The Substance of a Journal during a Residence at the Red River Colony, British North America; and frequent Excursions among the North-West American Indians, in the years 1820-1823

Front matter

Conserved under the Adopt a Book Appeal A JOURNAL. PRINTED BY L. B. SEELEY, WESTON GREEN, THAMES DITTON. VISIT TO AST EFCAMPMEFT OF INDIANS. ,a r.. THE SUBSTANCE OF A JOURNAL DURING A RESIDENCE AT THE RED RIVER COLONY, tintiaii Xovtt) ainrrua . AND FREQUENT EXCURSIONS AMONG THE NORTH-WEST AMERICAN INDIANS, IN THE YEARS 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823. BY JOHN WEST. M. A. LATE CHAPLAIN TO THE HON. THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. PRINTED FOR L. B. SEELEY AND SON, FLEET STREET, LONDON. MDCCCXAIV TO THE REV. HENRY BUDD, M. A. CHAPLAIN TO BRIDEWELL HOSPITAL, MINISTER OF BRIDEWELL PRECINCT, AND RECTOR OP WHITE ROOTHING, ESSEX, AS A TESTIMONY OF GRATITUDE FOR HIS KINDNESS AND FRIENDSHIP, AND OF HIGH ESTEEM FOR HIS UNWEARIED EXERTIONS IN EVERY CAUSE OF BENEVOLENCE AND ENLIGHTENED ENDEAVOUR TO PROMOTE THE BEST INTERESTS OF MAN, THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED THE AUTHOR.

Preface

. We live in a day when the most distant parts of the earth are opening as the sphere of Mis sionary labours. The state of the heathen world is becoming better known, and the sympathy of British Christians has been awakened, in zealous endeavours to evangelize and soothe its sorrows. In these encouraging signs of the times, the Author is induced to give the follow ing pages to the public, from having traversed some of the dreary wilds of North America, and felt deeply interested in the religious in struction and amelioration of the condition of the natives. They are wandering, in unnum bered tribes, through vast wildernesses, where generation after generation have passed away, in gross ignorance and almost brutal degradation. Should any information he is enabled to give excite a further Christian sympathy, and more active benevolence in their behalf, it will truly

PREFACE.

. VIII rejoice his heart: and his prayer to God, is, that the Aborigines of a British Territory, may not remain as outcasts from British Missionary exertions ; but may be raised through their instrumentality, to what they are capable of en joying, the advantages of civilized and social life, with the blessings of Christianity. September, 1824. CONTENTS. PAGE. 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 Chipeways, or Saulteaux Tribe. — Arrival at the Red River. — Colonists. — School established. — Wolf dogs. — Indians visit Fort Douglas. — Design of a Building for Divine Worship 1 Chapter II. — Visit the School. — Leave the Forks for Qu'appelle. — Arrival at Brandon House — Indian Corpse staged. — Marriages at Company's Posts. — Distribution of the Scriptures. — Departure from Brandon House. — Encampment. — Arrival at Qu'appelle. — Character and Customs of Stone Indians. — Stop at some Hunter's 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 X CONTENTS.

PACI li. Chapter III.— Norway House.— Baptisms.— Arrival at York Factory.— Swiss Emigrants.— Auxiliary Bible Society formed.— Boat wrecked.— Catholic Priests.— Sioux Indians killed at the Colony.— Circulation of the Scriptures among the Colonists. — Scarcity of Provisions.— Fishing under the Ice.— Wild Fowl.— Meet the Sioux Indians 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 Riviere. — 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 CONTENTS.

XI PAGE. 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. . . 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. ES QUIMAUX. KILLING A POLAR BEAR. YORK FAC TORY. 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 appoint ment as Chaplain to the Company,, my in- B ORKNEY ISLES. structions wcre> 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 melio rate 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 Provi videnee, 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 con trast with the barren heath-covered hills that SABBATH AT SEA. 3 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 ap peared, 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 re turned, and the weather being fair, all were summoned to attend on the quarter deck. We B DAVIS'S STRAITS. 4 commenced the service by singing the Old Hundredth Psalm, and our voices being heard by the crews of several ships, lying near to us at anchor, they were seen hurrying on deck from below, so as to present to us a most interesting and gratifying sight — " We stood, and under open sky adored The God, that made both ' seas,' air, earth, and heaven." There appeared to be a solemn impression ; and I trust that religion was felt among us as a divine reality. June 22. — The ships got under weigh to proceed on our voyage ; and as we passed the rugged and broken rocks of Hoy Head, we were reminded of the fury of a tempestuous ocean, in forming some of them into detached pillars, and vast caverns ; while they left an impression upon the mind, of desolation and danger.

