130 Our North Land. 



church. The little population were following his example. It was 

 a red letter day for Churchill. The visit of the Neptune "was an 

 event overshadowing all others, in nearly every respect, for a whole 

 century. She was the first steamer that had ever entered Hudson's 

 Bay, and was a source of indescribable wonder to the natives. Our 

 mission was nearly altogether unexplainable to them ; but it was all 

 the more a matter of debate on that account. 



The servants' tenement row, as I must call it, a long low building 

 divided in some six or eight apartments, and the abode of about 

 fifty souls, half-breeds, was alive with commotion. Every one from 

 old " Uncle Sammy " and "Granny Gray " down to the little children, 

 of whom there was a surplus, seemed to be engaged in an effort to 

 rise equal to the occasion ; and I must do them the justice to say that 

 they succeeded as far as it was within their power. They were all 

 making their way across the well-kept yard to the little galvanized 

 iron church, the men dressed in their best, with bright-coloured 

 handkerchiefs tied about their necks, tassels hanging from their 

 ornamented caps, and with prayer-books in their hands. The women 

 did not appear to be as particular in the matter of dress as the men. 

 Half-breed women never are, so far as I can judge. They wore plain 

 black dresses, with common-looking shawls thrown over their heads, 

 and looked stupid. The children were gay, happy and frolicsome- 

 They had togged themselves out with every available article within 

 their reach. One little boy not over five years of age, trotting 

 along by the side of his mother, wore a high beaver hat, higher in 

 the crown than he was long by two or three inches. He presented 

 a most comical sight, and it was with some difficulty that I dis- 

 suaded Mr. Fox from an attempt to photograph the little fellow on 

 the spot. 



There was nothing very remarkable about the little church. It 

 was of galvanized iron outside, and sealed with matched boards 

 inside. In size it was about thirty feet long by eighteen feet wide, 

 and might seat fifty or sixty people. There were three windows on 

 either side, each containing eighteen panes of glass, and shaped in 

 the usual church window style. A good sized bell was suspended 

 in the steeple, which pealed forth the call to worship in right good 



