The Substance of a Journal During a Residence at the Red River Colony, British North America | Page 9

to their minds any just and true ideas of the Saviour, who
gave the commission, on his ascension into heaven "To go and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost." This difficulty produced in me a strong desire to
extend the blessing of education to them: and from this period it
became a leading object with me, to erect in a central situation, a
substantial building, which should contain apartments for the
school-master, afford accommodation for Indian children, be a
day-school for the children of the settlers, enable us to establish a
Sunday school for the half-caste adult population who would attend,
and fully answer the purpose of a church for the present, till a brighter
prospect arose in the colony, and its inhabitants were more congregated.
I became anxious to see such a building arise as a Protestant land-mark
of Christianity in a vast field of heathenism and general depravity of
manners, and cheerfully gave my hand and my heart to perfect the work.
I expected a willing co-operation from the Scotch settlers; but was
disappointed in my sanguine hopes of their cheerful and persevering
assistance, through their prejudices against the English Liturgy, and the
simple rites of our communion. I visited them however in their
affliction, and performed all ministerial duties as their Pastor; while my
motto, was--Perseverance.
CHAPTER II.
VISIT THE SCHOOL. LEAVE THE FORKS FOR QU'APPELLE.
ARRIVAL AT BRANDON HOUSE. INDIAN CORPSE STAGED.
MARRIAGES AT COMPANY'S POST. BAPTISMS.
DISTRIBUTION OF THE SCRIPTURES. DEPARTURE FROM
BRANDON HOUSE. ENCAMPMENT. ARRIVAL AT QU'APPELLE.
CHARACTER AND CUSTOMS OF STONE INDIANS. STOP AT
SOME HUNTERS' 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.
JANUARY 1, 1821.--I went to the school this morning, a distance of

about six miles from my residence, to examine the children, and was
much pleased at the progress which they had already made in reading.
Having addressed them, and prayed for a divine blessing on their
instruction: I distributed to those who could read a little book, as a
reward for their general good conduct in the school. In returning to the
farm, my mind was filled with sentiments of gratitude and love to a
divine Saviour for his providential protection, and gracious favour
towards me during the past year. He has shielded me in the shadow of
his hand through the perils of the sea and of the wilderness from
whence I may derive motives of devotion and activity in my profession.
Thousands are involved in worse than Egyptian darkness around me,
wandering in ignorance and perishing through lack of knowledge.
When will this wide waste howling wilderness blossom as the rose, and
the desert become as a fruitful field! Generations may first pass away;
and the seed of instruction that is now sown, may lie buried, waiting for
the early and the latter rain, yet, the sure word of Prophecy, will ever
animate Christian liberality and exertion, in the bright prospect of that
glorious period, when Christianity shall burst upon the gloomy scene of
heathenism, and dispel every cloud of ignorance and superstition, till
the very ends of the earth shall see the salvation of the Lord.
As I returned from divine service at the Fort, to the farm, on the 7th, it
rained hard for nearly two hours, which is a very unusual thing during
winter in this northern latitude. We have seldom any rain for nearly six
months, but a continued hard frost the greater part of this period. The
sky is generally clear, and the snow lies about fifteen, or at the utmost
eighteen inches deep. As the climate of a country is not known by
merely measuring its distance from the equator, but is affected
differently in the same parallel of latitude by its locality, and a variety
of circumstances, we find that of Red River, though situated in the
same parallel, far different from, and intensely more cold than, that of
England. The thermometer is frequently at 30° and 40° below zero,
when it is only about freezing point in the latter place. This difference
is probably occasioned by the prevailing north-westerly wind, that
blows with piercing keenness over the rocky mountains, or Andes,
which run from north to south through the whole Continent, and over a
country which is buried in ice and snow.

As my instructions were to afford religious instruction and consolation
to the servants in the active employment of the Hudson's Bay Company,
as well as to the Company's retired servants, and other inhabitants of
the settlement, upon such occasions as the nature of the country and
other circumstances would permit; I left the