us when we learn about our 
 Saviour Jesus. When I understand about our 
 Saviour Jesus, then I will very happy when I die." 
 
 Another of the boys writes in his journal : " If I. 
 steal, the great God sees me. Bad people no care 
 about the Son of God. By-and-by they will cry, but 
 no good. Foolish people. By-and-by they will 
 understand about the Saviour ; they always forget 
 now." 
 
 The general attendance at school averaged from 
 100 to 150, of whom from 40 to 50 were adults. 
 The latter Mr. Duncan continually kept back, after 
 the rest of the school was dismissed, and addressed 
 them separately. 
 
 On the first of January, 1861, a grand school 
 feast was held, when some 250 were present soup, 
 
92 Stranger tfjan dffctum. 
 
 rice, and molasses forming the chief of the pro 
 visions ; and speeches and games forming a promi 
 nent part of the proceedings. 
 
 It is perhaps hardly necessary to say that whilst 
 teaching the people, young and old, to be devout 
 and earnest, Mr. Duncan seems at all times to have 
 been keenly alive to the advantage of encouraging 
 every rational and cheerful amusement, especially 
 amongst the young. Gymnastic bars, swings, &c., 
 to say nothing of marbles and ball, are reported 
 as being in as much request as they could be in any 
 English school. 
 
 Personal intercourse with individuals was another 
 source of influence which Mr. Duncan seems never 
 to have lost any opportunity of bringing to bear. 
 On several occasions, when making an expedition 
 to some native settlement on the coast, or to the 
 fishing-station on the Naas river, he would select 
 for the crew of his canoe those whom for any 
 particular cause he was anxious to see more of. 
 Every evening he would choose some special 
 subject from the Bible for instruction and conver 
 sation, always concluding with singing and prayer. 
 On such occasions all the surrounding scenes would 
 help materially to lend effect to his teaching. 
 " The mighty works of God, spread out and piled 
 
JSuiltttng; up. 93 
 
 up on every hand the brilliant stars just diluting 
 the darkness sufficiently to show the forms of the lofty 
 mountains around them the glare of their fire con 
 trasting with the dark shadows of the dense forests 
 which ran almost down to the water's edge the 
 murmuring of the waves, serving to break the 
 profound quiet all helped to act upon the mind 
 and to inspire feelings of reverence." 
 
 " Wherever they go they carry their religion with 
 them," is the testimony which a few years later we 
 shall find borne again and again to the more 
 earnest of the Indian converts. Who shall say to 
 how great an extent this fact may be traced to the 
 example which has been thus consistently set 
 before them ? 
 
 The greatest difficulty was experienced in dealing 
 with the elder girls. The evil influence of a heathen 
 home and parents, and the association with depraved 
 Europeans, seemed, in most cases, to counteract 
 every influence for good which could be brought to 
 bear upon them. Many upon whom much pains 
 had been bestowed, and some of whom had been 
 living at the Mission-house under Mrs. Tugwell's 
 care for some time, were eventually drawn into the 
 vortex of vice, and lost. "Others," Mr. Duncan 
 writes, " I am happy to say, give me great hopes 
 
94 Stranger tfjan jetton. 
 
 that they will maintain a consistent walk : as their 
 case needs special watchfulness, I deem it my duty 
 to take them under my special care. I see no better 
 plan than taking a number into my house, feeding, 
 clothing, and instructing them, until they find hus 
 bands from among the young men of our own party. 
 I calculate the cost of one child per year to be 7/. 
 or 8/., viz. 5/. or 61. for food, and 2/. for clothing. 
 I shall do my utmost out of my own income, and 
 try to get help from other quarters." We shall have 
 to note hereafter the high testimony borne by the 
 Bishop of Columbia to the complete success of the 
 plan thus adopted. 
 
 The next source of influence to be noticed is one 
 of special interest, and carries us at once from 
 merely preliminary efforts to the actual work of 
 "building up in the faith" individual converts. 
 "What I regard," says Mr. Duncan, "as the most 
 interesting part of my duty is the two weekday 
 evening meetings for the Christians and candidates, 
 or inquirers, whom I press more especially to 
 attend ; but occasionally in my Sunday addresses I 
 allude to our meeting, and invite those to attend 
 who desire to practise what they hear. At our last 
 meeting we numbered over forty. These meetings 
 have encouraged me much, and have given me 
 
up. 95 
 
 opportunities of pressing home the Word of God 
 in a way I could not do on any other occasion." 
 
 The first real gathering out from amongst the 
 heathen of those who were ready to make open 
 profession of their faith took place on July 26th, 
 [861, on which day 23 persons (19 adults 14 men, 
 5 women and 4 children) were baptized by Mr. 
 Tugwell. Several others came forward, but it was 
 decided that it would be best for {hem to wait 
 awhile. Others were deterred by the fear of their 
 relatives. 
 
 Writing of the newly-baptized, Mr. Duncan 
 says, "Since these have come fairly out, there has 
 been more of a persecuting spirit abroad from the 
 Lord's enemies. This we may expect to increase. 
 The converts are severely tried and tempted at 
 present, but we pray they may be preserved faith 
 ful. While some have decided, and many in 
 creasingly many are anxious ; others the wicked 
 wax worse and worse. Drunkenness seems to 
 gather strength as the facilities for it increase. . . 
 Mr. Tugwell was quite satisfied with those he 
 baptized. Bless the Lord for this small begin 
 ning." 
 
 Thus we have seen the foundation laid, and the 
 superstructure begin to rise upon it. 
 
96 Stranger tf)an tfittion. 
 
 What the nature of the foundation has been 
 we have sufficiently indicated. " Other foundation 
 can no man lay than that is laid, even Jesus Christ," 
 seems to have been pre-eminently the principle 
 upon which, as a true Missionary "a wise master 
 builder" Mr. Duncan from the first proceeded in 
 his work. "Jesus Christ and Him crucified;" all 
 the historical facts of our Lord's life and death, 
 the causes which led to, and the results which 
 followed from, the "one all-sufficient sacrifice, 
 oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole 
 world," offered by Christ upon the cross ; these had 
 been, so to speak, the materials ceaselessly thrown 
 in amongst the quicksands of ignorance and 
 superstition, which would otherwise have baffled all 
 hope of erecting any solid superstructure upon 
 them. 
 
 It is difficult, in a narrative like the present, to 
 convey any sufficiently adequate idea of the un 
 tiring perseverance with which Mr. Duncan seems 
 thus to have made his preaching and teaching rest 
 upon and centre round the great facts of the history 
 of man's redemption. Line upon line, precept upon 
 precept, in season, and, as some would have thought, 
 out of season, the same theme was evidently re 
 garded as the one only motive-power which could be 
 
up. 97 
 
 brought to bear with any reasonable hope of a suc 
 cessful result attending it. This alone the inherent 
 magnetism of the Cross, as set forth in the words, 
 "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto 
 Me" the constraining power, which the Holy 
 Spirit ever brings to bear upon those before whose 
 eyes Christ has been evidently set forth crucified 
 amongst them was the influence brought to 
 bear. 
 
 If our narrative accurately reflects the impression 
 which a study of the original documents upon 
 which it is based would certainly leave upon the 
 mind, it may well suggest some such inquiry as 
 this May not the failure of many preachers of the 
 Gospel in foreign parts be due mainly to the fact 
 that, whilst they have not consciously held .back 
 any of the great central truths of the Gospel 
 history, they have very often failed to realize 
 sufficiently the exceeding difficulty of bringing 
 those truths home to the minds of the heathen ; and 
 thus, instead of feeling that the hardness of the soil 
 to be worked upon, and its preoccupation by every 
 form of error, must necessarily involve great and 
 persevering efforts to clear the ground, and get 
 below the surface to lay the only foundation 
 which can be laid, they have been content to impart 
 
 H 
 
98 &trang*r tljan ^fiction. 
 
 a mere superficial and often very partial and im 
 perfect knowledge of fundamental truths, and so 
 have begun to build the superstructure the gold 
 and silver and precious stones of sound doctrine 
 and holiness of life without really having laid any 
 solid foundation at all ? 
 

CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ME.TLAIIKATLAH. 
 
 |N Mr. Tugwell's first arrival (in August, 
 1860), Mr. Duncan had proposed that 
 he should, as soon as possible, move 
 to a place called Metlahkatlah, some 
 twenty miles down the coast, and there gather 
 round him, as the nucleus of a new Christian set 
 tlement, such of the converts at Fort Simpson as 
 could be induced to join him. 
 
 The formation of this new settlement had been 
 contemplated by Mr. Duncan as early as 1859 
 when he wrote : 
 
 "What is to become of the children and young 
 people under instruction, when temporal neces 
 sity compels them to leave school ? If they are 
 permitted to slip away from me into the gulf of 
 vice and misery which every where surrounds them, 
 then the fate of these tribes is sealed, and the 
 labour and money that has already been spent for 
 H 2 
 
52 Stranger tfjan dfictum. 
 
 looked enraged at me, and then hid his face in 
 his blanket Occasionally he would give me another 
 severe look, and then put down his head again. 
 When we stood up to pray, he moved towards the 
 door ; I went on, and he kept still. On my finish 
 ing, he walked up to a woman, and whispered 
 something in her ear, and then very quickly disap 
 peared. As I was walking from school, one of the 
 little boys told me that this man had been 'talking 
 bad ;' and afterwards I inquired of a man that was 
 present what it was all about, and he told me that 
 the man thought that I was speaking about him, 
 and telling the people his bad ways, and he was 
 ashamed." 
 
 But it must not be supposed that preaching and 
 Sunday services were exclusively or even mainly 
 relied upon as the means of conveying religious 
 instruction to the people. 
 
 Immediately after Christmas Mr. Duncan had 
 again taken possession of his own school-house, 
 and was soon hard at work with a large and in 
 creasing number of scholars. His first difficulty 
 had been how to deal with such large numbers at 
 once ; but by dividing them into classes, and 
 carefully adjusting the work which each class was 
 to do, he was able to make fair progress. 
 
53 
 
 His next and chief anxiety was how best to 
 make the school work subserve the primary object 
 of Christianizing the people. As a rule, both on 
 opening and closing school, he would give a short 
 address on some passage or narrative of the Bible ; 
 he would then make the whole school, children and 
 adults, learn one or two texts in their own language, 
 and repeat them together. These he would explain 
 again and again, taking care that a text once 
 learnt should be repeated sufficiently often, at 
 various times, to fix it deeply in the mind. 
 
 Singing again, which was perhaps, of all others, 
 the most popular part of the school work, proved 
 an important vehicle of instruction. Various simple 
 hymns, embodying the leading truths of Christianity, 
 were soon translated, and were learned with the 
 greatest possible interest by young and old. 
 
 Early in 1859 a set of illustrated Scripture lessons 
 was sent up from Victoria. These proved of the 
 greatest use. One of the first pictures represented 
 Noah and his family sacrificing after leaving the 
 ark. The Indians at once recognized in the sacri 
 ficial act a custom long in use amongst themselves. 
 This of course afforded a stepping-stone from their 
 own system to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. 
 Seeing an evident reason for the custom of sacri- 
 
tf)an fiction. 
 
 1. The discovery of gold in the northern districts 
 of British Columbia promised to attract a large 
 mining population to the neighbourhood, many of 
 whom would make their head-quarters at Fort 
 Simpson. 
 
 2. The sea frontage at Fort Simpson was so 
 crowded that no new houses could be built. 
 
 3. There was no available land for garden pur 
 poses and industrial training for the young. 
 
 4. The proposed settlement would be central for 
 six tribes of Indians speaking the Tsimsheean 
 tongue, while it would be near enough to Fort 
 Simpson to enable a constant intercourse to be 
 kept up between the two places. 
 
 5. The Christian Indians were most anxious to 
 escape from the sights and thraldom of hea 
 thenism, and from the persecution consequent 
 upon their having to live in the same houses 
 with heathen and drunkards. 
 
 6. School operations would be put on a more 
 satisfactory footing, as the imparting of secular 
 knowledge would thus be limited to those who had 
 embraced the Gospel, whereas the sowing it broad 
 cast among heathen who, having heard, had re 
 jected the Gospel, seemed to Mr. Duncan likely to 
 result in much evil. 
 
103 
 
 "All we want," says Mr. Duncan, in summing up 
 the arguments for the proposed effort, "is God's 
 favour and blessing, and then we may hope to 
 build up, in His good time, a model Christian vil 
 lage, reflecting light and radiating heat to all the 
 spiritually dark and dead masses of humanity 
 around us." 
 
 With a view to carrying this plan into effect, Mr. 
 Duncan had already made his first visit of inspec 
 tion to the proposed site of the new station, in 
 May, 1860, just before going down to Victoria. 
 Going back to this point in our narrative, we must 
 now describe this visit. 
 
 Leaving the school at Fort Simpson in charge 
 of two of the elder boys, Mr. Duncan started in 
 a canoe, with a crew of three boys and ten young 
 men. He found the distance to be about twenty 
 miles. About noon on the second day they arrived 
 in the beautiful channel of Metlahkatlah, three or 
 four miles long, in which were situated the sites of 
 the villages originally occupied by the Tsimsheeans, 
 before they had been induced to move for trading 
 purposes to Fort Simpson, which, as affording 
 the most convenient place of call for the sailing 
 vessels, had been selected by the Hudson's Bay 
 Company as their chief trading-depot on the coast 
 
104 ^trangtr tijan fiction. 
 
 But we must let Mr. Duncan here tell his own 
 story : 
 
 "May 2nd, 1860. These villages have been 
 deserted about twenty-five years, and the few re 
 mains still standing consist of massive uprights and 
 horizontal beams of the chief houses, which are 
 now so rotten that I could easily push my walking- 
 stick through many of them. I could see that the 
 houses have been large, and, in some cases, orna 
 mented by an ugly wooden figure set up on each 
 of the front corners. I saw, too, that several of the 
 houses have been sunk ten or twelve feet, to afford 
 protection during war. 
 
 " I landed, and viewed the scenery from several 
 points, and oh, how lovely did it appear ! A nar 
 row placid channel, studded with little promon 
 tories and pretty islands ; a rich verdure, a waving 
 forest, backed by lofty but densely-wooded moun 
 tains ; a solemn stillness, broken only by the cries 
 of flocks of happy birds flying over, or the more 
 musical notes of some little warbler near at hand. 
 But how strangely did all this contrast with the 
 sad reflections which the history of savage hea 
 thenism suggests ! The thought that every foot of 
 ground that I trod upon had been stained with 
 horrid crime, that every little creek was associated 
 
105 
 
 with some dark tragedy, and those peaceful waters 
 had oft been stained with human blood, made my 
 feelings soon change from delight to gloom. What 
 would, indeed, those rocks unfold if all the horrid 
 yells and cries of anguish they have echoed were 
 but written ? or who can even faintly paint the 
 scenes of savage riot committed on these beaches 
 when bloodthirsty marauders have returned with 
 human heads for booty ? 
 
 " The number of souls left is about a hundred. 
 Their proper village, which I can see from here, is 
 quite deserted, and will be for a few months. The 
 chief at the head of this party invited me into his 
 house, and also all his principal men, to feast with 
 me. He complained of having bad health, and no 
 wonder, for I found out that he is a cannibal by 
 profession, one of the horrid gang who, in the win 
 ter months, awe and astonish the tribe by hunting 
 for, exhuming, and eating corpses." 
 
 Mr. Duncan's address concluded, supper was 
 served. It consisted of three courses boiled dried 
 halibut, herring spawn, and broiled sea-weed with 
 fish grease (the latter delicacy is a staple article of 
 food amongst the Indians, and one main result of 
 the annual fishing expedition, boxes of it being 
 ranged round the walls of every Indian house). At 
 
io6 Stranger tfjan ffittion. 
 
 seven p.m. Mr. Duncan asked the chief to invite 
 some more of the people into his house, and again 
 addressed them. This time the women also at 
 tended. 
 
 The next morning, the wind being favourable, 
 the Indians were all hard at work pulling down 
 their houses, and lading their canoes, ready to start 
 to their fishing-station. They had been waiting 
 some days for a fair wind, and if Mr. Duncan had 
 been a few days later in visiting them, not a soul 
 would have been left. 
 
 The next visit to Metlahketlah was made in the 
 autumn of the same year, shortly after his return 
 from Victoria, when he spent a fortnight, helping 
 and directing a number of Indians, whom he took 
 with him, in clearing and draining the proposed 
 site for the new village. 
 
 The latter step was taken under the impression 
 to which we have already alluded that in the 
 course of the summer of 1861 Mr. Tugwell would 
 be able to move to the new station ; but this was 
 not to be ; the moisture and constant rains, which 
 were the chief feature of the climate at Fort Simp 
 son, having before that time told so prejudicially 
 upon his health, that he was obliged to make im- 
 
107 
 
 mediate arrangements for. returning to Eng 
 land l . 
 
 Mr. TugwelFs departure not only involved the 
 postponement of the proposed removal until the 
 spring of the following year (1862), but left Mr. 
 Duncan no alternative but to revert to his original 
 idea of going himself to the new settlement. 
 
 1 The climate of this part of British Columbia is thus described by 
 Mr. Duncan in one of his earliest letters : 
 
 "Rain is the chief feature of the weather here. Out of 125 days 
 which I have spent here, only forty-nine have been fair, or entirely 
 free from rain ; and I may add, that by far the greatest number of 
 those days on which it rains at all it rains nearly the whole day. We 
 had no snow here till the beginning of January, and since then about 
 fifty inches have fallen. The weather has been, on the whole, 
 remarkably mild. It is now the last week in February, and we have 
 not had over twenty cold days during the winter. All this is 
 accounted for by the fact that the prevailing -wand here is from the 
 south-east, which is the return current of the north-east trade wind, 
 falling in this latitude, and coming, loaded with moisture and warmth, 
 from the tropics. Our being also just to the west of a high range of 
 mountains has naturally to do with our having so much rain during 
 the year." 
 
 The climate at Fort Simpson is the more remarkable, from the 
 contrast which it affords to that of the districts lying a few miles in 
 land. On the Naas river, for instance, thirty or forty miles inland, 
 the snow lies for months, and the only travelling is on the frozen 
 rivers, along which a winter track is generally formed in the snow. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A TIME OF TRIAL. 
 
 f ATER on in the winter which succeeded 
 Mr. Tugwell's departure (1861-62), Mr. 
 Duncan commenced constant meetings 
 of those who were inclined to move 
 with him to Metlahkatlah, and strongly impressed 
 upon them the necessity of framing some regula 
 tions of a social nature to be adopted in the new 
 village. The following were the rules eventually 
 laid down, indicating the least required of all who 
 wished to join the new settlement : 
 
 i. To give up their " Ahlied," or Indian devilry ; 
 2. To cease calling in conjurors when sick ; 3. To 
 cease gambling ; 4. To cease giving away their 
 property for display ; 5. To cease painting their 
 faces ; 6. To cease drinking intoxicating drink ; 
 7. To rest on the Sabbath ; 8. To attend religious 
 instruction ; 9. To send their children to school ; 
 10. To be cleanly; u. To be industrious; 12. To 
 
Ctme of Crtal. 109 
 
 be peaceful ; 13. To be liberal and honest in trade; 
 14. To build neat houses ; 15. To pay the village 
 tax. 
 
 By the 12th of May, 1862, every thing was in readi 
 ness for the move. Mr. Duncan then commenced 
 pulling down the large school-house and form 
 ing the materials into a raft, which, two days later, 
 he sent off to the new site. Before any further 
 preparations were completed, a canoe arrived from 
 Victoria announcing that small-pox had broken out 
 there, and that many Tsimsheeans had died. Next 
 day several other canoes followed, bringing mourn 
 ful intelligence of the virulence of the disease, 
 which prevailed even amongst those who had thus 
 fled from it, having carried off many of their num 
 ber during the voyage. 
 
 Mr. Duncan had previously determined to pay a 
 farewell visit to each tribe separately, and he there 
 fore spent the next few days in visiting from house 
 to house, and addressing the tribes assembled in 
 their chiefs' houses. 
 
 In spite of the great improvement which had 
 taken place, a large proportion of the Indians still 
 continued steeped in drunkenness and heathenism. 
 
 But the struggle involved by the abandonment 
 of heathenism was by no means wholly an outward 
 
no l^tran^er tjan ffiction. 
 
 one, if indeed mainly so. To many the surren 
 dering their national customs, ceasing to give away, 
 tear up, and receive blankets, &c., for display, 
 dropping their demoniacal rites, which had hitherto 
 and for ages filled up their time and engrossed all 
 their care during so many months of the year, 
 giving up the ceremonies performed over the sick, 
 laying aside gambling, and ceasing to paint their 
 faces, was like cutting off the right hand or pluck 
 ing out the right eye. Still, so many had already 
 made these sacrifices, and had borne so well the 
 persecutions in which they had involved them, that 
 many others were now more than half inclined to 
 follow their example. The presence of so terrible 
 a disease, and the dread of its spreading amongst 
 them, naturally gave additional weight to the 
 earnest warnings addressed to them, and it was 
 evident that many who had hitherto either vehe 
 mently opposed, or at least held aloof from the 
 proposed movement, began now to look upon it 
 with very different feelings. 
 
 By the 27th of May the final preparations for 
 the flitting were completed. Those who had pre 
 pared to go embarked in six canoes, and numbered 
 in all about fifty souls, men, women, and children. 
 Many others gathered in groups on the beach, sit- 
 
Ci'me of Crtal. in 
 
 ting down and watching the departure with solemn 
 and anxious faces, whilst not a few were earnest in 
 their protestations of their intention to follow very 
 shortly. " As we pushed off/' writes Mr. Duncan, 
 " the party with me seemed filled with solemn joy, 
 feeling that their long-looked-for flitting had ac 
 tually commenced. I felt that we were beginning 
 an eventful page in the history of this poor people, 
 and earnestly sighed to God for His help and 
 blessing." 
 
 By two p.m. the next day, the little fleet of canoes 
 arrived safely at its destination. They found the 
 Indians who had come on before with the raft hard 
 at work clearing ground and sawing planks. With 
 the exception of a few heavy beams they had 
 already carried all the raft from the beach, erected 
 two temporary houses, and planted a quantity of 
 potatoes. 
 
 For the next few days all were actively engaged 
 in selecting and marking out sites for the gardens 
 and houses, and making the requisite preparations 
 for building and planting, whilst every night they 
 " assembled a happy family for singing and 
 prayer," Mr. Duncan addressing them "on each 
 occasion from some portion of scriptural truth 
 suggested by the events of the day." 
 
ii2 Stranger t^an dftctum. 
 
 But the effect of Mr. Duncan's parting exhorta 
 tions, and the fruits of all his previous work at 
 Fort Simpson, had yet, it seemed, to appear. On 
 the 6th of June, to the great joy of all, a fleet of 
 about thirty canoes, which were at once recognized 
 as coming from Fort Simpson, made their appear 
 ance. They proved to contain some 300 souls, 
 forming nearly the whole of the tribe Keetlahn, 
 with two of their chiefs. 
 
 Hitherto, it seemed, the small-pox had not 
 spread, as was expected. A few days later, how 
 ever, another canoe arrived, bringing tidings which 
 cast a heavy cloud over all. The disease was 
 spreading rapidly, and had already taken a fearful 
 hold of the camp. 
 
 Further tidings only served to confirm the 
 anxious forebodings which this intelligence created. 
 For a time the Indians had " sought refuge in their 
 charms and lying vanities." They dressed up their 
 houses with feathers and rind of bark stained red ; 
 they sang their heathen songs, and kept the rattles 
 of their conjurors perpetually going. But all these 
 deceits proved of no avail ; several of the charmers 
 fell a prey to the disease, and death and desolation 
 spread far and wide. 
 
 Amongst those which were foremost in resorting 
 
Ctnu of Crfal. 113 
 
 to every superstitious observance was the tribe of 
 the head chief Legaic. For a time its members 
 had gone almost unscathed, a fact which filled their 
 conjurors with pride and boasting words, and caused 
 no little perplexity to those who had partly shaken 
 off their heathen superstitions. When, however, 
 the disease did seize upon them, the very practices 
 to which they had resorted, by increasing the un- 
 healthiness of their dwellings, seemed to give it 
 double power, and in the end the tribe suffered far 
 more than any other. 
 
 In the whole camp, the total number of deaths 
 was no fewer than 500, or more than one-fifth of 
 the entire population. Many now began to flee ; 
 but it was too late, as the scourge accompanied 
 them. Those who had been more or less impressed 
 by Mr. Duncan's teaching, and many even of the 
 declared heathen, now came crying in great fear to 
 the new colony. Amongst the latter was the head 
 chief Legaic. Thoroughly humbled by the mis 
 fortunes which had fallen upon him, and the loss 
 of so large a part of his tribe, he resisted every 
 effort which was made to detain him at Fort 
 Simpson, and virtually retiring from the chieftain 
 ship of the Tsimsheeans, he settled down with his 
 wife and daughter at Metlahkatlah, and became 
 
 I 
 
ii4 J^tvangtr tljan dfwtum. 
 
 from this time forward one of Mr. Duncan's most 
 earnest and active supporters. 
 
 The painful anxiety consequent upon the uncer 
 tainty how far the infection was still likely to spread 
 was greatly increased, in Mr. Duncan's case, by the 
 difficulty which he felt in dealing with those who 
 thus fled to him from Fort Simpson. 
 
 " .For the safety of those with me," he writes, " I 
 was obliged to be very cautious in receiving any 
 fresh comers ; and some I could not receive at all. 
 For the temporal and spiritual welfare of my own 
 people, who were clinging to me like timid children, 
 I was kept in constant labour and pressing anxiety. 
 The heaviness which I felt I cannot describe. 
 Death stared us in the face on every hand. But 
 God remembered us in the day of our cala 
 mity." 
 
 During the whole summer the effect of the death 
 and desolation which prevailed on all sides exer 
 cised a most depressing influence upon the new 
 settlement, and prevented the Indians from throw 
 ing themselves with spirit into the work of building, 
 or even of laying up the requisite stores of provi 
 sions for the winter; and it was only as the autumn 
 came on, and all fear of the disease continuing to 
 spread subsided, that any real progress was made 
 
Cuttt of Crtal. 115 
 
 in the various works which were so absolutely 
 essential to their very existence. 
 
 Reviewing this period of trial, Mr. Duncan says : 
 
 " I have gratefully to acknowledge God's sparing 
 mercy to us as a village. We had only five fatal 
 cases amongst those who originally left Fort Simp 
 son with me, and three of these deaths were caused 
 by attending to sick relatives who came to us after 
 taking the disease." 
 
