XIV.

THE DIOCESE OF CALEDONIA.


As we have already mentioned, when Mr. Duncan went out in 1856 there
was but one clergyman of the Church of England on the whole western
coast of British America, viz., the Rev. E. Cridge, chaplain at
Victoria. The colony of British Columbia, however, grew apace; and in
1859 it was formed into a Diocese, Dr. Hills being appointed the first
Bishop. The visits of Bishop Hills and of more than one of his colonial
clergy to Metlakahtla have been noticed in the foregoing pages. By them
a large number of the Christian Indians were baptized. The C. M. S.
Committee have always desired to provide an ordained missionary for the
settlement; but for some years their effort seemed fruitless. It has
been before mentioned that the Rev. L. Tugwell, who went out in 1860,
and was privileged to baptize the first group of converts, was
compelled by failure of health to return home in the following year. In
1864, the Rev. R. R. A. Doolan, B.A., of Caius College, Cambridge,
offered himself for the work. He laboured zealously for three years,
and began the Mission on Nass River, as already related; and then in
1867 he, too, had to return to England. Both he and Mr. Tugwell found
important spheres of missionary labour in connection with the Spanish
Church Mission. In 1865, the Rev. F. Gribbell was sent out; but the
climate of Metlakahtla seriously affected his wife's health, and he
accepted colonial work offered him at Victoria by the Bishop of
Columbia. In 1867 the Rev. R. Tomlinson, B.A., was appointed to the