BANCROFT LIBRARY 




- Y 

WESTERN 



MISSIONS AND MISSIONARIES: 



A SERIES OF LETTERS, 



BY 



/ f 
REV. P/J/DE SMET, 

OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS, 
AUTHOR OF " INDIAN SKETCHES," "OREGON MISSIONS," ETC. 





NEW YORK: 
JAMES B. KIRKER, 

LATE EDWARD DUNTIGAN AND BROTHER, 

599 BROADWAY (UP-STAIRS). 

IS03. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1859, 

BY JAMES B, KIRKEK, 

In the Clerk'a Office of the District Conrt of the United States for the Southern 
Dlstrtfct of 5ew York. 



CONTENTS. 



DESCRIPTIVE LETTERS. 
LETTER FAO 

I. Voyage from Belgium to Lima in 1844 13 

II. Journey to the Great Desert in 1849 The Prairies 26 

III. Journey to the Great Desert in 1849 The Mauvaises 

Terres 32 

IV. Journey to the Great Desert in 1849 The Ponkahs 36 

V. Journey to the Great Desert in 1849 The Ogallalla Chief.. 40 

VI. Journey to the Great Desert in 1849 Prospects of the 

Indians ... ,51 



I. Appeal to Belgium 58 

II. Journey to the Great Desert in 1851 Death of Father 

Hoeken 61 

III. Travels in the Great Desert in 1851 69 

IV. Travels in the Great Desert in 1851 70 

V. Travels in the Great Desert in 1851 90 

VI. Travels in the Great Desert in 1851 The Great Peace 

Council 101 

VII. Travels in the Great Desert in 1851 Homeward Journey . 112 

VIII. Voyage and Wreck on the Humboldt in 1853 121 

IX. The Letter of the Crazy Bear, Aesiniboin Chief 130 

X. Religious Opinions of the Assiniboins 134 

XI. Indian Hunts ; 146 

XII. Indian Warfare 156 

XIII. Tchatka, the Poisoner, an Assiniboin Chief ,. . . 168 

XIV. The Indian Question 206 

XV. Watomika and the Delawares 218 

XVI. Kistalwa and Maria, parents of Watomika 231 

XVII. Fire-worship 240 

XVIII. Four Tribes of the Black-Feet Gros-Ventres, Pegans, 

Blood-Tribe, and Black-Feet Proper 253 



t CONTENTS. 

LETTER FAGB 

XIX. The Sioux Father C. Hoeken's Letters 262 

XX. Tributes to the Flat-Heads Pater and Ave in Osage . . 275 

XXI. Oregon Missions * 280 

XXII. Indians of the Rocky Mountains 292 

XXIII. The Flat-Heads 295 

XXIV. The Flat-Heads-Father A. Hoeken's Letters 806 

XXV. The Potawatomies 319 

XXVI. The Potawatomies Father Duerinck's Letter 330 

XXVII. Excursion among the Potawatomies 341 

XXVIII. The Osages Father Bax's First Letter 350 

XXIX. The Osages Father Bax's Second Letter 361 

XXX. The Osages Father Bax's Third Letter 871. 

XXXI. Conversion of Randolph Benton, son of Hon. T. H. 

Benton 373 

XXXII. Religious Situation of St. Louis and St. Ferdinand- 
Death of Father Bax The Osages 378 

XXXIII. The Mormons 390 

XXXIV. Missions of Kentucky 398 

XXXV. The Umilines of America 406 

XXXVI. Voyage of the Leopold I. from Antwerp to New York. 417 



BIOGRAPHICAL LETTERS. 

XXXVII. Rev. Charles Nerinckx 424 

XXXVIII. Father Charles Felix Van Quickenborne, S. J 464 

XXXIX. Father Theodore de Theux, S. J 474 

XL. Father John Anthony Elet, S. J 486 

XLI. Father John Baptist Smedts, S. J 492 

XL1I. Father Francis Xavier d'lloop, S. J 495 

X LI 1 1 . 1 Vuth of the Rij/ht Rev. James O. Van de Velde 499 

XLIV. Father John Nubili, S. J 508 

X LV. Father Anthony Eysvogels, S. J 520 

XLVI. Father John B. Duerinck, S. J 521 



PREFACE TO THE BELGIAN EDITION. 



BY FATHEK EDWAED TEBWECOEEN, 8. J. 