 Nor were there wanting reasons for encourage 
 ment and thankfulness arising from the conduct of 
 those amongst the earlier converts who fell under 
 the power of the disease. Here, e. g., is the record of 
 the death of " Stephen Ryan," one of those who 
 were first baptized at Fort Simpson by Mr. Tug- 
 well : 
 
 " He died in a most distressing condition as far 
 as the body is concerned. Away from every one 
 whom he loved, in a little back hut on a rocky 
 beach, just beyond the reach of the tide, which no 
 one of his relatives or friends dared to approach, 
 except the one who nursed him: in this damp, 
 lowly, distressing state, suffering from the malignant 
 disease of small-pox, how cheering to receive such 
 words as the following from him : ' I am quite 
 happy. I find my Saviour very near to me. I am 
 I 2 
 
n6 Stranger tijan 
 
 not afraid to die: heaven is open to receive me. 
 Give my thanks to Mr. Duncan; he told me of 
 Jesus. I have hold of the ladder that reaches to 
 heaven. All Mr. Duncan taught me I now feel to 
 be true.' Then, saying that he wished to be carried 
 to his relatives, his words were : ' Do not weep for 
 me. You are poor, being left; I am not poor; I am 
 going to heaven. My Saviour is very near to me. 
 Do all of you follow me to heaven. Let not one of 
 you be wanting. Tell my mother more clearly the 
 way of life. I am afraid she does not yet under 
 stand the way. Tell her not to weep for me, but 
 to get ready to die. Be all of one heart, and live 
 in peace.' " 
 
 But we must pass on to the brighter days of 
 success and prosperity by which, in the Providence 
 of God, this time of heavy trial to the infant colony 
 was to be succeeded. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 BRIGHTER DAYS. 
 
 r ERY thing at the new settlement be 
 gan now to settle down into a regular 
 routine. The population numbered 
 between 600 and 700 souls, consisting 
 of about one-fourth of the former native population 
 of Fort Simpson, and a few representatives from 
 several tribes the Zangass, Nishkah, Ke-Keeth- 
 rahtla, and Keetsahlass living within seventy 
 miles of that place. All of these, in taking the 
 step they had done, had made great sacrifices, and 
 gone through much labour, trial, and persecution. 
 
 The most notable of these new settlers were 
 three chiefs of different tribes Legaic, Neeahsh- 
 lakah-noosh, and Leeguneesh, and the leading 
 man amongst the cannibals, byname Quthray ; the 
 latter was one of those who had taken a prominent 
 part in the revolting scene which Mr. Duncan had 
 witnessed on his first arrival, and had for a long 
 
n8 Stranger tjan dTtctton. 
 
 time been one of the most bitter opponents of the 
 new teaching. 
 
 The first undertaking was necessarily that of 
 building the new village. Great assistance in this 
 work was rendered by a liberal contribution from 
 the Governor of British Columbia of 150 window- 
 sashes, and 600 Ibs. of nails, which arrived in Sep 
 tember (i 862). 
 
 A further contribution in money was received 
 from the officers and crew of one of H.M.'s ships 
 stationed on the coast, as a mark of the high 
 opinion which, during a stay of some days at Met- 
 lahkatlah, they had formed of the importance of the 
 work being carried on there. 
 
 All the dwelling-houses were built outwardly 
 after the European model, but in the internal 
 arrangements few improvements could as yet be 
 effected. Several families still lived under the same 
 roof, nor could they as yet be persuaded to parti 
 tion their houses into separate compartments, 
 economy of fuel and the love of company being 
 the chief inducements to their adhering in this 
 respect to their former habits. 
 
 Thirty-five houses, averaging thirty-four feet by 
 eighteen, and each having four windows, were soon 
 erected. 
 
119 
 
 One hundred plots of garden ground, situated on 
 the islands in various parts of the channel in front 
 of the settlement, were also duly measured out and 
 registered, and prepared for cultivation. 
 
 Th'e next work taken in hand was a large and 
 strong octagon building, intended to serve, for a 
 time, the purposes both of a church and school, 
 and capable of holding nearly 700 people. This 
 was finished, and the first service held in it on the 
 aoth of December. 
 
 Up to this time Mr. Duncan had had service 
 three times every Sunday, either in the open air or 
 in his own log-house, and a class for religious in 
 struction and worship every weekday evening. 
 
 Shortly after the opening of the new building, 
 Mr. Duncan writes : 
 
 " About 400 to 600 souls attend Divine Service 
 on Sundays, and are being governed by Christian 
 and civilized laws. About seventy adults and 
 twenty children are already baptized, or are only 
 waiting for a minister to come and baptize them. 
 About 100 children are attending the day school, 
 and 100 adults the evening school. About forty of 
 the young men have formed themselves into two 
 classes, and meet for prayer and exhorting each 
 other. The instruments of the medicine men, which 
 
120 Stranger tijan dTtctton. 
 
 have spell-bound this nation for ages, have found 
 their way into my house, and are most willingly 
 and cheerfully given up. Customs which form the 
 very foundation of Indian government, and lie 
 nearest the Indian heart, have been given up be 
 cause they have an evil tendency. Feasts are now 
 characterized by order and good-will, and begin 
 and end with the offering of thanks to the Giver of 
 all good. . . . Scarcely a soul remains away from 
 Divine Service, excepting the sick and their nurses. 
 Evening family devotions are common to almost 
 every house; and, better than all, I have a hope 
 that many have experienced a real change of heart. 
 .... Thus the surrounding tribes have now a 
 model village before them, acting as a powerful 
 witness for the truth of the Gospel, shaming and 
 correcting, yet still captivating them. For in it 
 they see those good things which they and their 
 forefathers have sought and laboured for in vain, 
 viz. peace, security, order, honesty, and progress. 
 To God be all the praise and glory ! " 
 
 Mr. Duncan had now, besides about 100 children 
 who attended morning and afternoon, a class of 
 about 100 adults, to whom he gave " simple lectures 
 on geography, astronomy, natural history, and 
 morals," a plan which he found that the Indians 
 
121 
 
 greatly appreciated, the attendance being often 
 much larger than that given as the average. 
 
 In the meantime, the weekday meetings for can 
 didates for baptism, commenced in the previous 
 winter, were continued with very satisfactory re 
 sults. Indeed, so large a number were now prepared 
 and anxious to be baptized, that as there was no 
 immediate prospect of another clergyman being 
 sent out from England to take Mr. Tugwell's place, 
 Mr. Duncan wrote to the Bishop of Columbia, ask 
 ing him to make arrangements at as early a date as 
 possible for a clergyman to visit the settlement. 
 
 Before, however, this request could be granted, 
 Mr. Duncan was called upon, under circumstances 
 which did not admit of delay, to administer the rite 
 of baptism himself. 
 
 Quthray, the cannibal chief to whom allusion has 
 more than once been made, had now for some time 
 been one of the most earnest and regular atten 
 dants at the instruction class for candidates for 
 baptism. Towards the end of the summer of 1862 
 he had been seized with a dangerous illness, from 
 which there was evidently little hope of his re 
 covery. Mr. Duncan had visited him constantly; 
 and as " he had long and earnestly desired bap 
 tism, and expressed in the clearest terms his 
 
122 Stranger tfyan ^fiction. 
 
 repentance for his sins, and his faith in the Saviour 
 of sinners," had promised that he would himself 
 baptize him, unless a clergyman should in the 
 meantime arrive from Victoria a promise for 
 which he had expressed his gratitude "with the 
 greatest force he could command." 
 
 "Though I was not sent here to baptize," 
 Mr. Duncan writes, "I had no fear that I was 
 doing what was pleasing to God in administering 
 that sacred rite to the poor dying man, as an 
 officially appointed person was not within several 
 hundred miles of him." 
 
 Towards the end of October, Mr. Duncan felt 
 that he could no longer delay in redeeming his 
 promise, intelligence being brought to him one 
 morning that the sick man was much worse, and 
 apparently dying. He thus describes his visit : 
 
 " I found the sufferer apparently on the very 
 verge of eternity, but quite sensible, supported by 
 his wife on one side, and another woman on the 
 other, in a sitting posture on his lowly couch, 
 spread upon the ground. I addressed him at once, 
 reminding him of the promise I had made to him, 
 and why. I also spoke some words of advice to 
 him, to which he paid most earnest attention, 
 though his cough' would scarcely permit him to 
 
123 
 
 have a moment's rest. A person near expressed a 
 fear that he did not understand what I said, being 
 so weak, and near death ; but he quickly, and with 
 great emphasis, exclaimed, ' I hear I understand/ 
 While I was praying, his countenance was most 
 lovely. With his face turned upward, he seemed 
 to be deeply engaged in prayer. I baptized him, 
 and gave him the name of Philip Atkinson. I 
 earnestly besought the Lord to ratify in heaven 
 what He had permitted me to do in His name, and 
 to receive the soul of the poor dying penitent 
 before Him. He had the same resignation and 
 peace which he had evinced throughout his sick 
 ness, weeping for his sins, depending all upon the 
 Saviour, confident of pardon and rejoicing in hope. 
 " This is the man of whom I have had to 
 write more than once. Oh, the dreadful and 
 revolting things which I have witnessed him do ! 
 He was one of the two principal actors in the 
 first horrid scene I saw at Fort Simpson, about 
 four years and a half ago, an account of which I 
 sent home, namely, that of a poor slave woman 
 being murdered in cold blood, thrown on the beach, 
 and then torn to pieces and eaten by two naked 
 savages, who were supported by a crew of singers 
 and the noise of drums. This man was one of 
 
124 Stranger tfjan dTtcttou. 
 
 those naked cannibals. Glorious change ! See 
 him, clothed, in his right mind, weeping weeping 
 sore for his sins expressing to all around him firm 
 belief in the Saviour, and dying in peace. Bless 
 the Lord for all His goodness ! " 
 
 We must now turn for a while to the secular 
 affairs of the settlement. To assist him in these, 
 Mr. Duncan selected ten men, whom he constituted 
 constables, and who, with the three chiefs, formed a 
 sort of village council. No intoxicating drinks were 
 admitted, and drunkenness was therefore a vice 
 entirely unknown. Some few, on their visits to 
 Fort Simpson, transgressed, and " two, whose cases 
 were clearly proved, and admitted of no extenua 
 tion, were banished " from the settlement. 
 
 After due consultation, an important decision was 
 arrived at by the village council, viz. that a yearly 
 tax of one blanket, or two dollars and a half for 
 every adult male, and one shirt or one dollar for 
 such as were approaching manhood, should be 
 levied for helping to carry on the various public 
 works which it was proposed shortly to commence. 
 
 This tax was first levied on New Year's Day, 1863. 
 Out of 130 amenable, there were but 10 defaulters, 
 who were excused on the ground of poverty. 
 
23 tighter iiags. 125 
 
 The revenue thus gathered amounted to " one 
 green, one blue, and ninety-four white blankets ; 
 one pair of white trousers, one dressed elk-skin, 
 seventeen shirts, and seven dollars." 
 
 In order to give the chiefs as much support as 
 possible, and to increase their influence with their 
 Christian brethren, it was at first proposed that 
 they should act as village magistrates, deciding all 
 civil cases which might arise, and that in return for 
 these services they should receive one half of the 
 annual tax. Experience, however, soon showed 
 that their many inconsistencies made their sitting 
 as judges very anomalous ; and as their views of 
 justice were often very oblique, it was soon found 
 necessary to dispense with their assistance in such 
 matters. 
 
 Hence the community, seeing no benefit likely 
 to accrue from their services, objected to the plan 
 of dividing the tax. " Rather let the public works 
 take it all," they said. So accordingly it was 
 settled. 
 
 The chief public works which it was proposed 
 to undertake were : 
 
 i. To make a road round the village. As the 
 ground was uneven and thickly wooded, this was 
 expected to be a work of considerable labour. 
 
i26 Stranger tf)an dfictton. 
 
 2. To build two good-sized houses for the 
 accommodation of strange Indians coming for the 
 purposes of trade the object being to prevent the 
 interference with domestic comfort and improve 
 ment arising from such visitors being lodged under 
 the old system. 
 
 3. To fix rests on the shore for canoes when 
 unemployed, and to lay slides for moving the 
 canoes along the beach and into the water at low 
 tides. 
 
 4. To sink wells, to form a public playground, &c. 
 Over and above the evident advantage to the 
 
 community at large of such works as the above, one 
 main object with which they were undertaken was 
 to provide profitable employment for the adult 
 population, and so to keep them away from those 
 labour-markets which presented temptations too 
 strong and vices too fascinating for the Indian in 
 his then morally infantile condition to withstand. 
 
 With the same view the preparation of articles 
 for exportation to Victoria, such as salt, smoked 
 fish, fish grease, dried berries, furs, &c., was en 
 couraged. At the same time, as the only means 
 for the successful prosecution of this branch of 
 labour, Mr. Duncan commenced to lay his plans for 
 securing facilities for trading operations which would 
 
33 rioter Saps. 127 
 
 render the settlement independent of the visits of 
 the barbarous class of men employed in running 
 small vessels up the coast, and whose chief trade 
 was in intoxicating drinks. The evils resulting 
 from the visits of these coasting vessels, and the 
 consequent necessity for providing for the Indians 
 some other method of disposing of their own goods, 
 and obtaining what they required in return, are 
 thus explained : 
 
 " The visits of these traders to the Indian camps 
 are invariably marked by murder and the very 
 maddest riots. Family ties are broken. A young 
 man, under the influence of fire-water, will shoot 
 his wife or his mother, his sister or his brother ; 
 and, if he be spared through the revel, he awakens 
 to bitter remorse, and becomes desperate. The 
 peace of tribes is broken, war begins, blood is shed, 
 and wounds made which will take generations of 
 time to heal, and for which many innocent lives 
 may have to compensate." 
 
 The plan proposed was to obtain a small vessel, 
 to be subscribed for by the Indians themselves in 
 sums of i/. or il. ios., or the equivalent in furs. 
 
 An indirect advantage which seemed likely to 
 arise from the adoption of this plan was that, having 
 the vessel in their own hands, the Indians would be 
 
i28 Stranger tljan tfittion. 
 
 sure to take more interest in it, and be more ready 
 to exert themselves to keep it well and profitably 
 employed. 
 
 The reader will probably feel just as Mr. Duncan 
 did, that, however great the apparent necessity for 
 some such step as the above, nothing but success 
 would really justify a Missionary in the eyes of the 
 public in undertaking such an experiment. We 
 may as well, therefore, so far anticipate the actual 
 chronological order of events as to show how en 
 tirely the result bore out his strong conviction of 
 the feasibility and advantage of the plan suggested. 
 
 In the course of the summer of 1863, Mr. Duncan, 
 having explained his views to the colonial govern 
 ment, received a grant of LOO!, towards the required 
 vessel. The Indians subscribed a further sum of 
 8o/. Making up the deficiency himself, he pur 
 chased a schooner at a cost of 3OO/., and commenced, 
 at his own risk, to supply the villagers with goods, 
 and to convey their produce for sale to Victoria. 
 
 The first few trips of the " Carolina " proved 
 entirely satisfactory. Carrying down a cargo of 
 " fish-oil, furs, Indian food, cypress plants," &c., it 
 returned with all the various requisites for a village 
 store, and for traffic with the Indians of the sur 
 rounding tribes. At the end of a few months a 
 
129 
 
 meeting of all those interested in the vessel was 
 called, when, after provision had been made for the 
 various expenses, new sails, anchors, &c., a dividend 
 was declared of 5/. upon each share. This part of 
 the proceedings somewhat puzzled the Indians, who, 
 when the money was given them, imagined that 
 they must necessarily be parting with their interest 
 in the vessel. As soon, however, as the matter was 
 satisfactorily explained to them, they evinced their 
 appreciation by proposing to give the schooner 
 the name of the "Ahah," or "Slave," signifying 
 that she did all the work and they reaped all the 
 profit. 
 
 His own share of the profits Mr. Duncan devoted 
 entirely to the objects of the Mission. That they 
 were not inconsiderable, may be judged from the 
 fact that two years later he was able to write, 
 " You will be happy to hear our village trade 
 prospers. I had hoped to have transferred this 
 department to other hands, but have been dis 
 appointed. Had I done so, I think I should now 
 have had upwards of iooo/. surplus, which I had 
 intended laying out in the village, and in building 
 a new church, and thus raising a substantial monu 
 ment of the industry of the village during the past 
 four years of its existence." 
 
 K 
 
130 Stranger tijan Jfutum. 
 
 Before this time the actual management of the 
 vessel had been entrusted to the Indians them 
 selves, and on every voyage the conduct of the 
 crew whilst at Victoria had been every thing which 
 could be desired. An Indian was also registered 
 as master, and another as supercargo. 
 
 The whole question is thus reviewed in a letter 
 by the Dean of Victoria : 
 
 " No step of a temporal nature was, perhaps, so 
 loudly demanded, or has conferred such important 
 benefits on the people of Metlahkatlah, in conducing 
 to their comfort and contentment . in their new 
 home. Instead of having to go seventeen miles 
 for supplies to a heathen camp, they can procure 
 them at their own doors at a cheaper rate. Persons 
 who come hither to trade carry away some word or 
 impression to affect their countrymen at home. 
 During my sojourn at Metlahkatlah, there has not 
 been a single Sunday in which there have not been 
 hearers of this description attendant on the word of 
 life. This is one of those branches of the work 
 taken up by Mr. Duncan, simply because it was 
 pressed upon him by the force of circumstances 
 as necessary to his entire success. The time has 
 passed away when he felt himself humiliated at 
 being offered the sale of a fur. 
 
J3rtj$tn: Sap*;. 131 
 
 " A striking benefit of the trade is the disposition 
 of the profits, for with a view to transferring it, when 
 possible, to other parties, he has always conducted 
 it on business principles, in order that the parties 
 so assuming it might be able to live by it. Hitherto 
 the profits realized on this principle, absorbed by 
 no personal benefits, have been expended on objects 
 conducive to the public benefit, in the erection of 
 public buildings, in subsidies to the people, in aid 
 of improving their roads, and wharves for canoes, 
 in charity to the poor, and even in the redemption 
 of slaves. The sum of 6oo/. has been already 
 expended on such objects, and 4OO/. are in hand 
 ready to be applied to similar uses. In fact, the 
 only person who suffers is Mr. Duncan himself, who 
 has sacrificed his comfort, his repose, and almost 
 his health, for the sole benefit of the people, . but 
 has been more than compensated by the rich reward 
 of feeling that God has owned and blessed the 
 sacrifice. Besides this, the trade affords industrial 
 occupation for the people, and thus aids them in 
 a more steady advancement in the comforts of 
 civilized life. It is quite a lively scene to witness 
 the various parties of labourers engaged, some in 
 bringing the rough timber in rafts from the forest, 
 others in sawing it into planks, others planing, others 
 
 K 2 
 
132 Stranger tfjan ffittion. 
 
 cutting the shingles, others with nail and hammer 
 erecting the building all devoting themselves to 
 their daily task rather with the constancy of the 
 English labourer than with the fitful disposition of 
 the savage." 
 
 As we shall not have occasion in the next few 
 chapters to refer again to the secular affairs of the 
 Mission, we may conclude the present notice of 
 them by the following account of the second New 
 Year's Day meeting given in the Victoria Colonist, 
 Feb. 24, 1864, by a correspondent who had recently 
 visited the settlement : 
 
 " On New Year's Day, after a devotional meeting, 
 there was a business meeting, attended by the 
 whole settlement, when Mr. Duncan announced the 
 expenditure of the last year's taxes, and read the 
 village rules and regulations. An outline was also 
 furnished of the proposed expenditure for the 
 current year, which met with general approval. 
 Immediately after the meeting, the tax of $2.50 
 (or a blanket) for adults, and $1.50 (or one shirt) 
 for boys, was paid. Some feeble old men, who 
 could hardly walk, came tottering along with their 
 blankets, anxious to become good citizens, but were 
 exempted from the levy." 
 
 The same writer adds the following descrip- 
 
133 
 
 tion of the general progress made up to this 
 date : 
 
 " Mr. Duncan has been working hard to ascertain 
 what his people's inclinations and abilities are, so 
 as to class their occupation, and has in a great 
 measure succeeded. He has now a number at work, 
 making shingles, building a new Mission-house, 
 road-making, hunters, sawyers, &c. He has also 
 taught them to make clogs for themselves, which 
 are much prized. Those who break the laws are 
 tried for the offence, and, if found guilty, are 
 sentenced to labour on public works. The settle 
 ment is assuming quite an imposing aspect. There 
 are at present eight substantial houses in the course 
 of construction, and many are inquiring for sites. 
 The constables, eighteen in number (who are volun 
 teers and desire no pay), do their duty admirably, 
 without fear, favour, or prejudice, and are held in 
 awe by transgressors. It was truly encouraging to 
 witness the many earnest entreaties made by the 
 people of the village that their friends in Victoria 
 might be urged to flee from the snares and vices 
 which lead them astray here, and to return to their 
 homes. Several letters were written by themselves 
 in English, and couched in fervent language, be 
 seeching relatives to return there, and thus save 
 
134 granger tfjan dftcttmt. 
 
 both body and soul, which they say must be in 
 evitably and irretrievably lost by their residing 
 there. No sooner was it announced that the vessel 
 was about to proceed to Victoria, and was prepared 
 to receive orders to execute, than the people flocked 
 to it with commissions for every conceivable variety 
 of goods, including even wall-paper and household 
 furniture, to adorn their own residences." 
 
 But it is time we turned again to trace the 
 directly religious influences which had been at work 
 during this time, and had rendered possible the 
 building up of so substantial a fabric of industry, 
 prosperity, and social order, from materials origi 
 nally so unpromising 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE INDIAN FISHING-STATION. 
 
 |ARLY in 1863, Mr. Duncan received 
 tidings that the Bishop of Columbia had 
 arranged to come himself to visit Met- 
 lahkatlah. The Bishop arrived on 
 Tuesday, April 14, 1863, and thus describes his 
 meeting with Mr. Duncan : 
 
 "The Christian Indian settlement of Metlahkat- 
 lah lies retired upon a recess of the bay, and is 
 marked by a row of substantial wooden houses. 
 An octagon building is the school, and a flag-staff 
 stands near, upon which ascended the national 
 flag when we hove in sight and fired the gun to 
 announce our approach. We could soon distinguish 
 a canoe putting off to us, and presently it ap 
 proached, flying a flag. It was a large canoe, 
 which had a warlike appearance, manned by ten 
 Indians, and in it was seated Mr. Duncan, the 
 Missionary of Metlahkatlah. There was placed, 
 
136 J^trangtr tljan dftctum. 
 
 too, by his side a murderer, who had last year 
 committed a cold-blooded murder upon an English 
 man, and who had given himself up against the 
 coming of the man-of-war. Among the crew was 
 one man who had been a noted drunkard and a 
 violent chief, a slaughterer of many human victims 
 in his day indeed, the head man of the Tsimsheean 
 tribe who had given up all evil ways, and was 
 now as a little child, a candidate for baptism." 
 
 As the Bishop had been unable to fix the exact 
 time of his arrival, and it was now the height of the 
 Indian fishing-season, most of the Metlahkatlah 
 people were away fishing on the Naas river. It 
 was, therefore, decided that Mr. Duncan should go 
 with the Bishop to visit the fishing-stations, and 
 invite the candidates for baptism to return at once 
 to Metlahkatlah. 
 
 Passing Fort Simpson, they arrived at the mouth 
 of the Naas river on the afternoon of Wednesday, 
 the 1 5th. It was at first proposed that they should 
 go up in a man-of-war's boat, which Captain Pike, of 
 the "Devastation," the ship which had brought the 
 Bishop from Victoria, offered to place at their dis 
 posal ; but as there had recently been some trouble 
 with the Indians about seizing a trading schooner, Mr. 
 Duncan suggested that the sight of a man-of-war's 
 
Cfye JFntttan dTt^mg^^tatton. 137 
 
 boat might excite alarm, and lead to the object of 
 their coming being misunderstood. They there 
 fore started the next morning, Thursday, at seven 
 o'clock, in the canoe, with the crew which had come 
 on with them from Metlahkatlah. 
 
 ' ' The day was bright and cheerful : the scenery 
 of the lofty snow-capped mountains rising up on 
 either side was grand and striking. We glided over 
 the sparkling waves, the expanse of waters varying 
 in width from a mile to two miles, and after three 
 hours and a half paddling, came to the fishing- 
 village of the Metlahkatlahs." 
 
 At this village they found some 5000 Indians, 
 collected from all parts from the islands of the 
 sea, from the Russian territory, from the coast, and 
 from the interior. They were decked out in all 
 their finery. "Their costumes were strange and 
 fantastic, their faces were painted red and black ; 
 they wore feathers on their heads, and imitations of 
 wild beasts on their dresses. The scene was alto 
 gether a singular and animated one." 
 
 It was the " small-fish " fishing-season. These 
 fish, called eulachan, are about the size of a smelt, 
 and very rich, and had come up, as usual, in vast 
 quantities. The Indian custom is to meet the fish 
 as they come, and speak to them : " You fish, you 
 
138 Stranger tijan tfiction. 
 
 fish ! you are all chiefs ; you are, you are all chiefs." 
 After the small fish, had come up larger fish from the 
 ocean. There was the halibut, the cod, the porpoise, 
 and the finned-back whale. " Such a scene of life," 
 writes the Bishop, "man-life, bird-life, fish-life, I 
 had never before conceived. Over the fish was an 
 immense cloud of innumerable gulls so many and 
 so thick were they, as they hovered about looking 
 for the fish, that as they moved to and fro, up and 
 down, the sight resembled a heavy fall of snow. 
 Over the gulls were eagles soaring about in noble 
 flight, looking for their prey." 
 
 " The fish are caught in vast quantities. I saw 
 hundreds of tons collected together, and the nets 
 hauled in bushels at a time. The Indians dry some 
 in the sun, and press a much larger quantity for the 
 sake of the oil or grease, which has a considerable 
 market value as being superior to cod-liver oil, 
 and which they use as butter with their dried 
 salmon. The season is most important to the 
 Indians; the supply lasts them till the season for 
 salmon, which is, later, and which supplies their 
 staple food their bread." 
 
 His first meeting with the Metlahkatlah Indians 
 and his general impression of them is thus described 
 by the Bishop : 
 
139 
 
 " The Metlahkatlah Indians were expecting us a 
 number of well-dressed and intelligent Indians were 
 on the shore waiting to receive us. I went through 
 their temporary village and witnessed the operation 
 of curing the fish, after which an assembly of 200 
 gathered to us. The greater part sat on the ground, 
 but most of the men stood up. It was a place where 
 potatoes had been cultivated, but some snow was 
 now upon the ground. Fortunately the day was 
 fine, and the sun shone brightly ; several hymns 
 were sung in Tsimsheean : a Tsimsheean prayer 
 was offered by Mr. Duncan. 
 
 " I addressed the assembly, and was interpreted 
 by Mr. Duncan, who made himself also an earnest 
 and telling discourse. This change is the result of 
 four and a half years of his faithful and earnest 
 work as a Catechist. Beyond the expectation of 
 all persons acquainted with Indians, success and 
 blessing have attended his labours. All who have 
 come to him have professed their readiness to be 
 instructed ; they have put away all tokens of 
 heathenism. 
 
