animated him. His holy death crowned all his labors. A martyr of charity, he exercised his sacred ministry to his very agony. Sad, but salutary, will ever be the remembrance of that last solemn and affecting hour. What friends could ever offer or take a more touching or more religious farewell ?
The passengers were deeply moved at the sight of the lifeless corpse of him who had so lately been " all to all," according to the language of the apostle. Their kind father quitted them at the moment in which his services seemed to be the most necessary. I shall always remember with deep gratitude the solicitude evinced by the passengers to the reverend father in his dying moments. My resolution not to leave the body of the pious missionary in the desert was unanimously approved. A decent coffin, very thick, and tarred within, was prepared to receive his mortal remains: a temporary grave was dug in a beautiful forest, in the vicinity of the mouth of the Little Sioux, and the burial was performed with all the ceremonies of the Church, in the evening of the 19th of June, all on board assisting.
About a month after, on her return, as the St. Ange passed near the venerated tomb, the coffin was exhumed, put on board of the boat, and transported to the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Florissant. There repose the mortal re mains of .Father Hoeken, with those of his brethren. His death, so precious in the sight of God, saddened the hearts of the passengers, but for many it was a salutary sorrow. A great number had not approached the tribunal of penance during long years; immediately after the funeral, they repaired one after another to my cabin to confess.
Five more passengers were also fatally attacked, but received before expiring the consolations of my ministry. The languor and weakness to which the fever had reduced me quitted me insensibly: after a lapse of some days I found myself perfectly recovered, so that I was able to celebrate mass on board and devote my whole time to the sick.
As the boat ascended the river and penetrated farther