Metlakahtla and the North Pacific Mission

of which Vancouver's is the principal, and that part of the continent of North America, west of the Rocky Mo

n of them in the name of his sovereign. He supposed at the time that these places were on the mainland, and it was not until Captain Vancouver, an officer in the English Navy, was despatched i

stood on the shores of the Pacific. Some years later, in 1806, Mr. Simon Frazer, another employe of the same Company, gave his name to the great river that drains British Columbia, and established the first trading post in those parts. After the ama

diggers from California, and among them a considerable body of Chinese. To maintain order among a motley population

of tribes speaking different dialects of their own. Thus the Hydahs of Queen Charlotte's Islands are altogether distinct from the Indians of Vancouver's Island, where, indeed, those on the east coast are distinct from those on the west. Again, on th

who know the Indians well declare that it would be impossible to find anywhere finer looking men than the Hydahs, Tsimsheans, and

ria and on the Fraser river, and may be called the Chinook Indians, from the language which is principally in use. In the second division may be comprised the tribes between Nanaimo on the east coast, and Fort Rupert at the extreme

er eighteen tribes, five were scattered over 100 miles of the coast south of Fort Simpson, other five occupied the Naas river, and the remaining eight tribes lived on the Skeena river-the whole of the twenty-seven tribes numbering then not over 8,000 souls, though I at first set them down at 10,000.

ad. Among the head chiefs of the various tribes one again takes preeminence. At feasts and in council the chiefs are seated according to their rank. As an outward mark, to d

ance is attached to this heraldry, and their crests are often elaborately engraved on large copper plates from three to five feet in length, and about two in breadth. These plates are very highly valued, and are often heir-looms in families. No Indian would think of killing the animal which had been taken

dicine men. Captain Mayne, R.N., thus speaks of them:-[Footnote: Four Y

ring it with his teeth. This mad fit lasts some time, usually during the whole day of his reappearance. At its close he crawls into his tent, or falling down exhausted is carried there by those who are watching him. A series of ceremonials, observances, and long incantations follows, lasting for two or three days, and he then assumes the functions and privileges of his office. I have seen three or four medicine men made at a time among the Indians near Victoria, while twenty or thirty others stood, with loaded muskets, keeping guard all round the place to prevent them doing any mischief. Although a clever me

following painfully curious de

and excite and interest all, during the winter months. This year I think there must have been eight or ten parties of them, but each party seldom has more than one pupil

th commenced to tear it in the most dog like manner. The party of attendants kept up a low growling noise, or a whoop, which was seconded by a screeching noise made from an instrument which they believe to be the abode of a spirit. In a little time the naked youth would start up again, and proceed a few more yards in a crouching posture, with his arms pushed out behind him, and tossing his flowing black hair. All the while he is earnestly watched by the group about him, and when he pleases to sit down they again surround him and commence singing. This kind of thing goes on, with several different additions, for some time. Before the prodigy finally retires, he takes a

pushed away from the beach. I was told that the cannibal party were in search of a body to devour, and if they failed to find a dead one, it was probable they would seize the first living one that came in their way; so that all the people living near to t

f various kinds. Some of the actors appear as bears, while others wear masks, the parts of which are moved by strings. The great feature in their proceedings is to pretend to murder, and then to restore to life, and so forth. The cannibal, on such occasions, is generall

he Indians of British Columbia is the giving away of proper

the three hundred were to be subscribed by his people. On the first day of the feast, as much as possible of the property to be given him was exhibited in the camp. Hundreds of yards of cotton were flapping in the breeze, hung from house to house, or on lines put up for the occasion. Furs, too, were nailed up on the fronts of houses. Those who were going to give away blankets or elk-skins managed to get a bearer for every one,

s are called together, and each receives according to his or her portion. Thus do the chiefs and their people go on reducing themselves to poverty. In the case of the chiefs, however, this poverty

e their comforts, but are satisfied if they can make a display like this now and then; so that the man possessing but one blanket seems to be as well off as the one who possesses twenty; and

cident, or in any way suffer an injury, real or supposed, either of mind or body, property must at once be sacrificed to avoid di

the Tsimsheans i

ed to the other. The locality of the former they think to be above, and that of the latter is somewhere beneath. The enjoyment of heaven and the privations of hell th

They believe that the Supreme Being never dies: that He takes great notice of what is going on amongst men, and is frequently angry, and punishes offenders. They do not know who is the author of the universe, nor do they expect that God is the author

their anger against Him, raising their eyes and hands in savage anger to Heaven, and stamping

ppearance of white men on the coast was related

t forth, down came the bird to the ground. The Indians died. As they revived again they questioned each other as to their state, whether they were dead, and what each had felt. The whites then made signs for a fire to be lighted. The Indians proceeded at once, according to their usual tedious fashion of rubbing two sticks together. The strangers laughed, and one of them, snatching up a handful of dry grass, struck a spark into a little powder placed under it. Instantly flashed another poo and a blaze. The Indians died. After this the new comers wanted some fish boiling. The Indians therefore put the fish and water into one of their square wooden buckets, and set some stones in the fire, intending when they were hot, to cast them into the vessel, and thus boil the food The whites were not satisfied with this way. One of them fetched a tin kettle out of the boat, put the fish and the water into it, and then, strange to say, set it on the fire. The Indians looked on with astonishment. However, the kettle did not consume, the water did not run into the f

or to 1857. Some Roman Catholic priests, however, had been in the country, and o

aven and to Hell, in which there was no single suggestion of the danger of vice and crime, but a great deal of the peril of Protestantism. These coloured prints were certainly curious in their way, and worth a passing notice. They were large, and gave a pictorial history of the human race, from the time when Adam and Eve wandered in the garden together, down to the Reformation. Here the one broad road was split into two, whose courses diverged more and more painfully. By one way the Roman Catholic portion of the world were seen trooping to bliss; the other ended in a steep bot

e there. A cross had been raised in their village, and some of them had been baptized; but when these were called before the bishop for confirmation, they refused to come unless a greater present of blankets was made to them than had been given at their baptism. The bishop was said to have been very

more perfectly, and to choose it for themselves, it