CHAP. III.]

EFFECTS OF CIVILIZATION.

37

to find those who are the better for intercourse with the "pale faces." My experience is decidedly this, that the least degraded Indians were those who had least to do with the white man.

But the importation of "fire-water" is not the only evil : diseases unknown, or little known before, are introduced, and the mere fact of the white man's presence among the Indians seems to foreshadow their ultimate extinction. This very curious point is carefully discussed by a recent writer, Mr. Sproat, in his Scenes and Studies of Savage Life.' He had excellent opportunities for a detailed examination of the subject, at his saw-mill settlement of Alberni, Barclay Sound, V. I. He was a large employer of native as well as of white labour, and from personal observation I can confirm his statements with regard to it. The place was conducted on temperance principles, while no violence was used or permitted towards the natives. They were perhaps better fed, better clothed, and better taught than they had ever been before. "It was only," says Mr. Sproat, " after a considerable time, that symptoms of a change, amongst the Indians living nearest the white settlement, could be noticed. Not having observed the gradual process, my mind being occupied with other matters, I seemed all at once to perceive that a few sharp-witted young natives had become what I can only call offensively European, and that the mass of the Indians no longer visited the settlement in their former free independent way, but lived listlessly in the villages, brooding seemingly over heavy thoughts." Their curiosity had been satisfied, they had been surprised and bewildered by the presence of "machinery, steam vessels, and the active labour of civilized men," and they seemed to have acquired a

distrust, nay almost a disgust for themselves. They began to abandon their old habits, tribal practices, and ceremonies.

66

'By and bye," continues Mr. Sproat, "it was noticed that more than the usual amount of sickness existed among the Indians" and "a high death-rate continued during the five years I was there." "Nobody molested them, they had ample sustenance and shelter for the support of life, yet the people decayed. The steady brightness of civilized life seemed to dim and extinguish the flickering light of savageism as the rays of the sun put out a common fire.”

Now supposing these views to be correct, and the Indian to be aware of all this-as he must be if there is truth in it at all-can we wonder if he takes any chance, fair or foul, to expel those whom, at the best, he looks upon as intruders on his native soil?

There are few places more favourably situated than Alberni, placed as it is on a secluded canal or arm of the sea, and it was really a model settlement. Yet-if the above statements represent the actual facts of the case, and it is my belief they do-how infinitely worse is it for the Indian in places open to every trader, and where there is no check on him but a half-sustained law. Great corporations like the Hudson's Bay and the Russian American Companies did not usually sell spirits to natives at all; but private traders, from the large profits attached to their sale, did, and do it without hesitation, and the mixtures sold would infallibly kill any ordinary person,-in fact frequently do kill them. For the Indian who has acquired a love of liquor there is little hope, for with him there is no middle course. Catlin concisely summed up our relations with the red men when he said, "White men-whiskey- tomahawks-scalping

CHAP. III.]

MISSION AT METLAKAHTLA.

39

39

knives-guns, powder, and ball-small-pox-debauchery— extermination."

The subject is a sad and wearying one, for the Missionary can hope to do but little, in counteracting such influences. Mr. Sproat suggests the formation of half-secular, half-missionary establishments in native villages at a distance from white settlements. He considers that five white men-men of courage, energy, and proved morality, and willing to forego the use of alcoholic drinks-might form such an establishment, and that at least two of them should know a trade. The leader might act as a magistrate; and, from the writer's observation, he would have enough to do in keeping white traders from the neighbourhood, and in preventing such men from overturning the very objects of the settlement.

Success would depend purely on the earnest, unselfish, and, in a word, Christian efforts of those employed in the work. In the United States, the "Indian Agencies," something very similar in theory, have not been satisfactory in practice, solely owing to the greediness of those engaged, who used them as a means of personal aggrandizement, and left the Indians for whose benefit they were intended "out in the cold."

The Missionary Duncan, at the Metlakahtla village on the coast of British Columbia, has inaugurated such an experiment. Among the natives there are now to be found expert carpenters, builders, gardeners, and road makers. A part of them own a small vessel which takes their produce-oil, furs, and manufactured articles—to Victoria. On her periodical return to the settlement, dividends are declared: on one such occasion, they termed her Ahah, "the slave," signi

fying that she did the work, and they reaped the benefit. The success of this station is, doubtless, due in part to its isolation from any large white settlement, but Mr. Duncan must have laboured earnestly and incessantly in his noble work.

I think it is fair to allude to one objection I have heard used—both in and out of the colony-to Mr. Duncan's work. It is this, that—for a missionary-he is "too much of a trader." I cannot say to what extent, or in what sense, this may be true; I do not myself believe it in any offensive sense. If, however, Mr. Duncan, from a little pecuniary advantage accruing to him, should be induced to prolong his stay among the Indians, and follow out the work of civilization he is engaged in, no one can rightly complain. The majority of missionaries do not stop long enough in any one locality to acquire a thorough knowledge of the native dialects, and this of itself must be a fatal hindrance to their efforts.

If this gentleman, by giving up a large part of his life for the benefit of these savages, can at the same time make a fortune, may success attend him!

CHAP. IV.]

PLEASURES OF LABOUR.

41

CHAPTER IV.

THE INTERIOR OF VANCOUVER ISLAND.

Pleasures of labour - Unknown interior of Vancouver Island - Expedition organised Cowichan River - Somenos - Kakalatza and his hat-boxTravel up the river - Our camps-Camp yarns - Indian version of the Book of Jonah-Cowichan Lake- Rafting experiences-The "Rampant Raft"- Brown's Camp-Acquisition of a canoe.

TRAVELLING in the interior of Vancouver Island exhibits little beyond an alternation of various shades of monotony, so that the narrative of one month's experiences is as good, or a good deal better, than the details of five. Notwithstanding the truth of this statement, I count some of the happiest hours of my life in the time spent there. Although no believer in the "dignity" of labour, I can well believe in its pleasures. When a man can enjoy any diet, even one of beans-of a kind at home only given to horses—when he considers tea the best and most refreshing of drinks, it is a pretty good sign that he is in vigorous health, that he sleeps well, and that life is no burden to him. Such was our experience at times when we carried on our backs loads from • 50 to 120 lbs. in weight, through a rugged country where rivers were mountain torrents, the woods almost a jungle, and where we rarely turned into our blankets at night, except in a wet condition.

In 1864, but few of the settlers in this colony had penetrated ten miles back from the towns and settlements of the East coast; for although Captain Richards (now Hydrogra