322 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



found him, Indian corn was growing, as well as potatoes, 

 turnips, beans, and other culinary vegetables. The grass- 

 hoppers had not yet visited the Mission, but vast nights 

 had passed over it. They were seen passing the Com- 

 pany's post, twenty miles south, on the 8th of the month ; 

 they were then flying to the east. They had passed the 

 Mission in 1857, for they visited the Touchwood Hills 

 forty to fifty miles north of it, depositing their eggs in the 

 ground, and during the present summer the young brood, 

 as I learned a few weeks afterwards, destroyed all garden 

 crops at the Touchwood Hills, and on the 28th July took 

 their flight to the south-east. 



On Sunday we attended service in Pratt's house ; the 

 Eev. Mr. Settee read the prayers in English with great 

 ease and correctness ; he preached in Ojibway, and a hymn 

 was sung in the Cree language. Before the sermon the 

 missionary surprised us by waking up a drowsy Indian, 

 who w T as enjoying a quiet nap in a corner of the room, 

 and leading him to the temporary reading desk, com- 

 menced the ceremony of public baptism. My astonish- 

 ment was not diminished when the reverend gentleman 

 turning to me, without any prehminary notice, said ab- 

 ruptly, " Name this man ! " After a moment's reflection 

 I said "John," and without any unnecessary loss of time 

 or words, "John" walked to his bench, and was soon appa- 

 rently lost, in noisy slumber, to all consciousness of the pri- 

 vileges and blessings of which adult Christian baptism, 

 duly received, had made him the inheritor. 



When the Eev. James Settee arrived at the Mission 

 last autumn, the Crees of the Sandy Hills having received 

 intelligence that the bishop had sent a "" praying man" 

 to teach them the truths of Christianity, directed mes- 

 sengers to inquire whether "the great praying father 

 had sent plenty of rum ; if so, they would soon become 



