time; but it was convenient to get the mail without having to send
twelve miles to Sault Ste. Marie for it. One day the boat arrived at
the dock while we were at Church, and I had to set the people on
singing a hymn while I ran down to change the mail. Another day an
Indian came shouting at my window at 6 o'clock in the morning that the
_Chicora_ was just coming in. Half awake and half asleep I turned
out of bed, seized the Post-office key, and in frantic haste rushed
down to get my mail ready.


My wife sent Aleck running after me with my boots, which I had
forgotten in my hurry! I was by this time able to preach to the Indians
in their own tongue. On the first Sunday after our arrival we had an
attendance of thirty-two persons at the Holy Communion, and among them
were a good many young men. The offertory collection amounted to just
one pound English money.

The first week in July we went on a little camping expedition to Echo
River, where the Indians were making their birch-bark troughs ready for
the next year's sugar-making. It was a fine bright morning when we
started, and we went in _The Missionary_, with Aleck and two other
Indian boys to row us. Echo River is a deep, narrow stream, scarcely a
stone's throw wide, with the thick foliage of many and various trees
overhanging its banks. The only sounds which broke the stillness were
the notes of birds and the croaking of the bull-frog, mingled with the
measured splash of the oars. At length, after about two hours' pull, we
reached a little creek, and the Indian boys told us that their
encampment was a short distance up it. It seemed scarcely possible to
take the boat in, for the stream was very narrow, and nearly choked up
with floating saw-logs. However, we pushed along with poles, and