The Substance of a Journal During a Residence at the Red River Colony, British North America | Page 5

a sheet of paper can stop a musket-ball. Numbers of vessels since the
establishment of the Whale Fishery have been thus destroyed. Some
have been thrown upon the ice. Some have had their hulls completely
thrown open, and others have been buried beneath the heaped
fragments of the ice."--
Sunday, the 6th.--Text in the morning 1st book Samuel, 30th chapter,
latter part of the 6th verse. The weather was very variable, with much
thunder and lightening; which was awful and impressive. On the 12th
the thermometer was below freezing point, and the rigging of the ship
was covered with large icicles. Intense fogs often prevailed, but of very
inconsiderable height. They would sometimes obscure the hull of the
ship, when the mast head was seen, and the sun was visible and
effulgent.
In the evening of the 13th, the sailors gave three cheers, as we got
under weigh on the opening of the ice by a strong northerly wind, and
left the vast mass which had jammed us in for many days. The next day
we saw the land, and came to the anchorage at York Flatts the
following morning, with sentiments of gratitude to God for his
protecting Providence through the perils of the ice and of the sea, and
for the little interruption in the duties of my profession from the state of
the weather, during the voyage.
I was kindly received by the Governor at the Factory, the principal
depôt of the Hudson's Bay Company, and on the sabbath, every
arrangement was made for the attendance of the Company's servants on
divine worship, both parts of the day. Observing a number of half-breed
children running about, growing up in ignorance and idleness; and
being informed that they were a numerous offspring of Europeans by
Indian women, and found at all the Company's Posts; I drew up a plan,
which I submitted to the Governor, for collecting a certain number of
them, to be maintained, clothed, and educated upon a regularly
organized system. It was transmitted by him to the Committee of the

Hudson's Bay Company, whose benevolent feelings towards this
neglected race, had induced them to send several schoolmasters to the
country, fifteen or sixteen years ago; but who were unhappily diverted
from their original purpose, and became engaged as fur traders.
During my stay at this post, I visited several Indian families, and no
sooner saw them crowded together in their miserable-looking tents,
than I felt a lively interest (as I anticipated) in their behalf. Unlike the
Esquimaux I had seen in Hudson's Straits, with their flat, fat, greasy
faces, these 'Swampy Crees' presented a way-worn countenance, which
depicted "Suffering without comfort, while they sunk without hope."
The contrast was striking, and forcibly impressed my mind with the
idea, that Indians who knew not the corrupt influence and barter of
spirituous liquors at a Trading Post, were far happier, than the
wretched-looking group around me. The duty devolved upon me, to
seek to meliorate their sad condition, as degraded and emaciated,
wandering in ignorance, and wearing away a short existence in one
continued succession of hardships in procuring food. I was told of
difficulties, and some spoke of impossibilities in the way of teaching
them Christianity or the first rudiments of settled and civilized life; but
with a combination of opposing circumstances, I determined not to be
intimidated, nor to "confer with flesh and blood," but to put my hand
immediately to the plough, in the attempt to break in upon this heathen
wilderness. If little hope could be cherished of the adult Indian in his
wandering and unsettled habits of life, it appeared to me, that a wide
and most extensive field, presented itself for cultivation in the
instruction of the native children. With the aid of an interpreter, I spoke
to an Indian, called Withaweecapo, about taking two of his boys to the
Red River Colony with me to educate and maintain. He yielded to my
request; and I shall never forget the affectionate manner in which he
brought the eldest boy in his arms, and placed him in the canoe on the
morning of my departure from York Factory. His two wives, sisters,
accompanied him to the water's edge, and while they stood gazing on
us, as the canoe was paddled from the shore, I considered that I bore a
pledge from the Indian that many more children might be found, if an
establishment were formed in British Christian sympathy, and British
liberality for their education and support.

I had to establish the principle, that the North-American Indian of these
regions would part with his children, to be educated in white man's
knowledge and religion. The above circumstance therefore afforded us
no small encouragement, in embarking for the colony. We overtook the
boats going thither