THE BISHOP OF CALEDONIA 205
miles up the coast. The country, you must under stand, is covered with a dense forest, and the only way of getting into the interior is by river. To the pioneer I suppose that to be the case in all countries. All along the rivers, from the tidal waters to the head waters, there was in that day not a Christian to be found. On my first journey I did not find so much as one on the Skeena, a magnificent river draining a country as large as England. My ambition was to get a chain of missionaries right across the Diocese as far as the 1 Rockies. That, I thought, would be the best policy. I attempted it up one river the Stekine, leading up to the Cassiar gold mines and failed at first. We have, however, got up there now.
"The Indian himself is a very fine fellow; indeed, I consider that the pagan Indian, such as we get along the coast, is the finest pagan in the world. His character is nobler than that of any Indian I have ever come across. The pagan Indian, if you ask him a question, looks you straight in the face and gives you an answer. He does not suspect that you have any ulterior motive he knows he is straightforward, and believes you are the same. He is brave, and also frank in the sense that if he thought you deserved not to know what you asked he would not tell you. It should be borne in mind that the coast Indian in British Columbia is totally different to the native of the plain, the difference being that between
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