The Man Who Returned from the Grave

Rev. Father Brabant, who just arrived from Hesquiot on the west coast, informs us that whooping cough and measles have proved fatal to a number of Indians in that locality. The sealing season has been most disastrous to the natives, thirty-six of whom were drowned. They were caught in a squall about the latter end of May, their canoes being capsized when some distance from land, and most of the occupants found watery graves. One canoe, containing five Indians, encountered the full fury of the gale, and four of the crew were washed overboard. One of the unfortunate Indians was secured by a rope tied around his waist, when an immense wave lifted him completely out of the canoe, snapping the rope like pack-thread. The fifth Indian gave himself up for lost, and covering his head with his blanket, laid down to sleep with the expectation of never awakening. After being tossed about for two days the canoe drifted in sight of the American side. The survivor spread his blanket for a sail, and succeeded in reaching the shore, where he was kindly received and well treated. After resting a few days, he prepared to return. Meanwhile, the wife and daughters of the shipwrecked Indian, believing he had shared the fate of his unfortunate companions, went into deep mourning. They burned his house and all his effects, cut their hair short, and refused to be consoled. Their grief was changed to joy, however, when one morning the missing husband and father was descried in his canoe approaching, standing up and singing at the top of his voice.