to point out to travelers the course they are to pursue. It was growing late, and the captain resolved to steer out into the open sea, to avoid the danger of running aground during the night. As the vessel moved slowly onward, leaving the shore in the distance, we stood out on deck, contemplating from afar the high mountains and vast forests of Oregon. Here and there we could distinguish wisps of smoke curling upward from the huts of our poor Indians. This sight filled my soul with indescribable emotions. It would be necessary to be placed in the same position, to understand fully what were then our feelings. Our hearts palpitated with joy as we gazed on those boundless regions, over which were scattered so many abandoned souls - the young, the aged - dying in the shades of infidelity, for want of missionaries; an evil which we were about to alleviate, if not for all, at least for a great number.
On the 29th all the Fathers celebrated the holy sacrifice, wishing to offer a last violence to heaven and force, as it were, a benediction on our mission. The morning was dark and gloomy: so were our spirits. About ten o'clock the sky cleared, and allowed us to approach, with caution, the vast and fearful mouth of the Columbia. There was nothing anywhere but enormous breakers, and no way of avoiding them appeared. Consternation was general. " This is really perishing in port," said one.
" It is no use," said another, " we can never cross." They even came to me and proposed taking us to the Sandwich Islands. Those who were brought to these distant shores by the loftier motives seemed to be the only ones who preserved some gleam of hope: but neither did they perceive any way of arriving at the desired haven. One of the small boats had been made ready to go out and sound, but the weather was so bad that it could not be launched. On the 3oth the north wind was succeeded by a perfect calm, but that was no more favorable to our entry than the wind. About ten in the morning a breeze sprang up