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IPancoupct
ITelan^..

;-^-

AND

ITS /MISSIONS

1874-1900

REMINISCENCES

-ov

THE REV, A. J, BRABANT

4' 1

PREFACE.

THIilSE reminiscences were not written for publication, i had kept a
journal for my personal use — /u^c olim mcminisse jitvabit — and
also for the benefit of priests who in the course of time would follow me
in the same field of labor. As I was sent out by Bishop Christie, D.D. of
the diocese of Vancouver Island, now Archbishop of Oregon, to take up a
collection for the needs of our Indian work, the editor of the Messenger of
the Sacred Heart proposed to publish the " Reminiscences,'' so as to
attract the attention of his numerous readers and facilitate my work of
collecting ; and as his proposition was accompanied by a generous remu-
neration I succumbed to a very strong temptation.

The reader will notice at once many defects and some misspelled
Indian names of places with which the editor was naturally unfamiliar and
which the writer had not a chance to correct in the proofs. The correct
terms are printed below in a list of Errata. I hope to issue the '' Remi-
niscences'' in a different form in the course of time, and also to add sev-
eral chapters of ancient historical facts about this unknown coast and
people. Meanwhile I send a copy of them as they now read to old and
new friends.

Those who have neither the taste nor leisure to read them in ex-
tcnso will please cast a glance at the closing chapter ; and after doing so
will put their hands into their purse and send a contribution to the needs
of our missionary labors.

Thereby they will secure a share in our usual prayers and Holy
Sacrifices for our benefactors and deserve the heartfelt thanks of their
Humble Servant in Christ,

(Revd.) A. J. Brabant,

Hesquiat, B. C.

West Coast Vancouver Island, Canada.

..1 .J

ERRATA.

Fage I— For San Juan de Fuco, read Juan de Kmo.

" I — " there are, rea 1 ihert- -ir/v absolutely no white settlers.

" I — " except, read fillier on foot or horseback.

" 3 — " Trapsota, read Kragsota.

" 3 — " Nakoun, reatl Jlakooni.

" 4— " McKay, read McKay.

" 4 — " Kiristog, tend Kwi.stog.

" 4 — " I. any, read l.anj;.

" 5— " Clarkkouikoie, read Clnrkkonikoiie.

" 5, 20 — For " With Kdutl,' read " Wish K'n il '

" 6 — For F.chochist, read Kcha-chist.

" 6, 14, 18— For Opfcssat, read Opetsat.

" 6 — For Siekn, read 'I'sieka.

" 9 — " Neiwhoi, read Heiwhoi.

" 10, 16— For Newchaliots, read Newchnlats.

" 10 — l*'or Khetlesat, read Fhattisat.

" 12 — " Ochuklesat, read Ochuklisat.

" 14 — " Kgatisni, read Khaitisat. •

*' 14, 16 — For Ksik ta-kis, read 'I'sik-la-kis.
, '• i() — For ( ah Sis, read 'I'nh Sis.

" 18 — " Mdkivinna, rend Mokwinna,

" 20 — " Wannicaiuit, rcatl Naniucaniis.

" 20- - Wanainio, rt-iid Nanainio.

" 21, 8.; — For Aliierin, rea<l .Mbrrni.

" 21 — ^For Cuglar, ic.id Taylor.

" 21 — " Iseshals, read Tsesh.its.

" 23 — " KeasI, read Keasl.

" 26, J I — For I.etlet, rca«i I.eplet.

'' 27— For Mcowchal. read Mowuchal.

" 27 - " Ned Thoriilierg, rt-ad Fred 'rhornbcig.

" 27 — " Murray, read Marlin.

" ,51-- " " Asi-tikis,"' reail " Tsatikis."

" 42 — " St. Anthony, read St. Aiilhonine.

" 47, 48 — For " oseniecli "' read " oseinitch."

" 47 — For " Wa-we-nienie," read " lla wc-iin.''

" 47 — " Kwa-yetsininii, read Kwa-yetsini.

" 47— " Kwaitliume, read Kwayeisim.

" 48 — " Wawilt-illsois, read llawiti-illsois.

" 48— " " Wakoni " read " Hakooni."

" 59 — '* Djekiesat, read Chicklisat.

" 59 — " mar, read way.

" S9i 7' — For " osenitcli.'' read " oseniitch."

" 66, 67, 75 — For " C'hookwahu," read Tlokwnhnn.

" 8j — For leaking schooners, read sealing schooners.

^■■■PB-

CONTENTS.

PAOI

The field of lal)or I

First visit to the " West Coast " Indians 3

Second visit 12

First mission estal)iishe(l at I Ie»i|uint. —Wreck of the Imrk /c"r/;i'/« ai

Incidents of missionary trip on the coast aj

Smallpox in the village. — Hurial of dpn<i 34

Murderous attack of Matlahaw 36

Would-be revenge on culprit by Indians 27

News of attempt on life carried to Victoria. — Arrival of ISishop Segher" on a man-of-war 28

A dead whale towed in shore. -Mysterious powers of chief " Koninnah "and how obtained 33

Inciilenls attending the birth of an Indian child ; names 33

'I he Indian feast " I'otlach " . . • 35

hirst Catholic funeral 36

Iturying people alive . . ... 3i

Ancient mode I'f removing the dead, crying, etc 39

The suspicions conduct of a chief. 40

Keturn of chief " Townissim " from prison 42

Klessing of church. — Making a canoe .... 42

Salmon season and superstitions about salmon ... 43

A ghost story and reiiults of trip t<i his alH>de 43

More trouble about r he salmon and successful fishing 45

Trip to lliirclay Sdund. — l-'ear of reporters 47

The superstitious practice " osemitch," with interesting details. ---ICclipse. — Dreams . . 47

Death (if '■ Nitaska " and intrigues of " niedicine women " 49

Death attributed to liiiw ling of dog SO

Chief '■ lownissim's life in diinger 5'

Kyuijuot Indians on war path 51

."^tringe feelings of Indians " tempore " famine 51

New mission built at " \amucamis," Barclay Sound 52

Kxtraordinary powers claimed by a juggler 55

\ pagan marriage, cerenmnies. feasts 55

Thunder and lightning ... ... , 5tj

Dilficuhies anenl birth of first Christian child 00

The Sorcerer ( medicine man or woman) (n

A new Sorcerer initiated (\\

Trouble about keeping Sunday 64

Trip to Virtoria, with interesting details. — Narrow escape from drowning (14

Sacred blanket 06

The festival " I'lokwahna " wolf feast ... 67

Church built in Ahonsat 6,S

.\n old Indian house. -.\ case of twins. — .V cra/y man successfully treated 69

An Indian Christian marriage 69

( >rder issued to wear pants. — Seal hunting. — Rules observed 70

Sea-otter hunting 71

Wreck of bark Mnllfvilli\ burial of dead 72

Death of " Wewiks.

.\ bad case 76

Contirmation administered by .\rchbi.shop Seghers 77

tness and

death of Indian children 7S

Sickii

Murder committed by " rsinii|\mh

PAOB

Narrow escape of »cbooner Favorite, Capt. McLean to

Towniuim dies.— Church built at Nootica '. 83

Chief Antonin dies a Christian. — His house burned 84

A whiskey case 84

Odd conduct of young, dying men 84

Intrusion of Protestant preachers. 85

Attempt to build an industrial school frustrated 86

An unsuccessful physician. — Death of good woman 86

Orders to build an industrial school for Indian children 87

Conclusion 88

VANCOUVER ISLAND AND ITS MISSIONS.

i(S74-i9oo.

REMINISCENCES OF THE REV. A. J. BRABANT.

Illustiattd a'ith Photographs taken h\ the Author.

The Fill. I) oi I,ai!()k.

ON the west coast of N'ancouvcr
Island, betwcfii the entrance of
the Strait of San Juan de Fuco and
Cape Cook, there Uve eighteen differ-
ent tribes of Indians, forming, as it were,
only one nation, as they all speak the
same language. Their manners, mode
of living, in one word, all their habits
are so much alike, that to know one
tribe is to know them all. This coast,
at the time of our taking possession of
it, was exclusively inhabited by Indians.

Four trading posts had, however,
been established and were eai h in
charge of one white man. Hut l>esides
these four men there are absolutely no
white settlers to be found on this exten-
sive coast of nearly two hundred miles.

1 need hardly say that communication
was very rare, for beyond a couijle of
small schooners, that made an occ asional
call on the coast for the purpose of su])-
plying the stores with goods and pro-
visions, and at the same time making a
trading call at different tribes, no vessels
freijuented this part of the world. I

Copyrighted, 1900. hy Apcistlksiiii' ut Pkavkr.

have been as much as six months with-
out seeing the face of a white man, and
consequently speaking a » ivilized lan-
guage.

When the news of the death of Pius
IX. reached me, I,eo XIII. was already
two months on the Papal throne. .\s
a matter of fact, it was close on five
months sin< e I had received a news-
])ai)er, a letter, or a word of news of the
civili/ed world.

All the Indians of this mission live on
the sea ( oast, and intercourse between
the different tribes is impossible, except
by means ol Canoes. No two tribes can
visit each other. ex( ept on foot or horse-
back, as their several residences are
separated by inlets and arms of the
ocean. As a rule the nuini)er of chances
for visiting are limited, especially dur-
ing the fall and winter season, for no
< anoe could live iu the incessant, heavy
weather and indescribable gales which
rage on this open coast. When travelling
I have been many a time compelled to
camp and wait for days before being able
to continue my journey, owing to the
dangerous seas and heavy surf which

V^incoiiver Islaml and Its Missions.

would spring tij) without even an hour's
not!) e.

I'he coast is rugged and rocky, pre-
senting in its entire extent the ap-
pearance of desolation and barrenness.
The hills and mountains run down to
the l)ea< h ; the valleys are lakes, and
a few pat' hes of low land, to he encoun-
tered here and there, are covered with
worthless tiuiher. No clear land is to
be seen anywhere, and no hopes ran he
entertained that the west coast ol \an-
couver Island will ever he available tor
agri< iiltural settlements.

The climate is not very different from
that of N'ictoria. 'Ihe seasons of rain
and hne weather are about eipially
divided : the frost is not heavy, and snow
seldom falls to any depth, and then lies
on the ground only for a few days.
With all this, the fall and winter months
are dreary beyond expression. The In-
dians seem not to notice the general de-
pression of the seasons, but for one born
and raised elsewhere, accustomed to the
society of his fellow white men, there are
no words to ( onvey how monotonous it
is. and how lonesome one would feel
were it not for the thought of the sacred-
iiess of the object lor which he is
here.

Nothing in the world could tempt me to
come and sjjcnd my life here were it not
that the inhabitants of these inhospitable
shores have a i laim on the charily and
zeal of a Catholic i)riest.

The <iuestion has often been asked ;
Was there ever a Catholic jiriest or were
there Catholic missions established on
the west coast before the existenc e of the
present establishments ?

My answer, which is in the affirmative,
was not sought or t'ound in books or
records, but I got it from the Indians
themselves. My first informant was an
elderly man, not a chief, but one of those
men of importance to be found in every
tribe, whose chief pride seems to consist
in watching all the important events of
the day and in assisting the chiefs with
their counsel and judgment.

I found njy informant ('I'ragsota) on
an early summer morning sitting outside
of his house in close conversation with
his wife. As I passed by he hailed i>e
and our conversation i omnienced.

" \\'a> there ever a priestin Nootka? "
" oh yes," he said, " at the time of
the Spaniards there were two priests,
big stout men, and they both were bald-
headed. My grand-u''(le, who told me
this, used to < ome round to Iriendly
Cove, and the white men would keep
Sunday. I'here was the Sundiy house''
— l)ointing to a spot about the < entre of
the present village- "and they would go
on their knees and ( ross themselves, and
at the turn of the winter solstice they had
a great Sunday and they had two iiabies

— is not that what you now call Christ-
mas? Oh yes. there were jiriests here,
and all the men and women would have
to bathe on Saturday and be ready fcjr
Sunday, and they learned songs — hvmns

— I know them yet."

.And the old man began to sing, but the
only words I could ( at( h were : .U/-/)/os.

It is evident from the above narrative
that at the time of the occui)ation of
Nootka by the Spaniards, towards the
end of last century, the missionaries of
South America belonginj; to the I'ran-
ciscm order, hence described by the
Indian as being bald, evidently on ac-
count of the tonsure, and as stout, big
men because they appeared such in their
heavv l-'ranciscan cloaks, were stationed
at Nootka for the accommodation of the
Europeans and also to a certain extent
f(jr the c onversion of the natives.

The old man had much more to say
about the presence of the Spaniards in
Nootka. One of the men was in charge
of the cattle, which he would bring
home every day ; which, of course,
argues the presence of those useful
domestic animals on this coast before
there were any in other parts of the
island. He also showed us the spot
where the blacksmiths and carpenters had
their shops, and gave many other details,
which proves that events of importance

\'anc(»iivt'r Islariil ami Its Missions.

arc not -.o^ooii lorgottcii by Indians, in
general, as white men nna(<|iiaintcd with
thrni woulil imagine.

I havr not notic od .my tracts of rr-
lij;ions prat ti( cs inaugurated \>y Calli-
olicSp.miards. However, it has strm k
me as |irol)al>le that the ),'reat devotion of
tlie Spaniards to the ISlessed Virgin .Mary
and especially that of Catholic sailors,
may have been thesoun eof an invocation
freipuntlv tittered by Indians during bad
weather or in danger at se.i. M;iny a
time 1 have heard them sing out in ipiii k
siKtession: '• Chouchist Nakowm,"
" ( hou t hist Na-
kowm," ••(^)ueen.
let the sea be
i| 111 e t " ( bis ).
And many a time
I have h e a r d
them speak of a
'• (| n * e n " un-
known to them,
liut living in or
beyond the seas.

I h a v e also
been inclined to
believe tliat the
practice of keej)-
ing C'hrislmasand
having the Christ-
mas liolidays may
account for the
Indians' yet hav-
ing recourse at
that si)e< iat lime
to their devotion-
al practices. It used to be of the great-
est inii)ort.inie to watch and observt- tlie
solsti( eof the sun about ('hri>tmas time.
The old men of the tribe would rise early
on those days and in bunt hes would retire
to different s]pots. Ilach one had his mark
or signs— there he would sit, all attention,
and soon as the sun rose out of the sea
he would take his bearings and accord-
ing to the (act that the sun rose at or be-
yond such a ( ertain mark he woukl (on-
clude that tiie sun was at its solstice, not
yet at it, or ])erha])s beyond it.

The event caused an amount of gen-

er.il interest, it was the l.dk at neals and
the great topic of conversation with the
Indians of every tribe. .\c<ording to
the old nten the want of attention. or the
iieglet t of watching this ull'ini|>ortant
event, would be followed by all kinds of
misfortunes, not e.\eluding famine. The
.irrival of this period was the signal for
the preaching of the old people [to their
young men to go out and practice their
sujierstitious devotions.

I'eyond these indifferent signs of re-
ligious practices which may have had
their origin at the time ot the settlement

by the S|)aniards
at .N'ootka. I have
never b'-en able
to detect . vthing
but that tiie In-
dians at the time
o^ ,.' arrival here
were addi> ted al-
most beyoiid re-
demption to every
de .( rijiiion of pa-
gan pr.ictices.

MiSSInNS
I'l^lAllllslll II.
\ I s ri- I (> 1 H K
W Ksl ( (i.\>r IN-
hlANs IN 1874
IIV KKilll KKV.
( IIAKI Is I. sr.C-

iir.Ks. 1'. h., \( -

< oMI'ANll 1> nv
KKV. A I. IIKA-
r.AN I.

We lelt \i( toria on \\ hit Sunday at S
c. clo< k in the morning on the s( hooner
Siir/^i IS,-, twenty-eigiit tons, belonging to
('apt. W. Spring \ Co.

('apt. I'eter KiaiK is was in connnand.
John Peterson, a Swede, was mate, and
the rest of the crew was a Kyui|uot
Indian called Nomucos, acting as ( ook,
sailor and boatswain, and ('hegchiei)e, a
.Mowiichat savage, assistant sailor. Mr.
John M( Dowell was a passenger, and was
on his way to fix the machinery of the
light-house just then established on Ca[)e
IJeale, Barclay Sound.

HkAl;AV I .

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

We left Victoria harl)or witii a strong
southeasterly wind, and were at Rate
Rocks before lo o'( lock a.m. Here the
wind failed and our schooner began to
drift about, and working with the oars
was required to keep her off the Rocks.
However, we got safely at anchor about
2 o'clock in Reeche Hay, where we went
on shore and visited the Indians, from
whom we received a good reception.
.After an address, made by His Lordship.
I baptized two of their infant children.
.\]»ril 13. — Next morning we weighed
anchor. Sailed out a short distance,
but the wind failing us again, we managed
to return to our anchorage to make a
new start about 8 a. m. Once more the
breeze dropped, and by this time we be-
gan to drift with the tide till we got half
way between Race Roi ks and Port .\n-
gelos. Our captain was now so badly
intoxicated that upon His Lordship's, with
a view to trying the old man, asking him
the direction of Cape Flattery, he pointed
to us the 0])ening l)etween San Juan
Island and Trial Island. 2 v. m., south-
erly wind; lost sight of X'ictoria :it 3.30
r. M.

.\]m\ 14. — Rain; no wind; 7.30 a.m.,
southwest by south. Enter San juan
harbor at 3.30 i'. m. and cast anchor
outside of the reef at 3.30.

The schooner Favorite, Captain Mc-
Kay, and the schooner A/e/f, Captain j.
Christianson, were here at anchor, and
were making preparations to go out seal-
ing next morning with a crew of Xitinat
and Pachena Indians.

\\m\ 15. — We went on shore about
7 A. M. The Indians were sitting out-
side. They were startleil to see us in
our cassocks, to them an unusual kind of
garment. The IJishop asked to see their
chief and was soon shown into the pres-
ence of a fine looking man — Kiristog —
who, as we noticed at once, was then
leading the life of a bigamist. His Lord-
ship asked the chief's consent to assem-
ble the natives of that locality and he at
once consented. Here 1 was suddenly
com])elled to make room for a blind

horse, which was led into the house by a
young Indian and was then, as we no-
ticed, stabled in the chief's house.

The Indian,-: withal behaved very well
and, upon allowing us to l)aptize their
chiUlren, requested as a favor that we
continue to look after them. The num-
ber of baptisms was forty-three.

The captains of the sealing vessels
were most impatient to take the Indians
out, but they were told that if the priests
wanted the Indians to stay on shore
three days they should have the privi-
lege ; which new- was to them a caution
to keep their temper. Howover, we
left the Indians at 2 i'. m.; we went on
board of the Sn/frisc ; they in their
turn went on board of their respective
vessels.

The wind was blowing from the west
and blew up into San Juan harbor. The
vessels weighed their anchors about the
same time, had up sails and were ready
for a start in unusually ipiick time. And
now the race began. ()ur skip])er was
about sober and did his best to win. but
the Favorite got ahead of him and be-
fore long the Alert went first and ke])t
ahead of her frienils. The race was fiiirlv
conducted and was a very pleasant
episode of our western tri]).

.\l)ril 16. — Xowind. Caught a breeze
at 12 o'clock. I!ntered Dodger Cove
at I I'. M. The chief was living
alone on Mission Island (Diana). Two
canoes full of Indians came over from
Keehan, but were told to go back till
next morning, which they did with con-
siderable reluctance. The Indians
lookeil well, a line, healthy set. They
wore blankets, no pants ; had their .
hair nicely done up and tied with
grass in a bunch over the forehead.
.Most of them had their faces painted,
and the crowd that came on the schooner
presented a very ])!( turestpie sight.

April 17. — Said Mass in the house of
Mr. Andrew l.any, the storekeeper, at 5
A. \i. The chief was already there ad
dressing his Indians from the other side
of the stream, exhorting them to rise.

X'ancouver Island and Its Missions.

wash ;ind clean themselves and children,
announcing to them our wish to see them
and telling them that great things were
in store for them.

The Indians arrived from Keehan and
other camping places and assembled at
8 o'clock in the house of an Indian
called ''Jenkins," the chief having no
house large enough at this place to con-
tain all his people. The savages paid
great attention to the !'.ishop's instruc-
tion given in Chinook and interpreted
into the Indian language by "Harry"
and his brother ' ' J enkins. ' '

kose, \'iilage Island, Barclay Sound,
where we passed a very comfortable
night in smooth water.

April iS.— Up and away at 5 .\. m.
Rain, heavy sea. We arrived at 9 a. m.
at Icluliat, where the Indians were
expecting us. The chief came at once
for us in his canoe and upon Hearing the
camp one of the Indians fired off his
gun to announce to the Indians that we
were on board ; whereupon all the tribe
turned out at once and assembled in the
new, unfinished house of young 'With
Koutl," the chief of the Icluliats.

>\ 111 KK-- ANli SAII UK--

In this and in every tribe on the
coast instruction was begun by stating
who we were, what was our object ; tlien
followed a history of the creation, the lall
of man, the deluge, the multiplication of
languages, the redemption of mankind :
after which, if agreeable to the nati\i.s,
baptism was administered to their little
children. And, if time was left, a few
hymns and songs were taught. I>iit in
all cases the teaching of the Sign of the
Cross and the making of that sign by the
Indians was the great thing and caused
real e.xcitement. We had in this camp
eighty baptisms of young children.

We left at 6 o'clock in the evening
and went ;o our anchor at Clarkkoui-

11. M. >. l;i'\lU. N<"i|K\ IM'IWS.

< >ur arriv.il caused a deal of excitement.
( )ur interpreter had a thundering voice,
but we were told he did not translate
llis Lordship's words with much correct-
ness. Perhaps he thought that shout-
ing would have the necessary effect. I
baptized seventy-five children in the
afternoon.

.\pril 19. — Sunday morning: Mass
at5.,v>in the storekee])er's house and
then at S .\. m off to the ranch. The
Cl.iyociuot Indians <ame over to join the
Uduliats and their nine children re-
ceived baptism. Here the first effort
was made to translate the sign of the
Cross into the Indian language.

April :;o. — At sunrise we were already

■ISHaiil

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

at sea and beating against a strong west-
erly wind, but we did not reach Clayoquot
till April 21, at 9 a. m. Sitakenin and
half a dozen of his Indiars came out to
meet us at sea. We went on board of
his canoe and he took us to the chief's
house, where two new Indian mats were
laid on the floor, forming a jjath to the
end of the lodge, where boxes and trunks
covered with fine mats were prepared to
be used by us as seats and footstools.
His Lordship addressed the Indians on
the usual topics, then I baptized ninety-
three children, after which we went to
our schooner which was at anchor off
Captain Stubb's Island, Warren's store
(Chut-chut tuts).

April 22. — We went early in the
morning to the camp ( Echo-chist), Vil-
lage island, where we had met the In-
dians the day before. Strange to say,
the Indians seemed (piite indifferent and
His Lordship concluded to leave them,
not, however, before giving them a good
scolding. Then we went to the schooner
about noon and preparations were at
once made to continue our voyage. Af-
ter sailing a short distance we got on the
sand bank off "Opessat," but as the
tide was rising, we got off about 1.30
I*. M. Then with a light breeze we took
the direction of " Ahousat, " but about
3 I'. M. we saw a canoe in the distance.
The Clayocjuot chief and six young men I
They wanted us to return. The Hishop
at first refused, but their reijuest was so
earnest and their promise of taking us
to Ahousat the next day so favorable,
that His Lordship at last concluded to
return. The Indians who came to fetch
us had only just then arrived in the
schooner from I'cluliat, where the\ had
seen us for a few minutes two tlays
previously. They had tried to meet us
at their own home, but were doubly dis-
appointed to fmd us jione and to hear
that their friends had not shown more
zeal and had failed to learn the canticles
and songs now repeated by every tribe
which we had visited.

.\t 6 1". M. we were at work again at

" Lcho-chist, " and we were happy that at
10.30 p. M. the Indians at last allowed us
to lie down and take some rest. This was
my first night in an Indian camp ; and in
the morning my memory was clear on all
the events of that night. I had heard the
crying of Indian <hildren, and the < oax-
ing and singing of their mothers to get
them to sleep again. .\n old couple had
a row in the middle of the ni^hl : over
a do/en big dogs, supposed to sleep,
were constantly awake, growled, b.irked,
fought, yelled, ran in and out of the
dwelling, got in trouljle with the cats,
and would not stop their uproar, except
after twenty times "Sieka," uttered by
a sleepless savage, followed by a piece of
fire-wood, again accompanied by a new
yelling and barking. Over half a dozen
roosters were sleeping on the loft cross-
piece of the house, and, with their usual
pride, as if they were making daylii;ht
come and the sun rise, would stop their
crowing chorus, only to recommence
again a few minutes later. .\11 this time
the Bishop thought I was fast asleep
alongside of him under one blanket, but
I knew that he was not, for he was < on-
tinually turning about. Now and then
he would give a ([uick but well deter-
mined scratch on his lower limbs, and in
the morning he told me that all the cause
of his troubles had been the Indian's
friends the " t1eas."

April 23. — At 5.30 our Indian crew
was ready ; six stalwart young men,
headed by the chief of the tribe. It was
a beautiful morning, the sun rising in all
his glory. The Indians struck uj) our
songs and paddled with courage and hap-
])iness over the calm waters of Clayociuot
Sound.

At 1 o'clock we arrived at the foot of
the Catface mountains. Here was the
.\housat tribe, in expectation of our
coming, increased by the arrival of all the
Keltsemats, ready and prepared to receive
us. Four Indians stood on the beach,
and were a deputation sent by the Indi-
ans, wiio were already in the chiefs
house, to show us into the lodge. Mats

\'ancouv(tr Island and Its Missions.

formed a pathway
from the water to
the camp, and, in-
side, mats and
sails were hang-
ing about along
the walls, whilst
the floor was cov-
ered with more
mats ; and a reg-
ular throne was
formed, with box-
es and trunks,
nicely covered
over ; and to this
jjlace we were
shown by the
members of the

deputation. A dead silence reigned in
the house, but we could well notice
that we were in the presence of real
savages. We were astonished that no
dogs. such a nuisance about Indian camps,
were to be notic ed, but we were next in-
formed that already the day previous,
and early in the morning, canoe loads of
the canine soecies had been taken across
the sound and safely landed on the
islands opposite, lest they should be a
cause of displeasure to us.

After the usual instructions, I admin-
istered baptism to one hundred and
thirty-five little children.

The afternoon was spent in teaching
songs and the Sign of the Cross. Such
was the zeal of these Indians that, when
we went on board of the schooner to
take our meals, they would stay in the
bouse, and hardly leave us time to finish,
but wanted us to rec ommence our work
at once.

In the evening we were reipiested to
listen to what they had to say to us. The
speeches began by those of the two head
chiefs, followed by other chiefs, chiefly
women ; and one fellow got up, took his
lilanket,hisonly covering,from his shoul-
ders, and after showing it to us, he threw
it with an emphatic gesture far away from
him. siyingthat " he threw away his bad
heart. ' ' Nothing could stop the speech-

Wm'^

-. ---?p->''^*

fmmm

INUI.VNS SI.Ar(.ll lEKIM. A \VII,lii>.\ (iN SI.VSIlDKl:.

making till His Lordship stepped forward
on the very spot where every speaker had
come to address us, and thus blocked the
way, saying that he knew by what he had
heard the tom-tom of the whole tribe.
We left the .\housats .\pril 24, at 4.30
A. .M. .\ good easterly wind was blow-
ing, and the captain concluded to run
for Kyuquot and call at the other tribes
on our way back So we did, and ar-
rived at the Kyu(]uot camp shortly after

Here not an Indian could be seen on
the bay, nor, in fact, outside of the
camp. It was pronounced an unusual
thing, as the captain stated that the^e
Indians used to meet him out at sea and
literally crowd the deck of his schooner
on any other occasion. Nomucos, our
Kyuipiot cook, was also at a loss to e.\-
plain. and his shouting and calling for
the Indians had no effect. However,
at la>t a small canoe was launched at
" .Aklie>, " two Indians got into her and
paddh'd quickly towards the spot where
we were at anchor. I!very little while
they would stop and listen to the shout-
ing of our Indians. " We are afraid,"
was the first sentence we could hear
them utter. ( )ur savage ■ reassured them
and when at last they got on board they
explained the whole mystery. They
had heard of our arrival, but the story

a"T — ii^r.

X'ancouvcr Island and Its Missions.

got mixed up. On board the schooner
was a Hving man who would cut the
children on the chest, and another who
would rub something over the wound
and it would be healed. Then the first
man would begin killing the Indians, and
upon the Indians' trying to kill him, he
would turn into a stone or become a
stone man. This and other tales were
told ;is an explanation of the conduct of
the Kyuipiots on this occasion. The
Kyutjuots are the largest tribe on the
coast, in all about eight hundred In-
dians.

April 26. — IJaptizcd one hundred and
seventy-seven children. 1 commenced
at 9 o'clock in the morning and it was 5
o'clock in the afternoon when I got
through.

April 27. — Frightful storm at sea —
could not go on shore all day.

April 2 <S. — Began to teach the "Our
Father" and " Hail Mary" which the
Hishop had translated, with the assist-
an( e of Capt. I'. Francis, of the S//r-
/<n'sr, and an Indian interi)reter.

At I I'. M. we were taken from the
Si/ /f rise in an Indian canoe, as we
had made arrangements to go with some
Kyuquot Indians and visit the Chicklisat
tribe.

The chief, a cripple, seemed to have
great authority, but, being himself unable
to go with us, sent his son with fifteen
young men to take us to our destination.
No sooner had we ste|)ped into our
canoe than two more canoes were put
afloat, manned, the first by fifteen young
men, the subjects of the iiiieen, and the
other by twelve savages belonging to the
other head chiefs. .And thus we left
Kyuquot in the young chief's canoe, on
either side of which a canoe of the other
chiefs was paddled to the air of one of
the hymns they had recently learned.

The sea was very rougli, but after
three hours of hard working by the In-
dians we at last saw the smoke of the
Chicklisat camp at I'.iko-os. As we
approached, our Indians drew together
and once more intoned some of our

Catholic hymns. The Chicklisats came
rushing out of their houses, and seemed
stupefied, but did not come down to the
beach till they were called ujion to do so.
It took them a long time to assemble in
the chiefs house, and when addressed
by His Lordship, although seemingly
attentive, it was ([uite evident that every-
thing was not "all right." The eve-
ning and darkness soon put a stop to our
work, then we began to look for room to
sleej). It was simply horrible I The
filth, dirt and uncleanness of these In-
dians both in the house and outside can-
not be imagined. However, we sub-
mitted to circumstances, such as they
were, and lay down alongside ot each
other, impatiently awaiting the return of
daylight. It arrived at last, and I was
amused when asked by His Lordship to
express my opinion of the beauty of the
words and music of a song whi( h he had
composed during the night. It struck
me that, unaiile to sleep, he must have
tried to while away the long hours of a
sleepless night in a musical way. The
Kyucpiots, forty three in number, who
had constituted our escort, having no-
ticed that there was something wrong in
the recepticm extended to us by the
Chicklisats, had made it a point of duty
to sleep in the same house where we
were sleeping, and in the morning we
found them all lying around and about
us.

A])ril 29 — I'.arly in the morning we
assembled the Indians and began anew
to instruct them. We baptized forty-
six children, and when this was done,
our Kyuquot interpreter refused to inler-
])ret, and gave lor his reason that the
Chicklisats were mocking and insulting
him. We would have left at once, but
the sea was bad and the rain fell in tor-
rents, being compelled to stay, we be-
gan the recitation of our office and then
went outside in the bush under the Nhel-
ter of a large tree. Here, after some time,
an Indian found us enjoying the fresh
air and summoned us to go back to the
camp. We pretended not to understand,

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

but iit liist His Lordship concluded
to follow the savage and so we re-
entered the chiefs lodge. It was cjuite
a sight. To the western side of the
camp sat the chief in a very promi-
nent ]jla( e, and on each side sat an
elderly man holding in his hand a long
rod, which seemed to us to be a mark
of authority. I'-verything wasstill, the
men on our side, the women and
children on the other. A seat was
shown and given to us on the right
side of the chief, where we were re-
quested to continue our instructions.
I'.ut none of the young men could in-
terpret and not one ot our Kyiupiots
was about, nor, in fat t, could be
gotten. This seemed very strange,
but the following explanation was aft-
erward given : I'or years the Chickli-
sats and the Kyuquots had been at
war or giving annoyance to each other.
'I'he Chicklisats on this occasion did
not relish the presence of the Kyu-
quots. One of them had invited them
to go and eat in his house to get them
out of the way ; then he had iiuickly
lo( ked u|) the house, and when the
Kyuquots wanted to go and join us they
found the entrant e of the lodge locked
up fast. (Ireat was their indignation
when at last they came back in our pres-
ence. Angry words, speeches and ges-
ticulations were the order of the hour.

.\pril 30. — 'I'hcy left the Chicklisats
ne.Nt tlay. as hapjjy as we ourselves to
return to their own tribe. We arrived
ill Kyuqtiot in due time and May i,
next morning, we h. .. .e iiaiijiiness of
offering u]i the holy sai rilire of the Mass
in honor of the I'.lessed X'irgin Mary, ])ut-
ting our new mission under her special
l)rotection.

His Lordship having noticed the good
disjiositions of the Kyuquots, had, be-
fore going to (,'hicklisat, asked the cap-
tain of the Siirf>iis(U) make a large mis-
sion cross, which we found ready upon our
arrival. The cross was twenty-four feet
lonj^, with the cross piece in proportion,
it was the work of not only the captain,

\N (II |i Ml- Uh IM \\i i\l AN.

but Peterson, the mate, a Swedish Luth-
eran, had also, as well as a number of
Indians given their assistance.

liefore proceeding to plant it, we were
called to the house of the chief, where
we found all the men of the tribe as-
sembled. .\fter asking our permission,
they began losing some of their savage
songs with great solemnity : then they
showed us a mask, the handiwork of
northern Indians, most ingeniously made,
as also a piece of glass (heina 1, U) which
they seemed to attach unusual import-
ance : as well as a numlier of beads (Nei-
whoi I, held in great esteem by all the
Indians on this coast, and sold by one
tribe to another at the most exorbitant
jirires. After a speech from His Lordship,
condemning all Indian superstitions in
general, several important men got up
and promised to go by our instructions.

