g the head of our canoe in
the direction from which came the tiring, they paddled through the now
rapidly disappearing vapours, and there on the shore we descried a
company of friendly Indians on the lookout for our coming. Their ears
had been of more service than their eyes; for although they had been
unable to see us, their practiced ears had caught the sound of our
paddles. After greeting us most cordially, they produced some smoked
reindeer tongues and other native delicacies which they had brought for
the missionary. Some very suggestive and profitable religious services
were enjoyed there by the riverside. For the comfort and encouragement
of those who had already become His children we talked of the loving
kindnesses and providential care of our Heavenly Father. We also
pleaded with those who had not yet decided to renounce the paganism of
their forefathers, to do so speedily and to accept of the religion of
the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thus the work went on, and through many happy summers, my canoe was
afloat for days on many waters, while as a glad messenger, I travelled
through the wilderness beseeching men and women to be reconciled to God.

Of the dog-travelling in that land so much has been written, that but a
short account need here be given. Winter begins in those regions in the
latter part of October and continues without any perceptible break until
April. So immense, however, are the ice-fields on the great lakes, that
they do not all disappear until a month or six weeks later. One winter
I was able to make quite a long journey with my dog-trains, arriving
home as late as the eighteenth of May. At that date, however, the snow
had all disappeared and the frost was nearly all out of the ground.

The cold is intense, the spirit thermometer indicating from thirty to
sixty below zero. We have seen the mercury frozen as solid as lead for
weeks together. For months milk is frozen into cakes like marble. We
used to carry large pieces of it wrapped up in a newspaper, and when at
the camp-fire we desired a little in our cup of tea, we cut it off with
an axe. As will be seen from this we had about seven months of bright
cold winter. During all that time there was not a thaw, the snow was
never soft, and there was no dampness in the air or under foot. Soft
deer skin moccasins are very much superior to civilised boots or shoes
under such conditions.

There are no roads in that vast country. The frost K