NARRATJ M5 



low as tlie Wadub, being the first stream above Sac river. At 



this point their territorial lint . ::, \\ -t to the , 



hank- of the Mississippi, pursuing a southerly ooane, at the 

 distance of about forty miles from it, until it intc ra cts the lands 

 of the Winnebagoe9, north of the Wi-con in. This portion of 

 the territory aft iktodly the lergesl and be6t body of 



farming lands in then- possession, and will, probably, hereafter 

 yield them, either by tin Is of its sale, or cultivation, a 



moi i when the land becomes divested 



The climate of this area is comparatively mild, and 

 the Indians who inhabit it. notwithstanding their partial los 

 from war>. I iently increased in population. They might 



be concentrated here, could the agricultural he substituted for 

 the hunter life — a result which may be expected to follow, but 

 cannot in any reasonable estimate be expected to precede, their 

 conversion to Christianity. 



Thi< tribe offer no prominent obstacles to the introduction of 

 the gospel. We have before adverted to the slender frame 

 k of their nati\t religion, whi- - to be made up, pri- 



marily of certain Buperstit . winding the u aad iv e 



bject of medicine. It appears to occupy that void 

 in the barbaric mind, which the soothsayers and magii of other 

 lands, pressed forward, in the absence of revelation, to fill. 

 But vnc do not know that the ritual has any striking features in 

 common. The principal obstacle which missionaries will have 

 to contend with, is a want of the knowledge of their language. 

 And to surmount this is a labor which they cannot too early be- 

 nor too zealously persevere in. The language itself, as we 

 have before indicated, (vide Chap. X.) presents a COplOUS vo- 

 cabulary, and is capable of being made the medium of religious 

 in-true! on. It has i seen which will require to be sup- 



plied, and some redundancies which will demand curtailment, 

 when it comes to be written. But they <>lll r very slight obsta- 

 cles to oral communication. It is obviously better suited to 



convey narrative than disquisitive matter. And has buen so 



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