After this we iiroceeded to the blessing
of the (loss. It was placed on tiiree
canoes ; about fifty young men took

X'ancouver Island and Its Missions.

chargf, and an imnu-n^c numlier of In-
dians followed us in(-aii(>(.'> to the foot of
a small island opposite the shore, then
iinoa iipied and seemingly abandoned.
And there it now >tands in sight of the
tribe, blessed i)y His I,ordshi|i according
to the ritual. It was beautitiil to see the
Indians struggle to ( arry the heavy bur-
den. ])receded by His I,ordshi]i. in siir-
])lice and stole, with his assistant also in
surplice; ant! then, when it was r.iised,
I'lfty muskets were tired olV. a> if to an-
nounce a great triumph to the savages on
the KyiHiuot Isiand>.

We tiiiislu'd our work in l\y\i(iuot and,
with great hopes and e\pe( tations con-
cerning the future conversion of this
large tribe, we left on May 2, taking the
direi tion of (Juatsino Sound. However,
the wind was contrary, and His Lordship
came to the conclusion , alter lonsulting
the ca|)tain. to abandon his trij) to (Juat-
sino Sound: and thus we sailed before
the wind, and arrived that evening at an
anchorage in l)speranza Inlet, before the
camp of the Newchaliot Indians.

May 3. — l'",arly this morning we were
taken in a canoe, by t'.ie chief of the
Newchaliots and a c rew of young men,
to the outside camp, where the Indians
were at this time living.

The reception given to us b)' the New-
chaliots was something never to be for-
gotten. The news of our arrival had
here preceded us. The ( hief had made
a new house. .\ wharf about two hun-
dred feet in length, but only about four
feet in breadth, had been constructed;
and. although the Indians deserved
credit for making such extraordinary
preparations, we had to measure our
steps and movements, lest the whole
structure should break down. Inside of
the chief's house the ground was ( overed
with white sand, and our path and the
room which we were to occupy was laid
with new mats; the walls were hung
with sails of canoes and pieces of calico.
Twenty-nine sea otter skins, valued by
Captain I'rancis, of the Siir/'iisc, at
close to two thousand dollars, were hang-

ing in a line opjjo^ite to where we were
sitting, and excited our admiration.

The Lhettesat lndiansh;id come acro>s
and joined the Newchaliot>. We bap-
tized the ( hildren of the two tribe>,
sixty-eight in all. In the afternoon a
disturbance between the two tribes took
place : our interjjreter was of little ac-
count, and our success was not in keep-
ing with the great ])reparation> they had
made to receive u>. However, before we
left, harmony had l)een restored ; the
l'.hettesit> went home, and we returned
to the Sz/rfr/sr, where we remained
until .May 4. when, at 1.15, a Might
bree/e sprung up, and we slowly mailed up
r.speranza Inlet ; by dark we were near
the Nootka Straits, and we fastened the
schooner with a rope to a tree alongside
immense bluffs of ])erpendicular rock^,
where we passed the night, .\nother
night was passed before we got to the
Nootka side, part of the day having been
spent by the cai)tain and his passengers
in fishing for rock cod.

May 6. — .\fter pulling u\) the oars and
dragging the schooner alongside of the
rocks for a considerable time, we at last
got through the narrows. This morning
we had a strong land breeze which took
us to r.ligh Island, then beat against the
breeze from Machelat Inlet, and later
the westerly wind came to our assistance
and we arrived at the Machelat vil-
lage ( ow-is) at half past twelve i'. M.

Here. also, great prejjarations had
been made, and an .\housat Indian,
Muggins by name, was there with Mach-
elat young men to take us on shore
from the schooner. 'I'his Indian had
profited by our instructions to his own
tribe, and upon the re(piest of the
Machelats had taught them the Sign of
the Cross and some of our hymns. The
Machelat Indians brought their children
and had them baptized ; their number
was eighteen.

May 7, was spent with the Indians,
the captain in the intervals of his trading
Idling his schooner literally up with deer
and elk skins.

\ ar.couvtr Islaiul ami Its Missions.

1 1

:er

I. A vol Nc; WIDOW AM> IIKK cilHIi. — 2. VlilM. MO I III K, IllLlilNC, IIIK Cllllli. — 3. AN
INPIAN INKAM IllU.h HY HIS SIsl'KR. — 4. MiMHKR AM' IWcl CI 1 1 I.I lU I'.N . - 5. A l.Odli-
NATl'RED MACIIEI.Al' MoTllKK WITH IIKR I IRST-lluRN.

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

i I

May <S, — We started this morning at
4 o'clock with a northerly breeze and
cast anchor at 10.30 a. m. in Friendly
Cove.

Here we met a large tribe of Indians,
very noisy and disorderly compared with
other tribes. We succeeded in doing very
little beyond baptizing the children- fifty-
six--a very small number, considering that
the tribe did not number less than live
hundred Indians. We understood the
cause of the dispositions of the Indians
to be the talk against the priests by Fort
kupert women who were living here, and
by a few Indians who had been slaves or
had resided at the other side of the
island. However, we stayed another
day and left May 10, when, after sailing
before a westerly wind, wc arrived in
Hes(|ucit shortly before noon. Here
we learned that the Indians expecting
our coming were afraid to go out fishing
for several weeks past. 'They had cleaned
and laid mats in the chiefs house —
they were very neatly dressed, the women
all in white calico, the men having made
pants and coats of blankets. We bap-
tized their children — lifty-six — under
seven years, and gave them the usual
instructions.

.May II. — We rose at an early hour
and recommenced our instructions, but
by this time the ( aptain was anxious to
return to town as soon as possible, and
at I I o'clock his sails were up as a sign
that we were wanted on board. The
Indians seemed very sorry and disap-
pointed, but we left, promising to visit
them again in the near future.

May i:;. — When oil Clayoquot .Sound
nine Kyucpiot canoes, seventy-three
men and one woman, overtook us. Our
visit over the coast had taken away all
fear. Only two or three of the < rowd
had ever been to Victoria, and none in
an Indian canoe, as doing so would have
exposed them to the danger of being
killed or of being made slaves by hostile
tribes.

May 13. — We arrived in Dodger
Cove. There was no wind and this

gave us a chance to go and visit the
Ochuklesat Indians. The chief was
alongside of the schooner and took us to
his cam]), where he assembled the Indians
whose children were bajjtized, twenty-
three in number. That eveninji he took
us ba( k to I )odger Cove, where we ar-
rived at II I'. M., every one being in
bed. We had no supper, as everybody
seemed or pretended to sleep, and we
turned in with the happy thought that
our work was over.

May 14. — We said Mass at the store-
keeper's house at 5 \. m., then went on
board and lett the cove sometime before
noon. This was the feast of the Ascen-
sion.

May 15. — We ran before a line
westerly wind a i arrived in Victoria at

S l>. M.

Sk(i)NI) visir 10 TiiK wKsr coAsr In-
dians IN I.S74 \:\ rilK KKiin RKV.
lilSllOP SF.r.HKKS, 1). 1). , AND Rl V. A. .1.
r.RAliAX 1.

The day of our departure was the lirst
of September. Two days before. Captain
Francis had been married in St. Andrew's
Cathedral by Rev. Father Brabant to
C;ecilia, a half breed girl, the niece of
Mrs. I.eipiier. The effects of the feast
were visible on the skipi>er's counte-
nance and in his manners. .\s a first
mishap, the man who was to act as mate
did not turn up at the hour agreed upon
by the captain ; however, after a run on
shore by one of the boys, we saw him at
last, and upon crawling on board he
mentioned that the cause of the delay
was that his concubine, a Ilydah woman,
had run away. This our mate was a
Greek, and also rejoiced in the name of
Frank. Thus, with two Franks and two
Indians from the coast, and as we dis-
covered afterwards, with plenty of whis-
key on board, we started on our second
visit to our West Coast Indians.

The I'lrst few hours were spent pleas-
antly, but when we got to the straits our
skipper began to make freipient calls
down in the cabin. .\t last we discovered

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

•y . -

that he was get-
ting very drunk.
T li i s rather
alarmed us, as
Frank, our (1 reek
mate, had never
been on the coast
and our Indian
sailors could not
be relied upon.
His Lordship ad-
vised me to try
and ti n d out
where the captain
kept his lii|uor
and throw it
overboard.

Meanwhile
Frank, the Greek,
came down and
told us that he
had taken charge
of and hidden
all the liquor on
board. It was
now great fun to
watch the skip-
per. He went
downstairs on his
old errand; he
pretended to
whistle so as to

be unnoticed; then he looked up the inji sober when we entered I'achcna Hay.
stain asc, then made for the locker, iiut The wind was blowii.n fresh from the
nothin},^ there ! Where could the liipior west when we entered the harbor. Our
be? He did not say a word alujiit it. schooner was sui)posed to ^o up the
Meanwhile he silentl\ c ursed at his river to dischar.ue at the store kept by
<:lerical ])assengers and told the mate Neils Moos. \\'e were ^oiny full speed
of it : then he begged him for a little when she sudcknly struck on the sand
drink. It was refused at first ; later on bank : the c hanncl had shifted, or ratiier
something was given him now and our captain was out of his reckonings
then to sober him up. All this time through whiskey ! I'.very wave took her
the old man was growling at us and up higher and higher. A few more
blaming us for taking his favorite bev- dashes and she was gone. IJut Neils
erage, and never suspected for a mo- Moos coming on board saved her from
ment that the licpior which wasgi\ent() ruin. We took charge without heeding
sober him up was his own iirojjerty, our drunken skipjier. and an hour later

INUIAN WAKKIOK SINi.lNC. Sl)N(; ( il- VICTHKV AITl.K Kll.llM. A
NTAN. — 2. IN rni. ACI Ol KII 1 1N(; IN A IIUSII -A C()N\ F.KIIIi
INhlAV loSKIi l-nR 11II>K ril\SF.S u I- MIS luKMIK I I IK.

very jjroperly taken awav from him by
the mate.

Although the measure adopted had

she was at anchor betore Capt. Spring \-
Co. 's store.

-Nothing of imich conseipience cjc-

the effect of keeping the old man from curred, but when we lett for Barclay
greater excess, still he was far from be- Sound we met at the mouth of San

Vancouver Island ami Its Missions.

Jiian liarlK)r a canoe trom \'i( toria with
a supply of wliiskfv. I!y and by wt-saw
H. M. S. /iiixcr coiiu' out of Ni-ah
liay and steam for the I'a' hrna ('am)).
Dr. I'owrll, Sui)erintt.ndi'nt of Indian
■Xffairs. was on l)oard, and this was his
first trip alon}; the coast. When he
landed at theranc h he fonml every man.
save the ( hief, liea.stly drunk.

We jiot in liarclay Sound on the 7th
of September; the<>hiat Indians had
moved uj) the Sound ; and after dis-
(harjiinj; frei,iiht at the store in Dodger
Cove we continued our journey to
Iduliat.

Here the schooner Sur/Tisc was to
stop and we were to continue on our
trip in our Indian <anoe. ("onse(|uently
Capt. I'rancis pave us as pilots two
KyiKjUot Indians, who had been engaged
as deck-hamls on the Siiif/isi\ and also
a good si'.ding canoe, besiiles lots of
])rovisions.

We bade him and liis young wifegood-
bve and a happy honeymoon on the Sth
of September, at 7 o'clock. .\ni\ now
we were on the open ocean in a small
sealing canoe with two Kyucpiot and
one I'.gatisa! Indian. The sea was
heavy and no wind. An occasional
wave broke over our bows and did con-
siderable damage to our stoc k of pro-
visions. esi)ecially to our biscuits and our
sack of llour.

Without furtlier mishap we arrived at
'•Opcssat." ("layo(piot Sound, at about
2 o'clock r. M., where we found the In-
dians verv much excited over the news
that a man-of-war was anchored to the
leeward of N'argas Island with the Super-
intendent of Indian .Xffairs on board.
We continued our vovage. and about 4
o'clock I'. M. we saw H. .\I. S. /^'w/at
anchor at the above-named i)lace. .Ml
this time we had not a breath of wind,
but our Indians kept on paddling and
we went at last on shore on Mores
Island, just opposite one of the .\housat
villages called I'.sik-ta-kis.

It was not a good camping place, and
the hour being rather late and the night
dark, we felt compelled to stretch our

weary limbs without even taking a warm
drink of tea. We were enjoying our
sleej) as best we could when all of a sud-
den, some time after midnight, an
.\housat Indian came to wake us up.
He was sent by the tribe ; they were all
up and expected us to go over. Hut
His I.ordshij) prevailed ujujn him to let
ns enjoy our camping out rather than
go two miles across the sound in the
middle of the night and avail ourselves
of the Indians' hosi)itality. When at
last the Indian concluded to leave us, he
went away saying that we were very
la/y :

Shortly alter our Ahousat visitor had
left us we were again aroused from our
slinnber by the noise of some Hescjuiat
Indians who were on their way to .\how-
sat. They wanted to know who we
were, where we came from and where we
were going, and finished by saying that
the sea was very rough on the outside
coast. When nest morning we awoke,
we made a laige fire and at daylight we
could see that we had camiied in a very
poor place and as it began to rain,
which prevented us from leaving, we had
occasion to s])end some very dreary hours
on that s|)ot. However, at noon the
weather cleared up and then we pro-
ceeded on our voyage till we arrived,
about 5 !■. \i., at Refuge Cove.

Here ipiite a number of the Hescpiiat
Indians were living, and as the man-of-
war was now anchored in the Cove and
had been followed by a large number
of Ahousats and some Clayotpiots, the
place presenteil ipiite a lively appearance.
.\ number of junior officers and bbie-
jackets were on shore, and when we had
just pitched our tent we received the visit
of .\Ir. Tim Scaidan, an Irishman who
acted as steward on board the vessel. I le
told us, in a rich Irish brogue, wherein
we were wrong, viz.: travelling at such
a time of the year and in such a canoe,
and he added that the captain of the
vessel had repeatedly spoken of us and
was determined to pick us up wherever
he would meet us. .\t the re(|uest of
His Lordship, Mr. Scanlan promised

\'ancoiiver Island and Its Missions.

•5

not to make the captain aware ol our
l)rescncc, but 'I'ini came hack soon after
witli a supply of |)rovisions in the shape
of some loaves of fresh hread, a leg of
mutton, a ipiarter of elk, two bottles of
wine and one bottle of brandy. I'pon
his suggestion, we opened a bottle of
wine and drank to the health of His
Lordship, the Itishop, who in his turn
proposeil the health of Tim Scaalan.
'i'his scene was without outside witnesses,
and took jjlace on the evening ofthe (>th
of Se|)teniber, 1.S74. in Refuge Cnve.

Nest morning we were having our
breakfast when the man-of-war steamed
out of Refuge Cove and we resumed our
journey as soon as that transaction was
over. No wintl. a heavy sea and the
sun burning over our heads, made the
• Tossing of Hesipiiat harbor anything
but pleasant, liesides, our Indians had
indigestion and were all three very sea-
sick. ( )ne of thcni, between the inter-
vals of vomiting, would carelessly sing
old Indian songs, which would afford us,
if not recreation, at least a topic to speak
about. -At noon we took dinner in
front of the Hesipiiat outsiilc cam"
(oumcis). Then we went on shore
again on the I'.scalante Rocks, whence we
paddled to i'"riendly Cove. Nootka
Sound. There, to our honor, we
again found the /wMwat an< lior ; and
while we were boiling our cup of tea and
the Indians were i)utting up our tent we
received once more the visit ot our friend
of yesterday, Mr. Tim Scanlan, who
brought us another bottle tif brandy : at
the same time he announced that the
captain had ordered his boat to be low-
ered and that with the Superintendent of
Indian affairs he would come on shore
and invite us to go on board of his ves-
sel. .\nd indeed before we had taken
our lea, we were introduced to Captain
Collins, ofthe Royal Navy, and by him
])revailed upon to abandon our way of
travelling in an Indian canoe and avail
ourselves of the accommodation of an
I'.nglish man of-war to continue our
journey. The captain, as we under-

stood, was a staunch member ol the
Anglican « hun h and every day held di-
vine service on board. Me kept a bank
for the men and had established a tem-
perance society for them. He made our
stay on board most enjoyalile, and, as it
hapi)ened to iie on a l-'riday, he kindly
and delicately had matters arranged in
such a way that the abstinence enjoined
by the Chnr( h on that day was easily ob-
served. The weather was thi<k and
foggy, but we managed to ])ass the
Nootka narrows long before noon. We
went as far as Catala Island, an( hored
there for a time, but as it was not al-
lowed by the rules of the navy to go out
in the foggy, uncertain weather it
then was. the captain ( onchided to run
for (jueen's Cove and there spend the
night at anchor in smooth water. .\
beautiful hammo( k was fixed up as a bed
for His l.ordshij) the l>isho|). and a bed
was prejiared for me on a sofa. Our In-
dians were made comfortable below with
the marines. W'e left next morning at 5
A. \i.: got as fir as Catala Island, but
owing to the stale of the weather and sea
we once more relurned to (^>ueen's (.'ove.
At noon we made a fresh start and run-
ning as we did before a tresh easterly
bree/e. we arrived early in the afternoon
to anchor in .Man of-\Var harbor, Kyu-
quot Sound.

We left H. M. S. AVavv next morn-
ing at 5 o'clock ( )ur canoe, which had
been taken on board at I'riendly Cove,
was lowered and the liberality of Tim
Scmlan, under ortlers of the captain,
had so nuich increased our slock of pro-
visions that by the lime we got in her
we were so deeply loaded that it was
impossible or dangerous to look behind
us to cast a last look at the fine war ves-
sel, on which we had spent two most
enjoyable days.

.\nd now we were on shore in Kyu-
• piot Sound ! We took up our head-
quarters in Ca])t. Sjiring's old and un-
occupied store. We went to Chicluat
next day, where we did very little be-
sides ba])ti/ipg one child. We soon dis-

Vancouver Islaiul aiul Its Missions.

covered that wc had ( hoscn a l>>d time
of the >ear to tind the Kyu(|iii)ts to-
gether. I'hey were camped at a dozen
different places, but His Lonlsliip ton-
chided that lie would go and see the
<:hief Me was at the end of Itokshis
inlit, and thore we met him nt'\t day
with a few more Indians. We l)a|)ti/e(l
a few newlyltorn children. Hi^ Lord
ship prepared a young girl who was at
the point of death, but nothing else
coulil be a((:oni|)lished. His Lordship
ha«l bought from the t hief for a few bis-
cnits a wooden bucket representing an
animal, the tail being the handle, the
body the body of the bu( kct, and the
head and mouth the p.issages through
which the water or liijuid was poured.
It was a ( urious piece of work very
artistically done, and together with
some masks got also at this place, was
given as a souvenir of our trip to Cap-
tain Collins of H. M. S. /A'wv, who
felt so proud of the gilt that he after-
wards exhiliited it in one of the princi-
pal hotels in Victoria.

Sejitember i 7. — 'I'he (hief sent his son
and six other young men next day to
where we expressed the wish to go,
namely the New( haliot village. We
had a (piick but rough passage; at one
time the sea strui k our t anoe and nearly
filled her up with water.

.\t Newchaliot we did very little or
no good, the dispositions of the Indians
being very indifferent, and it ( ost us
quite an amount of trouble to get a crew
to take us to the next tribe. I'inally
three old men volunteered, and that
night we were amongst the Nootka?
camped at Cah Shis. We found thes«
Indians in full glee — a dead whale ha',
drifted on their land and the house
were full of blubber, whi<h the womei
were boiling and reducing to oil. 1 d(
not think that anything that we coulc
have said under the circumstances woul
have had much effect, as the whale was
uppermost in their minds.

We stayed only one night, then with a

small crew we went down the sound,
went on shore at I itawinni, bapti/ed a few-
children, but could not get to Mac helat
that day. We therefore slept at a place
< ailed O-is and went the next morning to
( >w is, where the .Machelat <hief was
camped and exjiected us at any moment.
As we went on shore at ( )-is the eve-
ning before, a .Ma( helat canoe had seen
us and reported our approa< h to their
friends, 'i'hen the tribe at once i)ve-
pared to receive us. Messengers had
been sent that very night to all the fish-
ing stations, and by the time we arrived
we learned that the tribe was collecting
on the other side of the sound.

September 21. .\t 1 1 o'clo( k as a strong
westerly wind was blowing up Mac helat
Inlet, ten canoes filled with Indians put
up sail on the other side and steered for
Ow-is. It was a sight never to be for-
gotten, the enthusiasm of these Indians
and the taste displayed in their arrange-
ments for our reception. They w^re all
nicely dressed, the women in white calico
robes and the men with pants and coats.
We assembled them at once and stayed
with them three days, during which time
they learned the Lord's Prayer, the Hail
.Mary, the Creed, Ten Commandments
and Seven Sacraments in their own lan-
guage. Most of the Indians were living
under tents made with their canoe sails,
at all times a poor shelter, but especially
at this season ot the year. Hut upon
expressing our feelings of sorrow for
them, as it was raining most of the time,
they pleasantly replied that the rain did
not cause them any inconvenience, and
that we should not leave them Ivefore
they knew everything we had a mind to
teach them. Such fervor and zeal we
had not met in any other tribe, and
therefore, in order to encourage and re-
ward them. His Lordship concluded to
])lant at their principal camping ])lace
another mission cross. This was done
with great succcess, and in the same
order as we had observed on the occasion
of our first trip at Kyutpiot.

X'aiKoiiver Island ami Its Missions.

September 25. — Next iiiominn we
left Machelal in one of their < anoes.
witli tlie diiel and eleviii ot' liis
young Mien, en route lor llesipiiat.
Wlien off Sunday Kock we met a lies
>|uiat < anoe crowded witli youn^; men,
who were on tlie lookout for our e\-
])e(:ted arrival. As sotui as they recog-
nized us tluy put about, intending to
precede us and warn the tribe. Mow-
ever, our Maciielat crew took to their
paddles, and a regular race between the
two canoes took place. There was no
wind, and the sea ran mountains high.
We had not met such a heavy swell in all

We began «)ur work at once; taught the
lord's I'r.iyer, Hail Mary, C:reed, Ten
Commandments and Seven Sacraments,
all of which the Indians learned with
nine h zeal. Here it struc k the liishop that
this tribe would be a good plac i' to start a
Mission, being the most c entral and the
Indiansof the best good will. He men-
tioned the n\atter to the chiet'. asking of
him to asseud)le the other c hiefs of the
tribe and projiose to them the matter in
tpiestion ; whic h having been done, we
were informed, in presenc e of the whole
tribe, that land would be given for Mission
buildings and other |iuri)oses ; that we

MlIi.M. AW \Kli|-.l> CMll.l' MAM \UA\V OK U KS(,i|'I AT HV I U !■ DoMlNKiN H>K KI>CI IM; I 11 K
CKIAV (i|- nil-; AMKKICAN liAUk I'.dzvill.

our travels. .Mthough in company with could have our choice as to locality,
the Hestpiiats, we would lose sight of At the same time a npot was mentioned
them for several minutes to see them on the hill — according to the l>ishop
again rise on the crest of the heavy not desirable, being too much exposed
waves, whilst we were, as it were, in the to the northerly wind. .\s to the ob-
abyss of the ocean. It was a really jection that the spot was surrounded by
grand piece of sailing we liad on that Indian houses, the Indians were willing
day from Sunday Rocks to llcscjuiat to evacuate the villige site and grant
harbor. W" at last lost sight of the lies- it for Mission ])urposc s. During our stay
cjuiats in the fog, but we could hear them at Hesipiiat, as well as at Machelat, we
fire off their guns ahead of us as a signal said Mass every morning at 5 o'clock, at
to the tribe to be ready. We found the which all the Indians were present, and
chiefs house, where we stayed for tour during which they recited the Holy
days, cleanly swept out, and mats laid all Rosary. We here noticed every morn-
over the floor, and the Indians full of ing — and, in fact, whenever we assem-
joy to see us again. bled the Indians — such zeal and fervor

Ui.

1 8

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

that old men unable to walk were carried
on the backs of the young men to the
chiefs house, and some of them came on
hands and feet.

The oldchiefof Hes<iuiat, his son being
absent at Cape I'lattery, took us to
Ahousat with a large crew of young men.
We arrived in due time at llsik-takis,
the residence of Shi-oush, the second
chief of the tribe. Mokivinna, the first
chief, was sent for, but refused to come,
having only lately lost one of his children.
Shi-oush at once sent out several canoes
to fetch the Indians from their different
salmon rivers. The messengers trav-
elled all night, and next morning ([uite a
large number arrived and listened to the
Bishop's instructions, and learned part
of our Catholic hymns and prayers: but,
being over-an.\ious to return to their
homes that evening, a disturbance took
place, and they got a severe reprimand
from the Hishoi). Afterwards things
were settled, and the Indians left us
in good humor, while we prepared to
leave next morning.

October i. — Shioush and his oldest
son and one of his slaves took us to Clayo-
([uot, where we found the chief absent ;
but we were taken to the lodge of Sita-
kcnim, where we slept.

October 2. — 'I'he chief arrived next
morning. We went over to see him, but
as he was eating as we went into the house.
His Lordship, the iiishop of \'ancouver
1 stand, and one of his priests were told to
go outside : that the chief of the Ciayo-
ipiots could not transact any business
w "h them till he had finished eating his
breakfast ! After walking outside (piite a
time Shi-oush, the ('layo(|uot chief, came
to meet us, asked our business and pro-
posed to assemble the Indians there
present (()])LSsati in his house, which
was not (|uite made up for the winter
season, 'i'he iiislio], sjjoke to them for
some little time, after which I baptized
four young children. Having proposed
to the Clayoipiot chief to take us to
I'cluliat he wished us to go with him up
the Clayoquot arm to his salmon station;

he would from there cross to Long Bay or
Schooner Cove. If no canoe was at any
of the outside camps it would be an easy
task to pull a canoe across and put her
afloat with our baggage at Long Bay,
comparatively speaking, a short distance
from Ucluliat harbor. We complied
with his desire, which gave us a chance
to see Clayo(|uot inlet, the entrance to
the lake, and the muddy flats, literally
alive with ducks and geese. The dreary
hours that we s])ent at that chiefs house
are painful to remember : the smoke and
stench inside cannot be imagined ; besides,
the house was so low and the abund-
ance of salmon so great that we could
not move e.xcept in a stooping position
and we could not put down a foot except
on or over dissected salmon or salmon
roe ! We, therefore, went outside and
]) hed our tent, and next morning we
begged of the chief as a favor to take us
to Long liay and thence to I'cluliat.
The poor man seemed anxious to comply
with our request, but upon coming to
the sea-coast he found that the surf
would not allow launching a canoe. \\ e,
therefore, were compelled to pitch our
tent and await better weather. Mean-
while he went to his house and family,
l)romising to come next day. He kept his
word, but made the same remark as the
day before — easterly wind. Off he went
again with the ])romise of another visit
next day. Again he kept his word, but
again the same difficulty — easterly
wind, 'i'his morning, upon rising, we
noticed that our tent had been visited
by a bear. His tracks were there, but
finding the tent occujjied he had jjre-
ferred to walk off rather tlian ilisturb us.
.About noon His Lordship proposed to
walk over the Indian trail to rduiiat.
The Clayoipiots hardly ai)]iroved ot
the idea, but promised to take our bag-
gage to ('apt. I''rancis's house as soon as
the weather would permit. With this
promise the Bishop was satisfied, or-
dered me to prepare some provisions,
which I did with reluctance, and off we
went, on foot, accompanied by two Ky-

jgk^-^^.

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

U'luot Indians who helped us in carrying
the things that we had judged necessary
to take along. W'e walked all that after-
noon, first over a beautiful sandy beach;
then we crossed a point and arrived in
Wreck Hay, around which we also walked
that day over a nasty, gravelly shore,
and shortlv before dark we made a fire

midnight the water was streaming down
the hill under us, and having decamped
to the upper side of the stump of a large
tree. I called the Uishop to come and
join me. which after some persuasion he
did. I sliowing him the way by striking
from time to time a match. I was after-
wards sorry for extending the invitation.

•1

ig, we
visited
ro, but
vd pre-
urb us.
osed to
■luliat.
•ed ot
iir bag-
soon as
,th this
;d, or-
■isions,
off we
wo Ky-

A i.knl !• Ill' IMllANS Willi llll.lK ilMII. M \ I I A 1 1 \ \>

lAIUI.K l.R\l:\NI.

I 111-. Will l,|i.|;K Ml KIllKhK nl-

and prepared our supper. Then the as we soon discovered that we iiad moved

Bishop ordered the Indians to prejiare from bad to worse. Here, however, we

for us a decent camping place, whi( h remained in the water ami mud till four

they did. half way on a sandy hill. We o'c!i(k in tlie morning, when i went

laid down and fell asleep, but were soon dow n the hill and made a cup of tea on

awakened by heavy drops of rain, and we the fire of last night, which had kept

then noticed that the sky had clouded alive under a large piece of a log.

up and that it was pitch dark. About We lett as soon as it wa-> daylight.

■'!

ff/'I

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

After a short walk along the beach we
took to the bush, inteiidinji to make a
short cut of a projecting point. After
struggling about a couple of hours
through the thick salal brushwood, we
came to the Indian trail, which we were
glad to discover; and following it with
great avidity we travelled about five
miles an hour, when, lo' to our great
disappointment, we noticed that said
trail led directly to our old camping
place, where the fire on which we had
cooked our breakfast was still smoking.
Our courage now sank very low, and
then, instead of following the same trail
in an opposite direction, which with a
little reOection we ought to have done,
we went over rocks and boulders around
the point which we had intended to have
cut off that morning. According to di-
rections given by the Clayoipiots we were
at a certain spot to cross to the Ucluliat
inlet. This we intended to do, when we
took to the bush again. We walked and
walked till I found my strength failing,
which the Bishop noticing, he proposed
that we should take something to eat.
Accordingly we made a fire in the bush,
and then we boiled doughnutsl We ate
them with great appetite; then we noticed
that our two Kymiuot Indians began to
show bad will and insisted on going back
to the beach, which we accordingly did.
Marly in the afternoon the rain, which
had fallen in the morning in the shape
of a S(ot( h mist, became thicker and
thi( ker, and having come to a small bay,
where driftwood was piled up in great
(luantity, we prepared a place where we
could spend the night. We started a
big fire, which soon si)read to the trees
around, and in the morning I discovered
that a hole was l)urned through one of my
boots and that my cloak was badly dam-
aged. The liishop's clothing had also
suffered to a certain extent through fire.
We took as breakfast the last piece of
meal we had left, and we also made
slapj.icks with our last llour. .\fter this
we began lo walk with renewed courage.
However, about nine o'clock the iiishop

took a fainting fit. He lay down on the
rocks and asked if I had any food left.
I took down a satchel which I had on my
back, and after careful examination I
found in a paper a few grains of sugar
and a little flour in the corner of an old
flour sack ; this I gathered in a spoon
and presented to His Lordship; he would
not, however, take any of it except after
I had taken my share, saying that he
did not know what would become of us
in case I should also give out. We next
noticed that the Indians were gathering
mussels on the rocks ..nd ate them with
great relish. This we also did and raw
mussels and salal berries were the only
food which we took till we reached
Captain Francis' place in I.'cluliat next
morning.

Ihe captain could hardly recognize
us; seeing our condition and hearing of
our long compulsory abstaining from
food, he advised us, and we followed his
advice, not to take any full meal till we
had by eating very little at a time
prepared our stomachs for its usual
functions — at the same time the captain
went into his store and gave us new pants
and shoes, for all our clothes had been
reduced to rags in our attempt to travel
through the brushwood. His Lordship,
IJishop Seghcrs, at one time escaped
being drowned, having slipped from a
rock in crossing a ravine, where the sea
swept in very freely at high tide.

Our experience from Clayoipiot to
Ucluliat had such an effect on our general
condition that it took more than two
weeks for us to recover our usual
strength.

At Ucluliat we did nothing, as the
Indians were all away to their salmon
rivers. The young chief Wish-Routl
took us to Lkoul and some Mkoul
Indians went with us to Wannicanut where
we found the Indians under the influence
of liquor. We bajjtized at I'.koul seven
children and a few at Wannicanut.

Then we made arrangements with an
Ekoul Indian to take us to Wanaimo,
which he promised to do for six dollars.

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

A I'YI'ICAI. INDIAN St'KNK, IIIX.HIAI, V,. C,

the
>;ilinon
■ Routl
i:koul
where
UL-nce
seven

ith an
iiaimo,
hilars.

We had a pleasant trip up the Alberin
Canal. Having left Kkoul in the morn-
ing we arrived in the afternoon at (lold
River, called at the house of the miners
but found them absent, but as a sign of
our passing there the Bishop wrote on
their door the fact of our calling and
wishing them success. That night we
were received and made comfortable b)
Mr. Clark, who was then manager of the
Johnston farm. He siiowed some tine
horses of which he had twenty-two; also
some of his cattle, staling that he had a
hundred and sixty head running all over
the settlement, lief^iiles Mr. Clark. Mr.
Cuglar was tlie only settler.

Next day we went to visit the Opich-
asat where we were well received. They
were then living above the forks of the
river. The Iseshats were also on the
river, but, i..^ their chief had refused to re-
ceive us the day before, we coolly passed
them over.

Next day again we commenced our
walk to (jiialicum. a delightful tri])
over the newly made road. At noon
we were at the lake, which we crossed in
a canoe, and thence we walked to the
I'.ast Coast side, where we arrived at 5

1'. .M.