 "I addressed them as three classes the hearers, 
 catechumens, and baptized ; and encouraged them, 
 urged them to the knowledge and grace of God. 
 Marked, indeed, was the difference between these 
 
140 Js>tranger tfjan tfiction. 
 
 Indians and the heathen. They were clean, bright, 
 cheerful, intelligent, well-mannered ; they had evi 
 dently risen in the scale of human creatures. 
 Christianity, looking to God and their Saviour, 
 had elevated them intellectually, morally, and even 
 physically. Here, too, they were under the dis 
 advantage of being away from their village, and in 
 a temporary abode. There were a few heathen 
 with them, relatives who had been used in former 
 days to fish with them. These were painted red, 
 or blackened, and were dirty and forbidding, and 
 served to make the contrast more striking." 
 
 Writing at a later date, the Bishop, after dwelling 
 upon the great excitement which always prevailed 
 at this season, and the importance of every hour's 
 work, adds, " But what did the Christian Indians 
 do when the Sunday came? The first Sunday 
 of their first fishing-season as Christians, although 
 the fish had come up in greater abundance than 
 ever, and the season was so short, the Christians 
 said, ' We cannot go and fish.' The heathen were 
 full of excitement, gathering in the spoil ; but the 
 Christians said, ' No, we are God's people ; God 
 will provide for us, and we will spend His day as 
 He tells us to do.' And they kept holy each 
 Lord's Day in the midst of the fishing-season." 
 
Cje fntttan dfi^tng* Station. 141 
 
 As Mr. Duncan had anticipated, although it was 
 now the most critical part of the season, none of 
 the candidates made the least difficulty about 
 arranging to leave their nets, and travel the eighty 
 miles back to Metlahkatlah to meet the Bishop. 
 
 Before returning to the " Devastation," the Bishop 
 and Mr. Duncan determined to push on and visit 
 the Niskah, or Naas Indians, living some miles 
 farther up the river, and amongst whom were 
 many who, during their occasional visits to Fort 
 Simpson, had been brought under the influence of 
 Mr. Duncan's teaching. 
 
 The first village of the Niskahs was reached in 
 about two hours. It consisted of three clusters of 
 houses, situated in a considerable bay of the river. 
 Opposite to it was an island covered with the 
 cotton-wood in lofty trees. On the banks were 
 low willow flats, whilst the background towered up 
 into lofty and grand snow-capped mountains. In 
 front of many of the houses were elaborately 
 carved poles. Some of the houses had their fronts 
 built in the form of an animal's head. The whole 
 of the front of one house was shaped like a wolfs 
 head (the crest of its owner), the nose being the 
 porch, and the mouth the door. 
 
 As a serious quarrel had lately been ragingbetween 
 
142 Stranger tfyan 
 
 two of the Nishkah tribes, and several of those who 
 had been killed, including two chiefs, were then 
 lying dead, Mr. Duncan expressed some little 
 doubt as to the opportuneness of the visit. Every 
 preparation, however, was found to have been 
 made to receive them. This was due to the in 
 fluence of the sister of one of the leading chiefs. 
 Having resided for some time at Fort Simpson, she 
 had there come under the influence of the truth, 
 and was now an earnest and thoroughly well-in 
 structed candidate for baptism. Being herself the 
 owner of the house in which her brother lived, she 
 received the Bishop and Mr. Duncan with every 
 mark of respect. 
 
 " All was in order. There were three seats, with 
 the middle one elevated at the end of the room. 
 It reminded me of an Eastern custom, which places 
 the two honoured friends on the right-hand and on 
 the left of a chief personage. The chief man, the 
 brother of Niskah-kigh, had a seat also in a pro 
 minent place. 160 assembled. There were chiefs ; 
 there were medicine-men, with their red rings of 
 bark on the head ; there were cannibals and dog- 
 eaters, some with faces painted fierce red, others 
 black, some black and red. Two men came in 
 bound in wounds ; these had been shot in the recent 
 
C^ feftan dftsfytng* Station. 143 
 
 fight. There came in, also, the man who had 
 wounded one of the two. The meeting had drawn 
 together the hostile parties ; it was for peace. 
 There was order and respect ; but it was in marked 
 contrast with the scene I had witnessed at the 
 Metlahkatlah. It was the heathen, and heathen, 
 too, who knew something of what we had to say. 
 There were those who had shown tokens of a wish 
 to give up heathenism. Some had asked to be 
 admitted to be learners of the new way. They 
 had said to Mr. Duncan, ' We will come out from 
 this our old home, and go and live in a new spot 
 whenever you will go before us and be with us.' 
 But others were the more hardened ; there were 
 those who derided and scoffed : their faces showed 
 contempt and pride, and nowhere is pride so erect 
 as in heathenism. 
 
 " I addressed them ; Mr. Duncan interpreted. 
 'Our fathers had been once in darkness ; they trusted 
 in fables ; they knew not of the true God. But the 
 light of Christ came and the darkness fled, and 
 peace and rest were found, and the future was 
 bright and joyful to the good, and God prospered 
 them, and instead of many tribes contending, all 
 became one great nation; and you can see how 
 superior we are, how powerful, how prosperous. 
 
i44 Stranger tfjan 
 
 This religion taught us to spread the glad tidings, 
 and now we have come to you. You are like our 
 fathers. You know not God ; you believe fables, 
 the future is all uncertain, you see all things die. 
 Man dies into darkness, and you have many sorrows, 
 and nothing to cheer you in those sorrows and in 
 death. Now, we can tell you this Book is God's 
 Word. This tells us of a Saviour from sin, and of 
 light and guidance, and strength to love good and 
 to do right. We bring this Gospel of Light to you, 
 and if you receive it, God will bless and prosper 
 you. Desire, then, this Word ; ask us to come 
 amongst you. Seek to know the only true God 
 and Jesus Christ.' 
 
 "Mr. Duncan, besides interpreting my address 
 in a forcible manner, addressed them also himself, 
 and spoke strongly upon some of the glaring evils 
 that prevail, and which now some of them see and 
 acknowledge with fear. There was a manifest im 
 pression made upon the strange assembly, and 
 there was much talk amongst them afterwards." 
 
 On the assembly breaking up, the Bishop had a 
 long conversation with the chieftainess Niskah-kigh, 
 and being satisfied with her fitness, promised to 
 admit her to baptism on her presenting herself at 
 Metlahkatlah with the other candidates. 
 
Cfje totan dFteljtng^tatum. 145 
 
 At the next village about 130 Indians assembled on 
 the beach, and Mr. Duncan addressed them from the 
 canoe. They then went on to the village where 
 the two chiefs, lately killed, were lying dead, their 
 bodies being kept in their houses that the feeling 
 of revenge might be encouraged. 120 Indians 
 quickly assembled on the beach. 
 
 An old man, standing forward, spoke with much 
 force and feeling : " We are in a sad way," he said ; 
 "who will now stand up and speak for us? Our 
 chiefs are killed, and we have no one to speak to 
 these chiefs who stop to visit us." 
 
 Mr. Duncan replied, " Truly their case was sad ; it 
 was sad their chiefs were killed, but the fault was 
 their chiefs'. Why did they allow the fire-water to 
 come? They had been the first to bring in the 
 fire-water, instead of taking care of their people, 
 like good fathers. They caused murder and 
 sorrow to come, and now themselves were both 
 killed.' 
 
 It was now five o'clock, and fifteen miles against 
 a strong wind had to be accomplished before the 
 ship, lying at the mouth of the river, was again 
 reached. The canoe-men did their utmost, and " as 
 they glided along, and the twilight passed away, 
 they sang, in Tsimsheean, Christian hymns. The 
 
 L 
 
146 Stranger t!;an fiction. 
 
 stars shone bright, and the deep dark mountain 
 gorges contrasted with the snow." 
 
 It was just ten o'clock as the whole party, fairly 
 tired out, again climbed on board the "Devastation." 
 Leaving the Naas river the next morning at 9.30, 
 the ship reached Fort Simpson at four. Here a 
 meeting of Indians was again held, and the child of 
 a Christian Indian baptized. A visit was also paid 
 to the fort, where, besides the usual occupants, the 
 Bishop found " two Iroquois Indians from Canada, 
 an African, a half-cast Tongas, a Scotchman, an 
 American, and several Englishmen." On the after 
 noon of the next day, Saturday, the " Devastation " 
 again dropped anchor off Metlahkatlah. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AN INGATHERING. 
 
 |HE next day, Sunday, April iQth, 1863, 
 the Bishop, after holding service on 
 board the "Devastation," went on shore 
 accompanied by Captain Pike. "We 
 were met," he writes, "by the whole village, who 
 stood on the bank, in a long line as fine a set of 
 men and as well-dressed as could any where be seen 
 where men live by their daily toil certainly no 
 country village in England would turn out so well- 
 clad an assemblage. 
 
 " At three the bell was rung, and almost instantly 
 the whole population were wending their way to 
 church. Most of the people are away at Naas, but 
 130 assembled. There were hymns and prayers in 
 Tsimsheean. They repeated the answers to a 
 catechism in Tsimsheean. I addressed them, and 
 offered prayers in English, which were interpreted 
 by Mr. Duncan. There was much earnest response 
 
148 Stranger tfjan ^Fiction. 
 
 The service lasted one hour and three quarters. 
 There was an evidence of devotion. Mr. Duncan 
 plays the accordion." 
 
 The examination of the catechumens, commenced 
 on the Sunday, was continued without intermission 
 throughout the next two days, lasting on the 
 Monday till one o'clock at night. 
 
 " Monday, April loth. Day fine. Got to the 
 Mission-house at eight to breakfast. Afterwards 
 engaged the whole day seeing catechumens till one 
 o'clock next morning. One after another the poor 
 Indians pressed on to be examined. They had 
 been under training for periods varying from eight 
 months to three years. They had been long look 
 ing for a minister to admit them to baptism. It 
 was a strange yet intensely interesting sight in that 
 log cabin, by the dim glimmer of a small lamp, to 
 see just the countenance of the Indian, sometimes 
 with uplifted eyes, as he spoke of the blessedness of 
 prayer at other times, with downcast melancholy, 
 as he smote upon his breast in the recital of his 
 penitence. The tawny face, the high cheek-bone, 
 the glossy jet-black flowing hair, the dark, glassy 
 eye, the manly brow, were a picture worthy the 
 pencil of the artist. The night was cold I had 
 occasionally to rise and walk about for warmth 
 
149 
 
 yet there were more. The Indian usually retires as 
 he rises, with the sun, but now he would turn 
 night into day if he might only be allowed to 
 ' have the sign,' and be fixed in the good ways of 
 God. 
 
 " Tuesday, April list. The day dawned bright, 
 and so continued. Immediately after breakfast, 
 having had prayer, the work again began. Cate 
 chumens came in and, one by one, were sifted ; 
 some, to their grief, were deferred. One man came 
 and begged he might be passed, for he might not 
 live till the next visit of a clergyman. Another 
 brought a friend, and said, if I would only admit 
 his wife to baptism, they would promise for her she 
 should persevere and live to God. Another, a fine 
 child of fourteen, I had thought too young to answer 
 for herself one who had always shown remarkable 
 love for instruction and had stood by the school 
 when the many were its foes. She came with tears 
 of entreaty which were irresistible and beautiful, 
 and lovely was the sensitive intelligence which 
 beamed upon her devotional features when after 
 wards she received the waters of baptism. Till four 
 o'clock was I thus engaged, an hour after the time 
 appointed for the baptisms. The peculiar suitable 
 ness of the questions in the Baptismal Service to 
 
150 Stranger tfyan ffiittitm. 
 
 the case of converts from heathenism was very 
 remarkably illustrated throughout the examination. 
 
 " Converts from heathenism can fully realize 
 renunciation of the world, the flesh, and the devil. 
 Amongst these Indians pomp of display, the lying 
 craft of malicious magic, as well as all sins of the 
 flesh, are particularly glaring, and closely connected 
 with heathenism : to them these things are part and 
 parcel of heathenism. So are the truths of the 
 Creed in strongest contrast to the dark and miser 
 able fables of their forefathers, and heartily can 
 they pledge themselves to keep the holy will of God 
 all the days of their life, seeing Him a loving and 
 true Father, of whom now so lately, but so gladly, 
 they have learnt to know." 
 
 The questions asked by the Bishop were generally 
 somewhat as follows : 
 
 " Do you wish to be a Christian ? 
 
 " Do you feel your sins, and want a new heart ? 
 
 " How came you first to turn to God ? 
 
 " How do you expect remission of sins ? 
 
 " Are you afraid to die ? 
 
 " Do you pray to God ? 
 
 " To whom do you look to save you ? 
 
 " What hope have you when you die ? 
 
 " How do you know God will pity you ? 
 
ihtgatfjmncj. 151 
 
 " When weak what must we do ? 
 
 " What will happen to us when we die ? 
 
 " What makes it difficult to pray ? 
 
 " Is there any special hindrance to your turning 
 to God ? 
 
 " How do you hope to have your sins pardoned ?" 
 
 "I first," the Bishop writes, "drew forth their 
 views of the necessity of repentance, its details, and 
 their own personal acquaintance with it. I then ques 
 tioned them as to the Three Persons of the Trinity, 
 and the special work of each with allusion to the 
 Judgment, and the state of the soul hereafter, inquir 
 ing into their private devotion, to learn their personal 
 application of repentance and faith. I questioned 
 their anxiety for baptism, and demanded proof of 
 their resolution to keep the will of God for their 
 guide, to speak for God, and to labour for God's way 
 all their life long. I sought to find out the circum 
 stances under which they first became seriously 
 inclined, and to trace their steps of trial and grace. 
 Admitting them to the promise of baptism, I 
 exhorted them to earnest prayer and devotion, as a 
 special preparation, until the time came." 
 
 The following extracts from the Bishop's notes 
 on the various candidates bear testimony to the 
 very thorough character of the examination. We 
 
Stranger tfyan tfiction. 
 
 should, perhaps, say that the names of those who 
 have been previously mentioned in the narrative 
 are placed first, though not occurring in this order 
 in the Bishop's journal : 
 
 MALES. 
 
 KLAH, aged 35. Answers: I have made up my mind to live a 
 Christian. Must try to put away all our sins. I believe in Jesus 
 Christ, the Son of God, who died for our sins. God is good to us, 
 and made us. God gives us His Spirit to make us clean and happy. 
 I pray to God to clean my heart, and wipe out my sin from God's 
 book. It will be worse for us if we fall away after we have begun. 
 I repent I was not baptized a year and a half ago. 
 
 LEGAIC (principal chief), aged 40. Answers: We must put 
 away all our evil ways. I want to take hold of God. I believe in 
 God the Father, who made all things, and in Jesus Christ. I con 
 stantly cry for my sins when I remember them. I believe the good 
 will sit near to God after death. Am anxious to walk in God's ways 
 all my life. If I turn back it will be more bitter for me than before. 
 I pray God to wipe out my sins ; strengthen me to do right ; pity me. 
 My prayers are from my heart. I think sometimes God does not hear 
 me, because I do not give up all my sins. My sins are too heavy. 
 I think we have not strength of ourselves. 
 
 Remarks. Under instruction about nine months. On two occa 
 sions before attended for a short time, but fell away. Mr. Duncan 
 says this man has made greater sacrifices than any other in the 
 village. Is the principal chief, and has left his tribe and all great 
 ness. Has been a most savage and desperate man ; committed all 
 crimes. Had the offer of forty blankets to return to his tribe. He. 
 now bears the ridicule of his former friends. Yet his temper, 
 formerly ferocious, bears it patiently, and he returns kindness, so that 
 some have melted and are ready to come with him. 
 
 LEE-QU-NEESH (a chief), aged 39. Answers : When young was 
 brought up in sin. No one ever told me the good news. Cannot 
 tell how great a sinner I am. I believe in God, and cannot turn 
 back to any of my old ways. The great Father Almighty, Maker of 
 
JhtcjaHjmng. 153 
 
 the earth. Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, died for our sins that 
 God might pity us on that account. God is a spirit, full of love and 
 goodness ; but we must pray for God's Holy Spirit. We must all 
 stand before God. God will know who are good and bad. By-and- 
 by I shall know if God hears me. My heart is dark; I cannot 
 clearly tell now. A long time I felt it was contrary to God, and 
 when I heard the good news I gave up evil ways. 
 
 NEEASH-LAKAH-NOOSH (called "the Lame Chief" ; he is blind 
 also of an eye ; fine old man) ; aged 70. Answers : When asked if 
 he wished to become a Christian, said For that object I came here 
 with my people. I have put away all lying ways, which I had long 
 followed. I have trusted in God. We want the Spirit of God. 
 Jesus came to save us. He compensated for our sins. Our Father 
 made us, and loved us because we are His work. He wishes to see 
 us with Him because He loves us. When asked about the judgment, 
 said, The blood of Jesus will free those who believe from con 
 demnation. 
 
 Remarks. Under regular instruction for a year, and before that 
 for some time by his daughter. Is most consistent, trying to do 
 simply what is right. The other day was benighted on Saturday, on 
 his way to spend the Sunday at Metla-katla, seven miles off. Would 
 not come on, nor let his people gather herring- spawn, close under 
 their feet ; he rested the Lord's Day, according to the commandment. 
 
 YILMAUKSH, aged 22. Answers: I believe in Jesus as my 
 Saviour, who died to compensate for my sins to God. 
 
 Remarks. Appears very earnest; speaks devoutly and freely. 
 Long time under serious impressions. Brought out from heathenism 
 three of his relations. Eight months under special instruction. 
 
 LEHT, aged 25. Answers : I feel my unworthiness, but trust to 
 God's pity. We must pray constantly to God. I have not two 
 hearts ; have given myself to God. 
 
 Remarks. Was in the "Cariboo" steam-ship when blown up: 
 turned to God then. Three years under instruction. Son of a chief. 
 Much tempted to go to heathen feasts, but has steadily refused. 
 
 KANGISL, aged 22. Answers : I am striving against my sins, 
 determined to follow God's way. God's way good and right, without 
 doubt. Our way full of mistakes. Christ searched out (exposed) 
 
154 Stranger tfjan dfirtton. 
 
 man's way and showed God's way, and then was punished to make 
 satisfaction for our sins. I pray for a good heart and for pardon 
 from my sins. 
 
 Remarks. Four or five years ago under instruction ; fell away. A 
 year preparing for magic ; a year and a half earnest. 
 
 SHKAH-CLAH, aged 35. Answers: \ have not long come forward 
 for baptism, but have long been wishing to be fixed in God's way, 
 and have been struggling against my sins. God punishes the wicked 
 who persevere in their sins. I must pray for God's Spirit. God 
 teaches us humility, and to love one another. I pray for God to 
 pardon my sins, and to dress me in His righteousness. 
 
 Remarks. Confesses he has been very wicked. Lately his child 
 died. As it lay dying, with tears he touched it, and said, " This is 
 for my sins. " Was moved strongly to turn to God by the death of 
 his child. Belongs to a leading family. His brother, a heathen 
 chief, tells him he will be nobody if he becomes a Christian. 
 
 LAPPIGH KUMLEE, aged 30. Answers: I have given up the 
 lucrative position of sorcerer. Been offered bribes to practise my 
 art secretly. I have left all my mistaken ways. My eyes have been 
 bored (enlightened). I cry every night when I remember my sins. 
 The great Father Almighty sees every thing. If I go up to the moun 
 tains He sees me. Jesus died for our sins upon the cross to carry 
 our sins away. 
 
 Remarks. Dates his change from seeing a convert reading a book, 
 and he felt ashamed that he knew nothing, and he determined to 
 learn, and soon he found his own system false. One case, when his 
 spirit said there would be recovery, death came ; and another, when 
 he foretold death, life remained. 
 
 COW-AL-LAH, aged 30. Answers : A Christian must put away 
 sin, lies, drunkenness. I had wished to come forward at the last 
 baptism, but was held back by those around. I have now broken 
 away, and am ready to give myself to God. God is the maker of 
 heaven and earth. God pitied our sins, and sent Jesus to save us. 
 The Spirit helps our weakness. If we follow God here we shall find 
 God after death. All must stand before God and receive according 
 to their works. Was struck at the dark death of many of his rela 
 tions. He and they knew nothing about the future. So when Mr. 
 
Hit forgathering. 155 
 
 Duncan came and spoke about those things, he gladly heard, and 
 determined to follow him. 
 
 QUIL-AH-SHKAHKS, aged 25. Answers : I have put away my 
 sins. I have long sinned against God. I am afraid of my sins. 
 God sees me. Jesus has opened the door of heaven to us. God 
 sends His good Spirit to help us. God will measure our ways when 
 we die. So long as I live I will try to give the news of God to 
 others. The word of God has taught us to hope. In the summer 
 saw the people die from small-pox. Saw the hand of God, and 
 trembled and resolved to turn to God. We are not strong to resist 
 the hand of God. 
 
 NEEASH-AH-POOTK, aged 35. Answers : I have long followed 
 sins which make God angry. I have put away sin, but if I am ever 
 so ignorant in my endeavours I will persevere. Used to be a great 
 drunkard. Have given up magic and display of property. Felt 
 God last summer. We have turned back to our great Father. He 
 sees all ; His Spirit is with us. The blood of Jesus cleanseth us 
 from all sin. How happy the angels will be to see us good, and 
 how they will cry if we are sinful ! At the last God will divide us. 
 Lost ten relatives by the small-pox last year, and it opened my eyes 
 to my sins. God's hand was strong to cut down sinners. 
 
 KSHIN-KEE-AIKS, aged 36. Answers: I will fight against my 
 sins, and continually cry to find God. I will endeavour not to re 
 taliate when ridiculed. I believe in the Lord in heaven, who made 
 the earth and heaven, and us, and the food we eat. Jesus the only 
 Son of God died to save us from our sins. God gives us the Holy 
 Spirit to help us to contend against the evil spirits who come against 
 us. If we are sinful when we die, God's face will be against us. 
 Wherever I go my mind is fixed to serve God. At the last God will 
 divide the good from the bad. Used to hear God's Word, and 
 always went back to my sin. But at last came away with the others, 
 and was fixed then. 
 
 KOW-KAYTH, aged 18. Answers : We must leave all sinful 
 ways, and take hold of God's ways. I have long earned sin, but 
 must not carry sin to God. God is a great Spirit. Made earth and 
 heaven. Jesus died in our stead. The Spirit of God ever with us ; 
 the hand of God ever near. If we carry our sin till we die, God will 
 
156 Stranger tfjan ^fiction. 
 
 punish us. We must all meet God when we die. God will show us 
 our ways. My father was cut down in his sins. I purpose to' do 
 differently. 
 
 KAHLP, aged 35. Answers : I shall fight against my sins. My 
 heart truly says I will turn from sin to God. God is perfectly right 
 in His ways. Sees all, good and evil. God made all things 
 heaven and earth and us. The Son of God our Saviour, Jesus. The 
 blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from sin. God does not withhold 
 His Spirit when we cry for it. Whosoever believes in God, the 
 Spirit of God lives in his heart. Those who die in their sin go to 
 darkness and to fire. I will fear God as long as I live. I pray for 
 God's Spirit and light to lead my own spirit along the path to Him 
 self when I die. Was a slave ; was poor in spirit, and was drawn to 
 cry to God to take my heart. 
 
 Remarks. Answers freely. He was taken slave by the Hydahs; 
 brought back and sold to his own chief, and was some years a slave. 
 The chiefs son sold him to his own friends, who set him free. 
 
 SKULLOH, aged 30. Answers: From my birth 1 have been a 
 sinner. I cannot understand the size of my sinfulness. Cannot of 
 myself give up my sins, but God will help me. Jesus our Saviour 
 came from heaven ; that is the reason why we can be saved. I feel 
 God sees and understands all we do, and think, and speak. Am not 
 afraid of the judgment, for God is full of love and mercy, and the 
 Son of God has made our peace. I pray God to prepare my heart 
 to see Him. 
 
 Remarks. Was in a canoe with a child, who fired a gun by care 
 lessness. A portion of the boat turned the shot from going into his 
 back. He was led to think why a little piece of wood should thus 
 save his life ; he became thoughtful ; heard Mr. Duncan was come to 
 speak about God, and at once joined. 
 
 OOSHI-NEEYAM-NAY, aged 24. Answers .I will try to take hold 
 of God's ways, and leave sin. When I remember my sin my heart 
 cries. I believe in t^od, who made heaven and earth, and who is 
 almighty. Our sins were the death of Jesus. The blood of Jesus 
 cleanseth us from sin. We must pray to God to put our hearts to 
 Him. Jesus will dress us in His goodness. God sends His Spirit 
 to make us good. I am not afraid of the judgment, for I hope my 
 
157 
 
 heart will be right to see God before I die. If our hearts are not 
 right to see God, He will cast us into darkness. 
 
 KISHEESO, aged 16. Answers : A duty to give up the ways of 
 the Chymseans. Was very wicked when quite young. Will try to 
 put away my sin. I cai\not eat again what I have vomited. God is 
 almighty. Jesus the Son of God, our Saviour. God will hear me 
 if I cry to Him. We must seek God first before any other thing. 
 My father and mother still in heathenism, but I cannot go back to 
 them. I rather cry when I think of them. I pray night and morn 
 ing for God to pity and to pardon me.' 
 
 Remarks. Came by himself in a tiny canoe, across the sea, away 
 from home, to join the Christian people. 
 
 THRAK-SHA-KAWN (sorcerer), aged 50. Answers : I wish to 
 give up all wicked ways. Have been a medicine-man, and know 
 the lies of heathenism. I believe in the great Father who made us, 
 in Jesus who died on the cross that God would pity us. I want the 
 Spirit of God to touch my heart. We must all stand before God. 
 God will measure our ways. No one to be his master but God. I 
 will not keep my eyes on the ground any more, but will look up to 
 heaven all my life. 
 
 Remarks. He has had to bear much scorn, and to go through 
 much struggle. 
 
 QU-TL-NOH, aged 19. Answers : I wish to put away all sin, 
 lies, drunkenness. Have erred in following man. Must now try to 
 follow God. I believe in Jesus Christ, who died for our sin. God's 
 Spirit prepares us for baptism. We shall rise from the dead and see 
 God's face, if we are God's children. I am wishful to serve God as 
 long as I live. 
 
 FEMALES. 
 
 WAHTHL (wife of Legaic). aged 40. Answers : I wish to put 
 away evil and have a clean heart. Feel the pain of the remem 
 brance of sin so bad I would sometimes like to die. I want to seek 
 God's face, but feel little hope; still I determine to persevere, 
 though miserable. Loss of relatives, and finding no peace and rest, 
 and feeling in darkness, led me to look to God. I know that God 
 sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins. 
 
158 Stranger tljan dftcti 
 
 Remarks. About nine months under regular instruction. She 
 is evidently anxious for her soul ; knows the truth, but her sins are 
 a burden that she has not found peace. She has been anxious her 
 husband should go forwards in good. 
 
