Читать книгу In the Wake of the War Canoe - W. H. Collison - Страница 7

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"God's in His heaven,

All's right with the world."

—Browning.

It is interesting to note how British Columbia was first discovered. Other navigators had touched at various points along the coast; but it was Vancouver who first sailed round the island which now bears his name, and in his search for a north-west passage sailed up many of the inlets along the coast. While he was thus engaged in investigating the coast line another intrepid discoverer was forcing his way through difficulties and dangers from Eastern Canada to the coast. This was Alexander Mackenzie, whose discoveries have also been perpetuated by the noble river named after him.

It was befitting that the country destined to become the maritime province of the Dominion on the Pacific should thus be discovered by two of Britain's sons, the one by sea and the other by land; and whilst the one represented her maritime power and research, the other represented her commercial enterprise. Without knowing aught of one another, they had almost clasped hands, both as to time and place, so near were they to meeting on the coast. Mackenzie had urged his way onward across the Rocky Mountains, which had hitherto proved such a barrier between East and West, and when unable further to use his bark canoe, he and his men packed their provisions and other necessaries on their backs, and pushed onward for the coast.

His progress was opposed by tribe after tribe of Indians, few of whom had ever seen a white man before. But by caution and patience, accompanied by courage and perseverance, he overcame every obstacle, and at length emerged from the forest on the tidal waters of the Pacific, at the head of the inlet now known as Bentinck Arm. More than once his men attempted to turn back, but the courage and determination of their leader restrained and re-assured them, and he succeeded in fighting and forcing his way to the coast. Here, he recorded his exploit in the only way possible. Mixing a little vermilion with melted grease, he wrote on the face of a rock, "Alexander Mackenzie from Canada by land, the twenty-second day of July, One thousand seven hundred and ninety-three." The Indians there informed him that a great war canoe had just visited the Channel, and they exhibited some presents which the white chief of the great canoe had given them. This was Vancouver and his ship. These Indians had not been so affrighted by the visit of Vancouver's vessels as the Giatkatla Indians, a tribe near the mouth of the Skeena.

When they first sighted the ships which were approaching under sail, the Indians, who were fishing off shore for halibut, cast their lines overboard and fled. Leaving their canoes, they rushed into the forest, from which they watched the arrival of these strange sea monsters. They too, had been sighted from the ships, which came to anchor, and put off a boat to open communication and to interview them. But nothing would induce the Indians to come out from their concealment.

At length the white men kindled a fire, and proceeded to boil some rice in an iron pot. Their proceedings so interested the Indians that some of the more courageous approached to examine why the vessel, though placed on the fire, did not burn. They had never seen an iron vessel before, as all their cooking was done in cedar boxes with heated stones. When they saw the rice, they believed it was maggots, and when the white men proceeded to mix the rice with molasses, they concluded that it was the blood of their enemies whom they had slain. When invited to partake of it, they all fell back filled with astonishment. Then one of Vancouver's men raised a gun and fired at a flock of ducks which flew over the bay, one or two of which fell. At the report of the gun, with the flash of the powder and the fall of the birds, the Indians again fell to the ground in astonishment. They believed that these strange visitors were from the skies, as they could thus make thunder and lightning obey their will.

But the Indians who announced Vancouver's visit to Mackenzie were not so impressed. Probably they had heard of the white man's great flying canoes with their command of the thunder and lightning, as news of such moment would spread quickly from tribe to tribe. Vancouver's ships had been anchored within forty miles of the inlet when Mackenzie had struck the coast, and while his ships were at anchor, he and his officers, in their boats, had examined the neighbourhood, including the channel where Mackenzie so soon afterwards recorded his name and his success. This Vancouver had named Cascade Channel only a few days previously. He weighed anchor and sailed from this vicinity on the tenth of June, and on the twenty-second of the following month Mackenzie reached the spot. Thus both the coast and the interior of the country were discovered by Mackenzie, whilst at the same time Vancouver was surveying the coast. Yet, strange to say, it does not appear that either of them had given the newly discovered country a name. This is all the more singular when we remember that Vancouver named numerous places along the coast, and, together with Quadra, a captain of the Spanish navy, named the largest island on the coast as "Quadra and Vancouver," now, however, known only as "Vancouver's Island."

