New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-02
CIVILIZED BY ONE MAN.
A SCOTCHMAN'S WORK AMONG INDIANS IN
THE FAR NORTHWEST.
FORTY YEARS AGO THEY WERE DRUNKEN Can
NIBALs-Now THEIR VILLAGE IN ALASKA

fORI1 YEARS AGO THEY W Eftf DfN1 .>Nb.' ~'A>-
NIBALs-Now THEIR VILLAGE IN ALASKA
is AN ENLIGHTENED COMMUNITY.
The civilization Of the Indian of Metlakhatla.
in Alaska. is a monument to the individual efforts
OF single lay missionary. William Duncan For
nearly forty years he has lived in the midst of the
people whom he has raised from barbarsm to Chris
tiany. The Improvement in their moral life mas
been great that in their physical surroundings.
Although nearly seventy years Old. Duncan looks
about fifty. In 1857. when he volunteered as lay
man to undertake mission among the Indians IN
British Columbia. under the auspices of the Church
Missionary Society of Great Britain. he was an en-
poye in a Glasgow commercial house. AT that date
British Columbia great wilderness wholly
given up to Indians and the Hudson Bay fur traders
Russia still possessed Alaska but outside OF the
stockades OF the Russian Fur Company. had
scarcely any control over the natives OF the SOUTH
eastern part of the province. The Indians had no
other knowledge examples OF civilization IMAM
that furnished by the sailors of the occasional Brit
ish and American trading vessels which carried on
traffic with them. Duncan sailed from home In a
sailing vessel by the way of Cape Horn, for Van
couvers Island then occupied by the chief post or
the Hudson Bay Company Cd that coast. Sir James
Douglass the governor Of the company. was in
charge and the place was garrisoned by small de-
tachmen of British troops Upon his arrival AT the
Island and after disclosing his mission Duncan
ernor that if he went among the villages along the
coast he would certainly be murdered and eaten by
the people. II true. at a date as late as thht
that the Indians of the North Pacific coast were
cannlbals and INDUCED occasionally In feasting
upon the bodies OF their prisoners taken In the wars
among themselves. Captives not disposed or IN that
way were reduced to perpetual slavery. and 1t Is
fact that late 1855. the judicial authorities OF
Alaska were called upon to release native women
and children held in slavery at some OF the VII
lagos remote from Sitka.
Duncan regarded this warning OF Sir James Doug
lass as simply trick to deter him from pursuing
his mission any further. 1t being then understood
there that the opening up Of Christian missions
among the Indians would interfere with the fnr
trade The exodus OF gold miners INTO the Va"e's
of the Fraser River and It's tributaries ala not
begin until about two years later. INSTRUCTIONS
were placed in his way when he attempted TO reach
the northwest part OF British Columbia, but IN
epite Of warnings and Obstacles he finally reached
For, Simpson one OF the Oldest and most important
trading posts In that region. II was mere 'ha' ''e
people of the Tsimpseau village made their hea''-
quarters for months. trading furs ana engaging !"
the most revolving and brutal debauchery while 'e
means OF procuring whiskey from the post lasted.
While the carouse continued no white man peionshe
10 the post dared enter the temporary village Of he
natives except a, the risk Of his life on the oher
hand the Indians themselves, when In this conniuoh'
were not allowed to enter the stockah"' An AMY
was built wide enough TO admit single saN'h''
which led up TO opening In the STOUT ''"p''
walls OF the fort. Through TINS the iurS W.
rassed 10 the trader inside. and he handed on'
,,,,to.s v.htskey or Whatever else he had TO bar
,er without danger from the club or knife OF his
brutal customer.
THE CURSE OF WHIsKEY.
u-,o, duncan took his first view Of the camp
tr, .he beach IL. presented n horrid spectacle
More than a hundred great black war canoes were
drawn on, OF the water AMI covered VII" "''" w.
protect them from the weather. rents anu ~
~ various kinds covered with bark skins b'u'N'''
,d old sau cloths formed a temporary village be-
49,, 81. i,,e ~ canoes amid the blackencd siunp-
=, ,,eos that had been cleared away 20 make room
Cor the fort and the Indian camping GROUNDS Sc''
tered over the ground inside and outside of 'h's ru'
shelter were hundreds OF drunken NAKED men, "o'"e
and children either raving wildly from the 'n'''s q"
lamar or siupens-I and parhlyL"i 10y u S''H''''
one day upon the gallery on the lhsl'' ~ Wv 80
ado overlooking the Indian camp he was hor',n''
-, 600 a mob OF drunken men and women p"'l'ns
, old female slave along the beach to camp mr.
nro &, spi,e OF her plteous cries AMI pleahihs-.
sh. was cruelty s.auehte-cd. Her body was i'"''''
mon by these brutes IN human shape
This was enough In Itself to cause an ori'h''S
man TO pause in his purpose TO 20 among such
1t az a missionary The hope that by his eh'r,
n This might eventually be- changed only nef'''
purc,n 10 s,ll greater resolution. 10y nouns Wy
some silver pieces. one day IN thr S'S'' " o."
hoy he induced him 10 come "l'hih '"' '''
From this boy he soon learned many "i "'' "'''
,,,,or,an, and useful words OF the Tsmpseau ian
.uare. and finally he sent out message |" '"' III
- s,y,ng that he would like to go with th"m 10
IT, ,.rmanent village. twenty or thirty mi1's iuI-
,ho~ nm the coast The boy also told MS "l'nns III
c,mn that the strange white man III ue io'' ~
, new God about whom he wanted 10 'e' Wv
,A' oxc,,ed the curiosity OF most Of the principal
%
When their means Of trading fur'her io' "'9"''
80 .xbaus,ed they started home. allowing Dun
n ~ 90 with them. When they reached 'he VIZ
,.c nov known as Old MetIakhaua' ny wv ''"
side the majority Of the older people were '"N'V'
,ha, ne should establish "A school, 80 ''h' NV
,oigb, acquire some OF the white man way ~
Iuno 1s5s a log schoolhouse was butt ana sch'''
d Nth twenty-five children and NUMBER Oh
,,,s 40 uunIls The conservative element III ue
,ulage who were opposed to abahdoh'hs INC va
habits sought in every way 10 opS'' u'' ' ~
and onally resolved that the most effective way =,
dcal with the problem was TO XIII duncan - ~
nan named Iegaic, was at the head OF TINS lac'o"'
man 49,, r,,ncar because through his influence
The peope were losing their interest Va ,,.,n men
iher confidence In ther sfa ma npiIs Duncan mo-
nnotariy caught glimpse OF a saVhsy W w., urn
club raised oyer ms nea tpiend,y hand from behind
hh o Ps,ruck down the savage ana sa'ed HIS ""'''
friend life.
4 GRADUAL IMPROVEMENT.
Mr. Duncan's policy was to attempt u '''
those peopIe by teaching them Cleanliness =" p
Wv" hht,,top showing them how to build bet
~ and more comfortable houses; by patiently
,eacbing them how to provide better clothing anu
food and in a thousand ways as opportunity pr,
son,ed itself by impanting cvi.izns IDEAS ne
sho,,ed them too how they might be sel-suppo' =
ting and no longer dependent upon 'he u"''"e To-,
i''e ,, sbtrs Az he says himself ne taught
or" ,a,ce Of soap on every possible occasion.
rIo al not however neglect moral teachihg p"'
u,re Of technical and theological chrS'inhi'y was
unmarried to them lie warmly enlisted the'" III '''
oase Of personal temperance. and on all occasions
led them to believe that he was ther s'hce'e
and was seeking no personal h"'"".n -,
an" w." - ,,.s bringing about. While In the