 LOOSL (widow of the cannibal chief who died penitent), aged 25. 
 Answers : I know how blind I have been. Was first turned to 
 God by the news of the Saviour. Was struck that He came down 
 amongst us. God is a Spirit full of love. Christ came to carry 
 away our sins. We must pray for the Spirit to help us. I confess 
 my sins to God and cry for pity. I pray for my friends. After 
 death the judgment. We must stand before God. Jesus will answer 
 for those who trust in Him. 
 
 Remarks. Upheld her husband in his wickedness. Was turned 
 by his turning at his death. 
 
 SHOODAHSL (wife of Clah), aged 30. Answers: We must give 
 up all sin. God sees and knows us all through. Jesus died in our 
 stead because we were bad. By the Spirit of Jesus we must learn to 
 walk in the good way. I feel struggle in my mind, but persevere. 
 I pray for pardon. Will do all I can to keep God's way. God's 
 own Word promises that He will hear. 
 
 NISHAH-KIGH (chieftainess of the Nishkahs), aged 45. Answers : 
 I must leave all evil ways. I feel myself a sinner in God's sight. 
 I believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ, who died 
 for our sins. God sends down His Spirit to make us good. Jesus 
 is in heaven, and is writing our names in God's book. We must 
 stand before God and be judged by Him. I feel God's Word is 
 truth. Have been for some time accustomed regularly to pray. 
 
 Remarks. Two years ago she was found giving Christian instruc 
 tion to a sick and dying person. Her husband tells me she passed 
 much time in devotion. When she first heard the Word of God her 
 sorrow was great, and her penitence more than she could bear. Some 
 five years she has been earnestly seeking God. 
 
 NAYAHK, aged 30. Answers: I have been a great sinner, but 
 God has opened my heart to see good, and I am resolved by His 
 help to put away all evil and live to God. I pray for pardon and 
 God's Holy Spirit. I feel unhappiness now amongst my heathen 
 friends, and have pleasure only with God's people. 
 
 Remarks. Her husband has been sent away. She remained, 
 
fin fngatfjmttjj, 159 
 
 although at the cost of much privation to herself; but she would not 
 go back to heathenism. Replied well as to the special work of each 
 Person of the Trinity. 
 
 NAYAHK (wife of Lapplighcumlee, a sorcerer), aged 25. An 
 swers : Answers well and clearly upon the separate work of each 
 Person of the Trinity. Prays for pardon for the Holy Spirit, 
 
 Remarks. Suffered much from the mockery of her husband. At 
 her earnest demand he gave up devilry. Under eighteen months' 
 regular instruction. Been consistent in the midst of opposition ; 
 adhered to the Mission when many were against. Has been a 
 blessing to her family, all of whom have renounced heathenism. 
 Her husband, the sorcerer, laments his past life, and would be the 
 first to put his foot upon the evil system. 
 
 AD-DAH-KIPPI (wife of a Christian Indian), aged 25. Answers: 
 I must put away sin. I know I have been making God angry, but 
 must put away all my old ways, lies, and the evil of my fathers. 
 God gave us commandments. God would not hear us till we put 
 away our sins, Jesus would make peace for us and add His Spirit. 
 Am resolved to endeavour to live to God all my life. Was much 
 moved last fishing at my sinfulness, and then repented strongly, and 
 resolved to walk with God. I pray morning, noon, and night for 
 pardon and God's Spirit. 
 
 Remarks. Had opposed her husband, who is a Christian. 
 
 WAH-TEE-BOO, aged 16. Answers : Have been sorely tempted. 
 Jesus came down from heaven to save sinners, and to make our peace 
 with God. Jesus shed His blood for our sins. Jesus will be as a 
 ladder for us to heaven when we die. We must stand before God. 
 We must cry to God before we die, and not put off. I pray for a 
 clean heart to God. 
 
 Remarks. Made a touching confession of her sins, when applying 
 for baptism. 
 
 PAIEK (wife of Slulloh), aged 25. Answers : Want to find God. 
 I repent of my sins. First led to think by the shock of my father 
 being shot in the house by another Indian. Sought peace and came 
 to Metla-katla. God is almighty, full of goodness, and truth, and 
 love. Jesus, the Son of God, died for our sins. Asked what we 
 should ask God for. She said, light. The good will dwell with 
 God for ever, the bad be cast away. 
 
160 Stranger tfjan Jfutum. 
 
 LAHSL, aged 22. Answers: I wish to be a Christian. Must 
 put away all sin. I believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who takes 
 away my sin. The Spirit is almighty ; strengthens my breath. We 
 must all stand before God. We must try to be good. Knowing 
 this, I pray to God morning and evening. Death in the family first 
 led me to think. I have been made bad by my people, but have now 
 turned to God. 
 
 Remarks: Eighteen months under instruction. Been afflicted, 
 and shown great constancy. 
 
 AHK-YAIK, aged 22. Answers : My sins I must leave. I pray 
 to God for pardon. Believe in God who made us, and heaven and 
 earth. Jesus Christ the Son of God, our Lord. He came down 
 from heaven to our world to save sinners. God is a great Spirit. 
 God will measure our ways. I have struggled against my friends 
 who wish to get me away from here. 
 
 Remarks. About ten months under instruction. 
 
 SHYIT-LEBBEN (wife of Kow-al-ah), aged 23. Answers: I have 
 a miserable heart when I think of my sins. Jesus had compassion, 
 and died on the cross for our sins, that we might live after His 
 death. God sends down His Spirit to make us good. After death 
 God will show us our sins and divide us. I pray when I wake in 
 the night. If only my tongue speaks, my prayers do not go to God ; 
 but if my heart speaks, God hears my prayers. 
 
 TAH-TIKS, aged 24. Answers : I must give up all my old ways. 
 I believe Jesus Christ died for my sins. We shall be happy with 
 the angels if we are good here. The people of heaven and earth 
 will be brethren. God will be to us as a brother. Long time 
 ago I knew good, but it died in my heart, and I followed sin ; 
 but I had an illness, and determined to do differently, and when 
 the move here was made, I followed. Did follow evil, but am 
 changed. 
 
 OO-AH (wife of Thrak-sha-kaun), aged 38. Answers : I wish to 
 be a Christian. Was long time in sin, but now hope to give up 
 every sin. Jesus died for our sins. Our Father made us and all 
 things. The Spirit helps us. We shall find God when we die, 
 ha-ving lost our sins. Those who remain in their sins will be carried 
 away. I prayed to God for salvation. 
 
Ihtgatfjmng. 161 
 
 The examination concluded, the requisite pre 
 parations were made for administering the rite of 
 baptism. The candidates, to the number of fifty- 
 six, were assembled in the church, and ranged in a 
 large circle, in the midst of which the ceremony 
 was to take place. 
 
 "The impressiveness of the occasion was manifest 
 in the devout and reverent manner of all present. 
 There were no external aids, sometimes thought 
 necessary for the savage mind, to produce or 
 increase the solemnity of the scene. The building 
 is a bare and unfinished octagon of logs and spars 
 a mere barn sixty feet by sixty, capable of 
 containing 700 persons. The roof was partly open 
 at the top ; and, though the weather was still cold, 
 there was no fire. A simple table, covered with a 
 white cloth, upon which stood three hand-basins of 
 water, served for the font, and I officiated in a 
 surplice. Thus there was nothing to impress the 
 senses, no colour, or ornament, or church decoration, 
 or music. The solemnity of the scene was produced 
 by the earnest sincerity and serious purpose with 
 which these children of the Far West were pre 
 pared to offer themselves to God, and to renounce 
 for ever the hateful sins and cruel deeds of their 
 heathenism ; and the solemn stillness was broken 
 
 M 
 
162 Stranger rtjan dTtctton. 
 
 only by the breath of prayer. The responses were 
 made with earnestness and decision. Not an indi 
 vidual was there whose lips did not utter in their 
 own expressive tongue their hearty readiness to 
 believe and to serve God." 
 
 It will, of course, be understood that so entire an 
 absence of all " external aids " to devotion was the 
 result of circumstances rather than of choice, just 
 as was the nature of the building in which the 
 ceremony was performed. On the following day, 
 the services of the Bishop were put in requisition 
 to unite in marriage three native couples. 
 
 " Nothing could be more pleasing than the 
 manner in which the young people conducted 
 themselves. The services evidently impressed 
 both them and their friends who came to witness 
 the ceremony. The custom of the ring was quite 
 novel to them in connexion with marriage. Rings 
 they have in abundance generally. I have counted 
 thirty on a single pair of hands. All rings were, 
 however, absent on this occasion, excepting the 
 one to be used : two had silver, the third had a 
 gold ring. There was no confusion : all evidently 
 were properly impressed. Two of the young ladies 
 had white dresses. I presented each of the couples 
 with a fifty-pound bag of flour and five pounds of 
 
163 
 
 sugar. It is customary amongst Indians for the 
 newly married pair to give presents to their friends, 
 sometimes to their own impoverishment. We de 
 sire to establish rather the more healthful practice 
 of encouraging the new home by substantial help." 
 
 On the same day fourteen children were also 
 baptized. 
 
 " It was pleasing to see the strong desire of the 
 Christians for the admission of their children to 
 the same privilege of union with Christ's Church 
 as themselves. They all took places parents, 
 sponsors, and children in the same ring as the 
 adults of yesterday, and came up, leading the little 
 ones between two, and, on returning, reverently 
 knelt down, remaining in private devotion for a 
 while, as was the case with the adults. Several 
 questions were necessary to be decided which are 
 not incidental to old-established countries. Parents, 
 still unbaptized, sought baptism for their children ; 
 prudence prevented this. Children, of one parent 
 Christian, the other heathen, were admitted. Two 
 parents, still unbaptized, came to say they had 
 given their child to a sister who was a Christian, 
 and who had adopted it for her own, that it might 
 be baptized and trained as a Christian. This I 
 allowed. Children over seven I did not admit, 
 
 M 2 
 
164 Stranger tfyan fiction. 
 
 considering they might be imbued with heathen 
 ideas, and should undergo training in Christianity 
 as a preparation for baptism, though to be baptized 
 as infants. It was interesting to see, afterwards, 
 children brought by their parents, and coming of 
 their own accord to have their names set down for 
 preparation." 
 
 Before his departure, the Bishop gave a feast of 
 rice and molasses to all the village. 
 
 " They assembled in the octagon. Cloths were 
 laid ; all brought their own dishes and spoons. 
 There were three tables, at each of which one of 
 the chiefs presided. Their custom is to eat little 
 at the time, but take away the principal part of the 
 allotted portion : all rise before and after the meal 
 for grace. Singing was then introduced, and ex 
 cellent, certainly, were the strains of harmony 
 poured forth in the English tongue. Several well- 
 known rounds were capitally sung. First, a boat- 
 song ; then 
 
 ' When a weary task you find it, 
 Persevere, and never mind it.' 
 
 ' Come tell me now, sweet little bird, 
 Who deck'd thy wings with gold ?' 
 
 ' See our oars, with feather'd spray";" 
 
 and last, ' God save the Queen.' In this they 
 were as quick and lively as any children in the 
 
165 
 
 world, the men joining, too, in good time voices 
 sweet and soft. Mr. Duncan afterwards addressed 
 them in an earnest speech." 
 
 We have thus traced Mr. Duncan's work through 
 its initial stages, extending over a period of five 
 years (1857-63). We cannot better conclude this 
 part of our narrative than by quoting once more 
 the words in which the Bishop of Columbia ex 
 presses the opinion which his own personal expe 
 rience, and the unanimous testimony of those who 
 had been able to watch the work in its gradual 
 development, had led him to form. " All former 
 work, varied, and interesting, and impressive as 
 ministerial life is, seems insignificant before this 
 manifest power of the Spirit of God, touching the 
 heart and enlightening the understanding of so 
 many recently buried in the darkness and misery 
 of ignorant and cruel superstition. 
 
 " To a worthy, zealous, and gifted lay brother, is 
 this the reward of his loving and patient labours. 
 Few would believe what Mr. Duncan has gone 
 through during the past four years and a half, 
 labouring alone amongst the heathen. Truly is 
 the result an encouragement to us all. It will 
 probably be the commencement of an important 
 movement amongst other tribes, of which we 
 
1 66 
 
 tfjan dftftton. 
 
 already have signs, and should call forth a very 
 earnest effort on the part of the Church to send 
 forth a faithful and efficient band of additional 
 labourers for this harvest of immortal souls.' 
 
PAUL LKGAIC. 
 
 To face p. 167. 
 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PAUL LEGAIC. 
 
 IHE name Paul chosen at his baptism 
 by Legaic, was a singularly appropriate 
 one. Possessed of great power and 
 influence, for a long season he had used 
 them only for the purpose of hindering the progress 
 of the Gospel, and had made himself notorious as a 
 "persecutor and injurious." From henceforward, 
 however, we shall see him showing as much zeal in 
 promoting as he had before done in hindering the 
 Faith. 
 
 But before this change was brought about a 
 period of severe trial had to be passed through. 
 Read in the light of his after-history, Legaic's 
 answers at the time of baptism acquire an especial 
 interest, as showing how real was the struggle with 
 the peculiar temptations which beset him. " If I 
 turn back it will be more bitter for me than before. 
 I pray God to strengthen me to do right. My 
 
168 J^trangtr tfyan tfittitm. 
 
 prayers are from my heart. We have not strength 
 of ourselves." The temptation to return to Fort 
 Simpson and assume his former rank as Head 
 Chief of the Tsimsheean tribes, at all times very 
 strong, seemed on particular occasions well-nigh 
 irresistible ; every kind of inducement was held 
 out to him by his former friends and subordinate 
 chiefs. 
 
 Some time after his baptism it seemed as if 
 these inducements were likely to prevail. On 
 one occasion he actually gathered his friends at 
 Metlahkatlah together, and told them that he felt 
 he must go away and return to his former life. 
 The canoe waited on the beach, and many came 
 down to see him off. Taught from infancy to 
 regard him as their leader, all were sorrowful, and 
 some seemed to waver. Making his farewell 
 address before stepping into his canoe, he told 
 them that he could not help what he was doing, 
 that he was pulled away ; he knew that he was 
 doing wrong, perhaps he should perish for ever, 
 but still he must go. Tears came into his eyes as 
 he shook them all by the hand. Then, amidst a 
 general mourning and dismay, his canoe disap 
 peared from sight. 
 
 Such was the description of the scene given to 
 
169 
 
 the Bishop of Columbia by one of the Metlahkatlah 
 Indians who had left for Victoria the same day. 
 "After describing the scene," the Bishop writes, 
 "he said the Christian Indians held a great talk 
 amongst themselves about it, and the general 
 impression was that Legaic would return. He 
 himself thought so strongly. I was therefore most 
 anxious to know the result, and to my joy I found 
 that such had been the case. Legaic had not pro 
 ceeded beyond a few miles when he turned his 
 canoe in-shore and landed, and there underwent 
 a night of misery, such, he said, as no words can 
 describe ; he would die a hundred deaths,. and not 
 all would reach the amount of suffering he ex 
 perienced in that night of remorse. He wept 
 before his God, and prayed earnestly for pardon. 
 On his return he came to the mission-house. 
 Mr. Duncan received him purposely at first with 
 coldness, but soon found him in the deepest dis 
 tress and misery, entreating his pity and forgive 
 ness. He has since been most earnest, and it is 
 hoped, through God's help, he will now go forward 
 without halting in his Christian course." 
 
 From this time forward Legaic's conduct seems 
 to have been every thing that could have been 
 wished. Not only did he set an example of steady 
 
170 ^trangn* tfjan 
 
 industry in the calling which he had chosen that 
 of a carpenter and cabinet-maker but he was 
 always on the watch for every opportunity of 
 seconding Mr. Duncan's efforts. Here, for instance, 
 is an account given by the Bishop on the occasion 
 of his second visit to Metlahkatlah, in 1865, of the 
 way in which he used his influence : 
 
 "To-day Mr. Duncan brought before me a 
 young man, Edward, whom I had baptized in 1863, 
 who, to the great grief of his Christian relatives at 
 Metlahkatlah, had fallen into bad habits at Victoria 
 and Fort Simpson. Mr. Duncan spoke to him 
 very earnestly, and brought him to tears ; but the 
 young man still excused himself, and, admitting 
 how bad he was, professed he had not strength to 
 amend, but must go on, even though to his destruc 
 tion. Paul Legaic, too, gave him some very earnest 
 advice. It was pleasing to see and to hear that 
 once ferocious savage, now not only gentle and in 
 his right mind, loving to be on the side of God, 
 but forward in using his influence and speaking 
 his words to promote God's work. At length an 
 impression did seem to be made, and Edward said 
 he would speak to us alone. Overwhelmed with 
 emotion, he asked me to pity him and to pray for 
 him, and made me a solemn promise he would 
 
171 
 
 from this time amend. I do trust, through God's 
 mercy, he may yet be recovered." 
 
 Speaking of Legaic's general conduct, the Bishop 
 says, " He is industrious, and gains a good liveli 
 hood, and lives in a comfortable house of his own 
 building, with good glass windows and a verandah. 
 Chairs were set for visitors, and we had much talk 
 about the Mission, and the work, and the tribe. 
 His only child Sarah is one of the most promising 
 girls of the Mission-house." 
 
 Another clergyman, the Rev. R. Dundas, alluding 
 to a visit which he paid Legaic, says, "He and 
 his wife have one child only, a young girl of 
 fourteen. She was a modest-looking, pleasing child, 
 very intelligent ; one of the first class in the school. 
 She did not look like one who had ever been 
 ' possessed with a devil ;' and yet this is the child 
 whom three years ago her teacher saw naked in the 
 midst of a howling band, tearing and devouring a 
 bleeding dog. How changed ! She who 'had the 
 unclean spirit sits now at the feet of Jesus, clothed 
 and in her right mind.'" 
 
 About the same time, Mr. Duncan incidentally 
 notices the assistance constantly rendered him by 
 Legaic on the occasion of his going to preach at 
 Fort Simpson. Describing one of these visits, he 
 
1 72 Stranger tfjan dftttum. 
 
 says, " Paul Legaic and Clah sat by me, one on 
 either side. After I had finished my address on 
 each occasion, they got up and spoke, and spoke 
 well. Legaic completely shamed and confounded 
 an old man, who in replying to my address had 
 said that I had come too late to do him and other 
 old people good ; that had I come when the first 
 white traders came, the Tsimsheeans had long since 
 been good. But they had been allowed to grow up 
 in sin, they had seen nothing among the first whites 
 who came amongst them to unsettle them in their 
 old habits, but these had rather added to them 
 fresh sins, and now their sins were deep laid, they 
 (he and the other old people) could not change. 
 Legaic interrupted him, and said, ' I am a chief, a 
 Tsimsheean chief. You know I have been bad, very 
 bad, as bad as any one here. I have grown up and 
 grown old in sin, but God has changed my heart, 
 and He can change yours. Think not to excuse 
 yourselves in your sins by saying you are too old 
 and too bad to mend. Nothing is impossible with 
 God. Come to God ; try His way. He can save 
 you/ He then exhorted all to taste God's way, to 
 give their hearts to Him, to leave all their sins ; and 
 then endeavoured to show them what they had to 
 expect if they did so, not temporal good, not health, 
 
Paul Hegatc. 173 
 
 long life, or ease, or wealth, but God's favour here 
 and happiness with God after death." 
 
 Other records show that at every public meeting, 
 whether at Fort Simpson or Metlahkatlah, Legaic 
 always took an active part in the proceedings. Of 
 the various speeches made by him of which any 
 account has been preserved, the following one, 
 made on the occasion of the Dean of Victoria's 
 visit to the settlement in 1867, may be taken as a 
 fair specimen : 
 
 " We have heard your speech, sir ; we will obey. 
 Mr. Duncan has showed us God's Word : he has 
 taken our hands, and led us to God. We come 
 dripping away from sin, but our hearts are not yet 
 clean. We are still craving the blood of Jesus to 
 cleanse us from sin. How can we return to evil ? 
 To God we will go. The ladder has been set up. 
 Jesus is that ladder. Here let us die, put our 
 bodies in the ground when God calls us. In con 
 clusion let me say, God has given you to work 
 for us, because we are sinners. May you be 
 prospered." 
 
 Nor is it only in the distinctly Missionary records 
 that we find this constant allusion to the changed 
 character of Legaic. In the various articles or 
 letters contributed from time to time by travellers 
 
i74 Stranger tljau dTtctton. 
 
 to the Victoria newspapers, "Paul Legaic, Mr. 
 Duncan's Grand Vizier at Metlahkatlah," always 
 comes in for a kindly notice. " Take a walk 
 near the church," writes one, " and you may see 
 the mighty chief of Fort Simpson (Legaic) 
 standing under the porch of his well-built house, 
 ornamented with fancy casing around where the 
 gutters should be, but are not, and also around the 
 windows. Legaic ! why, I remember him myself, 
 some ten years ago, the terrifying murderer of 
 women as well as men, now lamb-led by the 
 temperate hand of Christianity a Church-going 
 example an able ally of the Temperance Society, 
 though not having signed the pledge." 
 
 Another writer, speaking of the care with which 
 Mr. Duncan had studied the tastes and capabilities 
 of those whom he set up in various trades, says, 
 "Accordingly, as you pass into Metlahkatlah, you 
 may see old Legaic, the former chief, busily work 
 ing under a sign-board which informs passers-by 
 that he is a carpenter and cabinet-maker." 
 
 Legaic's end was such as might have been ex 
 pected from the consistent life which he had now 
 for some years led. In the course of the year 1869, 
 he had gone on a visit to the Naas river, and on his 
 return was taken seriously ill at Fort Simpson. 
 
iterate. 175 
 
 He immediately wrote the following short note to 
 Mr. Duncan : 
 
 "Dear Sir, I want to see you. I always re 
 member you in my mind. I shall be very sorry if 
 I shall not see you before I go away, because you 
 showed me the ladder that reaches to heaven, and 
 I am on that ladder now. I have nothing to 
 trouble me, I only want to see you." 
 
 To his great sorrow, Mr. Duncan was quite 
 unable to obey the summons thus sent to him. The 
 entire management of the settlement in all its 
 departments of work, and the care of several other 
 cases of serious sickness, made it impossible for 
 him to leave just at that time. He was obliged, 
 therefore, in answer to this, and a second and third 
 summons which followed in quick succession by 
 separate messengers, to content himself with send 
 ing messages of love and counsel to the sick chief. 
 
 When, a few days later, the tidings of his death 
 were brought to Metlahkatlah, there came with 
 them the following unfinished letter : 
 
 " My dear Sir, This is my last letter to say I 
 am very happy. I am going to rest from trouble, 
 trial, and temptation. I do not feel afraid to meet 
 my God. In my painful body I always remember 
 the words of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
176 Stranger tijan 
 
 Those who had been with him during his illness 
 said that the one special subject of thankfulness 
 to which he was continually referring was, that God 
 had held back his hand from hurting Mr. Duncan 
 at a time when he had determined to take his life. 
 
 Such was the end of this once " haughty, fierce, 
 savage murderer and sorcerer." In no age or 
 country probably has Mission work had any more 
 striking instance to point to of the power of redeem 
 ing love and grace. 
 
 Contrasting the closing scenes of his life with 
 those in which he first appears in our narrative 
 now as a reckless murderer, and again as the leader 
 of the savage band of medicine-men who threatened 
 Mr. Duncan's life remembering him as one who 
 boasted of the number of lives which had been 
 sacrificed to gratify his fierce passions the very 
 posts of whose house had been planted each upon 
 the bleeding body of a slave slaughtered for the 
 occasion ; and then calling to mind the circum 
 stances of his after-history the entire surrender 
 of all that an Indian holds most dear ; his resolute 
 battling with the powers of evil ; his steady per 
 severance for several years, and the earnestness 
 with which, during all that time, he sought to bring 
 home to others the saving knowledge of the truth 
 
iterate. 177 
 
 by which he had himself been made free, we cannot 
 resist the conviction, that such a history as this 
 affords not only the most unanswerable argument 
 in favour of Mission work in general, but the most 
 distinct refutation of the idea which now-a-days we 
 too often hear put forward, that in the case of those 
 who have already grown old in the ways of sin, the 
 Gospel is not "powerful to the pulling down of 
 strongholds," and that it is with the young only that 
 it can be expected to have its full power. 
 
 The case of Paul Legaic was, be it remembered, 
 no exceptional one, though rendered somewhat 
 more remarkable by his former rank. His history 
 is only one out of a very large number of a similar 
 kind which the experience of this Mission would 
 furnish. 
 
 It is to this fact, indeed, that Legaic's history 
 owes its importance. From any point of view it 
 would be one of considerable interest, but regarded 
 as an illustration of the effects actually produced 
 under particular circumstances by Missionary 
 labour, it affords a singularly valuable lesson a 
 lesson at once of warning and encouragement : of 
 warning, not for a moment to allow the idea that 
 the case of any is hopeless ; and of encouragement 
 in the persistent reiteration of the Story of the 
 
 N 
 
1 78 J^trangtr tijan fiction. 
 
 Cross in the hearing even of the most apparently 
 hardened. That, humanly speaking, a great part 
 of Mr. Duncan's success, especially at first, was due 
 to the persistency with which he went to those who 
 would not come to him, and to his resolute deter 
 mination to declare to all, " whether they would 
 hear or whether they would forbear," the counsel 
 and will of God regarding them, there can be no 
 doubt. 
 
 When the Word of God is not " glorified " in the 
 manifestation of its power, may it not sometimes 
 be because it has not thus " free course " ? 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THREE YEARS' WORK. 
 
 JE now must return and take up our 
 narrative at the point at which the 
 name of Paul Legaic tempted us to 
 anticipate it. At the close of the year 
 1863, arrangements were again made for the bap 
 tism of a considerable number of converts. The 
 officiating clergyman this time was the Rev. R. 
 Dundas, one of the clergy of the " British Columbia 
 Mission." His own account of his visit will best 
 indicate the state of the mission at this time : 
 
 "Sunday, Oct. i$th, 1863. It was a pretty sight 
 to see the whole population, old and young, at the 
 sound of the bell, thronging to worship God. No 
 need to lock doors, for there is no one to enter the 
 empty houses. Every soul is assembled in the one 
 place, and for one purpose. As they entered, the 
 men took the right and the women the left hand of 
 the great circular hall. I was surprised to learn 
 
 N 2 
 
i8o Stranger tfyan dTtctton. 
 
 from Mr. Duncan afterwards that he had never 
 bidden them to do this ; they seemed to have 
 adopted the arrangement instinctively. Service 
 began with a hymn in Tsimsheean. He led with 
 
 o * 
 
 his concertina. The air was very plaintive and 
 beautiful sung by some 200 voices,, men, women, 
 and children it thrilled through me. Then fol 
 lowed Prayers in Tsimsheean, at the close of which 
 all joined in the Lord's Prayer in English. Then 
 followed a chant ; one of the Psalms he had trans 
 lated and taught them, to a fine old Gregorian. 
 His address, or sermon, of nearly an hour, was upon 
 the story of Martha and Mary. His manner and 
 gesticulation were animated and striking, very 
 much after their own style. Their attention never 
 seemed to flag throughout. He asked me to 
 address them, which I did, shortly, upon their 
 present light as compared with their past darkness, 
 and the difficulties they must expect in their new 
 cause of Christian discipleship. Mr. Duncan inter 
 preted for me. Before separating, they sang again 
 in Tsimsheean a sort of sacred air, which seemed 
 familiar to me, and was exquisitely beautiful. I 
 found afterwards it was the anthem, ' I will arise, 
 and go to my Father,' somewhat altered, and made 
 more Indian in its character. It suited their voices 
 
l)m Stars' OTork. 181 
 
 admirably. I closed with a short prayer in Eng 
 lish, and pronounced the Benediction. 
 
