The Substance of a Journal During a Residence at the Red River Colony, British North America

The Substance of a Journal
During a
by John West

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Residence at the Red River Colony, British North America, by John
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Title: The Substance of a Journal During a Residence at the Red River
Colony, British North America and Frequent Excursions Among the
North-West American Indians, In the Years 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823.
Author: John West
Release Date: August 6, 2007 [EBook #22254]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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A JOURNAL.
PRINTED BY L. B. SEELEY, WESTON GREEN, THAMES
DITTON.

THE SUBSTANCE OF A JOURNAL
DURING A RESIDENCE AT THE RED RIVER COLONY,
British North America;
AND FREQUENT EXCURSIONS AMONG THE NORTH-WEST
AMERICAN INDIANS,
IN THE YEARS 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823.

By
JOHN WEST, M. A.
LATE CHAPLAIN TO THE HON. THE HUDSON'S BAY
COMPANY.

PRINTED FOR L. B. SEELEY AND SON, FLEET STREET,
LONDON. MDCCCXXIV.

TO THE
REV. HENRY BUDD, M. A.

CHAPLAIN TO BRIDEWELL HOSPITAL, MINISTER OF
BRIDEWELL PRECINCT, AND RECTOR OF WHITE ROOTHING,
ESSEX,
AS A TESTIMONY
OF GRATITUDE FOR HIS KINDNESS AND FRIENDSHIP, AND
OF HIGH ESTEEM FOR HIS UNWEARIED EXERTIONS IN
EVERY CAUSE OF BENEVOLENCE AND ENLIGHTENED
ENDEAVOUR TO PROMOTE THE BEST INTERESTS OF MAN,
THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR.

Transcriber's Notes:
Variant spellings have been retained.
The Errata have been moved to the beginning of the text.
To improve readability, dashes between entries in the Table of
Contents and in chapter subheadings have been converted to periods.

ERRATA.
Page 1, line 7, for Salteaux, read Saulteaux. 21, line 6, for 1820, read
1817. 36, line 2 from bottom, for spiritous, read spirituous. 57, line 24,
for forty, read sixty. 70, bottom of the page, for Heritics, read Heretics.
131, line 24, for Loom, read Loon. 156, line 3, for a, read no. 180, line
3, for intrepedity, read intrepidity. 204, line 19, for intention it, read
intention of it.

PREFACE.

We live in a day when the most distant parts of the earth are opening as
the sphere of Missionary labours. The state of the heathen world is
becoming better known, and the sympathy of British Christians has
been awakened, in zealous endeavours to evangelize and soothe its
sorrows. In these encouraging signs of the times, the Author is induced
to give the following pages to the public, from having traversed some
of the dreary wilds of North America, and felt deeply interested in the
religious instruction and amelioration of the condition of the natives.
They are wandering, in unnumbered tribes, through vast wildernesses,
where generation after generation have passed away, in gross ignorance
and almost brutal degradation.
Should any information he is enabled to give excite a further Christian
sympathy, and more active benevolence in their behalf, it will truly
rejoice his heart: and his prayer to God, is, that the Aborigines of a
British Territory, may not remain as outcasts from British Missionary
exertions; but may be raised through their instrumentality, to what they
are capable of enjoying, the advantages of civilized and social life, with
the blessings of Christianity.
September, 1824.

CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I.
--Departure from England. Arrival at the Orkney Isles. Enter Hudson's
Straits. Icebergs. Esquimaux. Killing a Polar Bear. York Factory.
Embarked for the Red River Colony. Difficulties of the Navigation.
Lake Winipeg. Muskeggowuck, or Swamp Indians. Pigewis, a chief of
the Chipewyans, or Saulteaux Tribe. Arrival at the Red River.
Colonists. School established. Wolf dogs. Indians visit Fort Douglas.
Design of a Building for Divine Worship 1

CHAPTER II.
--Visit the School. Leave the Forks for Qu'appelle. Arrival at Brandon
House. Indian Corpse staged. Marriages at Company's Posts.
Distribution of the Scriptures. Departure from Brandon House.
Encampment. Arrival at Qu'appelle. Character and Customs of Stone
Indians. Stop at some Hunter's Tents on return to the Colony. Visit
Pembina. Hunting Buffaloes. Indian address. Canadian Voyageurs.
Indian Marriages. Burial Ground. Pemican. Indian Hunter sends his son
to be educated. Mosquitoes. Locusts 28
CHAPTER III.
--Norway House. Baptisms. Arrival at York Factory. Swiss Emigrants.
Auxiliary Bible Society formed. Boat wrecked. Catholic Priests. Sioux
Indians killed at the Colony. Circulation of the Scriptures among the
Colonists. Scarcity of Provisions. Fishing under the Ice. Wild Fowl.
Meet the Sioux Indians