It remained for Simon Frazer, who was also an officer of the North-West Fur Trading Company, thirteen years afterwards, to make another journey of discovery to the coast from the interior, and to give a name to the country thus discovered. He encountered even greater difficulties than Mackenzie, as he did not follow the same route, but descended the river that now bears his name, which he mistook for the Columbia. That "history repeats itself," was illustrated in Frazer's adventure. At the period of the Roman invasion of Britain, the southern Britons called the inhabitants of the northern part of the island "Caoilldaoin," or the people of the woods. Hence the latinised name of Scotland—Caledonia. Frazer's parentage was of Scotland, and though he had never himself seen the rugged beauty of his fatherland, yet, from what he heard of it, he believed this new country, with its lofty mountains, mighty rivers, and expansive lakes resembled it, and hence he named it "New Caledonia."

But New Caledonia and Vancouver's Island, with the Queen Charlotte group, and all the coast islands, were included in the title of "British Columbia," which was given to it by "Victoria the Good," in a letter addressed by her Majesty to Sir E. Bulwer Lytton in 1858. This appears in the letters of Queen Victoria, which were published a few years ago, and runs as follows: "The Queen has received Sir E. Bulwer Lytton's letter. If the name of 'New Caledonia' is objected to as being already borne by another colony or island claimed by the French, it may be better to give the new colony, west of the Rocky Mountains, another name. New Hanover, New Cornwall, New Georgia, appear from the maps to be the names of subdivisions of that country, but do not appear on all maps. The only name which is given to the whole territory in every map the Queen has consulted is 'Columbia,' but, as there exists also a Columbia in South America, and the citizens of the United States call their country also 'Columbia,' at least in poetry, 'British Columbia' might be, in the Queen's opinion, the best name." Her gracious Majesty's decision was hailed with enthusiasm, and thus the western province of the Dominion will ever bear this honoured name.

British Columbia, the country thus discovered and named, lies between the forty-eighth and sixtieth degrees of north latitude, and is bounded on the east by the Rocky Mountains, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean and Alaska. The coast line is fringed by numerous islands, which form an almost continuous breakwater to the inner channel, and afford a safe and smooth passage for navigation along the coast for over six hundred miles. The principal islands are Vancouver's to the south, and the Queen Charlotte group of islands to the north. The latter, which were so named by Captain Dixon in 1787, are distant from the shores of the mainland about one hundred miles on the south, and about half this distance on the northern island. The country is very mountainous on the coast line, which is fringed by the coast range, whilst, further inland, rises the Cascade Range of mountains. Between the mountain ranges and the interior are numerous valleys, which offer excellent prospects for future settlements.

This, then, is the country and its coast, to which the attention of the Church Missionary Society was drawn in 1856. Numerous tribes of Indians were encamped along the coast, and on the islands, as well as on the lakes and rivers of the interior, where they had dwelt from time immemorial. The attention of the Society had been directed to the state of these Indian tribes thirty-six years previously, when the Red River Mission was begun, but the distance and inaccessibility of the country at that time deterred them from entering upon it.

Now, however, the call was clear, as a naval officer, Captain J. C. Prevost, who had been in command of H.M.S. Virago, had just returned from the British Columbian coast, where he had been engaged in connection with the settlement of the boundary line between British Columbia and the United States. Whilst there, he had witnessed enough to convince him of the necessity for a Mission among these too long neglected tribes. They were almost constantly warring, tribe against tribe, and had attacked ships and schooners, killing or capturing their crews, so that the services of this officer, with his command, had been called into requisition on several occasions to punish them.

