Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England Oowikapun, How the Gospel Reached the Nelson River Indians, By Reverend Egerton Ryerson Young. ________________________________________________________________________ An interesting book, written largely from the point of view of an Indian, Oowikapun, who, when out hunting, receives a severe wound from a bear, and is looked after by a converted Christian Indian, who has such a different outlook on life from that of Oowikapun, for instance in the treatment of his womenfolk. The book goes on from there, and eventually a missionary is sent for to the Nelson River, who delivers himself of an enormously long sermon, of several hours duration, which apparently the occasion demanded. There are many very interesting commentaries on the way of life of the Indians and of the missionaries. The point is made that the size of the area covered by each missionary may be as large as the whole of France, or the whole of Germany, which makes strongly the point that much of a missionary's life is spent travelling by canoe or dog-train. ________________________________________________________________________ OOWIKAPUN, HOW THE GOSPEL REACHED THE NELSON RIVER INDIANS, BY REVEREND EGERTON RYERSON YOUNG. Or, How the Gospel Reached the Nelson River Indians. CHAPTER ONE. THE WOLF TRAP. That Oowikapun was unhappy, strangely so, was evident to all in the Indian village. New thoughts deeply affecting him had in some way or other entered into his mind, and he could not but show that they were producing a great change in him. The simple, quiet, monotonous life of the young Indian hunter was curiously broken in upon, and he could never be the same again. There had come a decided awakening; the circle of his vision had suddenly enlarged, and he had become aware of the fact that he was something more than he imagined. While, in his simple faith, he had paddled along the beautiful rivers, or wandered through the wild forests of his country, catching the fish or hunting the game, where at times he had heard the thunder's crash and seen the majestic tree riven by the lightning's power, and perhaps in these seasons of nature's wild commotion had "seen God in cloud and heard him in the wind," yet until very lately he had never heard of anything which had caused him to imagine that he was in any way allied to that Great Spirit, or was in any way responsible to him. What was the cause of this mental disquietude, of these long hours of absorbing thought? To answer these inquiries we must go back a little, and accompany him on a hunting trip which he made in the forest months ago.