# Distinguished Churchmen and Phases of Church Work/William Ridley

* Photo byCopyright The Bishop of CaledoniaElliott & Fry
CHAPTER IX
THE BISHOP OF CALEDONIA
The Right Rev. W. Ridley, D.D.
AMONG THE INDIANS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA—EFFORTS TO OVERCOME RACE HATRED.
“It seems to me there are other men in other lands, yearning and thoughtful.
. . . . . . . . .  “And it seems to me, if I could know those men, I should
become attached to them, as I do to men in my own lands.
 “O, I know we should be brethren and lovers;
 I know I should be happy with them.”—Walt Whitman.
“I am a homeless wanderer,” the Bishop of Caledonia was heard to observe during his recent visit to this country. To the uninitiated the observation seemed a strange one, savouring more of jest than of sincerity; but the friends of the Bishop, knowing of the unhappy ordeal through which he had passed, ​1 98 DISTINGUISHED CHURCHMEN
accepted it as fraught with the most sorrowful meaning.
It happened that during the summer to be precise, it was on July 22nd a disastrous fire at Metlakathla destroyed many institutions which were among the prized fruits of the Bishop s many years persistent effort in the Diocese of Caledonia, and since fire once fanned into fury is no respecter of persons, it included in its ravages Dr Ridley s own dwelling, razing it to the ground. Oddly enough, this misfortune occurred on the Bishop s birthday, and on the eve, so to speak, of the twenty-third anniversary of his consecration to the episcopal office. Metlakathla stands for the headquarters of the Diocese, and thus it is important, but in extent it is a mere fragment of the huge area placed under the spiritual supervision of the Bishop. Hence, there was nothing unusual or extraordinary in the absence of the Prelate from Metlakathla at the time of the outbreak. He was, in fact, engaged in one of his hazardous missions to the Alaska goldfields when the telegram informing him of the fire came to hand, and, to adopt his own phrase, he " turned quickly back to find only ashes " to remind him of his home and his mission buildings.
Under ordinary circumstances a loss the like of this to a Bishop or, for that matter, to any man- would be nothing short of appalling ; but in the case of the Bishop of Caledonia it was, in some senses, irreparable. A linguist of repute, his lordship has
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ever found delight in placing upon a sound and logical basis the languages of the various tribes he has met with, and the fact that some of these tribes possess the Bible and Prayer-book in their own vernacular is testimony of his practical concern for them. At the time his wooden city was doomed to be burnt, Dr Ridley possessed, carefully stowed away in his library, unfinished native grammars, the outcome of immense thought and patience, in addi tion to a unique collection of notes for the production, at a more convenient season, of books dealing with his Indian people. " I mourn for my library," he wrote home to the C.M.S. Gleaners. "All my manuscripts the work of many years, on subjects that are peculiarly my own translations of Scripture, folk-lore, poems, two grammars one very com plete, my best work and material for a book on the origin, habits, traditions and religions of Indians. Tis, I think, a real loss to literature, seeing that I cannot live long enough and have not the energy to try to reproduce even some of it." Thus, it will be seen, there was nothing beyond the mark in the Bishop s observation anent his being a homeless wanderer. Indeed, the paramount object of his visit to this country during last autumn was to elicit the help of his fellow-countrymen, and of his fellow- churchmen in particular, in providing the necessary means for the re-establishment of his work on lines akin to those pursued before fire proved to be his worst enemy.
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Bishop Ridley is above all things a busy man. And it is not too much to say of him that " whatso ever his hand findeth to do, he doeth it with his might." The Church of England to-day in Canada, in India and at home is the richer for his zealous labours. He is another instance of the business man turned Bishop. Born in 1836, the son of Mr Allen Gibbs Ridley, of Brixham, Torbay, he fol lowed in the first place a commercial calling. Then the clerical bent revealed itself, and a theological training was undergone at the Islington Church Missionary College. In the ordinary course of events he was ordained deacon in 1866, and priest a year later. Like most of his contemporaries, he was anxious to be up and doing in the foreign field, so to begin with he was entrusted by the C.M.S. with important missionary work in Peshawur and Afghanistan. In 1868 he was installed Principal of the Peshawur College. By this time he had accomplished a good deal of linguistic work, and in addition to administering the many schools in the district, he was the ruling genius of what was in reality a training college for the Indian Universities. But in time ill-health due in part to the climate, and in part, perhaps, to excessive work caused Mr Ridley to be invalided home. It was to him a dis appointing turn of events ; but the four years spent in the foreign field, where he had enjoyed the friendship of French afterwards Bishop French, and one of the greatest linguists among missionaries
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had sufficed to establish for Mr Ridley a reputa tion for wide knowledge of languages, and on the strength of his masterly grasp of the languages of the East, notably Arabic, he was very soon after invited by the C.M.S. to organise a College of Divinity at Jerusalem, and to be its first principal. The idea, unfortunately, was never brought to a practical issue, owing to ecclesiastical and financial difficulties.
