that that powerful tribe would be roused to revenge the injury; and as the bands near Pokeguma were the most exposed, they looked for an immediate attack. By these circumstances the whole body, as it were maddened to desperation, seemed to lose all those kind feelings towards the missionaries which had before characterised them. They used indignant and abusive language, violently robbed the family of a large part of their provisions, killed a number of their cattle, and threatened to complete the work of plunder and destruction and drive the missionaries from the country, or take their lives. This unhappy state of things induced Mr. Ayer and his family to remove for a time to Fon du Lac, and Mr. Boutwell from that station to take his place at Pokeguma. In the course of the autumn, as the annuity due them was paid; their hunger was appeased by the fruits of the season; the vengeance of the Sioux which they were dreading did not overtake them, the savage passions of the Indians gave place to good nature again. They expressed shame and sorrow for their base conduct; the missionaries resumed their labors; a number of new Indian families, some of them possessed of much influence, came and began to clear land and erect buildings near the mission; and during the last winter and spring, the desire of the Indians for improvement, their friendly feeling, and the prospect of benefitting them, were thought to be as favorable as at any former period. Mr. Ayer returned in February; and Mr. Ely, as before mentioned, followed early in the spring. Mr. Boutwell was devoting himself wholly to the religious instruction of the people, and the preparation of some additional school books and portions of the scriptures in their language. Three Indians have been received to the fellowship of the church during the year; and some others are in a serious and inquiring state of mind. The members of the church, now six in all, conduct well. A good measure of industry and enterprise are manifested by those Indian families who are settled around the station. A thousand copies of the Gospel by Matthew, translated into the Ojibwa language, have been printed during the year, at the expense of the Board, containing 112 pages; and making the whole number of pages printed in that language for the mission, since its establishment 613,000. One of the principal chiefs of the Ojibwas, who was the friend and supporter of Mr. Boutwell, while he resided at Leech Lake, has died during the year. Of him Mr. B. remarks, "A great and good man has fallen. He was the nation's brightest ornament in peace, and her first counsellor in war. His death is a national loss. His name I shall never forget." Remarking on the difficulties to be surmounted, both by the missionaries and the Indians themselves, before the objects of the mission can be fully accomplished, Mr. Hall says,— "To change their mode of life would be virtually to change their religion. To induce them to settle down and adopt the customs of civilized life, to become industrious and turn their attention to the useful arts, would be to pull down the whole fabric of their superstitions. Most of them regard work as degrading, and fit employment only for women and slaves. Hence if any one is seen engaged in such employments as belong to civilized life, he meets with a flood of ridicule from his companions, which few of them have power to withstand. He might be seen, perhaps making his own camp fire, but to be found cutting wood for a white man would be degrading. In this respect, however, the Indians of this place have changed very much since we came among them. Most of them now are generally willing to engage in almost any business which they are capable of performing, whenever they can find employment. Generally they feed and clothe themselves far better than they did when I first knew them. The mass of the tribe, however, manifest very little desire to improve their condition, wretched as it is. Few parents will encourage their children to attend school, even when they are encamped within a few rods of one, and have nothing for them to do at home. Few are desirous to learn anything of the religion of the Bible. Most seem to have the impression that the white man's religion is not made for them. His religion, mode of life, and learning are well for him, but for them they are of no use, as they would not render them more successful in hunting and fishing. Their own habits they think are best for them. They say they are a distinct race, and the great spirit designed they should be different. They live differently, and go to a different place when they die. Their minds are so exceedingly dark that it is almost impossible to approach them with the truth. They do not seem to apprehend our meaning when addressed on religious subjects. Their only care is to find the means of a bare subsistence with the least possible effort. Their wants are very few, being satisfied with a small amount of the coarsest clothing, and seldom complaining of the quality of their food, provided it be sufficiently abundant. Of the value of property they have no idea, and never think of accumulating any beforehand. Of course the motives for becoming industrious are fewer with them than with us. With this character, and these views, they do not regard the object for which we reside among them, as any thing very desirable; and in their estimation they derive little advantage from us." MISSION TO THE STOCKBRIDGE INDIANS. Cutting Marsh, Missionary; Mrs. Marsh: Sophia Mudgett, Teacher. (One station, 1 missionary, and 2 female assistants ;-total, 3.) The school has been conducted as usual, and been attended with about the same number of pupils as heretofore. The teacher has secured the affection and confidence of the Indians in a high degree. But as the Indians have settled in different portions of their reservation, all the families cannot be accommodated without another school, and it seemed highly desirable that another school should be opened. So desirous were the Indians of this, that they began building a school-house in the destitute settlement early last year, and requested that an additional teacher might be furnished. One was accordingly hired, and a second school opened last winter. The average number of pupils who have since attended the two, is from thirty-five to forty. During the last winter and spring the Indian congregation was more than usually attentive to christian instruction, and it was hoped that five or six persons were born of the Spirit. Four individuals have been received to the fellowship of the church. Most of the church members have been exemplary and actively engaged in promoting the spiritual good of their people. Some, however, apparently drawn from the path of duty by the party feeling which has