84 FIFTY YEARS IN WESTERN CANADA

thing unheard of and thought to be impossible with
people not devoid of the use of their mental faculties, —

As a rule, perhaps because of their simpler life and
fewer abuses of graces, they did not manifest that
terror at the approach of death which then belabours
some whites. They would take philosophically the
coming of their end, deeming it an unavoidable event.
which, in quite a number of cases, had been rather
desired, and which was to deliver the patient from a
series of untold ills and miseries. Especially if blessed
with the assistance of the minister of religion, the death —
of the natives was as peaceful, nay, often joyous, as”
nature would allow. For in many cases the moribund, -
fortified by the last Sacraments of his Church, received
while his home was filled with friends and relatives
devoutly reciting prayers for him, fell into some sort
of extasis, which seemed the harbinger of approaching
bliss, and it may be asked whether, in some cases, he
was not favoured with a real apparition of heavenly
visitors coming to take his soul up to his reward. —
At all events, this is what some claimed.