The Substance of a Journal During a Residence at the Red River Colony, British North America and Frequent Excursions Among the North-West American Indians, In the Years 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823.   By: John West (1778-1845)

PRINTED BY L. B. SEELEY, WESTON GREEN, THAMES DITTON.

THE SUBSTANCE OF A JOURNAL

DURING A RESIDENCE AT THE RED RIVER COLONY,

British North America;

AND FREQUENT EXCURSIONS AMONG THE NORTH WEST AMERICAN INDIANS,

IN THE YEARS 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823.

By

JOHN WEST, M. A.

LATE CHAPLAIN TO THE HON. THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.

PRINTED FOR L. B. SEELEY AND SON, FLEET STREET, LONDON. MDCCCXXIV.

TO THE

REV. HENRY BUDD, M. A.

CHAPLAIN TO BRIDEWELL HOSPITAL, MINISTER OF BRIDEWELL PRECINCT, AND RECTOR OF WHITE ROOTHING, ESSEX,

AS A TESTIMONY

OF GRATITUDE FOR HIS KINDNESS AND FRIENDSHIP, AND OF HIGH ESTEEM FOR HIS UNWEARIED EXERTIONS IN EVERY CAUSE OF BENEVOLENCE AND ENLIGHTENED ENDEAVOUR TO PROMOTE THE BEST INTERESTS OF MAN,

THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

BY THE AUTHOR.

Transcriber's Notes:

Variant spellings have been retained.

The Errata have been moved to the beginning of the text.

To improve readability, dashes between entries in the Table of Contents and in chapter subheadings have been converted to periods.

ERRATA.

Page 1, line 7, for Salteaux, read Saulteaux. 21, line 6, for 1820, read 1817. 36, line 2 from bottom, for spiritous, read spirituous. 57, line 24, for forty, read sixty. 70, bottom of the page, for Heritics, read Heretics. 131, line 24, for Loom, read Loon. 156, line 3, for a, read no. 180, line 3, for intrepedity, read intrepidity. 204, line 19, for intention it, read intention of it.

PREFACE.

We live in a day when the most distant parts of the earth are opening as the sphere of Missionary labours. The state of the heathen world is becoming better known, and the sympathy of British Christians has been awakened, in zealous endeavours to evangelize and soothe its sorrows. In these encouraging signs of the times, the Author is induced to give the following pages to the public, from having traversed some of the dreary wilds of North America, and felt deeply interested in the religious instruction and amelioration of the condition of the natives. They are wandering, in unnumbered tribes, through vast wildernesses, where generation after generation have passed away, in gross ignorance and almost brutal degradation.

Should any information he is enabled to give excite a further Christian sympathy, and more active benevolence in their behalf, it will truly rejoice his heart: and his prayer to God, is, that the Aborigines of a British Territory, may not remain as outcasts from British Missionary exertions; but may be raised through their instrumentality, to what they are capable of enjoying, the advantages of civilized and social life, with the blessings of Christianity.

September, 1824.

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

CHAPTER I. Departure from England. Arrival at the Orkney Isles. Enter Hudson's Straits. Icebergs. Esquimaux. Killing a Polar Bear. York Factory. Embarked for the Red River Colony. Difficulties of the Navigation. Lake Winipeg. Muskeggowuck, or Swamp Indians. Pigewis, a chief of the Chipewyans, or Saulteaux Tribe. Arrival at the Red River. Colonists. School established. Wolf dogs. Indians visit Fort Douglas. Design of a Building for Divine Worship 1

CHAPTER II. Visit the School. Leave the Forks for Qu'appelle. Arrival at Brandon House. Indian Corpse staged. Marriages at Company's Posts. Distribution of the Scriptures. Departure from Brandon House. Encampment. Arrival at Qu'appelle. Character and Customs of Stone Indians. Stop at some Hunter's Tents on return to the Colony. Visit Pembina. Hunting Buffaloes. Indian address. Canadian Voyageurs. Indian Marriages. Burial Ground. Pemican. Indian Hunter sends his son to be educated. Mosquitoes. Locusts 28