cessively his wife and four children. The monster then fled into the desert, and he has never been heard of since. The Oregon missionary, Reverend Mr. Bolduc, related its his journal that at Akena, one of the Gambier Isles' he saw an old dame, who, having had eight husbands, had eaten three of them, during a time of famine. I acid this `last fact to give you a reverse to the above horrible picture. The Assiniboins have the reputation of being irascible, jealous and fond of babbling; in consequence of these bad qualities, battles and murders are not unfrequent among them, and of course continual divisions. Every evening gave thetas instruction by means of an interpreter. They appeared docile, though somewhat timorous: for they had frequently been visited by persons who defamed both priests and religion. I rendered all the little services in my power to their invalids, baptized six children and an old maxi" who expired two clays after; he was interred with all the funeral ceremonies and prayers of the Church.
Cleanliness is a virtue which has no place in the Indian catalogue of domestic or personal duties. The Assiniboins are filthy beyond conception; they surpass all their neighhors in this unenvied qualification. They are devoured by vermin, which thev, in turn, consume. A savage, whom I playfully reprehended for his cruelty to these little inverseoral insects, saying, " Are you not ashamed to bite those
20 A Polynesian group.
21 Missionary tuork among the Assiniboins.--- Father Palladino says, somewhat vaguely, oŁ the Assiniboins and Grosventres, "Father De Smet, and after him Father Point, were the first who did missionary work among these Indians." A detachment of Assiniboins accompanied Father DeSmet for some distance in the summer of t8gr, on the way to the Grand Council, and he took a special interest in one of their chiefs called Fool Bear. No baptisms are mentioned, however. In tW Father De Smet baptized a number of Assiniboin children at Fort Union; see pp. 8s and 883. Father Giorda baptized certain Grosventre children in t8Era, and Father Grassi Some Asss'niboins in x879. The Mission of St. Paul's was established, with Government approval, among them in 1885.