turn with impatience, to begin cultivating them and to continue living together with the Flatheads, beneath the holy law of the gospel, which I have had the happiness of preaching to them for three months, and to which they have all submitted with the greatest eagerness and docility.
I think you will not read without interest a short account of my stay among them and of my excursions in their company. Do not be surprised at my having led the wandering life of a savage from the month of April to December, living by hunting and on roots, without bread, sugar or coffee, my only bed a buffalo robe and a woolen blanket, passing my nights under the stars when the weather was good and braving the storms and tempests under a little tent. I have mentioned a fever that I had, which seemed determined not to leave me; well, by leading this hard life, I rid myself of it entirely; I have been in wonderful health since September.
Honorable and Dear Sirs
To comply with your kind request of giving you an outline of the upper Indians on the waters of the Columbia with whom we have become acquainted, I have the honor to state
I st. With regard to the Flatheads. Their number amounts to about 550. Since the regulation of marriages no Christian principles have been introduced among them. They are visibly on the increase. The Flatheads may be called a grave, modest and decent people. The gross vices so common among many other nations are unknown among them. Adultery is of the rarest occurrence and their honesty has been ever acknowledged by all travelers and strangers who have visited their country. Any object found is immediately restored to the owner, if known; if not, it is deposited with the chief or Black-robe.
3 Uncertain to whom this letter was addressed. About 1845.