CHARLES NERINCKX, formerly parish priest of Ever- 
berg-Meerbeek, near Louvain, in Belgium, and early 
missionary of Kentucky, made two voyages to Eu 
rope to obtain pecuniary aid and fellow-soldiers for 
the conquest of souls in the New World. 

In July, 1821, on leaving Belgium, which he was 
never again to see, he was accompanied by several 
Belgians namely, Felix Yerreydt, of Diest ; Josse 
Yan Assche, of St. Amand ; Peter Joseph Yerhae- 
geii, of Haecht ; John Baptist Smedts, of Rotselaer ; 
John Anthony Elet, of St. Amand ; and Peter John 
De Smet, of Termonde. 

The last named, who had just attained his twenty- 
first year, began by this first voyage his long and 
perilous courses by seas and torrents, deserts and 
forests, amid whites and Indians in a word, the 



8 PltKFACK. 

thousand dangers and privations which surround an 
apostolic man in his far-distant and solitary expedi 
tions. 

The bold and evangelical peregrinations of our 
fellow-countryman and brother in Christ have been 
crowned with the most consoling results for the 
Church, and by a necessary consequence for true 
civilization, which is effected by Catholicism. The 
apostolate of Father De Smet is pursued until 
this da,y with zeal and perseverance. Already, in 
1853, his united journeys represented an extent of 
land and water su rpassing five times the circumfer 
ence of the globe ! Since then he has crossed the 
ocean three times, and traversed immense coun 
tries. We offer ardent prayers that God may long 
preserve this untiring laborer in the vineyard of the 
Lord. 

Following the example of his predecessors in the 
labors of foreign missions, Father De Smet has taken 
numerous notes concerning the countries he has 
visited. These notes, the result of profound study of 
men and things, have a bearing on several branches 
of science and the arts: Geography, Natural History, 
Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Manners, Customs, 
( 'ivrds all are here. To be convinced of the extent 
and variety of these notes, as well as of the pictu 
resque and curious adventures of the traveller, it 



TKEFACE. 9 

suffices to look at the contents, or glance through 
the volume. 

Similar subjects have been treated in the preced 
ing works of the missionary, of which we deem it 
useful to give the bibliography. 

1. Letters and Sketches, with a Narrative of a Year's Resi 
dence among the Indian Tribes of the Rocky -Mountains. Phila 
delphia, published by M. Fithian, 1843. 120, pp. ix.-252. 

Voyages aux Montagnes-Rocheuses, et une annee de sejour 
chez les Tribus Indiennes du vaste Territoire de V Oregon depen 
dant des Etats- Unis d'Amerique, par le K. P. Pierre De Smet, 
missionnaire de la Compagnie de Jesus. Malines, P. J. Hanicq, 
1844. In-12, pp. vi.-304. 

Reis naar het Rotsgebergte {Rocky Mountains), door Eerw. 
wader De Smet, Belgisch zendeling in de Vereenigde Staten. 
1840-1841. De venter, bij J. W. Robijns en comp. 

An edition in Italian, issued by Louis Prevete. Palermo, 1847. 

2. Oregon Missions and Travels over the Rocky Mountains 
in 1845-46. New York, published by Edward Dunigan, 1847. 
120, pp. xii.-408. 

3. Missions de V Oregon et voyages aux Montagnes-Rocheuses 
et aux Sources de la Colombie, de V Athabasca et du Sascatsha- 
win en 1845-46, par le Pere P. J. De Smet, de la Societe de 
Jesus. Gand, Van der Schelden. In-12, pp. ix.-389. (L'appro- 
bation est de 1848.) Translated by Father De Smet. 

Missien van den Oregon en Reizen naer de Rotsbergen en 
de Bronnen der Colombia, der Athabasca en Sascatshawin in 
1845-46. Door Pater P. J. De Smet. Gend, W 9 Van der Schel 
den. In-12. 

Missions de T Oregon et Voyages dans les Montagnes-Rocheuses 
en 1845-46, par le Pere P. J. De Smet, de la Societe de Jesus. 



10 PKKFACF. 

Ouvrage traduit de.l'anglais par M. Bourlez. Paris, librairie 
de Poussielgue-Rusand. A Lyon, chez J. B. Pelagaud et Cie. 
1848. In-12, pp. 408. (Paris, impriraerie de Poussielgue.) 
A different translation from that issued in Belgium. 