Then came a most interesting epoch. It became Mr Ridley s good fortune to be appointed Chaplain of the English Church in the Kreuz Strasse at Dresden, and there he remained for three years, during the time of the never-to-be- forgotten Franco-German War. Assisted by his congregation and, most assiduously, by Mrs Ridley, it was his privilege to do a great deal for the sick and wounded, and to mix among the French prisoners, of whom there were 22,000 in Dresden at one time. While ministering to the bodily necessities of the sufferers occasion was also properly taken to deliver the Message, and pris oners and sufferers alike, it is said, were wont to greet Mr and Mrs Ridley in the most friendly way. But, alas ! this obviously desirable work was brought to an untimely end by the intervention of a French Bishop, who complained to the military authorities. The result, however, was only a limitation of Mr and Mrs Ridley s influence. As
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soon as the men became freed from hospital the) made straightway for their English benefactors, a proceeding that continued until peace was de clared. There was one truly unique privilege enjoyed by the English Chaplain at Dresden. Through a special permit from the German Com- mander-in-Chief he was enabled to go over the battlefield, through the lines of the dead, immedi ately after the Sedan, and, being known to the Saxons, he and his wife very easily got into Paris, and to many other places which were inaccessible to people not similarly known. The services rendered by Mr and Mrs Ridley had not been lost sight of in high quarters. Proof of this is found in the fact that, in recognition of the manner in which she had ministered to the sick and wounded soldiers, Mrs Ridley became the recipient of a bronze cross, together with an autograph letter from the King of Saxony.
At other times, for short periods, Mr Ridley held chaplaincies in Italy and France. The year 1872 found him back in England as Vicar of Shelley, near Huddersfield. There he did some valuable parochial work, and, between times, not a little for the C.M.S. The same may also be said, only with greater emphasis, in relation to his subsequent tenure of the living of Mold Green and his charge as Vicar of St Paul s, Huddersfield, where he remained for six years in fact, until asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr Tait)
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to accept the Bishopric of Caledonia, in British Columbia. Bishop Ridley was consecrated in St Paul s Cathedral in 1879, the Archbishop conferring on him the Lambeth D.D. degree.
It remains to be noted that, just prior to his departure for Peshawur, in 1866, the Bishop of to-day was wedded to Miss Jane Hyne, a daughter of Mr S. Hyne of Brixham the town also of the Bishop s birth. Mrs Ridley s death, in December 1896, was a sad blow to the Bishop, as indeed it was to the missionary cause. In the best sense, she is spoken of as a brave and cultured lady, whose assistance to her husband in his translations, and his general educational work alike, was highly valued by his lordship.
��When interviewed, Bishop Ridley had much of deep interest and importance to tell about the Indian flock he guides in his far-away Canadian Diocese.
By way of making the position clear, he ex plained that in the Diocese of Caledonia the white population was very small in proportion to the native, among whom were represented six different tribes, viz., the Haidas, Zimshian, Nishga, Giatik- shan, Stikine and Tinne. Most of them call them selves the people, believing they are the people of all people. The Bishop is satisfied that they are,
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for the most part, Mongolians. Their heads and their features he describes as just like those of the "Japs," save that they are larger and, taken as a whole, better looking, and they share the same aptitude for progress. He suspects that they must have been driven to seek fresh settlements as the result of war ; at any rate, they evince the liveliest satisfaction over their choice of British Columbia.
