they were perpetrating upon the whites. His natural sympathies were with the Indians and they knew it, and this may have been the secret of his wonderful influence over them.
He left St. Louis April 12th by a different route from that followed heretofore. He went by rail to Chicago and thence started for Omaha on the Northwestern line, which had just been opened through to the Missouri river. Unluckily there had been an extraordinary downpour of rain for some days previously and the tracks and bridges were badly washed out on the western end of the line. With much delay he finally got as far as Dennison, whence he was compelled to travel by wagon about a hundred miles to Sioux City.
How constantly in service were Father De Smet's powers of observation is well illustrated by the accurate description he has given us of the rolling prairie country of Iowa - a description which will at once appeal to any one who has ever crossed that country: "All this region resembles an agitated sea, suddenly become motionless. Day after day, it is the same monotony. You go up and down an interminable succession of larger or smaller hills and valleys, like terrestrial billows. A fringe of timber can be seen along the streams and in some deep valleys and ravines in the higher portions. In summer this region is an ocean of verdure, adorned with flowers, always agreeable to the eye. In autumn, fires run over it and cover the whole surface with the sad black tint of mourning. Then comes winter and spreads its shroud of white over all nature."
From Sioux City Father De Smet took the steamer Guidon and continued his route up the river. With him were twenty-six Yankton Sioux and their chief Pananniapapi, a Christian Indian, between whom and Father De Smet there had long subsisted the most affectionate friendship. The destination of the Indians was the Yankton Agency near Fort Randall. Father De Smet stopped there a few days until the Bighorn, which had his main outfit on board,