10 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
iron bar the square of the body of the type; and after placing the bar 
with the notch over the letter, I applied another polished bar to the face 
of the mould and poured in the lead after it had been repeatedly melted 
to harden it. These required a little dressing on the face and filing to 
the uniform square and length, and answer well.” ‘November 17th ;— 
I have to-day struck off two hundred and fifty copies of the hymn begin- 
ning ‘ Behold the Saviour of mankind,’ with a chorus for occasional 
use. ‘Hallelujah to the Lamb,’ etc. My press is very rude, but I am 
anticipating better days.” 
Such is the story of struggle, inventive genius and final triumph 
accomplished after two months’ labour, September 14th to November 
llth. For the Cree nation a literature was beginning, and the language 
of thousands of people was being given a new form. The press and 
materials were indeed “very rude.” His supply of lead for type we 
have already indicated, and he has himself told us how he hardened it 
to serve his purpose, and also how primitive was his type foundry. It 
is said that his press was an old jackpress which had been used for 
packing furs, and that his printing ink was made from sturgeon oil and 
soot. What other primitive accompaniments of the printer’s art he 
invented or dispensed with we are not told, but enough is known to 
reveal to us the genius of the man, his indomitable patience and the 
buoyant faith with which he struggled to final success. The modesty 
and simplicity of the man are equally evident. He seems utterly uncon- 
scious that he was doing a great work, a work which, as the Earl of 
Dufferin once said when tlfis achievement was placed before him, was 
sufficient to have deserved a “title” and “a monument in Westminster 
Abbey.” In the simplicity of his heart he was working to teach a few 
Indian children to read, so that in their own language they might learn 
the truths of the Christian religion. And he looked not beyond furnish- 
ing them with such books as he might be able to prepare for that purpose. 
But the genius of the man had penetrated to the fundamental principles 
of human speech. Out of these principles he had educed a literary 
form which in the simplest and most perfect way served to put the 
spoken word of a whole people into writing; in spite of seemingly in- 
superable difficulties he had repeated for that people the work of a 
Gutenberg. 
On the 11th of June, 1841, he writes, “I have made a fount of 
Indian type, press and everything necessary and besides making nearly 
four months voyage have printed about 5,000 pages in the Muskego 
language, among other things a small volume of hymns which is bound, 
a hundred copies of 16 pages each.’’* 
*Of this little hymn book I have now received copies through the kindness of 
Miss Evans, of London, a niece of the Missionary.—N.B. 