Here we pitched our tent, and on
Sunday morning we found a canoe in the
bush and with paddles and a sail made
with our tent, we travelled with great
speed to Wanainio where we were in time
to hear the Protestant bells ring for eve-
ning service. It hai)pened that the
steamer F.iinna was to leave the next day
for N'ictoria and on her we took ])assage
arriving in \'i( toria on Tuesday morn-
ing, at 2 A. M. We went on shore at
once and astonished every one by arriving
in time to say .Mass, which for both of us
was a .Mass of thanksgiving.

I'iK-r Mi--.sioN

EsTADI.lSIIIJi iiN I UK W Ks r cdASI' d!'
\ AMOCN i:U 1>I.\N1) Al III— (.III \l.

.About the beginning of februars.
1.SS5. I had just returned frcjm a mission
to Siik:i. Alaska Territory, when 1 was
notified by Right Rev. liishoj) Seghers,
D.l).. to prepare myself and to be ie:ulv
to go to Hesipiiat and take charge nf the
\Ve>t Coa^t Indians in the beginning; of
the spring.

In conformity with this order i got
everything in readiness, and a i arpentor
was hired by Ilis Lordship at the same
time. Rev. I'r. Roiuleault. of (,^>uam-

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

iiilli:

ill

ichan, was reijiiested to accompany us
to Hes(|uiat and help us to put up the
Mission buildings.

We left N'ictoria on the Feast of
the Ascension, May 6, at five o'clock
in the morning, on the sloop Thornton,
owned by Captain Warren iV Co., and
commanded by Captain Ceorge Mrown.
We had on board three little calves, one
bull and two heifers, which were destined
to become the pioneer cattle in this part
of the country. A young Newfoundland
dog was to be my only domestic com-
panion after Noel Leclaire, the car-
penter, and Rev. Fr. Rondeault would
have linished the work for which they
were sent. We had rather a (piick pas-
sage as. having left N'ictoria on ihurs-
day morning and called and discharged
freight at Fkoul, we arrived in Hescjuiat
harbor next Tuesday afternoon. Off
Clayoquot Sound we met two Hes(iiiiat
canoes on their way to Victoria, with
Matlahaw, the chief, and his father, in
one of them. .Although re( [nested by
Captain Brown to return with us, and
offered a free passage on the schooner,
they insisted on continuing their tri]) to
Victoria.

.■\fter casting anchor in the inner har-
bor the weather became very stormy,
which i)revented us from landing our
freight until Thursday morning. We
had, however, put ashore our little calves
immediately u|)on arriving, and when on
Thursday we walked over to the Hesquiat
village tiiey followed us like dogs, some-
timea forgetting themselves when amidst
good pasture ground, and then running
up to us witli the utmost speed.

There was now ([uestiou of selecting
a spot for our Mission buildings. The
chief was absent, and not an Indian
dared or was willing to point a suit-
able place out to us. F^very one of my
suggestions was for various reasons repu-
diated and we owe to our listening to
Captain Brown the fact that the Mis-
sion was ])Ut up where it now stands.

Our orders had been to put up a
church of 6o\26 ft. and a small resi-

dence for the priest, everything to be
done as cheaply as possible, as the estab-
lishment of a Mission was only an exper-
iment: later on, say after five years, if
the Mission was successful, more sub-
stantial buildings would be put up.

In December of the preceding year the
bark luhc'in, Capt. Hughes, loaded with
lumber for Australia, had become water-
logged in the straits, and her freight hav-
ing shifted, she had split open so as to
make of her a complete wreck. The
Captain's wife now buried at Itloune,
Hescpiiat harbor, had been crushed be-
tween the heavy timbers and his two little
boys washed overboard as well as a
Chinese cook.

Ilarly one morning the Hes(|uiat In-
dians saw the vessel with all sails set
taking the direction of Idoune before
a south-easterly wind. Close to the ves-
sel was a raft on which they noticed the
sailors trying to make for shore and in
great danger of being lost. Matlahaw,
the chief of the tribe, suggested the pro-
priety of going to the res( ue of the drown-
ing r^en. Several canoes were launched
and off they went over the heavy and
stormy waves. They succeeded in tak-
ing off all the men. for which Matlahaw
afterward received from the Dominion
Ciovernment a silver medal and from
the L'nited States (lovernment a lib-
eral reward for himself and the men who
had given any assistance to the shij)-
wrecked sailors.

The bark was now on the beach to the
outside of Itloune point and all the lum-
ber, consisting of rafters, heavy and light,
rough lumber and llooring, was piled up
by the sea a mile along the seashore. It
was from the lumber of the unfortunate
vessel that our Mission buildings were
constructed. Captain Warren bought the
wreck and from him we got almost all the
lumber reipiired. Some Indians had
ased part to construct new houses, but
with some trouble and reasoning they
were ])revailed upon to let us have the
use of all.

I may here state that the Indians had

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

treated the sailors and captain of the bark
Ed7L'iit with much kindness. They ap-
pear, however, to have been a rough
crowd. It seems hardly credible, still the
rescuers maintain that when they arrived
with their < anoes alongside ot tne raft
where most of the men were nearly
perishing from cold and exposure, they
were told to leave in his sad i)redicament
one of the ( rew, to throw hmi overboard;
no other reason being given, as I was
afterwards told, but that he was a Dutch-
man.

Later they begin quarrelling in the
chief's house, fought and wounded each
other to such an extent that they had to
be se|>arated and made to lodge in
different houses. .\s soon as the weather
permitted the Indians took the ship-
wrecked men toClayocpiot Sound, whence
they reached I'cluliat and from there
were taken on one of Captain Spring's
schooners to Victoria.

Immediately after landing, we set to
work. We began by building a small
slied, where wc had our beds, our stove,
provisions and where we took our meals
— our dog slept under the bed, and our
calves alongside the stove. I'nder one of
the beds we had a barrel of beer,
presented to us by Stuart iV Reast of
\'ictoria,and at regular times the builders
were invited to take a ( up of the beverage,
which they called when the Indians were
l)resent a "cuj) of tea. "

.\lthough this was the best season of
the year, the weather was most unpropi-
tious, and before long our carpenter
coniplained of being sick; afterwards he
tried to make a row and wiien told that
we coulil do without him he managed to
get better, but for whole days together
we could not get him to speak a word.
I!verything considered, the first .Mission
buildings on this coast were put up
amidst much unpleasantness.

The first Mass was said in tiie new
<liurch on the fifth of July, it being tiie
least of the .Most Precious lllood. All
the Ilesquiats were present; also, the
chief and a crowd of Mac helat Indians.

Mass was said by Rev. .\ Brabant, and
the sermon preached by Rev. P. Ron-

deault.

Next morning a canoe took Rev. P.
Rondeaultand .\oel I.eclaire, the carpen-
ter, to Victoria, and I was left alone in
this place and in charge of ^11 the In-
dians from I'achina (included) to Cape
Cook.

I soon discovered that the work before
me was an uphill undertaking, and, to
mention one fact only, there was not
one Indiar. in Hescjuiat who ( ould act as
interpreter. However, I managed to
teach the tribe the "Catholic Ladder,"
and I niaile up my mind to study the
language, which I found no eas) matter,
is I had no books to consult and there
was no one who could give me any
information about it.

In the beginning of .\ugust I made a
trij) to the Chicklifiats and other tribes
on the way. (luyer, aClayoquot Indian,
a first-rate interpreter, accompanied me
and six Hescpiiats, all full grown men, as
the Indians would not allow their sons to
go along for fear they might be killed by
the Kyuquots, who were supposed to be
very badly disposed to their tribe.

( luyer, the Clayoqiiot Indian, had
some time before this stabbed a man
belonging to IJeechy Hay, near X'ictoria.
This man and his wife were slaves in
Clayoquot and belonged to Chief
Sheouse. 'This last, fearing trouble,
asked (luyer to kill the man-slave,
which he did, stabbing him in the chest
with ail ordinary file.

This misdeed weighed very heavy on
the mind of (luyer, and, as he told lue,
his reason for coming to Hes(|uiat and
accompanying me on this trip was to
seek relief for his mind, lie wanted me
to state tiuit no harm would hajipen to
him l)v the white men's police, and. as I
could not do so, he begged of uie to take
him, as soon as convenient, to the
authorities in \i( toria. The remorse of
conscience of that man, or the dread of
retaliation, was a real suffering to him.

.\t Nootkawe found a young woman

ffT

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

belonging to I'lhattesat, who was sup-
posed to be the wife of onu of the
Nootka young men. She sent an Indian
to see me, and wanted an interview. I
allowed her tiie privilege slie asked for.
She told me that she wanted to accom-
pany lis to Khattesat: that she v/oiild not
live witli the man who choimed her as
his wife and had been stolen by him out
of a canoe against her will. She had
been a slave in Xootka, and was consid-
ered as such again.

After considering these and other rea-
sons and hearing the opinion of some of
the most inlluential Nootka Inilians, 1
8[ave her permission to ac( om])any us, and
the next day she was returned to her
friends and home.

lUit nothing else unusual happened,
although at Kyucpiotwe were very badly
received, and my Indians, suspecting
danger, slejjt with knives in their hands.
It was only after much trouble that they
would allow me to bapti/e their children.

We were abseni about two weeks, and
shortly afterwards I received a letter
from ISishop Seghcrs suumioning me to
go to Victoria.

I left llescpiiat about the twentieth of
Septeniiter and arrived back on the
schooner .'////'/■Av, Captain I'rant is, on
the fifth ot October. 'I'lie Indians were
glad to see me back. Ne.xt da\ Captain
Warren entered the hariior on the sloop
Tlionitoii.

I'pon landing I was told that an In-
dian woman, "a doctoress." had died
during my absence, after a few days
sickness.

Next I heard that a
Nootka Sound Indians
that several had died,
rived that the sickness
that the wiv ' ; tribe was wild with excite-
ment: th;. ■-■)■ would come to Hesquiat
and kill as , y of the tribe as had died
of the diseasL.-! I spurned the threat
and i)er>uaded the Indians not to be
uneasy.

On the eighteenth of ( )ctober the
wife of Matlahaw died rather suddenly

arge number of
were sick and
The rei)ort ar-
was small ]iox:

at Hesipiiat. As I suspected that every-
thing was not right, I assembled the In-
dians on the hill, and told those who
were living in the chiefs house to iiuit,
and also if there was anybody else un-
well to come and give me information.

Tpon arriving home, I .'as met by
Charley, whose mother had died during
my absence. He reported that his father
was sick. I went to his house and found
the old man very sick, evidently with
small-pox. He was lying in one c orner
of the room and in the other corner was
his sister, an elderly woman, also in the
last stages of the fatal disease. 1 baptized
both of them, saw them well provided
with food and water, and went home con-
vinced that a very trying time was before
me.

I was not disappointed, for next morn-
ing tlie first news I heard was that both
were dead and that others had taken sick.

As soon as Mass was over, a large
number of Indians came to my house,
and I made preparations to have the
dead buried. I went and tlug two graves,
but when the time for the funeral had
arrived no one would help me take away
the corpses. I reasoned and entreated
my visitors to give me a hand, but all to
no purpose. .\t last after several hours
talking, a Ca]ie Idattery Indian living
here with his Hesipiiat wife volunteered.
Others followed his exam|)Ie, and I mus-
tered a force of ten to do the burying of
the dead. Never was such a funeral
seen l.^y mortal man! First I had to give
medicine to everyone of them. As I
had none I boiled water, broke some
biscuits in it. sweetened the whole with
sugar, and insisted that this would be
the very iiest jircservative in the world
against small-pox.

Then began the mar(h. I led the pro-
cession, then ( ame the ten Indians in a
line, with their faces blackened and cover-
ed witli Indian charms. They were shout-
ing and jumiiing, and when we came to
the house where the dead were, not one
dared to ( ome in and assist me. lUit
the Cajie I'iattery Indian again gavean ex-

Vancouver Island and Its Missions,

ample ot bravery. He was accompanied
by Charley's lather in-law and Charley
himself. The cottin was a small Indian
canoe, to which was attached about
forty feet of rope. We took u\) the old
man first ; he presented;, .ghastly sij;ht as
the blood and bloody matter were cover-
ing his face antl streaming out of his
month. The woman was ( overed with
two new black blankets, and had evi-
dently died first, her brother having
rendered to his dead sister the jiious duty
of clothing the corpse : she was i)Ut into
the same canoe antl then orders were
given to take hold of the lines. livery-
one wanted to take the very end, but
after some confusion the canoe was
pulled out of the house, I acting as steers-
man, and thence a good distance into
the bush .And after securely covering
the original coffin with Indian planks,
we all returned to my house.

Hefore entering, the Indians all rushed
into the river praying and shouting ; and
having thrown away their blankets.

whi( h were their only covering, they next
came in every one of them as naked as
the moment he had been born. Some
thoughtful woman, after some time,
came with a sujjply of blankets and then
the spectacle became rather more
decent and res])e(:table.

r.ut now another scene was enacted —
as they had noticed that I was chewing
tobacco ui)on going to bury the dead,
they had insisted upon doing the same
thing, and not being accustomed to that
polite i)ractiie, the\' had swallowed all
the tobacco juice. Some of them in
conseiiuence came near dying, as it took
them many hours before they got over
their vomiting.

Next day I went to see the chief's
daughter, who was very low also with
small pox. She was a courageous woman
and did not give up till she was (piite blind
and her head as black and as thick as a
large iron pot. She was baptized and
seemed to be in the best disposition.
Her own father and another old Indian

[iro-

in a

)ver-

lOUt-

le to
one

r.ut

Lnex-

INi'lANN n|. hIMI.KI.Nl IKII;!-. — vMl.iM;-, I K' 'M //. .1/. .V. />',n,r.

X'^ancouver Island and Its Missions.

" '

r ii:i

helped nie to bury her. The sight of
the corpse was simply horrible, and as we
left the shanty in which she died swarms
of flies surrounded us all.

At this time Matlahaw, the Hes(|uiat
chief, his father Cownissim, Omerak and
Charley had obtained permission to sleep
in the Indian room of my house. L'pon
according this jirivilege, Matlahaw jirom-
ised and gave me all the strip of land
between the river and the beach.

I passed most of my time in vaccinat-
ing the Indians and in trying to cheer
them up, for the fear and discourage-
ment in some cases were altogether alarm-
ing. Matlahaw and Charley were hard-
ly alive. Hence they would sit for hours
together, telling me of the importance
of their lives and insisting upon my us-
ing all possible means to preserve them
from the disease. Charley had been
vaccinated successfully in X'ictoria, but
although 1 tried it twice on Matlahaw
the vaccine had no effect. I'his seemed
to increase his fear. He now became
morose and avoided the company of his
friends; in fact he was not to be seen in
the daytime for several days.

We used to be up before daylight and
for two or three mornings, as I got uj),
upon looking through my window 1
noticed him sitting alongside ol his father
apparently engaged with him in very se-
cret conversation.

On the twenty-seventh of October he
shot some blue ja, s on my potato jjatch,
and the rest of the time he stood outside,
watching my movements, and from time
to time exchanging a few words with the
Indians who were constantly about my
house.

Towards evening the rejiort that an In-
dii." woman was very sick was received.
I went to see her, hut noticed that her
case was not very serious as yet. How-
ever, next morning the first thing
I did upon getting up was to go and see
the old woman, who was if anything
rather better than the day before.

Upon entering my house and about to
go and ring the bell for Mass, Matlahaw

came into my house and asked me for
the loan of my gun, whi( h upon handing
to him I stated to be unloaded. He
simply remarked tlvat he had jjowder and
shot in his shanty, which was made of a
few Indian planks and which with my
permission he had constructed behind
my little barn.

.\ll the Indians of the tribe, save the
old woman who had sniall-po.\ and Mat-
lahaw and his father, were at Mass.
The old man was missed at once, and
afterwards it was found out that he had
crossed the hay with his little grand-
child and gone up Sidney Inlet, where
his wife had gone before him. There
she died of small-po.\, as also her female
slave; and the old chief, in a fit of pas-
sion, took a stone and with it killed the
husband and one old slave.

When the Mass was over, and just
as I was about finishing my breakfast,
Charley came into my room and said,
" Look out, Leilet ; Matlahaw is sick.
Vou had better take your gun from him. "

I made one or two inquiries, and
after saying a tew words jokingly, to
give heart and courage to the messenger,
who looked alarr.iingly excited or down-
hearted, I went out, my pipe in my
mouth, to see the would be patient.
When I arrived inside of his shanty I
noticed in thf; middle a small fire, before
which he w^a S(iuatting down. He had
his chief's cap and also the coat pre-
sented by the Superintendent of Indian
Affairs. Hehind him, against the wall,
stood my double barrelled gun and an
Indian musket. I asked what the matter
was, when, smilingly, he looked up, and
pulling the skin of his leg, he answered,
" Memeloust — smallpox." I reassured
him, saying that I would give him medi-
cine and that by evening he would be all
right. .Again he looked up, his face
being very pale and the sinews of his
cheeks trembling, and i)ulling at the skin
of his throat he repeated memeloust.
Once more 1 repeated that 1 would give
him medicine and that he would be well
before eveninic.

X'ancouver Island and Its Missions.

'I'hen I asked him to hand me over
my gun, which lie took without getting
up; then pointing it towards me he ex-
plained, as 1 understood, that one of
the l)arrels was not loaded. The tact
of the muzzle of the gun being pointed
straight to my face and noticing caps on
both nijjjiles and the cocks pulled up;
caused me instinctively to turn away my
head, when lo 1 the explosion took place
and I noticed the blood spurting from
my hand. The smoke was so thick that
I could not see the would be murderer,
and thinking the whole affair to be an
accident, after calmly remarking that 1
was shot in the hand, I walked down to
the little river where I bowed down to
bathe my wounds in the stream. Just
then he shot again, this time hitting me
in the right shoulder and all over my
back.

I now knew the man wanted to kill
me and 1 ran off to my house, where I
found no one. Thence I ran to the
ranch and was met by nearly all the men
of the tribe, to whom 1 told what had
happened. Some of them pretended
that Meowchal Indians had done the
shooting, but after my stating again and
again that it was Matlahaw they be-
came convinced that he indeed was the
guilty party. After a few moments a
film came over my eyes and thinking
that I would not survive, 1 knelt down
and said my acts of faith, hope, charity
and contrition ; then I got up, went to
my house and wrote on a jjiece of pai)er
the name of the man who had shot me,
])ut the pajier in my bureau, locked it
and put the key into my pocket. Hy
this time the noise and alarm outside of
my house was deafening : the loyal men
of the tribe were there with axes and
guns to kill the chief, but he had run
away into the hush, not having been
seen after the shooting, save by an old
woman.

Meanwhile I had been divested by
some savages of my coat and under-
clothing. The Intlians, upon noticing
the blood, lost courage and one after

the other walking out of the room,
announced to their friends that I was
dying. 'I'his was also my opinion,
although I felt no pain whatever either
in the hand or the back. Then 1 lay
down and ordered cold dressing to be
l)laced over my wounds. I noticed
very little of what was going on, think-
ing that the best thing 1 couKl do was to
pray and prepare myself to die.

Ilarly the next day ( ( )ct. 29 » two ca-
noes fully manned left Uesipiiat. The
first went to Refuge (love, where the sis-
ter of Matlahaw, the would be murderer,
was residing with her Indian husband.
The Indians, excited over the doings of
her brother, the chief, had decided to
bring her home. In due time the canoe
came back and the girl was land-
ed on the beach before my house.
She knew not what was in store
for her. She knew not that as she
was left there alone, crying, the Indians
were plotting her death in expiation of
what her brother had done to me. Such,
however, was the case ; when the plan
was well prejjared an elderly man came
rushing into my house where I lay on
my bed expecting that my days were
numbered, owing to the dangerous state
of my wounds. He wanted to have my
opinion: the Indians were going to kill
her. As the savage spoke his hair stood
on end, froth was on his lips and his
members trembled with excitement I
gave orders to have the young woman
removed to a place of safety, to have her
taken proper care of and appointed one
of the chiefs, a relative of hers, t(- act as
her guardian during the time of unusual
excitement.

The other canoe came back next day.
She had gone to (Mayoquot where a man
(Ned Thornberg 1 had charge of a small
trading post. 'I'his man was living with
an Indian woman and when the Indians
with the message called at his plac e he
met them with a Murray ritle and would
not allow them inside until he was fully
convinced that his visitors were Hesipiiat
Indians. .\s his neighbors, that is the

\ ancouver Island and Its Missions.

Indians of Clayoiiuot and Clayo(iuot
Sound, were not to be trusted, he advised
thi' Hesijuiats to avail themselves of the
darkness of the ni^ht to return to their
homes, and with his compliments and
condolence sent a number of yards of
calico to be used by the Indians as a
shroud for my " corpse!"

()n\oveml)er i (Monday at noon),
a deputation of Indians excitedly entered
my house and told me that they were
goin;,' to send a canoe with the news of
my state to Victoria, and report to the
Uishop and the police.

I told them ipiietly to please them-
selves, but as they were determined to
leave at once I gave them a paperon which
I had every morning written a few words.

Meanwhile my wounds became more
and more inllamed. The Indians were
up with me day and night constantly
pouring cold water over my injured hand.
The wounds in my back and side gave
me great pain from the fact that I had to
lie on them and that they could not be
reached by cold water dressings.

As the hours and days advanced the
swelling increased and inflammation was
rapidly gaining. I was trembling with cold
although the Indians kept up a good fire.

At last, on 'Tuesday, the 9th, just as it
was getting dark, an Indian out of breath
ran into my house and shouted that a
man-ot-war was entering the harbor 1

I cannot describe my feelings and those
of the poor Indians who were in my
room and acted as nurses. . . . Half an
hour later one of the doctors ( Dr. Wal-
kem ) who had volunteered to cone
to my assistance, rushed into my room
and after examining my hand expressed
his opinion that it could not be saved
and that I would have to submit to am-
putation. By that time Bishop Seghers,
Ciod bless him, had also come in. I can
see him now, a picture of sadness. With
tears in his eyes he told me how happy
he felt to find me alive. ... I could
hardly utter a word 1 My strength was
gone, for I had not tasted food or drink
for several days.

The Bishop went into my bed room,
opened a bottle of port wine and
gave me a full ciose of the medicine as he
called it in the presence of the na-
tives and lo! my strength and courage
came back at once. I told them of the
details of my situation since 1 had seen
him a month before in Victoria.

The doctor of the navy ( Dr. Redfern)
after thoroughly examining my wounds,
declared that nothing could be done at
])resent: that I would have to go to the
hospital in N'ictoria, etc., and urged
upon me the i)ropriety of taking some
food. He then cooked a meal and al-
though everything waspre])artd in an ar-
tistic shape I could not take more than
one or two mouthfuls of his i)reparation.

Next morning the captain of H. M. S.
A'oikct { Captain Harris ) came on shore
and proposed to have the would-be mur-
derer arrested. In fact he stated that it
was part of his object incoming to Hes-
ipiiat. But just then an Indian came
into my house with the news of new cases
of small-pox, and expressing his uneasi-
ness and that of his Indian friends to be
left alone with the dread disease in the
village. Happily, Captain Harris did not
understand the messenger and so we
urged upon him the necessity of return-
ing to \'ictoria, as the doctors insisted
that my wounds would have to be attend-
ed to without further delay.

Besides, I told him that the man who
had shot mc had run away into the bush
— that he had not been seen since and
that he might be ten or twenty miles
away in the mountains.

An arrangement was then made with
the principal men of the tribe that they
were to take to N'ictoria the Chief Mat-
lahaw in case he could be arrested and
that the provincial police would pay them
for their trouble the sum of Si 00 and a
supply of provisions.

Thereupon arrangements were made
to have me conveyed on board of the
man-of-war. lOight men placed mc on a
cot, took me down to the beach between
two lines of Indians, whilst one of the

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

iHF.SfjlIAI', I!. C. — I. A CATHOLIC lAMII.V. — 2. I'HK VolM; CIIII-.I (l| llIK IRlllK, HIS AIM,
AND TWO CIlll.llRKN.— ,?, THE ITRST CATHOLIC FAMILY ON LHK COAST. — 4. CAI lloLlC
MOTHKR AND SON. —5. CATHOLIC FAMILY. LHK FAIHKK CAN KKAU AND WRITE.

I^'

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

chiefs made a

speech regretting

what had occurred

and bespealcing the

spet'dy return of

"their I'riest."
When we arrived

at the vessel the

cot was slung from

the spanker- boom,

an awning was

stretched over the

whole, and I was

made to feel as

comfortable as pos

sible under the cir-
cumstances.

We arrived inVic-
toria next morning.
At the time of our landing an immense
crowd of people were on the wharves.
The city was indeed in great excitement,
for the news had just reached the people
that the steamship Pacific with 260 pas-
sengers— (piite a number of Victorians —
had foundered at sea and that thus far
only one passenger had reached shore
alive. As we came from the very coast
where the wreck had taken place, and as
it had happened just a day before, the
people were all in hopes that a number
might have been picked up at sea. W^e
had seen nothing of the wreck, and the
crowd, looking for friends and good
news, were doomed to return home dis-
appointed.

The same men who had taken me in
a cot on the man-of-war carried me on
their shoulders from the vessel to the
Bishop's residence, at'd then landed me
on a table in the dining-room. That
room, — where I had passed so many
pleasant hours with Bishop Demers and
Bisho]) Seghers, his successor, and my
colleagues, the priests of the diocese and
especially of the Cathedral, — now looked
gloomy. I'-veryone wanted to have a
look and say a good word. The Sisters
of St. Ann were there also well repre-
sented. Warm water, towels, linen and
other necessary articles were prepared

A (iROCP Ol' INDIAN \Vt>MKN, Al' NOUIKA

by them, and the doctors, four in num-
ber, began to talk business.

'I'hey were going to amputate the
hand ! Yes ! perhaps it would do to
amputate only the two first fingers ! \
Such and other remarks I heard them
make. However, I was not going to
part with those necessary members of a
priest's body to allow him to say Mass,
without an objection ! And object I
did ! And asked them to allow me to
die rather than have me become a use-
less man in the world, such as a priest
would be if he cannot say Mass. I'rot-
estants as they were, the doctors, at first,
did not understand my reiterated plead -
ingr> to be allowed to keep my hand and
fingers. However, they concluded to
wait a couple of days and for liu? time
being agreed among then;selvt's !;o cut
open the main ulcers, r!„i;ijve the
broken bones and cut out pieces of lead
and other foreign matter.

They all left me with the expectation
of returning a couple of days later to
perform the amputation ; but prayer had
the best of them. Two days later one
of the doctors made his usual call, and
seeing that the blood began again to cir-
culate he could not conceal his astonish-
ment and went away wondering how this
unexpected change could have occurred.

X'ancoiiver Island and Its Missions.

I was in the doctors' hands for nearly
five months. I then heard that a
schooner was advertised to go out seal-
ing to the West Coast, and foreseeing
that no other opportunity to return to
my mission would oiler for the next six
months, I asked for a passage on board
and returned to my mission in Hes(iuiat
on March 2,?, 1876.

I arrived in Hes(iuiat on April 5th.
'The Indians ha ng learned that I was
on my way back to the Mission, and
understanding that the vessel on which i
had embarked would not come as far as
their village, sent a canoe with nine men
to meet me and take me home. I met
them at "Asatikis," about twenty miles
from the Mission. On our way we
called at (Maktosis) Ahousat and bap-
tized the newly born children; next day
we arrived in Hescjuiat.

My house was in the state I had left
it — the floor covered with blood, the
temporary bunk which I had caused to
be put up in my sitting-room so as to
have more space to move about with
water, dressings, etc., was still there;
everything reminded me of sad days and
sleepless nights. It all had a tendency
to make one feel downhearted, but the
Indians were then so happy to see me
back that I put aside all other thoughts,
and after a few days' cleaning, settling
down again, I recommenced my work
where I had left it off.

On Easier Sunday I established a force
of policemen. The occasion had been
furnished by the Indians themselves.
They had resolved to have a feast in my
honor and to [jresent me with a gift of
their own as a sign of their good feelings
towards me. True enough, the day was
appointed and two influential men of the
tribe were delegated to come and invite
me. The men were dressed up in red
blankets over their red skins, pants and
shirts being an unknown article to men
of their class; their faces were covered
with black and red paint, and down of
birds covered their heads and their long
hair. They rather shouted than spoke,

at the same time giving vent to wild,
savage gesticulations.

And so I went to the feast, which was
given in one of the houses of a chief.
As there were no chairs in the village a
thoughtful savage took one of my own
and placed it in the middle of the im-
mense building.

'I'here I sat like an Indian chief,
calmly smoking my pipe and pretending
to enjoy everything that was going on.
There were dancing and shouting and
gesticulations and many other extrava-
gant things, which no one can fancy who
has not seen wild men and women,
covered with feathers and with painted
cheeks,giving free expression to the feel-
ings of their savage heart and nature.
That sort of thing lasted for about two
hours, and being nearly blind with the
smoke of the camp-fires and as nearly
deaf with the noise made by the women,
as they beat with sticks on planks and
Indian boxes to the measure of the
songs of the men and boys and the
younger class of women, I was anxious to
go home and enjoy fresh air and peace.
Mut what should happen ? There in a
corner got up one of the chiefs and tak-
ing a shawl from a woman's shoulders
held it open in view ot the whole
tribe and looking at me as with
an angry countenance he called out,
'\I.ctIft : Li'tlct:) Priest ! Priest \ this is
for you, this is for you 1 I present it to
you in the name of the tribe of the Hes-
(|uiats, who are all present here to do
honor to you ."'

I do nc>t know what anybody else
would have done ; as for me, I took the
shawl and thanked the tribe and went
home. Hut scarcely had I reached my
house when I began to reflect and ask of
myself, " What in the world shall I do
with that shawl?" After Mature reflec-
tion, I hit upon a plan to get rid of it.

Easter Sunday arrived and, as said
al)ove, I established a force of Indian
policemen, as asked for by the Indians
themselves and approved by the Bishop.
Having then carefully selected my men

i;|li>
M

X'ancouver Island and Its Missions.

I proceeded between hi\Ljh Mass and eve-
ning service to the house of one of the
chiefs where the whole tribe, were
assembled. I explained to them the
object of the meeting: then I appointed
three men to act as Indian constables,
and gave each of them a coat and pants,
to distinguish them from other savages
and as a mark of their authority, 'ihen
taking the shawl, I held it up before
the tribe and made a present of it to
the woman, who took care ot the orjihan
bov of the man, who had tried to kill me.
The new policemen were then api)ointed
guardians of the future chief of the Hes-
(juiats I availed myself of this season
of fervor to teach them the "Catholic
Ladder" of Father Lacombe. I also
taught them to sing Mass in plain chant.

We had the first high Mass on the
Feast of the Patronage of St. Joseph.

On June 5 following, there was unusual
excitement in the village. Farly in the
morning the news is brought that a dead
whale is floating off the harbor. There
is shouting and running about ; paddles
are got ready and all the large canoes
pulled down to the beach. Not an able-
bodied man is left on shore ; even a
nunil)er of women accompany the crowd.
Vou can see the excitement at sea, you
can hear the shouting and singing as the
monster of the deep is being towed
toward the shore. At last shore is
reached. The men stand up in their
canoes, paddles in hands, and intone one
of their old songs. . . . The women
on shore stand alongside the houses, and
taking part in the general rejoicings, beat
a measure on the sides of the dwellings
and their old Indian drums.

.\s the day is well advanced, it is de-
cided that the cutting up of the whale
shall be postponed till next morning.
Meanwhile knives are i)rei)ared. and the
chiefs and principal men, who alone are
entitled to a share of the big fish, secure
a number of inferior men to give them a
hand next day.

June 6. — I'Ong before daylight the
whale is surrounded by half naked In-

dians; they all know the share they have
a right to, but not one seems satisfied
with what belongs to him — there is no
end of (juarrelingand pushing each other
about. In the disturbance a couple are
wounded— one very seriously. After half
a day of fighting and general disturb-
ance, the whale being cut u]), the Indians
all retire to their houses, happy at tiie
l)rospect of enjoying the delicacies ot
whi\le blubber and whale oil for the next
few months.

June 7. — In the heat of their happiness
the chiefs decide to go to Ahousat and
invite their friends of that tribe to come
and have a share in the general festivities.

June 10. — Three .\housat canoes arrive
in Hes(iuiat, in all twenty-two men. All
the Indians assemble to receive their
guests on the beach; they walk in proces-
sion, one man behind the other, in white
man's clothes, save two, whose heads
are covered with feathers, and who dance
the dances usual on such occasions.
Meanwhile the .\housats, appreciating
the compliment, rise in their canoes, be-
gin to beat a measure on the sides of the
canoes and sing a song in resi)onse to a
speech made by one of the Hesquiats.

It all finishes by the pulling up of the
canoes of the visitors and leading them
into the house of one of the chiefs, who
at once entertains them at a meal of
" whale meat."

The accidental floating on shore of
this whale and the importance which the
Indians attach to this event had caused
them to talk a great deal about the sub-
ject. Apropos of this event, let me give a
notion of their superstitions on this
point.

.\ few months ago an old Indian chiei
called " Koninnah," and known all
along the coast, died in IIes([uiat. This
man enjoyed the reputation of bringing
dead whales, almost at will, to the shore
of the Hes(iuiat laiul, and even now he
gets the credit for tiie whale that floated
on shore yesterday. For as the Indians
say that their chiefs do not forget their
friends and subjects when they reach the

Vancouver Islaiul ami Its Missions.

.r.

other world, hence Kuninnali, by his
influence, sent tliem " a dead whale " as
a token of ^'ood will.

'I'his man. 1 am told, had here in the
bush a small house made of cedar planks;
to this house he would repair from time
to time to \ isit his charms, which it con
tained, and ljo through his usual devo-
tions, prayers and incantations. His
charms mostly consisted of human skele-
tons, especially those of ancient chiefs
and (anions hunters.
W) these skeletons
he would speak as if
they were alive and
ordtr them to i;ive
him a '• whale."
Kach of the skele-
tons had its turn, .nnd
in addressin<,' him
self to them he would
gi\'e due ( reilit to
those of their num-
ber who, he had rea
son Id suspei:t, had
been granting his
reiiuesl.

