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"A poor slave woman, still young in years, who had been stolen away when a child, and carried to distant tribes in Alaska territory, where she had suffered many cruelties, fled from her oppressors last summer, and, though ill at the time, took to the sea in a canoe all alone, and determined to reached Metlakahtla or perish in the attempt.
Of the four visits mentioned at the beginning of the last chapter, with which the last four years must ever be associated at Metlakahtla, a very peculiar interest attaches to the third in order of time. To the Christian Indians it was naturally the most joyous and memorable event in the history of the settlement.
Duncan's Report for 1873. Christmas-day in that year is memorable for a visit paid to Metlakahtla by the Indians who still remained in the neighbourhood of Fort Simpson. These tribes had not been forgotten by their Christian fellow-countrymen.
Legaic! why, I remember him myself, some ten years ago, the terrifying murderer of women as well as men, now lamb-led by the temperate hand of Christianity a Church-going example an able ally of the Temperance Society, though not having signed the pledge." For seven years this once dreaded savage led a quiet and consistent Christian life at Metlakahtla as a carpenter.
Duncan in virtue of his magisterial authority, "afterwards became one of his most active friends a result partly due to the impression created by what he saw at Metlakahtla, and partly to the fact of Mr. Duncan having obtained restitution for him from the Indians at Fort Simpson for injuries done to his vessel."
I have nothing to trouble me, I only want to see you." But Mr. Duncan, to his great sorrow, was quite unable to get away from his incessant duties at Metlakahtla. A second and third summons followed in quick succession, and presently came the news of his death, accompanied by a few unfinished lines: "My dear Sir, This is my last letter, to say I am very happy.
Duncan's well-timed interposition in this matter was not the least of the many services God has enabled him to render to the Indian population of British Columbia. About the same time, the Provincial Government gave another proof of its confidence in the Mission, by appointing one of the Christian Tsimsheans of Metlakahtla head constable of the district, with a salary of 350 dollars per annum.
On the north side of the inlet stands, on an eminence, "the Church of God;" on either side of it, spreads out the village of Metlakahtla, skirting two bays whose beaches are at once a landing-place for its inhabitants and shelter for the canoes.
In 1864, a Christian Tsimshean, travelling up the river as a fur-trader, told the Indians he met with of the Saviour he had himself found, and on his return to the coast seven young men of the Nishkah tribe accompanied him, that they might visit Metlakahtla and hear the Missionary for themselves. They stayed there for a few days, listening eagerly to Mr. Duncan's instructions.
Let them become Christians, and so their hearts will be made really and permanently good." A touching illustration of the reputation of Metlakahtla, as a refuge for the suffering and oppressed, occurs in a letter of Mr. Duncan's, dated March, 1876:
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