Year by year the Metlakahtla community has continued to increase, by the admission to its privileges of new settlers. New Year's-day is especially the time for enrolling them. A general meeting of the adult males of the village is held, and before them all each applicant for leave to join their body has to stand up and declare his adhesion to the rules. He thus cuts himself off from all heathen customs, and "places himself under Christian instruction" (to use the Tinnevelly term [Footnote: In Tinnevelly, the progress of Christianity has been mainly due to the adhesion of whole villages at a time to the Christian community. These adherents cannot be called "converts," and the phrase used of them is that they "place themselves under Christian instruction." Subsequently they become candidates for baptism, and many of them ultimately prove to be true converts.]). He probably knows something of the Gospel from Christian Indians he has met at the fisheries or elsewhere, and thus is already, to some extent, prepared for the teaching he will now regularly receive. In course of time—such is the frequent experience at Metlakahtla—his conduct and demeanour give evidence of a work of grace in his heart; he becomes a catechumen, and, after a due period of probation, is admitted by baptism, not only into the community, but into the Church. On the New Year's-day of 1875, no less than one hundred new comers were registered, and the number has frequently been not much short of that.
VIII.
METLAKAHTLA—TWO CHRISTMAS SEASONS.
Christmas is a joyous time at Metlakahtla, and the accounts we have of its services and festivities help not a little to bring the settlement before the eyes of our imagination. Two such accounts are subjoined. The first is from Mr. Duncan's Report for 1873. Christmas-day in that year is memorable for a visit paid to Metlakahtla by the Indians who still remained in the neighbourhood of Fort Simpson. These tribes had not been forgotten by their Christian fellow-countrymen. Bands of evangelists from the settlement frequently went up the coast in canoes to the Fort on Saturday to hold services on the Sunday, and their efforts received a manifest blessing. This work has since then been interrupted by the establishment of a Canadian Methodist Mission at the Fort.
The second account was sent home by Bishop Bompas, of Athabasca, after his visit to the coast in 1877-8.
CHRISTMAS, 1873.
From Mr. Duncan's Report.
"This is the first season that the heathen customs at Fort Simpson have been generally disregarded, and hence we thought it well to encourage Christian customs in their place. To this end we decided to invite all the congregation at Fort Simpson to spend the festival of Christmas with us at Metlakahtla, that they might receive the benefit of a series of special services, and he preserved from falling into those excesses which we had reason to fear would follow should they spend the Christmas by themselves. About two hundred and fifty availed themselves of our invitation, and they arrived at Metlakahtla the day before Christmas in twenty-one canoes, which indeed presented a pleasing picture as they approached us with flags flying.
"According to a previous arrangement they all clustered to the market -house, which we at present use for our church, and which had been very appropriately decorated. On our guests being seated I gave them a short address, and after prayer, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Collison, shook hands with them all. They then were quartered round the village, and a very exciting scene ensued, all the villagers literally scrambling for the guests. After the scramble, several came running to me to complain that they had not succeeded in securing a single guest, while others had got more than their share. To settle matters amicably, I had to send two constables round the village to readjust the distribution of our new friends.
"Our Christmas-eve was spent in practising, with a band of twenty young men, a new Christmas hymn in Tsimshean, which I managed to prepare for the occasion. About 1.30 on Christmas morning we reassembled, when Mr. Collison and myself accompanied the twenty waits to sing round the village, carrying the harmonium and concertina with us. We sang in seven different places, and three hymns in each place. The village was illuminated, and the singing was hearty and solemn. This was the first attempt of the Indians at part-singing in their own tongue.