times cover their beautiful plains; when I explained to them the extraordinary celerity of those moving lodges (the cars on the railroad) that leave far behind them the swiftest horse, and are drawn along by frightful machines whose repeated groanings re-echo far and wide, as they belch forth immense volumes of fire and smoke; and next those fire canoes (steamboats) which transport whole villages, with provisions, arms and baggage, in a few days, from one country to another, crossing large lakes (the seas), ascending and descending the great rivers and streams; when I told them that I had seen white men mounting up into the air (in balloons) and flying with as much agility as the warrior eagle of their mountains - then their astonishment was at its height; and all placing their hands upon their mouths, sent forth at the same time one general cry of -,vonder. ` The Master of Life is great,' said the chief, ` and the white men are his favorites.' "
Then he spoke to them of religion. They had dimly heard of the white man's prayer and wanted to hear how he addressed the Great Spirit. Father De Smet planted three United States flags near by; called the multitude around him, knelt beneath the ensign of his country and intoned the solemn canticles and repeated the prayers of the Church, and had them interpreted. These things made a deep impression, and the Crows, like every other tribe whom he visited, always remembered them.
Apart from the bearing of these incidents upon his religious work, Father De Smet thoroughly enjoyed this contact with the unsophisticated children of the wilderness. It was always fresh and novel, no matter how often repeated; and every new repetition evolved some new feature. It was his compensation for the hardships of savage life, so intolerable to a cultured taste. He refers again and again to the feasts to which he was subjected-the disgusting cookery and repulsive food, and he marveled that human beings could live in that way. " The stomach of the Indian has always been a riddle to me," he said; and it required all