" My Diocese," said the Bishop, "contains about 160,000 square miles. There are to-day thirteen English but no native clergy. There is, however, a large staff of native teachers and of lay white workers. When I went out in 1879 there were but three steamers that came up to Metlakathla during the year. For eight months we were with out a mail, and you will imagine how great was the change when I tell you that we had enjoyed thirteen postal deliveries a day at Huddersfield. Christianity, I found, had taken root at two places along the coast at Metlakathla and at Kincolith and the people have been gradually brought into the Church, until those associated with the two places named have been entirely won over to Christianity. From those points of vantage we have gone on extending the evangelisation of the heathen. About British Columbia there are a number of islands, so to speak, and the great rivers constitute the highways. There are no roads from the sea to the interior for a thousand
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miles up the coast. The country, you must under stand, is covered with a dense forest, and the only way of getting into the interior is by river. To the pioneer I suppose that to be the case in all countries. All along the rivers, from the tidal waters to the head waters, there was in that day not a Christian to be found. On my first journey I did not find so much as one on the Skeena, a magnificent river draining a country as large as England. My ambition was to get a chain of missionaries right across the Diocese as far as the 1 Rockies. That, I thought, would be the best policy. I attempted it up one river the Stekine, leading up to the Cassiar gold mines and failed at first. We have, however, got up there now.
"The Indian himself is a very fine fellow; indeed, I consider that the pagan Indian, such as we get along the coast, is the finest pagan in the world. His character is nobler than that of any Indian I have ever come across. The pagan Indian, if you ask him a question, looks you straight in the face and gives you an answer. He does not suspect that you have any ulterior motive he knows he is straightforward, and believes you are the same. He is brave, and also frank in the sense that if he thought you deserved not to know what you asked he would not tell you. It should be borne in mind that the coast Indian in British Columbia is totally different to the native of the plain, the difference being that between
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nomadic and sedentary lives. Seeing that they are industrious and thrifty, it is no wonder that we find them on the coast well fed and living in villages, and not so helpless in getting a living as the poor nomadic Indians. Out of this raw material there has been wrought a wonderful change. As I have said, the people were good pagans, but, notwith standing their fine qualities, they were savages. They had no religion, properly speaking. They never prayed to God, Who preserves all things. They had some sort of belief in a separate Being, but they never sought His favour or help. In time of peril, such as that caused by an avalanche, they would cry out to the spirit which was supposed to animate that phenomenon, in the belief that the mysterious and malign power might be appeased. Witchcraft was at the bottom of their belief, and most of their doctors were mesmerists. We have seen these Indians with their ferocity and hostility transformed into Christians. In times past they never met but to fight. I remember not very long ago a thoughtful Christian Indian said to me, Bishop, did you observe anything remarkable in to-day s service? No, I replied, I noticed nothing unusual. But, Bishop, said the Christian Indian, didn t you see five nationalities of Indians kneeling together at Holy Communion ? Before Christ was known that was not so they never met but for war, and now the love of Christ has brought them together."
�� � ​The Bishop naturally had much to say about the opposition of the "Medicine men" who formerly exercised a potent influence among the Indians. That their power is not yet entirely stamped out was proved by a letter received by the last mail from one of the Bishop's staff in Caledonia. The "Medicine men," it appears, are given to the idea that certain people—generally men or boys—are bewitching the sick, and they really persuade the sick folk that this is so. Invariably the "Medicine men" pitch upon some person who has no friends, or is an orphan, and in the false belief that the destruction of their victim—the supposed bewitcher—will bring about the survival of the sick, they kill him. The instance recited by the Bishop's correspondent was that of a poor, friendless boy, kidnapped by the "Medicine men" for this foul purpose; but, fortunately, his murder had been prevented by the missionary, who effected a rescue and placed the lad safe and sound in a Christian home. Bishop Ridley recalled another case attended with the worst results. It occurred just before his departure from his Diocese. The "Medicine men" laid hold of an impecunious, wretched man, flayed him, and, boring a hole in the ice, dropped him through into the water, thus drowning him. The same correspondent recounted an incident of a brighter character. The Rev. F. M. T. Palgrave, son of the celebrated Oxford professor, formerly had charge of a wonderful mission in the ​208 DISTINGUISHED CHURCHMEN
Diocese, travelling hundreds of miles over ice and snow in order to get at various tribes in the winter, well knowing that to be the best season to catch them. By that means he got acquainted with the languages of the Indians over a country more than half the size of England, and long afterwards, when the Bishop s correspondent visited some of the tribes situated 200 miles from the headquarters of the Diocese, he found they were still able to repeat the hymns which Mr Palgrave had taught them during his two or three weeks mission there. The Bishop characterised this as a remarkable incident, full of encouragement for those engaged in teaching in British Columbia. Unfortunately, the Mr Pal- grave referred to undertook some of his arduous winter journeys at the cost of getting his feet frozen. Lameness followed, and he has had to return to England. He left a wonderful impression upon the minds of the Indians."
