and everything had to be carried on waggons till the first water in the
chain of lakes and rivers was reached. This had to be done for the
whole of the 700 miles to Winnipeg; wherever possible the troops went
by boat, and where there was no water on the route, a road had to be
constructed and the waggons used. It was no easy task that Colonel
Wolseley had before him in this wild, uninhabited and rocky country.

Very soon after my arrival at Thunder Bay I began to look about for
Indians, that being the primary object of my visit. I found quite a
large settlement of them at Fort William, but was disappointed to
discover that they were all Roman Catholics. The Jesuits, it appeared,
had been among them for more than a century. They had a priest resident
among them, an old man, I was told, gentlemanly, courteous, and
generally beloved and respected both by Indians and Whites; they had
also a little church decorated with flowers and images. However, I
managed to draw a few people around me, and scarcely a day passed but I
had Indian visitors to my tent. The Indian Chief, whose name was
Mungedenah, did not seem to be at all bigoted in his religion. Pointing
to the sky, he said, "I know there is only one God, and I do not think
Christians ought to be divided." He seemed most anxious to have an
Ojebway Testament. I told him that the Garden River Indians could
nearly all read the Testament for themselves. Tears came into his eyes
and he said he wished indeed it could be the same with them. When he
rose to leave, he thanked me, and pointing up to heaven said God would
bless me.

After the visit of their Chief the Indians got quite friendly, and used
often to come and see me in my tent. One of them remarked once that he
thought there must be a great many white people in the world, to judge
by the large number that had come together that summer in such a short