The Substance of a Journal During a Residence at the Red River Colony, British North America | Page 2

at Pembina. They scalp an Assiniboine. War
dance. Cruelly put to death a Captive Boy. Indian expression of
gratitude for the Education of his Child. Sturgeon 64
CHAPTER IV.
--Arrival of Canoe from Montreal. Liberal Provision for Missionary
Establishment. Manitobah Lake. Indian Gardens. Meet Captain
Franklin and Officers of the Arctic Expedition at York Factory. First
Anniversary of the Auxiliary Bible Society. Half-Caste Children.
Aurora Borealis. Conversation with Pigewis. Good Harvest at the
Settlement, and arrival of Cattle from United States. Massacre of
Hunters. Produce of Grain at Colony 94
CHAPTER V.
--Climate of Red River. Thermometer. Pigewis's Nephew. Wolves.
Remarks of General Washington. Indian Woman shot by her son.
Sufferings of Indians. Their notions of the Deluge. No visible object of
adoration. Acknowledge a Future Life. Left the Colony for Bas la

Rivière. Lost on Winipeg Lake. Recover the Track, and meet an
intoxicated Indian. Apparent facilities for establishing Schools West of
Rocky Mountains. Russians affording Religious instruction on the
North West Coast of North America. Rumours of War among the
surrounding Tribes with the Sioux Indians 110
CHAPTER VI.
--Progress of Indian Children in reading. Building for Divine Worship.
Left the Colony. Arrival at York Fort. Departure for Churchill Factory.
Bears. Indian Hieroglyphics. Arrival at Churchill. Interview with
Esquimaux. Return to York Factory. Embark for England. Moravian
Missionaries. Greenland. Arrival in the Thames 150

DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.
1. The engraving of meeting the Indians, to face the title page.
2. Scalping the Indians to face page 85.
3. The Protestant Church, to face page 155.

THE RED RIVER COLONY; AND THE
NORTH-WEST-AMERICAN INDIANS.
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 CHIPPEWAYS
OR SALTEAUX TRIBE. ARRIVAL AT THE RED RIVER.
COLONISTS. SCHOOL ESTABLISHED. WOLF-DOGS. INDIANS

VISIT FORT DOUGLAS. DESIGN OF A BUILDING FOR DIVINE
WORSHIP.
On the 27th of May, 1820, I embarked at Gravesend, on board the
Honourable Hudson's Bay Company's ship, the Eddystone;
accompanied by the ship, Prince of Wales, and the Luna brig, for
Hudson's Bay. In my appointment as Chaplain to the Company, my
instructions were, to reside at the Red River Settlement, and under the
encouragement and aid of the Church Missionary Society, I was to seek
the instruction, and endeavour to meliorate the condition of the native
Indians.
The anchor was weighed early on the following morning, and sailing
with a fine breeze, the sea soon opened to our view. The thought that I
was now leaving all that was dear to me upon earth, to encounter the
perils of the ocean, and the wilderness, sensibly affected me at times;
but my feelings were relieved in the sanguine hope that I was borne on
my way under the guidance of a kind protecting Providence, and that
the circumstances of the country whither I was bound, would soon
admit of my being surrounded with my family. With these sentiments, I
saw point after point sink in the horizon, as we passed the shores of
England and Scotland for the Orkneys.
We bore up for these Isles on the 10th of June, after experiencing faint
and variable winds for several days: and a more dreary scene can
scarcely be imagined than they present to the eye, in general. No tree or
shrub is visible; and all is barren except a few spots of cultivated
ground in the vales, which form a striking contrast with the barren
heath-covered hills that surround them. These cultivated spots mark the
residence of the hardy Orkneyman in a wretched looking habitation
with scarcely any other light, (as I found upon landing on one of the
islands) than from a smoke hole, or from an aperture in the wall, closed
at night with a tuft of grass. The calf and pig were seen as inmates,
while the little furniture that appeared, was either festooned with
strings of dried fish, or crossed with a perch for the fowls to roost on.
A different scene, however, presented itself, as we anchored the next
day in the commodious harbour of Stromness. The view of the town,

with the surrounding cultivated parts of the country, and the Hoy Hill,
is striking and romantic, and as our stay here was for a few days, I
accepted an invitation to the Manse, from the kind and worthy minister
of Hoy, and ascended with him the hill, of about 1620 feet high.
The sabbath we spent at sea was a delight to me, from the arrangement
made by the captain for the attendance of the passengers and part of the
crew on divine worship, both morning and afternoon. Another sabbath
had now returned,