"Which of the Indian tribes took most readily to Christianity ? "
The Bishop reflected for a moment. " The Zimshian," he replied. " Among that tribe there is not a heathen left, and the same can be said of the Haidas. In the other cases the heathen come to church and behave like Christians. You see we had not much to undo in the shape of an old faith although the people seem to have thought for themselves. One of our most thoughtful men remarked the other day, Bishop, do you know
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why we believe what you came to teach us ? I don t know, I replied. Well, he continued, because your teaching only made sure to us what we thought before of the Spirit.
" You mentioned the existence of Methodists in your diocese. Do you find the Indians much puzzled by the difference in the teaching of the Church and of Methodism ? "
"The Methodists claim about one-third of the Christians of the Diocese. They arrived long after we did. It did at first puzzle the people to see two sets of teachers, but they discovered that what we taught was very much the same. Indeed, it is very difficult for an Indian to dis tinguish between the teaching. We don t accen tuate our differences in the mission field. Hundreds of the Methodists have sent to me for translations of the Scriptures, and I think it is largely on account of the translations that our missions have been stronger than those of the Methodists. The Salvation Army has not had the slightest effect on our people. Indeed, it is no uncommon thing to hear a native Christian ridicule the remarks of some of the Salvation Army teachers, who, in some cases, happen to be very illiterate people. With the Church, you may say the strong point is Education. At Metlakathla, I suppose, we had the strongest group of mission buildings in Canada. With the exception of one, they were, unfortunately, burnt down during the fire in the
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summer. That fire, by the way, was purely acci dental. It commenced in the laundry, whence it spread to my house and the other buildings. I was absent from home at the time on my way to the mines. When the telegram reached me I turned quickly back, to find my home in ashes, and only one desk left. The following buildings were also destroyed : The home for half-breds and white children (a few mattresses saved), the chapel, the old workshop, the boathouse, contain ing six boats and two canoes, the church (a har monium and memorial desk saved), the Indian Girls Home, the schoolhouse, stocked with stores of food and new clothing for six months, the public day school for Indians, the Church Army hall, the coalhouse, containing many tons of coal, and the new workshop belonging to the Boys Indus trial Home. The boys main building was saved, though damaged. In regard to the Bishop s house, the insurance adjuster valued the contents at $13,700, but they were only insured up to $2000. The value of the buildings destroyed and their contents is estimated at $44,500. Fortun ately, the outbreak occurred during the holidays, when the majority of the children were with their friends in safety. By using the fire engine, the three men then at Metlakathla saved the main building of the Boys Industrial School, running great risks in doing so. With most of the men absent at the fisheries, the major portion of the work de-
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volved upon the ladies, who fought the fire bravely and skilfully, in spite of being driven back con tinuously. Miss Edwards told me they poured water over each other, as their dresses were set on fire, but, though wet through, they soon were again dried by the great heat. Miss West was overcome by the smoke on the stairs, and was dragged into the open by two Indian women, who accidentally came across her in an unconscious condition. As soon as she recovered, Miss West fought again. Though so much was burnt, the intelligent method of fighting the fire kept it from reaching the principal part of the town. Miss Davies saw that the raised viaduct of wood be tween the wharf and the town hall was burning towards the latter, and that if it caught fire the western side of the town would be destroyed ; so she called the other ladies from the buildings they could not save, and with axes and levers tore down a long section of the roadway at im mense peril, and so saved the town. It was a brave deed, deserving great credit. The day after the fire many Indians left their fishing on the Skeena, and not only fetched away their own children, but, true to Indian hospitality, took many others to nourish them until we can provide shelter for them. On a subsequent date I learnt of a curious circumstance in connection with the fire. I chanced to inquire the cause of the many holes in the ladies dresses, and was told they were
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caused by the fire. The ladies, in fact, had nothing else to wear, and the children were in the same case. A great deal of clothing and other effects had, it appeared, been rescued from the flames and piled up at a safe distance, but a change of wind caused it to be burnt up."
