The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-10-13
A ST. REGIS VIEW.

fully formed, busily weaving baskets
inside the open doors, their dark eyes
gazing cnriously as You pass by; other
women walking with elastic step along
the road, with dark colored blankets.
draped with rare effect over the head
and about the face, and cnvcloping al
most the entire figure i'll their folds; Garl,
V!saged men here ami there. some VOL,
ing IN the gardens, others preparing
logs for bciu:, stripped into suiiiits for
basket WORK
The village is partly within Canada
ana partly within the United States. but
no difference is i'll ANY way apparent.
No ono indeed can point ont the exact
boundary, rs OF the line of iron posts set
up 10 mark the division as agreed ,:,on
by the trcaty Of Washington some have
been destroyed, ana ono in The heart OF
the village has been willfullv misplaced
Some $500 Indians there are in the
village and the Canadian and United
States reservations, of which the yillaye
is part, and this number is about equally
divided between the two countries. In
neither reservation is thore Il court. a
policeman or IL constable, yet uniformly
good order is maintained.
For the United States portion there 10
an anLniiy of 5000 or $4,000, and after
schools and roads are paid for there i,
left some two dollars per head-not a
very great annual sum.
But the Indians do not usually ret
even the two dollars, for the govern
lncnt sees to 1T that all sorts of fees and
commissions and travelling expenses and
Investigations are paid for out of the
reservation fund. 1t is unfair to mako
the Indians pay for all this, because
what is due them is interest Oil tile sum
for which they sold lands TO tho govern
ment. and the money therefore belongs
to them as right and not charity.
Basket making is the principal &C.
cupation of the village, tho men doing
the first rough work and the women
and girls completing it. They become
niarvclously expert, and many of their
productions are elaborate and thor
oughly artistic. The making of la
crosse sticks is also quite an industry.
Fishing is the occupation Of quite a
number Great cells are caught and
splendid sturgeon, while even the fast
vanishing :nuskellunge is still from time
to time the prize of the more fortunate.
Some vegetable produce is raised with
i'll the limits Of the village itself, but in
winter all the fences of this tract are
burned up, leaving Il task of fence build
lug for the carly spring. Such arc the
community ideas that if q man doesn't
care to burn his fence himself his neigh
bors quietly remove it and burn it for
him. Naturally enough, therefore, it is
seldom that there is such an omission on
the owners part.
In the reservations outside of the vii
lagc considerable farming is carried on,
and quite large farms are by some fami-
lies operated. Money, though, is neces-
sarlly scarce, even among the most sue
cessful. and so it is but few who can
afford expensive agricultural nipple
ments and farming machines.
Still some of the farms are very cred
liable indeed. Especially is this tho
case Oh the "Glebe lands" on the far
Their side of the st. Regis rivera large
tract OF land, over century ago grant
ed to the priests and cleared by them,
but which long since ceased to be theirs
The mission church stands prominent
~ OH the point between the two rivers,
and is quaint old gothic structure Of
stone, with a tall, square tower, erected
toward the close Of the past century to
take the place of an earlier and ruder
structure.
The priests home, also built in the
last century, stands close by-a massive
stone building, lead rooted and with
walls to So feet thick.
All the expenses Of the mission are
borne by the Indians themselves, al
though money is scarce among them.
Tat the town is what it is, is the re-
sulr'of the tireless and self devoted en-
ergies of its missionaries. The mission
was begun over century and Il quarter
ago, and the continuous records of the
church are still saoredly preserved for
all but a very few of the earliest years.
Old and yellowed with age arc the rec
ords, and there is quiet pathos in read
ing entry after entry Of q missionary;
then his last; then, in strange hand,
the record of his death and burial; and
then, continuing, the entries of his sue
cessor. The Oldest page is dated the I'd
of February, 1862:
II, the undersigned, have baptized
with the ceremonies of the church
GIRL born two days before, of Mary Jane
Nakomi. an Abenaki, whom the god
mother named Margaret Therese," and
the signature is simply "Gordan, J. S."
tie initinls Of the Society of Jesus.