THE MISSION AT PRAIRIE PORTAGE. 



205 



hunt for daily food, or submit with abject humility to 

 the conjuror's malignant influence. Prairie Portage owes 

 its existence to the untiring energy and undaunted zeal of 

 Archdeacon Cochrane. The church at this most westerly 

 limit of civilization in the Far West is constructed of 

 wood, and contains twenty-five or thirty very substantial 

 family seats, but is capable of holding three times that 

 number ; each seat is manufactured by the owner, accord- 

 ing to a pattern supplied by the archdeacon. The con- 

 gregation (on Sunday loth) was composed of Plain and 

 Swampy Cree Indians and half-breeds : one Plain Cree 

 woman's home was three hundred miles to the west ; she 

 was a fine specimen of the race, and neatly habited in the 

 dress of the half-breeds. Near the door of the church, 

 inside the building, a number of heathen Indians from the 

 prairies stationed themselves to indulge their curiosity ; 

 they squatted on the floor, remaining quiet and grave, and 

 conducted themselves with the utmost propriety during 

 the service. They were Plain Crees, followers of the 

 Buffalo hunters, with whom they had lately arrived from 

 the high prairies ; some were clothed in dressed skins, 

 others robed in blankets, with head and neck decorations ; 

 and one young heathen girl, wild, and almost beautiful, 

 triumphed in a robe of scarlet military cloth. Who can 

 say what benign influence the sight of Christian worship- 

 ers may have upon many of these savage children of the 

 prairies, who saunter in during the services of the Church, 

 and with characteristic decorum always maintain a re- 

 spectful demeanour, and a grave and earnest look. 



The Upper Presbyterian Church is a neat building of 

 stone, situated in the middle of the settlement. The cost 

 of its erection exceeded 1,000/. sterling, and it has sittings 

 for 500. The manse is delightfully placed on the river 

 bank, which here slopes uniformly to the water's edge 



