Category: History - American

Among the An-ko-me-nums, or Flathead Tribes of Indians of the Pacific Coast

The An-ko-me-nums, as they call themselves, are a branch of the great Salish or Flathead family of Indians, whose territory is that part of the Pacific Coast now known as Northern Oregon, Washington, and Southern British Columbia.

Chapters

19. CHAPTER XIX. _MARVELS OF GRACE.

Among the crowning glories of all missionary endeavor are the living and dying testimonies of men and women who have been reclaimed from vice and heathenism by the power of Divi...

14. CHAPTER XIV. _SOME PERILOUS CANOE TRIPS.

“When passing through the watery deep, I ask in faith His promised aid; The waves an awful distance keep, And shrink from my devoted head. Fearless, their violence I dare, They...

13. CHAPTER XIII. _STRUGGLES WITH WHISKEY, AND THE RAVAGES OF FIRE-WATER.

For hundreds of years the natives of the Pacific Coast of British Columbia have been exposed to the temptations of the white man’s whiskey. The traders on ships in those early y...

16. CHAPTER XVI. _HOW THE GOSPEL CAME TO CHILLIWACK.

“Still Thy love, O Christ, arisen, Yearns to reach all souls in prison; Down beneath the shame and loss Sinks the plummet of Thy cross; Never yet abyss was found Deeper than tha...

12. CHAPTER XII. _NATIVE WORSHIP AND SUPERSTITIONS.

“Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple, Who have faith in God and Nature, Who believe, that in all ages Every human heart is human, That in even savage bosoms There are longings,...

17. CHAPTER XVII. _MORE OF THE CHILLIWACK REVIVAL--CAMP-MEETINGS.

“Oh, it is great, and there is no other greatness, to make some nook of God’s creation a little fruitfuller, better, more worthy of God; to make some human hearts a little wiser...

11. CHAPTER XI. _FOODS, FEASTS AND FOLLIES.

Nature made bounteous provision for the wants of the aboriginal inhabitants of British Columbia. The seas and rivers were teeming with fish--salmon of several kinds, halibut, co...

8. CHAPTER VIII. _FEUDS AND BLOODSHED.

“I am weary of your quarrels, Weary of your war and bloodshed, Weary of your prayers for vengeance, Of your wrangling and dissensions; All your strength is in your union, All yo...

10. CHAPTER X. _COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE.

“Thus it is our daughters leave us, Those we love, and those who love us! Just when they have learned to help us, When we are old and lean upon them, Comes a youth with flauntin...

3. CHAPTER III. _WESTWARD, HO!

“I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, Over mountain, or plain or sea; I’ll say what you want me to say, dear Lord; I’ll be what you want me to be.” --_M. Brown._

1. CHAPTER I. _THE FLATHEADS AND THE “BOOK OF HEAVEN.

The An-ko-me-nums, as they call themselves, are a branch of the great Salish or Flathead family of Indians, whose territory is that part of the Pacific Coast now known as Northe...

18. CHAPTER XVIII. _THE BUNCH GRASS COUNTRY._[5

“As laborers in Thy vineyard Still faithful may we be, Content to bear the burden Of every day for Thee. We ask no other wages, When Thou shalt call us home, But to have shared...

15. CHAPTER XV. _VARIED EXPERIENCES.

The kindness of the Indians as well as the whites, and their evident desire to do all they could for my comfort, helped to lighten many a burden and make smoother many a rough p...

2. CHAPTER II. _THE CALL FROM MACEDONIA.

“I will send a Prophet to you, A Deliverer of the Nations-- Who shall guide you and shall teach you, Who shall toil and suffer with you. If you listen to his counsels, You will...

9. CHAPTER IX. _HOUSES, CLOTHING, CRUEL CUSTOMS.

“Thou, whose Almighty word Chaos and darkness heard, And took their flight, Hear us, we humbly pray, And where the Gospel day Sheds not its glorious ray Let there be light.” --_...

6. CHAPTER VI. _DIFFICULTIES WITH THE LANGUAGE.

The number and varied dialects of the Indian languages of the Coast were such that very few white men ever tried to learn them. Of the An-ko-me-num language alone there are at p...

4. CHAPTER IV. _AT NANAIMO--THE SCHOOL.

“O, teach me, Lord, that I may teach The precious things Thou dost impart, And wing my words that they may reach The hidden depths of many a heart.” --_Frances Ridley Havergal._

7. CHAPTER VII. _A SLAVERY WORSE THAN DEATH.

There were difficulties in the way of the evangelization and education of these poor people other than that of their heathen customs and peculiar language. Low, wicked white men...

21. CHAPTER XXI. _BRITISH COLUMBIA--ITS INTERESTS AND RESOURCES.

“‘Rejoice with trembling,’ may we think of this, When life’s full cup is with Thy bounty crowned, That so we be not blinded by our bliss, Or fall asleep upon ‘enchanted ground.’...

5. CHAPTER V. _HEATHEN STREET VS. CHRISTIAN STREET.

The work of evangelization went on side by side with that of the teaching of the children. From the first we established regular religious services, preaching and prayer-meeting...

20. CHAPTER XX. _LAY AGENCIES--SALVATION IN A VICTORIA BAR-ROOM.

It was in the fall of ’69 that a few Christian friends in the City of Victoria undertook the organization of a Sunday-school and other services among the Indians who lived in an...

22. CHAPTER XXII. _THE MISSIONARY PROGRESS OF THE YEARS--HOME AGAIN.

It is less than a short lifetime since, in the year 1864, we received into church membership, at our Nanaimo Mission, Kook-shin (Kicking Foot) and his wife--our first Indian con...