146 THE LIFE or

aid of an Interpreter, preaches, reads, and expounds the Scrip-
tures to them. They also have a general Prayer Meeting among
themselves, once a fortnight, and they meet occasionally more
privately for social prayer; some of them maintain family wor-
ship. The Roman Catholics attend chapel at Amherstburg,
which is about three miles from their settlement.

There is at present no school among them, but they have
expressed their desire to establish one, and would gladly avail
themselves of instruction for their children. VVhen there was
one, the attendance of the scholars was very irregular, but their
ability in acquiring knowledge was in no Way inferior to that
of the white children.

3. CHIPPEWAS or THE ST. CLAIR.

These Indians are among the first whom Sir John Colborne
endeavored to settle and civilize. Previously to 1830, they
were wandering heathen like their brethren elsewhere, scat-
tered over the western part of the Upper Province; they were
drunken and dissipated in their habits, and without either reli-
gious or moral restraint. In 1830 and 31, a number of them
were collected on a reserve in the Township of Sarnia, near
the head of the River St. Clair. and containing 10,280 acres.
A number of houses were built for them, and an officer was
appointed for their superintendence. Their conversion to Chris-
tianity and their progress in religious knowledge, and in the
acquisition of sober, orderly, and industrious habits, have been,
under the care of missionaries of the VVesleyan Methodist So-
ciety, both rapid and uniform. From the formation of the mis-
sion 221 adults and 239 children have been baptized and
admitted into the Methodist community. The total number up
to the year 1839-40 does not appear to have exceeded 350.
Since then their number has increased greatly by immigration,
chiefly from the Saginaw Bay, in the State of Michigan, and
by the settlement of wandering Indians; and in 1842, as many
as 741 received presents.

The Indians of the River aux Sables have about sixty acres
under improvement, and one log house. Those at Kettle Point
have twenty acres of improved land and two log‘ houses. The