4. Voyage au Grand Desert en 1851, par le R. P. Pierre De 
Srnet, missionnaire de la Compagnie de Jesus. Bruxelles, im- 
primerie de J. Vandereydt, 1853. In-18, pp. 436, tire a part des 
Precis Historiques du P. Terwecoren% 

6. The Indian Missions in the United States of America, under 
the care of the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus. Phila 
delphia, King & Baird, 1841. 12, pp. 34. Contains: To the 
most Ifov. Archbishop and Right Rev. Bishops in Provincial 
Council assembled. Dated St. Louis, May 3d, 1830, signed P. 
J. Verhaegen. Extract from a Letter of Father De Smet, mis 
sionary among the Pottawatomie Indians, 1838, pp. 922. A 
letter from the same, dated St. Louis University, February 4th, 
1841, pp. 22-34. 

6. Cinquante Nbuvelles Lettres du R. P. De Srnet, de la Com 
pagnie de Jesus et missionnaire en Amerique, publi^es par Ed. 
Terwecoren, de la meme compagnie. Paris et Tournai, II. 
Casterman, 1858. In-12, pp. ix.-504. 

Such are the principal publications on the thirty- 
seven years' journeys of the missionary of the Rocky 
Mountains. We hope soon to be able to complete 
and publish in the Precis Historiques a succinct 
table of all these expeditions, or an Itinerary of the 
Yoyages and Missions of Father Be Smet. This 
table, drawn up in chronological order, will contain 
the names of the places visited or seen successively 
since 1821, and some brief remarks, as well as the 
number of miles travelled. 



PREFACE. 11 

We adopted as the motto of the work which we 
edit these words of Father De Smet : " Never have I 
remarked the least sign to alarm modesty." They 
show that the works of Father De Smet may be read 
by all without distinction. And although this cor 
respondence relates to the gross and nomadic tribes, 
there is never a word which need alarm the most 
chaste, or excite a blush on even a virginal brow. 
" Never," says he, speaking of the amusements of the 
savages at Fort Laramie " Never did I remark the 
slightest indication which could shock the most con? 
scientious modesty!". These words are a lesson to 
those civilized men and pretended civilizers who style 
savages the unfortunate Indians, whose morality Eu 
rope does not possess. 

May the reading of these interesting recitals arouse 
Catholics to contribute their aid to Foreign Missions, 
and promote in hearts of generous mould the voca 
tion to the apostolical ministry ! there are so many 
souls to save. 

How beautiful is the faith which produces those 
valorous missionaries ! Armed with the sole stand 
ard of the cross, with no other compass than obedi 
ence, with no star of the ocean but Mary, they run 
fearlessly to their goal, which is the attainment of 
God's greater glory by the salvation of souls. They 
wait but for the opportunity of saving one soul, to 



12 PREFACE. 

fly to unexplored countries, to ever-growing dangers 
of death. Strangers to the wealth, the honors, the 
pleasures of this world, disinterested in all their un 
dertakings, they taste no other consolation amid in 
furiated waves, in frightful solitudes, in the primeval 
forest, than that of passing through them to do 
good. How efficacious is the grace of God ! It 
creates heroes ! To these apostolic men, the natural 
courage and strength which form noble characters 
and men of superior stamp will not suffice. All 
human qualities are powerless in accomplishing such 
vast designs, and in correspondence with the inspira 
tions of those magnanimous hearts. Athletes of 
heaven, heralds of faith, missionaries of the everlast 
ing Gospel, they take their weapons at the -foot of the 
tabernacle, and derive their force from the flesh and 
blood of the Lamb. 

ED. TERWECOREN, 

OJT THI SOCIETY or JBSCB. 

BRUSSELS, 3d of the month of Mary, > 

Feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross, 1858. ) 



WESTERN MISSIONS, Etc. 



Letter I, 

LIMA, 26th May, 1844. 
REVEREND AND DEAR FATHER PROVINCIAL : 

Some time ago I wrote to you from Valparaiso ; I now 
write from Peru. We arrived here the llth inst,, after a 
short and happy voyage from Chili. The distance is about 
600 leagues (1500 miles). The ocean, appropriately called 
Pacific, was smooth, and tranquil ; the wind was favorable, 
not the slightest accident has troubled our minds during the 
passage ; without taking in any of the sails which were un 
furled at Valparaiso, and without deviating a single line 
from its course, our ship reached the road of Callao, which 
is about two leagues from Lima. On the day of our arrival 
I offered up the holy sacrifice, during which was sung the 
Te Deum to render thanks to the Lord for the signal favor 
which he had bestowed upon us. From Valparaiso I have 
sent your reverence a circumstantial account of our long 
voyage to this place from the mouth of the Scheld. As my 
letter may not have reached you, I shall here repeat the sub 
stance. 

