houses, stores, and workshops, surrounded by a palisade twenty feet
high, formed of trunks of trees. Close by was the Tsimshean village,
comprising some two hundred and fifty wooden houses, well-built, and
several of them of considerable size. A day or two after his arrival,
Mr. Duncan had a significant glimpse of the kind of savages to whom he
was presently to proclaim the Gospel of Peace:--

"The other day we were called upon to witness a terrible scene: An old
chief, in cool blood, ordered a slave to be dragged to the beach,
murdered, and thrown into the water. His orders were quickly obeyed.
The victim was a poor woman. Two or three reasons are assigned for this
foul act: one is, that it is to take away the disgrace attached to his
daughter, who has been suffering some time from a ball wound in the
arm. Another report is, that he does not expect his daughter to
recover, so he has killed this slave in order that she may prepare for
the coming of his daughter into the unseen world. I think the former
reason is the most probable. I did not see the murder, but, immediately
after, I saw crowds of people running out of those houses near to where
the corpse was thrown, and forming themselves into groups at a good
distance away. This, I learnt, was from fear of what was to follow.
Presently two bands of furious wretches appeared, each headed by a man
in a state of nudity. They gave vent to the most unearthly sounds, and
the two naked men made themselves look as unearthly as possible,
proceeding in a creeping kind of stoop, and stepping like two proud
horses, at the same time shooting forward each arm alternately, which
they held out at full length for a little time in the most defiant
manner. Besides this, the continual jerking of their heads back,
causing their long black hair to twist about, added much to their
savage appearance. For some time they pretended to be seeking the body,
and the instant they came where it lay they commenced screaming and