late him in their very persons. Some of the men also besmear their garments with his blood, so as to obtain a further share of his virtue or powers! Thus the bear is not sacrificed simply as a bear, nor even as a representative of all bears, nor even as one god out of many, but as the special god of the Ainu-as their totem god, indeed (as might be shown), as the direct ancestor of the Ainu race."

At other places I saw foxes-and once an eagle-similarly caged, waiting for the same kind of sacrifice. Mr. Batchelor said that raccoons, moles, mice, storks, snipe, and even little sparrows, were also totem gods, sacrificed as the bear is. The skulls of the larger animals sacrificed are preserved on sticks six or eight feet high at the east end of the huts. This part of the Ainu religion-i.e., totemism-and the fetich practices connected with the inao, are the chief features which force themselves upon the notice of the casual

visitor to Ainu-land. Other superstitions there are which also have a tight hold on the Ainu; such, for instance, as the worship of snakes. They believe that the original serpent-the father of the tribehad his origin in heaven above, and is a good and honorable deity, worthy of divine honors. His descendants, however, are decidedly diabolical, and live in the lower world under bodily forms of men and women-only assuming the form of snakes when they come to the upper world, and that is only when they intend harm to human beings.

After ten days my visit to the land of the Ainu ended all too soon. The people seem to me born out of due timeout of place in this twentieth centurybelonging rather to a remote period of history. But God has gathered into His Church on earth, even at this late age, a chosen number of faithful ones, and is blessing the labors of His workers in this neglected part of the vineyard.

B

ISHOP SPALDING, in the days when Western Colorado was included in his jurisdiction of Salt Lake, described himself, or was described by some one else, as "Bishop of All Out Doors." When I am travelling over the vast territory which has been assigned to me, I sometimes feel that I must be the missionary of a very large portion of "all outdoors.". In making the round of my stations, I travel about 380 miles-probably 400 when I include the side trips to the ranches-all but sixty miles being covered by stage or wagon.

The territory includes two entire counties, and portions of two others. But a county out here and a county in the eastern states are two very different things in size. For instance, Routt County, in which the major portion of my work lies, is almost as large as the State of Massachusetts.

It is mountainous everywhere. There

at this point also, and we hope to have a number of adult baptisms and fourteen or fifteen confirmations there in a short time.

These are the most promising points, at the present time, in this part of the district, although the Church is gaining ground at other places. One of the small places which I always particularly enjoy visiting is Axial, a little mountain hamlet twenty-two miles northeast of Meeker. We hold services in the tiniest of country schoolhouses, and the people come in from the surrounding ranches and seem to appreciate the Church's efforts to minister to them.

Some time ago, at Bishop Knight's request, I ventured into a portion of the district, which, so far as I was able to learn, had never before been visited by a clergyman of the Church-the extreme west end of Routt County, in the neighborhood of the once famous "Holein-the-Wall," the rendezvous of a band of outlaws who terrorized the country. My first point was Maybell, a community of about seventy-five souls, all told.

I left Axial in the morning, and rode nearly all day in a small open wagon,

seated on the top of a trunk. The driver had neglected to provide an extra seat, and there were two women passengers to occupy the "regular" seat. The next day I called at every residence in the place, and at two or three ranches outside, explaining my mission there, inviting the people to the service, and looking up candidates for baptism.

The Sunday morning service was held in the schoolhouse. It was crowded with people, old and young, many of them from the surrounding ranches, and a few of whom had come ten miles to be present, and one woman (a Churchwoman) twenty-two miles.

Never have I heard more hearty responses in the service, and this was the more gratifying from the fact that only two or three persons in the congregation had ever before attended a service of this Church.

I baptized one child and one young woman; the latter will probably receive confirmation in a short time.

Before the sermon, I very briefly referred to the origin and history of the Church in America, and then gave a short explanation of the vestments and of our mode of worship. After the ser

vice many of the congregation expressed the hope that we might be able to give them regular and frequent attention; and there was even some discussion of the possible completion, for church purposes, of a half-finished building originally intended as a Congregational church, but which had been abandoned for a long time. I think there is little doubt that the entire community, for many miles around, can ultimately be reached, if we give the work proper attention. In the afternoon I drove ten miles farther west, and spent the night at the home of a prosperous ranchman, where I found two more candidates for confirmation. On Monday, I went twelve miles still farther west, and held service in a little schoolhouse on the Snake River, in the heart of the cattle country, baptizing one adult, who will probably be confirmed. This country is the last retreat of the great "cattle kings" of Colorado, of whom but a few are left now.

It is saddening, and at the same time inspiring, to the missionary who loves hard work, to know that on these ranches, far removed from even the

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smallest centres of population, there are many, many people who never attend a divine service of any description, are never visited by a clergyman of any religious name, and whose children are growing up unbaptized and uninstructed in even the first principles of religion.

The personal work on the ranches I regard as most essential in this part of the country. But it is difficult to accomplish when one is dependent upon the stage lines for transportation.

We sadly need a team of horses and a good, strong conveyance, which will stand the strain of constant mountain travel, and which could be kept at Meeker for the use of the missionary in all the surrounding country. This is a country of magnificent distances, a country with a great future, and a country which can easily be won for the Church, if only we can secure the men and the means; for other Christians are doing very little here.

We have a live, energetic bishop, who is accomplishing wonders with his small staff of clergy. Give him more men and means, and greater works than these shall he do.