Among the An-ko-me-nums, or Flathead Tribes of Indians of the Pacific CoastCrosby, Thomas
History
Among the An-ko-me-nums, or Flathead Tribes of Indians of the Pacific Coast
Crosby, Thomas
Indians of North America -- Missions; Salish Indians
Tsit-see-mit-ston, the old warrior chief of the Sumas, whose home was
at Nah-nates, round the head of Sumas Lake, was a convert of our first
camp-meeting at Chilliwack in 1870. I remember well the tall, rather
fierce-looking man, who impressed one by his stalwart, athletic form
and proud bearing that he might have been a great hunter and a fierce
fighter in his day. We learned afterwards that he had been in many
terrible scenes of bloodshed. Years gone by, when the Coast Indians
came up the Fraser River on their slave-taking expeditions, many a
slave-seeker found his death at the hands of this stalwart warrior. He
had a powerful frame and unflinching nerve, and was alert and agile to
the very end.
His curiosity was aroused when he heard the people were camping in
the bush, and so he, with some of his people, came to attend the
camp-meeting. As the blessed Spirit came in power upon the Indians in
that place, “Old Cap.” (as he was called by the whites) said: “I felt
so miserable I did not know what to do; and when asked to speak my body
trembled and shook. It was not fear, for I had never been afraid of
anything. But what could I say? I could not utter a word. And when the
good people saw how I was, they commenced to pray for me, and led me to
the foot of the cross, where I laid down my burden of sin, and God gave
me a new heart. My difficulty in speaking was soon gone, and I felt
that I wanted to talk all the time in telling of the joy that had come
into my soul.”
The great old warrior would shout and talk, and seemed never to tire
of telling of the love of God in his soul. He became a missionary to
his own people, and by precept and example pointed them to the Saviour
of men. He had the unspeakable joy of seeing every adult member of his
band make public profession of conversion ere he passed to the land of
light and glory. We often stayed all night at his camp, and night and
morning he would call all his people in to prayers, and it was then we
had times of refreshing coming from the Lord.
The old man was wonderfully energetic, and in order to have all his
people at church on Sunday--for they had to journey a distance of
fifteen miles or more--he bought a number more horses, so that he might
have one each for them to ride. These horses he kept on the prairie
during the summer, and in the fall he had a lot of his young men cut
enough wild hay to keep them through the winter. It was remarked again
and again that no matter how stormy the day, “Old Captain” and his
people would be seen at church.
Finally age told upon him, and one day he “fell on sleep,” and died
happy in the Lord. Years have gone by since he passed away, and we
still see the effect of his life upon his people. What a change the
Gospel makes from a savage to a saint.
THE REDEEMED SLAVE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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