 " The service was most striking. It was hard to 
 realize that three years ago these had all been sunk 
 in the deepest heathenism, with all its horrible 
 practices. What hours, what whole nights of 
 wrestling in prayer, have been spent by this single- 
 minded faithful servant of God, in humble suppli 
 cation that he might ' see of the travail of his soul/ 
 and how has he been answered ! There is nothing 
 too hard for the Lord. Service over, Messrs. Dun 
 can and Verney joined me in partaking of the Holy 
 Communion. After the Bishop's next visit there 
 will be, I hope, Indians ready to communicate 
 whenever opportunity is offered. 
 
 " Tuesday, Oct. zyth. I went on shore in the 
 afternoon, to take up my quarters with Mr. Duncan. 
 About four o'clock the bell was rung, and the 
 whole village assembled at the schoolhouse, when 
 Mr. Duncan told them that on the following Sun 
 day, those who desired it, and also on examination 
 approved themselves, would be admitted to Holy 
 Baptism. Candidates were to assemble that 
 evening at seven, to give in their names. In his 
 address to them he was very pointed and stringent 
 fencing in, as he afterwards told me, the door of 
 
1 82 Stranger tf)an dftctum. 
 
 admission. He told them the strict, uncompro 
 mising requirements in chose who thus sought to 
 join themselves to Christ and His service. Better 
 that they should postpone so solemn and awful a 
 step than come to it unprepared. At the hour 
 appointed the candidates were assembled. Fifty- 
 five gave in their names. Several were absent who 
 would have come forward had they been there ; 
 but, as my coming was not anticipated, at least 150 
 to 200 were away for their last hunting and fishing 
 excursions before the winter, and would not be back 
 for some weeks. 
 
 "Saturday, Oct. $\st. I was hard at work with 
 candidates the whole day, from 9 a.m. till n p.m. 
 Out of fifty-five who offered I accepted thirty- 
 eight ; twenty-one males and seventeen females. 
 I was strongly impressed with the real earnestness 
 and devotion of those who came forward, and with 
 their acquaintance with the simple, saving truths of 
 the Gospel message. 
 
 " A few answers may interest you. 
 
 " Comkahgwum, aged about twenty-five, a fine 
 young man to the inquiry, what led him first to 
 think of Christ said, ' It was the winter before last. 
 The new school was built at Fort Simpson. Mr. 
 Duncan asked all the Indians one Sunday to come 
 
CJjm fears' Morfc. 183 
 
 to church. I had never been. I went then. He 
 told us of our evil ways, and of God who loved 
 us. It was good to my heart ; I was deep in the 
 ground then ; but now, when I heard this, I wanted 
 to be free, and to love God : that was the first time 
 I thought of Him.' 
 
 " In answer to the inquiry about God's view of 
 sin, and His feeling towards sinners, he said, ' God's 
 heart is against sin, He is angry with it. But He 
 pitied us. It was all for Jesus' sake.' (What did 
 Jesus Christ do for us ?) 'Jesus came down from 
 His Father to die for our sins on the Cross.' (Is He 
 dead still ?) ' Oh, no ! He rose up from death. He 
 is in heaven now. He is working for us there. He 
 is sprinkling us with His blood to make us clean.' 
 (What must we leave and do to be Christians ?) * We 
 must leave our sinful ways ; we must have new 
 hearts ; our old hearts are bad. We must believe 
 in our Lord.' (Who will help you ?) 'Jesus sends 
 down His Holy Spirit to strengthen our hearts : we 
 must keep praying for His good Spirit.' (Do you 
 pray for it ?) ' I am always working in prayer for 
 God to pity me.' (If you are tempted, what will 
 you do ?) * I will fight my sins. God will help me 
 to fight.' This poor man has been a murderer in 
 his heathen state. Three years ago he was pro- 
 
184 ^traugtr tijan tfittion. 
 
 voked by another of the tribe, and wronged in the 
 same way. He watched him out of the village at 
 Fort Simpson, and then shot him dead. It weighs 
 much upon his mind now. 
 
 " Here are some answers of an elderly woman : 
 ' I want to take hold of the hand of God. He is 
 willing to pity me ; our sins killed Jesus ; but His 
 blood saves us. I must leave all my sins, for Jesus 
 suffered for them. We shall stand before God ; we 
 must see God's righteousness. He will give His 
 hand to the good, but He will put the wicked away 
 from Him.' This woman, who cannot be less than 
 fifty, has had no instruction from Mr. Duncan, save 
 what she has heard in church. It has come chiefly 
 from her own daughter of fifteen, who is one of the 
 Mission-house inmates, and has been with Mr. 
 Duncan for four years, his best and most promising 
 young convert. She has been baptized by the 
 Bishop, and has now been the instructress of her 
 parents, both of whom will be baptized by me 
 to-morrow. 
 
 " From two or three elderly men I got of course 
 answers less full. It is hard for them to remember 
 truths so as to give definite answers in words. 
 They feel and know more than they can explain. 
 In a few cases Mr. Duncan said, if I would allow 
 
I)m liars' OTorit. 185 
 
 him,he would not put any questions to them formally, 
 but would leave them to tell in their own way why 
 they sought for baptism. And very touching it was 
 even to listen to them, though I could not under 
 stand them. One, with tears streaming down, said 
 he was very old, and must soon die ; but he wanted 
 to be at peace with God. He knew his ways had 
 been bad all his life ; but he had had no light ; and 
 now he wanted to belong to Jesus, for he knew Jesus 
 loved him and died for him. Of course I could not 
 hesitate in such a case, and gladly accepted him. 
 Some I rejected, because, being capable of instruc 
 tion, they hardly came up to the standard required, 
 and it was better that they should be more fully 
 taught as catechumens before admission. A few 
 who satisfied me in their knowledge I rejected, 
 because their character for steadiness and goodness 
 was not satisfactory ; and one young woman, of 
 about eighteen, I refused to examine at all. She 
 was guilty of a gross act of dishonesty last summer, 
 and then left the settlement and returned to the 
 heathen at Fort Simpson. A few weeks ago she 
 came back ; but Mr. Duncan was hardly aware of 
 her return till last week. She received a severe 
 reprimand for coming forward at all (her name was 
 not in our first list), and an intimation from him 
 
1 86 Stranger tijan dftctton. 
 
 that her offence had yet to be taken notice of. The 
 choosing of names and other preliminaries of the 
 arrangements for to-morrow occupied us for nearly 
 two hours. In the case of those who had relatives 
 already baptized mothers, or sisters, or parents, 
 or children the same family name was kept. One 
 young lad of sixteen, whose answering had much 
 pleased ,me, was called Robert Dundas. Lieut. 
 Verney was allowed to name two candidates after 
 himself and his brother. Two very pleasing young 
 women, of not more than sixteen, I was anxious to 
 name after my sisters, but I found that they had 
 already borne English names, being in Mr. Duncan's 
 class (first) in the school, and as they were known 
 by these he did not wish them .altered. 
 
 " Sunday, Nov. ij/.All Saints' Day. To-day I 
 was privileged to perform the most interesting scene 
 I have ever taken part in since I left England. 
 Fifty-two souls have been baptized with water and 
 the Spirit, and added to the Church of Christ, most 
 of whom were walking a few years ago in the dark 
 ness that might be felt of degraded heathenism. 
 
 "After service on board, Lieut. Verney accom 
 panied me on shore. The Baptismal Service was 
 arranged to take place at two, for adults, of whom 
 there were thirty-nine. A second service was fixed 
 for the infants of some of the Christians, thirteen in 
 
Cljm gears' Morfe. 187 
 
 number, at five o'clock. A large number of the 
 sailors from the gunboat were present, and seemed 
 greatly interested in the solemn rite. A small table 
 was arranged on a low platform at one side of the 
 great circular Mission-house. On it were placed 
 four silver dishes containing water, which Lieut. 
 Verney lent for the occasion ; they were the best 
 substitute we could obtain for a font. I wore my 
 surplice, stole, and hood. The service of course had 
 to be gone through twice : after each prayer and 
 exhortation, in the adult form, had been offered or 
 spoken by me in English, Mr. Duncan repeated it in 
 Tsimsheean. The candidates were arranged in rows 
 the men behind, the women in front. On either 
 side of them, all round the hall, were the rest of the 
 congregation, Indians and sailors. At the proper 
 point in the service, one by one, the candidates 
 stepped forward in front of the assembled congre 
 gation. Mr. Duncan called up each by his heathen 
 name. In answer to my request, ' Name this per 
 son/ he gave the new Christian name, and by it I 
 baptized him. As I held the hand of each, while 
 receiving him or her into the Church of Christ, and 
 signing him with the sign of the Cross, I could often 
 feel that they trembled with deep emotion. On 
 returning one by one to their places, each knelt 
 down in silent prayer. The Baptism being ended, 
 
1 88 ^trangtr t!)an dfictton. 
 
 I offered up the two concluding prayers, all joining 
 in the Lord's Prayer in English. I then addressed 
 the newly-baptized. 
 
 "Friday, Nov. 6th. Up anchor, and started at 
 seven. Mr. Duncan came off in his canoe to say 
 good-bye. The Indians ran the British ensign up 
 as we passed the flag-staff, which Lieut. Verney 
 acknowledged by hoisting all his colours red, 
 white, and blue at main, fore, and mizen. And so 
 I bid good-bye to this most interesting place. It 
 takes its position now as one of the civilized towns 
 or villages of British Columbia. But it is more than 
 that : it is the enduring witness of the faith and 
 patience and love of one unaided Christian teacher, 
 whose sole reward (the only one he has ever 
 coveted) is the souls he has been the honoured in 
 strument of bringing from darkness to light. ' I 
 have seen Missions in various parts of the world 
 before now' (said Lieut. Verney to me), ' but no 
 where one that has so impressed me with the reality 
 of what has been accomplished.'" 
 
 The history of the next two years (1864-66) is 
 one of uninterrupted progress, both in spiritual and 
 secular matters. Six months after Mr. Dundas's 
 visit, Mr. Duncan writes : 
 
liars' Mork. 189 
 
 " A great number are now preparing for baptism, 
 and I hope that very soon the whole settlement will 
 be Christian. A II the baptized have been and are 
 greatly tried. Many we can rejoice over exceedingly, 
 but some few have fallen, and have been excom 
 municated ; but, with one exception, all such have 
 bitterly repented, and are struggling to. regain their 
 footing." 
 
 The Sunday services continued to be attended by 
 congregations varying from 300 to 400. On Sunday 
 evenings a meeting was also held, at which, after 
 singing and prayer, one or two of the young men 
 exhorted the others, making the addresses given by 
 Mr. Duncan in the earlier part of the day the 
 basis of their remarks. About 100 usually attended 
 on these occasions. 
 
 But perhaps one of the most encouraging signs of 
 the reality of the work which was going on was the 
 conduct of many of the converts when absent from 
 the settlement. Mr. Duncan writes : 
 
 " Nor is it only in our own settlement that good 
 is being done. Wherever these Indians go they 
 carry their religion with them, always assembling 
 themselves together for worship on the Sunday, and 
 getting as many of the heathen to join them as pos 
 sible. An Indian of Fort Simpson, who has received 
 
190 Stranger tljan dfutton. 
 
 a. good deal of instruction from- me (though he is 
 not a resident at our new village), came here a few 
 days ago, bringing seven young men with him from 
 one of the highest villages up the Naas river, over 
 100 miles from here. He brought them that they 
 might witness for themselves the things of which 
 they had heard him speak. He has been residing 
 at this village as a fur-trader, but he has also dili 
 gently employed his talents for God, setting forth 
 the Gospel where it had never been preached before, 
 and has met with great encouragement and apparent 
 success. I had the whole party at my house last 
 Wednesday evening, when I endeavoured very 
 solemnly to impress upon their minds and hearts 
 the first principles of the Gospel of Christ. Though 
 intending to return home on the following day, they 
 decided to remain over the Sunday, that they might 
 receive further instruction to carry back with them 
 to their waiting and thirsty tribe. 
 
 " They were anxious to carry in their hands a 
 portion of God's Word, so I wrote out for each, on 
 a piece of paper, 'This is a faithful saying, and 
 worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came 
 into the world to save sinners.' I also gave the 
 Indian trader and teacher some further instruc 
 tions, and pointed him out portions of Scripture 
 
Cljrn |) ears' Morit. 191 
 
 suited to him and his flock. Before he arrived here 
 he wrote me a very encouraging letter, for I have 
 taught him to read and write." 
 
 Amongst the natives who still remained at Fort 
 Simpson the influence of the Metlahkatlah Indians 
 was also constantly exerted for good. From time 
 to time a "deputation" of Christian Indians made 
 special visits to the Fort "for the purpose of 
 arousing their slumbering brethren there." The 
 result was, as far as it went, entirely satisfactory. 
 "The heathen there put away their own absorbing 
 and heathenish work, and attended the meetings 
 the Christians held, and listened with great reve 
 rence and attention." 
 
 Early in 1864 Mr. Duncan w r as again cheered by 
 the arrival of a fellow-labourer sent out by the 
 Church Missionary Society the Rev. R. A. Doolan, 
 of Caius College, Cambridge. 
 
 It was at once arranged that Mr. Doolan should 
 take up a distinct work amongst the Indians of the 
 Naas river, to which district, accompanied by a 
 native catechist, Samuel Marsden, he accordingly 
 proceeded. 
 
 Thus was the first distinct offshoot from Mr. 
 Duncan's work happily planted. Of the results of 
 this venture we cannot here speak at length ; and it 
 
192 Stranger tf)an tfittitm. 
 
 must suffice to say that, aided by several Christian 
 Indians from Metlahkatlah, Mr. Doolan was soon 
 able to establish a flourishing Mission-station, which 
 is still (1871) doing a most important work. 
 
 Of the progress made at Metlahkatlah in special 
 departments of work, such as training native cate- 
 chists, educating the elder girls, and the organization 
 of the various secular affairs of the settlement, we 
 shall hope to give a detailed account in future 
 chapters. By dealing with these subjects sepa 
 rately, we shall be able to give our readers a 
 clearer view of the methods adopted in each case, 
 and of the measure of success which attended 
 them. 
 
 With regard to the outward appearance of the 
 settlement at the period at which our narrative has 
 arrived (1866) we may make one or two quotations 
 from the letters of those who visited it about this 
 time. The Bishop of Columbia writes : 
 
 "Great improvements have taken place since my 
 visit in 1863. A neat row of houses faces the 
 beach. At one end is the bastion with flagstaff, the 
 Mission-house, and a large school chapel. From 
 that end another street of houses extends at right 
 angles to the former, facing another very pretty 
 bay. Groups of well-dressed Indians were waiting 
 
Morft. 193 
 
 to receive us. With many of the men I shook 
 hands, having baptized most of them. The great 
 octagon was well rilled. It was a thankful sight to 
 behold the clean, neat, and orderly flock gathered 
 with a devotional object to the Christian house of 
 prayer. In a front row were ten young girls, all 
 with English Bibles in their hands, as modest and 
 devout as could be seen in any village church of Old 
 England. I was glad to see many children, and 
 never have I seen better behaved ones any where. 
 The first hymn was in English, 'How sweet the 
 name of Jesus sounds !' I then said some prayers, 
 and Mr. Duncan said the Litany in Tsimsheean, 
 after which a hymn in that language was sung ; I 
 then gave an address. It was pleasing to hear the 
 fervent Amens, both in English and Tsimsheean 
 prayers, and also the responses to the Litany 
 universally made. We afterwards walked round 
 the village, and admired the gardens which are 
 attached to each house." 
 
 During the same year (1866) a Roman Catholic 
 gentleman, who had spent some months in visiting 
 the northern parts of British Columbia, wrote to 
 the Nanaimo Tribune an interesting account of 
 the impression made upon him by a visit to Met- 
 lahkatlah : 
 
 O 
 
194 Stranger tfjan tfictitm. 
 
 " Though not," he says, " of the same denomina 
 tion as Mr. Duncan, and having no interest to 
 subserve by my advocacy of his great claims to the 
 respect and gratitude of all true Christians for his 
 meritorious services in the good cause, it is with feel 
 ings of the utmost pleasure that I bear testimony to 
 the great good effected by this worthy man during 
 his period of self-exile at Metlahkatlah. Some time 
 ago reports were industriously circulated that his 
 influence over the aborigines was rapidly on the 
 wane, and that he used every means to prevent his 
 people from trading with the vessels calling at the 
 Mission. With regard to the first assertion, it is 
 simply ridiculous. The confidence reposed in Mr. 
 Duncan by his dusky flock has never for a moment 
 been shaken, in fact is daily on the increase, as the 
 many additions to the population from outside 
 sources will attest, as well as the alacrity with 
 which he is obeyed in every command having for 
 its object the good of the community. A notable 
 instance of the latter I witnessed in the ready 
 manner in which they turned out to do their quota 
 of statute labour on the streets, or paid its equivalent 
 in blankets, &c. : no coercion, all was voluntary, 
 for they see the benefit in front of their own doors. 
 Their hearts seem to be centred in their little 
 
gears' Wiork. 195 
 
 town, and you can inflict no greater punishment 
 on them than to exile them from it and its 
 founder. 
 
 "In regard to the allegation about the prohibition 
 to trading, I have only to remark that it is as 
 groundless as the other. I myself was on a trading 
 voyage, and stopped ten days at Metlahkatlah, and 
 had every facility afforded me by Mr. Duncan in 
 trafficking with the natives. The reason is obvious 
 enough : our trade was not in whiskey. That 
 branch of trade is certainly discouraged at the 
 Mission, hence the outcry about 'interfering with 
 commerce/ .... 
 
 " A word or two now about Metlahkatlah and its 
 beautiful environs, all blooming with the blossoms 
 of that useful esculent the potato, some twenty 
 acres of which were under cultivation and looking 
 splendid. The town is triangular in shape ; the 
 Mission-buildings being located on a bold promon 
 tory forming the apex. The view from the 
 southern entrance of the harbour, looking town- 
 ward, is extremely pretty. The church, of octa 
 gonal form, having a handsome portico and belfry, 
 and surmounted with the emblem of Christianity 
 and peace, occupies a prominent position in the 
 foreground ; adjacent to this are the parsonage, 
 O 4 
 
196 Stranger t!)an 
 
 store, and saw-pits, the latter supplying lumber of 
 good quality, the product of native labour, at the 
 rate of fifteen dollars per 1000. The houses, 
 numbering about fifty, are nearly all of a uniform 
 size 1 6 by 24 feet good frame, weatherboarded 
 and shingled, glazed windows, and having neat 
 little gardens in front ; the whole forming two 
 handsome esplanades, one fronting the outer and 
 the other the inner harbour. 
 
 "The interior of the houses did not belie the 
 promise held out by the exterior. Every thing was 
 neat and scrupulously clean. The inmates were as 
 well supplied with the requisites to make life com 
 fortable as any of our labouring class here. 
 Cooking-stoves and clocks were common to every 
 dwelling, and, in a few instances, pictures adorn the 
 walls of the more luxuriously inclined. 
 
 " The sight at church on Sabbath morning was 
 pleasant to behold. The congregation numbered 
 about 300, the females preponderating, the major 
 portion of the males being at that time out fishing. 
 They were all well clad the women in their cloth 
 mantles and merino dresses, and their heads gaily 
 decked with the graceful bandanna ; the men in 
 substantial tweeds and broadcloth suits, and having 
 the impress of good health and contentment on 
 
197 
 
 their intelligent features. Their conduct during 
 divine service was strictly exemplary, and would 
 have done credit to many a more pretentious edifice 
 than that at Metlahkatlah. 
 
 "As a whole, Mr. Duncan's people are industrious 
 and sober ; they are courteous and hospitable to 
 strangers, and, if properly protected by the Govern 
 ment against the poison-venders of this land, will 
 in time become a numerous and wealthy people." 
 
 At the risk of its involving some little repetition, 
 we must make one more quotation. It is from an 
 account, published in the Columbia newspapers, of 
 a " Prospecting Tour on the North-west Coast of 
 British Columbia," conducted by a Scotch gentle 
 man, Mr. McKenzie : 
 
 " On reaching the Metlahkatlah settlement, on the 
 coast, about seventeen miles from Fort Simpson, 
 the party were astonished to witness all the 
 external and internal evidences of civilization. 
 There are about 600 natives residing in the settle 
 ment, and they live in comfortable wooden houses, 
 built in modern style, and with glass windows. 
 The interior of each dwelling is divided into sepa 
 rate apartments, and what little furniture they 
 contain is kept in good order, and clean. There is 
 a garden attached to each house, which the owner 
 
198 Stranger tljan tfiction. 
 
 cultivates, and in them all Mr. McKenzie saw ex 
 cellent growing crops of potatoes and turnips. 
 
 "The people, both male and female, are all 
 comfortably clad, the result of their own industry 
 and provident habits. 
 
 " The village contains a church, part of which is 
 used as a school during the week. Mr. McKenzie 
 attended divine service on Sunday, and was amazed 
 at the sight of the large congregation of native 
 converts assembled. Their deportment and solem 
 nity during the service he declares could not be 
 excelled by any Christian congregation which he 
 had ever previously united with in worship. Mr. 
 Duncan read the Church Service, and afterwards 
 preached in the Indian language. It was evident 
 to Mr. McKenzie and his companions that the 
 natives took a deep and intelligent interest in the 
 services from beginning to end. The apathy and 
 listlessness which is observable in the countenance 
 of an untutored Indian has entirely departed from 
 the Metlahkatlahs. Most of their faces are remark 
 able for an animated appearance and intelligent 
 expression. 
 
 " Mr. Duncan teaches school during the week, 
 and instructs the natives how to use the appliances 
 of modern civilization in cultivating their gardens, 
 
i)m liars' OTorfc. 199 
 
 building their houses, and sawing timber, as well as 
 many other useful arts. He also superintends the 
 villageistore, acts as magistrate, settles all disputes 
 that may arise, and, in fact, has his hands full in 
 performing the arduous labours which devolve 
 upon him, and which have resulted in such complete 
 success as scarcely to be believed, unless, as Mr. 
 McKenzie' states, it has been witnessed. 
 
 " The contrast between the Fort Simpson Indians, 
 among whom Mr. McKenzie resided last winter, 
 and the inhabitants of Metlahkatlah, is like that 
 between darkness and light : at Fort Simpson all is 
 gross ignorance,, barbarism, degradation, filth, and 
 evil: whilst at Metlahkatlah civilization, progress, 
 enlightenment, cleanliness, and Christianity are 
 every where observable. 
 
 " The Indians belonging to the settlement live by 
 fishing, hunting, and trading. The Mission store, 
 which Mr. Duncan superintends, supplies all their 
 wants, and at rates much cheaper than similar 
 goods can be procured from the traders who infest 
 the coast. The profits arising out of the store, Mr. 
 McKenzie is satisfied, goes to the benefit of the 
 Mission fund, Mr. Duncan having no personal 
 interest in it whatever. Natives have now the ex 
 clusive management of the missionary schooner 
 
200 Stranger tfyan ffittion. 
 
 ' Carolena/ and the other small vessels built at the 
 settlement. Several of the Indians act as constables, 
 and have performed their duty with much intelli 
 gence and strict integrity. So much confidence 
 has Mr. Duncan in them, that he would have no 
 hesitation in sending them to arrest their own near 
 relatives. Mr. Duncan has lately built a house for 
 himself, or whoever may take his place hereafter 
 as resident Missionary. He intends erecting ere 
 long a saw-mill, soap-factory, bakery, smithy, and 
 having the Indians trained to perform all the work 
 connected with those branches of manufacturing 
 industry. Mr. McKenzie bears willing testimony 
 to the amazing amount of substantial good done 
 by Mr. Duncan. The beneficial influence which he 
 exerts over the natives is not confined to those 
 under his charge alone. The improvement, which 
 he has been the zealous instrument of bringing 
 about, has become extensively known among the 
 wandering Arabs who inhabit the British posses 
 sions of the Pacific, and the tribes are now desirous 
 of being instructed by Missionaries. Mr. McKenzie, 
 in his travels up Naas and Skeena rivers, has heard 
 the Indians express the most fervent wishes to have 
 ' good men' labouring among them. Mr. McKen 
 zie in his narrative has only spoken of what he wit- 
 
Ci)m gears' OTorfc. 201 
 
 nessed himself, and he is not a bad witness to facts 
 coming under his own observation. He is an intelli 
 gent Scotchman, who has travelled a good deal, and, 
 like most of his countrymen, is not easily deceived, 
 being of 'an inquiring turn of mind.'" 
 
 In making such quotations as the above, our 
 main object has been to enable our readers to 
 realize the nature and extent of the visible results 
 which, up to the date at which our narrative has 
 arrived, had followed from Mr. Duncan's labours. 
 But an indirect object we have had in view has 
 been to give an illustration of the fallacy of the 
 popular idea that few, if any, branches of mission 
 work would stand the test of a close inspection by 
 unprejudiced observers. To use the words of 
 another writer who was brought into close personal 
 contact with Mr. Duncan and his work, Com 
 mander R. C. Mayne, " The labours of men of his 
 [Mr. Duncan's] class among the distant heathen 
 are undervalued by the world, which refuses to 
 credit the fact that savages, such as these coast 
 Indians undoubtedly are, can receive and retain 
 impressions so utterly at variance with their nature 
 and habits 1 ." There are few of us who do not 
 
 1 "Four Years in British Columbia," p. 337. 
 
202 Stranger t^an dfictum. 
 
 number amongst our friends or acquaintances some 
 who have taken this sceptical view of mission-work. 
 Only a few weeks since the writer heard a clergy 
 man at a largely-attended ruri-decanal meeting 
 say, " I confess I have for some years given up 
 doing any thing for missions, for I have so often 
 heard of their failure that I have lost all confidence 
 in them." If such opinions are held even by the 
 clergy and that they are held by at least a large 
 minority of them there is unhappily no room to 
 doubt how can we expect any hearty co-operation 
 from the laity? 
 
