of our excellent pilot, veered about and, driving rapidly down stream, struck violently upon a great hidden rock. The shock was great and caused a heavy leak. For a few moments the salvation of the Ontario was despaired of; she was filling rapidly. Several of the officers thought her lost and were for abandoning her, but others redoubled their efforts to repair the injury, and with the aid of all the pumps they kept her afloat, and she resumed her course. I have great confidence in the four lamps that burn night and day in the convents of St. Louis, before the statue of the Holy Virgin, our Good Mother, stella nostra et refugium nostrum, a confidence further strengthened by the prayers offered in Europe and America for the success of my long and dangerous excursion. In the course of our trip to Benton (3,100 miles) [2,285], we have passed thirteen boats that had ten to fifteen days' start of ours; permit me the expression, "A. M. D. G.;" we have been borne as if on angels' wings to the boat's destination. Under the puissant protection of the Queen of Heaven, and full of confidence in divine Providence, we hope that my mission will end happily and favorably, and that I shall return, safe and sound, among my dear brothers in Jesus Christ.
In the midst of this lonely wilderness, ranged over by numerous wandering tribes, made yet more barbarous and indomitable by the injustices and misdeeds of the whites; where ferocious animals and venomous reptiles,- the bear, the wolf and the serpent - resort and have their lairs; and despite the more agreeable spectacle of the numerous herds of buffalo, elk, deer, antelope and bighorn, which change the aspect and animate the sad monotony of these primitive verdure-clad plains, and come from time to time to refresh the spirit and the mind of the Christian traveler and add to his admiration and gratitude, to the providence of the Lord, who is so mighty in gifts and benefactions to his poor creatures here below - the " Quam dulce," etc.,8 often re
8 How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity.