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Snapshots from the North Pacife.

The story of the starting of the Mission in consequence
of Captain Prevost’s appeal on behalf of the Indians in 1856
has been already told in Metlakahtla and the North Pacife
Mission, by Mr. Kugene Stock. Begun by Mr. Duncan, a
young layman, in 1857, and continued by him until his
secession from the C.M.S. in 1881, it grew with startling
rapidity. The first baptism of Indians took place in 1861,
and in 1863 the Bishop of Columbia admitted fifty-seven
adults into the visible Church. The settlement of Metla-
katla was established in 1862, and the first stone of the
ehurch was laid in 1873. In 1879 the Diocese of British
| Columbia was subdivided, and the northern portion became
| iio new Diocese of Caledonia, the Rev. W. Ridley, formerly
H a missionary in the Punjab, but who had been obliged to

i resien his work there on account of health, bemg consecrated
as its first Bishop on July 25th, 1879.

| This slight sketch of the Mission will prepare the way for
| the statement written by the Bishop for the Church Mission-
ary Gleaner before sailing for his new diocese :—

“The Diocese of Caledonia stretches from Cape St. James
|, and Dean Channel 52 deg. north latitude to the 60th parallel ;
from the Rocky Mountains to the North Pacifie Ocean, and
also includes the numerous adjacent islands.

“The best known place in it is Metlakatla. Our lay
missionary, Mr. Duncan, laid the foundation of that Indian
| settlement in simple faith, and it has become the most pros-
tt perous of its kind. To the 60,000 aborigines of the province
the Metlakatla community of Christians is as a star
of hope. Before it arose we feared that as a_ race
they were doomed to extinction. The twenty millions
of Indians our forefathers found in North America
have dwindled down to two millions. Civilization threatens 4

k to blot out inferior races, but on it their disappearance
leaves a blot and a crime. Its pioneers

drink, violence,
; and debauchery—destroy their few virtues, leaving them
4 more wicked than before, and only less dangerous because
less vigorous. I thank God that most of the Indians

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