g, and
anxious, and arduous scene of labour to me; and my hope was, as about
to embark for England, that I might return to the Settlement, and be
the means of effecting a better order of things.

The weather was favourable on the morning of our departure; and
stepping into the boat the current soon bore us down the river towards
Lake Winipeg. As the spire of the church receded from my view, and we
passed several of the houses of the Settlers, they hailed me with their
cordial wishes for a safe voyage, and expressed a hope of better times
for the Colony. Then it was that my heart renewed its supplications to
that God,

--'who is ever present, ever felt,
In the void waste, as in the city full,'

for the welfare of the Settlement, as affording a resting place for
numbers, after the toils of the wilderness in the Company's service,
where they might dwell, through the divine blessing, in the broad
day-light of Christianity; and being bound to the country from having
families by native women, might find the protection and advantages of
civilized life.

With light favourable winds we soon crossed the Lake and arrived at
Norway House, and such is generally the quickness of the passage from
this point to York Factory, that in the rapid stream of the rivers, a
loaded boat will reach the depot in a few days, which will take three
or four weeks to return with excessive toil, from the strength of the
opposing current. It appears dangerous to the inexperienced traveller
to run the rapids in the passage to the Factory, but it is seldom
attended with any serious accident. The men who have charge of the
boats are generally experienced steersmen, and it is an interesting
sight to see them take the rush of water with their boats, and with
cool intrepidity and skill direct the sweep, or steer-oar to their
arrival in safety at the bottom of a rapid of almost a perpendicular
fall of many feet, or through a torrent of water of a quarter of a mile
or more in length. Sometimes, however the boats strike in the violence
of their descent, so as to cause a fracture, and hurry the crew to pull
ashore to save the cargo from damage. This accident befel us several
times in our passage down, but a kind Providence protected us, and we
arrived in safety at York Factory.

Immediately on my arrival, I made arrangements for fulfilling my
Missionary engagement to visit the Esquimaux at Churchill, the
Company's most northern Post on the Bay. It