00.02 Preface

PREFACE

IT has been the custom in all ages for people to ascribe to their heroes wonderful accomplishments and deeds of daring. The further removed in time and place, the greater the glamour.

There is something similar to this in reference to the life of Bishop Bompas. So long did he live apart from the bustle of civilization, and so little did he speak of his own achievements, that people have loved to weave around his life the garment of romance. Time, instead of lessening, has only increased this disposition, and some of the stories related have no foundation whatever. In the following pages every endeavour has been made to adhere strictly to facts, and to record nothing that is not well authenticated. The Bishop kept no journal of his many wanderings, and of his numerous hardships and dangers he seldom spoke. When he did refer to them it was with the utmost brevity, as in a letter to England, dated November 23, 1876: "I have been nearly frozen and nearly drowned this winter already." But all available sources of information have been placed at my disposal.

I wish to record my thanks for invaluable assistance received from Mrs. Bompas, whose journals have been of great service to me; to His Honour, Judge Bompas, and to other members of the Bishop’s family, for letters written by him and for information communicated; to the Church Missionary Society for extracts from its records; to the Right Rev. Bishop Stringer, the Ven. Archdeacon McDonald, the Ven. Archdeacon Collison, the Rev. John Hawksley, the Rev. William Spendlove, the Rev. R. J. Bowen, and many others, to whom I am much indebted.

Mr. Eugene Stock’s "History of the Church Missionary Society" has been of great use to me, and also Dr. George Bryce’s "Remarkable History of the Hudson Bay Company." My grateful thanks are due to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge for permission to quote from the Bishop’s little book on "The Mackenzie River Diocese," and to Messrs. J. Nisbet and Co. for leave to make extracts from his "Northern Lights on the Bible." The illustrations are almost all reproduced from photographs kindly lent by friends, and by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Church Missionary Society, and the Colonial and Continental Church Society. This sketch of one of the Church’s noblest missionaries is now sent forth, with the earnest prayer that

"The afterglow of his devoted life
Will lead men on to do and dare for Christ,
And win for Him through darkness, pain, and strife."

H. A. CODY.

"CHRIST CHURCH RECTORY,
"WHITEHORSE, Y.T.,
"January 11,1908."