Vasttation Work. 105

could lay on our proper course back to Metlakatla, thank-
ful for all God had shown us.”

The following letter, dated Metlakatla, January 17th,
1896, is a long one, and is particularly graphic in its descrip-
tion of the Indians. It contains an account of the Bishop’s
visitation, and of the steady advance which he found along
the entire line.

“No missionary can be dull among the Zimshian Indians,
unless failing in his duty he keeps them at arm’s length.
Where they give their confidence they give no rest. They
have an alertness of mind and purpose which forbids stag-
nation. This is my seventeenth year among them, and
yet I rarely pass a day without hearing something of interest
or being presented with some strange problem to puzzle
over... . When news of the Ku-cheng massacres came,
how pitifully these Indians et our daily prayers besought
the Lord to have mercy on the Chinese! ‘Say again, dear
Jesus, “ Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
do.” Oh, gracious Spirit, Thou art not quenched by blood.
Let it make Thy garden soil strong to grow Chinese believers
ig
“ At home great orators are rare whose lips drop wisdom ;
the rest of us tremble with self-consciousness when forced
to hem and haw. Out here all adult Indians, like the fear-
less wild flowers everywhere, blossom out at a moment’s
notice in ready and florid speech with becoming modesty.
I do not deny the inconvenience of this fine gift when the
listener's time is precious, or his breakfast interrupted
through its exercise. For instance, this very morning
twenty-six Kitkatlas (counting, like them, the small boy
as nobody) were just about to embark in their canoe, when,
as an afterthought, the chief, Sheuksh, sent up a few of his
leading men to ask some questions and obtain a written
introduction to a distant band of Indians they were about
to visit, as I shall relate.

“The breakfast begun must wait. We are not here
to eat, but to work. Having satisfied my untimely visitors,

er denser ate gies ee