them at all. The total number of stock, exclusive of horses owned by these Indians, is ninety four, which shows an increase of seven over last year, a small increase, but a better showing than in the past.

Farming Implements. - The implements are being better looked after now than formerly. Most of them tire housed when not in use.

Education. - There are in this agency one hundred and ninety-five children of an age to attend school, five day-schools and four teachers. The standard course of study is adhered to as closely as possible. All the schools are well equipped, especially those at the Long Sault and Little Forks, both of which are handsome buildings and handsomely furnished inside. The discipline in these schools I always find very good. I may say that at the present time all the teachers under my charge are doing their best to improve the children under them, and though progress on the whole is slow, there are bright exceptions, and I am convinced that if only regular attendance could be secured, the results would be very different indeed. The parents of the children have no control over them, and many of them, for the very slightest excuse, will endeavour to stand in the way of a teacher. A teacher's life is often a very hard one and his position on the reserve delicate. The Indian knows this, and sometimes takes advantage of it. However, there is no doubt that the majority of the Indians fully realize now the advantages to be gained by education, and some of the young able-bodied men can now be seen with their pocketbooks as they go to the store to do business, and with their very excellent memory to back them the store-keeper and others who do business with them, have to see their accounts are correctly rendered.

Religion. - There are only fourteen Christian Indians on Rainy River. These belong to the Church of England. On the Lake also the majority are pagans. The exception is the Coutcheeching Reserve, where out of a population of one hundred and thirty-one, ninety-eight are Roman Catholics, five Church of England and twenty-eight pagans. There is the Church of England missionary on the river, lately arrived, and stationed at the Long Sault, and the Roman Catholic missionary stationed on the Coutcheeching Reserve. There are also ten Christians at Lac la Croix, members of the Roman Catholic Church. Church services are held in the schools, teachers' residences and Indian houses, there being no churches at any of the reserves yet. The Indians are very apathetic in regard to religion, and missionaries find them very hard to deal with. This is a matter hard to explain. The younger members of the band, I fancy, would soon give up paganism, if only the obstinacy and superstition of the older ones could be dispensed with.

Characteristics and Progress. - An Indian is naturally indolent, except when he is hungry. The majority of the Indians under my charge are less indolent than they were, otherwise they would have starved to death, because their hunting and fishing is almost a thing of the past (I refer now especially to the River Indians); and if they had not gone to work on their farms and found other work outside their reserve, they could not possibly be as well off as they are to-day. There is no doubt that some are industrious. Take a young half-breed like Joseph Guimond, of the Coutcheechin Reserve, and you will find that he is not only very comfortably off, but hardly ever without his day's work. Then for an Indian take "Kay-bay-gah-bo," of the Manitou Reserve, who lives in a large two-storied house, and has always plenty to eat, and who had potatoes, to ship to Rat Portage this spring, when prices were good. Surely this is an indication of industry and progress.

Temperance and Morality. - Personally, I should say that, taking all things into consideration, these Indians are both temperate and moral. They stand to be tempted in both ways continually by the lower class of white people, and I consider they do well to withstand the temptation as well as they do. Leave them alone and I think they would not bother the whisky-seller at all neither do I think they are immoral amongst themselves; of course there are exceptions in all the reserves.

General Remarks. - By way of conclusion I would state that these Indians are self-supporting and deserve some credit for it, inasmuch as they have had to find a living to