the date of this trip.

All the able bodied men of my mission excepting these two, were away
serving the Hudson Bay Company as tripmen, which was the reason why I
could not obtain men better acquainted with the long route. I had
either to take these men and ran a good deal of risk, or wait another
year to carry the Gospel to those hundreds who had never heard it, and
who had sent a pleading call for me to come and tell them what the Great
Spirit said in His Book. So, after much prayer, I decided, trusting in
God and in these men, to make the journey.

The country through which we travelled was one of the roughest and
wildest in that dreary, desolate land. The streams were so full of
rapids that we had constantly to be making portages. This was slow and
laborious work. Our method of procedure was something like this: as
soon as we discovered that the current was too rapid to be safe, or that
we were hearing some great falls, we went ashore and quickly unloaded
our canoe; William, the guide, easily lifted it upon his head and
starting off, soon disappeared in the forest, running where possible,
and keeping parallel with the raging stream until he reached a place
below which the waters were again navigable; Peter, my other Indian, as
speedily as possible made a large bundle of our blankets, kettles, and
supplies, and with this upon his back, supported by a carrying strap
round his forehead, quickly followed the trail made by William; while to
me was assigned the work of carrying the guns, ammunition, changes of
raiment and the presents, and Bibles for the Indians we expected to
visit. Although my load was not nearly as heavy as those carried by my
stalwart canoemen, yet I was utterly unable to keep up with them in the
trail. Indians, when thus loaded, never walk: they seem to glide along
on a swinging trot that carries them over the ground very rapidly. A
white man, unaccustomed to this pace, is very soon left behind. This
was my experience. All I could do, was to trudge bravely along under my
miscellaneous load, which was becoming constantly disarranged, thus
causing delay.

But my greatest trouble was to keep the trail. There was absolutely no
path. All the trail, was that made by my two Indians, and Indians are
trained to leave as little evidence of their movements as possible. So
I was often lost. I would at the beginning of the portage, bravely
shoulder my burden and endeavour to keep in sight of my me