Missionary Work Among the Ojebway IndiansWilson, Edward Francis
History
Missionary Work Among the Ojebway Indians
Wilson, Edward Francis
Indians of North America -- Missions; Ojibwa Indians
Our voices echoed as we passed beneath it, and we heard afterwards
that it was called Echo Rock. After passing the cliff, another mile or
so brought us to the Post. We had some difficulty in finding a camping
ground in the dark. The shore was rocky, and we had to cut out a place
in the thick bush on which to pitch our tents. The boys made up a large
fire, which was grateful in the chill night air, and soon we had the
pot boiling for tea. It was 1.30 a.m. when we got to bed, well tired
after our long paddle of seventy miles across the lake.
Next morning the Bishop was the first one astir. About 8 a.m. I got up
and went with Uhbesekun to H. B. Co.'s store to buy baking-powder and
sugar, both of which we had run out of. Prices are high here, flour is
6_d_. a pound--at the Sault it is only 1 1/2_d_. Our cook had
only just woke up, and was rubbing his eyes when we got back. We were
glad to get "spider-bread" again (bread baked in a spider or frying-pan)
instead of grease bread. Several Indians came round. I had a very
interesting talk with a chief this morning. He and another man came
over in a canoe from an island close by, and Esquimau and myself talked
to them as they sat floating on the water, keeping the canoe off the
rocks with their paddles. The chief was certainly the most intelligent
Indian we had yet met with on our travels. He was greatly interested in
hearing about the Shingwauk Home, and said that if he had a son young
enough to go he would send him, but his children were all either grown
up or dead.
We felt very thankful thus to meet one at length who will listen, and
who seems anxious for the improvement of his people. The old man's way
of speaking reminds me very much of "Little Pine" of Garden River, and
he appears to be a man of much the same stamp. Just after this a couple
of young boys visited our camp. One of them was a half-breed. They
carried bows and arrows, and were shooting squirrels. We gave them an
alphabet card. Most of the Indians just round the Post are Roman
Catholics, but those scattered over the lake, about 500 in number, are
nearly all pagans. The name of the chief with whom we talked this
morning is David Winchaub (Bowstring).
We had tea about 7 o'clock, and then put our canoe in the water and
paddled over to the island to visit our friend the chief. He was
sitting cross-legged in a large tent, his summer residence, cooler
probably than a wigwam. Only Esquimau and Joseph were with me. We
entered the chiefs tent and soon got into conversation with him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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