 Every one knows how extremely difficult it is to 
 answer these general assertions, or to remove such 
 vague and undefined impressions. The present 
 narrative of facts will, it is hoped, afford at least 
 one clear and distinct illustration of the injustice of 
 so sweeping a verdict. Would that any one could 
 answer the question, Why is it that more illustra 
 tions to the same effect are not forthcoming ? The 
 sceptical will assuredly say, Because any thing like 
 real results attending missionary labour are not the 
 rule, but the rare exception of the work. Those 
 who know that this is not the case can only admit 
 that, in not producing their witnesses, and thus 
 allowing judgment to go by default, our missionary 
 
gears' OTorfe. 203 
 
 societies do, as a matter of fact, justify the sceptic, 
 and give apparent ground for his unbelief. That in 
 a country ruled by the press, missionary societies, 
 expending nearly 3Oo,ooo/. a-year, should not from 
 year's end to year's end be able to find material for 
 any thing approaching a distinct history of their 
 work in any particular field of labour, may be 
 and, strange as it may seem, we know is con 
 sistent with those materials being in existence; but 
 that the public at large will suppose such to be the 
 case is perhaps more than we can reasonably ex 
 pect. If only our societies would spend in leavening 
 public opinion through the press a tithe of what 
 they now spend in " Deputations," whose voices, 
 save from the pulpit when few facts can be given 
 rarely, if ever, reach those whom it should be 
 their especial object to influence, a new era in the 
 history of missionary effort would, we believe, be 
 very speedily inaugurated. But so long as those 
 who alone have the power to produce the requisite 
 testimony to the results of the national expenditure 
 on Missions refrain from doing so, so long will the 
 great body of the English laity remain more or less 
 sceptical as to the real value and importance of 
 what is being done. 
 
 We do not by any means undervalue the useful- 
 
204 Stranger tf)an dTutton. 
 
 ness of such publications as our societies already 
 produce. They doubtless have at least a conserva 
 tive influence ; but their aggressive power upon the 
 general scepticism of the day is absolutely nil, and 
 that from the simple fact that they are not, and 
 perhaps from their nature cannot be, adapted to 
 the reading of any one but those possessed of a 
 considerable amount of previous information on the 
 subject of which they treat. What we want are 
 books prepared by those whose names will carry 
 weight, and of sufficient pretensions to secure the 
 attention of educated men, and of the secular press. 
 If our societies persist in hiding their light under a 
 bushel, they have no reason to complain if the 
 public do not recognize the good work which they 
 are doing. Let them once place it on a candle 
 stick, and we have no doubt that the public will 
 quickly recognize and take a more active interest 
 in the efforts which they are so perseveringly 
 making. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 LAW AND POLICE. 
 
 |NE of the first things which generally 
 attracted the notice of a visitor to Met- 
 lahkatlah was the regularly organized 
 body of constables. They were twenty 
 in number, and " as fine a set of young men as you 
 would wish to see the very pick of the Christians." 
 Their uniform was a dark blue surtout with brass 
 buttons and gold-twist epaulettes, a scarlet stripe 
 on each leg, a white belt, and band round the 
 cap. 
 
 These men, with the council of twelve and the 
 chief, Legaic, constituted the executive, over which 
 Mr. Duncan presided. 
 
 Great care being taken in the selection of the 
 
 constables, admission into the force was regarded 
 
 as the greatest distinction which could be conferred 
 
 upon the younger members of the community. 
 
 The kind of discipline which was kept up, and 
 
206 Stranger tfyan ^fiction. 
 
 the influence of public opinion amongst them, is 
 well illustrated by the following incident, mentioned 
 in a letter written in 1865 : 
 
 "The constables, as a body, are very true and 
 faithful. Last winter they were severely tested. 
 One of their own body, and a very influential one 
 too, having gone wrong, was brought before us, and 
 that by his very bosom friend ; and we had to sit 
 over his case till after midnight to reclaim him. I 
 punished him by fining him five blankets, and 
 should have kept him in custody unless he had 
 confessed his error and begged pardon. If you had 
 heard the kind and powerfully melting language 
 which, one after another, his brother constables 
 poured upon him to convince and subdue him, you 
 would have rejoiced, I am sure. It was really 
 wonderful. They triumphed, and with tears the 
 prodigal returned. But part of the sentence was, 
 that he was to leave the settlement for a short time, 
 as I could not allow him to be seen in our midst. 
 The day after a deputation of constables waited 
 upon me, to beg for this part of the sentence to be 
 cancelled. They came direct from a meeting to 
 which he had been called, and after hearing his 
 sorrowful words and good resolutions, they pro 
 mised to use their influence to obtain permission to 
 remain at the settlement, but not to go from his 
 
antf police. 207 
 
 own house for some time, or until I gave him leave. 
 Having pleaded so well and so earnestly for him, I 
 consented to their proposal. 
 
 " About three weeks after this he came to me, in 
 company with his accuser his bosom friend say 
 ing that he wished to see my face and speak before 
 all the Christians that night. So after the adult 
 school was over I ordered all to leave the room who 
 were not Christians. This was done, and the peni 
 tent then came in and made a very affecting speech 
 indeed. It was very wonderful to see and hear him, 
 a naturally proud and a very influential man, from 
 his eloquence and general character. He bitterly 
 deplored his sin, praised God for His mercy, thanked 
 me and all his friends for the trouble we had taken 
 with him, expressed his sorrow and shame that he 
 had given us pain, and disgraced the name of 
 Christian, and resolved, in God's strength, to lead a 
 new life, and be more watchful. He then warned 
 all present against sin, begged them to watch and 
 pray, confessed he had found the hiding of God's 
 face more bitter than death ; and again and again 
 besought them to avoid all manner of sin, and the 
 first approach of it. 
 
 " The Christians then shook hands with him, and 
 some, I have no doubt, were in tears. Thus the 
 wanderer was restored." 
 
208 Stranger tijan dftcttotu 
 
 It might at first sight seem that in a peaceable 
 and well-ordered village there would scarcely be 
 found occupation for so large a " police force ;" but 
 it must be borne in mind that not only all dis 
 turbances, and even quarrels and disputes which 
 arose in the village itself, had to be settled at the 
 Mission-house, but that the Indians living in the 
 neighbourhood soon learnt to resort to it in every 
 case of any thing like a serious nature. The 
 amount of labour, patience, energy, and explana 
 tion which these duties involved, necessarily proved 
 a serious tax upon Mr. Duncan's time and strength. 
 At the same time he felt that the satisfaction of 
 seeing peace and quietness prevail not only in his 
 own village, but amongst the surrounding tribes, 
 was quite a sufficient compensation. 
 
 From an early period of his residence at Metlah- 
 katlah, Mr. Duncan had, at the request of the 
 Colonial Government, consented to act as a magis 
 trate : an office which, especially as he was the 
 only person acting in that capacity along several 
 hundred miles of coast, involved duties often of a 
 serious, and always of a very anxious character. 
 
 One or two illustrations will best serve to indi 
 cate the character of this part of his work. 
 
 Here, for instance, is an extract from a letter 
 
Hafo antf police. 209 
 
 written in October, 1865, to one of the officers of 
 the Colonial Government : 
 
 " For the last few months clouds of trouble have 
 been setting in thickly around us, and I am fully 
 expecting the coming winter will be one of unpre 
 cedented horrors. The Indian camps about us are 
 deluged with fire-water, and, of course, every kind 
 of madness is rife. 
 
 " It is just because our village makes a stand 
 against the universal tide of disorder that we are 
 being threatened on every side. 
 
 "In July last I apprised his Excellency the 
 Governor that we had in the spring seized a 
 quantity of liquor, which a party of Kitahmaht 
 Indians brought here for sale. 
 
 " In revenge for the loss of their liquor (I am 
 sorry to inform you) these Indians, in the summer, 
 stole a little boy belonging to this place, while he 
 was away with his parents at a fishery on the 
 Skeena river. And, horrible to write, the poor 
 little fellow was literally worried to death, being 
 torn to pieces by the mouths of a set of cannibals 
 at a great feast. 
 
 "This atrocious deed would have met with 
 summary vengeance from the relatives of the boy 
 had it happened a few years ago. In this case, 
 
 P 
 
210 JjHnutger tfjan tfictitm. 
 
 however, though highly exasperated, they would 
 not allow themselves to do any thing till they had 
 seen me. In order to prevent blood being shed at 
 random, I ordered them to wait till the arrival of 
 a ship of war, when I promised to refer the matter 
 to the captain, and hoped they would have justice 
 done them in a civilized way. 
 
 "Last week, however, an Indian (uncle to the 
 unfortunate boy, but not a Metlahkatlah man), 
 arrived here from Victoria, where he had been 
 living for the last two years and a half. On his 
 learning of the Kitahmaht atrocity, it seems he 
 secretly resolved to take the law in his own hands, 
 and, for that purpose, proceeded two or three days 
 ago to Fort Simpson, to where a party of Kitah 
 maht Indians had recently arrived. 
 
 " This morning, at two o'clock, I was awoke and 
 informed that a Kitahmaht Indian had fallen a 
 victim to this man's revenge, and that great excite 
 ment was occasioned at Fort Simpson. Nor is it 
 known who will be the next to fall, to feed the 
 stream of blood which has commenced to flow, but 
 every Indian around me is in fear for his life. 
 
 " I might enumerate several very serious matters 
 which have lately occurred around us, which are 
 loudly calling for justice. 
 
Hafo anfc police. 211 
 
 " I can only mention one more. The Rev. A. 
 Doolan, Missionary, stationed at Naas, on landing 
 at Fort Simpson, a few days ago, was set upon 
 by an infuriated and drunken Indian, who twice 
 attempted to fire at him. Both times his gun 
 missed fire, and before he could make a third 
 attempt the gun was secured and fired off in the 
 air. 
 
 " Mr. Moffatt, chief officer at Fort Simpson, writes 
 to me in great alarm. 
 
 " I do earnestly beg that a ship of war may visit 
 us this winter. If such is not the case, much blood 
 will be spilt, and no life or property will be safe." 
 
 On another occasion, two miners having been 
 murdered at Fort Simpson, the chief officer of the 
 Fort despatched a canoe for Mr. Duncan in the 
 middle of the night, asking him to go up and assist 
 in securing the murderers. When he arrived there, 
 two ships of war were already on the spot. After 
 a time the Indians gave up two out of the three 
 who were implicated. Their idea of justice was a 
 life for a life, and so nothing would induce them to 
 give up the third. The sequel of the story we 
 gather from two passages in the journal of the 
 Bishop of Columbia ; in the first he is describing 
 his approach to Metlahkatlah in 1863 in the same 
 P 2 
 
212 J^trangtr tjan dTtctton. 
 
 ship which had a few months before vainly en 
 deavoured to secure the surrender of the third 
 murderer : 
 
 " When the gun of the ship I was in sounded her 
 approach, we saw a canoe coming from the shore. 
 She was manned by ten Indians ; and as she came 
 nearer us we perceived that in the midst, as is the 
 custom in canoes, sat a white man, our earnest 
 catechist, Mr. Duncan. As the boat came nearer, 
 an Indian was observed sitting side by side with 
 him, not engaged in paddling the canoe. Who was 
 that ? He was a murderer. Six months before 
 the ' Devastation ' ship of war, in which I was, had 
 been in those waters, seeking the three Indian 
 murderers of two white men. The Indians gave 
 up two, but they would not give up the third. The 
 ship of war planted her guns against the village, 
 threatening it with annihilation ; but still they 
 would not give up the third murderer. As soon as 
 the ship of war was gone, the murderer came and 
 gave himself up to Mr. Duncan, saying, ' Whatever 
 you tell me to do I will do. If you say I am to 
 go on board the gun-ship when she comes again, I 
 will go.' For six months he had been there at 
 large, and when our gun sounded he might have 
 escaped, but he said, 'What am I to do ?' and the 
 
Eafo antt police. 213 
 
 answer was, ' You must come with me a prisoner.' 
 He was accordingly handed over to us a prisoner, 
 to be taken to New Westminster to be tried for his 
 life. The scene was touching when his wife and 
 children came to bid him farewell, and she earnestly 
 besought Mr. Duncan, the captain, and myself, to say 
 some one word which might give her a ray of hope. 
 Thus we see that what the ship of war with its guns 
 and threats could not do for civilization, for pro 
 tection of life, for justice, the simple character and 
 influence of one Missionary could accomplish for 
 all those important objects." 
 
 The second extract is from the Bishop's journal 
 in T866, when this same man was found amongst 
 the candidates presenting themselves at Metlah- 
 katlah for baptism. After alluding to the above 
 circumstances, he says, 
 
 " He was taken to New Westminster, and it was 
 found that he had been drawn into the murder 
 through fear ; he had protested against it, but when 
 one of the others had fired and killed one white 
 man, he was impelled by fear lest the others might 
 now turn upon him, and joined in killing the second, 
 but succeeded in preventing his companions pur 
 suing the third white man, who was in their power. 
 All these circumstances came out, and he was 
 
214 Stranger tf)an 
 
 pardoned. After his release he came to dwell at 
 Metlahkatlah, and now I have admitted him, a 
 sincere and humble believer in Christ, into the 
 Christian Church. When he entered the room to 
 be examined, he knelt down and offered a silent 
 prayer. 
 
 "While speaking of his sins he showed emotion, 
 and covered his face. Amongst other answers, 
 these are some of his words : ' I repent very much 
 of my past sins ; I remember my sins before Jesus.' 
 I asked why Christians were not afraid to die ; he 
 said, * Faith in God will make us not afraid to die.' 
 I baptized him Jeremiah ; he is about forty years 
 of age. His wife was not less satisfactory in the 
 testimony she gave of a true conversion to God, 
 and was added by baptism at the same time with 
 her husband to the fold of Christ." 
 
 A single illustration of the less important cases 
 continually brought before Mr. Duncan must suffice 
 to indicate the general character of this part of his 
 work. It is taken from an account by Dean Cridge, 
 given in the British Columbia reports of his exa 
 mination for baptism of a large number of Indians 
 at Metlahkatlah : 
 
 " CLAHS, aged 21. Her history is rather singular. 
 Her parents are natives of Nass, at which place she 
 
fcafo antf ^alict. 215 
 
 was herself brought up. Her little sister was shot 
 when she herself was a child, in revenge for an 
 insult received at a feast. Her father instantly shot 
 the murderer, and, as the latter was a chief, a feud 
 sprang up, till the balance of revenge should be 
 restored, which was arranged by the payment of 
 forty blankets, and the promising this daughter to 
 the chiefs son when he should grow up. When 
 the time arrived, Clahs refused, but to save her 
 father's life, which was thereupon threatened, she 
 went to live with a man she hated. When on her 
 way to the Skeena river, in company with this man 
 and her father, she found a pretext for being left at 
 Metlahkatlah, and laid the case before Mr. Duncan, 
 who, on the return of the man, had him brought 
 up, and bound him over in seventy blankets to keep 
 the peace (he having threatened the father's life) ; 
 she, by Mr. Duncan's advice, remained at Metlah 
 katlah. 
 
 " She showed a clear knowledge of the elemen 
 tary truths of the Gospel." [She had been for some 
 time under instruction by Mr. Doolan at the Nass 
 River Station.] 
 
 But perhaps the most serious source of anxiety 
 in connexion with this department of work arose 
 from the constant attempts of smuggling sloops to 
 
216 Stranger tf)an tfittion. 
 
 sell spirits to the Indians. On one occasion Mr. 
 Duncan, hearing of the presence of one of these 
 vessels in the neighbourhood, at once despatched a 
 warrant for the apprehension of the captain. In 
 this case, "the sad result," he writes, "was, that 
 the five Indians serving the warrant were fired upon 
 by the three white men on board the sloop, one 
 being killed on the spot, and other three severely 
 wounded. The sloop got away, and it was not till 
 the following day that the Indian unhurt returned 
 to the settlement, bringing his three wounded 
 companions in a canoe. 
 
 " Unfortunately at the time I had very few 
 people left in the village, so that we were unable to 
 follow the murderers while within a reasonable 
 distance of us. 
 
 "After I had done all, and the best, I could for 
 the wounded men, I determined to run down to 
 Victoria, it being unsafe, from the unsettled state 
 of the coast, to send the Indians alone. 
 
 " On the 25th August I started for Victoria in a 
 small boat, and on the 5th September, by seven a.m., 
 I was in Nanaimi, the nearest white settlement, 
 having been brought by a gracious God safely 
 through many perils on the sea, and perils by the 
 heathen. 
 
antr police. 217 
 
 " I need scarcely say that, as soon as possible, I 
 communicated the shocking tidings to the Governor 
 of each colony, to Admiral Denman, and to all our 
 friends. All deeply sympathized with us ; and 
 Governor Seymour, of British Columbia, lost not a 
 moment of time till all the needful despatches 
 were written, and forwarded to the two neighbour 
 ing Governments, Russian and American, and to 
 the Admiral of the station, calling upon all to 
 do their utmost to seize the murderers, and hand 
 them over to justice. The Governor also engaged 
 a doctor to visit the wounded men, and Admiral 
 Denman sent up H.M.S. 'Grappler/ with the 
 doctor and myself on board, to the settlement. 
 
 " I cannot express to you the anxiety I felt while 
 away, and how restless I was to return to the sick 
 men. But God was better to me than my fears. 
 We arrived on the 4th instant at Metlahkatlah, and, 
 to my great relief, I found the wounded men doing 
 well, and all the settlement going on prosperously. 
 I called a meeting of the village on the evening of 
 our arrival, to return thanks to Almighty God, that 
 He had remembered us in our affliction." 
 
 At the same time, even such events as these were 
 made to subserve the one object which Mr. Duncan 
 ever held so steadily in view, viz. the setting forth 
 
2i8 Stranger tijan tfittitm. 
 
 the manner in which the reception of Gospel 
 truth should influence men's conduct in every posi 
 tion and under the most varying circumstances in 
 life. 
 
 " In my addresses, both before going to Victoria 
 and since my return, I have been greatly helped in 
 opening to the Indians the passages and truths from 
 the Scripture which this late dispensation of Pro 
 vidence illustrated ; and I have been shown by 
 unmistakable signs that this severe chastisement, 
 with which it has pleased God to visit us, will be 
 productive of great good to us. 
 
 " It would take me too long to detail to you the 
 series of Indian laws of revenge and compensation 
 which this sad occurrence and its sequences have 
 revived, met, defeated, and dispersed for ever ; and 
 how the Christian laws on these matters have been 
 put forward in strong contrast approved, magni 
 fied, and made to triumph ; and how, for the -first 
 time, a calamity, which would have called forth 
 only savage fire and relentless fury in the Indian as 
 heathen, has only called forth patient endurance 
 and lawful retaliation in the Indian as Christian/ 7 
 
 It will be easily understood that the determined 
 and persistent opposition thus offered by Mr. Dun 
 can to the illicit traffic in spirits with the natives 
 
antt police. 219 
 
 gained for him for a time no little ill-will amongst 
 a large class of the trading community at Victoria. 
 But it is satisfactory to find that the wisdom and 
 justice of the course he adopted, and the good re 
 sults of his work amongst the natives, came at last 
 to be so generally admitted as to disarm opposi 
 tion, and in some cases even to secure for him the 
 support of those who had most bitterly opposed 
 him. One instance is mentioned by Dean Cridge, 
 of the captain of a trading-sloop, whom Mr. Dun 
 can had fined 400 dollars for unlawful trading, but 
 who afterwards became one of his most active 
 friends a result partly due to the impression 
 created by what he saw at Metlahkatlah, and partly 
 the fact of Mr. Duncan having afterwards obtained 
 restitution for him from the Indians at Fort Simp 
 son for injuries done to his vessel. 
 
 Thus acting in turns " as minister, schoolmaster, 
 physician, builder, arbitrator, magistrate, trader," 
 yielding to " no consideration of comfort, taste, 
 interest, reputation, or safety (in all which respects 
 he has been severely tried)," did Mr. Duncan labour 
 on year after year resolutely, sacrificing himself 
 and his own interests to the work which he had 
 undertaken, and refusing to decline or abandon any 
 undertaking which he believed to be, under the 
 
220 $trang*r tijan dftrtum. 
 
 providence of God, essential to its success. Who 
 that reads the story of what the strong will and 
 entire self-devotion of one man has effected will 
 deny that it is indeed " stranger than fiction " ? 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 GALA DAYS. 
 
 NTIL we have seen a community in 
 their holiday dress, and marked the 
 general character of their festivities, we 
 are hardly in a position to form a fair 
 opinion of the standard to which, in social and 
 religious matters, it has attained. Let us, then, 
 glance for a moment at the various festivities and 
 observances by which, from time to time, particular 
 days and occasions were observed at Metlahkatlah. 
 Of ordinary holidays the one most observed is 
 the Queen's birthday. We will choose for our de 
 scription an occasion on which one of H.M. ships, 
 the " Sparrowhawk," was anchored off the village, 
 as it doubtless served to give an additional falat to 
 the proceedings. 
 
 At an early hour a party from the ship landed, 
 to help in decorating the Mission-house and bastion 
 with a festoon of flags of various nations. The 
 
222 Stranger tfyan 
 
 day was delightful ; the sun shone bright, and all 
 the beautiful scenery of the islands, placid sea, and 
 distant mountains, contributed to the charm. 
 
 The proceedings of the day commenced in the 
 house of God, where seventeen children were bap 
 tized. " It was pleasing," writes the Bishop of 
 Columbia, who officiated, " to witness the devout 
 manner of the sponsors, and to hear their audible 
 responses. None any where could behave better, 
 or show more appreciation of this sacrament of the 
 Gospel." 
 
 A distribution of gifts then took place. First 
 came 140 children, as orderly and nicely dressed as 
 the children of the best village school in England. 
 After singing " God save the Queen," in English, 
 they were each presented with a biscuit. Next 
 came 120 elderly men and women, to whom a few 
 leaves of tobacco were an acceptable token of 
 friendly feeling ; the sick, too, were remembered ; 
 and last,, not least, the councilmen and constables. 
 
 Precisely at twelve o'clock a royal salute of 
 twenty-one guns boomed forth from the ship, to the 
 great satisfaction, and some astonishment of the 
 groups of Indians who, in their Sunday best, had 
 gathered to the village square, to join in the fes 
 tivities, which now commenced in earnest. Chil- 
 
223 
 
 dren playing at ball, and taking turns at a merry- 
 go-round ; young men competing at gymnastic 
 bars ; the eighteen policemen of the village, in regi 
 mentals, ready for review ; and the elders walking 
 about, comparing the old time and the new, made 
 up a scene which, for interest and enjoyment, could 
 not well be surpassed. 
 
 But the most exciting part of the programme 
 for the day was the regatta. The course was about 
 two miles, round an island. In the first race five 
 canoes, manned by forty-one young men in their 
 prime, were engaged. The canoes flew through 
 the waves, throwing the white foam on every side ; 
 and right gallantly were the efforts sustained until 
 the goal was reached. Three canoes, rowed by 
 women, also contended for a prize. 
 
 Next came foot-races, running in sacks, blind- 
 man's buff, and such like amusements. It so hap 
 pened that on this day a large body of Quoquolt 
 Indians came to Metlahkatlah. As they landed 
 from their fleet of Bella Pella canoes, the contrast 
 which they presented to the well-dressed and re 
 spectable Metlahkatlahs was very striking. They 
 were clothed in tattered blankets which scarcely 
 covered their nakedness. Their faces were painted 
 black and red, and their hair was matted and 
 
224 Stranger tfyan dfutum. 
 
 dishevelled. Not a little astonished at all they 
 saw around them, they eventually retired, as though 
 wishing to hide themselves from observation. Their 
 chief, a stately personage, alone remained as the 
 guest of Legaic. The evening was devoted to a 
 public meeting, and a magic-lantern entertain 
 ment. 
 
 At the meeting several of the officers from the 
 " Sparrowhawk " addressed the Indians. Some of 
 the chief men replied, Mr. Duncan acting as inter 
 preter on both sides. The time being short, the 
 speakers were limited to a few minutes each. Two 
 or three quotations will serve to give some idea of 
 the general line of the addresses and the highly 
 figurative language peculiar to Indian oratory : 
 
 ABRAHAM KEMSKAH. " Chiefs, I will say a 
 little. How were we to hear, when we were young, 
 what we now hear ? And being old, and long fixed 
 in sin, how are we to obey ? We are like the canoe 
 going against the tide which is too strong for it : 
 we struggle, but, in spite of our efforts, we are car 
 ried out to sea. Again, we are like a youth watch 
 ing a skilled artisan at work : he strives to imitate 
 his work, but fails : so we ; we try to follow God's 
 way, but how far we fall short ! Still we are en 
 couraged to persevere. We feel we are nearing the 
 
225 
 
 shore ; we are coining nearer the hand of God, near 
 peace. We must look neither to the right nor left, 
 but look straight on and persevere." 
 
 PETER SIMPSON (Thrak-shah-kawn once a sor 
 cerer). "Chiefs, I will speak. As my brothers 
 before have entreated, so do ye. Why have you 
 left your country and come to us ? One thing has 
 brought you here : one thing was the cause. To 
 teach us the way of God, and help us to walk in it. 
 Our forefathers were wicked and dark ; they taught 
 us evil, they taught us ahlied (sorcery). My eyes 
 have swollen. Three nights I have not slept ; I 
 have crept to the corner of my house to cry, re 
 flecting on God's pity to us in sending you at this 
 time. You are not acting from your own hearts : 
 God has sent you. I am happy to see so many of 
 my brothers and sisters newly born to God. God 
 has spoken to us : ' let us hear.' " 
 
 RICHARD WILSON. " Chiefs, as we have now 
 heard, so do ye. Indeed, father" (addressing Mr. 
 Duncan), " we are sinners before you ; we often 
 make your voice bad in calling us ; we must perse 
 vere, we must try, though we are bad ; we are like 
 the wedge used in splitting the trees ; we are 
 making the way for our children : they will be 
 better than we are. The sun does not come out in 
 
 Q 
 
226 Stranger t!)an 
 
 full strength in early morn ; the grey light at first 
 spreads itself over the earth ; as it rises the light 
 increases, and, by-and-by, is the mid-day sun. We 
 shall die before we have reached much, but we shall 
 die expecting our children to pass on beyond us, 
 and reach the wished-for goal." 
 
 DANIEL BAXTER (Neeash-ah-pootk)." Chiefs, I 
 am foolish, I am bad, bad in your sight. What can 
 our hearts say ? What shall we do ? We can only 
 pray and persevere. We will not listen to voices 
 on this side or that, but follow on till we reach our 
 Father in heaven." 
 