It is narrated lliat
Koniniiah one da}'
was boaslinji of ( ans-
inu a (le.ul wh.\le tn
strand ill ilesipuat
harl)iir. .\> it hap-
pened. tliL ilesli w.is
t(>UL;h anil liie oil
iidt sweet liie In
dians rmdiui,' fault
with their supposed
good lui k. he iDJd

them that lie would .u.M aiiotluT one tor
them of better i|nalii\ . when lo '. a
(■ou|>le of da\s later hi- juedi' tion uas
verifieil.

The Indians tell tl ': .uiis wiiii such
conviction of truth lli.it it is almost jiain-
ful to have lo ( otitradict them.

Koninnah. when desirous to he sik -
cessful. leil a life of strict (ontineiKC.
lie a'so observed laws of lastiii- and
bathint, in salt water. Hesides, he was
never to taste of the llesh or blubber of

his whales under pain of losing his ex-
traordinary jiowers. Whales are an article
of immense importance in this locality
and with all the tribes on the coast.
They are considered the best and most
wholesome food, and the oil is used with
all kinds of dry fish.

June 2_?. — I p to this date it has rained
a great deal : the weather now seems to
break up and a rainbow is seen in the
direition of S\dnev inlet. .\11 at once a

I'INM K Mill K

( o'lple iif ii.di.ins to u hoiii I am tall^i^g,
Ihiw their he, ids and turn their b.u ks mi
the rainbow . 1 le.irn from them that the
liidi.ins nil tlic ( oast never liiiik at a r.iiii-
liiiw iiir fear tluit some harm bei. ill them.
I line J ;. - A 1 hi Id vva-- born to day, ,mil
being the oil'spriiig c.t .m iii:| ort.iiit man .
there is great rejoiiing. Nrcorchng to an
old 1 U'-tom a ( (III pie of men 1' c. iiig the title
of (>{•//( i ■ beggars-— ( overed wit'-. Ic.ithers
and paint, goto the hapi>\ parents' house
and there begin their pri'.'il s antl dan»:es

ii.

X'ancouvcr Island and Its Missions.

accompanied by singing and pleading,
their on'y object being to induce the
child's father to make presents to them
and invite the tribe to a feast of food and
amusements. Strange to say, the father
of the newly horn child is confined to
the house as well as the mother — on no
pretext can he go outside and look at the
ocean or sky. Such conduct on his jjart
would have the effect to scare away the
fish and to anger the waves of the sea.
In case of extreme need to go outside,
the man must cover his eyes, look down
to find his way; but under no pretext can
he look up or walk along the beach.

Apart from the general rejoicings, the
old women of the neighborhood must
also have their turn. There they sit
around the newly born with sticks in
their hands, and striking up some of their
usual songs begin to beat time on cedar
boards or a worn-out tambourine. This
they continue until the new mother or
her nearest relatives make some suitable
present to all the women visitors.

The name of the infant, given before
birth, is that of a female dead relative or
ancestor. In case the progeny belongs
to the masculine gender anothei' name is
soon substituted.

Another peculiarity about the Indians
is this: If any one dies his name dies
with him; that is, no one will dare pro-
nounce it again, especially in the presence
of relatives, and if any one in the tribe
has a name which sounds like that of the
deceased he will change it at once.

There is something so ludicrous about
this, that to day you may know the
names of all your people, and still six
months later you are likely to know only
■one half of them. Christian names are
a great improvement, but in giving them
one must be careful to make a proper
choice, as the Indians cannot pronounce
all our letters. .\ boy called "Damien"
was the other day asked his name, to
which he replied, without, however,
showing any signs of anger, " l)am\'ou,"
meaning, of course, to say '• Damien,"
a French Christian name.

The names given by the Indians to
their children are family names, that is,
they belong especially to a certain clan of
the whole tribe. Through intermarriage,
however, many have passed into different
clans, and in fact, as far as I can see, they
now are pretty well spread all over the
tribe. Inferior peojjle, however, dare
not give to their children certain names,
which svem to be the property of the
chiefs of the different tribes, nor do they,
whatever their merits may be, apply them
to themselves.

In general, the names of our Indians
have some meaning, being mostly sug-
gested by the doings of some big hunter
or ancient warrior. Quite a number of
them, though, have no meaning what-
ever, and are simply given as having been
the name of some ancestor. As a rule,
children take the name of their grand-
father or grandmother, sometimes of
other ancestors, but never those of their
parents.

I gather from what I heard that respect
for the dead and their (living) relatives
seems to be the main reason for avoiding
the adoption of their names or of having
them pronounced within a certain period
after their death.

June 26. — A canoe containing nine
Ekoutl, IJarJay Sound, Indians has just
arrived. She attracted our attention from
(juite a distance at sea. Although the
wind was favorable she took in her sail,
when we could hardly see her. She car-
ried a tlag at her stern and the Indians
were paddling as hard as they lould.
Next we could hear them sing, and when
they were (juite near shore they stopped
paddling, and one of the men, getting
u\), struck up a song in a loud, moaning
tone; then, upon landing, he shouted
something to our people, which I was
afterwards told was the name of our chief,
and gave him a couple of blankets as a
present.

The Hesquiat Indians evidently knew
the object of the visitors, for, as a rule,
with all the tribes on the coast, when
strangers arrive at a village, there are al-

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

ways a number of the people who run
down to the l)each, either to welcome
them or to get the news.

In the present case, not one of our
people went to meet the strangers, who
were now at the landing place. Vet.
when called upon to go and receive the
blankets, the chief sent one of the young
men to fetch them to him.

After this was done the same spokes-
man (of the strangers) got up again and
in the same tone of voice called out the
name of the second chief and made him
also a (jresent of a couple of blankets,
which a messenger went down to the
beach to take for the second chief.

This was repeated six times, so that
all the •jri'icipal chiefs received a present
be*bre f'^^ iien put an end to their
ger isit*

boii.e ni the Hes(iu'at'3, upon hearing
the name of their sons called out by these
strangers, got quite excited, and before
inviting them into their houses also made
presents to them, which were accented
with the usual expression of thanks :
' • TIako : tlako ." '

It struck me as strange that in all their
feasts and meetings the parents are not
mentioned ; that is, if a man invites to a
feast, it he has an heir he will always ex-
tend the invitation in the name of that
heir, and also whcii jTCi^nts are given
they are always gi' i-n to the heir, even if
he were only one .!.i. . 'd. i'he parent
always disu')pea. bc'il'J Jic. heir, who in
all cases coupes or st.uds ic tlie front in
the estimation ot all tl i. i ;dians on this
coast.

The Indians of I'lkoutl. liarclay
Sound, are here with the object of in-
viting the Hes(|uiats to a p(Jtiach, as tiie
peculiar way of their landing here indi-
cates. I'his is the first invitation to a
podach extent > ) to my Indians since I
came to the : ■j- x.

A |)otlach, as [ a.derstand it from the
meaning of the word, is a feast where
gifts or presents are made, a gift- feast.
The priests and ministers of all denomi-
nations condemn the feast, and the

Dominion (lovernment at their sugges-
tion has passed a law prohibiting it under
certain penalties. As for me, I cannot
see any harm in it, although I would
rather have it abolished. I had no reason
therefore of my own, but giving due im-
portance to the conduct of men longer
in the nnnistry than myself, 1 used all my
influence to keep my people from going
to the present gift- feast in Harclay
Sound.

.\s I understand it, a potlach simply
consists in this : .\ man, say a chief of a
certain tribe, after a season of prosperity
has accumulated a large number of
blankets — the Indians here have no
money. He then resolves to invite a
neighboring tribe to a feast and dis-
tribute to them according to their rank
the fruit of his industry — his blankets.
He privately warns the members of his
own tribe to be prepared for the recep-
tion of the tribe which he singles out.
'I'his proposition is ap])roved of, and his
friends, the principal chiefs, secure the
necessary i)rovi::ions, so that when the
feast is on they can entertain at a meal
the invited guests.

The tribe to be invited are also warned
in due time and afterwards formally
notified that their i)resence is expected
soon after the formal warning.

The occasion of starting is one of great
excitement. .\11 the able-bodied men as
a rule and also a number of women go
along, and are evidently intent ujjon
haviiiga good, enjoyable lime.

The arrival at the village where they
are invited is also ver\' exciting. They
sinirand dance in their canoes, the drums
beat and the muskets are fired off. Mean-
while the people on shore are also doing
th<Mrbest tomakeagood show, and after
many different ways of bidding weli ome,
the guests land and are invited b,- on<. of
the chiefs to share his hospitality by tak-
ing a good meal.

Immediately after this meal, and more
fieiiueiitly before it, the visitors are di-
vided, for their present (piarters during
the day when disengaged and for sleeping

J' •
It

\ ancouvcr Islaml and Its Missions.

at night, amongst the members of tht'
tribe, who take pride in accommodatirg
especially those to whom they are in r.ny
way related. There they are also wel' ome
at meals ; but every day during their stay
one or more of the ( hicfs or imjjortant
men invite all the strangers to eat in their
houses where singing, dancing and ex-
changing gifts and presents are freely in-
dulged in.

.\ potlach or gift feast consists in ex-
changing presents either with the object
of gain or of exciting the admiration of
their fellow- Indians. Sometimes in the
height of his savage pride an Indian
makes presents, for doing which he is
afterwards sorry, especially if an article
far below the value of the one he has
himself made a present of is returned.
Every one seems to speculate either for
gain or for glory!

On the fourth or fifth day the feast
comes to a conclusion by the man who
has ' .ted the strangers making presents
to an of them according to their rank or
their importance; not, however, without
losing sight of the probability that the
one to whom the presents are made will
.sometime be able to make an eijual re-
turn to the giver. Herein the potlach
fails of good, for the old people are almost
lost sight of and so are orphan children,
es])ecially those of the female gender. A
potlach is not an expression of charity,
but a pure piece of Indian speculation.

During the festivities, the Indians
wear their best blankets and keep them-
selves cleaner than usual, but for their
dances and games, they have resort to all
means to make themselves look ugly or
odd. Their faces painted, their heads
covered with down, masks of different
descriptions, bear skins are put on and
even Chinese (lueues are worn by the
younger class of people.

The festivities come to an end by a
speech made b) the one who invited
the strangers. These jjack tlu'ir gifts to
their canoes and the people at home
resume their usual work and occui)ations.

'l"he hospitality shown by our Indians

to visitors or strangers is ipiite note-
worthy, .'s soon as a canoe of strangers
arrive at a village they are at once in-
vited by some of the residents to carry
their belongings up to their house; a
meal is prc|)ared for them and lodgings
are offered. When traveling our people
take little or no provisions along, for they
may always reckon upon receiving hospi-
tality wherever they happen to go on
shore near an Indian settlement, and
whatever food is left after their meal, is
taken to the canoe of the visitors. It is
used by them on their voyage home and
remnants are distributed to their friends
at home, during the jjartaking of which
all the nev. i.f interest is communicated.
In their /' aes after a successful

day or season ishing or hunting in-

vitations are often sent out to the tribe
or a part thereof, to come and partake of
a feast of food, the remnants in all cases
being carried by the young people to
the respective homes of the invited guests.
Before retiring a spee( h h made by one
of the principal men, and thanks are duly
given to the host in the name of those
who were invited. In all cases the in-
vited guests occupy a jilace according to
their rank. It reminds one very much
of the customs of the Jews at the time of
our Lord.

June 2.S. — To-day the first funeral ac
cording to the rites of the Catholic
Church takes jjlace. A funeral is never a
very tunny affair, still this one seems to
be an exception, at least as far as I was
concerned. 'The Indian died about mid-
night: as was customary he was \nit in
a box or trunk at once, a fuct of which
1 was warned by a messenger. I got up
and told the Indian that the funeral
could not take place before morning —
however, that there was no objection to
having the corpse put outside of the
Indian house.

■Vbout three o'clock I was again
aroused. Once more 1 told the messenger
to have patience till .Mass time. lUit
about tour o'clock there were (|uite a
number of n.essengers. I got up again;

$■;

X'ancomer Islaml and Its Missions.

VilCM, ,l|!(Kl I- "I I III- i.ilKI-N. — IIIKKI III III lilKI- \l li V\ — >M|("ii (HllliKIN.

A i.Kdll'. \ I AM II I \l< 11 i\l PANS ,

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

il '1

by that time the primitive coffin was in
evidence at the church door. Still, I
thought it rather unusual to hury the
dead at four o'clock in the morning,
hence 1 postponed again; but when five
o'clock came there was no use trying to
put it off any longer. The funeral was
to take place right then. (Juite a num-
ber of people crowiled into the church;
the coffin was put in the centre, but every
one faced the coffin, even those in front
in the church turned their ba< ks to the
altar. When .Mass was over 1 solemnly
headed the funeral procession with cross
and altar boys, reciting the prayers of the
Ritual, when looking behind me I
noticed that the savages had taken
another road with the corpse, in fact they
had put it into a canoe and were jjaddling
across the small bay around which I was
walking. Still, we arrived ultimately at
the same spot, but to my dismay there
was no grave dug. There we stood about
to bury the dead chief and no grave.
Shovel and pick were sent for. I took
off my surjjlice, began the digging of a
grave, got an Indian to continue and
went home and had my breakfiist. When
everything was rtady, 1 went back and
blessed the grave, and the first Christian
of this region was laid to rest in con-
.secrated ground. R. 1. l\

I am inf'j'-ined that this Christian
funeral is i,ji' . a victory towards break-
ing up the old pagan customs and super-
stitions of the Indians of this coast in
case of sickness and death. Mrstof all,
because the Indian was really ilead when
he was removed and put into the coffin.
Many instances are narrated where peo-
ple have been buried alive. A coasting
trader told me that when he was sta-
tioned at Clayoquat a man was put on
an island where there was a small trad-
ing post. During the night somebody
rapped at his door, he got up and there
stood a naked Indian, the man who had
been buried tlie day before. He lived
two years after his supposed death. 'I'he
strangest part of the story was that the
Indians who had buried him maintained

still that the man was dead, and that it
was a bad spirit that now occupied the
corpse, or rather the body of the new
Lazarus.

Some time ago I was called to see an
Indian sui)posed to be dying. What
was my horror when coming in the house
1 found them tieing together his arms
and legs and actually preparing to bury
him alive.

.A young married woman had given
birth to her first child. She took con-
vulsions and fainted away. No time was
lost in putting her in a box, and removing
her into a cave close to the village. Ne.xt
morning a man went bathing in the
neighborhood and heard the poor girl cry
for pity. She was alive . . and,

horrible to relate, she was left to die in
her misery. Her new-born baby soon
followed her in death, having starved for
want of food. This happened at Nootka
1 know a man whose son, the father of a
small family, took suddenly sick through
exposure ; he seemed to have cramps all
over his body and became speechless.
.\tterfouror five days the old man or-
dered a coffin to be made and asked the
services of three young men — they nar-
rated this to me themselves with delight —
to force the sic'- son into Hie box ; they
tied him hands and, feet and having him
well secured they did as they were told
by the heartless lather, and took him out
into the bush to perish of misery.
During all this transaction, the unfortu-
nate fellow groaned and seemed to ask
tiiein to have jiity on him. 't'hey were
inclined to comply with his wishes, but
they were told : " Never mind, do as I
tell you; my son is dead, the bad spirit
has hold of him and makes all this re-
sistance. "

.Another ( ase came to my notice as
reported by an eye witness : A middle-
aged savage was cutting down a tree ; it
fell unexpectedly and crushed one of his
legs very badly. He was carried home,
bled a great deal and at last was pro-
nounced dead by the " medicine men,"
although every other witness knew that

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

he was only in a faint. Next morning as
my informant was walking along the beach
he noticed that one leg stuck through the
square box into which the body had been
placed, an evident sign that the man had
been buried alive, and that in order to
free himself he had used the sound leg to
break the side of the box, the injured one
having been too fiir destroyed or too
painful to be used for the purpose.

In rare instances the Indians mutilate
the bodies of the dead before removing
them. ( )ne case came to my knowledge.
A young couple had had several chil-
dren, but they had all died soon after
birth. This happened again, and the
father of the dead child, upon the advice
of the old people and with the object
that such a misfortune
should not happen to him
again, literally broke every
>one of the legs and arms
of the dead infant before
placing it into the coffin.

The Indians up to this
had never buried their dead
under ground. When it was
time to remove a corpse,
they made an opening in
the side of the house —they
never took a corpse through
a door, especially on account
of the children and younger
people who, as the savages
thought, would die in case
they passed through the
passage followed by jieoplo
<arryingout a corjjse. They
removed the dead through
an opening made in the wail
by removing a few of the
side boards of their houses
—then they walked if pos-
sible on the beach below
high-water mark. If the
body was i)laced in a canoe,
that canoe was afterwards
de.stroyetl. The bodies were
removed to only a small
distance from the village and
placed in a prominent |)lace

on the iimiis of trees ten or twenty feet
from the ground. There they were fas-
tened to the body of the trees with «(.rong
( ords made of cedar bark ; afterwards
they were covered with blankets ; then a
display was made by hanging blankets all
around. While this was going on,, the
people in the house, especially the old
women, gathered everything that had
belonged to the dead man or woman,
made a fire outside, threw all the relics
into it and destroyed whatever was not
.ntlammable.

And now you could hear them in the
houses cry and lament and utter the most
unearthly wailings that one can listen to.

When men of im|)ortance die, the
mourning is general and the scenes that

\\\ MKSI IN 11.1 Nl.Ss.

\'anc()ii\ cr Islainl and Its Missions.

are enacted go beyond all limits. I'hose
of a lowt- rank are mourned hy only
their own relatives and nearest friends.

A year later the relatives and friends
of the deceased walk all in a body to the
tree where the body has been placed :
they open the box and taking out the
skull thi-y carry it to their house and
there keej) it as a relic.

The idea is, I am told, to keep it from
desecration, for the skull of the dead is
iise'^ as a '• charm"' to he successful as a
hunter, a warrior or a " medicine man."
Yet, notwithstanding all the precautions
that are taken, you can find along the
streams in the bush different constru* -
tions that base been put uj) by the na-
tives where they used to go and pray for
good lu( k or success, and there you in-
variably find the skull of some dead
Indian !

July lo. — I arrived back from a trij)
along the coast with six of the best and
strongest young men. W'c were well re-
ceived by the different tribes and visited
them ail. the Chicklesats being met in a
small bay near Cajie Cook, the extreme
limit of the Mission of the Sacred Heart
of which I ha\ (■ charge.

< )n our way back we called on the
I'.hattisal Inilians living near lacliii.
There we found Chief .Maqiiinna. being
on his father's side the chief of this triiie
and on lii> mother's side the chief of the
Xoolka or .Mowachat people.

We were u>here(l into hi> lodge b\ tiie
chief himself. His 1 lulian wife, the >i>-
ter ol' .\latlaliaw, the man who shot me,
re( ei\e(l us with esitient signs ot' iinea>i-
iie^s and ^hauK'. liowe\cr. I >poke to
her kindl\- and my Indians also tried to
make her feel at home, .\ficr gi\ing
Catechism in>lrii( tions to all the Indian^
present I went outsitle with the obie( t of
saying my office, and having retired to a
certain distance iVom the camp I felt an-
noyed to see .\iai|uinna come and join
me. I found an excuse to send him awa\'
for a few minutes, and availed myself of
his absence to walk ap a small creek
where i could sa\ iu\- olfice without beiiiii

disturbed. When lo.' 1 saw my Hesipiiat
guides run about evidently in a great state
of excitement They noti( ed me at last,
and coming u|) they told me to (piit my
place of refuge and not to go out of their
sight again. I knew not what they
meant and followed their advice. When
night ( ame 1 prepared myself to lie down
in the chief's house, who had acted, as it
struck me then, in a very suspicious way
in the latter part of the afternoon.

I went to sleep about lo o'clock and
expected to have a good night, for I was
worn out with fatigue and the strong,
thick smoke of the open fire had almost
made me blind. Although I was lying
on the bare boards I dozed off almost at
once.

Suddenly I lilt an oppression on the
chest. I awoke and o|)ening my eyes I
saw the chief s face close to mine. Mis
eyes were staring out of their sockets and
his heavy breath was suffocating. What
did he want ? \\ hat was his intention
or purpose?

Next morning. in-;t at daylight. I was
aroused from my couch by one of my
crew : he told me to get up at once as
(piietly as possible and follow him out of
the ram h. I folbnved his ordeis. but
llotwilh^tandinu our precaiiti(jns we were
detected. We jumped into our canoe,
I lie ( liiel' following us in a rage down the
beach, and abusing my peo|>le in ino^t
insulting language.

However, no notice was taken. .M \-
men were ai lluir paddles and thev did
not take a breath till we were >v'\eral
miles away ; then looking behind and
seeing that we were not followed, one of
them told of our dangerous positicjn the
day bef(jre.

The chief was going to have mekilleil
by one of his men if he could not suc( eetl
in doing it himself Then he was going
to accuse my guides of having committed
the murder in order to get even with
them, tor one of the men with me had
taken to \ i< toria and delivered to the
police and authorities the father of .\lat-
lahaw, the would-be murderer, and had

V'aiuouvcr Island and Its Missions.

4«

there accused the ohl man of having in-
cited his son to do the shooting. In
answer toa question. I was told that su( h
a practice is very counnon with the sav-
ages of this ( oast, and that many a war
has had its origin and cause in false ac-
cusations of this kind.

July i6. — Townissini, the lather of
Matlahaw. arrives in Hes(iuiat.

I'ownissim was the chief of Hescpiiat
and the father of Matlahaw. who was
a( ting as his sue ccssor.

together, and to tiuir honor they saw-
only a lew pa< es away the liody of a
dead man at the toot of a large, hollow-
tree. I'here could he no mistake about
it : it was he ! He wore his uniform as
t hief, and a medal presented by the
Dominion (lovermnent on liis breast.

Horrified, they all retired — gave the
news to their friends and looked upon
thL' spot as a pla( e to be avoided. How-
ever, before making this search they had
already arrested Townissini, the young

\ I II N(, \| \KRIK|i I I It'll K

A tVw days afl(;r the man of war had
taken me to N'ictoria the Indians ar-
ranged a sean h party, and they had
promised to take the \ijung chief to the
authorities of the i)oli( e department, In
case he could be found. All the able-
bodied men took part in it, and having
started from a certain point they meant
to walk through the bush for miles
around. Howe.er. they had hardly be-
gun their work when one of the |)art\
uttered a cry of alarm. 'I'hey gathered

' hiefs latluT. and taken him to \'i( toria.
They a( ( u>cd him. and iKJt without
grave reason, that he was at the bottom
(jf all the trouble, and that Matlahaw
had only a< ted under orders from his
father. Indeed, jirexioiis to the' shoot-
ing, the old man had been seen for three
su('( essive mornings in (lose pri\ate con-
versation with his Mm : then on the
morning of the shooting he had left the
village, even before daylight, taking along
his grandchild, and had not been seen

\'aiic()iivcr Island and Its Missions.

ever since : from which tlie Indians coii-
( hided thai the man knew what was go-
ing to take place, and kejjt out of the
way till further de\ei()|)inents.

Hem e they had at once be};un their
search lor liini or for both, when one
morning noticing the smoke of a eam|»
fire at llntrance Toint, they crossed in
their canoes and arrested him.

He was six months in jail in N'ictoria,
and then the news that Matlahaw was
dead having reac hed the authorities, he
was sent hack with a caution, and indue
time arrived in llesiiuiat,

July 25. — I'ownissimcame to my house
to-day just as (luite a number of Indians
were in my house. 1 told them to be
kind to him and at the same time told
him to show no ill feelings against any-
body.

August 23. — Notwithstanding my cau-
tion, Pownissim is inciting the Indians
against me. I hear that the poor man
is in dread of being killed by his own
subjects. Hence, whenever he goes out-
side of his dwelling, he always carries a
knife concealed under his blanket.

September 25. — ("lood news to day.
The Bishop is on his way to this place
and is accomjjanied by a priest.

September 2(>. — Right Rev. C. J.
Seghers, accompanied by Rev. P. J.
Nicolaye, arrives in Hesipiiat a few min-
utes before midnight.

()ctol)er I. — Feast of the Holy Rosary.
The Bishop blesses our new church, the
first on the west coast of Vancouver
Island, and i)laces it under the patronage
of St. Anthony. A procession is organ-
ized in which participate, besides all the
Hesquiat Indians, all the Machelats, a
number of Nootkas, Clayotpiats and
Ahousats.

October S. — The Hescpiiat chiefs are
called together and a grant of land is
made, on which, in the distant future, it
is proposed to build a substantial chun h
and to erect other buildings as circum-
stances may recpiire. The ground may
be taken up at once and cultivated.

October 10. — Reverend Father Nico-

laye received leave to stay with me during
the winter. He is supi)osed to ])repare
himself to take charge of a portion of my
mission next spring.

()ctoberi2. — The Bishop leaves on
the schooner • '.Alert," (I. Brown captain,
and returns to Vic toria. his visit to the
•Mission having created cpiite an e.xcite-
ment amongst the Indians as he has told
them that they must prei)are for baptism.
I avail myself of the oi)|)ortunity to com-
mence preaching against their sui)ersti-
tion with new zeal and determination.

But oh ! how far they are from having
the least idea of Christianity and a Chris-
tian life. We have a mountain to re-
move which only Cod's grace can help
us to do.

.\t this time of the year many of our
Indians go up the inlets and rivers with
the object of making new canoes. Up
on the hillsides or on the lowlands they
cut down a cedar tree and with a com-
mon axe cut off a length according to
the size recpiired for the purposes of the
canoe, /. r., sealing, fishing, sea otter
hunting, or traveling. Then they i)ut
the proper shape to it, very roughly,
first outside, then inside. Next they in-
vite some friends and together they pull
the clumsy frame to the stream or to the
ocean and then float it and pull it on
shore before their houses in the village.
When otherwise unemployed, especially
in the early morning and toward evening,
they use a peculiar hand chisel or adze
(in old times they used a chisel of stone
or of horn ot the antlers of elk), and
with wonderful patience they cutoff chip
after chi]), till the frame is reduced to
the proper thickness — say one inch or
more for the sides and double that much
for the bottom. Then knot- holes are
filled up. finishing pieces put in, and
when all this is done a fire is made
under the canoe, raised up from the
ground on blocks, and the bottom is
rendered perfectly smooth. All the work
is done without instruments to go by or
measure ; yet most of these Indian canoes
are so true and so well shaped and pro-

\'aiU()iiv»T Island ami Its Missions.

|)ortionod that not lvcii an exper
could detect the least llaw or imper-
fection.

October 22. — .Ml the natives of the
tribe have ( ome tochun h to day, even
those living up the inlet and rivers.

1 make a rule ( in ch.irch i that all
the people — men, women and chil-
dren— must at least wear a shirt, and
that no one will be admitted into my
house ex( ept he wears a shirt imder
his blanket, .\fter this I show them
the absurdity of some 01 their super-
stitions.

.\s this is the '•salmon sea.son,"
the old jjcople are as usual i>reaching
to the tribe the propriety of con-
forming with the old established regu-
ations lest this great article of food
should leave the neighborhood and
not come back again in the future.
For instance, salmon should not be
cut open with a knife ; it should
not be boiled in an iron pot, nor
given as food to dogs or cats. The
bones must be carefully collected and
thrown into the sea, and under no con-
sideration must it be given to any white
man, in( hiding the priest, lest he pre-
pare it in lard or a frying pan. It should
not be taken to the houses in baskets,
but carefully carried one in each hand.
These and many other details will show
what an amount of absurdities were in
these people's minds. They were in utter
darkness without the light of thedosiJel.

It is almost humiliating to have to say
that this and like matters formed to-
day the suliject of my sermon, and that
it created (piite a revolution in the
camp, in fact, it had the effect of my
presence here becoming a cause oi"
alarm and a matter of regret on the part
of the full grown men and women in the
village.

November i — For some time the In-
dians in discussing with me their customs
and beliefs have been talking about a
moiintain said to be inhabited by a ghost
or spirit. It seems to be the main prop of
their creed, and it struck me that if I could

IdNIi Ol- Till'. (.AMIKA.

not prove this to be a traud, I could not
hope to uproot the rest of their super-
stitions. Henc e I resolved to visit the
mountain so often spoken about, and
show them that they had been deceived
by their forefathers.

According m the legend, nine men
have died on the toj) of that mountain
through entering a cave, the home of the
ghost, ivithout having first made the
recpiisite preparations. Some of those
preparations are, to be fasting during
ten days, and to abstain from all
relations with the other sex during ten
months. The natives here, be it no-
ticed, have an immense idea of con-
tinence and they attribute to the fact ol'
my vow of chastity that when tiu'ir
chief shot me I was not killed on the
spot. Hence, in preparation for their
wars, their hunting parties and every
undertaking of great importance they
keej) or pretend to keep strictly con-
tinent.

The legend continues that only one
man has entered the home of the ghost ;
and that he used to do so every year.
In consecpience of which he was most

III

X'ancoiiv'cr Island ami Its Missions.

successful in the w'lale hunt, an averajje
catch beinj,' ♦en w hales per season.

His nine brothers begged of him one
day to be allowed to accompany him on
the hazardous expedition. After using
every means to dissuade them and see-
ing that still they would insist, he at last
complied with their request and the ten
travelled together to the top of the
mountain. The hero of the expedition
insisted that the brothers should enter
first into the cave, the supposed iiome
of the ghost. One after the other
entereil as he was told ; the tenth was
just about to do so, too, when all of a
sudden the entrance closed up and re-
mained closed till the nine unfortunate
men had been torn to jiieces and de-
voured by animals the size of a minU.
The hero of the story reported what had
happened upon his arrival in the camj)
and ever since that time the cave on the
mountain has been looked upon as a
famous and sacred spot. 'I'he report
adds that as soon as anybody ai)i)roaches
the top of the mountain pieces of rocks
and pebbles are thrown at the visitor and
the ghost is heard to groan from a dis-
tani e. 'I'his it also does when a severe
easterly storm approaches.

Having been ol)liged to manifest my
plan in order to secure a crew to carry
me to the foot of the famous mountain.
and, if willing, to accomjiany me to the
to]) thereof, I meet with general disap-
and i)rol)ation from the tribe. All the im-
portant men put their strength together
and are determined to prevent me from
carrying out my plan. Conseijuently tlicy
come to my house and by violent ges-
ticulations and with shouts declare that
I cannot go ; tiiat no Indians shall ac-
company me; that if 1 do go 1 am sure
not to come back alive. Two young mer.
who iiad promised to accompany me are
deterred from doing so. Only one in-
trepid fellow keeps his promise. The
Indians threaten to kill him in case he
does not bring me b.ick alive. Seeing
that all their efforts to |)revent me are
useless, the Indians retire full of dissatis-

faction and anger, assured that I will
perish in the attempt, and subseipiently
that my fellow white men will blame ihem
for having been indirei tly the cause of
my death.

I, ate in the evening an old man, in
order to make up for the ( ondui t of his
son, who after having promised to ac-
company me, had afterwards backed out,
iirings word that he himself will be a
member of our party — and adds that he
will take along an axe to knock the
ghost (i)oke) on the heail I

Noveml)er 2. — After offering up the
Holy Sacrifice of the Mass 1 warned the
Indians th.at I would leave at once, and
that I hoped that no further resistance
would be made. \ took along I'ather
iSicolaye who w-is very anxious to ac-
company us.

We arrived at noon at the foot of the
lamous mountain (_^,ooo t'eet high),
called by the natives, " Kwo ah-all."
We experienced very little or no diffi-
culty in ascnding it, for it is clear of
brushwood and ( overed only thinly with
cedar trees, some of which are remark
able for their size. M four o'clock we
were at the foot of an immense bluff
which crowns the mountain and which
to the southeast is of a dark red color.
A( ( ording to the rejjort of the Indians,
this m\steiious cave is southeast of the
bluff. Without losing any time we
wended our way in thai direction. Mean-
while our guides began to make the re-
mark that they heard no noise, that no
pebbles or rocks were thrown at us ;
which gave them such courage that they
were determined to find the cave, if
there was any. even at the risk of their
lives ! But our search v.hich lasted «rv.
eral hours was in vain : and after trav-
eling till dark on and around the bluff
without finding any mysterious opening
or cave, we concluded that we would
look for a good camping place, and re-
turn home next morning, and rejujrt
that, as we knew beforehand, the story
of the nine dead men and the ten
whales is an Indian varn. lust before

Vancouver Island antl Its Missions.

retiring for tlic night onr ol the Indi.uis
ascentkd lo the siiniiuit of the nioiin-
taiii ■'" ' ''red off thi- two barrels of liis
gnu use a> he >,iid tlu' ghost from

his letliargy in case lie should bo asleej).
The report of the gun was heard by sev-
tral llisi|iiiat Indians wlio were camped
three miles away from tlie toot of the
mountain.

We enjoyed ourselves capitally on the
tcj) of the famous mountain. We s|)ent
a most pleasant night around a large lire
which our guides had started and which
they kept going till morning. However,
we suffered c-onsiderably for the want of
water as none can be t'ound beyond
midway of the large mountain.

November 3. — Our descent fro;n the
mountain, which we commenced at day-
light, was very pleasant til! we came
within an hour's walk from the water's
edge. Then we stood before precipices
frightuliy deep which delayed our return
home for several hours, as we had repeat-
edly to return on our tracks and lind
other paths. At last we arrived at the
spot where we had left our canoe the
day before with no other mishap save
that my Newfoundland dog, which we
had taken along as a bodyguard, had
fallen into one of the ravines men-
tioned above and could not be gotten out.