He first communicated his report to the Editorial Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, at a meeting in Tunbridge Wells. This Secretary, the Rev. Joseph Ridgway, whilst sincerely sympathising with the officer in his appeal on behalf of the Indians, informed him that the Society had no funds in hand to enable them to undertake the proposed Mission, but requested him to write a report on the state of the Indians and their need, which he proposed to insert in the Society's publications. This was done, and the article appeared in the Intelligencer, with the result that, in the next monthly issue of this magazine, the sum of five hundred pounds was acknowledged, "from two friends," for the proposed Mission. Even with this sum in hand, which was probably supplemented by smaller contributions, the scheme might have been postponed yet longer had not a further stimulus been given. This was from the same naval officer, who informed the committee that he had been again commissioned by the Admiralty to proceed to the North Pacific coast, in command of H.M.S. Satellite, to sail in ten days, and that he was empowered to offer a free passage to a missionary, should the Committee be prepared to send one.

The Hon. Secretary of the Society at that time, the Rev. Henry Venn, at once proceeded to the Society's College at Highbury, where young men who had been accepted by the Committee were under training for the mission field. Here, a young man was found named William Duncan, who at once volunteered for the new Mission. In ten days he was ready, and having received his official instructions from the Committee, embarked as the messenger of the Gospel of Peace, on board a vessel of war, for his distant destination. This was on the twenty-third of December 1856, and nearly six months afterwards, on the thirteenth day of June 1857, the Satellite cast her anchor in Esquimalt harbour, near Victoria, Vancouver's Island. Here he remained, awaiting an opportunity to proceed northward to Fort Simpson, near to the Alaskan border, where he had been instructed to establish the Mission.

There were then over thirty thousand Indians[1] in British Columbia, speaking as many as eleven different languages, of which six were spoken by the Indians of the coast and islands, and the remaining five by the tribes of the interior. Of these languages, there are many dialects. Perhaps in no part of the world is the confusion of Babel so remarkably evidenced. The tribes in the vicinity of Fort Simpson are known as the Tsimshean. Their language is divided into three dialects, viz. the Tsimshean, the Nishka, and the Giatikshean. The Nishka is spoken by the tribes on the Nass River, whilst the Giatikshean is the language of the Indians on the Skeena River. There were three thousand Tsimshean Indians encamped around the fort.

Whilst waiting at Victoria, Mr. Duncan's time was not lost, as he made the acquaintance of the Governor, Sir James Douglas, who was also the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in the province. From him, Mr. Duncan received letters of introduction to the officer in charge of Fort Simpson, requesting that accommodation should be given him in the fort. This meant much for the missionary. It secured to him protection and privacy, besides affording him more leisure for the acquirement of the language. He arrived at Fort Simpson on the first day of October 1857. The Indians had heard that he was expected, and they gathered in numbers on the shore to see the white necromancer who could read their hearts. But they did not see much more of him that winter, as he at once applied himself to the study of the language, having secured the assistance of a young man, a Tsimshean, named Clah, who knew a little English, being employed in the fort. As Mr. Duncan failed to appear, a report spread amongst the Indians that the white Shaman had gone to sleep, as the bears did, during the winter.

The missionary had not been long in the fort, before he was enabled to witness some shocking scenes, which revealed to him something of the character of the natives amongst whom he had been called upon to labour. The first was the murder of a slave woman on the beach in front of the fort. After her body had been thrown in the sea, two bands of medicine men, some of them in a state of nudity, came rushing to the spot, howling like wolves, and having found the body, they rushed on it, and tore it to pieces, the two naked leaders each rushing off with half of the body which they had torn asunder. A few days afterwards, a man was shot close to the gates of the fort. In this case, it was the act of a chief who had been irritated whilst partly intoxicated. He fired the first shot, which failing to kill his victim outright, he ordered two of his men to despatch him, which they did, shooting him as he lay wounded on the shore. Such scenes as these only stimulated the missionary to renewed efforts to acquire their language, and in eight months he was enabled to deliver his first address, which with the aid of his interpreter he preached to every tribe in the encampment.

