LONG LAKE. 43 



asserted; but I chose rather to defer it till I again 

 visited Long Lake. And now, when I see no mission- 

 ary here, no church, no meetings on the Sabbath, and 

 no prayer-meetings — not even a school, and many of 

 the best men gone, and the wilderness no more en- 

 croached on than before — I feel that my former con- 

 clusions were sound, and my predictions true. 

 . Notwithstanding the forbidding aspect things pre- 

 sent, I believe, as I have always said, that this might 

 be made a tolerable dairy country. It may be too 

 cold for sheep; but if not, wool enough might be 

 grown here to supply the world. It needs enterpris- 

 ing settlers — men who go to build their fortunes, not 

 to save themselves from starvation ; who take pride 

 in cultivating society, and have some ambition to 

 establish schools and churches. The truth is, this land 

 should never have gone out of the hands of govern- 

 ment into those of speculators, who seek their own 

 interests entirely in the way they dispose of it. Had 

 it been left open for every man to choose a portion 

 from, the best would have been taken first, and the 

 poorer soil been gradually encroached upon by the 

 increase of population around flourishing settlements. 

 Now the tvorst is first occupied, because first placed 

 in the market at a reasonable price, and it will not 

 support the buyer. He who comes into this region 

 must expect to work hard with little recompense, see- 

 a rough stony farm reject his labor, and make up by 

 economy what he lacks by acquirement. 



Still, this is a glorious region to the hunter after 

 the picturesque and grand in nature. I know nothing 



