river as far as we possibly could for want of
more strength, and there let her remain ten days, and when I returned
the rest of the Indians had carried her off into the country. I would not
wish to have any more hand with the Indians, in case you will send
round and insure payment for a number of men to go in the country in
the winter. The people do not hold with civilizing the Indians, as they
think that they will kill more than they did before.
(Signed,) WILLIAM CULL."
This letter, or at least the latter part of it, is not easily understood; but
there is nothing either in its diction or its tone to remove the doubt
which, at the time the letter was written, was entertained as to the safety
of the poor Indian, and which still rests upon her fate--a strong
suspicion was felt, and which has never been removed, that Cull had
not dealt fairly with her. Cull heard that such an opinion was
entertained, and expressed a strong desire to "get hold of the fellow
who said he had murdered the Indian woman." A gentleman who knew
Cull well, said, "if ever the person who charged him with the crime,
comes within the reach of Cull's gun, and a long gun it is, that cost £7
at Fogo, he is as dead as any of the Red Indians which Cull has often
shot." Cull received £50 for capturing the woman, and a further sum of
£15 for her maintenance.
In 1807 a proclamation was issued by Governor Holloway, offering a
reward of £50 "to such person or persons as shall be able to induce or
persuade any of the male tribe of native Indians to attend them to the
town of St. John's; also all expenses attending their journey or
passage," and the same reward was offered to any person who would
give information of any murder committed upon the bodies of the
Indians.
In 1809, the Government, not satisfied with merely issuing
proclamations, sent a vessel to Exploit's Bay, in order if possible to
meet with the Indians. Lieutenant Spratt, who commanded the vessel,
had with him a picture representing the officers of the Royal Navy,
shaking hands with an Indian chief--a party of sailors laying goods at
his feet--a European and Indian mother looking at their respective
children of the same age--Indian men and women presenting furs to the
officers, and a young sailor looking admiration at an Indian girl. The
expedition, however, did not meet with any of the tribe.
In the following year, 1810, several efforts were made to open a
communication with the natives, and to arrest the destruction to which
they were exposed--first, a proclamation was issued by Sir John
Duckworth, stating that the native Indians, by the ill treatment of
wicked persons, had been driven from all communication with His
Majesty's subjects, and forced to take refuge in the woods, and offering
a reward of £100 to any person who should, to use the words of the
proclamation, "generously and meritoriously exert himself to bring
about and establish on a firm and settled footing an intercourse with the
natives; and moreover, that such persons should be honorably
mentioned to His Majesty."
In the same year a proclamation was also issued, addressed exclusively
to the Micmacs, the Esquimaux, and American Indians frequenting the
Island, recommending them to live in harmony with the Red Indians,
and threatening punishment to any who should injure them; and early
in the same year, William Cull, the same person who has been spoken
of, with six others, and two Micmacs, set out upon the river Exploits,
then frozen over, in quest of their residence in the interior of the
country. On the fourth day, having travelled 60 miles, they discovered a
building on the bank of the river, about 40 or 50 feet long, and nearly
as wide. It was constructed of wood, and covered with the rinds of trees,
and skins of deer. It contained large quantities of venison, estimated to
have been the choicest parts of at least 100 deer--the flesh was in junks,
entirely divested of bone, and stored in boxes made of birch and spruce
rinds--each box containing about two cwt. The tongues and hearts were
placed in the middle of the packages. In this structure, says the
celebrated William Cull, we saw three lids of tin tea kettles, which he
believed to be the very same given by Governor Gambier to the Indian
woman he was entrusted to restore to her tribe. Whether Cull, by this
very opportune discovery, removed the suspicion that attached itself to
the manner in which he discharged the trust committed to him, does not
appear. On the opposite bank of the river
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