Missionary Work Among the Ojebway Indians | Page 7

little pocket
companion containing passages of Scripture, copied from the Ojebway
Testament, sentences of familiar conversation, and Indian prayers and
collects. With the help of this little book I was able to make myself
understood by the Indians, and soon became almost independent of an
interpreter. I had a plan of the Indian Reserve, and usually steered my
way through the bush with my compass, taking little notice of the
rough corduroy tracks and Indian trails which never seemed to lead to
the right place.
One of these expeditions I will briefly describe:

I wanted to find old Widow Kwakegwah's house, which lay about two
miles back through the bush in a south-easterly direction. Wagimah
was with me and, leaving the river road, we plunged back at once into
the bush without either path or track, and steered our way by my
compass. Sometimes it lay through a thick growth of young saplings,
which bent aside as we pushed our way through; sometimes over a
mass of decaying logs and upheaved roots; sometimes through long
grass and swamp up to our knees; occasionally we came to a fallen tree,
which we had to clamber over or under. Once or twice we came upon a
little log hut standing in the midst of a small clearing, sometimes empty
with door bolted, at other times showing signs of occupation. Into one
of these we entered; it was a tiny log shanty, with a patch of Indian
corn and potatoes enclosed by a snake fence. We pushed open the door,
a fire was burning on the hearth, and in a corner was a blanket
enveloping something that might be human. I told Wagimah to touch it,
he did so, and the bundle moved, part of the blanket wriggled back and
a woman's face appeared. She said she was sick, and that no one had
been to visit her. We staid and had a little conversation, and then as it
was getting late, hurried on to Widow Kwakegwah's. The old woman,
who had a very pleasant, honest-looking face, gave us quite a hearty
reception. I got her to tell me the number of her children and
grandchildren, and then taking up her Ojebway Testament read a few
verses from St. John iii, and spoke a few words which Wagimah
interpreted, after which we knelt for prayer. After this we visited Peter
Gray, with his wife and family of eight children, they lived in a small
log hut, and there was no glass in the windows. It was now five p.m.
and we started on our two miles' trudge back to Antoine Rodds' house,
where I had left my buggy, and then drove back to the town.

CHAPTER IV.
KETTLE POINT.
Besides the four hundred Indians on the Sarnia Reserve, there were
about one hundred more living at Kettle Point, thirty miles distant, on
the eastern shore of Lake Huron. I had not been long settled at Sarnia,

when, in company with my interpreter. I started on a first visit to these
people. I will describe the journey.
Taking the railway as far as Forest, we had to walk on a distance of
eight or nine miles. Neither of us knew the country, but a couple of
Indians, whom we happened to fall in with, showed us the way.
It was nearly two o'clock when we reached David Sahpah's house. We
found the Indians most hospitable; some of them were Methodists,
some still pagans, and others members of the Church. They were most
desirous of having a Church Mission established among them, as there
was no school for their children and no regular services held. Not a
single individual, man, woman, or child, could read or write. They were
very anxious to have a school-house built and a schoolmaster sent to
teach them, indeed some of them had already got out logs with the view
of building a school. The Chief's name was Ahbettuhwahnuhgund (Half
a Cloud), a fine, broad-shouldered, intelligent-looking man, but still a
pagan, although he had had several of his children baptized in the
Church. There was also a large family named Shaukeens, all of whom
were pagans, and several others. They seemed, however, to have
advanced more in their farming operations than the Sarnia Indians. The
Chief had a capital house with several rooms in it, an orchard full of
apples and cherries, and well-cultivated fields. In the evening we had
service at David Sahpah's house, and then I spoke to the Indians and
proposed that we should at once commence a fortnightly school among
them, myself and my interpreter taking it alternately. There was an
empty log-house which they said we could use, and they all seemed
pleased at the proposal, and said that they would send their children to
be