 CHEEVOST (Jacob}." Chiefs, we have heard you. 
 Why should we try to mistake the way you teach 
 us ? rather we must try to follow on ; though our 
 feet often slip, we must still try ; we have rocks all 
 round us ; our sins are like the rocks, but the rudder 
 of our canoe is being held. She will not drift 
 away. We are all assisting to hold the rudder and 
 keep her in her course. What would she be without 
 the rudder? Soon a wreck upon the rocks. So we 
 must cry to God for help to follow on. We must 
 beg God's Holy Spirit to strengthen us and to 
 guide us. Chiefs, do you but speak, and we will 
 obey." 
 
 WOODEEMEESH (Simeon)." I will speak to my 
 
22 7 
 
 brethren. What has God done to us ? What does 
 He see in us that He should be working for us ? 
 We are like the fallen tree buried in the under 
 growth. What do these chiefs gain by coming to 
 us ? Did we call them ? Do we know from whence 
 they are, or did we see the way they had come? 
 Yet they have arrived to us. They have torn away 
 the undergrowth ; they have found us ; and they 
 have lifted up our hands and eyes to God, and 
 showed us the way to heaven." 
 
 The day concluded with an exhibition of the 
 magic lantern, which, it is needless to say, caused 
 the greatest excitement and amusement, which was 
 not lessened by a remark of the chief of the 
 Quoquolt Indians, to the effect that he found the 
 " King George men" could conjure as well as the 
 Indian. 
 
 New Year's Day was another annual holiday, 
 which was kept with somewhat similar festivities, 
 save that they were varied by a business meeting, 
 in which the financial affairs of the settlement were 
 discussed, taxes paid, arranged, &c. 
 
 The completion of a new house, a marriage, or 
 
 baptism, presented frequent occasions for minor 
 
 festivities. Here is the description of such an 
 
 entertainment, which Mr. Doolan attended during 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 Stranger t^an fiction. 
 
 the temporary absence of Mr. Duncan in 
 1867 : 
 
 " Feb. 4th. Attended a feast of biscuit and tea, 
 given in honour of the completion of a new house : 
 the roof any thing but watertight, and as it was 
 raining very hard, I had to put up with occasionally 
 large drops falling down my neck. Such a noise ! 
 the master of the feast bawling out the number of 
 biscuits given to each person ; others busy at the 
 fire, stirring the molasses a substitute for sugar 
 in the tea; men and women talking, children cry 
 ing; while, to crown all, a kettle full of tea was upset 
 on the fire, filling the house with steam. However, 
 perfect good humour prevailed, and every one 
 seemed happy. One of the Indians, at the conclu 
 sion of the feast, spoke very well, and was clapped ; 
 the first time I have heard the Indians at feasts use 
 this means of expressing their approbation. The 
 purport of his speech was that God had pitied him, 
 having given him strength to finish his house : 
 though he was very ill, God had not called him 
 away. Before his house was finished he felt like a 
 bird without a nest. He hoped God would ever be 
 with him, and concluded by thanking us all for our 
 attendance." 
 
 Bread and tea, and tarts made from the juice of 
 
229 
 
 the native berries, formed the usual provision at such 
 gatherings, and speech-making the chief amusement. 
 
 The observance of Christmas, again, is thus de 
 scribed : 
 
 " Dec. i^th, Christmas Day. This morning, be 
 tween twelve and one o'clock, a band of young 
 men, attended by Mr. Duncan, paraded the village, 
 singing hymns suitable for Christmas. The night 
 was very fine, and the voices sounded very plea 
 santly in the still frosty air. 
 
 " After Morning Service all the people, with the 
 exception of a few who had misbehaved, came to 
 the Mission-house to shake hands with us and wish 
 us a happy Christmas. It was very pleasant to 
 see the people looking so happy. They were all 
 dressed in their best : the women wearing good 
 gowns and different coloured shawls, and the men 
 with strong pilot cloth coats. 
 
 " We invited to dine with us the chiefs and their 
 wives, in all six. After entertaining our guests with 
 a microscope and some stereoscopic views, we 
 closed with singing and prayers. 
 
 "Dec. i6th. To-day being fine, the young men 
 had a good game of football on the sand. After 
 they had finished, the old men made sides, and 
 seemed to enjoy the fun highly. 
 
230 ^trangtr tl)an 
 
 " A great many feasts of tea and bread are being 
 given : by these feasts a friendly feeling amongst 
 them is fostered." 
 
 At rare and uncertain intervals the visits of a 
 man-of-war, bringing some special visitor, caused a 
 variation in the ordinary routine of the daily life. 
 For instance, in 1867 the settlement was visited by 
 the Governor of Victoria, an honour which was 
 highly appreciated by the Indians. One or two 
 extracts from the speeches made on the occasion 
 of his reception will speak for themselves. Ad 
 dressing the assembly as " Councillors, Constables, 
 and Friends," Governor Seymour said, 
 
 " It gives me great pleasure to meet you for the 
 first time in your own home, and to see the great 
 progress in civilization which you have made. 
 Depend upon it, the arts and habits of the white 
 men are good for the Indians also. As long as 
 you continue doing well, you shall have the support 
 and assistance of the Government. 
 
 " Continue to fear God, to obey the authorities, 
 to abstain from liquor, to make roads and houses, to 
 cultivate your gardens, and you will do well." 
 
 The following is an epitome of the speeches made 
 by the Indians in reply to the Governor : 
 
 PAUL LEGAIC. " We have heard the good words 
 
231 
 
 of the great chief now sitting here with us. We are 
 children, not yet strong or wise enough to guide 
 ourselves. Let the chief speak to us, and tell us 
 what we ought to do, and what we ought to avoid 
 doing, and we will obey. We beg, we all beg one 
 thing from the chief, that he will use his power to 
 stop the Indian custom of giving away property, as 
 that custom is the great barrier to all improvement 
 among the Indian tribes. It is to support and carry 
 on that custom that the Indians rush into every 
 kind of vice. We therefore wish the Governor to 
 stop it. If he says it is to stop, it will stop ; if he 
 will not forbid it, it will still go on." 
 
 PETER SIMPSON. "The chief has heard from 
 Paul what we all strongly beg for. We are anxious 
 to see peace established around us. The chief has 
 kindly promised to take care of us.' As the bird 
 watches over its eggs, so do you watch us. You 
 are strong ; we are weak ; you exhort us to perse 
 vere in the way we are going. So long as God shall 
 spare us, we are resolved to follow in the track we 
 are going. We long expected to see the great chief 
 here. W T e see him now : we rejoice." 
 
 DANIEL BAXTER. " We are happy to-day. We 
 ask what we can part with from our bodies to give 
 the chief who has visited us ? He has made us 
 
232 Stranger tfjan dfirtion. 
 
 glad with his words. Yes ; we are weak ; we are 
 yet shallow ; but we are feeding on God's Word, but 
 not yet satisfied. We have not eaten enough. The 
 chief has done well to come to see us, though he 
 makes but a short stay. It is good that his feet 
 have walked our village road and touched our soil. 
 He has heard from Paul Legaic about the great 
 barrier that stops the- way of the surrounding 
 Indians from following with us. We hope the chief 
 will move it v away." 
 
 Some other speeches followed ; and the Governor 
 replied, " I am going away. What you have said 
 I shall bear in mind. Though, as you say, you are 
 poor and young as a people, yet you have made 
 great progress towards equality with white men. 
 You worship the same God ; you are acquiring the 
 same habits and customs ; you have houses like 
 them ; you will have good roads ; you own a vessel ; 
 you have a shop; will possess a saw-mill. If you 
 continue in this way you will do well. I must now 
 leave you, with the assurance that my heart is good 
 towards you." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SOCIAL PROGRESS. 
 
 JE have before spoken of the schooner 
 which Mr. Duncan assisted the Indians 
 to purchase, and of the trade carried 
 on by its means. By the year 1867, 
 besides large sums paid over from time to time to 
 the Indian shareholders, the profits accruing to the 
 Mission had sufficed to build a large market-house, 
 a soap-house, a blacksmith's shop, and a saw-mill, 
 representing together, with some improvements in 
 the Octagon School Church, an expenditure of 
 nearly 8oo/. 
 
 The most important of these buildings was one 
 about 90 feet by 30, erected on the shore near the 
 upper end of a large jetty, and divided into two 
 portions, the smaller designed for a court-house, 
 the larger for village assemblies, a market-house, 
 and for the accommodation of strangers. By this 
 means strange Indians, who often came in large 
 
234 Stranger tljan dftctton. 
 
 numbers to trade, instead of being scattered over 
 the village, to the great discomfort and detriment 
 of their more civilized brethren, were comfortably 
 housed and properly cared for, whilst frequent 
 opportunities were thus given of addressing large 
 bodies of the heathen from the surrounding coun 
 try. " The good," Mr. Duncan writes, " which the 
 market-house is doing in facilitating the preaching 
 of the Gospel to our heathen neighbours is very great, 
 more than would, I think, arise from an itinerating 
 Missionary. It used to be almost impossible to get 
 strange Indians to assemble for any special effort in 
 instruction. Now all is changed. The men who 
 come for trade to us occupy this house, and are, in 
 a sense, my guests, and I can find them ready and 
 happy to hear me or the young men of our village 
 address them after the hum of trade has ceased." 
 
 Many, too, of those who came to trade would 
 remain over the Sunday, and attend the services in 
 the church. 
 
 The advantages of the " store," or " trade-shop," 
 were very great. In the very first place, it de 
 manded and obtained quietness and courtesy in 
 place of the savage altercations common to Indian 
 trading. All goods answering the conveniences of 
 civilized life, and tending to elevate the tastes and 
 
235 
 
 improve the appearance of the people, were obtain 
 able at a price to which they had before been quite 
 unaccustomed. For instance, 
 
 " My soap manufacture," Mr. Duncan writes, " is 
 quite a success. I now let the Indians have a bar 
 of soap for 6d. They are astonished at the price; 
 such a bar cost them a few years ago 40^. in furs. 
 Now that their habits require more soap, here it is 
 ready at hand and cheap." 
 
 Apart from these advantages, the continued em 
 ployment which the various branches of trade gave 
 was of the greatest service ; the Indians gradually 
 acquiring the habit of following their daily avoca 
 tions some of them very laborious more in the 
 steady manner of the English labourer than with 
 the fitful disposition of the Indian. 
 
 Next in importance amongst the new buildings 
 was the Mission-house, a frame building of cedar, 
 64 feet by 32, containing seven apartments on the 
 ground floor, besides outbuildings ; also a spacious 
 dormitory up-stairs, looking pleasantly out on the 
 islet gardens. 
 
 '" The rooms on the ground floor," writes Dean 
 Cridge, "are lofty and commodious ; that in which 
 I am writing, and which forms one of the suite of 
 apartments prepared for the exclusive use of a 
 
236 Stranger tfjan 
 
 married Missionary [whom Mr. Duncan hoped to 
 associate with himself in the work], is as comfort 
 able as any room in my own residence. If we add 
 a plentiful supply of game, fish, &c., in the season, 
 imported goods in the store, quite a large flock 
 of goats, yielding a profusion of excellent milk, 
 poultry and eggs, a garden with a plentiful stock 
 of vegetables, it is evident that, with any reason 
 able degree of forethought on the part of the Mis 
 sionary, the days when any thing like hardship and 
 privation could with propriety be entertained of 
 Metlahkatlah have entirely passed away." 
 
 The island gardens form another characteristic 
 evidence of social progress. The Victoria Daily 
 Chronicle, alluding to the Bishop's visit in .1866, says, 
 "The Bishop visited, in a canoe, the island gardens 
 of the Mission. They number about 150. He found 
 many of the owners men, women, and children 
 planting potatoes in the deep rich mould. They 
 use lines for the trenches, and deposit sea- weed and 
 excellent manure upon the potatoe, which is cut 
 in pieces and placed about six inches apart. Abun 
 dant crops are thus obtained." 
 
 Thus much for the external signs of progress. 
 Let us now glance for a moment at a branch of 
 the quasi-secular work, of which we have not yet 
 
J^oetal ifrogttttf. 237 
 
 spoken the Industrial Training School for 
 Girls. 
 
 A number of the elder girls educated in the 
 school were first taken to reside in the Mission- 
 house during the time that Mr. and Mrs. Tugwell 
 were assisting Mr. Duncan. 
 
 The plan proved of such material service that 
 on Mrs. Tugwell's leaving, Mr. Duncan still perse- 
 ve/ed in it, receiving great assistance from the older 
 pupils. 
 
 The general method adopted in dealing with the 
 scholars, and the result obtained, will be best 
 gathered from the accounts given by various visitors 
 to the Stations. The Bishop of Columbia says, 
 
 " I had observed on Sunday a row of well- 
 behaved and devout young girls with Bibles in 
 their hands. As I gave out my text they found 
 the passage. On Sunday evening I heard them 
 read the Bible, and they sang chants and hymns, 
 some in English, and some in Tsimsheean. To 
 day I examined several of them in reading, and 
 was much pleased by the accurate and devout 
 manner in which they read the Word of God. 
 
 "These were to be the future mothers of a new 
 generation. Already has he seen one set go forth 
 from the Institution well and respectably married 
 
238 J^trangtr ti)an ffiction. 
 
 to young men who had proved worthy of the 
 Christian profession. 
 
 " Those now in the Institution are the second* 
 set, several of whom are about to be married, and 
 there are others waiting to come and supply their 
 place. So great is Mr. Duncan's influence, that 
 none are married without his consent, and he is 
 entirely trusted by the parents. Constantly is he 
 applied to by the many young men who desire tljis 
 or that one for a partner ; and not a little interest 
 ing, if not amusing, are the accounts he can relate 
 of the care and watchfulness with which he guards 
 the tender plants from too early or ill-advised ex 
 posure to the blasts and storms of the voyage of 
 life." 
 
 Here, again, is an account by Dean Cridge of his 
 inspection of the school, and of an evening spent 
 with the scholars : 
 
 "Examined the writing exercises of the first 
 class of girls. The words 'whale,' 'shark/ 'salmon/ 
 ' seal/ were written on the black-board, and each 
 girl wrote a short theme in connexion with each 
 word. Some of the exercises were as good as in 
 an English school in respect of composition, spell 
 ing, and penmanship. 
 
 " In the evening, the girls sang some of their 
 
-Progress. 239 
 
 native nursery rhymes. Some were very pretty, 
 some ludicrous, some pathetic. Among the latter 
 is that of the little slave-child, who is told by her 
 captors that her mother is gone getting clams ; 
 and the little thing lisps, ' Raven, have you seen my 
 mother ? Sea-gull, have you seen my mother ?' 
 After this, one of the party commenced the legend 
 of ' The Chief's Proud Daughter ;' but the night 
 advancing, we were obliged to defer the conclu 
 sion. 
 
 " On Tuesday Mr. Duncan gave the girls a merry 
 evening with the galvanic battery, introducing the 
 bucket of water and the silver coin, which none 
 succeeded in getting. Mr. Duncan has great art 
 in keeping them cheerful, telling them humorous 
 stories, the point of which they always remember ; 
 e. g., ( A man with a wry neck fell and hurt him 
 self; a friendly bystander picked him up, and 
 began to set him generally to rights, and among 
 the rest to straighten his neck. The man, terrified, 
 cried out, " Hold hard there ! Born so, born so ! " ' 
 One evening some one made a remark on their 
 Indian gait, which Mr. Duncan interpreted to the 
 girls, to their great amusement ; and one of them 
 exclaimed, in English, ' Born so ! ' which was im 
 mediately taken up by the rest, some of them 
 
240 J^trangtr tf)an tfittion. 
 
 jumping up and caricaturing their own peculiarities ; 
 upon which Mr. Duncan explained to us the allu 
 sion. 
 
 " This evening Mr. Duncan showed me a letter 
 just received from one of the girls whom he had 
 occasion to reprove in the morning. In broken 
 English she bewailed her ingratitude and hard 
 heart, asked his forgiveness, and entreated his 
 prayers that she might be a better girl." 
 
 A single letter written by one of the first set of 
 scholars will serve to show the amount of intelli 
 gence and good feeling which prevailed amongst 
 them. It was given to Mr. Duncan by a young 
 woman to send down in the schooner to her sister, 
 who was leading an evil life in Victoria. She had 
 before succeeded in reclaiming one of her sisters, 
 and hence her letter to this one : 
 
 "Metlahkatlah. 
 
 " MY DEAR SISTER, I send this little news to 
 you. I very much wish to see you, my sister. I 
 tell you sometimes I very much cry because I 
 remember your way not right. I want you to hear 
 what I speak to you. Come now, my sister, I hope 
 you will return and live in your own place. Do not 
 you persevere to follow bad ways. You must try 
 to forsake your way ; repent from your heart. 
 
241 
 
 You hear our Saviour Jesus Christ. Cast all your 
 bad ways on Jesus. He know to save us when we 
 die. I very happy because I see my brother and 
 sister come again. I thank God because He hear 
 always cry about you. 
 
 " I am, your crying Sister 
 
 "ELIZA PALEY." 
 
 Letter-writing seems to have been an institution 
 of civilized life which greatly recommended itself 
 to the Indians. The schooner commonly carried a 
 " post " of some 200 letters, all written by Indians 
 to their several friends in Victoria. 
 
 But of all tests of progress in such a settlement 
 as Metlahkatlah the development of a Missionary 
 spirit is the most trustworthy. Nor was this sign 
 wanting. Amongst all classes of the community 
 there seems to have been a constant desire leading 
 to continued and earnest efforts to bring home the 
 truths of the Gospel to their heathen brethren. 
 Men going on their hunting and fishing expeditions 
 would, as a flatter of course, gather together for 
 religious worship all whom they could induce to 
 listen to them, whilst several of the younger men 
 gave themselves either entirely or to a great extent 
 to the work of Catechists. The following inciden- 
 
 R 
 
242 Stranger tljan dTtctton. 
 
 tal mention of the conduct of an Indian who had 
 gone as an interpreter to a surveying expedition is 
 taken from a Colonial newspaper : 
 
 "The Portland Inlet was found to be about 
 seventy miles in length, and to bear the same 
 general characteristics as the other numerous inlets, 
 which are all closed in by snow-clad mountains 
 from 3000 to 4000 feet high. The head of the 
 inlet was found to terminate in a low marshy 
 swamp, with a high peak of 6000 feet in the 
 background ; reports as of distant thunder were 
 heard at intervals, caused by the avalanches as 
 they rolled into the valley beneath, with a dull 
 sound which reverberated from peak to peak. Here 
 we found camped the most powerful chief of the 
 Naas Indians, Tchatcoquas, and a very large party 
 catching and drying salmon. They were extremely 
 civil, and when we landed insisted on carrying up 
 to our tent all our gear. We pitched our tent near 
 the camp on the Saturday, and on Sunday Thomas, 
 our interpreter, a Christian Indian from Metlah- 
 katlah, held Divine Service, morning, Jfternoon, and 
 evening, in the Indian ranch. Thomas had a 
 fluency of language that must have astonished the 
 natives. The singing was good, the female voices 
 especially ; but the smoke of an Indian house in 
 
243 
 
 which salmon is being dried being any thing but 
 conducive to comfort, and our knowledge of Tsim- 
 sheean being very limited, detracted somewhat 
 from our pleasant participation in the interesting 
 ceremony. We suppose that Thomas . must take 
 to himself the credit of being the first who taught 
 Christianity at the end of British dominion. We 
 were then encamped on the boundary-line between 
 Alaska and British Columbia." 
 
 Such notices, again, as the following might be 
 multiplied almost indefinitely : 
 
 " One of our Christian young men jdined a tribe 
 from Fort Simpson last summer at their salmon- 
 fishing, and preached every Sunday for over two 
 months to them. Nearly the whole tribe stopped 
 work, and regularly attended service." 
 
 One more " mark of progress " is too charac 
 teristic to be passed over, or to be given otherwise 
 than in Mr. Duncan's own words : 
 
 " Lately two cannibal chiefs (once the terror of 
 the coast), from a tribe over a hundred miles from 
 Metlahkatlah, visited us for trade, and heard, to 
 their horror, our children playing at medicine work 
 on the beach. Their shame and mortification they 
 could not hide, but, not daring to use threats or 
 vent their rage, they came to me to beg that I 
 R 2 
 
244 ^trangir tl)an 
 
 would forbid the children to go on. I called them 
 into my house, and, at their request, shut the room- 
 door, that others might not hear. We had a long 
 and serious talk over the whole matter. . . . They 
 left me in a friendly way, and, I feel sure, a good 
 deal out of love with their false position." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 |HE history of the settlement at Metlah- 
 katlah during the last five years may 
 be summed up in two words, " steady 
 progress" Of difficulties, drawbacks, 
 and occasional discouragements there has been no 
 lack. The spirit in which they were met as they 
 arose is well indicated in Mr. Duncan's own des 
 patch of November, 1868: "The enemy is only 
 permitted to annoy, but not to destroy us, only to 
 make us stand more to our arms and look more 
 imploringly and constantly to heaven ; nor is he 
 permitted to triumph over us. To God, to our 
 Triune God, is all the praise and glory." 
 
 One of the latest signs of increased religious 
 earnestness was a spontaneous movement amongst 
 the young and middle-aged Indians to form adult 
 Sunday-classes for Bible-reading. " The adult 
 males, numbering about one hundred, are super- 
 
246 Stranger tljan dTuttou. 
 
 intended by four native teachers, and the females, 
 who assemble in separate houses, are taught by the 
 young women who have passed through a course 
 of training in the Mission-Home. All the teachers 
 come to me at the close of each service for special 
 instruction for a few minutes, and then proceed 
 to the several classes. All read over carefully the 
 text, translate it word by word ; simple comments 
 and addresses are offered by the teachers, conclud 
 ing with singing and prayer." 
 
 The next important step in advance which Mr. 
 Duncan contemplates is the sending out native 
 teachers to the heathen tiibes around. "Many 
 of the tribes," he says, "are stretching out their 
 hands for help, and God seems preparing His ser 
 vants at Metlahkatlah to carry it to them. Whole 
 tribes talk of soon joining us ; but this I do not 
 anticipate will be the case yet the way is very 
 difficult and the door narrow for them." Still, the 
 constant communication with Metlahkatlah, and 
 the unmistakable evidence there presented to them, 
 that godliness has the promise of this world as 
 well as of that which is to come, added greatly to 
 the effect of the occasional preaching of the Gospel 
 amongst them, and it was evident that it only 
 needed some suitable opportunity to present itself 
 
Conclusion. 247 
 
 to bring about a great national movement in favour 
 of Christianity. 
 
 In the meantime Mr. Duncan has formed the 
 plan of developing very considerably the material 
 resources of the settlers at Metlahkatlah, and 
 making it a nursery, not of Christianity only, but 
 of the arts and employments of civilized life. He 
 thus expresses his views on the subject : " The 
 spirit of improvement which Christianity has en 
 gendered within this people needs fresh material 
 and knowledge in order to develope itself. The 
 sources of industry at present in the hands of the 
 Indians are too limited and inadequate to enable 
 them to meet their increased expenditure as a 
 Christian and civilized community, who are no 
 longer able to endure the rude huts and half-naked 
 ness of the savage. Again, numbers of young 
 men are growing up in the Mission who want work, 
 and work must be found for them, or mischief will 
 follow; the mischief being, that these now pro 
 mising youths will be attracted to the settlement of 
 the whites in the colony, where numbers of them 
 will be sure to become the victims of the white 
 men's vices and diseases." 
 
 As the first step in carrying out this view, Mr. 
 Duncan determined himself to come to England 
 
248 Stranger tfjan dTtctton. 
 
 and acquire a knowledge of several simple trades, 
 and purchase such machinery as he required, and 
 then going back to his people erect workshops, and 
 inaugurate those new modes of industry upon 
 which he hoped to build up a material prosperity, 
 and to develope that self-respect and self-reliance 
 which can hardly be found in any great degree 
 amongst a wholly uncivilized people. 
 
 With this view he sailed for England at the end 
 of January, 1870. The scene on his departure 
 showed how great a hold his thirteen years' labour 
 amongst them had gained for him upon the people. 
 Though he had previously gone round to every 
 house to take leave of them, they collected in 
 crowds as the time for his leaving drew near, 
 and even after he had said his " last farewell and 
 last prayer upon the beach," they still followed 
 him in their canoes to the ship. 
 
 Arriving in London on the T3th of March, 1870, 
 Mr. Duncan at once set to work on his self-imposed 
 task, going about to different parts of the country, 
 and, as far as it was possible in a limited time, 
 making himself master of the branch of industry 
 there prevailing. Thus, when visiting Yarmouth, 
 he learnt rope-making and twine-spinning, and at 
 another place at which he stayed, weaving, at 
 
Conclusion. 249 
 
 another brushmaking, at another "the gamut of 
 each instrument in a band of twenty-one instru 
 ments." At the same time he set on foot, amongst 
 those whom he succeeded in interesting in his work, 
 a subscription for defraying the expenses of some of 
 the more important works which he contemplated. 
 
 Chief amongst these were a new church and 
 school. He also proposed to give the Indians such 
 assistance in the matter of window-frames, nails, 
 &c., as would induce them to rebuild their houses 
 after a more substantial and permanent model than 
 was possible on the first formation of the village. 
 
 To carry out these plans he estimated that not 
 less than 6ooo/. would be required, and he fairly 
 enough challenges the Christian philanthropist to 
 assist him with this amount of capital. Before he 
 left England, which he did at the end of six months 
 (i.e. in September, 1870), he had received about 
 400/. towards the amount he required. For the 
 credit of English philanthropy, it may well be 
 hoped that the whole amount required will even 
 tually be forthcoming. There must be many Eng 
 lish capitalists who, if they really knew all the 
 circumstances of the case, would consider it a 
 privilege to be associated with such an undertaking. 
 
 On the I4th of October, 1870, Mr. Duncan 
 
250 Stranger tjajr dTtftton. 
 
 arrived at San Francisco on his return journey, 
 " very weary and dusty, having been a second-class 
 passenger, and therefore without sleeping accom 
 modation for over two thousand miles." Here he 
 was delayed for three weeks. "The time," he 
 writes, " proved very useful. I made several new 
 and very warm friends, who promised to help me, 
 and who, indeed, have helped me exceedingly. 
 At the woollen mills the manager supplied me 
 with shuttle, reeds, treddles, and spindles, and 
 carding materials, and promised me another supply, 
 free of cost, whenever I may apply for it." 
 
 Arriving at Victoria on the nth November, he 
 found it necessary to remain there for some weeks 
 in order to carry out arrangements with the 
 Government about the Indian reserves and other 
 matters connected with the settlement. 
 
 As one of the vessels of the Hudson's Bay Com 
 pany was just starting up the coast, he was able to 
 send letters to Metlahkatlah, and in about three 
 weeks received a batch in return. " Yesterday," he 
 writes, "I got a batch of thirteen loving letters 
 from my people. All going on well ; all anxiously 
 looking for my return. One says, ' How we shall 
 thank God when He brings you back to us ! The 
 people were together in the market-house to hear 
 
Conclusion* 251 
 
 the news from you [they had assembled to hear my 
 letter read], and when they heard that you are 
 coming back they made such a great noise by 
 jumping on the floor.' 
 