We arrived at the mission about dusk.
Our mission llag was hoisted at the stern
of our canoe as a sign of victory of the
Cross over pagan superstitions. Upon
our landing no Indians could be seen
outside of the houses ; only one man
came to meet us. He was a young
fellow who had backed out of his prom-
ise to accompany us the day before, and
upon seeing us come home alive the first
remark which he made was to the eflTect

that now he was convinced tliat the In-
dian belief and legends were pure inven-
tions.

November 4. — (Ireat excitement and
confusion. 1 had no visitors to day.

.November 3. — This l>eing Sunday
ipiite a number were at Mass, I availed
myself of the opportunity to speak again
against their sui)erstitions and bring in a
few items aliout our trip to the moun-
tain, anil finished by exhorting them to
abandon their old Indian, pagan belief.

After Mass one of the chiefs invites
the tribe to his house, where speeches
are made by all the most induential men,
who exhort their frienils to hold on to
the old faith and pagan customs In
proof of their being on the side of truth
they give as a proof the loss of my New-
foundland dog. 'I'he priest was not hurt
and came bai k alive because he is a
bachelor and continent.

November 6. — Having sent a couple
of liulians to look ;i'ier my dog, with the
promise of a pair ol blankets in case they
can bring him back alive, the brute is
brought home in sound condition.

The Indians say very little, but I no-
tice that their minds are not calm.

November 10. It is reported that the
leaders of the tribe are using all means
in their power to keep their intluence
over the people, and are making speech
after speech to the young men to stick to
the old practii es.

1 am having a great time here. I no-
ticed before now that when the Hishop
appointed me to come to this coast I
was getting charge of a great parish.
Their superstitions are so numerous and
so absurd that they are almost incredi-
ble. Just think of it! they won't al-
low us again to have any salmon for fear

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

I ;!l

that I might fry it in lard, or boil it in
an iron pot ! I will t,'et the bettor of
them anyway — to-morrow I will go out
fishing myself, if the weather permits.

November ii. — I asked a couple of
boys to come with me and have a canoe
ride on the bay. I took along a line
and a spoon bait. Before speaking of my
good luck 1 must first state that yester-
day I had sent a young man for a salmon
and had paid three fishhooks for it. Ihe
owner of the salmon was out at the time,
so the messenger simply told the woman
in the house that he was taking one of
the " sacred" fish for the priest and in
due time he gave it to me. However,
when the owner of the salmon came
home ho was told that one was missing.
He at once called three of his friends to
accompany him to my house, and seeing
the now famous salmon about to pass
under the knife, he sprang forward, took
it away and throwing to me the three fish-
hooks he went his way growling.

This upset me so much that, as said
above, I resolved to go out fishing my-
self.

As soon as I f-ot away from shore with
my boys I threw out a line and spoon-
bait, when lo ! after a few minutes we
caught a fine large salmon. 1 did not
care to get any more and so 1 returned
to the village.

L'pon landinii, I called the dog and
putting the salmon into a basket, whi( h
mode of carrying such fish was against
the rules, the brute took the basket
up and preceded me home. Of course
no Indian would attempt to molest the
large, faithful animal. (Juite a number
of men and chiefs assemliled in my
house, and protested against mv using a
knife or frying-pan. I took no notice
of their protestations and proceeded
with my work, my only aim i)eing to
show that their superstitions were absurd
and to try by all and every means to get
them to give 'hem up.

Noveiulier 14. — .\ young man, Claw-
ish. has gone out to the inlet, a great
place for salmon, and proposes to let us

have some in spite of the oi)position ot
the tribe.

Toward evening a cou])ie of young
men come to the house with some
salmon. I notice that the head is cut
off. and the fish split o|)en — jjerhajjs too
the fish is not fresh. I send them o(\
with my C()m])liments, for 1 have been
told that the superstitious observances
are only ajiplied in the case of fresh
salmon not yet beheaded or <'ut open.

November 20. — Clawish brings us a
supply of fresh salmon. It is "asy to
notice the feelings of indignation of the
old people, but they are afraid to do
more than make a few remarks of re-
monstrance, owing to the presence ot
seven white men, who have just arrived,
and projiose to go prospecting to Mache-
lat Arm for gold, and on our peninsula
for ( oal.

At a meeting of the tribe the chiet
speakers predict famine for the rest of
the winter.

November 25. — After a spell of
stormy weather the sea has become calm
and the Indians have gone out fishing.
The salmon is abundant — hundreds of
the large fish are brought to the camp.

November 30. — A second meeting of
the chiefs took jilace last night. W hen
everyone was in lied one of the ciiiefs
sent a messenger to awaken all the in-
ferior chiefs and call them to his h()u>e.
The great subjei t anent the salmon was
discussed, most of the men inclining to
give u]) the superstitions and make peace
with the " priest."

"Tom-Sick i.epieds." a famous old
cripple, and a notorious thief and rascal,
is arrested by the local Indian police-
men. He is at (used and found giiiltv of
stealing an old blanket, a piece of to-
bacco and one yard of Indian beads.
He was condemned by the chief con-
stable to pay a fine of two new
blankets, within one week from date.
If not paid within the time mentioned,
Tom is to return to the comtroom of
the Mission-house, and submit to having
his hair c.l^ off and his head shaven.

X'ancouver Island and Its Missions.

ing of
When
h let's
e in-
ouse.
an was
ng to
1 xMce

us old

rascal,
olice-
ilty of
of to-

beads.
cf con-

o now
date.

Uioned,

oom of
liaviiiii

shaven.

The theft was committed during Mass
on the occasion of the lilessing of the
church.

Hecember 3. — I went to Barclay-
Sound with six men in an Indian
canoe, according to orders received
from His Lordship, Bisiiop Seghers.
I made arrangements with ths 1 Indians
ot that Sound, about establishing a
mission. The spot which 1 sdecttd
is Xamukamis, the jiroperty of the
Ohiat Indians.

I'pon my arrival here early in the
morning, we noticed quite a m'^iber
of people sitting before the hou..es as is
their wont.

One of them got uj) and made a
speech. My guides told me that he
was insulting us ami objet ted to our
landing; that they wanted no iiriest
and could take care of themselves
without the help of the white men.

We had noticed on our travels that
the Indians on this coast have a horror of
having what they say written down. So
I ifuietly took a j.ocketbook and jire-
tended to write down the gist of the
savage's speec h. Whcreujion he stopped
at once and disappeared behind one of
the houses. We then ijuietly laiid-.ti.
were invited to enter the lodge of the
chivf. and were kindly rec eivcd by him
and his tainily.

.Ml the Indians assembled in the chiet"s
large house about noon, and after bap-
tizing the newly born children 1 e.\i)lained
to the meeting the object of my vi>it.

The Indians n-joiced at the idea of
liaving a residei.t i)riest in their ncigli-
boriiood antl the i hief told us so in a ne.tt
speech, adding that we could have all the
land \\i' reipiireil t"(jr the jmrpose. and
make our own sclei tion as to locality.

1 tecember 2 i , r])on my return home
Rev. bather .\i( olaye reports c\crythiiig
ordcriv in Hesquiat.

l>ecember j6. Wc had midnight
Mass. Nearly all the men of the tribe
were present, but only very few wonuii.
.\t midnight Mass, which I sang myself,
J [ireached on the m\stery of tlie day.

\\ l^l'IAN llor.-K .Wh iiOMK (IF lis

.NANIS.

!>eceinber 27. The young m(,'n, I
am veliabiy intdrmed, are all. with very
few e.Mejitions, doing the ' ' oseniecli."

1 he oseniecli (or osciiielcli 1 is ,i
religions practice resorted to by all the
Indians of this coast, and is < onsidered
to be of the greatest im])ortance and
necessity, (t i- a mode of praying, trans-
mitted from one generation to another.

After ini|uiries made of iiilTi.'rent indi-
viduals I discovered that the Indians do
not ali ha.e the same uav of iiertoiniing
this religious practice. \'et they all
I onsider it nere»ar\' is a preparation tor
e\er) thing of great iuiportam e, b.? it tho
Ininl. the wai. or llie like

Ihev addros .i iii\sti rioi being —
one tlie\ call ■ • \\'a-v\e-me' le," nho
dwells o\e. the moi.'iitains — 10 hint they
pray tbi wliaies, m a otters, seals, bears
and the ,ike.

Kwa-yetsiiiimi is the favorite ot the
medicine mi'ti, and all the people ha\e
rei oursi.' to him tor liealth.

W e'.i Kwaitliume. to he strong and
successful at war- — to be t(r;ive and over-
come their enemies.

The\ ii.iM: also one- whom the\ ad-

flmM

'ill

\'ancouver Island and Its Missions.

dress to give them abundance of fish and
is called U'awitt-illsois.

When the sun rises and just before he
sets, young mothers pray to that orbit for
a hajipy delivery at childbirth. One of
the main rules to be observed is to go
inside the house just before sundown and
not to go out again for fear of harm.
The moon is also prayed to. Hut orie
man told me that his uncle who initiated
him. made him pray to a being — not
mentioning the name or locality of its
existence — who had it in its power to give
him sea-otters, seals, etc.

When they are at sea in l)ad or dan-
gerous weather they pray to a queen
"Wakoui'' — in. above rr beyond the
seas. They ascribe to hei the heaving or
swelling of tiie waves. Then they shout
out to her asking her to cause the waves
to calm down.

With some Indians the "oseniecli"
is a very severe performance. I'hey
fast four (lays, are up at night and
dive in the sea four times each night,
four different times at a turn, and as they
rise above the waves, they speak out in
shout-like utterances asking for sea-otters
or the like that they may become rich
or big chiefs. < )thers have only two
nights on the sea, and they confine
themselves to swimming and praying
as above. Others again do not take to
the salt water at all.

But bathing in fresh water is recpiired
by all and in all cases — by some, four
days; others, only two — however, every
one goes in turn apart from the tribe and
the company of his friends to pray.
As a rule the savage goes to the woods,
strips naked alongside of a stream or a
clear pool of water and then rubs his
body with a kind of grass, of brushwood
or roots, leaving in manv cases the
marks on his body and not seldom
drawing blooii from his cheeks and
chest. The number of bunches of this
"charm" varies according to the in-
structions received from the one by
whom he has been initiated. During all
the time that he rubs his body and mem-

bers thereof he constantly repeats in
short shout-like accents a formula of
prayer expressing the object he prays for,
be it sea-otters, seals, health, bravery
or what not.

You will often find in the neighbor-
hood of where the Indian goes to pray
a skeleton, bunches of charms, of weeds
put together in a bunch and also small
cedar sticks put up to represent a man
with a spear in his hands aimed at a
bunch of fern-roots or the like, repre-
senting a fur seal.

Then the savage has in his house his
own medicine (charm), which he keeps
sacred and uses as circumstances, in his
opinion, call for. He keeps them from
the view of other Indians, hides them
with care and only in e.xtreme cases,
such as the dangerous sickness of a child,
does he make a display of them. One
of our Indians the other day, either
through pride or with some other object
in view, perhaps the a|)peasing of the
bad spirit who was in his sick little boy,
exposed his ■• charms'' before .' ll those
present in his house — the subject was
very much talked about.

The charms which the Indians koej)
concealed are the bones of dead jeople,
also hair, nails of the hands, beaks of
birds, feathers, etc.. etc.

I know an Indian who went sealing the
other day, and as he left he opened the
coflin of an old woman, cut or plucked
out one or both of her eyes, put them in
his i)Ocket and when he arrived at the
sealing ground he took them in his hands
and rubbed his face with them in the re-
gion of his eyes as a means to best clear
them and discover fron> a great distance
the seals as they were sleeping on the
waves.

When the Indians do the "oseniecli"
they have recourse to a great many ways
besides those mentioned above ; but thev
all amount to veiy much the same thing
and can all be ranked under the name of
sui)erstitious prac tices. The old people
preach strict continence to the young
men ; and none, who do not live apart

"?r

\ ancouver Island and Its Missions.

from their wives, can cx|)t'ct to be suc-
cessful in the ])ursuit of whales or fur
seals. .As a iireparation the time hmit is
tell months for whales and five calendar
months for fur seals. This mode of living
is only to be given up when the huntinj;
season is at an end.

In order to avert evil the Indians have
recourse to different means. On the occa-
sion of an eclipse I have known them
to throw baskets of food into the sea. at
the same time uttering a formula of

Hesquiat Indians, who, comin.u from the
inlet, brou^^ht the news of chief Nitaska's
death. Nitaska, although not the head
chief of the tribe, was considered as
the most intkiential man here and was
renowned all along the coast. He was a
fine orator.

.At the- rei|uest of the messengers we
rang the church bell and in a few min-
utes nearly all the men of the tribe were
at the mission buildings.

The excitement was immense. The

in
le

e
he

lys
ev

of
)le

art

J-

.'^«-^^w:*;^

>!*-■

■(>r^^r-y-:-J

iK rc>^ I r\ii.-.

prayer,
at se;i.
waves :

1 h.neal ., unfavoralile weather
seen them throw food on tin-
heard them blow a whistle \\hi( h
the\' use on the occasion of the '• wolf
festivities, .\fter a bad dream about a
child, the parents of the child paint its
face red, burn a blanket, cali( o, prints or
something ot the kind to appease the bad
spirit or their divinity.

shouting and the unearthly ( ries of the
jieople at this unusual hour of the night
frightened both women and children.

Directly, spee( hes began to follow the
first excitement. 'I'hey all amounted to
the same sentiment: " Nitaska is not
dead, for he has children." The man is
sup])Osed to have been swamped as he
passed in his canoe too close to a well-

January 10, 1S77. .About midnight known whirlpool, where several Indians
we were called uji by about half a do/en are said to have been drowned.

!i!

li \v

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

January ii. — Nitaska's death is a
great event in this region. AH the tribe
are crying and genera! gloom hangs over
tne village. The dead man was evidently
a great favorite and very much liked.

As for us, we consider his death almost
a blessing for our work. The man's in-
fluence was too great and he was nclined
to work against us as regards the conver-
sion of the people.

The Indians say that his body is not in
the salt water because, if it were in the
sea, there would not be any herring,
whereas to-day there are immense schools
of the fish uj) the inlet.

Availing themselves of the state of
mind of the Indians, three medicine-
women go into tran( es and ])redict the
death of the second chief of the tribe.
This gives his parents considerable un-
easiness.

This, 1 am told, is an old dodge of that
class of impostors. Their object is to
get presents from the relatives or parents
of those whose death tho\- predict — which
being given, death does not occur I

January 24. — One medicine-woman
caused a deal of excitement in the tribes
this morning. She just came out of the
tent, her head covered with down, danc-
ing and shaking her head as one who has
fits, and meanwhile spitting out mouth-
fuls of blood. In this state she rushes
into the homes of the three first chiefs,
predicts death for the sons of the fami-
lies and causes general alarm. One of
the families gives her a blanket, another
a bladder of whale oil; Ixit the third, more
sensible than the others, takes no notice
of her doings. At last she retires, to
the great relief of the credulous.

January 27. — ( )ne Indian iiaving died
after a few days of sickness, the cause of
his death is explained as follows : his
dog (the (lead man's dog) was a few days
previous sleejjing alongside of his mas-
ter. .Nt daylight the dog went outside
and began to iiowl. . . A tew days later
the man took sick and soon died. Hence
tlie cause of his death is ascribed to the
howling of liie tlog.

January 28. — Subsequent to the
drowning of Nitaska a short time ago,
Townissim, the father of the would-be
murderer. Matlahaw, got into unexpected
trouble. Nitaska was the leader of a crew
who had taken the old chief I'ownissim
to the police authorities in Victoria. He
was a rival of the first chief, Townissim,
and had been instrumental in capturing
him and removing him to jail.

The old people ever since the death ot
their favorite, Nitaska, felt very
morose, and some of the most wicked
spread the news and attributed the acci-
dent to the fact that chief I'ownissim,
ever since his return from Vouil. had
constantly prayed for the death of Ni-
taska. Hence they secretly resolved to
kill him ! But secrets among Indians
are likely to leak out, and so ii happened
in this case.

i'he plan for killing I'ownissim was
very simple. A day was determined, a
Sunday after High Mass. A feast was
announced to take place in one of the
houses; ill the Indians were to be pres-
ent; whilst they would be eating, a
daring old warrior was to get up without
warning and stab the old chief; that was
to be a signal lor others to get up and
stab him to deatii.

Just before Mass a young Indian, a
relative of the chief, walked into my house
downhearted and looking despondent.
He told me about the events that were to
take place and jileaded lor my interfer-
ence. 1 sent for the old ( hief and can
tioned him against going to tin; enter-
tainment. I need hardly add tliat lie
stri( Uy followed my instructions.

Next I sent for the man i Tsokwit)
who was to connnit the murder and put
him on his guard. He did not deny his
evil intentions and that of the tribe.
But after a good deal of reasoning he
])romised that he would not connnit the
crime. 1 iowever, the old ( hief more than
ever abstained from ijoing out alone after
dark. And .then, whether liay or night,
he always carried a weapon concealed
under his clothes.

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

March i. — VWcr since the beginning
of last month, with the exception of the
last three days, the Indians have been
unable to go out fishing and have suf-
fered very much from hunger. This
circumstance I made use of to make the
Indians understand that the idea that
chiefs will send food — whales or fish — to
their relatives from the other world after
their de.ith was absurd. Nitaska was a
great chief and yet sent no whale or food
to his starving Hesquiat relatives. I
am almost losing patience and use every
opportunity to impress on their minds
the idea that they will have to renounce
their old i)agan belief.

March 8. — There arrived here last
night four Kyu(|uot men on a very im-
portant errand. As they walked into
our Indian room, they jjrcsented a most
alarming appearance. Their faces were
painted bla( k with a red < ircle around
their eyes. Their only covering was a
piece of blanket around their waist and
in their hands they held Indian muskets
pointed as if ready for shooting. They
were followed by a number of my Hes-
quiat Indians, who were suspicious of
evil designs on the part of the visitors,
and were prepared for any emergency.
< »ne of the strangers, acting as spokes-
man, jdaced the butt of his gun on the
floor and held it with one hand whilst
with the other he made indescribable
ge-Uires. Then his chest began to heave,
and, i)anting for breath, he at last spoke
out in a loud coarse voice. He had big
news to tell. His son, a lad whom I
knew well, was missing. The report had
it that whilst on hi^ way from Tugct
Sound to his home in Kyu(iuot, his
canoe had lapsized when off one of the
Nittinat villages at the tntrane e of the
Straits of Kuca. Thence, having reached
shore alive, he and three of his compan-
ions had traveled on foot with the object
of reaching one of the ( )hiat villages near
Jian lay Souiid. This wis only a report,
but the speaker, the father of the young
man and a very intlueniial man at home,
was of o|)ini(>M that iiy this time his

young son was with the Ohiat Indians.
This idea seemed to have a great effect
on the state of his mind. However, he
added that, if his son had been maltreated
by the Nittinat Indians or killed by them,
two hundred warriors of the Kyuquot
tribe would come on the warpath and
avenge the death of the young ( hief.

The four men here now are a de-
tachment of a crew of twenty men now
camped at Vamis and detained by
head winds. They intend to walk back
to the spot where they left their friends
and then sail to the Nittinat coast, as
soon as the weather allows.

March 2()th. — This day is marked by
a welcome change in the condition of
the natives. Since the 5th of the month,
the Indians had been unable to go fish-
ing and had very little food in their
houses. They were a( tually starving and
their little children crying for food. \'ou
can see the misery on the faces of both
old and young. The oldest people
assert that within their memory they
have never been in such a state of dis-
tress. To-day, the weather being fine,
an abundance of herrings and salmon
are brought to the camp.

.\s regards the spiritual state of the
tribe it is worse than ever. They blame
me tor the absence of food. 'They
laugh at the doctrine which I teach. I
gain nothing by making the sign of the
Cross. I am neither a white man nor
an Indian. 1 am the ( Chig-ha 1 devil !

Man h 25. — 'This day, I'aim Sunday.

. — ^1

— ■*

^■^l| Nl, INI'I \N M' 'I III- k.

■it

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

Rev. Father Nicolaye left after Mass
for Marclay Sound (I'cluliat), there ;o
join a schooner which is soon expected
to sail from thence to N'ictoria. Com-
plaints of illness are the cause of his
departure. I am under the impression
that the poor father is not really sick,
but is sick at heart to see the dis-
couraging state of affairs here. .And
indeed our ])Osition would almost make
an angel lose heart and courage. Soli-
tude, we have not seen a white man
since October ; we have not received
any mail for several months ; our pro-
visions are nearly all gone and .vhat
remains is of the poorest kind. And
our Indians are as bad, and as much
attached to their pagan ideas and
superstitions as before we commenced
our work and took up our residence
here. Father Nicolaye left me. (lod
bless the i)Oor man and restore him to
health!

I am now again alone with not a
friend to speak to .'

March 30.— There is some rejoicing
in the camp since this morning, when a
canoe of visitors brought the news that
there was scarcity of provisions and a
great deal of distress in all the villages
on the coast. When our Indians meet
with misfortune they always feel much
relieved when they hear that others of
their class have met with misfortune also.
Hence, my ])eople feel good to-day, be-
cause they have not alone suffered for
want of provisions, but other tribes
have fared as badly as they tjiemscives.

April 2<S.-— Rev. leather Nicolaye ar-
rived back from N'ictoria about midni-rht
per Indian canoe. He seems to be coi.\-
pletely recovered.

He brought orders from the 15ishop
that 1 must leave at once and report in
the episcopal city, where asvnod is to l)e
held.

The canre which brought the fiither
took me to Clayatpiot where I found the
schooner "Anna Heck," Douglas War-
ren in command.

May 15. — 1 arrived back at the mission

to-day about noon. With the exception
of Father Nicolaye all the priests of the
diocese were present at the synod.

May 20. — lo-day, Pentecost Sunday,
all the Indians are at Mass, save three
men and a few women. As I had told
them on I'.aster Sunday that I would call
on this day for the names of those who
would be baptized, I received ninety-four
men and women on the list of candidates
for baptism. It is evident that the move-
ment is too general to be worthy of con-
fidence. .\1I the medicine-men and
women offer themselves as candidates
for instruction as a preparation for the
sacrament of regeneration.

January 5, iSycS. — I arrived here
yesterday from Namukamus, Barclay
Sound, where I had been since the 24th
of last August, superintending the build-
ing of a new mission to be dedicated to
Almighty God, under the patronage of
St. Leo the Great.

Before leaving for the N'ukon River,
.Vlaska Territory, the Right Rev. C. |.
Seghers commissioned me to go and
superintend the building of the new
mission. Consecjuently I left Hesi|uiat
at the end of July, and went to X'ictoria
in order to make the necessary prejjara-
tions and engage a reliable carpenter.
Rev. Father Nicolaye, for whom the new
mission was to be built, remained mean-
while in Hesquiat, and attended to my
Indians and work there.

I left Victoria on the schooner
" l-avorite," Hugh McKay captain, on
the 23d of .August, accomjjanied by a
French-Canadian carpenter called Mor-
rin, and arrived the next day in a small
bay on Copper Island opposite the Sarita
\alley and river. From there we went
and carried in canoes our provisions and
tools, and selected a spot for the build-
ings close to the Namukamus Village.

( )ur first work was to put up a small
cabin, 12x12 feet. 'This was to be our
residence for over four months. 'The
walls of our cabin were made of flooring,
the rool of flooring and the floor was
mother-earth. .\s it hapi)ened, the

'^V

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

weather turned out to be very moist.
For three months we were hving as if in
a cloud : it rained day and night. It soon
appeared that our roof was not close, the
water freely streaming through the crev-
ices, and as the wind occasionally blew
quite lively, we soon found out that our
walls were not much of a ])rotection
against the dampness of the season. Our
cabin was built on a slope and the water
streaming from the hill
above found its way to the
I'acific Ocean over our un-
covered floor. No wonder
that our carpenter would
make the remark now and
again: "that only for our
strong constitutions we
could not stand it."

My work was to look
after the Indian laborers
and do the cooking. We
had a bunk on each side of
the cabin, a stove in the
middle, and a small table
and a l)ench at the end of
the room. I'nder the
bunks we stowed our pro-
visions—ba( on, potatoes,
rice and beans. The tlour
we kept in a small barrel as
a protection from the mice
which infested our odd
dwelling. I made bread as
often as required. The In-
dians we fed on biscuit and
molasses. One morning,
having neglected to cover the bucket in
which we kept our molasses over night,
I found twenty-four mice drowned in the
sweet stuff. I carefully pi( ked them out,
unseen by the Indians, who afterward
continued to enjoy their molasses and
biscuit as if nothing had happened. 'I"he
Indians, unaccustomed to a white man's
food, enjoyed their fare immensely, i'he
carpenter also was satisfied with my culi-
nary efforts, and altogether we had rather
a pleasant time.

W'e s(|uared the ic^sfor the new build-
ing which was 64x26 feet; twenty feet

being walled off for the residence of the
priest in charge. The work of the Indi-
ans consisted in cutting down the trees,
next picking them with their axes, and
after the carpenter had fmished s<|uaring
them, taking them down to the site of
the building. We found all the timber
which we re(iuired on the spot. We
even made the shingles ourselves — and
w ith the exception of the flooring and

I IlKFK MAilll- I A I M \||i|'.N>.

window cases no lumber was used from
the saw mills. It was slow work, yet it
was pleasant to see a lot of wild men at
work and to hear from morning till night
the noise of the axe or hammer in this
wild part of the world.

1 said the f rst Mass in the new build-
ing on Christmas Day, and Rev. I'ather
Ni(olaye huviiig arrived at his new resi-
dence on New Year's Kve, I left on the
second day of the year for Hesfpiiat in
the canoe which had brought my former
assistant to his new field of labor.

From the beginning of this year all the

II I ■

\'ancouver Island and Its Missions.

Indians of Barclay Sound and down to
Port San Juan inclusive will be attended
to from St. Leo's Mission, of which Rev.
1'. J. Nicolaye is the first resident pastor.

Hefore taking charge of his new mis-
sion of Barclay Sound, Rev. Father Nic-
olaye gave me a short account of the
conduct of the Hes(|uiat Indians during
my five-months' absence, of which the
following is a synopsis.

He continued to preach Sunday after
Sunday against the Indians' superstitious
worship and the Indian medicine- men.
He to'd them that none could expect to be
baptized except they would first abandon
their superstitious practices. In a mo-
ment of fervor forty men and women
resolved to comply with the conditions
and gave in their names. Before ten
days had elapsed ten of the number had
transgressed the rules. In a few days
more, sickness having broken out in the
settlement, recourse was freely had to
the medicine-men and women. In
short, when he left for his new mission
only seven had remained faithful. The
struggle between good and evil is very
great. The old people are most de-
termined to frustrate our plans of con-
verting the tribe. Two of them — Ksko-
wit and ICagakom — have declared that
they will kill the priest in case their sons
come to die with sickness without having
consulted the medicine-men or women
— that is, if they have acted at the insti-
gation of the priest.

A young man — Xagokwit — one day
entered the house and began to abuse
Father Nicolaye. Next he raised his
hand to strike the Father, but he was
pushed back and prevented from ( arry-
ing out his desi^jn by some friendly In-
dians who happened to be ])resent.

January 13. — ( )n the feast of the
]^l)iphany very few Indians were at
Hesi|uiat, almost all the tribe beini; at
the time fishing at the head of the inlet.

The weather being better last Sunday
all the men came to Hesquiat to at-
tend church ; there were also t|uite a
number of women.

It is evident that the people would
like to be good and become Christians,
but their prejudices are too strong yet
and their superstitions too deeply rooted.
I notice that the leaders against us and
those who follow their instructions most
closely are ashamed of themselves ; most
of them keep out of my way alto-
gether.

The few who are preparing for bap-
tism are young men and three young
women. The old people are once more
holding up their old superstitions as re-
gards the winter salmon. There was a
row on account of some of the most rea-
sonable threatening to use their iron pot
as a utensil for boiling fresh salmon.

January 22. — A dead whale was found
on the beach this side of Estevan Point.
It is cut up by the natives who reside
here at this time of year — every one helps
himself the best way he can — almost all
the chiefs and the rightful owners of a
share of the big fish are absent at the
inlet — these, upon hearing the news of
the stranding of the fish hurry to Estevan
Point, l)ut find that very little is left for
them. This greatly enrages them and
trouble is imminent. However,they con-
fine themselves to going from house to
house and taking away all the blubber
they come across. This amounted to
very little, for the thieves had concealed
the principal part of their booty in the
bush with the expectation of fetching it
home when the excitement is over.

January 25. — I am informed that most
of the blubber of the famous whale is now
being boiled and the oil pressed out
away in the bush.

March i. — Since the middle of Janu-
ary there has been great scarcity of food.
Owing to the easterly gales which
comnieiK ed last October and which
have not been interrupted by fair weather
exce'it tor a few da\s about New Year's,
the Indians all along the coast have been
unable to go out fishing. As the natives
of this coast have no food except fish,
and several tribes had been unable to
lay in a [irovision of dry salmon last

ilti.

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

season, it follows that those tribes are
almost starving — and all, without excep-
tion are very hard up. The second chief
of thie tribe, a nice young fellow, came
to my house to day, about noon. He
told me in a pathetic tone that my dog
had entered his iiouse and had taken
away a i)iece of whale blubber, the only
food there was left for him and his pa-
rents, and asked me to lend him some
flour so that they might have a decent
meal for a day or two. The flour was
given with a good heart and the jioor
fellow went away rejoicing. I find it
very luird and painful to see the suffer-
ings of these people for want of food.

-March 3. — The state of the weather
becomes more satisfactory and the In-
dians avail themselves of it to go out
fishing. Any amount of salmon is
caught in the inlet and at Hesquiat.

The su])erHtitions are as strong as last
year. The old people are desperate and
most abusive against anyone who ven-
tures to trangress the old customs. I>ut
([uite a few of the young people do not
mind them.

March 1 1 .— To-day a young fellow was
whipped by the police for running away
with his uncle's Indian wife.

March 14. — The Indians are drying
salmon. This was never done before on
this coast. The Indian basket is also
used to carry the famous fish to the
houses from the canoes. The number
of those who got over the superstitions
regarding the winter salmon is so great
that the advocates of the ancient i)rac-
tices give up in despair the idea of trying
to keep them alive any longer.

A canoe arrives from ('layo(piot and
reports the Indians of those parts in very
great distress, owing to the lack of food.

One of their number, the Juggler, who
claims the power to make the herring
Hock to their harbor by incantations and
superstitious means, finds himself disap-
pointed, not one herring having thus far
been seen in the neighborhood. A few
days ago he ordered the Indians out in
their canoes, having noticed, as he

thought, by the appearance of immense
flocks of sea-gulls, that the herring was
coming in shore. He claimed credit for
this I'veiit, but in the evening the canoes
came back disappointed. Hence his
father and his nearest relatives in public
speeches put the blame on one vicious
young fellow who last year had crushed
with a stone the hea<l of a fresh herring !

.April 15. — This beautiful weather ot
the last two weeks, and which will con-
tinue fine, puts an end to the destitution
of the Indians. There is an abundance
of salmon, codfish, halibut, rock cod,
etc.

The women had, since the beginning
of the famine through bad weather and
rain, gone out to their different fern and
wild clover jjatches to dig up fern, clo-
ver and other roots for the food of their
families. Now they look happy and con-
tented as they cut up the fish, hang it
up to dry in the sun or prepare it for
the use of their households.

April 14. — I received this morning
intelligence of the death of Po])e Pius
IX. — R. 1. I*. — -and the accession to the
pontifical throne of Leo .\III. The late
Pope died February 7.

.\pril17. — There was an Indian mar-
riage to-day : this is not the first or moj t
important since I resided here. The mar-
riages of the Indians of this coast are ar-
ranged b\ the parents of the young
people; at least this is the gene'-al rule.
( 'lirls who have both parent:; alive I're pre-
ferred to orphan girl^^, and the daughters
of chiefs or wealtiiy pco])le are generally
preferred to those of inferior Indians.
The fact is, the Indian is esNentially a
speculator. The parents of tiie young
man are in tavor ot a girl who has
both ])arents alive because they hope that
these parents will continue to support
their daughter by giving her presents,
clothing and other useful auicles. In
many cases the wisii of the young man is
not nuK h considered. He is told by
his parents or guardians that they are
going to jiropose to a certain girl, and,
as a rule, he consents. Then (om-

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

nieiK L's a nuinlKT of secret visits of the
elders, small articles are given as pres-
ents, good luiinor, kindness, arc all had
recourse to, when at last the jiarents of
the would-he benedict invite the girl's
parents and nearest relatives to a sump
tuous meal If the secret has leaked out
they almost invariably decline the invi-
tation ; but the food, in all cases most
abundant, is then carried to their houses.
Sometimes it is returned, in case the jjirl
is to be refused and no union is to take
place, in other cases it is ])artaken of,
but yet the news reaches the |)arents of
the boy that tiieir i)lans are to be frus-
trated, and another article, generally of
food, is returned to make up for that
already consumed. If the invitation is
accei)te(l or the food distributed to the
nearest relatives, it is a sign that there
will be a marriage.

Shortly after the i)reparatory step, two
or three imi)ortant men go, still on the
sly, and make more open proposals. If
no answer is given, it is a good and
favorable sign. Without much delay
(juite a crowd of the most important men
approach the girl's parents or guardians,
and speak plain and open language that
everybody may listen to. It consists of
first extolling the dignity and importance
of the relatives of the future bride and
then giving a word of recommendation in
the same vein to the would-be bride-
groom.

.Sometimes an answer is given, but as
often the speakers are (piietly told to re-
tire to their houses. This means that
the matter is settled. The girl very often
is not consulted, but it is almost sure
that she will not live with the young
man except she feels like it. Threats,
entreaties and all kinds of means will
have no effect in many cases on even
young girls when they have made up
their mind to marry somebody else. \ei
the marriage ceremony must take i)lace
if the parents have not positively refused
their assent to the union.

