Ltaoten,l which names vary according to the different places where the tents are pitched. They affix the word ten which signifies people, i. e., Stelaoten, Nashkoten, Tchilkoten, Nakazeteoten. Reverend Mr. Deniers had the consolation of baptizing 436 children among these tribes.
Such has since been the fervor and zeal of these poor Indians, that, though deprived of a priest, they have built three churches, hoping that a nepapayattok, or father, would settle among them.
Many Catholics reside in the different forts of this country. The honorable gentlemen of the Hudson Bay Company, although Protestants, were strongly interested in favor of these savages, and did all in their power to facilitate the introduction of a clergyman into this portion of their jurisdiction.
A few days after the departure of Father Nobili, who obtained a place in a barge belonging to the Honorable Hudson Bay Company, I started by land from St. Francis Xavier's with eleven horses laden with plows, spades, pickaxes, scythes and carpenters' implements. My companions were the good Brother McGil, from Ireland [J. B. McGean?], and two niche or mongrels [half-breeds]. We encountered many obstacles and difficulties among the Cascade Mountains owing to the water which at this season descends on every side in torrents and with i~ sistible fury upon the rocks, over which we were compelled to cross. In the narrow valleys between these mountains, the rhododendron displays all its strength and beauty; it rises to the height of fifteen or twenty feet. Entire groves are formed by thousands of these shrubs, whose clustering branches entwine themselves in beautiful green arches, adorned with innumerable bouquets of splendid flowers, varying their hues from the pure white to the deepened tint of the crimsoned rose.
23 This name is given variously as Ltaoten and Itcaten in different letters of Father De Smets. Mackenzie, who met these Indians in 179.3, gave their native name as Nagailer,