We had not sailed more than one hundred miles on the Atlantic before it blew a strong head wind, and several on board with myself were greatly affected by the motion of the ship. It threw me into such a state of languor, that I felt as though I could have ■willingly yielded to have been cast overboard, and it was nearly a week before I was relieved from this painful sensation and nausea, peculiar to sea sickness. RESOLUTION ISLAND. 5 Without any occurrence worthy of notice we arrived in Davis's Straits on the 19th of July, where Greenland ships are sometimes met with, returning from the whale fishery, but we saw not a single whaler in this solitary part of the ocean. The Mallemuk, found in great numbers off Greenland, and the " Larus crepidatus," or black toed gull, frequently visited us ; and for nearly a whole day, a large shoal of the " Del phinus deduetor," or leading whale, was ob served following the ship.

The captain ordered the harpoons and lances to be in readiness in case we fell in with the great Greenland whale, but nothing was seen of this monster of the deep. In approaching Hudson's straits, we first saw one of those beautiful features in the scenery of the North, an Iceberg, which being driven with vast masses of ice off Cape Farewell, South Greenland, are soon destroyed by means of the solar heat, and tempestuous force of the sea. The thermometer was at 27° on the night of the 22nd, with ice in the boat ; and in the after noon we saw an iceblink, a beautiful effulgence or reflection of light over the floating ice, to the extent of forty or fifty miles. The next day we passed Resolution Island, Lat. 61° 25', Long. 65° 2' and all was desolate and inhospitable in ICEBERGS. 6 the view over black barren rocks, and in the aspect of the shore.

This being Sunday, I preached in the morning, catechized the young people in the afternoon, and had divine service again in the evening, as Avas our custom every sabbath in crossing the Atlantic, when the weather would permit : and it afforded me much pleasure to witness the sailors at times in groups reading the life of Newton, or some religious tracts which I put into their hands. The Scotch I found generally well and scrip turally informed, and several of them joined the young people in reading to me the New Testa tament, and answering the catechetical questions. In our passage through the Straits, our progress was impeded by vast fields of ice, and icebergs floating past us in every form of deso late magnificence. The scene was truly grand and impressive, and mocks imagination to describe. .

There is a solemn and an over whelming sensation produced in the mind, by these enormous masses of snow and ice, not to be conveyed in words. They floated by us from one to two hundred feet above the water, and sometimes of great length, re sembling huge mountains, with deep vallies between, lofty cliffs, and all the imposing objects in nature, passing in silent grandeur, except ESQUIMAUX. 7 at intervals, when the fall of one was heard, or the crashing of the ice struck the ear like the noise of distant thunder. When nearly off Saddle Back, with a light favourable breeze, and about ten miles from the shore, the Esquimaux who, visit the Straits during summer, were observed with their one man skin canoes, followed by women in some of a larger size, paddling towards the ship. No sooner was the sail shortened than we were surrounded by nearly two hundred of them: the men raising their paddles as they ap proached us, shouting with much exultation, ' chimo! chimo ! pillattaa ! pillattaa!' expressions probably of friendship, or trade.

They were particularly eager to exchange all that they apparently possessed, and hastily bartered with the Eddystone, blubber, whalebone, and sea horse teeth, for axes, saws, knives, tin kettles, and bits of old iron hoop. The women pre sented image toys, made from the bones and teeth of animals, models of canoes, and various articles of dress, made of seal skins, and the membranes of the abdomen of the whale, all of which displayed considerable ingenuity and neatness, and for which they received in exchange, needles, knives, and beads. It was very clear that European deception had reached ESQUIMAUX. them, from the manner in which they tenaciously held their articles till they grasped what was offered in barter for them ; and immediately they got the merchandise in possession, they licked it with their tongues, in satisfaction that it was their own.

