ge of the old life. And there, at what
is called "the Meeting of the Three Rivers," on that very spot where
idols were worshipped amidst horrid orgies, and where the yells,
rattles, and drums of the old conjurers and medicine men were heard
continuously for days and nights, there is now a little church, where
these same Indians, transformed by the glorious Gospel of the Son of
God, are "clothed and in their right mind, sitting at the feet of
Jesus."

My visits to Nelson River so impressed me with the fact of the necessity
of some zealous missionary going down there and living among the people,
that, in response to appeals made, the Reverend John Semmens, whose
heart God had filled with missionary zeal, and who had come out to
assist me at Norway House, nobly resolved to undertake the work. He was
admirably fitted for the arduous and responsible task. But no language
of mine can describe what he had to suffer. His record is on high. The
Master has it all, and He will reward. Great were his successes, and
signal his triumphs.

At that place, where I found the stumps carved into idols, which Brother
Semmens has so graphically described, the church, mainly through his
instrumentality and personal efforts, has been erected. In the last
letter which I have received from that land, the writer says: "The
Indians now all profess themselves to be Christians. Scores of them by
their lives and testimonies assure us of the blessed consciousness that
the Lord Jesus is indeed their own loving Saviour. Every conjuring drum
has ceased. All vestiges of the old heathenish life are gone, we
believe for ever."

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them, and the
desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose."

Grandly has this prophecy been fulfilled, and dwarfs into insignificance
all the sufferings and hardships endured in the pioneer work which I had
in beginning this Mission. With a glad heart I rejoice that "unto me,
who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I
should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."

CHAPTER SIX.

THE WILD NORTH LAND--THE TWO METHODS OF TRAVEL, BY CANOE AND DOG-TRAIN--
THE NATIVE DOGS--ST. BERNARD AND NEWFOUNDLAND DOGS--THE DOG SLEDS--THE
GUIDE--THE DOG DRIVERS--THE LONG JOURNEYS--NIGHT TRAVELLING--WONDROUS
VISIONS OF THE NIGHT.

So destitute are these wild north lands of roads that there are really
no distinct words in the