The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-30

Father Arnaud's Trying work with the
Indians of Labrador.

Indians of Labrador.
QUEBEC Can, Sept 2e-Fifty years Of mis-
sionary labors, travels and prvations among the
lowest and most degraded Indian tribes Of the
North American continent in the far frozen north
Of Labrador. have Just been completed by the
Rev Father Arnaud Of the Oblate Order. whose
jubilee is about to be celebrated here with much
solemnity. The wonderful career Of the vener.
able missionary is intimately connected with
some Of the most sensational experiences Of the
Montagnais and Nascapee Indians during the
last half century. He knows more Of the interior
Of Labrador and has travelled more Of II than any
other explorer. Scarcely an Indian ms this
inhospitable territory that he does not know by
name He has lived and iourncyed. with them
and shared their priyations, which TO him were
all the more painful, for his youth was spent
in plenty and comfort
Born in France. in 1927. Father Arnaud was
ordained priest at Ottawa in lS49. and Immediately
afterward was sent by his superiors TO accompany
a party of Indians on their journey across the
Labrador Peninsula to Hudson Bay. 1t was
a painful journey TO the young Frenchman. for
the Indian ideas OF cleanliness and of cookery are
very different from those OF civilized nations, and
his stomach frequently revolted at the food that
was set before him. He has seldom been heard
to complain of his lot but the Jesuit Father Gre
picul has graphically described the life of Mon
tagnais missionary a prolonged myrtyrdom,
and continual practice OF patience and mortifi-
cation. In winter the missionary lives in an
Indian hut, formed Of sticks covered with skins
and boughs OF trees and banked around with
snow. He lies upon the frozen ground with his
clothes on, the hut being usually full OF smoke,
and il he perspires by day he is almost frozen at
night He eats from a dish seldom or never
washed and licked by the dogs that share his
bed. Sometimes he is forced to go without food
Father Arnaud has experience all these AMI
even greater mseries. After his return from
Hudson Bay in 1s49 he was sent to labor among
the Indians OF Labrador from the Saguenay to
the Atlantic Ocean, He has carried on his won
dcrful WORK until the present time and will prob
ably continue ii until the end Of his life. Moth.
ing. can exceed his afcctonate regard for his
Indian flock, many members Of which he has
converted from raganisn
Gather Arnaud's descriptions OF the suferngs
OF his poor sheep" as he calls the Indian mem
hers OF his flock, often resemble some horrible
GGn They Are ss noweys re- tGm a
asters that befell the members OF his mission at
Mingan some winters ago when thirty two OF his
of land in which the St Jean River has its source
About twenty MontagnaiI families eft the
coast during the previous summer for he
taking no provisions with them because they
had counted upon finding plenty Of caribou there
while an exceptionally early fsll Of snow found
many Of them without their snowshoes, and
they could not even find the porcupines, hares
dant in Labrador \ few families among
them contrived to reach Eskimo Bay but most Of
the others miserably persisted in the woods be
fore Christmas News reached the missionary
the same year that two families had been aban-
doned TO their fate at the headwaters OF the ST
Augustine River. and that number OF other
Indians belonging TO the same place, who had
crossed 70 Newfoundland, had been massacred
by the Mic Macs
The venerable missionary has become so at
tached 10 his Indian converts that he defends
them vigorously from most Of the charges made
against them. He is compelled however. TO
admit the existence Of occasional cases Of Canni-
balism among the poor Nascapees. He says
that the suferngs Of excessive hunger are alone
responsible for these rare cases. Father Nede-
lee. OF his companions. tells Of an unfortunate
woman at Lake Mistassin, who killed her own
son. young man Of eighteen years and
told the missionary that she could not help com
by the devil. In the same summer. woman was
killed by her husband to prevent her being turned
into a Wendigo. On his journey the missionary
saw the skull and bones Of another woman, who
reason. whose husband and son were at that
lin. still living at Lake St John.
Father Arnaud testifieS with deep sorrow to the
wonderful influence possessed some members II
the trito by the Indian jugglers, who manipulate
the magnetic fluid. or whatever else II may be, with
greater facility than the most eminent magician
Of civilization. The remarkable movements Of
their hus. while they are engaged at their divina
ton. is even surprising than those of the
tables used in spirit rapping. There is little doubt
that these Indian iugglers have cxperi mcuted and
played with certain occult sciences for centuries
before the study Of nccromancy and so called spirit
rappings had engaged the attention OF the modern
civilized world.
Many times Father Arnaud has narrowly es-
capped death from starvation. drowning and eX.
posurc to the wild animals that roam the woods Of
Labrador