The tribe appeared to be well-conditioned in their savage state, and remarkably healthy. Some of the children, I observed, were eating raw flesh, from the bones of animals that had been killed, and given them by their mothers, who appeared to have a strong natural affection for their offspring. I threw one of them a halfpenny, which she caught ; and pointing to the child she immediately gave it to him with much apparent fondness. It has been supposed that in holding up their children, as is sometimes the case, it is for barter, but I should rather conclude that it is for the purpose of exciting commiseration, and to obtain some European article for them. A few of the men were permitted to come on board, and the good humour of the captain invited one to dance with him : he took the step with much agility and quickness, and imitated every gesture of his lively partner.

The breeze freshening, we soon parted with this barbarous people, and when at a short distance from the ship, they assembled in their canoes, each POLAR BEAR. 9 taking hold of the adjoining one, in apparent consultation, as to what bargains they had made, and what articles they possessed, till a canoe was observed to break off from the group, which they all followed for their haunts along the shores of Terra Neiva, and the Savage Islands. Having a copy of the Esquimaux Gospels from the British and Foreign Bible Society, it was my wish to have read part of a chapter to them, with a view to ascertain, if possible, whether they knew of the Moravian Missionary establishment at Nain, on the Labra dor coast ; but such was the haste, bustle, and noise of their intercourse with us, that I lost the opportunity.

Though they have exchanged articles in barter for many years, it is not known whether they are from the Labrador shore on a summer excursion for killing seals, and the whale fishery, or from thc East main coast, where they return and winter. The highest point of latitude we reached in our course, was 62° 44' — longitude 74° 16', and when off Cape Digges we parted company with the Prince of Wales, as bound to James's Bay. We stood on direct for York Factory, and when about fifty miles from Cary Swan's Nest, the chief mate pointed out to me a polar bear, with her two cubs swimming FLOATING ICE. 10 towards the ship. He immediately ordered the jolly-boat to be lowered, and asked me to accompany him in the attempt to kill her. Some axes were put into the boat, in case the ferocious animal should approach us in the attack; and the sailors pulled away in the direction she was swimming.

At the first shot, when within about one hundred yards, she growled tremendously, and immediately made for the boat ; but having the advantage in rowing faster than she could swim, our guns were reloaded till she was killed, and one of the cubs also accidentally, from swimming close to the mother ; the other got upon the floating carcase, and was towed to the side of the ship, when a noose was put around its neck, and it was hauled on board for the captain to take with him alive, on his return to England. August 3. — We fell in with a great deal of floating ice, the weather was very foggy, and the thermometer at freezing point. The ship occasionally received some heavy blows, and with difficulty made way along a vein of water. On the 5th we were completely blocked in with ice, and nothing was to be seen in every part of the horizon, but one vast mass, as a barrier to our proceeding.

It was a WEATHER. 11 terrific, and sublime spectacle ; and the human mind cannot conceive any thing more awful, than the destruction of a ship, by the meeting of two enormous fields of ice, advancing against each other at the rate of several miles an hour. " It may easily be imagined," says Captain Scoresby, " that the strongest ship can no more withstand the shock of the contact of two fields, than 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 ihe mast head was seen, and the sun was visible and effulgent. In the evening of the 13th, the sailors gave YORK FACTORY. 12 thz-ee 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 Provi dence through the perils of the ice and of thc 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 depot of the Hud son'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 col lecting a certain number of them, to be main tained, 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 neg- INDIANS. 13 lected 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 en gaged 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 antici pated) 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 de picted " 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 emaci ated, wandering in ignorance, and wearing away a short existence in one continued suc cession of hardships in procuring food.

I was told of difficulties, and some spoke of impossi bilities in the way of teaching them Christi anity or the first rudiments of settled and WITHAWEECAPO. 14 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 appeal-ed to me, that a wide and most extensive field, presented itself for cultivation in the instruction of thc 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 con sidered 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 edu cation and support. I had to establish the principle, that the HILL RIVER. 15 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 on the 7th of September, slowly proceeding through a most difficult and laborious navigation. The men were harnessed to a line, as they walked along the steep declivity of a high bank, dragging them against a strong current. In many places, as we proceeded, the water was very shoal, and opposed us with so much force in the rapids, that the men were frequently obliged to get out, and lift the boats over the stones ; at other times to unload, and launch them over the rocks, and can / the goods upon their backs, or rather suspen ed in slings from their heads, a considerable d' stance, over some of the portages. The weather was frequently very cold, with snow and rain ; and our progress was so slow and mortifying, particularly up Hill River, that the boats' crews were heard to execrate the man who first found out such a way into the interior.