On the 9th January we prepared to leave the Scheld with 



14 WESTERN MISSIONS 

an eastern wind, for which we had waited twenty-eight days, 
and to enter the North Sea. Early in the morning two masses 
were celebrated on board. All was animation around us. Sev 
eral other ships made preparation to leave, and the air resound 
ed with the naval songs of the sailors, who in their respective 
tongues bade farewell to the road of Ramnekens. One of 
the ships, commanded by Capt. De Cock and crowded with 
German emigrants for Texas, was carried forward by the force 
of the wind and current, and struck the stern of ours. The 
cries of distress uttered by the passengers responded to the 
crushing of the timbers. Both ships sustained some injury, 
but all ended in reproaches and expostulations between the 
pilots. We were more frightened than injured. At 3 o'clock 
p. M. we put to sea. When" opposite Flushing, Mother 
Constantine, Superior-general of the Ladies of Notre Dame, 
and the Superior of the houses of Namur and Ghent, took 
leave of their Sisters (all were in tears), and were put ashore. 
Like a noble steed impatient of restraint, the Indefatigable 
sprang forward, bounding over the limpid deep. We soon 
beheld another scene. Neptune exacted his tribute. Each 
passenger offered his libation to the implacable deity. The 
night was dark and stormy ; the wind unfavorable. After 
passing Calais, we were in danger of being thrown on the 
coast of France. On the 13th we were in the neighborhood 
of Plymouth, and on the following day we entered the broad 
Atlantic. On the 20th we were in sight of tjie island of Ma 
deira. The next day we had a calm, the sea was as smooth 
as a mirror ; the thermometer indicated nineteen degrees 
of heat (seventy-five of Fahrenheit). During the calm we re 
ceived a visit from a neighboring ship. Five men approached 
us in H boat. We invited them to come on deck. They refused, 
alleging that, as they were bound for Marseilles, they would 
be subjected to the quarantine, unless they could declare on 



AND MISSIONARIES. 15 

oatli that they had not been on board of any other vessel 
during the voyage. The steersman informed us that he had 
been captain of the French ship La Fdicite, which had 
been wrecked on the African coast, and that the Ant (the 
ship that lay near us) had taken him and his crew on board. 
After ascertaining our longitude and asking some questions 
about France, they took charge of some letters and left us. 
On Sunday, 28th, the sea was so much agitated that we 
could not celebrate. On such occasions all received the 
holy communion. On the preceding Wednesday, Thursday, 
and Friday, we had the happiness of offering up the holy 
sacrifice. It was also our custom to sing vespers on deck 
in the evening. 

On the 1st of February we came in sight of Sfc Anthony, 
one of the Cape Verd Islands. On the following day, the 
Feast of the Purification, we assembled at nine o'clock P. M. 
to sing canticles and the litany in honor of the Blessed 
Virgin. Never, perhaps, have the Atlantic and Pacific 
oceans resounded as long and as regularly with the praises 
of this kind Mother, who is our hope and consolation in the 
dangers to which we are exposed. 

" "We felt how she can calm impart, 
"Who, though in heaven's snpremest place, 
Bears as on earth a Mother's heart. 
We hoped that she would guard us she, 
Bright Mother of Him who walk'd the sea." 

On the 6th and 7th we had another calm, and the ther 
mometer stood at thirty-five degrees (eighty-eight of Fahren 
heit). It did not rise higher on the Atlantic, though I 
feared that under the line we would have had to suffer much 
from the heat. On the 10th we had ten vessels in sight. 
On the 13th, about eight o'clock p. M., we had a slight breeze, 
which brought a Dutch vessel near us. They approached 



