42 BRANDON HOUSE. 



filled with small icy particles ; and some snow 

 having fallen the evening before., one of the 

 men was obliged to walk in snow shoes, to 

 make a track for the dogs to follow. Our pro- 

 gress was slow, but we persevered, and arrived 

 at Brandon house about four o'clock. We saw 

 some persons at this post, who had just come 

 from the Mandan villages : they informed us of 

 the custom that prevails among these Indians, 

 as with many others, of presenting females to 

 strangers ; the husband his wife or daughter, 

 and the brother his sister, as a mark of hospi- 

 tality : and parents are known to lend their 

 daughters of tender age for a few beads or a 

 little tobacco ! During our stay, a Sunday 

 intervened, when all met for divine worship in 

 the morning and evening, and I had an oppor- 

 tunity of baptizing several more children, whose 

 parents had come in from the hunting grounds, 

 since my arrival at the Post, in my way to 

 Qu'appelle. On the 5th we left the fort, and 

 returning by the same track that we came, I 

 searched for traces of my favourite lost dog, 

 but found none. The next morning I got into 

 the cariole very early, and the rising sun gra- 

 dually opened to my view a beautiful and 

 striking scenery. All nature appeared silently 

 and impressively to proclaim the goodness and 



