Click on the “play” button to hear the diary episode read aloud, and click on the [anno]green tab[/anno] to learn more about a word or phrase.
Find Du Vernet on a map.
On Monday morning, July 18, I took a picture of the
[anno]Johnston family{note}Jeremiah Johnston was an ordained Anglican missionary of Swampy Cree background, and Du Vernet’s host on the Rainy River. He was married to Mary Johnston and together they worked at the mission at Long Sault. In 1898, they were the parents of four children: Florence, Isabel, Beatrice, and Samuel. Read more on Jeremiah and Mary Johnston.
[/anno] and [anno]Mr. and Mrs. Wood{note}Mr. Wood was an Anglican catechist who taught in the Manitou Rapids school at the same time that he worked to convert the Ojibwe residents of Manitou Rapids to Christianity. At the time of Du Vernet’s visit to Rainy River, Mr. Wood was about 45 years old and newly married to Mrs. Wood, a 22 year old woman. Together they lived on a settler’s grant of land near Manitou Rapids. [/anno] near the Church, as the Woods were returning home.
In the afternoon I took a most interesting walk through [anno]the reserve{note}Long Sault was an Ojibwe reserve at the midpoint of the Rainy River. The site’s Indigenous history goes back millennia and is still the location of ancient burial mounds. The Ojibwe occupied the site since the late eighteenth century and in 1873, under Treaty 3, the Canadian government made the site an Indian Reserve. It remains a painful memory for the people of the Rainy River First Nations that the government forced people from their homes at Long Sault and the other Rainy River Reserves 1914 and 1915, amalgamating all five other reserves at Manitou Rapids. Read more.
[/anno] along the River bank.
First, we visited “[anno]grandfather{note}This is likely the Mr. Johnston whom Du Vernet mentioned as being at the church service.[/anno]” and grandmother, who were in their house. They showed us a long [anno]Indian{note}Du Vernet constantly refers to the Ojibwe peoples he encounters as “Indians” – his use of the word reflects the language and concepts of his day. Though the category of “Indian” was a legal designation in Canada because of the “Indian Act,” as a name for Indigenous people it originated in a profound error. As the story goes, when Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492 he believed he had arrived in India – and therefore called the peoples he encountered Indians, ignoring their diverse languages, spiritual traditions, and forms of governance. Read more.
[/anno] pipe and some very fine bead work, including a Cloak, Cloth, Trousers, and two Sashes. Once, to show his hatred of the [anno]Sioux{note}In the eighteenth century, after a long struggle, the Ojibwe gained control of the Rainy River region, and the Sioux moved west. Read more on the Ojibwe’s history in the region here.[/anno] tribe Grandfather bit a piece of the flesh from [something].
The [anno]old woman{note}While travelling along the Rainy River, Du Vernet met several women Elders opposed to his presence as a missionary and to Christianity in general.[/anno] is [anno]greatly opposed to Christianity{note}Du Vernet regularly noted Ojibwe men and women who were opposed to Christianity and to his presence as a missionary. While some Ojibwe took an interest in Christianity, and even became baptized Anglicans, many others resisted missionization programs, and often made their opposition known to Du Vernet.[/anno].
Going on we passed [anno]three graves{note}Du Vernet showed a fascination and respect for Ojibwe burial practices throughout his diary. He described the Ojibwe gravesites he observed on an afternoon walk on Monday July 18th with great curiosity and detail, and went so far as to suggest that Ojibwe practices should be the model for Christian ones: “as the Indians take great care of their graves it is right that the Christians should do the same.” Read more.
[/anno] which I hope to photograph. They are surrounded by a fence. A chair stands inside, and the three graves are covered with a pointed roof. A flag staff with a white flag at the top and another half way up stands at the foot of each grave. The bodies are put into the grave in a sitting posture, then branches are put across them and about a foot of earth placed over this. Then a little house is built over this, sides and a roof, and there is always a little door and a shelf below this, and a spirit is supposed to come in and out of this door to get what is placed there on the shelf and on the ground around the grave.
I have seen knives, forks, cups, tumblers, and a tin rattle filled with shot, which the mourner rattles when he sits waiting at the grave. Ribbons were fastened round the door of one grave, and wild berries were often placed there. Women coming home from the woods after picking berries will often place a few on this shelf. On one shelf I saw a 10¢ piece. I inquired if that would be allowed to stay, “Oh Yes” Mr. Johnston said. Though of course in time it disappears, but [anno]then they think{note}Du Vernet is often dismissive of the Ojibwe people of Rainy River and their spiritual practices. Interpreting Indigenous ceremony as “nonsensical” and meaningless was a common approach of Missionaries who usually framed Indigenous ceremony within their Christian commitments and theologies.[/anno]the departed one has come out of the grave and taken it.
We visited the School, a fine building like that of [anno]Little Forks{note}Little Forks was the most easterly of the seven Rainy River reserves established by Treaty 3. Du Vernet spent the night here on July 14, at the home of the Bagshaws. Read more.
[/anno]. (The double windows are still on.) The teacher lives in a little house nearby with a beautiful view of the rapids. [anno]Mr. Bagshaw{note}Reginald Bagshaw was an Anglican lay missionary and teacher at Little Forks, between 1893-1907. Read more.[/anno] put up the fence. A journey through the woods, filled with mosquitoes and “bull dogs,” brought us out on the bank once more.