1C WRSTERN MISSIONS 

us with the sound of music, and the soldiers on board sang 
military songs, which formed a strange contrast with the 
litanies of the Blessed Virgin which we were singing at the 
time. We hailed each other : " From Rotterdam to Bata- 
via," was answered by " From Antwerp to Valparaiso." . On 
the 14th we were near the line. At night tne sailors gave 
three shouts in honor of Neptune. A tar-barrel was kindled 
and called Neptune's fire. Soon after a gruff voice was 
heard from the mainmast, asking, " Captain, how many pas 
sengers have you?" "Twelve," was the answer. "Well, 
let them be prepared, I am Neptune's envoy ; to-morrow he 
will come in person to administer baptism to them." On 
the following morning a shout was raised : " Neptune ! Nep 
tune ! !" We accompanied the captain on deck to pay 
homage to his marine majesty and his court. We found 
the sea-god accoutred in such a manner that any one would 
have supposed that he had undertaken to personate Pluto. 
His courtiers vied w r ith him in grotesque apparel. They 
were all over besmeared with tar. The pretended deity be 
gan by promising the captain a prosperous voyage ; after 
which, turning to me, he requested me to submit to the 
operation of the razor. As superior of the passengers, I 
promised to treat for all. He insisted upon shaving us first. 
A spirited dialogue took place between us. At last he told 
me in a whisper that he would do the thing decently, and 
begged me not to deprive the sailors of their only fun. I 
submitted. His basin was a tub, his napkin a piece of sail 
cloth, and a hand-brush and wooden sword completed his 
implements. As soon as I had gone through the operation, 
I withdrew, knowing what was to follow. My companions 
were called one after another to the barber's stool. On a 
signal given, Neptune commanded baptism, and a deluge of 
\\.-it.-r came down on my poor companions. The Sisters, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 17 

who were exempted from passing through the ceremony, en 
joyed the laughable scene. Next came a sea-fight between 
the sailors. All the buckets were put in requisition, and 
were filled and emptied with astonishing dexterity. At 
length, exhausted with fatigue, all retired. After some time 
they reappeared in their best clothes, and played all sorts 
of antics. The whole terminated with an extra supper, 
and a donation to the sailors. On the 1st of March we 
had three vessels in sight,, and at night we beheld a meteor 
of a most beautiful appearance. For a considerable time we 
had opportunities to admire the three nebula3 of Magellan. 
Two of them are luminous, the third is dark. They seem to 
be at a distance of thirty degrees from each other ; their un 
defined forms have about five degrees diameter. Their 
heiglit on the southern horizon varies in proportion as the 
latitude increases towards the Antartic pole. On the 3d the 
thunder rolled in all directions, and at night a violent hail 
storm burst from the clouds. Nothing remarkable occurred 
till the 16th, when we came in sight of the Falkland Isles. 

Three days after we found ourselves close to the South 
Shetland Isles. During the night of the 20th two large 
icebergs floated by us ; they appeared about a hundred 
feet above the surface of the sea. Soon after we saw the 
volcanic rocks called Greenock, and the rocky islands of 
San Ildefonso and- San Diego. A few days after we were 
overtaken by a violent tempest which tore our sails, and 
our ship became the sport of the winds and waves. Scarce 
ly did we begin to breathe when, we were subjected to a 
still greater trial. A strong gale arose and drove us di 
rectly towards the land, which soon appeared to our view. 
The danger was imminent. The ship had become unman 
ageable. All on deck, in breathless expectation, had their 
eyes fixed on the frightful rocks that line the Patagonian 



18 WESTERN MISSIONS 

coast. We awaited in silence the accomplishment of the 
designs of Divine Providence. I hastened down to the cabin 
to warn the Sisters of the danger, and to offer them the help 
of my ministry. They were engaged in imploring the pro 
tection of Heaven through the intercession of the Blessed 
Virgin. You will naturally suppose that on my intimation 
of the danger, they gave vent to their feelings in lamenta 
tions and cries of distress. Quite the reverse. "With a 
smile on their lips, and with that unalterable peace of mind 
which proceeds from a pure conscience and a heart inflamed 
with the love of God, they replied that they were not 
alarmed, and that they abandoned themselves to the will of 
God. I returned to the deck. The wind suddenly changed 
and wafted us away from the land. On the 2d of April \ve 
steered towards the coast, and on the next day we were near 
the Peninsula of the Three Mountains. On the following 
Sunday, 7th of April, being the Feast of Easter, the motion 
of the ship was so considerable that I ordered the altar to 
be transported to a private cabin, where, with the assistance 
of one of the Fathers, I celebrated the holy mysteries. All 
received the holy communion on that occasion. On th.e 8th 
and 9th we coasted along the shores of Chili, and after pass 
ing the dangerous rocks of Mara, we <Mit<-iv<l the port of 
Valparaiso on the 12th, about live oYWk, i*. M. 

