at the happy memories that were aroused in my heart. i thanked the Lord that he had deigned to favor the labors of his servants, scattered over this vast vineyard, imploring at the same time his divine grace for all the nations of Oregon, and in particular for the Flatheads and Pend d'Oreilles, who had so recently and so heartily ranged themselves under the banner of Jesus Christ. I engraved upon a soft stone this inscription in large letters: Sanct cs Ignatius
Patronus 1llontium. Die Iulii 23, 1840.
I said a mass of thanksgiving at the foot of this mountain, surrounded by my savages, who intoned chants to the praise of God, and installed myself in the land in the name of our holy founder. Let us implore his aid, that through his intercession in heaven, this immense desert, which offers such great hopes, may speedily be filled with worthy and unwearying laborers. To-day is the accepted time to preach the gospel to these different nations. The apostles of Protestantism are beginning to crowd in and pick out the best places, and soon the cupidity and avarice of civilized man will make the same inroads here as in the east, and the abominable influence of the vices of the frontier will interpose the same barrier to the introduction of the gospel, which all the savages seem to have a great desire to know, and which they will follow with fidelity, like the Flatheads and Pend d'Oreilles.
During all my stay in the mountains, I said the holy mass regularly Sundays and feast-days, as well as on days when the Indians did not break camp in the morning; the altar was made of willows; my blanket made an altar cloth, and all the lodge was adorned with images and wild flowers; the Indians knelt without in a circle of about 200 feet, surrounded by little pines and cedars, set out expressly; they tools assiduous part with the greatest modesty, attention and devotion, and since various nations were among them, they chanted the praises of God in the Flathead, Nez Percé and Iroquois languages. The Canadians, my Fleming and I sang chants in French, English and Latin. The Flat