In the spring of 1860 Mr. Duncan first visited the Nass River. He was well received at the lower villages, where several of the chiefs feasted him and gave him presents of furs. One chief, Kadonāh, received him with a performance of the "Ahlied," much against the missionary's desire, as he feared it would prevent him from delivering the message which he was anxious to proclaim. But it rather opened up the way, and provided him with a large assembly to hear him. In Mr. Duncan's own account of it he states: "I had heard Kadonāh say that they intended to perform me their 'Ahlied,' but I requested him to have no playing, as I wanted to speak very solemnly to them. He promised me they would do nothing bad, but now that the feasting was over, much to my sorrow, he put on his dancing mask and robes.[2] The leading singers stepped out, and soon all were engaged in a spirited chant. They kept excellent time by clapping their hands and beating a drum. (I found out afterwards that they had been singing my praises and asking me to pity them and to do them good.) The chief, Kadonāh, danced with all his might during the singing. He wore a cap which had a mask in front, set with mother of pearl, and trimmed with porcupine quills. The quills enabled him to hold a quantity of white swansdown on the top of his head, which he ejected while dancing by poking his head forward; thus he soon appeared as if in a shower of snow. In the middle of the dance a man approached me with a handful of down and blew it over my head, thus symbolically uniting me in friendship with all the chiefs present, and the tribes they severally represented. After the dancing and singing were over, I felt exceedingly anxious about addressing them, but circumstances seemed so unfavourable on account of the excitement that my heart began to sink. What made the matter worse, too, was that a chief who had lately been shot in the arm for overstepping his rank began talking very passionately. This aroused me. I saw at once that I must speak, or probably the meeting might conclude in confusion. I stood up and requested them to cease talking, and every countenance became fixed attentively on me. I began, and was enabled to speak with more freedom and animation than I had ever done before in the Indian tongue. Much to my encouragement, the Indians unanimously responded at the finish of every clause. The most solemn occasion of this kind was when I introduced the name of the Saviour. At once every tongue uttered 'Jesus,' and for some time kept repeating that blessed name, which I hope they will not forget."

Thus the missionary had been well received by the scattering of the swansdown, which was the highest honour they could confer on a visitor. And they were not to be permitted to forget the message they had heard, nor yet the blessed name of Him who had sent it, for already the Church Missionary Society had under consideration the necessity of establishing a permanent Mission amongst the Indians on the Nass River.

But in the meantime a terrible visitation was impending. The smallpox, which had wrought such destruction among the Indians of British Columbia and Alaska years before, was again about to overtake them. Then it had come from the Russians through Sitka. Now it was about to attack them from Victoria, in the south. Thousands of Indians had congregated there from all the tribes on the coast, and when the dreaded disease broke out amongst them, the Governor, Sir James Douglas, issued an order that all the Indians should return to their respective encampments. But it was too late to stay the plague. They fled, but every canoe carried the infection. Along the entire coast of British Columbia and up into Alaska the disease spread. Out amongst the islands and up the rivers the Indians were stricken. The Nishka tribes were not exempted. Years before, when they had fled from the outburst of the lava, from the angry spirit of the mountain, they had escaped. But from this more subtle spirit there was no escape.

The medicine men confessed their inability to expel it from those who were seized with it, and declared it was the white man's disease. And so in dens and caves all along the coast they sought refuge, and many a canoe never returned, because the occupants had been exterminated.

A Tsimshean Indian and his wife, in a small canoe, were amongst those who sought to return. They had not proceeded very far when the woman realised that she had caught the infection. They hastened to find a sheltered camp, and soon she was covered with the dread disease. As the symptoms increased, she begged her husband to shoot her, and thus end her misery. He was perhaps glad of the opportunity to escape, so, loading his gun with a charge of shot, he first placed all his stuff in the canoe, and then, standing on the shore, he took leave of his wife by shooting her.