In a letter to the Victoria Daily Colonist, shortly after the fire, the Bishop acknowledged the beauti fully prompt liberality of kind hearts in Victoria. Great was the gratitude of the ladies of the mission when told of the intense sympathy of the capital and Vancouver. He added, " The Indians, with their missionaries in the employ of the Church Missionary Society, rebuilt the two former churches, and they will build the third more commodiously, if of less size. No doubt they would be gratified by help from this province, but are not likely to ask for it. They conceal pride with modesty I do not share, because I am begging for help for the dear chil dren. My house will be the last to be built, and that without appealing to the public. For twenty- two years I have been building up our educational establishments, until they were, I believe, unrivalled among missions throughout the Dominion. We have been educating the pick among the Indians throughout a Diocese including more than half of this province. Seeing a number of whites scattered over this area whose children could not have any schooling because of the distance from schools and of poverty, we started a boarding school for whites
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and half-breds on Church land, not on the Indian reserves. According to the ability of the parents, they pay fees from $1.50 per week to 25 cents; but the most destitute are received without payment of any kind, and are kept from the age of five to eighteen in a refined home, with the same advantages offered to the paying pupils. Thus we turn waifs into good citizens, and try to make them true Chris tians. If this is not a Christian work, deserving the sympathy of those I appeal to for help, there is none on earth. I am leaving for England to seek help there."
The Bishop drew an interesting comparison between the Indians in British Columbia and those he had come in contact with in earlier life. "My experience in India taught me that the Hindoos, with all their sacred books, which con tain much that is pure and true, are inferior in what we should call the most manly qualities to the Indian who is what he is without books. What I mean is, that what we call the sacred writings of the East do not produce on the characters of the people effects of the same truth ful, honest and manly type. I conclude, therefore, that nature-teaching does more for man than false faiths, and that is, I think, an important thing to realise in these days when it is said that the people of the East are so good that we had better leave them alone. My Indians are extremely quick at learning. The lad who was to have
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been murdered could read and speak English as well as some of the languages peculiar to these Indians. Their capacity as scholars is something remarkable. I don t find that any of our white children surpass them. Having regard to this fact, I am often asked, Why don t these Indians advance in social status ? The answer is simple. They are kept down by racial hatred. I have tried to get some of the boys who can read and write English as well as white people into work shops, even offering some sort of premium ; but the managers have written saying they could not keep them, because of the trades unionism enforced by other employes, and their indisposition to teach any but white people their trade. Consequently the Indian is no better off for his education. Under these circumstances, you cannot expect ambition, and without ambition nobody can rise. This explains why the Indian when civilised cannot make the same advance in civil life as the white boy. The latter after leaving school is on the first rung of the ladder ; but the Indian boy of the same education is not allowed to put his foot on the ladder at all. It is no wonder, therefore, that the educated Indians don t advance in the professions or arts. It is all due to racial hatred on the part of those who rule these Indians. Of course, that is not universal. The clergy are well-disposed ; but the rank and file will not admit equality with an Indian any more than with a
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Chinaman or a Jap. Nothing is allowed in the labour market which will compete with white labour. Otherwise, I don t see why many Indian lads I have known should not have risen to be lawyers, doctors, clergymen, or prosperous business men. Do you know, a large number of white men have taken Indian wives, and as a rule they make good, hard-working wives? It is curious that the half-bred turns more after the father. The Indians have perfect feet and teeth ; but the half-bred has large hands and feet like the father, and his teeth decay in the same way as those of white people. In complexion, however, it is extremely difficult to distinguish a half-bred from a white man. But there is this difference many half-breds have been able to rise in the social scale, and rise well too. Indeed, some of our principal families in British Columbia have Indian blood in them, and they are as highly respected as any persons in the whole community and in some instances possess more wealth."
" But what are your Indians doing by way of gaining a living ? "
"Well," said the Bishop, "they have most of the trades that are to be met with in civilised countries. In one mission establishment they have been taught carpentering, blacksmithing, printing, building, etc. For instance, many of them build their own houses. During the season the fishery affords a large field for occupation.
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We are in the midst of the great salmon fishery of the. world, and the halibut fishery is of import ance too. Our people supply many of the cities of the Eastern States of America as well as Canada. With regard to lumber, we may also be said to be universal providers. I have already said that there is a marked difference between the Indians on the coast and those who abide inland. On the coast the women are treated with greater respect, and another notable fact is that on the productions of Indians on the coast a higher value is attached than to those of any other Indians in the Dominion of Canada. Their productions are those of the farm, field and sea. Columbia, you know, is one great forest, and as the people are great hunters and wild animals abound, a good trade is done in fur. I suppose the skins of some fur animals for instance, the black bear are worth from $20 to $30 a- piece."
