112 RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



present prospects are favourable, and it will eventually 

 become an important station in the wilderness by which 

 it is surrounded. I attended divine service in the school- 

 house, where it was celebrated in the Ojibway language ; 

 at my request the heathen Indians, who had assisted in 

 conducting us from Garden Island, were present. They 

 maintained a respectful silence during the service, and a 

 favourable impression may have been produced. Mr. 

 Macdonald has given away ten hundred weight of flour 

 and forty bushels of wheat since May last, to the wander- 

 ing Indians who occasionally touch at the White Dog. 

 Their attention and sympathy must first be enlisted by 

 continually renewed presents ; this shows the advantage 

 of agricultural operations being associated with spiritual 

 labour at remote stations. In seasons of scarcity the 

 Indians assemble at the Mission and expect to be assisted 

 by material contributions ; these failing, they lose confi- 

 dence and heart, and the influence which the missionary 

 may have succeeded in acquiring is soon lost when they 

 disperse in search of the means of sustaining life. The 

 present congregation numbers about forty-five when the 

 entire body of Christians attached to the Mission are as- 

 sembled. They belong to the Swampy Crees, and hunt 

 on the lower Winnipeg. 



Mr. Macdonald divides the Indians who hunt north-east 

 and north of the Lake of Woods from those who in- 

 habit the shores, islands, and the country east and south- 

 east of that beautiful lake. The former belong to the 

 Muskeg nation (Muscaigoes) or Swampy Crees, the latter 

 to the great Ojibway nation. The Swampys have a tra- 

 dition that at a remote period they drove the Ojibways 

 from the lower Winnipeg to the country bordering on the 

 Lake of the Woods, and since that time they have main- 

 tained their footing in the conquered territory. 



