y other Indians who know
it, and who often take their lives secretly. It is not an uncommon
practice, however, for them to cut flesh from their captives, and, when
cooked to eat small bits of it, as well as to give some to their
children, with a little of their blood, no doubt under the idea that it
will give them courage, and a spirit of hatred and revenge against
their enemies. What can calm these ferocious feelings, and curb this
savage fury of the passions in the torturous destruction of defenceless
women and sucking infants? what, but the introduction and influence of
Christianity, the best civilizer of the wandering natives of these
dreary wilds, and the most probable means of fixing them in the pursuit
of agriculture, and of those social advantages and privileges to which
they are at present strangers.
MAY 24.--By the arrival of the boats from Qu'appelle, I received
another little Indian boy for admission into the school; and felt
encouraged in the persuasion, that should we extend our travels among
the Indians, and make known to them our simple object in visiting them
as Missionaries, many probably among the different tribes who traded at
the Company's Posts, would be gradually led to give up their children
for education. I had now several under my care, who could converse
pretty freely in English, and were beginning to read tolerably well,
repeating the Lord's prayer correctly. The _primary_ object in teaching
them, was to give them a _religious_ education; but the use of the bow
was not to be forgotten, and they were hereafter to be engaged in
hunting, as opportunities and circumstances might allow. As agriculture
was an important branch in the system of instruction, I had given them
some small portions of ground to cultivate; and I never saw European
schoolboys more delighted than they were, in hoeing and planting their
separate gardens. Nor were the parents of these boys insensible to the
care and kindness that were shewn to them. I was told by one of the
Company's officers, that before he left Qu'appelle for the colony, he
saw the father of the boy I had received from the Indian tents, after
my visit to that quarter, and asked him to part with a fine horse that
he was riding, which he refused to do, saying that he kept it for the
"Black Robe," a name by which they distinguished me from the Catholic
priests, whom they call the "Long Robe," for taking care of his boy. He
repeated his application for the hors
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