It commences by a crowd of people
gathering on the beach and walking in

the direction of the house of tlie girl's
parents or guardians, 'i'hey advance to
the measure of the tambourine, the
women covered with feathers and their
faces painted. They all sing some of
their old songs, and now and then one
or more of the women raise their voices
above all the surrounding " vacarm "
and unearthly noise. They stand for a
moment on their heels and swing their
bodies about, at the same time stretch-
ing out their arms, over whic h hang their
red and colored blankets, and then they
proceed to their destination. To the
looker-on, from a distance, it presents a
savage, yet an attractive scene.

.\t last they all stop before the bride's
residence, or the house where the union
is to be declared and contracted. One
of the important men acts as orator.
I'or hours and hours he stands at the
head of the crowd, his face turned
lowardsthe residence of the girl's parents.
He talks and talks, mentioning the
reasons why and how; the noble deeds
of the forefathers: the importance of the
clan : Call it flattery? W hy, in most
cases it is rank untruth. Iiut never
mind, his obie( t is to jjlease, and he
must obtain it. I have seen them and
heard them two and three days, talking
all the while before a house, whether
there was anybody in it or nc^t. To a
civili/ed being, it was the greatest enter-
tainment possible.

While this is going on, one of the men,
from time to time, walks up to the door
of the house and places one, two or more
l)lankets before it. Then there is a dis-
cussion, and again more blankets are
presented. The nearest relatives are in-
cluded in the recipients of presents.

At last it all fniishesby the word being
passed that the girl is given to the boy
to be his wife and a stop is i)ut to the
ceremonies.

The age at which Indians marry varies,
but it is an unusual case when a young
woman is not married 1 efore she is sixteen
years old. Many of ihem are joined in
wedlock at thirteen and fourteen years.

\ ancoiivtr lslaii<l and lis Missions

■i\

;' !

Vancouver Islaiul anil Its Missions.

The young men now marry when they
are about sixteen or seventeen years
old, but I am told that in the past it
was the custom to postpone looking for
a wife for a young man who was below
twenty or twenty-two years.

As said above, the girls are not openly
consulted in matrimonial matters ; their
mothers, however, or aunts, or other
near relatives are generally informed
privately and do a great deal of persuad-
ing or dissuading of the future bride as
regards accepting as a husband the one
on whose behalf the advances are made.
When the contracting ceremonies are
over, it soon leaks out whether the girl
will consent to live with her husband.
If not, you will see on the face of the
latter finger-nail scratches, or on his back
a torn shirt, or other marks or expres-
sions that his new life is a hard one, and
that in an attempt to make love to her,
who is supposed to be his wife, he has
met with resistance and even hard treat-
ment. This sometimes lasts for weeks,
and then, after a worse scene than ever,
the young man packs up and returns to
his own home.

It is, however, unusual to have a union
broken off so peremptorily. In most
cases it is only a bluff. Indians are very
touchy, and in matrimonial cases they
are very much determined that their
friends shall not find an occasion to jeer
at them for having been lett.

So then, after a time, new : ances
are made and a number of the most inti-
mate friends of the discarded husband
go in a body to the parents of the girl,
make more speeches and especially more
presents to the relatives of the girl,
when, in all likelihood, the favorable
answer will be given again. .\nd so it
goes on till the girl finally consents or
gives unmistakable signs that she for-
ever repudiates the idea of becoming
the wife of the young man whom she has
discarded from the beginning.

The IF('(/(////i^ Fi'tisfs. — When a favor-
able answer has been obtained the
father or guardian of the young man

sends a number of presents, especially
articles of food, to the parents of his new
daughter-in-law. Without much delay,
the tribe are invited to a feast of food,
at the end of which it is announced to
all present that the occasion of the feast
i.' the marriage of his daughter, the
food having been sent by the guardians
of his new son in-law. Meanwhile, the
young wife has been entertained at a
choice meal by her new parents-in-law,
after partaking of which she returns to
her parents' home. These, in their
turn, a day or two later, take their
daughter to her new home and deliver
her over to her husband, at the same
time making suitable presents of food,
which are also partaken of by the whole
tribe. Comphments are passed during
the meal, and general rejoicings are en-
gaged in. In the evening especially,
the Indians assemble in the house where
the young people reside, and sing and
dance, and have a general good time.

It is always understood in the minds
of the Indians that in case no offspring be
born to the newly married couple it will
be in order for the young man to sepa-
rate from his wife and contract a new
alliance. This is also the case where
children are born, but die soon after birth.
.All Indians, without distinction, want an
heir, and the old people especially will
discard a daughter-in-law who is not the
mother of at least one grandchild.

June 18. — There was one peculiarity
about the marriage that took place yes-
terday. The young man for whom the
ceremonies were gone through was
absent in Nootka Sound during the per-
formance, and he knew only upon land-
ing that he is now a married man.

When marriages are contracted be-
tween parties of different tribes the cere-
monies are about the same, save that the
strangers come in their canoes, which
they ornament with a symbol of son.e
kind having reference to old-time ideas,
or legends or important facts.

A singular case came to my notice
with reference to a marriage of two par-

Vancoiivrr Islaiul ami Its Missions.

tics of (lifferent tribes. I hey were
already married two days and the man
had not yet spoken to hi: wife ; in fact,
he did not know which girl he was mar-
ried to I

July 29. — Having made a trip to \'i<-
toria where I arrived June 20, Feast of
Corpus Christi, I just returned and am
sorry to learn thai during my absence
the greatest disorder has reigned in the
camp. Some of the young men who, as
I thought, were preparing for baptism
were among the leaders.

September i. — I have just made a
trip to Djeklesat, and Mar tribes — the
Kyuquots, the largest Indian settle-
ment on the coast, were absent at (Juat-
sinogh. I saw only a few of then- and
wa- informed that the tribe is very
orderly and the people very anxious to
have a resident priest.

September 15. — I went to Barclay
.Sound and saw Father Nicolaye at Namu-
kamis. The Father seems to be making
good headway amongst the Ohiat Indians.

With regard to the Hescjuiats I must
say t'lat there is now not one Indian
le*"t, eii'.er man or woman, who has re-
maiui d faithful to the conditions laid
down as a preparation to baptism. Some
have altogether returned to their super-
stitious practices, whereas the others are
very unruly in different other ways.

< )ctober 6. — .\ dead whale is found
on the beach at " Hole in the Wall."
The Indians belonging to the outside
camp bring the news to Hescjuiat. The
finding of a dead whale by the Indians
is, as we have seen, always an occasion
of great disturbance and trouble ; and
this is not an exception. .\n Indian
called Manako-ah in protecting his piece
received a bad cut on the arm from a
young man called Xayokwit.

November 7. — From all accounts I am
gaining in the esteem of the Indians, in
their meetings my name is seldom men-
tioned with the angry feelings that
it was last year. The motive may
be that they have experienced that
giving fish of every description and

transgressing their old pagan rules does
not affect their success at fishing The
young men. however, ar». as usual ad-
dicted as ever to the superstitious
mischief called "osenitcli." Sou can
read it in their countenance, the skin
having been rubbed off by the use of
theii charms.

November 16. — There was a severe
thunder-storm to-day. There is now a
light seen in the direction of the
inlet. It is so similar to the light of
a vessel that most of the Indians take it
to be the light of some vessel in distress.
A canoe went out, but was driven back
by the storm.

November 17. — The light of yester-
day turns out to be the light of a bush
fire caused by lightning. This is taken
as a proof that the thunder is not a bird,
as birds do not make fires '

The fiict is there was ijuite a discus-
sion in my house about the thunder yes-
terday. The Indians maintain that it is
an immense bird — the thunder-binl.
One of the young men told me that
Koninah, the third chief, was in
possession of one of its wing-feathers. So
I sent for the feather, but the young
fellow came back disappointed, the chief
having stated that he had not nor ever
had had such a feather. The noise of
the thunder is explained by the fact that
the thunder-bird takes hold of a whale
and in a struggle with the monster of the
deep causes all the thundering reports.

The lightning is a reflection of the
bird's eyes which it opens and closes in
rapid succession. Others have it that
the neck of the bird is surrounded by a
being ( He etlik) of the shape of a snake
which breaks loose and inflames and
goes about scattering what we call the
lightning. Others again say that the
light comes from under the wings of the
bird which becomes visible as the bird
flaps its wings.

January 26. 1879. — Archbishop Se-
ghers arrived here very unexpectedly a
few days ago. He brought authentic
news that he is to go to ( )regon as Co-

'1'

V^ancouver Island and Its Missions.

; I

ill

■ I

adjutor iinn jure siicccssioris- of Arch-
bishop Ulanchet.

Upon arriving, the Archbishop told
me that he had come to baptize my
Indians. I replied that none were fit to
receive the sacrament. He insisted,
and in u.. ' to avoid all further contro-
versies I resigned for the time being.
<onfining myself to the office of cooking.
After a couple of days he commenced to
see that it was premature to speak of
baptism to most of the people. He
thought, however that it was wrong to
be over-exacting, both as to knowledge
and conduct, and to-day ten Indians,
six men and four women, received the
sacrament of regeneration at the hands
of the new Archbishop of Oregon.

All the Indians were present and the
long ceremonies of the Ritual were fol-
lowed.

January 27. — Archbishoj) Seghers left
Hesquiat in an Indian canoe. I ac-
com]ianied him.

I'ebruary 9. — We stopped a day in
Ahousat, where we assembled all
the Indians in the chief's house.
As usual the Ahousats were very
noisy, but withal very friendly. We
l)assed the other tribes, going direct to
N'amkaniis, Barclay Sound, where we
met the Rev. Father Nicolaye. On
Sunday the Bishop blessed the new
church of St. Leo. The weather was
very stormy and most of the Indians
who were living on Copi)er Island were
unable to come across, (^uite a few of
the men were, however, present.

I arrived home with my Indians, hav-
ing left the Bishop, who is on his way to
Victoria, and thence to Portland, Ore.,
in the house of Father Nicolaye.

I have just returned from \'ictoria
where I have made my usual purchases
of clothing and provisions for the next
twelve months. Nothing unusual has
occurred these last three or four months.
Upon my return home I learned that
several of the Indians baptized by .Arch-
bishop Seghers have returned again to
their pagan practices — only three or four

have remained faithful. As I had fore-
seen this, it did not upset me much — in
fact I had told his Grace that such would
be the case ; and as the Indians also
mistrusted the would be-Christians it
caused very little scandal.

They are now, however, watching with
some concern the conduct of one who
was supposed to be sincere about his
adopting Christianity. The fact is his
wife has just given birth to a little boy,
and every one watches the couple to
see whether they will not have re-
course to the Indian medicine- man or
women.

Never within the memory of even the
oldest people was a child born and not
at once taken charge of by one or more
"sorcerers." The children of the chiefs
and important people are especially sub-
jected to the superstitious treatment of
those impostors.

As soon as the child is born, one or
more are invited, or invite themselves to
handle the poor little ( reature. A woman
who expects to become a mother soon
will be sure to live in the neighborhood
of the medicine- women, or at least, she
will move to where she ".an have easy
access to them. Up to now the Indians
were under the impression that a child
cannot live except it be doctored Indian-
fashion. There is no word to express
how they will humble themselves and
how slavish they will become in order to
secure the services of the savage-doctor.
If a young man is the son of a medicine-
man or medicine-woman his chances for
marriage are far superior to those who
have no such dignitaries in theii imme-
diate household. The Indians told me
that to become Christians, they could
give u)) everything, but tlieir "doctors"
never I

The services of those impostors are
called for and marie use of at all times.
Upon the birth of an infant several of
them rush to the place. They all take
hold of the newly-born, sing, scpieeze its
little bel'y, pretend to cast out the evil one
and often exhaust the little one to death.

""^l

Vancouver Island antl Its Missions,

It requires some heroism in our neo-
])hytes to refuse to subject a new born
child to the treatment which up to now
was considered of paramount in>|)ortance
by ail the Indians of this extensive coast.

July 2 1. — The father of the child is a
determined, good man ; he has an
amount of trouble with his relatives who
all want him to take the "doctors."
The infant is a weak child and gives
doubtful signs of a long ?.'.\islente. This
gives them a chance to find fault with
him ail the more. Hut he does not mind
their suggestions or interference. In my
own mind 1 can see the consequences if
the infant should come to die ; never
would an Indian listen to us again under
sir.iilar circumstances ; for Indians are
exceedingly fond of having an heir and
passionately attached to their offspring.

I make daily visits to the newcomer,
but he is not a great success I — aind as he
cries a good deal the people all say that
it is because the evil one was not cast
out by the " Sorcerers."

August 28. — I just returned from
Kyuquot and other tribes. My instruc-
tions from .\rchbishop Sei',hers on the
occasion of his last visit were to feel the
pulse of the Kyutjuots with regard to
having a priest stationed at that place.
Part of the Indians had moved to their
river stations ; however the chief and
several of the most important men were
still at ".-\kties," their summer resi-
dence.

The chief not only told me that he
was anxious to have a resident priest, but
besides promised to grant ail the land
reciuired for the use of the missionary,
free of charge.

Other important men also SDoke and
expressed their happiness at the idea
of having a chance to have their ( hil-
dren properly educated.

My opinion ofthe Kyu(|Uots is that it
will be hard to manage the old people :
but as regards hoys and girls, of whom
there are hunareds, I consider it to be
the very fin-jst mission, not only on the
island, but in the diocese.

December 3 — .\s said above, the
greatest obstacle to the conversion of the
Indians is the idea that they will have
to give up the Indian doctors or Sorcer-
ers. I know a young woman who re-
fused to marry a young man because he
intended to become a Christian , the
idea that he would object to her con-
sulting the Indian " doctors " both for
herself and children made her reject
his advances for matrimony.

The Sorcerer is either a man or a
woman — on this coast. Very few men
are Sorcerers, but the number of women
'■doctors" is very large. In some
tribes three-fourths ofthe women and in
others one-half ora third — nearly all the
the old women — claim some special talent
in that line,

I'he Sorcerer does not deal in drugs
nor use medicine for his patients. He
does not study medicine as a prepara-
tion, b'.'t he is put up to become a
Sorcerer by some relution of the craft,
or sometimes through some motive of
his own.

The starting-point is either a dream
or a so-called vision or the discovery
of something unusual in hi.-: wanderings
on the beach or in the bush — -then he
will feign sickness and he retires to his
couch. His friends \)retend to be or are
really alarmed. . . . He suddenly ut-
ters deep sighs or groans : does so repeat-
edly : then he jumps ui>, shaking his head
— eyes closed — and intones a song sup-
posed to have been taught by the one (a
mysterious being ) who inspired hiui to
become a Sorcerer.

This is the announcement to tiie tribe
that they have a new Sorcerer. The cases
may dilTer in some of the details, but
they all amount to the same.

We have one here just iiow — the first
since I am stationed on the coast. He is
a young, sickly fellow of a silent, morose
disposition. He is the last Indian
that I would have suspected of be-
ing inclined that way. liut he .'s al-
ways sick antl very likely he tries this
dodge to get welt : for Indians say :hat

lli

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

when anybody is an

invalid he will re-
cover at once by be-
coming a Sorcerer.
The Indians have

been talking a good

deal of their new

" doctor" ; they say

that he pulled a

snake out of hi?

al)domen and that

he will walk on the

salt water as if it

were "terra

firma." 1 hey also

say that he walks

on the branches of

trees to their very

extremity, and thus

passes from one

tree to another.
As I always strive

to draw good out of

evil, so I tried to do

in the present case.

Nothing like facing

the enemy — it may

be hard at first,

but it is the only

way to convince for

the future. At noon all the Indians of the tribe

So I defied the hero of all the were entertained l)y an old couple and

Indians' talk. And on Sunday I told during the repast they were unanimous in

them what I thought of such impostors rejoicing at the fact of having a new med-

and of those who take their part. icine man. The old peo])le t'specially

Next Sunday, Nov. 9, about four were jubilant and availed themselves of

o'clock in the morning, I was aroused the opportunity to commend their old
from my slumber b' the loud voices of superstitions to the rising generation.
Indians and the noise made by their new I may here say that speculation was
Sorcerer. He was on the top of a tree at the bottom of this general endorse-
and at times barked like a dog or croaked ment by the tril)e of the new ' ' doctor. ' '
like a raven, then he would strike up a lor this his first ai)i)carance was the
song or work his rattles to attract the announcement that four days later he
attention of the stupefied savages. would make a gift-feast to the tribe and

At Mass-time Michel, the head of the those who praised him most expected
only family now faithful to their baptis- to be the most favored in his acts of
nml promises, came to see me in a des- generosity.

pondent mood. I think 1 felt as bad as When the rejiast was coming to an end
he did himself, but I composed myself the lather of the new hero went into the
and sang High Mass as usual and house and invited all those present to
preached on the Gospel of the day. follow him behind one of the houses,

A IIKSIJUIAT HOY AND AN K.1.1)KKI.V MAIIAI'K INDIAN.

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

tie

pe
id

1(1

111
|e

where his son would ^ive proofs of his
extraordinary powers,

Michel was called out by name. Like
a man — a determined fellow, as he al-
ways was — Michel got up and all the
people followed him outside, expecting
to see him covered with confusion. He
put his hand to his mouth and as he
walked at the head ot the crowd he
prayed " that truth might triumph ! "

We found the new medicineman
standing at the foot of the tree on which
he had been doing his performances
since the early ni^.ning. All the Indi-
ans arrived on the spot and stood around
in a circle, none daring to approach the
awe inspiring juggler. Michel, however,
being called upon to do so, went up to
him. We at once noticed the prepara-
tions that had been made and showed
before all those present that the initial
step of the would-have supernatural pow-
ers was an utter failure. The trick con-
sisted or was supposed to consist in the
fact that the Sorcerer was, by incanta-
tions, to cause the lower branches of the
tree, under which he stood, to bow down
and thus enable him to reach them so
that by taking hold of them he could
climb up to the spot where he had caused
the admiration of everybody in the early
morning. Michel being close by no-
ticed hanging from the lower branches a
thin string which was not sM])|)Osed to be
there, and thus the trick fell through.
One would think that the people upon
noticing that they were imposed upon
would walk away disgusted. Hut not at
all — their boasting changed into anger
and was followed by most unusual excite-
ment.

Three days later the mediciiie-inaii
made a gift feast ( i'otlach) to the whole
tril)e. When all the peojjle were assem-
bled he recommenced his wonderfui( ! )
[)erformances. Once more, Indian Mi-
chel was called upon and defied by the
performer. He was equal to the oc( a-
sion, and before long he was advised by
a thoughtful friend to retire, leaving the
whole assembly of pagan Indians covered

with confusion. The feast went on and
I was glad to learn that my good and
faithful Indian friend came in for many
and valuable presents.

I have written the above details with a
feeling of disgust, but they will show,
when paganism and superstition have
disappeared from this coast, the blind-
ness and obstinacy of heathens, before
receiving the Gospel, and the amount of
truth there is in the ancient saying,
muntiiis vitlt decipi.

I have been asked, "Are there real
sorcerers to be found amongst your
people? " My answer is : If there are
any I have never met or discovered
them.

January 27, 1880. — Very extraordi-
nary news ! I received word that we
have a new Bishop. I received indeed a
letter dated ( )ctober from Victoria in
the handwriting of Father Hrondel, late
of Steilacoom, Washington Territory,
inviting me to go to his Consecration,
which was to take place in the Cathedral
of Victoria, H.C. , on the 14th of De-
cember of last year.

February 25. — An Indian arrived at
the Mission from Barclay Sound and de-
livered a letter, with a portrait inclosed,
of the new Bishop of \'ancouver, the
Right Rev. J. B. Brondel, D.I). The
new prelate expressed his astonish-
ment that I was not present at the great
celebration of December 14th, when he
received the mitre at the hands of Most
Rev. Archbishop Seghi'rs.

A great many events take place and
great celebrations in the Church are had,
but, although 1 would be happy to be
present and witness them, I must forego
the pleasure of taking part in them owing
to the hu k of communication. Our
new Bishop will after a time understand
the situation and in the present instance
he will be astonished to learn that it was
over a month after his i onsecration that
I received the letter of invitation, to be
present on the great occasion.

April 20. — I have just returned from
X'ictoria, where I went to pay my respects

'fJhl;

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

Pi ^M

\ ■

to Right Rev. J. B. Hrondel, our new-
Bishop.

This visit was occasioned by a very
disagreeable circumstance. lOarly in
March tlie Indians became very dis-
satisfied and troublesome. The old people
»v>,re finding fault and exciting the others
at any and every chance, i'hey now made
up their minds that they would work on
Sundays and ignore all the established
rules. First they came to ask permission
to go out fishing, and as they pleaded
scarcity of provisions, the weather having
been very bad, I allowed them to go out
on one Sunday, and again on the follow-
ing. On the third Sunday — there being
now abundance of food in the village —
they went out without leave. How-
ever, when the bell was rung for High
Mass, they all came on shore and at-
tended Mass. I warned them and in-
sinuated that the trangressors ot our
Sunday law would be punished ; that I
could not punish them all, but that the
one who would start the others would be
the sufferer. .\fter Mass a messenger
came to tell me that all the men of the
tribe were preparing to pull out their
canoes. And indeed, upon looking out
I saw about thirty canoes in a line and on
a ce.'-tain signal being given, they all
pulled out together. This was very clever
on their part, for I could not punish any
single starter, as they all started together.

However, I walked down to the beach
and I noticed that not only the men
but even most of the women were bent
on desecrating the Sunday. ( )nly two
or three of the Indian policemen had
remained faithful. With their assist-
ance I took away a number of nets, said
a few words to the leaders, and walked
back to the Mission. On my way a
scuffle took place between the police
and some of the worst of the lot. I his
1 stopped without delay and without
any harm being done save the tearing of
a few shirts and the pulling out of a
handful or two of hair.

When I got home 1 tried to take the
matter coolly. Hut how could I ? Here

I was now nearly six years ! .And only
one convert and two or three decent
fellows, although heathens, besides ?
However, the .Apostles Aired still worse,
and the missionaries in China and else-
where have no better times. Nothing
like persevering and fighting the matter
through !

Now, then, the thought struck me to
leave the place for a few Sundays, for
what could I do were the same trouble
to arise again the next Sunday? I was
half victorious, as ipiite a few nets — the
articles most necessary for the herring
season now on — were in my possession.

I therefore resolved to make a trip to
\'ictoria and see our new Hishop. His
wise counsels and a talk with iny fellow-
priests there would give me new courage
and light.

I secured a crew of six Indians, and,
as usual, we travelled in an Indian canoe.
The weather looked fine, but at this time
of the year the nights are very cool when
one must sleen outside on the shore or in
the bottom of the canoe. And yet we
could expect nothing else ; for the next
four or five nights we would be compelled
to do so. When we came within sixty
miles of \'ictoria the weather was bitter
cold, but the sea, comparatively speaking,
smooth. On the shore, though, there
was considerable surf, and the northerly
wind was very strong. We managed to
paddk in shore, and as it was near mid-
night, my men concluded to make a
landing. I was so crippled up with cold
that 1 refused to go on shore, and pre
ferred to pass the rest of the night in the
bottom of the canoe.

One of my guides, hearing that my
feet were actually freezing, turned about
in the canoe and put the soles of his
feet to those of mine. This had the
desired effect of imparting heat to my
chilly limbs ana making me feel more
comfortable, for the feet of our Indians
are always warm, even when they walk
barefooted through the snow.

1 was aroused very early by the (row-
ing of a rooster in the bush, and later on

\'ancouver Island and Its Missions.

•• 1 IK I Al IIKK (i| I UK MAN. "

I was amused to see one of my Indians,
in his shirt tails, running everlastingly
after the lonely rooster, which he caught
at last and mercilessly killed. The l)ird
had been left there by Indians of the
neighborhood, who had, 1 suppose, stolen
hiiii from some farmer, and left him there
to shift for himself, and who were ir foggy
weather guided by his fits of ( rowing, as
a seafaring man is guided by the reports
of a fog horn. We cleaned the poster
and ate him at breakfast.

I remained in \ictoria three days \/ith
the new Hishfip and the ])riests stationed
there. During that time the weathe.'
had rh.inged. and on our way ba< k to
the coast we had a favorable leading wind.

When we h-'d made a little over a
hundred miles, which we had done in
less than three days and two nights, we
came very near being drowned during a
most severe storm. Moth the Indians ami

myself had given up ; the waves were
immense, and rising like mountains
threatened to engulf us at any moment.
We all lay flat in the canoe, save the
man in the stern, and at times our frail
skiff stood almost perpendicularly up
and down. .At last we got on shore,
being soaked with the brine of the sea.
We camped on a small island, where we
found a good supply of driftwood, and
there wr passed the night under /n
belle eioile, and as 1 lay under my blan-
kets I wondered at the myriads of stars
and admired the wonderful works of
( lod, and after saying Jifiit'dirife Stelhe
Civli Domino, I managed to take .some
very much needed rest.

Next morning the wind and storm
had abated so that we could make a
1 ttle headway and jiass the day in an
Indian cami).

Three days later we arrived at Hes-
ipiiat, where the Indians were becoming
uneasy on account of our prolonged
absence.

The trouble they had given me be-
fore leaving seemed to have weighed
heavily on their minds, and I was re-
liably informed that they were deter-
mined to avoid listening to the evil
counsels of their wicked leaders who,
without exception, are all old men and
old women.

July 2S. — Right Rev. J. I!. Brondel
made his first ejuscopal visit to the coast,
and I am sorry to say 1 could not re|)ort
omnia f'ros/^i'ro. The liishop si'emed to
be (lisapjioiuted; he e\pe( ted to re( eive
a great recejjtion and he would have been
receiveil with all the honors due to his
rank. Rut my Indians with the excep-
tion of one family being still pagans, I
thought it would look like hypocrisy to
make them turn out and act as Christian
Indians do elsewhere 1 live in hopes
that the time may yet come when our
Bishop will be duly received here by
Christian Indians.

July 30. — The Rishopcalk'd hereon Kis
way back from further along the ( oast.
He was accompanied by Father Nicolaye,

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

and upon lariding he introduced me to
the Fathei as the future missionary at
Kyuquot, sixty miles west from my ^^is-
sion. Everything was arranged and the
new Mission was to be put up without
delay.

September 25. — These Indians are
extraordinary people ! There is an el-
derly man who of late has been giving a
good deal of trouble to some of his old
enemies. Several of them have come for
protection and seem to be really alarmed.
At the bottom of all the mischief com-
plained of is an old threadworn blanket
in the possession of the old man !

The Indian in question is a very
troublesome individual. He has the
name of having been a daring warrior
and at home he has had many a (juarrel
and fight with the people of this tribe.
At last he got tired of black eyes and
bruised limbs, and so he had recourse to
the following ruse : Early one morning
he came back from a long walk on the
seashore. He wore as usual an old
blanket, his only covering. The old man
was frothing at the mouth and his
blanket was dripping wet, ap])arently
with blood. He called his friends to-
gether and with a trembling, hoarse,
voice he told them that at a short dis-
tance from the settlement he had come
upon a strange object ; it was at the foot
of a large tree and it was bleeding pro-
fusely. Something seemed to tell him to
take off his blanket and steep it in the
red hquid. He impulsively did so and
left the spot assured that he had now in
his possession a ' ' charm ' ' that would
render him invulnerable — an object that
would serve him to defy his enemies,
and whether at home or abroad, defeat
them.

I had often heard the Indians si)eak of
this blanket and tell me that the wicked-
ness of the children of this man was to
be ascribed to the fact that their father,
immediately after their birth, had rolled
the blanket around their tiny limbs and
body and had otherwise besmeared them
with juices extracted from his famous

"charms." Not only that, the blanket
had such mysterious qualities that it
would be impossible to send a shot
through it !

.\s there was now quite an excitement
in the tribe about the wonderful blanket,
in order to destroy any further belief in
the obnoxious article, I sent the men
who had a new grievance against the old
fellow to tell him to come over to the
Mission and see me. He came, but did
not take along the mysterious covering.
I had my gun in my hands and quietly
told the poor fellow to go and get it, that
I wanted to be convinced and that if I
could not pierce a hole through it with
my gun, the Indians would be justified in
looking upon it with awe and dread.

There w ;re now t|uite a number of
people around to be witnesses of the re-
sults, but of course it all ended in con-
fusion on the part of the old man ; the
others after some discussion returning to
their homes convinced that they had all
along been imposed upon.

It is slow work, but one after another
the dark spots in the Indians' minds are
being cleared off. A few more proofs
of this kind will go a long way to make
them look upon the old Indian yp.rns with
misgivings, and truth will at last prevail.

There is general feasting going on just
now. The festivities are called " Chook-
wahu." They remind one of the feasts
of the " Mardi (Iras" of Eurojje, and
from time to time are indulged in by the
tribes on the coast, especially during the
winter season. The origin and the
spirit of this feast are, 1 think, the same,
although some of the details di(Ter. in
the several tribes of the west coast of
the island. A chief or one of the lead-
ing men has prepared for the occasion.
He must have a large supply of food and
of blankets, for he is expected to feed
all the people of the settlement during
the festivities and to close them by
making a gift to everyone who has been
invited and taken part in them. These
gifts consist in canoes, blankets, axes,
fruit, calico, Indian beads, etc., etc.

V^ancouver Island and Its Missions.

The opening ceremonies are abantiuet
at which all the Indians are supposed to
be present — one or more of them go
outside and return immediately into the
house and cause consternation in the as-
sembly by reporting that a pack of
wolves are to be seen at a short distance
from the camp. The wolves arc some
of the young mt-n running on all fours,
imitating thf step of wolves, and with a
tail and ears, so that trom a distance they
resemble fairly well the much to-he-
dreaded animal.

I'his is the signal for great excitement.
The chiefs make speeches, the old war-
riors sound the alarm, songs are in-
dulged in, fright is cast into the bosoms
of old and young, and general notice is
given, especially to the children, to be
on their guard against the wolves.

On this and the four next days no
work is to be done, and general rejoicing
is indulged in. Banquets are given, and
there is singing and dancing and joking,
and all kinds of drolleries are the order
of the day.

'I'his is, however, interrupted by the
appearance of wolves in the morning and
towards evening. They are very bold ;
they make for some of the children —
singled out before the time of the fes-
tivities and now purposely exposed to
the danger — and take them away with
them in the bush. The men of the
tribe, seeing this, run into their houses,
take up their guns and shoot them off
as they run in pursuit of the lleeing
wolves with their prey in their hands.
Von can now hear the shouts of alarm of
mothers and old women . . . but after
a while the excitement subsides and the
general rejoicings re< ommence.

And thus the game continues for four
days. .Meanwhile the children that are
taken away by the wolves are kept out of
sight of the tribe. I'he mothers weep,
the fiithers are wild with grief. Every-
thing is done to make the uninitiated be-
lieve that real wolves have carried away
and devoured their children.

It is a matter of pride for a chief and

for all his tribe to have the " Chook-
wahu " festivities take place. .\nd no
more important news can be communi-
cated to a neighboring settlement. It
travels all along the coast and com|)li-
ments are extended by all and every
friendly settlement.

In old times and even now on the
coast there are tribes where ceremonies
ending in mutilation, or at least wound-
ing, are indulged in. But the wounding
is received voluntarily and payment is
made at the conclusion of the festivities.
The occasion is suggested by the individ-
ual himself. He knows that as long as
the " Chookwahu " is on, a man who
fights or quarrels with his wife or strikes
her is liable to have a spear passed
through the skin of his arm, which, as a
rule, causes profuse bleeding and much
pain, '{"his individual, 1 say, will pur-
posely transgress this rule, whereupon a
number of men enter his lodge, take
hold of him and pass a sharp piece of iron
or spear through the skin of his arm,
which naturally enough causes fright and
consternation in the bosoms of the wo-
men and children.

Being aware of this, I cautioned the
people of this settlement against doing
anything of the kind, but I can see
nothing to find fault with at the present
time. When I see the mascjuerades,
cavalcades, historic processions, dramas,
and other entertainments of our white
populations abandoned and given up
forever, it will be time enough to tell
the Indians that they must give up the
"Chookwahu" festivities.

On the fifth day, if it be fair weather,
the Indians all dress up. 'I'he initiated
know what is to take j)lace. The wolves,
as usual, come out of the bush. This
time the children whom they had stolen
away from their homes accompany them.
The Indians get excited They pull down
to the beach two large canoes, (over them
with planks and the chiefs and men and
women of a special rank, using this as a
l)lalforni, slowly proceed over the water
to within close distance where the

iii

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

I !

supposed wolves have charge of the chil-
dren. 'I'hey beat the drums, dance as
they proceed, sing incantation songs, fire
off their guns, and at a determined
moment rescue the captive children and
send the defeated wolves back into the
bush.

The now rescued young jjcople are
Hiked, their only covering being small
branches of trees and brush-
wood, and they are sol-
emnly, amidst songs and
general rejoicing, taken to
the house of the chief, who
gives the famous entertain-
ment, 'i'he day is passed,
without hardly any inter-
ruption, in this house. The
children tell their experi-
ence in the home of the
wolves, mention new names
they are to take, and many
other ceremonies too long
and too numerous to men-
tion are gone through.

'The feast continues at this
place nearly a full month —
in other tribes it lasts only
a week. It comes to a con-
clusion by the burning of
the branch-covering of the
children as they were res-
cued from the wolves; and
(nially by a "])Otlach," or
a gift of presents by the chief
who organized the festival,
to all the members of the
tribe.

July, iS.Si. — I have just
returned home from Ahousat
(eighteen miles from Hes(|uiat), where
I built a small church with two rooms
attachedjfor u^eas house and sacristy.

To build a wooden church with the
material I had at my disposition would
puzzle many an architect. I had ex-
plained my plans to the Hisho]), who sent
me enough llooring and ])lanks for the
body of the building. Then I made the
Indians get cedar, which we squared and
used for sills, rafters and other necessary

supports; lastly I enlisted the services of
an old fellow who brought me a supply
of cedar blocks, cut in two feet lengths,
of which 1 made shingles to be used as a
covering for the roof. ( )utside the build-
ing is neat, but the inside has the appear-
ance of a common barn. I put up an
altar and communion railing. lUit for
the generous assistance of the natives I

DISTKUSTl'll. HI IHK I'AMKKA.

could never have finished the work by
myself alone.

