Page:The Columbia river , or, Scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown (Volume 1).djvu/306

 forefathers, keep in check the sanguinary sword of man; and extermination, instead of regeneration, seems to be their motto. To return to the Colombia. It is the only situation on the north-west coast, to the northward of California, free from danger; and I have no doubt that by a proper application the Hudson's Bay Company, who have now possession of Fort George, would give a passage, and afford every facility to resident missionaries. Odious as the vices are to which I have referred, the few good qualities which the Indians possess would materially assist in bringing them to a knowledge of the true religion. Independently of the beneficial results which we might naturally expect to flow from their exertions among the natives, there is another consideration which induces me to think that the Company would, for its own interest, render them every assistance in its power. I allude to the situation of a number of men in its employment whose knowledge of Christianity, owing to a long absence from their native country, has fallen into a kind of abeyance, and which would undoubtedly be revived by the cheering presence of a minister of God. Cannibalism, although unknown among the Indians of the Columbia, is practised by the savages on the