Part 14

"The charms and rattles of the leading medicine man are now in our possession, he having given them up, and he is now an earnest inquirer after the truth and is always present at the services. He was first brought into contact with the truth shortly before Christmas last in the following manner.

"A young man was brought home very sick, and I went to see him and found him suffering from a severe attack of 'brain fever', brought on by his swimming for some time in the cold salt water, in order to cure a severe headache which he had.

"I did all I could to alleviate his sufferings, and instructed his relatives as to how they should nurse him. This resulted in his resting more easily and in his obtaining some sleep, to which he had been a stranger for several nights.

"Not satisfied, however, with this, they sent off for the medicine-man, who was encamped up the inlet. He arrived at midnight, and at once commenced his whooping and rattling. This he continued at intervals, until the following day, when I paid him a visit.

"The house was full, and the patient evidently much worse. The medicine man, or 'Scahaga,' as he is called in their own tongue, had just finished another performance, and sat down exhausted as I entered.

"All appeared surprised at my intrusion, but I knelt down beside the sick man, and took his hand to feel his pulse. I shook my head, and then informed them that he was much worse. The medicine-man then answered in his own defence, and commenced by informing me that he had found out the cause of his sickness. A man from the other village had caused it by snatching the cap from the head of the sick man when up the inlet together, which had led to his being smitten or bewitched by a land otter. To this statement several agreed, as they stated the nervous twitches and convulsive movements of the sick man were exactly similar to the movements of the above-mentioned animal.

"I then addressed them all on the power of God and His dealings with man, and how that He alone bringeth down and raiseth up. I then called upon all to join with me in prayer for themselves and also on behalf of the sick man. The medicine-man was evidently humbled and discomfited, though ashamed to acknowledge it before so many. Shortly afterwards the young man died, and I attended his funeral, and gave an address and prayed, according to portions of the Burial Service. The medicine-man was present, and most attentive.

"From that time he appears to have lost faith in his profession, though he informed me that the 'Scahnawah,' or spirit, appeared to him, and advised him to continue his medicine work, which would be a source of great gain to him; but that he had replied, saying God's Word had come, and he was determined to give up his practice, and seek the salvation of his own soul. His long hair, which has never been cut, and which folded up serves him for a pillow at night, he speaks of having cut off as soon as he can do so with safety to his health. When I see him sitting at our services, clothed and in his right mind, I am reminded that the Gospel is now as ever 'the power of God unto salvation.'"

At Christmas (1878), when the Indians from other villages came in canoes to Massett, the usual festive custom of "dancing with painted faces, and naked slaves with their bodies blackened," was dispensed with, and in lieu of it the visitors were received by a choir of a hundred Hydahs, children and adults, chanting the anthem, "How beautiful upon the mountains." "The unanimous opinion of all was that the new and Christian welcome was far superior to the old heathen one."

In the same letter Mr. Collison mentions his translations, in which he had succeeded beyond his expectations. Portions of Scripture, a simple catechism, the Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the General Confession and Thanksgiving, several collects, ten hymns, and a series of "Short Addresses on Great Subjects," had been produced by him in the Hydah language.

Mr. Collison had visited several tribes at a distance, both on the islands more to the south, and on the coast of Alaska to the north. At Skidegate Inlet, which divides the two principal of the Queen Charlotte Islands, he had a particularly warm reception.

In a letter, dated March 21st, 1879, he wrote that he had thirty names on the list of catechumens, most of them heads of families.

Mr. Collison has since removed to Metlakahtla, to undertake the pastoral and school-work there. His place at Massett has been taken by Mr. G. Sneath, a zealous young missionary artizan, who twice went to East Africa to join the Victoria Nyanza Mission, and twice was ordered home by the consular surgeon at Zanzibar, and who has now essayed missionary service in a colder climate.

XI.

OUTLYING MISSIONS. III.--FORT RUPERT.

Fort Rupert is a trading post at the northern end of Vancouver's Island, some three hundred miles south of Metlakahtla. In that neighbourhood are found the Quoquolt Indians, and among them a Mission has lately been begun. This is, however, but a tardy response to their repeated entreaties for a teacher. It has always been a problem beyond their power to solve, why, when Mr. Duncan first arrived on the coast, he actually sailed past them on his voyage from Victoria, and went first to the Tsimsheans, who were so much further off; and on one occasion they stoutly remonstrated with the captain of a man-of-war, sent to punish them for marauding on the territory of another tribe, that they were left without a teacher, and were only visited when they had done wrong.

In due time teachers did appear, in the shape of a party of Roman Catholic priests; and Mr. Duncan, stopping at the Fort when on a voyage to Victoria in 1860, found that two of them had been there and had taught some of the Indians "a hymn to the Virgin Mary in the trading jargon." "I told them," he adds, "of Jesus the true and only Saviour, which the priests had neglected to do." These Romish Missionaries held their ground for eleven years, and then abandoned the Quoquolts as hopeless. As will be seen however, their hopes revived when at length a Protestant Missionary was found to be gaining an influence over the tribe.

In October, 1875, the head chief at Fort Rupert took the three hundred miles journey to visit Metlakahtla, and once more preferred his request. He addressed the Christians of the settlement, and said that "a rope had been thrown out from Metlakahtla, which was encircling and drawing together all the Indian tribes into one common brotherhood." Mr. Duncan planned to go and begin a Quoquolt mission himself; but it proved quite impossible for him to leave his multifarious work at the settlement, and ultimately the Rev. A. J. Hall, who was sent out in 1877, volunteered to go.