I have been complimented on my work,
but people cannot throw dust into my
eyes — it is altogether a poor job: yet it
will answer a useful purpose and has cost
the best of only a few dollars.

1 considered this jilace very necessary
if I want to instruct the Indians of this
tribe, ilius far I had done it in the house
of the chief, but it was a terrible place.

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

The house of the chief was over one
hundred feet in length by sixty in width.
I'he corner posts were immense pieces of
cedar twenty feet high ; they were met
on top by long sticks three feet through.
(-)ne monster l)eam was laid across the
centre and served as crosspiece to sup-
port the roof planks. With a fall, for
rain and water, of only about two feet,
the roof looks almost flat. 'Phis is now
the form of all the Indian houses on this
coast — immense places with almost flat
roofs 'I'he sides are cedar planks fast-
ened by ro])es of cedar bark l)elow and
above. 'I'he cedar roof ])lanks are chis-
eled out so as to leave a groove for the
rain. In fine weather one of these
])lanks is raised and shoved above its
neighbor to let in air and give a place of
exit for the smoke.

In this chief's house twelve different
families had their home — twelve differ-
ent open fireplaces supplied the room
with smoke and heat. There were no
windows in the house, although the crev-
ices between the wall planks jjermitted
some light to enter. How could I in-
struct these people in such a horrible
place of filth and smoke? — not mention-
ing the noise made by the quarrelling of
the women, the crying of children, the
growling and fighting of dogs. . . . .\nd
then the immodest bearing of the nu-
merous inmates ! Yes I I reciuired a
place to try and do something for the
.Ahousat Indians, and I now rejoice that
when I go t 'ere next season I will have
a place of my own, no matter how \^ooT
and how undesirable it may look or be.

During my stay at Ahousat I was
greatly amused to see a couple of young
Indians taking their daily walk around
the place with each a shoe on one foot
only I 'I'he man wore a shirt with a
blanket over his shoulders and the wife
had also a blanket over her dress : both
had their faces painted with red vermil-
ion. 1 was told that the reason for this
odd action was that they had recently be-
<ome the parents of twins. By this time
they had gone through a very hard ex-

perience and they were still looked upon
by all the people as outcasts and as to be
shunned. .No one will use the vessels
they have used either to drink or to eat.
Their diet is to be strictly dry fish ;
nothing fresh is to i)ass their li|)s. Now,
and for a long time to come, they are not
allowed to go on the sea in canoes either
to fish or for |)leasure. The man has to
retire daily in the forest and by shouting
and bathing reconcile the "spirits."
Their life is not a pleasant one as every
one avoided them, and being forbidden
to work or to go after food, they have
before them the prospect of famine and
endless miseries. The birth of twins is a
source of great excitement with all the
Indians on the coast. They have special
songs for the occasion in which all the
principal men of the tribe join before the
house where the twins are born.

.Another time unusual excitement was
caused by one of our chiefs becoming
crazy. The Indians soon bethought
themselves of an old remedy. They took
the crazy man up to his waist in the sea.
Half a dozen men had charge of him and
carried in their hands bran<:hes of brush-
wood. l'|)on a given signal they began
to flog him ; then they took the man by
the hair and forced his head underwater.
The bubbles indicated when to allow him
up for breath. Then flogging recom-
menced . . . and the head under water
again . . . and the process was con-
tinued till very little life was left in him.
Their idea was to flojr out the bad spirit
who was supposed to be in the poor in-
sane chief I

Mar( h 29, 1.S.S2. — A young Indian
most unexpectedly ( alietl at my liouse, a
few (lays ago, and asked to be married in
the ( hurch. 'I'his was(|tiite a new thing,
for never before had anyboily apjjlied to
me for matrimonial religious services.

.\fler mature ( onsideration I made up
my mind to (■om])iy witii the young
man's re(|uest. .And so we were at last
going to have a Christian marriage I It
was to be the first since I am on the
coast. The young man had not been

Vancouver Island ami Its Missions.

baptized, l)iit he was well instructed and
a faithful attendant at tihiirch and a real
good fellow He also told me that the
young woman whom he was to lead to
the altar was willing and anxious that I
should marry them.

After some difficulties to make her tell
me that she was free and willing,' to marry
the man in question — for Indian women
were never supposed to say or acknowl-
edge that they were willing to marry a
certain man, such language being con-
sidered imprudent and immoilest — I pro-
ceeded on March 23, to marry the pair.
First 1 administered bajitism, then I
brought them to the altar and everything
went on well until 1 told them to join
hands. This was almost too much.
Single Indian women on this coast are
never to touch a young man's hand — it
is an act of immodesty — and how could
she do so /// conspectti oniniuni, for (juite
a crowd of peo|)le were in the church?
However, after some coaxing and persua-
sion, she at last jnit out the tip of her
fingers from under her blanket, when the
bridegroom, now rejoicing in the Chris-
tian name of John, grasped hold of it
and the ceremony proceeded without any
further difticulties.

I may here add that John stood before
me in shirt tails with a blanket over his
shoulders and barefooted ; Paulina, his
young bride, also wore a blanket over her
dress of brown calico and was both bare-
footed and bareheaded.

U'ithal, their modesty and good dis-
positions were a hint to our civilized
people on the occasion of contracting
matrimony. (Jod bless John and Paulina!
If they are not ri( h in worldly goods they
have now a chance to live as good Chris-
tians and their souls are as valuable and as
precious in the eyes of (lod as those of the
rich and powerful of this earth.

But trouble not quite unforeseen soon
arose. 'This Christian marriage was an
innovation in these parts. The chiefs
used to be consulted in these matters
and do a great deal of interfering. It
was often an occasion for them to be

praised and rewarded for their ser-
vices. Now they were ignored. To
be sure, the parents of the young
woman refused to recognize the union,
and although their consent had been
asked secretly by their daughter, they
refused to accept the presents which
were sent — an old custom — by the
parents of the young husband. There
was such a row and sui h an excitement
in the camp that the young couple,
after signing the register, refused to go
to their home. This, however, they
did, but not before the darkness of the
night had come on.

I now learned what was being said and
the protestations that were uttered in
public against my taking in hand their
matrimonial affairs. It was no business
of the priest. The young people whom
he wanted to marry were not his chil-
dren. Such and other remarks were
made by the old peoi)le, and none of
their daughters would submit to such
unheard-of arrangements. The idea of
anybody being married in the church ! !

The following Sunday I prea< hed on
matrimony, explaining it as being a sac-
rament and the dignity thereof. Next, I
called their attention to the fact that their
old marriages almost amounted to selling
their daughters as one would sell a canoe
or a horse — just as of old the chiefs were
selling their slaves. This 1 had told
them more than once, but it had had no
effect. However, 1 knew that the young
men of the tribe were favorable to the
Christian marriage, and as they occupied
all the one side of the church, all the
women occupying seats on the other, I
turned myself towards the men and told
them to stand by me, that 1 would have
all those who were yet single married in
the church, and that if the girls did not
comply with that rule, I would take the
matter up and go with the men and look
for wives for them in other tribes. This
seems to have had the desired effect,
for several young women, being about to
be married, fearing that they would be
jilted, sent word through their parents

\'ancoiiv(rr Island and Its Missions.

that they were not of the number of
those who had obje< ted to the Christian
marriage.

The su|ierstitions of the people are
disappearing little liy little. The at
tendance at chun h is good and the
Sunday is fairly well observed. The
Indians are now preparing for the fur-
sealing season,

I'p to a couple ot years ago they
lived almost ex( lusively on fish aiul
potatoes. They availed themselves of
the presence of large schools of dog-fish
to make dog- fish oil, whic h they sold to
coasting schooners, receiving in ex-
change flour, molasses, tobacco, print-
calico, and articles of dress. The old
people who did most of the work ob-
jected to the buying of clothing, but the
young peojjle, especially the women,
did not listen to the pleadings of their
elders, and invested most of their earnings
in the purchase of decent wearing apparel.

I now made it a rule that no men
should come to my house unless they
wore |)ants ! I

This was hard on them, for they had
always considered this covering of their
lower limbs as superfluous — a real bother!
Mut I was inexorable. Pants on or re-
main outside. The other day the young
chief, a boy about ten years old, came
to see me on business with his aunt. I
saw him coming from a distance, in his
shirt-tails and a blanket on liis shoulders.
He had a small bundle under his arm.
When within ten steps from the door he
sat down on a piece of driftwood, took
the parcel from under his arm. and shook
it ojjen. It proved to be his pants. He
now put them on and solemnly walked
into the Indian parlor of my house. 1
watched him as he left, and was amused
to see him, almost at once, strip off the
bothersome trousers, hand them over to
the aunt and join with a lot of other boys
in one of their favorite games.

Two years ago I persuaded the young
men of the tribe to try their luck as fur-
seal hunters. From the beginning their
success was such that they now .seem de-

termined to i)rosecute this lucrative wofk
and leave the dog-fish business to the
old people. However, the work is not
beneficial to spiritual matters. Convinced
as they are, especially by the arguments
of famous hunters of the tribe, that in
order to have good luck they must have
recourse to the pagan practices of the
" osenitcli," that they must bathe,
use charms, fast and strictly observe
continence, most of the young jx'ople
have their faces disfigured by the use of
the superstitious remedies. There is no
use arguing with them, ani, .t is most dis-
( ouraging to hear their replies and to see
the determination of both men and
women to persevere in their pagan i)rac-
tices. Nothing less than a miracle of
grace will ever convince these ])oor be-
nighted people I

It is worth mentioning that, when the
young men are out sealing, the people at
home observe strict old-fashioned rules.
So. for instance, the doors of the houses
must remain closed and the room be kept
as dark as possible ; dogs, chickens and
even children are turned outside. I
heard a young man say that he missed a
seal — or rather saw a small school of seals
on which he was gaining stealthily, ex-
pecting to throw his spear at one of them
and kill it, when all at once they all awoke
and began to fight on the water ; and he
attributed his ill luck of not killing it —
as they can only be speared when
they are asleep — to the fact tliat
at that very time a band of dogs
had a row in his house, as he was
afterwards informed by the women at
home. The Indians go out after the seals
in their canoes and, finding a seal asleep,
stealthily approach and throw out their
harpoon, loosely attached to a pole ten or
fifteen feet long and pull the struggling
animal alongside, when they kill it with a
club. Guns are not used by the Indians
when hunting the fur-seal.

Another source of revenue are the sea
otters, which animal, however, is now
scarce on the coast. I'hey caught a few
last year and the year before, altogether

iljll

7»

Vancouver Ishintl and Its Missions.

about seventeen, and were paid from
thirty up to ninety dollars in trade for
eaoh animal. The sea otters are close
in shore, rarely more than two miles
away from the rocks or surf. The mode
of hunting is different from that of the
fur seal. Ten or twelve canoes go out
together — the weather must be calm, no
wind and no waves — the sea being like a
looking glass, the Indians spread them-
selves over an ext ..ded surface. When
noticing a sea otter, a signal is given
with the paddle, when all the hunters
close around the coveted animal. 'The
Indians use small canoes, three persons
in each canoe and use bows and arrows.
I'he sea otter on seeing danger dives
under the waves; he must come up
for l)reath after a while, when the In-
dians i)egin unmercifully to shoot their
arrows at him: if not hit he dives again, but
m ist soon come to the surface again tor
breath. When he ( omes up the third
time he remiins on the surface and, like
a duck, flutters away from danger the best
way he can.

The Indians, haviuj; now gathered to-
gether around him, manage to hit and
kill him amidst the greatest excitement.
The man ";ho first wounded the animal
claims it as his own, although another
m:m may have done the real killing.
The woman or little boy, or may be the
old man, who
does the steering
gets the tail for
his share. The
one who killed a
wounded sea otter
is also paid ac-
cording to an
agreement ; and
every one who
succeeded in
wounding the an-
imal after it had
been hit by the
man who now be-
comes the owner,
is also paid, re-
ceiving one, two

or more blankets as j^er agreement
before the hiuit was engaged in.

I'he sea otter is very easily killed, a
slight wound often causing death-
It is sometimes very touching to
listen to the narrative of the Indians on
their return home from a hunting exjie-
dition. When a female sea otter fteds
she leaves her pup lloundering on the
water; otherwise she ( arries it always in
one of her ilippers which in the human
family are represented by the arms.
.\ow this poor brute is so attached to her
little offspring, that she will be wounded
two and three times and not part with it
She wants to protect it as long as life is
in her motherly bosom, and in many cases
the Indians take the little pup from the
flippers of its lifeless mother.

At other times, whilst the mother is
feeding under the waves, they man-
age to catch the helpless youngster, and
attach it to a rope tied to their ( anoe.
My its wails and cries, it attracts the at-
tention of the mother, who on coming in
proximity with the canoe, is unmercifully
killed by the cunning sea-otter hunter.

October 20. — On the tenth of this
month two Indians came to my house
and having great news to communicate
asked me to close and lock my house.

They had come from "Oomis," a
fishing station about seven miles distant

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Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

from my house and on the open ocean, alive and in a trance. As I moved the
.\ vessel had been wrecked tlie nij^ht be- body out of the canoe, with the assist-
fore, so they had come all tint distance ance of the Indians, I noticed that her
to inform me, and the body of one of neck was broken, for her head swung
the sailors was now lifeless on shore l)e- from one side to the other, and with her
fore their fishing cami). beautiful blue eyes wide open I was al-

I made some necessary preparations most tempted to believe that life was not
and went out at ouce and was followed extinct ; but no I She was dead — drowned
by a large number of the people w'lo with her husband aiul her two little boys !
lived at the .Mission. It soim beca'iie It was the saddest thing I ever saw in my
evident that a great calamity had oc- life— the letter-blocks of the chiKlren and
curred, for we had not walked more than their toys and their pet little p.;? were
three miles, when we found on the beat h lying about on the beach I
a trunk full of ladies' dresses and chil- I'ne vessel had gone all to pieces and
dren's wearing apparel. .\11 along our it was with some difficulty that I discov-
road, whi<:h was over a beach covered ered that she was the bark Ma//i-vi//r, of
with rocks and driftwood, we met signs I'reeport, Me. — Capt. K. Harlow: the
of the disaster. When I arrived at lady in (ptestion being Abbie Newcomb,
Oomis I found the lifeless body of a of Brewster, Me., the young captain's
young man covered with rocks. He had wife and the mother of his two little boys,
stripped and evidently tried to save him- I called upon the chief of this clan and
self by swimuing for shore, but the sea he supplied us with calico in which we
being so rough and the surroundings wrapped the body of the dead lady ; then
one vast mass of ro':ks. he had tailed to we got canvas off of the vessel, made a
attain his object and wa« drowned, shroud and buried her in proximity to
I'here were no wounds on his body, the grave of the sailor,
save a scratch on his forehead. He I nv: X not farget to mention that the
seemed to be a man of twenty or thirty Indian who discovered the body and
and had the complexicn of a Scandina- brought it on shore had taken from her
vian. We covered the body with can- hand two diamond and two gold rings —
vas from the ship, di'g a grave and I her wedding and engagement rings ; two
buried him. diamond earrings, a gold i)in and a piece

Next I began to say my Vespers, and of a gold watch-chain — the watch having
the tide going out the Indians manned in all probability dropped into the sea.
their canoes and went ( ruising amongst After landing the body this man gave me
the rocks and in the small bays. All at these articles of jewelry and asked me to
once I heard a cry of alarm, and next I take them in charge. 1 told this good
understood them to say that they had fellow — ^who might be given " as an ex-
found the body of a woman. I went ample" tocivili/ed people for his hon-
down to the landing and then indeed I esty — that we would send them to the
was just in time to take on shore the body relatives of this lady in case we could dis-
of a young woman. She was evidently a cover their home and get intelligence of
lady of good circumstances, in all proba- their wishes. .Altogether twenty-two
bility the captiin's wife. She was dressed people were drowned, including the cap-
very gorgeously and hadlikely put on all tain's wife and two children and the
her best clothes, so as to save them, in case set ond officer's wife,
she should reach shore alive. I uncov- .\fter burying the dead and leaving in-
ereil her face, over which the Indian structions for the burial of some of the
rescuers had drawn a veil. She had a bodies which had not yet been recovered,
small wound above the right eye, but I prepared to go home,
otherwise she looked as if she had been IJut I was sick at heart, and completely

V^ancouver Islanil and Its Missions.

exhausted with fatigue and hunger.
I had passed two days with the most
distressing scenes before me. I had seen,
it is true, with satisfaction the noble and
heroic work of the Indians ; I had seen
them, up to their neci<s in the surf and
sea, drag the bodies on shore and hand
them over to me for burial ; those very
people who at one time killed the living
or left the dead unburied to become the
prey of the ravens or wolves. Yet my
business on that inhospitable shore came
vividly to my mind as 1 saw a lot of dead
men, women and children before me —
people who had relatives and for whom
tears would be shed. As at night I lay on
a coup. . of planks, placed by the Indians
on the heads of two empty barrels, .so that
I would be more or less protected against
the vermin, a cold fever seizetl me and
only for the heat communicated by my
Newfoundland dog which I took as a
bed-fellow, I think I should have perished
of cold and misery.

On our way home we encountered the
body of another sailor, an immense man,
dressed in blue overalls. I was in com-
pany of two Indians. The waves of
the incoming tide moved the body in
shore. We found the half door cover of
the hatch. We passed it under the
corpse and thus floated it towards the
beach. We then began to lift it up, hatcli
door and corpse. We were thus pro-
ceeding when one of my men lost hold
and tne l)')dy went splashing back in tne
sea! Oh ! horror of horrors! it was
drcadfu'. Finally we had carried the
unfortunate man to his last resting-place.
and after digging a grave we let him sink
into it and covered him witii the hatch
door of the vessel on which he had met
his sad end.

November 22.— .\ gunboat arrived in
the harbor yesterday. The message
which I sent to Victoria reachctl there
per way of Alberni. Two young men
volunteered to carry the news over the
newlv-built government trail or road to
the Mast Ooast and to Manaimo, whence
it reached the naval aiilhorities.

Captain Thorn, of H. M. S. A'/V/i,'-
Fisher, is now on his way back to Vic-
toria with some of the details which he
asked me to write for him. The arrival
of this steamboat was a Oodsend to us,
for I had lost the run of the days of the
week, and could not say with a < ertain'y
that we were keeping Sunday at a proptr
time or day. When, at one time, I wa
informed that one of our priests (Rev.
Father Roundeault) had lost— or, rather,
gained — a whole week in the calendar —
when he had given the ashes a whole
week before .\sh Wednesday — 1 thought
such a mistake almost uni)ardonable ! I
know better now. It is a hint to me not
to disbelieve the Inaians when they re-
port that they have kept Sunday on Mon-
day or Saturday. I made the same mis-
take.

18S3, January ,v'- — Upon the ar-
rival o'l H. M. S. A7//J,' Fisher in
Vijtoria, dispatches were sent abroad
with the news of the wreck, and to-
day I received a letter from Mrs.
Strout, of Portland, .Me., telling me that
the lady whom I had buried was a rela-
tion of hers and asking me to send the
jewels which we had recovered to the
dead lady's parents, who were living in
Brewster, Me. From what I understand
these people are Protestants, yet they
believe \,\ keeping relics of the dead.
Withal, the letter was a beautiful one
and exceedingly touching. .Many wen'
also the th'^nks expressed l)y this esti-
mable lady for the services rendered to
her dead relative by the Indians and
myself. Oood liishop Healy, of Port-
land, Me. , had given her permission to
use his name in writing to me.

July 15. — Sent jewelry, liible, and
sealskin cloak to the mother of the late
Mrs. Harlow, of ISrewster, Me. The
Indians let me do so, although I could
not promise any reward for their gener
ous condu( t and their trouble

September. — At my re(|uest, the rela-
tives of the shipwrecked people having
neglected to reward the lndian> wiio
liad lKli)ed me to bury the dixui and

Xancouver Island and Its Missions.

had parted with the vahiahlc jewelry,
the Americ an ("lovernincnt granted a sum
of two hundred dollars to l)e distributed
among the most deserving ones, and a
gold medal was presented to Chief Aimc
as a souvenir of the kindness and
humane conduct of the tribe. I'he inter-
ests of the Nfission and of the priest in
charge were forgotten by all parties
concerned.

December. — The Indians having com-
menced Miinu" of their winter festivals
and the chr-f being engaged in a
" Chookwahu " entertainment, a young
woman fell into tran( es and began
to prepare to become a medicine
woman. As my position with the
majority of the jieople was becom-
ing solid, iind as I tould re( kon ujjon
being siis'.ained in anything 1 vvould un-
dertake or their good. I dec iiled to in
terfere The medicine men and women
being all around the candidate for new
honors, 1 sent a posse of strong men
♦•' uterthiHn with menacesand threats.
.1 the impostors immediately left the
liouse t'^e young woman herself took to
the bu>n and left the village, and it is
now Mrttled that for the future consulting
ami employing medi( ine-men and
women can no longer be tolerated in this
neighborhood.

Thus the greatest obstacle to the < on-
verNion of the lles(iuiat hulians i^ iur-
evet removed.

1.SS4. liisho]) brondel is gone to
Montana to become Hishop tliere. Rev.
I'ather Jouckau was to be his successor,
but he does not accept on account of
sickness atid ]ioor health. I now heard
that Srciibisho]) Seglurs hail obtained
permission to return to his old diocese.

.\ngust 15. — I had a narrow escape
tvom drowning. 1 was coinint; fr'>m
Nootka where I h.ul spiiil a month. .\s
1 lett friendly Cove with a \()iing man
and his wife there was nowind/lml a
heavy sea was coming into Nootka Sound.

it was a signal of the approach of
westerly wind. J ust the wind we wanted.
We had hardh traveled half a mile

when we me the bree/e ; yes, a regular
gale I "What do you think of runnin,.^
for shore?" cried my Indian, "lake
in sail, I cannot steer." I obeyed his
orders. We were now in the midst of a
fearful tempest. i'he young woman be-
gan to cry and utter shrieks of despair.
It was terrible, but I prayed like a good
fellow, 'i'he sea was now breaking over
our canoe. ... I put the matter into
the hands of St. Lawrence, whose feast
we were to ( elebrate the next day, and
I called the net", on which we happily
succeeded in landing. St. Lawrence's
reef. I'he Inci.;;!, baled out the canoe,
dried their blankets in the sun, and I re-
tired amongst a little brushwood, grow-
ing between the 'ocksof St. Lawr.ince's
reef, where I made myself comfortable
and slejit that night.

September (). — .\ wicked young fel-
low, the son of the most desperate
characters of the coast, had recourse
to an old dodge, very frecpiently used
in the past, to procure for himself
a partner in life. A canoe of New-
chatlat Indians passed here and called
at the village. TK* rascal watched his
chance and whilst her friends were en-
joying a hospitable meal in one of the
houses, he went to their canoe and took
out by force a young woman, wl^o strug-
gled and cried as he carried her to his
parents' residence. Although I felt in-
clined to stop the performance of this
dastardly act. lor motives ul jjrudence 1
was compelled to abstain trom inter-
fering.

September 14 — Distant relatives of
the young woman in ipiestion to day
took iter tc ler home and friends.

Speaking in general, the people are
orderly and doc ile ai\d well behaved.

Since the abolition of the medicine-
men and women free recourse is had to
me for medicines and medical treatment.
Day and night calls are made for reme-
dies for the old and young — the\ want
inedii ine lor any and every complaint —
there is no end to it. Strong, burning
medicincN are preferred; in fiut, mild

X'ancouver Island and Its Missions.

remedies are discardeil. Since last year
I must have applied a square yaril of
blistering and mustard plasters to the
aching limbs and bodies of my parish-
ioners. I hope this habit of calling for
help for even the most trivial ailments
will soon cease; if not, I have a hard and
])usy time before me.

18X5, November. — Since the begin-
ning of last year the religious status of
the tribe has greatly changed. Many
adults have been baptized and received
into the church. .Ml the marriages are
now contracted in the church and it is
only a matter oi' time to have all the
young people gathered in the bosom of
the Chun h and leading practical Christian
lives. At last, then perseverance and
prayer have carried the day. -Deo
Gratias.'

Last June seventeen young men went
on a sealing expedition to the JJehring
Sea. They did very well, and arrived
home highly delighted with the success
of their long voyage, 'i'hey had killed
1,400 animals, receiving two dollars per
animal. However, their earnings were
considerably reduced, as they had to i)ay
for their board on the vessel. Their
mode of hunting is as follows: Their ca-
noes are taken on board of the vessel
and se( ured on deck. When they come
to the sea their canoes are lowered when
the weather is calm. The Indians then,
with spears and some provisions and a
compass, begin to cruise around, hunt
the seals and return to the vessel to spend
the night.

It is iiazardous work, as the waters of
the BehringSea are very treacherous and
become covered with a dense fog some-
times more than once a day; the Indians,
of course, use their compass, but it takes
good reckoning, to come from a (listan( e
of ten or fifteen miles, and then just
meet the spot where their vessel is drift-
ing about. In such weather, signal guns
are fired off and are of great assistance to
the befogged hunters ; yet on their first
voyage two Indians lost their vessel and
by their al)sence on board caused miu h

uneasiness and grief to their friends and
many tears to their relatives at home on
the arrival of the schooner.

They are back now, and pose as heroes.

After losing the vessel they landed on
one of the Aleutian Islands. There they
met a native who treated them well and,
by signs and gestures, showetl them the
direction of a trailing post. The tra .er,
a white man, gave them some provisions
and directed them to a bay where .Ameri-
can fishermen were busy at their trade,
i'hence they were taken in a boat and
landed at one of the central trading sta-
tions, whence they were ])assengers on
the .Alaska Commercial Company's
steamet Z>()/v?// and landed at San Fran-
cisco. They were treated with nnu h
kindness by the captain and his men ;
and the first officer took the two Indians,
bewildered upon seeing the large city of
the Pacific Coast, to the ISritish Consul
who paid their passages to Victoria, H. ('.
Here they at once went over to see the
Bishop, who assisted them by a letter of
recommendation to the owners of the
vessel from which they had strayed. .\
canoe was bought and a supply of provis-
ions and they arrived home last Sunday
morning, just in time to attend Mass.
'I'hey now excite the wonder of. not onl\-
their own friends, but of all the Indians
of the coast, and, no doubt, their experi-
ence, told in all its details, would ex( ite
the admiration of people more accus-
tomed to travel than these Indians who
had never before left their home and
( ountry.

.\1I is well that ends well '.
"W'ewiks," an Indian boy, the son
of parents whose great i)ri(le it was to en-
tertain the tribe with food and jiresents
and had only half fed and clothed their
own children, got in trouble and died a
few weeks ago. It has been storm\' and
dangerous- looking for me ever since,
and 1 now have a paper on my table
stating that, if I do not turn up and that
my body is found with evidence of liav-
ing been murdered, traces of it can he
found on the lower limbs of the man ulio

h,
n<
re
wl
jiii
sei
th.

X^ancouver Islantl and Its Missions.

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I son
cn-
•nts
llicir
]cl ;>
;iinl
Ik 0.
li\)!r
[that
Ihav-
In 1h'

committed the deed. I have since the
beginning of the tioulile ( ariied a revol-
ver in my pocket with tlie object of
wounding in the lower limbs, the man
who committed the assault, so that no-
body but the guilty party may be hauled
up.

W'ewiks broke into the store of a
trader. He was condemned to six
months' imprisonment, contrat ted con-
sumption in prison, and died a week after
his return home. Three days before his
■death his father came to my house and
began to abuse and threaten me fear-
fully. I took it calmly and simply cast
the blame on the one to whom it be-
longed, namel}-, the boy who had broken
into the store, just before leaving me
the old man changed his lone and gave
me to understand that my services as a
priest would not be rejected. So I went
over and prepared the poor young fel-
low for fVath. I was, however, informed
thattru.i.i was brewing and to be on
my guuiii. 'The sick man ha(^ in his
possession a brand new gun. and it was
lying alongside of his bed. What was the
use of his i)arents buying a new gun.
when it was evident that their boy must
■soon die ; and then, was the bed of the
dying man the jiroper |)lace to keei' vlic
dangerous weapon ? Such were the re-
marks which were made and thence the
hints thrown out to me. I ( ould easily
■see that my position was not a safe one.

Now, the evening before the \oung
fellow died, a messenger, in the jierson
of the sick boy's brother, came to a-^k
me to go over to the house, it was
dark, the Indians had retired for ihe
night and the sick man was dying in a
house away from the settlement, and had
no company there save his wii ked pa-
rents. \ coasting trader was with me
when the invitation was made. He
jumped up as 1 rose to follow the itftrtvs-
senger and entreated im- not to go, d*ii(f
thev were going to kill me, the hist word
I heard him call out being ' ili' !'.«%■/.
come back, for (iod's sake d •' ! "

1 knew that 1 was running ,'•.." f\^ .

but how could I in conscience refuse to
go and see a dying man? On my way
I called on a man whom I could trust,
and asked him to accompany me. He
was ([uite willing, but how di.sappointed
the sick man's |)arents looked when they
saw that I was not alone ! My presence
as a priest was not wanted— net one of
them spoke a single word to me — but
they all entered in conversation with my
companion, and so after a while I re-
turned to my house with this one consola-
tion that I had done my duty.

W'ewiks died, but his people ob-
jected to having him buried from the
church. Thuy were bent ujion making
trouble. His body was placed on the
branches of a huge tree, covered and
decorated with blankets, and the famous
gun is also in evidence as an ornament.
.Ml this is against tne rules of the Chris-
tians and even the pagans, having for
sometime since renounced many of their
old customs, now found fault with the con-
duct of the bereaved relatives. Hut it
is evident that this transgression of our
newly established regulations was only
nude with the object of creating trouble.

The lamentations of the nearest rela-
tives, their shrieks of despair and the
expression of the wickedness of their
hearts surpass all limits. They call me
a liar and all sorts of names, the curses
<lireited against me are of such a nature
that the children and young people feel
horrified. Von can hear their maledic-
tions against the poor priest from morning
till evening, and for no other motive save
that the man who had the boy arrested
an<i punished was a white man like
mysel.''.

March, t)^Sif>. lor the first time in
the history of the ve.>rld was Confirmation
*4minist<'red on ti oast. On the 2Sth
of I'ebruary, the .Mo,.t Kev. C. J. Seghers,
Archbishop </f Van( ouver, administered
M«r# m th' ^ '^irch <jf Hesipiiat, this
iWi/.raiiKMVt to I tv My seven ailiilt Indians.

W* h;id trii^i '^} give him a good re-
.eeft)lf$l^ as beowMvi" a Bishop of the
**'hurf'h'. m^$ llv* If)4<ian being now

UPS

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

almost all Catholics, we succeeded to a
great extent. You can now read happi-
ness and joy on the countenances of
these poor ])eople who, a few years ago,
were the slaves of pagan i)ractices. I'he
Bishop seemed glad to see that the work
which we had commenced together
twelve years ago, was at last becoming
successful.

It is now only a matter of time to see
the non-baptized Indians imitate their
more fortunate friends. 'I'here is an
element though of people who are still
far from adopting Christianii}-. It is a
faniil)' of chiefs who suspect that Chris-
tianity will have the effect of lowering
them in the esteem of tlie other Indians
of the coast. The idea of seeing people of
low rank raised to their own level, as all
Christians are alike, and have the same
spiritual privileges, hurts their feelings.
Pride is at the bottom, that Indian i)ride
which is among the greatest obstacles to
the conversion of all Indian nations.
Mnt I must continue and try to get them
all gathered into the fold. Things look
well now, and I begin to enjoy some of
the consolations of the priests of (lod
who administer to civilized Catholic
congregations.

On the occasion of his visit to the
coast, the liishop went to Kyuiiuot,
where 1 atcompanied him with Kather
I.emmens. We went on a schooner and
were well received by the Kyui|Uot In-
dians, who had been duly ])repare(l by
their priest, the Rev. l-'atiier Ni( olaye,
who was glad lo receive us.

The IHshop on this occasion blessed
the cemetery at Kyutiuot ; thence we
returned in canoe and visited the dif-
ferent tribes on our way back, ])rea( lied
to the people and bai)tized their chil-
dren. We came near being drowned
close to liayo Point ; but escaped as by a
miracle: then we made our home for a
week, on account of bad weather, in
I'liendly Cove, Nootka Sound, where
our provisions gave out ; at last we man-
aged to rea( h Hesipiiat and ciijcv a full
if not a luxurious meal.

From Hesipiiat we went to .\hou5at,
and the Bishop here made arrange-
ments to appoint a ])riest for this tribe,
where at one time I had built a chajjel
and dwelling rooms; thence we continued
in our canoe to Clayociuot. wherewe saw
the Indians. There my trip was at an
end and iifter receiving the Bishop's
blessing I bade him gootl bye and re-
turned to my heachpiarters in Hes(|uiat,

The next news which I received was
that Father I.emmens was stationed in
Clayo(|uot Sound and that my work was
reduced to looking after the llesip.iiat,
Nootka and Matchleat Indians.

icS.Sy. — On the occasion of his last
visit the Bishop made arrangements for
building a new dwelling house, my old
ipiarters having become almost uninhabit-
able. We therefore commenced work early
in June. I had logs scpiared and ready
for the men on their arrival and the
foundations were laid. The house was
to be a log house with lining inside and
rusti( outside. The two white men em-
ployed did their best, but understood
very little about building a log house.
It took more time than we expected and
was much more costly.

While this was going on. .Archbishop
Seghers was absent in Alaska and we
were overwhelmed with grief when we
learned in August that he had i<een
murdered. The news was so unexpe( ted
and of such an unheard-of nature that
in\ men dropped their tools in com-
plete discouragement. We had no de-
tails, but the Bishop was dead and the
news utterly upset us.

