place of darkness, and hundreds are intelligently able and devoutly
willing to join me in prayer and praise to Almighty God. To God be
_all_ the praise and glory. Amen"

The troubles and difficulties on the coast, which so often added to
Mr. Duncan's burdens, were not always the fault of the Indians. As
often as not they were due to the recklessness of unscrupulous and
drunken white men. In 1872, a party going up to the gold mines on the
Skeena River burned an Indian village. This brought the Governor of
British Columbia, J. W. Trutch, Esq., up the coast with two ships of
war, the "Scout" and the "Boxer." A deputation of Tsimsheans Christians
was sent to propitiate the injured tribe, and invite them to meet the
Governor at Metlakahtla; and there, as on common ground which both
parties could trust, peace was solemnly made, the Government paying six
hundred dollars as compensation.

On this occasion the Governor laid the first stone of a new church,
upon which Mr. Duncan and the Indians alike had set their hearts, as a
visible crown of the work. The ceremony took place on August 6th, in
the presence of the whole community and of the officers of the ships.
But laying the stone was one thing; building the church was another.
The Governor and Captain Cator saw lying on the ground huge timbers to
be used in its erection, but how these were to be reared up was not
apparent. Very kindly they gave Mr. Duncan a quantity of ropes, blocks,
etc., but even then they sailed away in considerable scepticism as to
the possibility of unskilled red men raising a large and lofty church.
In January, 1874, Mr. Duncan wrote:--

"The massive timbers for framing, which Governor Trutch and Captain
Cator, of H. M. S. 'Scout,' saw on the ground last year, and doubted of