As soon as the boat had gotten above the flooded district and into a dryer atmosphere it was unloaded and thoroughly aired and the rest of the voyage passed off without further sickness.
As the boat threaded its way up the winding Missouri, amid scenes of rural beauty and the luxuriance of a fertile country, Father De Smet could not but ponder upon the changes which were on the eve of taking place. He was on his way even then to assist at a council which was to offer some temporary relief to an ever troublesome problem. In his narrative of this journey he writes : "Will not the President of the Republic, like some of his predecessors, pluck some plumes from the Indian eagle, once the emblem of their greatness and power, to place them among the trophies of his administration? In the limits which I trace he will find an extent of country vast enough to be represented by three or four stars more of the first magnitude, which will enhance the lustre of the galaxy in the flag of the Union. This great territory will hold an immense population, destined to form several great and flourishing States.
"But then, what will become of the Indians, who have already come from afar to abide in this land? What will become of the aborigines, who have possessed it from time immemorial? This is indeed a thorny question, awakening gloomy ideas in the observer's mind, if he has followed the encroaching policy of the United States in regard to the Indian. We may hope that the sad remnant of these numerous nations who once covered America, now reduced to earn their bread in the sweat of their brow (for they can no longer subsist by hunting), will find an asylum, a permanent abode, and will be incorporated, with the rights of citizens, into tile Union."
The St. Ange arrived at Fort Union on the 14th of July, and preparations were begun for the journey overland to Fort Laramie, where the great council was to be held. It was a common experience in Father De Smet's career that important events in his work occurred on the 31st of July, the feast day of the founder of the Society. So now the