been called forth by the state of their political affairs, have fallen under the censure of the church. Three deaths have occurred in the church during the year, leaving the present number in good standing fifty. The unhappy dissensions adverted to above, which have existed during the last two or three years, originated, in part, in disagreement relative to a revision and reform of their laws and form of government, which was attempted; and in part in a difference of opinion entertained relative to the expediency of selling their lands and removing westward of the Mississippi river. The consequences of this state of things has been most disastrous to the peace, good order, and social and religious improvement of the whole band. The past summer another attempt was to be made on the part of the government of the United States, to purchase their lands, and gain their consent to remove. What the result has been, the Committee have not yet been informed. The meetings on the Sabbath are fully attended, and are often highly interesting and solemn. The Sabbath school is also regarded with much interest, and embraces a large part of the congregation, both adults and children. On the farms and in the houses of the Indians there are evident indications of industry and improvement. They have been well supplied with provisions the past year, and their prospects are fair for the ensuing. In these respects they have nearly regained the position in which they were before their removal in 1835; and as the lands they now occupy are superior to those of their former reservation, their prospects as an agricultural people, should they remain unmolested a few years, are more favorable than they have ever before been. MISSION TO THE NEW-YORK INDIANS. TUSCARORA.-Gilbert Rockwood, Missionary; Mrs. Rockwood; Hannah T. Whitcomb, Teacher. SENECA.-Asher Wright, Missionary; Mrs. Wright; Asenath Bishop, Teacher. (4 stations, 3 missionaries, 1 licensed preacher, 7 females ;-total 11.) On the third of July last, Mr. Rockwood received ordination as a missionary, and it was expected that Mr. Hall, on the Alleghany reservation would be ordained about the close of the last month. Miss Bishop, after having been absent from Seneca more than a year, ministering to her relatives during a period of sickness and affliction, resumed her labors in the school at that station, in August of last year. Miss Hannah T. Whitcomb, has recently been appointed to the Tuscarora station as teacher, and is supposed to be about commencing her labors there at this time. On the four reservations where the missionaries of the Board are laboring, nine schools have been taught during portions of the past year; some of them, however, during only five or six weeks; two at Tuscarora, two at Seneca, two at Cattaraugus, and three at Alleghany. In two of them native instructors have been employed. Most of the other teachers have been females. The whole number of pupils in all the schools has been from a hundred to a hundred and twenty. About the close of the last year more than usual interest in religious instruction was manifested by the church and congregation at Tuscarora, and meetings were held every day or evening for two weeks. The Spirit of the Lord is believed to have been present to give the truth an enlightening and converting efficacy on the hearts of a considerable number of the Indians; and in March sixteen were received to the fellowship of the church on profession of their faith, at which time eleven adults and eight children were baptized. The church has continued in a peaceful and prosperous state to the present time, much less agitated by efforts made to purchase their lands, and political discussions growing out of such attempts, than the churches on the other reservations. To the Seneca church there have been no accessions during the year, and to so great an extent have divisions, jealousies, and contentions prevailed, originating in the cause just adverted to, that it has been impossible to remedy the disorder which has crept in; and the missionary has deemed it inexpedient to administer the Lord's supper for nearly two years. Some of the members seem to be labor ing under a desperate infatuation, from which no means have as yet availed to reclaim them. The whole church is literally "like a city broken down and without walls." The churches on the Cattaraugus and Alleghany Reservations have suffered from the operation of the same causes but in a much less degree. Indeed that at Cattaraugus has been more quiet than for two years before. The people seem to have grown weary of contending, and as those opposed to the treaty were confident that it would not be carried into effect, they have gone forward cultivating their grounds, erecting new buildings, and manifesting more of industry and enterprise generally, than at any former period. But while religious meetings have been well attended, the ordinances of the Gospel administered, and discipline not wholly neglected, the state of religious feeling has been low, and iniquity of various kinds has prevailed. In the Alleghany church some painful cases of discipline have occurred, and the Indians generally on the reservation have manifested less interest in the mission and more distrust of the missionaries than heretofore. Still the meetings have at times been fully attended; and there seems to be no other insuperable obstacle in the way of the improvement of the people on this, or indeed any of the other reservations, than the agitation in which their minds are kept, and the distrust of the professions and motives of all white men, which efforts to purchase their lands have occasioned. But if the question of their removal shall continue unsettled, and the people are left for a series of years under the influence of mutual alienation and strife, the despondency and discouragement which must inevitably grow out of it, they must, unless some signal interposition of divine providence or grace prevent, become demoralized, wasted, and undone. Some further steps relative to the treaty, which was negotiated a year and a half ago, have been taken during the last summer, but whether it will ultimately be sanctioned by the United States government and carried into effect, is as yet uncertain. MISSION TO THE ABERNAQUIS. P. P. Osunkherhine, Native Preacher; Caroline Rankin, Teacher. (1 station, 1 native preacher, 1 female;-total, 2.) The number of attendants on public worship at this station, has very steadily, though gradually increased, amounting now to more than sixty, about one fourth of whom are white persons residing in the vicinity, and the remainder Indians, the latter having all renounced the papal faith since Mr. Osunkherhine began his labors with them. Among these a great reformation seems to have been |