Most of my Indians were also absent;
they had been induced to leave their
ho'iK's and go to the hopfields on Piiget
Sound, Washington Territory. With the
news of the death of our lamented Bishoj)
came almost simultaneously the news of
sickness amongst the thousands of Indi-
ans who were in the hoplieUls.

Later on some of the people began to
come hoiiie. their children had died of
measles. ( )thers brought their little
ones home, but they had the sickness

\ aiicouver Islaiul aiul Its Missions.

:n
■d
at
w ■
|e-
he

|it;
•ir
Ift
lie
l.p
)f
u-

|to

lof

\\c
ess

with ihim. Having l)een exposed to
the ( old in their canoes, many died and
those who seeuu^d to li.ive recovered be-
came ( onsumptive and soon fcjllowed
the others to the grave. r)efore long
I counted over t'orty children of Hes-
quiat alone who had become victims of
the disease and had died. With my
llishoj) murdered and my young jieople
dying around me, I closed this year with
many, many sad feelings.

February, iSSS. — I Jepression and
gloom seems to be in the air all around.
Mo>l of the Indians have now come back
to their I les(|uiat homes, 'I'iiis used to
be an occasion for rtjoicing and good
feeling. It is dilTcrent now. I'rom morn-
ing till night you can hear the women cry
and lament : some of them expressanger
and passion. lUit it is touching and
sad beyond exjiression to hear the young
mothers who have lost their little ones
bemoan their loss. It would draw tears
from the eyes of stolid men to see them
in groups of tiiree or four, with their
eyes filled with tears, scjuatted before the
houses and hear eacii one of them tell
in song like words that cm be heard all
over the \illage the greatness of her loss
anil the >urferings of her motherly heart.

The men also take pait in the general
mourning. Like the women, they clip
their hair short, neglect their attire and
>eem to be deprived of all ambition.
Some look nKjrose and sullen, others are
the picture of men with broken liearts.

It is terribly hard on me to be here
just now, for one ( annot hilp ( ommis-
erating and feeling for his poor people.
Hiwever. there is no use sitting down
and crying. But the worst is that some
of the ;)agaiis look very bad.ind by their
con<lui t are \ery provoking. May this
state of affairs soon (ease and ha\e no
evil consdiuences!

Jnne 3. — .\ coui)leof schooneis called
here for a crew and are nt)w off to the
Hehring Sea on a fur-sealing exjiedition.

'I he news arrived that Father i.em-
men> is to be our new liishop.

June 25 — 1 nexpectedly the steamer

Mai/de called in Hesquiat harbor and I
took jiassage on her and went to Vic-
toria

The steamer called at " (_'layo(piot
Mission." I went to see the Hishop-
elect, whom i found in his ><hirt sleeves,
with an axe in his hands, splitting fire-
wood. .\fter taking a pot of coffee,
which he ]>rei)ared for me in good style,
we talked the matter over and we left
together for X'ictoria.

Jtdy — F^ere the new Hishop elect
was welc(jme(l by the clergy and es-
pecially the Wry Rev. I. J. |()U( kau,
the administrator. This last-named
gentleman was very weak and evidently
suffering very mu( h.

Rev. l-'ather Fenmiens obje( ted to be-
coming liishop, but he was eventually
])ersuaded to accept and his consecration
was set for .August 5.

( )n the Sunday (jrevious his adminis-
trator, the \ery Rev. J. J. Jouckau, died
(|uite suddenly and his funeral, at whii h
1 was made Ij preach, took )>la( e on the
following Tuesday.

August 17. — Two days later I re-
ceived word through the wife of the
Indian agent for the coast, that a
murder had been committed at Hes-
ipiiat ; that the body of a little i)oy of
four years had been found behind one of
the houses, but that there was no evi-
dence to prove bv whom he hau Ikch
killed.

This news spoiled all the i)leasure and
enjoyment of my presen. e at the conse-
cration of the liishop. uhen all the
l)riests of the diocese met together.
I went home with a crew <if Indians
who hail spe( iaily come for me in
a (anoe. It wa> a long, tedious trip,
all the moil, unpleasant as I ( ould see
the trouble 1 had before me on account
of the timrder.

.August 21. — I arrived home shortlv
before midnight, and retired at once.
.About two o'clock .\. \i . I heard some-
body knov k ai the door I waited for
another knock, but the visitor left.

Farly ne\t morning a uian called

\'ancoiivt,r Is1;uk1 and Its Missions.

Isiniquali came to sec me, and as lie be-
gan to siy that he was falsely ac'cused of
being the murderer, 1 would not give
him a hearing. Later in the evening he
came again and asked me what the
Indians had been telling nie about him.
Bill again I sent him off without making
any statement.

The Indian agent called a couple of
days later and went to X'ictoria to in-
form the authorities of the < ircumstances
of the crime.

A magistrate and a couple of police-
men were sent. Isini([uah underwent a
preliminary hearing and was taken to
civilization for trial.

Meanwhile the father of the murdered
child arrived home from iJehring Sea. 1
never in my life saw a man the victim of
such a struggle to control his temper.
However, he held out. and I heard him
say in my own house to his weejiing
wife : " Now let us not be oversad ; if
we are good we will see our little boy
again in heaven." The tears came in
my eyes and it struck me then that if I
had had my troubles I had at least done
some good by remaining and trying to do
my duty.

Oct "(her 25. — The schooner Kii/e
arrivea liere and had been chartered by
the government to take tiie witnesses to
NiUiaimr for the trial of Isinicpiah. I
received a sunnnons to accompany them
and act as interpreter, which 1 did,
rj.ther than pay a fine of live l.undred
dollars tor non-attendance.

The trial caiiie off in due time, lasti-d
thrc" days and lsinii|uah was con-
demned to be hanged December i Jth.

'I'he Methodist ministers and one
I'resbyterian bigot got up a petition to
have the sentenc e commuted, oi rather,
have the prisoner (iis( harged. They
considered it a jMere of persecution and
compared the proceedings to the pro-
ceedings of the "Spanish Inquisition !"
'I'heir object at the bottom was, to ,gain
the good will of the natives who were
related to the murderer, e\( ite them
against the (.'atholic jjriest, and tlius

prepare the field to put a I'rotestant mis-
sion on the coast. This was the first
attempt they made to intrude on onr
missions on that coast.

December 19. — Isinifjuah was hanged
on December 12th, after being duly pre-
pared by baptism and instruction in our
holy religion.

The motive of his crime had, presum-
ably, been the fact that one of his < hil-
dren who had died of measles was called
Moses, and the boy whom he killed
had the i-'rench name Moise : this latter
boy was the child of .\Ii< hel. a good
Christian. Isiniquah and his friends,
according to an old pagan custom,
wanted this man to give another name to
his child on account of the similarity
of the two names. Michel having re-
fused to do so, the murderer availed
himself of the absence of the parent and
the grandfather of the boy in Hehring
Sea to get him out of the way, and he
unmercifully took the little fellow in the
bush, put his strong hand firmly on the
mouth and nostrils of the child and then
choked him to death. When the sen-
tence was i)ronounced in court, a white.
Catholic woman, the mother of .several
little children, was heard to say, " that
a rope was too good to hang a man who
had choked to death an innocent child."
When the time of going back to the
mission had arrived, the government put
at our disiiosition the schooner J-'arorif,',
( cSo tons). Captain L. Mcl-ean. The
Indians took along a supply of building
lumber and other material with the ob-
ject of improving their habitations and
their mode of living. 1 had also on
board several thousand feet of lumber
antl bricks for a new < hun h in hriendly
Cove. Nootka Sound These Indians
had for a long time refused my ser\ ices
as a jiriest. an<l. as they now had re])eat-
edlv asked me to ilo so. I concluded to
build a chapel at their place.

.After discharging men and freight at
1 lesquiat, at the request of tlu' captain, 1
returned on board ol'tiie vessel, as shepiil
up sail, and so we started on December

Vancouver Island ami Its Missions.

8 1

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

^l!

a* i

17th, about noon. The wind was fa-
voral)le but there was considrrahle sea
on and the weatlier as a whole looked
l)ad. In less than two hours we were
sailing into Nootka Sound. As we
neared i-Viendly Cove, our destination,
the wind abated and soon began to blow
against us.

It was now dark and the wind shift-
ing again it became favorable. I was
down below when the captain, (|uite ex-
<:ited, came down, told me to jnit on his
" mackintosh " and follow him on deck.
He wanted me to act as interpreter,
'{"here were two Indians on board whom
he could not understand, but, being of
this district, he wanted them to act for
us as i)ilots. The captain had been only
once before in I'riendly Cove, and.
the weather being *io very thi( k. he was
not sure that he could make the harbor.
The rain fell in torrents and the wintl
blew a hurricane. 1 now stood against
the mainmast and the Indians were giv-
ing their orders, which I interpreted for
the captain. The skipper had his
misgivings about the directions given by
his Indian pilots l>ut he followed them.
. . . The Indians knew the entrance to
Friendly Cove. \'es, that was the
cove. But it was not the cove ... it
was a small bay, close to the entrance of
the real harbor, which we hud to make :
and the I''aroiitt\ having sailed in at
full speed, was before long looked upon
as in extreme danger close to and touch-
ing the rocky shore. The would-be
pilots were des|)ondent ; the skipper
ke|")t cool and ordered his sailors to run
lines on shore, fasten them to the rocks
and then try to keep the vessel from go-
ing to pieces. 1 heard him make only
one sour remark and he did so in a
solemn, stern way, •' I could," said he
"shoot those sons of savages as they
stand in their boots." The mistake was
the\' wore no boots.

The sailors, after fastening lines to the
rock to keep the vessel frcjm striking.
<ame back on board and began to jiut
their clothes and bilongings in tlu'ir

traps and bags to have them ready when
ordered to abandon the vessel. .\s for
myself, I was advised by the kind captain
to turn in, if I wanted a couple of hours'
rest. Hut h(jw < ould I do so with my
shoes full of water and on a vessel that
might go to pieces at any time? I'hat
night was a dreary one for us all, as the
vessel began to roll on the ro( ks and
keeled over considerably. ICarly in ihe
morning, as the tide < ame in, she slid
down from the boulders and finally was
alloat again. The men, later in the day,
hauled her out from her dangerous posi-
tion and anchored her in I'riendly
C()\e. She was damaged very noticeably
and from tlu' \er\ start she took in (juite
a deal of water.

The next six days were spent in
Friendly Cove — about the most
dreary days I have spent in this worldly
sphere. There were no Indians around,
the weather was bad and everyone on
board seemed dejected and downcast.

However, we made a start for home on
Friday — a week since we had entered
-Nootka Sound — a light, northerly bree/e
was blowing, hardly strong enough to
move us out of the channel. When the
everlasting easterly (toochi) wind sprung
up, it favored us for a time. .\t four
o'clock I'. M. we were off Hole-in the
Wall, at the mouth of the great harbor.

But the weather looked thick and the
captain determined to "lay to" that
night. I forgot to state that as socui as
the \essel began to roll, her pimips were
called into recjuisition every fifteen min-
utes and an amount of water came forth
eai h time.

Meanwhile the ]-\vorite was drift-
ing southwest; the wind increased as
night ad\anced, and about ten o'clock
the second mate came down, drenched
with rain, and reported, for mv consola-
tion, that we were dritting to the south-
west like a "bundle of straw.' Later,
at the shift of the .sailors' watch, I over-
heard a se< ret conversation whi( h was to
to the effect that, if they evergot into i)ort,
the sailors would abandon the vi'ssel and

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

«3

grt to town tlie best way they could,
riitlicr than stay on the leaking cial't.

Further details would be superlluous.
Suttiix' it to say that tor a whole week we
were in a continuation of gales of wind
and rain. The sailors were at the pumps
(lay and night, i'he waves rolled right
over the vessel . . . the mainsail was
split to atoms. . . .

.At last a westerly wind came to our
assistance, land was Mghted and after
sailing a full day before the wind we at
last cast anchor in IIes(piiat harbor.
.According to our captain's reckoning we
had been blown a hundred miles from
shore and out of our course.

\\'e had a fnie Christmas — all the
savages of this neighborhood were pres-
ent, all the Christians went to Confession
and those who had been accustomed to
do so received Holy Communion.

Close of iSSS. — There are now in
Hescjuiat only three or four families of
real pagan Indians and a few old men
and women. The rest of the settlement
are Christians — some of them very fer-
vent, the others less so; yet alwa\s
attentive at church and of good be-
havior.

1S89. .May. — i'he old chief i'ownis-
seii. the father of Matlaliaw, the would-
be murderer, and who was accused, for
plausible reasons, of having encouraged
his son to commit the deed, died here
the other daw 'i'he old man had a
better chance than his son, who had died
unbapti/ed and impenitent, to meet his
Maker and judge. I'or se\eral years he
had been a regular attendant at < hurch.
was an example to his subjects and was
baptized and rereive<l all the rites of the
Church before his death. R.I.F.

August. — I built a new ( hapel in
Kriendly Co\e tor the .Nootka Indians.
I employed three Indians to help me.
I did the carpenter work myself. The
Indians made >hingles and generally
helped me to jiut u|i the building. It
is a very neat structure, but the inside
work is not finished for the want of
lining. .As soon as possil)le I assembled

the people and baptized their newly-
born ( hildren. 1 then left them for the
winter season. .\s I was preparing my
canoe to return to llesipiiat, most of the
people made also arrangements to go up
the rivers for the salmon season.

i.Syo. — I saw the Nootka Indians,
stayed with them a short time and then
went on a voyage to I'.urope — the fnst
since my arrival in the country twenty-
one years ago.

.November. — I returned from the old
country, where I had spent four months,
and secured the necessary funds tor. a
new chun h in Mescpiiat. It was about
time to move out of the old building,
tor it had become a complete wreck. It
rained on. my head as I was saying Mass,
and the floor of the body of the build-
ing was covered with water. It was the
poorest church in Christendom. One
of the fruits of my lluropean voyage will
be the possession of a better place for
Divine Service.

I1S91, March. — Two I'rench Canadian
carpenters arrived here last month on the
schooner /■'aron'/r, loaded with building
material, in order to build our new
church at Hes(piiat. On account of the
general boom in liritish Columbia the
wages are very high, my men being paid
three dollars and fifty cents per day
(each) and their board. The plan of
the new church was made by Stephen
Donovan, of \'i( toria, but was consid-
erably modified on account of lack of
means to jxit u\) a building such as he
had (h.'signed.

October. — 1 understand that a young
man re])resenting the I'resbj terian
('hurch of Canada has taken u]) his resi-
dence at .Mberin. Han lay Sound, and
has be"in introduced by the Indian agent
to the natives of that distri( t.

1S92. — Some of the Indians are not
behaving as well as they ought to do.
Their contact with the sailors on the
leaking schooners has a bad effect. It is
too bad that after all the trouble I have
ha I a class of white men, who ought to
know better, should excite them against

\'ancouver Island and Its Missions.

nu' ; and yet only for my presence on
thf coast their life and property would
not he safe. Satan has more than one
means to i)erv'ert good jieople and hin-
der the work of Clod from going ahead.
In the ])resent ( ase so-called Christian
white men are his chosen tools.

July. — I'here is great excitement here
since .several days, and the old pagan
])eople are exceedingly jjrovoking It was
known all along the coast that Antonin.
the young ( hief here, and the son of Mat-
lahaw, the would-be murderer, was sick
and sinking fast of consumption. 'I'he
young man, a good lad, was |)reparing
for death as a Christian. Now the chiefs
from the neighborhood sent medicine-
men and medicine-women to tempt him
and make him renounce Christianity and
have recourse to the old superstitious
practices. All their efforts were of no
avail, and the young lad died after re-
ceiving the last rites of the Church. He
was buried in the cemetery with grand
solemnity, but the old people objected
and used every means to jirevent it.
Being defeated in this matter they insisted
that the house of the young chief should
be broken down and burned. This was
always done in the case of anybody dying
childless, especially if the departed was a
chief. At first I oi)jected, but as the
aunt was willing to allow the movers
to have their own way I withdrew my
opposition. .\nd so the young chief's
house, which he had built and intendetl
to occup) as soon as he was married, was
torn down and burned on the beach.
The Hestiuiats have no chief again. The
aunt of the departed boy will now be
considered as occupying the dignity until
her infant son becomes of age.

I*'ebruary, 1895. — The Right Rev.
Bishop I.emmens paid his first visit to
the Indians of this district. As the
Bishop had not given notice of his
arrival, no reception was prejjared for
him. .Most of the Indians were absent,
but wlien they heard of the presence of
His Lordship they all came to the mis-
sion and on Sunday, January 29th, were

all present at the blej-sing of my new
( hiirch in the morning and the blessii^g
of the Stations of the (,"ross in the
afternoon.

.\s a piece of bad news the Hishoptold
me that the .Methodists were prejiaring
to put up a mission in N'ittinut ami had
obtained a grant of five hundred dollars
from the Dominion (lovernment for
missionary purposes. They had asked
and obtained the grant for the building
of a school, but ofcour.se with them that
also means a meeting-house or a church.

December. — My jjeople this year
have had considerable sickness in the
village and many deaths have oci iirred.
It casts a gloom over the place. Other-
wise the outlook is good.

July, 1X94. — During my absence a
party of Indians from the State of Wash-
ington came across the Straits of l.uca
with a supply of whisky which they in-
tended to dispose of in Hesipiiat. As
soon as the presence of the licjuor in the
settlement became known, three of my
Christian Indians went and took it away
and secreted it in one of the rooms of
my house. 1 reported this to the Indian
Department and the men, who had acted
so judiciously in confiscating the vile
spirits, received each a reward of twenty
dollars from the Dominion (lovernment.

Very touching stories reached us from
Xootka The Indians of this district,
having refused my services as a |)riestfor
a long time, are not as well instructed as
they might have been. They were not
of real bad will, but the chief having lost
his only child the whole tribe went in.
mourning, the consecpience being that
they excluded not only their games but
also the practice of religion. So that on
one occasion as I jjresented myself 1 was
told in the name of the chief, a crue
pagan and bigamist, that my presence
was not retiuired. Since then, however,
they have sent for me and seem to be
well disposed again, as I had occasion to
notice when 1 visited them last.

One of their young men, having
been si( k a very long time and feeling

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

that his end was roming, sent for his
nearest relatives, 'lins is usual with all
the Indians of this coast and tlie scenes
that are then enacted are sometimes
most touching.

The patient is duly prepared for the
arrival of the visitors. One < onies in
after the other, the men stoically, tlie
women with a sad face and a weeping
voice, nod their heads to the |)atient;
then when they are all seated they all
begin to cry and lament and wail. '! he
noise which they make as they all join in
the songs of grief must be a torture to
the dying relative, but it is meant as a
compliment and it is taken as such ; it is
a matter of pride and deej) consolation
to the living when not only near and
distant relatives call, but especially if the
chief and his subjects related to the
patient extend a visit of ( ondolence.
After death it is always remembered who
did and who did not call and the feeling
of the living is good or bad toward their
neighbors in accordance with the fact
that they have or have not performed
this act of eti(piette.

After a spell of crying and lamenta-
tions speeches are made by the chiefs
telling the patient to have a good heart,
reminding him of his acts of daring and
his success as a hunter, etc., when all
begin to retire, leaving only his nearest
relatives to whom he e.xpresses his last
wishes, the disposition to be made of
his worldly possessions and many other
matters.

In this i)resent case the poor young
fellow, after the above scenes and formal-
ities had been gone through, being now
left alone with his mother, his step-
father and a half-brother, gave orders to
count the money which he had still left.
He had been a great sea-otter hunter
and very successful, especially the last
season. He then sent his half i)rother
for a suit of new clothes whi( h he put on
— the Indians always i)ut on to the dying
their best clothes and l)lankets. Tiien
he sent for another suit and under-
clothes. The trader told me that he

sjient over one hundred dollars for
wearing ajjparel in his place, and the
orders of the dying man were that what
he could not put on shoidil be enclosed
in the coffin or box in whicli his body
was put for burial.

It is a very curious custom, but in
most cases the coffin of the Indians con-
tains not only the body, but also a great
many things dear to the dead one, su( h
as clothes, toys, money, his own and
also blankets presented for the ])urpose
l)y his friends. His favorite dog is killed,
his canoe split uj), his watch or clock
destroyed ; anything and everything that
would remind the living of the dead rel-
ative is done away with and gotten out
of sight .\s noticed already, articles or
parts of articles having belonged to an
enemy are also very often ent losed with
the body, the idea and belief being that
such a |)roceeding will have the effect of
causing si( kness ami death to an ailver-
sar\ .

The other case referred to was that of a
young man whose two little children had
died before him. He evidently e.\i)ected
to join them in the ne.\t world, for shortly
before his death he sent a messenger to
the nearest trading station with orders to
buy such and such toys, at one time dear
to his little ones, and he ordered them
placed in the coffin with his own body the
moment his death woidd occur.

This was an old practice and the fact
that it existed before the arrival of a
priest on this coast proves that the
natives believed in a life after this life.
^Vere they not ahead of some of our civ-
ilized would-be scientists?

1895. — ( )ur Indians all over the coast
are well disposed ; the iieoi)le of Iles-
([uiat, with the exception of some old
men and women, being Catholics and
most of them very exemplary.

This being known seems to have e.x-
cited the Presbyterian and Methotlist
(.lenomiu'itions, and their efforts to in-
vade the coast are very jjronounc ed.
Now that the Indians are more than
half civili/ed and are withal peaceable

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Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

t3.

and docilf. the sects will come and give
us trouble A monthly steamer now also
visits the coast, as the government has
established a Scandinavian settlement at
Cape Scott, the northern end of the
island, and bound itself to carry the
mails and provisions once a month. With
these facilities of travel and the peaceful
behavior of the natives all along the
coist, the zeal of the Protestant ministers
has grown to the extent that tliey now
have established themselves at different
points on the coast. When a man's life
was in danger and when the only means
of traveling was an Indian ( anoe ; when
the mails reached us only once or twice a
year . . . we were wel( ome to do alone
the work of converting the natives ; but
now with the present fa< ilities and the
absence of danger, the ministers come
in sight to give us trouble and to pervert
our Indian < hildren.

.After mature reflection I made u\) my
mind to projmse to our Hishop a plan
for his ai)|)robation. I would build in a
central part of the coast an industrial
school for boys and girls.

August. — We had a retreat for the
clergy last month. All the i)riests of the
diocese were present, liefore returning
to my mission I spoke to the Hishop of
the idea of a boarding-school for our
<hildren. His Lordship (ailed on the
Indian agent, who jiromised that he
would obtain a grant for the supjiort of
the teai hers and children from the Do-
minion (lovernment. Next 1 was sent
for and this same agent urged me to |)ut
up the buildings at once, and said that
as soon as the school was o( i upied a per
capita grant would be available.

Kverything we asked for was promised
by the agent, and so 1 returned to my
mission, rejoicing in tiie tiiought that
the efforts of the Protestant ministers
would be unsuccessful. If we could
keeji the children from perversion, our
position was safe.

I am now sorry to put on rei ord that.
per letter from the head of our diocese,
I was yesterday informed tiiat I must

abandon the idea of having a boarding-
school which, in my mind, is the only
means to save the fruits of my labors of
more than twenty years Hut, it is so I
1 must submit and be resigned to the
regulations of the one who rules over me
— my Hishop.

1896. — .\ young man representing the
Presbyterian Church is now stationed in
.\housat. lie is a school teacher by
profession, but he holds divine service
on .Sunday. He established himself be-
tween two missions having a resident
priest He will do nothing himself, but
he will report as a credit to himself, any
improvements these Indians will make,
and yet all the credit will belong to the
example of my |)eople in Hescpiiat. and
that of the Clayo(|uot tribe. .And the
poor little children so anxious to learn
to read and to write will be perverted
without noticing it.

1.S97. — News has reached me that
Hishop I.emmens died in duatemala.
So then we are aga'n without a Hishop.
It is reported that he died of the fever
of that swampy country, where he had
gone to collec t funds for his new cathe-
dral in \'ictoria. K. I. P.

1.S98, February. — This year opened
with sickness in the settlement. Whoop-
ing cough was brought here by a family
of visiting strangers. 'I'hey were here
several days and their children having
the whooping cough communicated the
dreaded disease to our children. I have
my hands full just now.

February 15. — To-day, after a s])ell of
vain-glory, I feel terriiily dis-appointed.
Here are the details : The night l)efore
last I was called out about midnight to
visit the child ofa young coui>le. I'hey
wanted medical treatment for the ( ough-
ing infant. It was a dark night but the
sky was ( loudless. So then I took my
lantern, whistled for my dog and wended
my wav in the direction of the village.
I noticed a light in some of the houses,
for there was sickness in almost all of
them. The wolves were howling in the
distant e, and the lutlian tlogs were bark-

Vancouver Island and Its Missions.

ing at the rising moon. The sea was
breaking against the shore, but there was
not a human sou! to break the solemnity
ancl the monotony of the midnight hour.
Oh, what a wild, lonely country this is
after all I In the home I was impatiently
ex|)e( ted ; the grandparents, four of
them, an<l the young mother looked up
to me with eyes full of tears. . . The
child was very bad: the chest and lungs
very much aft'ected. I administered the
usual remedies and returned home with
the expi.. tation of having another funeral.
Yesterday I went over agnin; my patient
was mui h better and likely to recover:
this made me feel good and the thought
of vain glory got the best of me. '"o day
1 feel bad: the child is dead. This
morning, as I went to church to ring my
bell for Mass, I found under the bell-
tower a small box (ontaining all that was
mortal of the dear little child whom yes-
terday I prided myself on having treated
and restored to health.

April. — I lost a fev> days ago one
of the most sensible and most jiious ])er-
sons it has been my fortune to have in
my parish. This «oman for several
years refused to become a Christian and
gave as a reason that she was afraid that
she might be temjjted and return to the
old pagan pra< tices She was converted
at last and from the day of her re< eption
in the Chun h by baptism she attended
Mass every day of the week and was at
church every Sunday twice. She had
made her first Communion and was con-
firmed : and as her son was inclined to
be wild and thoughtless she never ceased
to warn him. Her last message to her
tamily. was to remain faithful to and lol-
low the instructions of the priest She
received the last sacraments and oh !
how tou( hing it was to see her with her
beads in her hands : and when she could
not speak any more raise up her hand
and point her linger towards heaven !
The faith of those people and the trust
they have in (iod at their last moments
are worth) of all admiration. I have as-
sisted many good peojile at the hour of

death, but I have never been so much
edified as when I assisted this good wo-
man a few days ago

She was buried 01, Sunday morning
at the parrchial Mass. Her husband
with his beads in hands said the prayers
aloud, to which the rest of the peoi)le
answered. I attempted to say a few
words, but the sadness in the chiir< h was
such that 1 broke down and cried with
the rest. Su< h a scene of sadness and
the feelings of sympathy expressed by the
good people cannot bedesc ribed nor even
imagined by anybody who was not pres-
ent at the funeral last Sunday morning.
Cod rest the good Indian woman and
may she pray for us !

May. — The rumor which reached us
some time ago that we have a new Mishoj)
proves to be true, for I have just received
a letter trom Rev. .\. Christie, of Minne-
ap'^'is, inviting me to his consecration,
which is to take jihue on|une2<j, in
St. I'aul. Minn. I know nothing about
Father Christie. I5ut I wrote a letter of
« ongratulation to him and bade him wel-
( oine to \'ancou\ er. />> //ri//, ///\ <//// ;rnif
in nomiui' Ihuiiiui. and iid niit/fos iiiinos.

.\ugust. — Hishop Christie was < onse-
crated in St. Paul, Minn , June 29tli.and
arrived in his new dio< ese on the 5th of
.August. He received a grand reception
from the people and his |)resen( e made a
good impression on them.

With new courage and the pros])ects of
an early vi>it to our missions by the new
prelite, I returned to iii\ house in Hes-
quiat and began at once to prepare some
of my peo|»le tor Confirmation.

i.S()9 — I received a letter from Ilishop
Christie with this message: •'(,"oiiieto
N'ictoria at once. I want to consult with
you aiiout building a boarding school for
the Indian children of the west coast. I
have just returned from ( )ttawa and have
obtained a ])er capita grant from the(iov-
ernment for fifty < h'ldren. If we do not
accept the grant it will be given to one
of the se( ts : your children will be per-
verted and you will lose the fruit of all
your labors."

Vancouver Island and it> Missions.

.' f

I )

r !

,'■• !

Since Bishop I.emnuMis had abaiKioncd
the idea of such a school, as I had pro-
posed to him live \ -ars ago, I had never
mentioned to him the advisal)iiity of the
•indertaking since that time. It must
have become evident to the priests
nearer to the Hishoj) than myself that the
ivork was a rer i necessity for the silva-
tion of our Indian children.

In Victoria the good IJishop Christie
explained all his plans. "Hut,"' said he,
" Father, we have no money to do the
work. However, let us conmience at
once, /)ct4< f^roviih-hit. Return to the
( oast at the first opportunity, choose a
< entral location and 1 will send up lumber
and men to <lo the work."

I went back a few days later and
chose Clayo(|Uot Sound as a location
ea.sily accessible to all the Indians of the
coast.

.\t the foot of a mountain in Dec ep-
tion Channel I found and sec u red a large
piece of table land o|)en to pre-emption
and away from all Indian settlements. It
is fifty feet above the surfac e of a fine
bay which at low water has a sandy beach
of more than twenty acres — a iiugnil'n ent
playground for the c hildren. It is also
in proximity to another bay. a real clam-
field, so that with a bay swarming with
salmon and other fish and a large field of
clams, the expense of su|)porting the
children will be considerably reduc eel and
their health will be benefited, for all our
people from their very infancy look upon
fish as their main food and they ar:knowl-
eclge that without fish they cannot iive
and keep their health.

A few days later I received another
letter from liishoj) Christie, announcing
that he was to leave us and go to Port-
land, Ore. . as the succ essor of .\rc hbishoji
Gross. The Archbisiiop-elect now told
me ag?in to go ahead with tiie work, in-
sisting that if the school was not built
now it would never be l)uilt, and that
either the Methodists or the Presbyterians
would get our grant and use it to pervert
our Catholic children. In the course of
conversation afterwards His (Irace told

me that he had talked the matter over
with his \'icar (leneral, and they had
( ome to the cone lusion that as soon as
the work was well started I should go
abroad to collect the necessary funds.
"And," said he. " Father, let us go
ahead : the work of your life will be
destroyed. It will be lost if we neglect
this chance offered by the (lovernment.
We must ]iut up the buildings and jiay
for them ourselves, but the Indian
I)e|iartment will by a generous yearly
grant do the rest. 1 have ordered the
lumber and the men will go up next
month ; i)ut when the buildings are
up, you will have to go Fast and ask
the good |)eople out there to extend to
us a hel|)ing hand. .And, Father, do not
be uneasy : you will do well. The
l)eoi)le out there do not know what you
are doing for the salvation of souls ; I
had no idea of it myself before coming
here. I )o not i)repare any lectures, but
speak to the i)eoi)le as you speak to us.
. . . The jmests will allow you to speak
in their chun hes ; whatever you get
from their peojile will not affect them. I
have experienced that nijself when I was
rector of St. Stephen's church in Minne-
apolis."

( )clober. — ( )ur sc hool is now built. . .

i.S74-i8c;().

Twenty- five years have now ela|)sed
since I first set foot on the western shore
of X'ancouver Island. When I first met
the inhabitants of that desolate coast, they
were savage, immoral and treacherous.
Their dwellings were hovels of filth and
misery; their attire a blanket of c edar
bark, dog's hair or othe. inferior artide;
they were addic ted to witc h< raft and in-
iHimerable superstitious practices. .Ml
alone in the wilderness, deprived of the
company of friends or white men, with no
mails excejit once or twice a year, I have
spent many mournful seasons without
seeing any encouraging results of my
arduous labors.

liut Cod has been kind to me and has
granted me the grace to persevere, and

X'ancouver Island and Its Missions.

fc9

has rewarded my lal)ors by the conver-
sion of many of my jioor people. With
Christianity, th'-y have adopted civili/a-
tion. The peo|)Ie immediately under my
charge are now, as a whole, docile and
law abiding. They have used their
earnings to improve their material con-
ditions. 'I'hey have bnilt neat and clean
dwelling houses; they dress well, both
men and women, after the fashion of
< iviiized people; they are regular at
chiin h and at the Sacraments. Visitors
are edified to see them at chur( !j and do
not cease praising them for the spe< tacle
they present when at their devotions.
They look more like a congregation of
white people than one of native Indians.
It is to be regretted that now, when
these people have so much improved by
our instructions, outsiders should come:
that Methodist and Presbyterian minis-
ters should intrude and sow discord
amongst them. \'et it was to be ex-
pected, for it is their pride, not to
civilize savage nations, but to pervert
them, after the Catholic priests have
converted them to Christianty, and sown
the seed of civilization. ( )ur case is not

an exceptional one, but it is none the
less saddening and painful.

However, with the grace of Cod, no
means will be spared to protect our
people. It may have been rash on unr
part to put up for our dear Indian
( hildren, with the object that they may
not be i)erverted, the buildings of a
central boarding-school for which we
have to p:iy, although we have not the
means. iJut under the protection of
St. Joseph, and with the assistance of
St. .\ntoiiy, we hope to be able to
secure the necessary funds to i)ay for the
work just completed, the Indian Hoard-
ing School in St. .Mary's IJay, Clayo-
i|U<)t Sound, \'an( ouver Island.

With the blessing of .\rchbi.shop
Christie, and his best wishes of "Cod
s|)eed," I must now set out and ask the
good Catholics of the Kastern States to
extend a heljjing and generous hand to
bring this work, in all probability the
last of my life, to a successful issue.
.\. J, Hkaiiant,
Hescpuat, W. Coast,

\an< ouver Island, Canada.

October, 1X99.

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