CHAPTER XI.
RETURN TO ST. LOUIS IN FALL OF 1842.1
Safely through Blackfoot country-Agreeable visit with the Crows -They make moral resolves -Continues journey with small escortThrough the dark and bloody ground-Routine of travel-Bill of' fare - Tleets a steamboat- Perils of Upper River navigation-Safe arrival at St. Louis.
N1 my last letter of August, I promised to write to you from St. Louis, should I arrive safely in that city. Heaven has preserved me, and here I am about to fulfil my promise. Leaving Reverend Father Point and the Flathead camp on the river Madison, I was accompanied by twelve of our Indians. We traveled in three days a distance of 150 miles, crossing two chains of mountains, in a section of country frequently visited by the Blackfeet warriors, without, however, meeting with any of these scalping savages. At the mouth of the Twenty-five Yard river, a branch of the Yellowstone, we found 250 huts, belonging to several nations, all friendly to us - the Flatheads, Kalispels, Nez Percés, Cayuses, and Snakes. I spent three days amongst them to exhort them to perseverance, and to make some preparations for my long journey. The day of my departure, ten neophytes presented themselves at my lodge to serve as my escort, and to introduce me to the Crow tribe.
On the evening of the second day we were in the midst of this large and interesting tribe. The Crows had Percéived us from a distance; as we approached, some of them recog
I This chapter consists of Letter XVI, Letters apsd Sketches and the last letter (XII) Voyages aux Al.-R. It was written at the University of St. Louis and sent in English to a Father of the Society, November 1, 1842, and to Father De Smet's brother Francis two days later. The English text is here followed where practicable.
s Fr. six.