pilot is not a native Indian, he is not an Iroquois, nor even a Canadian." The turbulent stream soon engulfed its presumptuous and daring victims. They steered out into the midst of the river, and in an instant the canoe was borne along with the rapidity of lightning, leaving in its train a thick foam, caused by the violent plying of oars. Approach ing the rapids, they fearlessly hurried onward. Alas, their fate was soon to be decided. Drawn by the eddy into the center of a whirlpool, vainly they struggled to extricate themselves -they beheld the dread abyss yawning to receive its prey! Yet an instant the ill-fated barge twirled upon the surface, and then sank amidst the despairing shrieks of the helpless crew, which the roaring waves rendered the more appalling, whilst the dismal sounds, reechoing from shore to shore, proclaimed a new disaster of the Columbia. Soon the waters resumed their wonted course, and left no trace of the sad catastrophe. This fatal spot might appropriately be designated Presumptive's Rapids; doubtless it will be a lesson to future boasters not to venture, without pilot or guide, upon this formidable tributary of the western ocean.
After a prosperous voyage of five days I debarked at Vancouver, where I had the happiness of meeting Father Nobili, who during eight months had applied himself to study the Indian language, while he exercised his sacred ministry among the Catholic employees of the fort and the Indians of the neighborhood. More than a tenth of the latter had been swept off by a mortal disease; happily, they all had the consolation of receiving baptism before they expired.
Father Nobili accompanied me in a Chinook canoe up the beautiful river of Multnomah or Willamette, a distance of about sixty miles, as far as the village of Champoeg, three miles from our residence of St. Francis Xavier. On our arrival all the fathers came to meet us, and great was our delight in being again reunited after a long winter season. The Italian fathers had applied themselves chiefly to