It was on March 12th, 1878, that Mr. Hall landed at Fort Rupert, and was kindly received by the Hudson's Bay Company's officer in charge. A large Indian house was purchased for the price of sixty blankets, and a school at once opened. On June 11th, Mr. Hall wrote:--

"I have taught them one English hymn, 'Jesus loves me, this I know,' and three simple chants in their own language; also three prayers--one the Lord's Prayer, four texts which they read from the black board, and a catechism, arranged and taught by Mr. Duncan at Fort Simpson. All this instruction has been given in their own tongue, translated to me by Mr. Hunt's son, who acts also as my interpreter at the Sunday services.

"I have been able to hold two services every Sunday since I first came, and sometimes I have had perhaps eighty attend. Many are away from the village now, trading and visiting other tribes, so that my congregation is reduced. I have felt it a great privilege to stand up before this dusky assembly and open up to them the Word of Life. They are all clothed in blankets, some of them highly ornamented with needle -work and pearl buttons. When they enter the building, the men take off the bandannah handkerchiefs which are tied round their heads, and squat all around me. The men sit on one side, and the women on the other, as a rule. This fact is in consequence of the inferior position of the women, and because they are not allowed to attend the meetings which the men constantly hold to talk over the affairs of the camp. At first my congregations came with painted faces, and were little inclined to stand when we sang. They are now, however, more clean in their appearance, and, with few exceptions, rise when I play the tune on my English concertina.

"I have almost exclusively spoken to them from the Book of Genesis, and have brought in the work of our Lord from these lessons, e.g., when speaking on sacrifices, the offering of Isaac, and the life of Joseph. These narratives in Genesis have attracted them very much, and they listened very attentively to my interpreter. All my addresses are written before I enter my church, and read to the interpreter, and therefore, I believe, they are already acquainted with many truths from God's Word, which do strike against the immorality in which they are living. Sometimes, when I speak in the church, they talk among themselves, either approving what is said, but more often because the truth spoken is a rebuke to some of them."

In a later letter, dated March 1st, 1879, Mr. Hall further describes his interesting congregation;--

"The Indians did not rush to my services at first, and then drop off. No! a few came at first, and they have gradually increased, and on the Sunday before they all went to Alert Bay there were probably eighty at my first service, the majority being men--men who have frequently committed murder, and who have bitten each other from their youth upwards in the winter dances. Medicine-men were present who have often eaten the bodies of dead men, exhumed from their graves, and who to this day are dreaded by all the people, because there is not an Indian in the camp but that superstitiously believes these doctors can kill them by their sorcery. I cannot tell you yet that these wicked men who come to my services are earnestly seeking a better way. I cannot tell you yet that I can see any change in them. I know that some of them hate me and my message, and speak against it; but they come and hear the truth; and who can say but that God will give them His Holy Spirit, and that they may be turned from darkness to serve the living and true God?

"My congregation will not sit upon the forms I have had made; they prefer to draw their dirty blankets tightly round them, and to squat on the floor. When I am speaking, they generally rest their heads upon their bent knees, and fix their eyes upon the floor. Not a muscle seems to move, and they appear to drink in every word that is spoken to them, as if they thirsted for the truth. In teaching these people I treat them as children, but I know they have nothing of the gentleness and simplicity of children; they are cunning, 'deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.'"

The Roman Catholics having left a memorial of their abandoned mission in the shape of a good school-house, which was standing idle, Mr. Hall wrote to them at Victoria for leave to use it. The request was refused, "because," they wrote, "our missionaries may require it again." And a few months afterwards, when Mr. Hall was beginning to feel his way among the people, a priest appeared at Nu-wit-ty, the northern point of Vancouver's Island, thirty miles from Fort Rupert, just when Mr. Hall was visiting the tribe residing there. He (the priest) called a meeting of the Indians, concerning which Mr. Hall writes, on March 10th, 1879:--

"The Indians went to the meeting, and I went as well; probably one hundred were present. He told them to kneel down; they did so, and then he told them to look at him, and cross themselves as be did, and the poor Indians followed him. He then told them about the Fall, and it was very good what he said; but soon he spoke of a way that went to heaven, and one that went to hell, and he told them that if they followed him he would lead them to heaven, and that if they followed me they all would go to hell, and I should go with them. He said he wanted to baptize them, and then they would be as white as snow. When he spoke against me, many Indians interrupted him, and one went up to where he was standing and blew a lamp out. They then called out my name, and wished me to address them. I did so, and told them all to kneel down, and put my hands together, telling them to do the same. We repeated the Lord's Prayer, which is very beautiful in the Indian language; they call it 'good words.' When the priest spoke I took my hat off and listened, but when I spoke the priest kept his hat on, and smoked all the time.

"My address had been written some time before; it was about 'Lying, stealing, pride, and drunkenness.' Perhaps I did wrong, but I did not refer to what the priest had said against me. George Hunt, who was present, was indignant at the way the priest spoke, and, directly the priest finished, he made an earnest speech in my favour. In coming away from Hu-wit-ty, the head chief begged me to come and live among them, and I promised I would do something for them."