pany it with their plaintive buzzing, to the spot where the traveler seeks in vain a brief repose after the heat and hardships of the day. The winged tribe at once sound the trump of war, and darting on their tired victim, sting, harass and pursue him until they have assuaged their sanguinary fury, and obliged the unfortunate traveler, already sweltering with heat, to seek a stifling shelter under a buffalo robe or a thick blanket. One day I found myself the object of attack of a swarm of winged ants. They came upon me with such furious impetuosity that in a few seconds I was totally covered. Then I waved my handkerchief about my head, and soon got my horse to leave far behind us this phalanx of black insects, which filled a space of about a quarter of a mile.'
To those who pass their days amid the quiet of domestic joys, surrounded by all the delicacies that abundance can produce, a journey through the prairies may appear a sad realization of human misery and suffering; but to the man that elevates his thoughts above earthly and passing things, in order to devote himself to the many unfortunate souls who will love and serve the true God when they know him, such a one can perceive in these privations, in even greater perils and difficulties which may be encountered, only slight annoyances, which he will prefer to all the delights of indolence or the dangers of wealth. He has meditated the sublime words of our Lord: " The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away;" he recollects that a God become man-" although he was without sin bore the weight." His sufferings finally teach him that it is through tribulations and sacrifices that he can enter the kingdom of heaven and conduct thereto those who may desire to range themselves and die beneath the banner of the cross.
In my last letter I spoke of the annoyance resulting from the continual attacks and buzzing of the mosquitoes and
z In the history of western explorations there is scarcely an explorer who has not left on record experiences like this.