OF

Metlakahtla

BY

HENRYS. WELLCOME

ILLUSTRATED

"Materials for another Evangeline."-N. Y. Sun.

"The case is one of great interest and involves a story of peculiar cruelty."

"Tired of British rule."-N. Y. World.

66

-N. Y. Herald.

'They have decided to try to get the protection of Uncle Sam."

-N. Y. Tribune.

"A story of outrage upon, and cruelty to, a civilized Indian community on
the part of the Dominion of Canada.”—Providence Journal.

"The community is on the point of disorganization, and the work of thirty
years is threatened with destruction."-Springfield Republican.

"The victims have decided to go to Alaska if they can be assured that under
American laws they will be protected in what they produce."-N. Y. Times.
"At Columbia, on the coast of the Pacific, a practical missionary genius
named William Duncan, has succeeded in civilizing a body of Indians, degraded
by cannibalism, and, at his Metlakahtla mission, stands at the head of a com-
munity of some thousand persons, which has a larger church than is to be
found between there and San Francisco. Testimony to the value of the results
was borne in 1876 by Lord Dufferin, then Governor-General of Canada, who
declared that he could hardly find words to express his astonishment at what
he witnessed."-Encyclopædia Britannica.

PUBLISHED BY

SAXON & CO.

OF

LONDON AND NEW YORK

AMMORLIAO

COPYRIGHTED BY

HENRY S. WELLCOME,

1887

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

TROW'S
PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY,

NEW YORK.

ET?

T8W4

DEDICATED

TO THE CAUSE

OF

JUSTICE, TRUTH, AND HUMANITY.

"ONCE in an ancient city, a brazen statue of Justice

Stood in the public square, upholding the scales in its left hand,
And in its right a sword, as an emblem that justice presided
Over the laws of the land and the hearts and homes of the people.
Even the birds had built their nests in the scales of the balance,
Having no fear of the sword that flashed in the sunshine above them.
But in the course of time the laws of the land were corrupted;

Might took the place of right, and the weak were oppressed, and the mighty
Ruled with an iron rod. Then it chanced in a nobleman's palace
That a necklace of pearls was lost, and ere long a suspicion
Fell on an orphan girl who lived as maid in the household.
She, after form of trial, condemned to die on the scaffold,
Patiently met her doom at the foot of the statue of Justice.
As to her Father in heaven her innocent spirit ascended,
Lo! o'er the city a tempest rose; and the bolts of the thunder
Smote the statue of bronze, and hurled in wrath from its left hand
Down on the pavement below the clattering scales of the balance,
And in the hollow thereof was found the nest of a magpie,
Into whose clay-built walls the necklace of pearls was inwoven."

-Evangeline.

INTRODUCTION.

A CIVILIZED Christian community of native British Columbians, is now seeking refuge under the American flag from gross, and malicious persecution, of Church and State. This people, only thirty years since, consisted of some of the most ferocious Indian tribes of this continent, given up to constant warfare, notorious for treachery, cannibalism, and other hideous practices. Although incurring great personal risk, and several times narrowly escaping assassination, Mr. William Duncan, with rare fortitude, and genius, began single-handed a mission among them he educated them, and taught them Christianity, in the simplest possible manner; at the same time gradually introducing peaceful industries; and by these means he wrought in a single generation a marvellous transformation. A work that stands absolutely without parallel in the history of missions. Where blood had flowed continually he