That is enough about the causes which are augmenting the present difficulties and accumulating them around us. The Lord alone can appease the wrath and calm the hearts of the savages, inflamed by the spirit of hatred and vengeance. Let us pray and hope in the divine mercy and the intercession of our kind Mother, Re f ugium nostrum.
I will finish this rather long letter with a characteristic anecdote, very suitable to the people of this region. On the 23d I found a Canadian, who had a cabin near the river and a Woodyard for the service of the steamboats. He spoke to me of the great dangers to which his family was exposed, by the proximity of the Sioux and their hostile nocturnal visits. I tried to give him some salutary advice, suited to his position, such as he no doubt needed very much. I wound up by recommending to him " to keep himself always in readiness to receive the visit of the Lord; that he might come in the night when least looked for; that it would be most unfortunate to appear before his judge without being well prepared." Evidently he had not understood a thing of my little harangue, and was thinking only of Sioux. He answered, " Father, it is as you say; they come unexpected, these terrible Sioux, and without giving warning fill you full of bullets and arrows. As for me, I am not prepared at all, because I am poor; I have no powder nor balls to take my revenge. It is a sad situation, isn't it, Father? But to-day I have better luck. I have sold my wood to the boat; I will buy bullets and powder. Then let them come, these villains of Sioux, and they will find me ready to receive them." This is about the way all these rangers of the wood and plains talk to you. They have been raised in religion, but that is all. They do not practice it; they say to you " when I was young I served the mass; I made my first communion; but in this country, where I have spent the greater part of my life, I have forgotten everything." Moreover, by their continual contact with the Indians, they have become imbued with their manners and their superstitious ideas. But they can be brought