ORDINARY MEETING, Dscumpzr 6, 1886. 
Proressor G. G. Sroxes, D.C.L., P.R.A., PRESIDENT, 
IN THE CHAIR. 
The Minutes of the last Meeting were read and confirmed. 
The following paper was then read by the Rey. R. Thornton, D.D., V.P. 
the author being unavoidably absent in the United States. 
THE RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS OF THE 
ABORIGINES OF NORTH AMERICA. By the Rev. 
S. D. Peer, Editor of the American Antiquarian. 
HE traces of Bible ideas in the aboriginal religions of 
America is the subject of a recent paper by the Rev. 
M. Eells.* It is an interesting subject, and one on which he is 
well qualified to speak. His acquaintance with the languages 
and traditions of the North-west is quite complete ; at the same 
time his reading has extended over the wide field of American 
archeology and ethnology. In this article he does not 
confine himself to personal observation, but quotes largely 
from other authors. In these quotations he throws himself 
upon authorities which are well known, and supplements his 
own information and investigations by those which have been 
condacted by others, and gathered into permanent shape by 
various publications. There is a double advantage in this 
course. In the first place, it permits him to announce his 
own discoveries in a modest and unassuming form. In the 
second place, it enables him to buttress his own positions by 
the opinions of others, and through this means to exhibit 
the analogies which exist between the religious beliefs of all 
the native tribes of America. It should be said that the 
* Transactions of Victoria Institute, vol. xix. 
VOL. XXI. As 
