ucated
in "the knowledge of the true God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent."

Every additional Indian child I obtained for this purpose, together
with the great inconvenience of having no place appropriated for public
worship, gave a fresh stimulus to exertion in erecting the proposed
building. There was but little willing assistance however, towards this
desirable object; as few possessed any active spirit of public
improvement; and the general habits of the people being those of
lounging and smoking, were but little favourable to voluntary
exertions.

Sturgeon are caught at this period, from sixty to one hundred pounds
weight and more, in great abundance at the Settlement; and also for
about a month in the fall of the year, a little below the rapids
towards the mouth of the river. The oil of this fish is sometimes used
as lamp oil by the settlers; and the sound, when carefully and quickly
dried in the shade, by hanging it upon a line in a good breeze, forms
isinglass, the simple solution of which in water makes a good jelly,
and may be seasoned by the addition of syrup and wine, or of the
expressed juices of any ripe fruit. The roe is often cooked immediately
it is taken from the fish; but, when salted and placed under a
considerable pressure until dry, it forms the very nutritious article
of food named _caviare_. They generally afford us an abundant supply of
provisions for about a month or five weeks; and when they leave the
river, we have usually a good supply of cat fish, weighing about seven
or eight pounds each, and which are taken in greater or less quantities
for the most part of the summer months.

June the 20th. The canoes arrived from Montreal, _via_ Lake Superior,
and brought me the gratifying intelligence, in letters from England,
that my family were all well. It was my intention that they should have
embarked with me in my mission to this country, but circumstances
prevented it; and now that I was surrounded with unexpected
difficulties, situated in the very heart of an Indian territory, most
difficult of access, and without military protection, I deemed it most
advisable that they should defer the voyage, in the hope that another
year might lessen these difficulties, and bring a better arrangement
for the prosperity of the colony. I could undergo privations, and enter
upon any arduous official duties, for the best interests of the natives
and the settlers; but I could not subject Mrs. West (and inf