No. 35, Miscellaneous

I had the honor of enclosing with my Despatch No 2
of the 18th February 1860, a report from Mr Duncan Church of England Missionary at Fort Simpson, and I have now the pleasure of transmitting another communication which I
lately received from the same gentleman giving an interesting
account of the subsequent progress of his Mission, and
what is, especially, worthy of attention entering into
details illustrative of the moral and social condition
of the settlement and exhibiting the satisfactory results
which have attended the police and fiscal regulations
established through his own act, for its good government.

2. Mr Duncan has successfully carried into effect the design he had for some time previously entertained of founding a Mission at "Metlakahtla" a place situated
about 20 miles South of Fort Simpson; his object being to
withdraw the converts as much as possible from contact
with the Members of their Tribe who have not yet joined his communion.

3. "Metlakahtla," now the Chief seat of Mr Duncan's Missionary labours, has already grown into a populous village; the inhabitants having themselves erected
comfortable wooden dwellings, in the American style, and
residing therein with their families.

4. The successful issue of Mr Duncan's efforts to introduce the knowledge and practices of christianity among the Natives of British Columbia, is one of the
extraordinary facts of the day; and unless we suppose
them to be gifted with a singular degree of intelligence
and aptitude, the mere labour of imparting instructions
to the christian neophytes, in reading, writing and
arithmetic, must of itself have been overwhelming to any
one individual, and yet Mr Duncan has accomplished all this, and in addition, has, by this example, done much
to prove that the permanent elevation of the aboriginal
races is not altogether a hopeless attempt.