bush along the river. On entering the boat I was an object of great curiosity - my black gown, my missionary cross, my long hair, attracted attention. 1 had thousands of questions to answer and many long stories to relate about my journey.
I have but a few words to acid. I baptized some fifty little ones, principally in the forts. The waters were low, the sand-banks and snags everywhere numerous; the boat consequently encountered many obstacles in her passage. We were frequently in great danger of perishing. Her keel was pierced by pointed rocks, her sides rent by the snags. Twenty times the wheels had been broken to pieces. The pilot's house had been carried away in the tempest; the whole cabin would have followed if it. had not been made fast by a large cable. Our boat appeared to be little more than a mere wreck, and in this wreck, after forty-six days' navigation from the Yellowstone, we arrived safely at St. Louis.
On the last Sunday of October, at twelve o'clock, I was kneeling at the foot of St. Mary's Altar, in the Cathedral, offering up my thanksgiving to God for the signal protection he had extended to his poor, unworthy 5crvant. From the beginning of April I had traveled 5,000 miles. I had descended and ascended the dangerous Columbia river. I had seen five of my companions perish in one of those life-destroying whirlpools, so justly dreaded by those who navigate that stream. I had traversed the Willamette, crossed the Rocky Mountains, passed through the country of the Blackfeet, the desert of the Yellowstone, and descended the Missouri; and in all these journeys I had not received the slightest injury. "Donainus mentor fuit nostri et benedixit nobis."
Life, Letters and Travels of Father De Smet among the North American Indians.