In all the wide region later known as the province of Upper Canada, as yet no other Protestant sanctuary had opened its doors for the use of Christian believers.  With the erection of this temple of the Mohawks begins the history of the Protestant churches in one of the fairest sections of the Dominion of Canada.  It was a sweet and solemn bell that pealed out its message when service was held on those Sabbaths in pioneer days.  Into the solitudes it rang, wakening the stillness, echoing to hill-top, and throbbing down to distant valley.  Up and along the river stole the gladsome strain, the first call to prayer ever heard in this scarcely broken wilderness.  From among the trees emerged the exiled people of the Long House.  They mingled together; they entered the courts of the Great Spirit, silent and full of awe.  There they listened to the Gospel story and burst forth into many happy songs of thanksgiving and of love.

Brant was very desirous of securing a missionary who would suit the tastes of all.  He tried to get a resident missionary in the person of his friend Davenport Phelps, but the bishop of Quebec refused Phelps ordination; and it was not until 1822, when the New England Company took over the missionary work on the Mohawk reserve, that the Indians of Grand River had a resident pastor.  Brant also had won from General Haldimand a promise that a school should be built for the education of the Indian children, and that a flour-mill should be erected for the grinding of corn.

Brant was deeply interested also in the native amusements of the people of the Long House.  He seems to have retained a boyish heart in the later years of his life, and he saw with pleasure the sports and pastimes of the Indian youth.  Hour after hour he would sit as an honoured spectator watching them play a hard-fought game of lacrosse that required fleetness of foot and straightness of limb.  An eye-witness who sat with Brant at one of these games has told of the excitement which the match aroused.  On this occasion a great company of Senecas had come all the way from New York state in order to compete for the mastery with their kinsmen, the Mohawks.  The contest lasted for three days before the Senecas finally won the valuable stakes which were offered as the prize.

The field which was cleared for the game was fairly extensive, the goals being placed about five hundred feet apart.  The teams had sixty men a side.  When any one dropped out from either party another was supposed to take his place, and so the energies of the contestants did not flag.  The netted rackets employed in the game of lacrosse were three and a half feet in length, straight at the handle but curved at the other end.  The broad portion used for throwing or carrying the ball was formed of thongs of deerskin, interwoven and drawn firm and tight.  It was a picturesque sight when the opposing teams were ready to commence play.  The animated warriors were nude except for a breech-cloth reaching to the