202 



RED RIVER EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



ers in this missionary village present on Sunday, to the 

 heathen revelers of the prairies, who perform their dis- 

 gusting ceremonies within a mile and a half from some of 

 the christian altars of Eed Eiver. On two Sundays during 

 my visit, at the time when Divine service was being 

 celebrated in all the churches of the settlement, the 

 heathen Indians held their dog feasts and medicine dances 

 on the open plain. In one instance five clogs were 



Ojibway Tents on the banks of Red River, near the Middle Settlement. 



slaughtered, cooked and devoured ; in another instance 

 three ; the evil spirit was invoked, the conjuror's arts 

 used to inspire his savage spectators with awe, and all 

 the revolting ceremonies belonging to the most degraded 

 heathen superstition practised within a mile and a half 

 of the spot where the stones are now gathered for the 

 Bishop of Eupert's Land cathedral, and nearly the same 

 distance from two capacious churches, Protestant and 

 Roman Catholic, where Divine service was at the same 

 time being solemnized to orderly resident congregations. 



