more of us, with means to correspond, this would perhaps be the moment to accomplish permanent good among them and to prevent their total extinction. There are besides many other nations on both sides of the mountains called Rocky Mountains: they number several hundreds of thousands; some of these tribes, which are very numerous, have already invited us to come and settle among them. I may say that almost all the nations of the northern part of America show a great predilection for the Catholic missionaries and seem to stretch their arms toward us in preference, notwithstanding the millions of dollars that the Protestant societies are spending to attach these poor people to themselves; for as a matter of fact, these dollars serve only to enrich the so-called ministers of the gospel, with their wives and children that they drag around with them. Meanwhile they come and occupy the ground, and wherever they are, it is very difficult to form a Catholic establishment afterward.
It is not uncommon to meet bears in our neighborhood; but this animal will seldom attack a man first, though he will defend himself when wounded. Wolves come very often to our very doors; quite lately they have carried off all our chickens. They are of all kinds; prairie-wolves, small and timid; black mountain wolves, large and dangerous. We are obliged to be continually on our guard against these bad neighbors, and so I never go out without a good knife, a tomahawk or a sword-cane. There are snakes too, among which I might name the copper-head, the garter-snake [? couleuvre], blacksnake and rattlesnake. Field, forest and cabin swarm with mice, which gnaw and devour the few fruits that we possess. Insects, butterflies especially, are very numerous here, and very varie gated and very large. Night-moths are of all colors and of a prodigious size; they are no less than eight inches in length. We live also in the midst of horse-flies and mosquitoes; they come upon us by thousands and give us no rest day nor night.