" From an educational standpoint much progress is being made ? "
"Yes; I have mentioned something about the technical education provided at our mission schools. But, in addition, there are our High Schools, which are equal to the best in Canada. Three of the ladies most devout women they are, too are attending to educational and other work entirely at their own charge. A mission lady can do more in a country like British Columbia than she could
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possibly do in India or China. In going among our Indians there is no impropriety about the ladies work, as is thought to be the case among natives in those parts of India where the wife is cut off from outside associations. Our Indian families really reverence our mission ladies. I remember once when one of our mission ladies was stricken down with a dangerous illness, and lay near to the point of death, I happened to say in the presence of some of the Indian women that our doctor desired the assistance of another living sixty miles away. Those Indian women made no more ado; they went straightway to the men in the hall and said, Men, you must go and fetch the other doctor That was at night. Before daylight on a November morning nine men had started off in a canoe, and they were three days battling with terrible seas in that canoe before they reached the other doctor. They brought him back with all possible speed, and when the lady recovered, as she did, to the delight of mission staff and Indians alike, these same men left their work and risked their lives in taking the doctor back by canoe to his ordinary sphere of labour. When I asked the captain of that good- hearted little crew what I had to pay, he solemnly remarked, Pay ! Don t ask our men what they are to be paid, or you will break their hearts. Didn t that lady give her life for us ? Then can we not fetch the doctor, when her life is in danger, without payment for services ? That is the spirit
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in which these people go about things. When I was ill with inflammation of the lungs, I discovered, but not until I was nearing the convalescent stage, that these people had prayed for three months for my recovery."
" What of their home life ? "
"Their homes are full of comfort, and are as well furnished as those of white working men. There is hardly a household without its sewing machine, and I don t think there is even one with out its musical instrument. Music, in fact, is generally loved among them, and you may be sur prised to hear that the average Indian will sing better than the average Englishman. To people in this country it would be amusing to see the number of Indian women in my Diocese who take in journals of fashion, so as to be quite up to date as regards dress. During the last twenty years, I may say, there has been a greater revolution of thought and transformation of character in British Columbia than in any other part of the mission field, excepting perhaps Uganda. I think our Christians are now a long way ahead of those in Uganda in the matter of literature, because we are producing our own, three presses being worked by Indians. The Christian Knowledge Society, to which we owe a great debt, gave us one press. Among the Indian tribes at first their languages were foreign to each other. They could not understand each other at all. Now the English language has become a sort
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of medium among the different nationalities, and it is spreading among our young people."
" In a Diocese so curiously situated as Cale donia, you must have undergone strange experi ences ? "
" Yes ; it is, of course, risky getting about some times. Thanks to the permission of the Board of Trade in Victoria, I am practically a sea captain. I am allowed to pilot a vessel, and to engineer my own boat. I can patch a boiler as well as most men, and if you happened to see me coming out of the engine-room sometimes I am afraid you would not think me much like a Bishop. At times I have to do all sorts of jobs to the engines. As to sea life, I don t know of any greater pleasure than to get my hand on the tiller of a vessel. I do not claim to be a sportsman by any means ; but you may be in terested to know that I can always keep the pot going with the proceeds of my gun. In the dis charge of my Diocesan work, I go as far as I can into the interior in canoes, and then I have to walk. My legs are not as strong as they used to be, but they have covered many hundreds of miles. Do you know, people cannot get to the Klondyke goldfields without going through a part of my Diocese. British Columbia, I firmly believe, will become the most wealthy of the provinces of Canada. The mineral wealth is incalculable. There is gold, silver and copper in short, everything that is required to make the country prosperous.
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When we get the new Trans-Continental Rail road, Port Simpson will be a great city. British Columbia is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I know the Himalayas well, and the Alps. I have ascended to an altitude of 16,000 feet yet I am bound to say that I could not find anything more beautiful than the scenery to be met with on the Skeena River, after passing the Rainy belt. When the railroad is made, this will be the scenic route, as the advertisements put it."
In conclusion, Bishop Ridley recounted a pretty little story which recalls the utility of bells in the case of sleigh teams in parts of Russia and Siberia. Metlakathla was formerly pestered with huge packs of wolves, whose ravages at night were the terror of the populace. When his Indian flock built the Cathedral church, they call it they properly equipped it with bells, and the bells in turn struck terror to the hearts of the wolves, who decamped, doubtless in search of more peaceful quarters. But, alas ! the fire came, and church and bells alike were among the ruins. To summon the worshippers to another building only a small tinkling bell could be requisitioned. Apparently the wolves are deaf to this, for the latest information which has reached the Bishop is that the wolves have returned to Metlakathla just as hungry and destructive as ever.