A few weeks afterwards, as he stood on the shore of his camp one day with some other of his tribesmen watching a canoe approaching from the south, he was astonished to see his wife amongst the passengers. Without waiting further he fled up the beach and concealed himself in his lodge. He probably believed that it was his wife's spirit which he had seen, and hence his terror. But she soon disabused his mind of this mistake, as she followed him up to the lodge, accompanied by a number of her friends, and brought her husband to bay. And to make matters worse for him, she declared the truth: how that her husband had shot her and left her to perish. This he had concealed from her friends, having informed them that she had died of the disease. Nevertheless the fact remained, and she did not deny it, that it was at her own request that her husband had shot her. But the result was just the reverse of what was expected. A number of the pellets of shot had struck her and caused her to bleed freely, which evidently had brought about a reaction. A vessel containing water stood near her, of which she was able to partake, and on the following day another canoe, homeward bound, stopped at the same encampment, and being of the same tribe they remained with her, acting the part of the Good Samaritan towards her until she was sufficiently restored to embark and return with them. This was but one of many strange adventures of this Indian, whom I attended in his last illness some years afterwards.

At length, on July 2, 1864, the Rev. R. A. Doolan, B.A., arrived at Metlakahtla, and it was decided that he should proceed to the Nass River and open the Mission there. Accordingly, he left Metlakahtla on July 20th, accompanied by Mr. Cunningham, a young layman who had been sent out by the Church Missionary Society to assist Mr. Duncan in the secular work of the Mission. A young man, a native Christian of the Tsimsheans, named Robert Dundas, also accompanied them to assist as interpreter and in the school work. The following extracts from Mr. Doolan's first letter to the Church Missionary Society, dated October 26, 1864, relates his experiences and impressions in the opening of this interesting Mission: "On the 20th of July we left Metlakahtla, and on our arrival at Nass took up our residence in the house of one of the chiefs. The Indians seemed very much pleased that we had come, and helped us as far as they could by setting up our tent in the house and by bringing us food in the shape of salmon. Our first step was to look out for a suitable site for a house, hoping that before the winter we might have a small house erected; and as the Indians are divided into three villages, separated from one another by narrow channels of the river, it was a difficult matter to pitch on a spot which should be equally advantageous to all. The Indians, seeing us busy in preparing the ground for the house, then believed we intended remaining during the winter. They could scarcely credit it as the cold is so intense. Our difficulty with regard to a schoolhouse was for the present removed by renting for a year from one of the chiefs an old deserted Indian house built in the most populous of the three villages. To put this in order before the winter was our next step. The chiefs and some of the other men came forward very readily and lent us bark and plank for roofing and flooring the schoolhouse, telling us they did not intend treating us as the Tsimsheans had treated Mr. Duncan. The time of the year when we had arrived was when most of the Indians were away making food, yet from the very first a small band of young men stuck to us, and these with others we employed in cutting wood for the house. To show the anxiety manifested by some among them to learn 'the Book,' as they called the Bible, I will give one instance. Two young men came down from their own village, a distance of thirty miles, and remained with us over two weeks till forced to return by want of food. Their sole motive for coming was to learn. Another lad, the son of a chief, has from the first remained with us. He has been sorely tempted more than once to leave. Four times in one afternoon men came to him as he was working for us, trying to induce him to accompany them to a whisky feast. He refused to go, telling them if he did we should be ashamed of him. I trust he will soon learn to resist temptation from higher motives than these. His father and mother are very angry with him, and have cast him off because he keeps with us. He tells us he constantly prays to God. At present he is here, and at Mr. Duncan's suggestion he is going to remain with him under instruction during the winter. I trust the Spirit is leading him to inquire after the Saviour; and that in the spring, should it be the will of God, he may be ready for baptism, the first-fruits from the Nass."

Polygamy is very prevalent among them. One chief has no less than five wives.