The blasphemy of the men, in the difficulties they had to encounter, was truly painful to me. I had hoped better things of the Scotch, from LAKE WINIPEG. 16 their known moral and enlightened education ; but their horrid imprecations proved a degen eracy of character in an Indian country. This I lamented to find was too generally the case with Europeans, particularly so in their barbarous treatment of women. They do not admit them as their companions, nor do they allow them to eat at their tables, but degrade them merely as slaves to their arbitrary inclin ations ; while the children grow up wild and uncultivated as the heathen. The scenery throughout the passage is dull and monotonous (excepting a few points in some of the small lakes, which are picturesque), till you reach the Company's post, Norway House ; when a fine body of water bursts upon your view in Lake Winipeg.

We found the voyage, from the Factory to this point, so sombre and dreary, that the sight of a horse grazing on the bank greatly exhilirated us, in the as sociation of the idea that we were approaching some human habitation. Our provisions being short, we recruited our stock at this post ; and I obtained another boy for education, reported to me as the orphan son of a deceased Indian and a half-caste woman ; and taught him the prayer which the other used morning and evening, and which he soon learned: — " Great LAKE WINIPEG. 17 Father, bless me, through Jesus Christ." May a gracious God hear their cry, and raise them up as heralds of his salvation in this truly benighted and barbarous part of the world. It often grieved me, in our hurried passage, to see the men employed in taking the goods over the carrying places, or in rowing, during the Sabbath.

I contemplated the delight with which thousands in England enjoyed the privileges of this sacred day, and welcomed divine ordinances. In reading, meditation, and prayer, however, my soul was not forsaken of God, and I gladly embraced an opportunity of calling those more immediately around me to join in reading the scriptures, and in prayer in my tent. October the 6th. The ground was covered with snow, and she weather most winterly, when we embarked in our open boats to cross the lake for the Red River. Its length, from north to south, is about three hundred miles ; and it abounds with sunken rocks, which are very dangerous to boats sailing in a fresh breeze. It is usual to run along shore, for the sake of an encampment at night, and of getting into a creek for shelter, in case of storms and tempestuous weather.

We had run about half the lake, when the boat, under a press of sail, struck upon one of these rocks, with so c MUSKEGGOUCK INDIANS. 18 much violence as to threaten our immediate destruction. The idea of never more seeing my family upon earth, rushed upon my mind ; but the pang of thought was alleviated by the recollection that life at best was short, and that they would soon meet me in ' brighter worlds,' whither I expected to be hurried, through the supposed hasty death of drowning. Providen tially however we escaped being wrecked ; and I could not but bless the God of my salvation, for the anchor of hope afforded me amidst all dangers and difficulties and possible privations of life. As I sat at the door of my tent near a fire one evening, an Indian joined me, and gave me to understand that he knew a little English.

He told me that he was taken prisoner when very young, and subsequently fell into the hands of an American gentleman, who took him to England, where he was very much frightened lest the houses should fall upon him. He further added that he knew a little of Jesus Christ, and hoped that I would teach him to read, when he came to the Red River, which he intended to do after he had been on a visit to his relations. He has a most interesting intelligent countenance, and expressed much delight at my coming over to his country to MUSKEGGOUCK INDIANS. 19 teach the Indians. We saw but few of them in our route along the courses of the river, and on the banks of the Winipeg. These are called Muskeggouck, or Swamp Indians, and are considered a distinct tribe, between the Na hathaway or Cree and Saulteaux.

They subsist on fish, and occasionally the moose deer or elk, with the rein deer or caribou, vast numbers of which, as they swim the river in spring and in the fall of the year, the Indians spear in their canoes. In times of extremity they gather moss from the rocks, that is called by the Canadians ' tripe de roche,' which boils into a clammy substance, and has something of a nutritious quality. The general appearance of these Indians is that of wretchedness and want, and excited in my mind much sympathy towards them. I shook hands with them, in the hope that ere the rising generation at least had passed away, the light of Christianity, like the aurora borealis relieving the gloom of their winter night, would shed around them its heavenly lustre, and cheer their suffering ex istence with a scriptural hope of immortality.