We heard the [anno]tom-tom{note}A tom-tom is a drum, often used in ceremony. Read more.
[/anno] sounding and went to see. (Some young Indians saw us coming). In a large log house we saw the tom-tom. Although the place was now deserted, it was where the dance of Sunday evening was held. “The long tent” or [anno]medicine tent{note}Du Vernet wrote often about the “medicine tent,” both describing it and noting when Ojibwe people, both Christian and non-Christian “go through” it. He may have meant the Midéwiwin lodge, the traditional space of ceremony and healing among the Ojibway, but it would have been unusual for him to have been allowed into such an important ritual space. Read more.
[/anno] is the name they give such a place.
The young Indians [anno]looked ashamed{note}What Du Vernet saw as shame in the faces of these young Ojibwe men may well have been disapproval or anger. For the missionaries to walk into the medicine tent uninvited was a violation of ceremonial space that showed both bad manners and a sense of privilege when moving through the reserve.[/anno] when they saw us going in. Round the house were [anno]cedar tips{note}Cedar is one of the four sacred medicines given to the Ojibwe people from the Creator. The four sacred medicines are tobacco, sweetgrass, sage and cedar. In Ojibwe culture cedar is used to purify one’s home or self. Read more.[/anno] covered with matting. On this they sit and dance. A little further on we entered a regular tepee. Tepee is the Sioux word, [anno]wigwam{note}A wigwam is a dome-shaped dwelling, built with young saplings for a frame. It is typically covered in bark, moss, or branches with leaves, depending on the season. Community builders left a hole in the center of the roof for the smoke of the fire to travel to the sky. A wigwam is a traditional home of the Ojibway and other Indigenous nations. Read more.[/anno] is the Ojibwa word. In this tent we saw [anno]Chief Black Bird{note}Chief Blackbird was the son of the “old Chief” Mawedopenais, a signer of Treaty 3.[/anno], son of [anno]the old Chief{note}This “old Chief” was likely Mawedopenais, a signer of Treaty 3 whose words are still frequently quoted: “The Great Spirit planted us here…He has given us rules that we should follow to govern ourselves rightly.” Learn more about Treaty 3 here.[/anno], and McGuire, an Indian [anno]pilot{note}Du Vernet writes about Ojibwe men who worked as steamer pilots on the Rainy River in exchange for monthly salaries. Read more. [/anno] with a sailor’s beaked cap and a hard face, who is addicted to drink, and [anno]Thomas Bunyan{note}Thomas Bunyan was an Ojibwe Christian, whom Du Vernet says was the brother of Mawedopenais. Du Vernet wrote that Bunyan was “facing both ways” in reference to Bunyan’s practice of following both Christian and Ojibwe spiritual traditions. If any readers have more information about Thomas Bunyan, please let us know. Read more.[/anno] smoking on his long tomahawk pipe. (Quite a picture)
There were also two other Indians, playing cards . These were all seated on matting placed on cedar twigs. The tepee was made of poles covered with birchbark except on top a large open space. We talked to these men. I said I had come a long way to see them and was glad that they had such a fine reserve and hoped that they would have God’s blessing etc. [anno]They all laughed{note}The card playing men seemed to find it amusing that Du Vernet trusted his life to Jeremiah Johnston while coming down the rapids. Du Vernet often noted moments when he connected with Ojibwe people, which may reveal his discomfort over the times when Ojibwe women and men showed their clear displeasure with his presence on their land.[/anno] when I slapped Mr. Johnston on the shoulder and said I trusted my life to him while coming down the rapids.
Outside under a “shade tent” was Chief Black Bird’s wife, in decline. She looked ill, but as she had been going through the medicine tent (or long tent), she declared she felt better.
Close to her was a large red cross with some marks on it, and near by was another large tent or canvas tepee, which belonged to [anno]American Indians{note}Du Vernet refers to “American Indians” twice in his diary. The first instance occurs when he writes about how Tom Overcome and his family went on a long journey to visit the “American Indians.” The second mention occurs on Monday July 18, when Du Vernet references how “American Indians” had come over to the “Canadian” side of the Rainy River to gamble. Read more.
[/anno] who had come over to gamble. We shook hands with many of them, and [anno]John Cochrane{note}John Alexander Cochrane was a prominent leader at Long Sault. According to an account written by Archbishop Phair describing his baptism in 1904, Cochrane was an important Chief whose Ojibwe name was Aneway Geezick, meaning Upper Sky. Read more.[/anno] was amongst them. They were playing cards.
In some of the tents Mr. Johnston happened to mention that he was going on to [anno]McGuire{note}McGuire was an Ojibwe steamer pilot who, according to Du Vernet, was also “addicted to drink.” If any readers have more information about Mr. McGuire, please let us know.[/anno]’s. As we walked on round one of the tents by the river, an Indian boy passed us running at full speed, and he did not stop when spoken to. He was no doubt sent to warn the people at the upper end of the reserve that we were coming. There was no doubt gambling going on there.
We passed two prehistoric [anno]Indian mounds{note}The Manitou Burial Mounds, a national historic site cared for today by the Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Center and the Rainy River First Nation, date back as far as the time of the Laurel Peoples (300 B.C.E. – 1100 C.E.). Read more.
[/anno]. The Indians will not allow them to be opened. Near here were some more graves. One was only 2 weeks old.
