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
It was a very fine day, and going on further, the lazy Indians ran the
canoe upon some rocks which were covered with barnacles. I told them to
get out and pull her off, but they sat, one in the bow and the other
in the stern, and tried to push off with their paddles. It was my own
little craft, which I had painted and fixed up, and of which I took
the utmost care. I could see the twisting of the canoe, and knew that
it was in danger of splitting from end to end, so I jumped into the
water, clambered up on the rock, seized the canoe and gave her a shoot
backwards, springing into the bow as she went.
My friend Russ said, “Crosby, you will kill yourself; you are a strange
fellow.”
“Never fear!” I replied; “but I will show those lazy fellows how to do
it.”
We reached Cowichan in safety, where Brother Russ took the steamer for
Victoria.
HERE AND THERE.
In our missionary journeyings we visited the west coast of the
mainland, preaching to the Seaschelts, Squamish, and other tribes as
far north as Cape Mudge. On Vancouver Island our work extended from
Cape Mudge, on the north, to Race Rocks, near Victoria, a distance of
160 miles.
In making a visit to the former place, with a party of three men, we
were again in imminent danger of being lost. We had camped for the
night above Qual-a-kum and got an early start in the morning, when a
south-easter blew up. It was a stiff breeze, but all was well until we
got near to the south end of Denman Island, where the lighthouse now
stands, when our sail, mast and all, broke away from the socket, and it
was a miracle that we were not upset.
Some of our experiences were humorous as well as trying. I took passage
one day with Chief Tsil-ka-mut, who with his wives and children was on
his way to the Fraser River, where the Indians congregated to pick and
dry berries, and to fish and dry salmon. The trip across was uneventful
until in the fog and darkness we lost our way at the mouth of the
river.
The chief put his pole down in the mud and anchored his canoe, as he
supposed, and we went to sleep on board the craft. Next morning we
found we were high and dry in the mud on a bar that seemed to be miles
away from any water. Oh, the mud, mud! There is nothing that compares
with the mud of the Fraser for slimy stickiness when the tide is out.
It was near noon the next day before the tide again reached us, and
there we were all those hours in the scorching sun, a disconsolate
crowd indeed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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