 " One of the letters from Metlahkatlah to me was 
 from (and signed by) the Council, expressing their 
 joy at the prospect of soon seeing me. 
 
 " Another was from the notorious chief Lee- 
 guneesh, who has given me so much trouble of late 
 years, and was expected to make use of my absence 
 to injure the Christians all he could. 
 
 " In this letter (signed by his own hand) he says 
 he owes it to God's mercy that he has the hope of 
 seeing me again. He thanks God for bearing with 
 him, showing him his sins, and making him to hate 
 the ways he once so much loved. He says, too, he 
 has resolved to join God's people at Metlahkatlah, 
 and remain faithful till death, looking up to heaven 
 as his home. 
 
 " All the other letters express to me the great 
 joy that spread over the village when the steamer 
 arrived, and the sore disappointment when they 
 learnt I was not on board. 
 
 " They thank God for my safe arrival at Victoria 
 in answer to their prayers, and pray constantly for 
 my return amongst them. 
 
252 Stranger tfjan dfictian. 
 
 "With their furs I have had a good deal of 
 trouble, as the fur-market has fallen lately; but I 
 am happy to say that, by inaugurating a new mode 
 of disposing of them, I have realized (and thus 
 saved to the village) nearly one thousand dollars 
 above the offer made to the agent in the usual way. 
 Their requisition for goods I am yet busy pro 
 curing." 
 
 Mr. Duncan's chief object in delaying at Victoria 
 was to procure from the Government power to allot 
 to individual Indians of the settlement a portion 
 not exceeding ten acres of the native reserves round 
 Metlahkatlah, with the right to clear, enclose, culti 
 vate, and personally own each portion. 
 
 Not only did the Governor readily grant this 
 request, but gave himself personally a donation of 
 $500, to be spent upon the constables and coun 
 cil of the village. Whilst the negotiations with the 
 Government v/ere pending, Mr. Duncan occupied 
 himself in taking lessons and practising on a band 
 of brass instruments given him in England, and also 
 in compiling new Indian services in Tsimsheean. 
 Before he left he also " purchased a steam boiler 
 and pipes, &c., to carry out a new system of making 
 the celebrated Oolachan oil so much used by the 
 Indians, and the process of manufacturing which 
 
Conclusion. 253 
 
 (mainly owing to their superstitions) is so destruc 
 tive to health and degrading to the females 1 ." 
 
 Whilst still at Victoria, Mr. Duncan had the 
 pleasure of hearing that a suggestion which he had 
 some time before made to the President of the 
 United States was likely to be carried into effect. 
 "Great changes," he writes, "have lately taken 
 place in the Indian Agency of the United States. 
 Fancy my joy on hearing at San Francisco of the 
 two forts, Tongas and Wranzel, both being aban 
 doned now, and that the President had determined 
 to remit the. Indian Agencies into the hands of the 
 various Missionary Societies." 
 
 Since his return to Metlahkatlah.no letters have 
 been received in England direct from Mr. Duncan. 
 From intelligence coming indirectly, it appears that 
 he found that every thing had gone on in his 
 absence most satisfactorily. With the conduct of 
 the Indian Council and constables he was especially 
 gratified. Not only had they proved themselves 
 very zealous in preserving law and order during 
 
 1 With regard to the Indians of Victoria, Mr. Duncan writes, 
 " Nothing at all at present is being done for them. They have 
 thoroughly relapsed into their old heathenism and savage customs 
 eating dogs, &c. , on the beach right in front of Victoria a proof 
 how perfectly helpless civilization is to elevate the poor savage with 
 out the Gospel." 
 
254 Stranger tijan dTtftton. 
 
 the twelve months of his absence, but during that 
 time some of them had scarcely ever left the village 
 even to gather supplies of food for the winter, lest 
 in their absence any thing should go wrong. 
 
 Of the real value of the work which Mr. Duncan 
 has been permitted to do a more crucial test than 
 this year's absence could not well be imagined. 
 We shall look with interest for some particulars of 
 the domestic history of the settlement during this 
 time. We know, however, enough to assure us that 
 there must be a far greater amount of stability of 
 purpose and character amongst those new converts 
 to Christianity than most persons would have been 
 inclined to give them credit for. 
 
 How far the moral and social elevation of the 
 whole Indian race may be affected by what is being 
 done at Metlahkatlah, and what may be the result 
 of the formation of a sort of native capital and 
 model settlement, it is impossible to predict. That 
 with God's blessing it may result in the saving 
 of a goodly remnant of a noble race we would fain 
 hope. 
 
 What Mr. Duncan's own plans are, and how far 
 he will hereafter devote himself to the extension of 
 the great work which he has so successfully in 
 augurated, we have no means of judging. Being 
 
Conclusion. 255 
 
 himself a layman, he naturally wishes to see a 
 clergyman permanently established in charge of 
 the settlement, and speaks continually of the time 
 of his own retirement from the work as being near 
 at hand. 
 
 That a man possessed of such singular administra 
 tive ability, such great earnestness, and such unusual 
 power of influencing others, and who has gained so 
 thorough a mastery in the language as "to think 
 and dream" in it, should entirely withdraw himself 
 from the work to which he has hitherto devoted 
 himself would be a cause of general and deep 
 regret, and we may well express the hope that the 
 day for his so doing may yet be very far distant. 
 Great as has been the work which has been already 
 done, a greater still remains to be accomplished. 
 If Metlahkatlah is really to become the centre of 
 any widely-extended efforts to evangelize the native 
 tribes of North-West America, it must be under 
 the guiding and controlling influence of such a 
 mind as that of Mr. Duncan. Most sincerely do we 
 trust that he will meet with such encouragement 
 and assistance as will enable him to complete that 
 which he has begun so well, and that the Christian 
 community which we have seen so successfully 
 organized may only be the first of many other 
 
256 Stranger tljan 
 
 settlements modelled on the same plan and showing 
 the same signs of material prosperity, combined 
 with a thorough appreciation and practical appli 
 cation of the saving truths of Christianity. 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. 
 
 HE last chapter reported the arrival of 
 Mr. Duncan at Victoria, on his way 
 back to Metlahkatlah, after an absence 
 of thirteen months in England. Our 
 readers will naturally feel some anxiety to know 
 how the work which had been done had stood the 
 test of the absence of the presiding and animating 
 spirit. A few extracts from Mr. Duncan's report 
 to the Church Missionary Society will best enable 
 us to form an opinion on the point. Here, for in 
 stance, is an account of the way in which he was 
 welcomed back by his Indian converts the news 
 of his arrival by steamer at a point within ten miles 
 of the settlement having preceded him : 
 
 " On the following morning," he says, " a large 
 canoe arrived from thence to fetch me home. The 
 happy crew, whose hearts seemed brim full of joy 
 at seeing me back, gave me a very warm welcome; 
 I at once decided to leave my luggage and the 
 
 S 
 
258 Stranger tfjan 
 
 steamer, and proceed at once to Metlahkatlah with 
 my Indian friends, who assured me that the village 
 was in a great state of excitement at the prospect 
 of my return. We were favoured with a strong, 
 fair wind, and with two sails up we dashed along 
 merrily through a boiling sea. I now felt I was 
 indeed homeward bound. My happy friends, 
 having nothing to do but watch the sails and sit 
 still, could give free vent to their long pent-up 
 feelings, and so they poured out one piece of news 
 after another in rapid succession, and without any 
 regard to order, or the changes their reports pro 
 duced upon my feelings ; thus we had good and 
 bad, solemn and frivolous news, all mixed indis 
 criminately. 
 
 " On sighting the village, in accordance with a 
 preconcerted arrangement, a flag was hoisted over 
 our canoe, as a signal to the villagers that I was on 
 board. Very soon we could discern quite a number 
 of flags flying over the village, and the Indians hur 
 rying towards the place of landing. Before we 
 reached the beach large crowds had assembled to 
 greet me. On my stepping out of the canoe, bang 
 went a cannon, and when fairly on my feet, bang 
 <vent another. Then some of the principal people 
 stepped away from the groups, and came forward, 
 
Chapter. 259 
 
 hats off, and saluted me very warmly. On my ad 
 vancing, the corps of constables discharged their 
 muskets, then all hats were doffed, and a general 
 rush to seize my hand ensued. I was now hemmed 
 in with with crowds of solemn faces, many exhibit 
 ing intense emotion, and eyes glistening with tears 
 of joy. In struggling my way to the Mission- 
 house, I had nearly overlooked the school-children. 
 The dear little ones had been posted in order on 
 one side, and were all standing in mute expecta 
 tion of a recognition. I patted a few on the head, 
 and then, with feelings almost overcome, I pressed 
 my way to my house. How sweet it was to find 
 myself again in my own little room, and sweeter 
 still to thank God for all His preserving care over 
 me. As numbers of people were pressing into and 
 crowding my house, I ordered the church bell to 
 be rung. At once they hurried to the church, and 
 when I entered it was full. Such a sight ! After 
 a few minutes' silence, we joined in thanksgiving 
 to God ; after which I addressed the assembly for 
 about twenty minutes. This concluded, I set off, 
 accompanied by several leading Christian men, to 
 visit the sick and the very aged, whom I was told 
 were anxiously begging to see me. The scenes 
 that followed were very affecting. Many assured 
 
260 Stranger tljan tfittitm. 
 
 me that they had constantly prayed to God to be 
 spared to see me once again, and God had answered 
 their prayers, and revived their hearts, after much 
 weeping. On finishing my visit, I made up doses 
 of medicine for several of the sick, and then sat 
 down for a little refreshment. Again my house 
 becoming crowded, I sat down with about fifty for 
 a general talk. I gave them the special messages 
 from Christian friends which I had down in my 
 note-book, told them how much we were prayed 
 for by many Christians in England, and scanned 
 over the principal events of my voyage and doings 
 in England. We sat till midnight, but even then 
 the village was lighted up, and the people all 
 waiting to hear from the favoured fifty what I had 
 communicated. Many did not go to bed at all, 
 but sat up a-Il night talking over what they had 
 heard." 
 
 Writing at a somewhat later date (December, 
 1871), Mr. Duncan gives the following summary of 
 the works which first occupied his attention after 
 his return : 
 
 " The spiritual part of my work I of course took 
 up and carried on as usual ; but the temporal or 
 secular part being so multifarious, was very per 
 plexing at first. The constable corps, who had 
 
Chapter. 261 
 
 kept vigilant watch over the morals of the settle 
 ment during my absence, pressed me early to 
 examine their doings, and readjudicate the cases 
 which the Council had settled pro tern.; but I 
 thought it prudent to postpone this kind of work, 
 and take up what was more in harmony with the 
 joy fulness of the season ; hence we had a series of 
 marriages (thirteen in all), and several meetings, at 
 which I unfolded my new plans, and urged all to 
 renewed energy and diligence in our new start. I 
 then began arranging work for a number of men, 
 and set about sixty on." 
 
 During Mr. Duncan's absence in England an 
 event had taken place likely to exercise, a con 
 siderable influence on his new settlement, and to 
 put the steadfastness, especially of the younger 
 converts, to a severe test. This was the discovery 
 of extensive gold-fields some distance up the river 
 Skeena, the mouth of which is about ten miles 
 south of Metlahkatlah. 
 
 " The 1 miners and traders reach Skeena mouth 
 by steamer from Victoria, but thence to the mines 
 the transit is made for a considerable distance up 
 river by canoe. Consequently in the spring and 
 
 1 From Archdeacon Woods' report of a visit to Metlahkatlah, 
 published in the British Columbia Report for 1871. 
 
262 Stranger tfyan dTfttton. 
 
 autumn (the seasons for going to and returning 
 from the mines) there is considerable traffic up 
 and down the river, and those Indians who choose 
 to put their canoes on the river command good 
 wages and constant employment. The Metlah- 
 katlah Indians freely avail themselves of this means 
 of earning money, and in connexion with this a 
 most valuable testimony of the sincerity of their 
 profession came under my notice from the miners 
 who took passage down to Victoria on the return 
 trip of the Otter. All agreed in witnessing to the 
 honesty, the self-denial, and the determination to 
 resist temptation of the Metlahkatlah Indians. 
 ' They wont work on Sunday, they won't drink, 
 they worit lend themselves in any, to any, kind of 
 immorality' The truth of the first part of this 
 statement I observed for myself during the time 
 of my stay at Metlahkatlah. I noticed how the 
 Indians flocked home on Saturday nights, some of 
 them from long distances, many of them from 
 Skeena mouth, to enjoy the Sunday peace and 
 quiet of their own village, and to avail themselves 
 of those 'means of grace' which the Sunday 
 Church services and the Sunday-schools afforded." 
 
 The first interruption of the regular work of 
 the Mission which occurred after Mr. Duncan's 
 
263 
 
 return arose from the lawlessness of these gold- 
 seekers : 
 
 "I was interrupted by having to deal out law 
 to three ruffians among the white men, who were 
 waiting at the mouth of the Skeena river for the 
 ice to break up and permit their proceeding to 
 the newly-discovered gold-fields of Omineca. The 
 capture of these men, their trial and their punish 
 ment, cost me much anxiety and labour ; but I am 
 thankful to say that, without bloodshed, we caught 
 and tamed the lions, vindicated the law, and subse 
 quently received the approbation of the Governor." 
 
 Nor was this the only case in which Mr. Duncan 
 had to exercise his magisterial functions : 
 
 " No sooner was this law case over, than I had 
 to issue a warrant of arrest against a captain of a 
 vessel trading on the coast for breaking the Indian 
 liquor law. He was seized about sixty miles off, 
 brought here, and fined TOO/. His vessel was 
 afterwards fetched, forfeited, and destroyed. After 
 this I had three law cases in succession arising 
 from charges brought to me by the Indians of 
 surrounding tribes against other Indians. Two out 
 of these three cases would have resulted in blood 
 shed had I refused to interpose. On each occasion, 
 however, I am happy to say the offenders gave 
 
264 Stranger tfyan dftctton. 
 
 themselves up at my call, and submitted to the 
 penalty I inflicted ; but their trial took up a good 
 deal of time, as the Indians are fond of speech- 
 making on such occasions. 
 
 " In addition to the above I had all the offenders 
 of 1870 belonging to our own settlement brought 
 before me in due time, and their cases settled. 
 Though this kind of work consumes much time, 
 and causes me much anxiety, yet I trust it is not 
 unproductive of spiritual good to some, while at 
 least it tends to prevent bloodshed and preserve 
 peace, both in our midst and in the surrounding 
 country." 
 
 The especial danger to the younger of the Indian 
 converts which the influx of a rough mining popu 
 lation involves is evidently very great : 
 
 " It is the nature of the young Indians who are 
 advancing into civilized life to ape the white man, 
 and despise the labour and pursuits of their fore 
 fathers. More especially is this the case of those 
 brought into contact with godless and worldly 
 white men ; and perhaps the most dangerous class 
 of white men they can meet with are gold miners. 
 The danger to the young men of our settlement is 
 imminent, for they are now being jostled by rolling 
 stones and reckless gamblers ; hence, unless we can 
 
Chapter. 265 
 
 catch up and utilize their energies, and bend their 
 necks to the yoke of steady and profitable industry, 
 they will become at best mere hangers-on among 
 the whites ; but more than likely hurried down 
 into the whirlpool of recklessness, which invariably 
 accompanies the gold-seeker ..... As it is, some 
 few of our young men have been led astray, and one 
 fatally lost." 
 
 To those who doubt whether the Indian can be 
 trained to habits of industry, the report of the 
 various additional works being set on foot and suc 
 cessfully carried on at Metlahkatlah must be of 
 especial interest : 
 
 " Soon after my return I set up a steam boiler to 
 teach the Indians to extract oil from the oolachan 
 fish by steam, and thus supersede their own slow 
 and laborious process by heated stoves. I put it 
 up only temporarily in my garden to prove its 
 utility. The Indians were delighted with its suc 
 cess, and next season we hope to put it up at the 
 fishery. 
 
 "Another branch of industry which I subse 
 quently started was the dressing of deer skins. 
 This has proved also a success, and we are able 
 now to more than double our returns for the article. 
 
 " Early in the spring I commenced work for the 
 
266 Stranger tfjan 
 
 building of a new church. We have got the site 
 partly prepared (this was a very heavy job owing 
 to the nature of the ground), timber for the frame 
 work hewed and on the spot, also six rafts of logs 
 (some 500 in all) for the saw-mills to turn into 
 boards and scantling. In addition, I set on build 
 ing large workshops, and rooms for particular work. 
 These, I am happy to say, are complete, and are 
 very commodious, covering over 6000 square feet, 
 and affording us a rope walk. These shops are 
 lighted by thirty windows, and are very much 
 admired by the Indians. We should have been 
 able to have done more, but the weather has been, 
 and is, very unfavourable for outdoor labour. At 
 present we are busy making church windows, and, 
 as soon as possible, shall commence erecting the 
 church and new village. 
 
 " We have not yet commenced building our new 
 village, as we have not yet settled upon all the 
 plans and laws necessary to ensure success. We 
 are going to have a series of meetings on the sub 
 ject very soon." 
 
 Alluding to the same topics, Archdeacon Woods 
 says : 
 
 " A marked and important feature of the Met4ah- 
 katlah Mission is the aspect imparted to it by the 
 
J^uppUmcntarg Chapter. 267 
 
 fostering and utilizing of native industry ; at present 
 there are carried on a lumber mill, the manufacture 
 of soap, the dressing of skins, and blacksmithing, 
 while preparations are being actively urged, forward 
 for weaving, rope-making, and shoe-making, the 
 materials for weaving and rope-making being found 
 in abundance in the immediate neighbourhood. 
 These, in combination with the trading store in 
 the village, have a very practicable bearing on the 
 well-being of the Mission, quite apart from the 
 mere money gain, though this too is a matter of 
 considerable importance to the success and pros 
 perity of the Mission. 
 
 "The trade store in the village brings to the 
 Indians all the necessaries of life beyond what 
 their own labour can provide, and takes from them 
 in exchange the skins and oil which are the chief 
 results of their hunting and fishing, so that they 
 have within the limits of their own village the 
 means of exchanging the produce of their labour 
 for necessaries and luxuries beyond their own 
 ability to procure, and this without bringing them 
 in contact with the temptations which must neces 
 sarily beset them if compelled to carry their skins, 
 oil, &c., to the trading-posts outside their own 
 reserve." 
 
268 Stranger tfyan Button. 
 
 From Mr. Duncan's own account of " the spiritual 
 and most important work of the Mission," we will 
 make but a single extract before turning to the 
 narrative given in the Columbia Report of a visit 
 paid to the settlement by Archdeacon Woods : 
 
 " While I was away in England, as might be 
 expected in this sinful world, some few of the 
 Christians fell into sin, but, I am happy to 
 say, nearly all of them have been restored, after 
 showing deep contrition of heart. I cannot refrain 
 from quoting part of a letter I received from one 
 of the fallen ones immediately after my return. 
 He is now restored, and takes a place amongst our 
 most earnest Christian men. He says, ' I have 
 done evil again before God, and among the people, 
 and I know God is angry with me. I feel sin is 
 very heavy upon me. But now I not wish to 
 follow this my sin and lose my soul ; but one thing 
 I do, I am always crying to God very much for my 
 sin. It is greater than all other sins. Now, dear 
 sir, I have taste how bitter is my sin, and bitter my 
 life. . . . This is a word I keep to make my heart 
 strong, " The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a 
 broken heart"' " 
 
 In November, 1871, Archdeacon Woods (rector 
 of Holy Trinity, New Westminster) visited Metlah- 
 
Chapter. 269 
 
 katlah for the purpose of baptizing a large number 
 of children and adults. He thus describes his first 
 approach to the village : 
 
 "I left Will-a-claw (at the mouth^the 1?elna 
 river) about 9 A.M. by canoe, being paddled by an 
 Indian and his wife. Here for the first time since 
 leaving home, I was thrown on my own resources 
 to hold communication with the Indians. By 
 means of a slight knowledge of Chinook and some 
 illustrated newspapers, I was enabled to interest 
 them, and even to draw from them some ideas as 
 to things outside their own world. Some pictures 
 of home scenes in the Illustrated News interested 
 them very much, especially those which represented 
 large buildings or soldiers. The buildings excited 
 their wonder that there could be such substantial 
 and lofty structures raised seemed to excite the 
 astonishment of the man. I was, however, sur 
 prised to observe how little of wonder the woman 
 manifested, till I produced a small steel engraving 
 of ' The Crucifixion,' which I had in my note-book : 
 this at once touched her heart, and she told me 
 that she ' knew all about Jesus Christ,' that she had 
 lived at Metlahkatlah, that she had been taught by 
 Mr. Duncan ; and it was pleasing to see how she 
 brightened up as she and I talked as well as I 
 
270 Stranger tfyan fiction. 
 
 could manage to do on holy subjects. I then 
 understood how she must often have seen at Met- 
 lahkatlah pictures such as I had to show, and 
 heard, probably from Mr. Duncan himself, or from 
 some of his well-informed pupils, descriptions of 
 scenes and incidents which thus had become in 
 a sense familiar. Even in this trifling incident 
 one could see a marked difference between the 
 heathen husband who had received no instruction, 
 and the wife, who, if not a Christian, had yet 
 been taught to know what ' The Crucifixion ' re 
 presented. . . . 
 
 " As we drew near to Metlahkatlah the sound of 
 the church-bell over the still waters of the bay 
 could be heard for a considerable time before we 
 reached the village. The man called my attention 
 to it, and said it meant school ; the woman, how 
 ever, promptly corrected him, saying it meant 
 death : of course my own ear had told me that this 
 was its meaning, and now we could see the funeral 
 procession passing in canoes from the village to a 
 small island, which has been set apart as the grave 
 yard ; so that when I actually reached the landing- 
 place I learned, as I expected, that Mr. Duncan 
 was away at the funeral. A hearty welcome, how 
 ever, awaited me, and many ready hands to carry 
 
Chapter. 271 
 
 my few articles of luggage from the canoe to the 
 Mission-house." 
 
 Before commencing the examination of the 
 candidates for baptism at Metlahkatlah, Arch 
 deacon Woods paid a visit to the Niskah Mission, 
 about 70 miles distant, on the Naas river. During 
 his journey an incident occurred which inci 
 dentally served to illustrate very forcibly the extent 
 to which Christianity had gained a footing amongst 
 the Indians : 
 
 " Having paddled from daylight till dark with 
 a brief rest of about half an hour, we reached the 
 only available camping-ground on the coast, where 
 we rested for the night under such shelter as the 
 canoe sail stretched across the mast could afford ; 
 and having lighted a fire, prepared supper. Mr. 
 Duncan having provided me with food already 
 cooked, my supper was soon made, and I laid down 
 to rest, wearied with sitting all day in the canoe. 
 The Indians cooked their venison and salmon 
 Indian fashion, and then, all reverently taking off 
 their caps, one said grace with every appearance of 
 devotion. After supper I was amused at the 
 evident fun that was going on amongst them ; for 
 though I could not understand their language, a 
 laugh is understood all over the world ; and 
 
272 Stranger tfjan ffiction. 
 
 certainly, if laughter be an evidence of jokes and 
 fun, they were rich in merriment, notwithstanding 
 the discomfort of camping out on wet ground and 
 under heavy rain. By-and-by, as I was dropping 
 asleep, I was roused by their sudden stillness. 
 My first impression was that they were getting 
 wearied ; but it was not so, they were only calming 
 down before retiring to rest, and soon I observed 
 them all, with heads uncovered and reverently 
 bowed, kneel round the camp fire while one said 
 prayers for all. And as the Lord's Prayer (for I 
 could recognize it in the strange language in which 
 it was clothed) ascended from beneath the shades 
 of the forest from lips which only lately had 
 acquired the right to say ' Our Father,' and as I 
 doubt not from hearts which truly felt the mighty 
 privilege which holy baptism had conferred, I 
 could not fail to realize how grandly catholic is 
 that prayer which He Himself gave to those to 
 whom alone He gives the right to use it." 
 
 Onhis return to Metlahkatlah, Archdeacon Woods 
 at once commenced an examination of the candi 
 dates for holy baptism, which lasted uninterruptedly 
 for a whole week : 
 
 " Sunday, the isth of November," he writes, "is 
 a day to be remembered by me. I have had in 
 
i) Chapter. 273 
 
 the course of a ministry of over twenty years many 
 solemn experiences, and witnessed many touching 
 scenes, but never since the day of my own ordina 
 tion as a priest in the Church of Christ have I felt 
 anything like the solemnity of that day when I 
 saw before me a crowded congregation of Chris 
 tians of heathen seeking after Christ, and of the 
 little band of fifty-nine about to be received 
 through holy baptism into the ark of Christ's 
 Church. 
 
 " Holy baptism, at all times a most solemn rite, 
 seemed to me specially so at this time, when I 
 was called upon to administer that Holy Sacra 
 ment to men and women who, of their own choice, 
 yet influenced, as I fully believe, by the power of 
 the Holy Ghost, came forward to renounce hea 
 thenism to give up in more than one instance all 
 that was dear to them in this world, and to enlist 
 in the army of Christ. Oh, may the merciful God 
 ' grant that they may have power and strength to 
 have victory and to triumph against the devil, the 
 world, and the flesh '! 
 
 " After morning prayer, the infants of the village 
 (of course those only one or both of whose parents 
 were already Christians) were assembled in the 
 Mission-house, where with their parents and spon- 
 
 T 
 
274 Stranger tf)an dTfctton. 
 
 sors, a congregation was formed nnmbering eighty- 
 four, and then eighteen infants, varying in age 
 from one week to five years, were baptized. 
 
 " In the evening, accompanied by Mr. Duncan, 
 I visited several houses in the village and baptized 
 five adults, who, through sickness or the infir 
 mities of age, were prevented attending the service 
 in church, making a total of eighty- four persons 
 baptized at Metlahkatlah, which, with the twenty- 
 two baptized at Kincoulith, gives a grand total of 
 1 06 persons added to the Church on this occa 
 sion. 
 
 " It must not be supposed that all who came 
 forward seeking holy baptism were accepted and 
 baptized merely because they desired to receive 
 that Sacrament. Some I deferred, not finding 
 them possessed of sufficient knowledge as to the 
 nature and solemnity of holy baptism, as to the 
 requirements of repentance and faith on their 
 parts, or of the promises of God made to them in 
 that Sacrament ; others I rejected on account of 
 some recent inconsistency of life, or some open sin. 
 The total number deferred at the two Missions 
 exceeded thirty." 
 
 Both the Kincoulith or Niskah Mission and that 
 at Metlahkatlah are carried on at the expense of 
 
^ttppTementari) Chapter. 
 
 275 
 
 the Church Missionary Society, the commitee of 
 which would doubtless gladly extend their work, 
 if only increased funds for the purpose were put at 
 their disposal.