le which was first
used in 'The Old Mohawk Church' was a gift from Queen
Anne to the tribesmen in 1712 and was brought to Grand
River from their former home on the Mohawk. The silver
communion plate was part of a service which had also been
presented to them by the same queen before they came to
Canada. It was of burnished silver and bore the Royal
Coat of Arms. The remaining pieces of this set were given
to the Indians who settled in the Bay of Quinte district.
In the year 1786 there was sent to the church a large
and melodious bell. This was a presentation from the
British government, and on it was stamped the arms of
the reigning House of Hanover.

In all the wide region later known as the province of
Upper Canada, as yet no other Protestant sanctuary had
opened its doors for the use of Christian believers. With
the erection of this temple of the Mohawks begins the
history of the Protestant churches in one of the fairest
sections of the Dominion of Canada. It was a sweet and
solemn bell that pealed out its message when service was
held on those Sabbaths in pioneer days. Into the solitudes
it rang, wakening the stillness, echoing to hill-top,
and throbbing down to distant valley. Up and along the
river stole the gladsome strain, the first call to prayer
ever heard in this scarcely broken wilderness. From among
the trees emerged the exiled people of the Long House.
They mingled together; they entered the courts of the
Great Spirit, silent and full of awe. There they listened
to the Gospel story and burst forth into many happy songs
of thanksgiving and of love.

Brant was very desirous of securing a missionary who
would suit the tastes of all. He tried to get a resident
missionary in the person of his friend Davenport Phelps,
but the bishop of Quebec refused Phelps ordination; and
it was not until 1822, when the New England Company took
over the missionary work on the Mohawk reserve, that the
Indians of Grand River had a resident pastor. Brant also
had won from General Haldimand a promise that a school
should be built for the education of the Indian children,
and that a flour-mill should be erected for the grinding
of corn.

Brant was deeply interested also in the native amusements
of the people of the Long House. He seems to have retained
a boyish heart in the later years of his life, and he
saw with pleasure the sports and pastimes of the Indian
youth. Hour after hour he would sit as an honoured
spectator