We remained on board till the following dav. The city 
presented a most picturesque appearance. Built on a ran ^3 
of hills, it presents the form of a semicircular amphitheatre 
along the coast. The sight was gratifying to us, who had 
been for more than three months confined to the ship, and 
J^id beheld nothing but sky and water, with the exception 
of a few barren coasts an<i frightful rocks. Early the next 
day I repaired to the city to look out for lodgings for our 
company. I soon returned with the welcome news that sev- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 19 

eral Jesuits were assembled in Valparaiso, where they had 
been convened to make a spiritual retreat, and that a com 
munity of French ladies, belonging to the Order of Picpus, 
invited the ladies of Notre Dame to lodge at their house. 
Great was the joy with which all hastened to tread the 
American soil, and still greater the joy with which we were 
welcomed to our respective lodgings. Nothing could exceed 
the kindness and attention that were bestowed on us all. 
The Fathers of the Order of Picpus have also an establish 
ment here ; for several years they have had a school, and 
they render great services to religion. 

On Tuesday, the 16th, I set out for Santiago, the capital 
of Chili, in company with the Reverend Fathers Gomila, Su 
perior of the Missions, and Landan. We had two carriages, 
and each carriage had two horses, one mounted by the pos 
tillion ; another conductor, on horseback, aided us in the 
steepest places. Four spare horses followed or preceded us 
without rope or bridle, and never strayed from the carriages, 
though the distance between Valparaiso and Santiago is 
more than ninety miles. A part of the way resembles that 
of Mount Simplon, and is much frequented. We passed a 
large number of wagons with teams of six or eight oxen, 
several other vehicles, and droves of horses, mules, and asses, 
all loaded with merchandise. We crossed two ridges of 
mountains that are linked to the Cordilleras. The two prin 
cipal passes, remarkable for their height, are called Cerra- 
Puerto and Questa de Zapato. We lodged at a little vil 
lage called Cura-cavi. The general aspect of the country 
between the two cities bears some resemblance to that of the 
Rocky Mountains, but the soil is extremely barren. On the 
following day we crossed the second ridge by the pass da 
Prado, and the torrent of the same name, which was forded, 
for bridges are almost unknown in this country. It seldom 



20 WESTERN MISSIONS 

rains in Chili, and when the torrents are swollen by the 
melting of the snows or the heavy rains, the communication 
is interrupted for a few days. About noon we arrived at the 
mansion of Senor Ruiz-Tagle, one of the richest proprietors 
of the Chilian Republic. He received and treated us with 
the greatest cordiality. In the evening he took us to the 
city in his own carriage, which he left at ur disposal. 

The city of Santiago is situated in a delightful valley, at 
the foot of the . Mapoclio Mountains, 33 35' southern lati 
tude, and 73 4' longitude west from the meridian of Paris, 
2410 Spanish feet above the level of the sea. It was 
founded by Don Pedro de Valdivia, in 1541. Its stately 
edifices, its public establishments, and its commerce and pop 
ulation, amounting to more than 100,000 souls, and still 
daily increasing, make it one of the principal cities of South 
America. It is surrounded by mountains that are called 
the crown of Santiago. Beyond them are seen the summits 
of the Andes covered with eternal snows. The streets of 
the city are large and straight. The vast public square is 
adorned with a beautiful fountain, representing the statue of 
Liberty crowning another statue that represents the country. 
The principal edifices are the governor's palace, the mint, 
the archiepiscopal palace, the stately cathedral (not yet com 
pleted), the church of the Jesuits, and their college, which 
.now belongs to the city. There are, besides these, ten other 
churches that are sufficiently handsome and capacious. Be 
fore the suppression, we had here four houses of the Society. 
At present there are two convents of Dominicans, two of 
Augustinians, three of Franciscans, and two of the Order for 
the Redemption of Captives.* There are also eight monas 
teries of religious ladies. The ladies of Picpus are the only 
ones that keep a boarding-school, conducted on the samo 
principles as that of Valparaiso. They give a finished edu- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 21 

cation to the young ladies belonging to the first families of 
the country, and they give gratuitous instruction to about 
three hundred children of the inferior classes. The peofle 
seem to be gifted with an excellent character and happy dis- ' 
position, and are warmly attached to the religion of their 
forefathers. The government prospers under the shadow of 
peace, and the wisdom of a well-conducted administration. 
It extends its solicitude to the Araucanians, a savage tribe be 
yond -the river Bobio to the south, and bordering on the 
country of the Patagonians. Preparations are being made 
to carry the light of faith to those tribes which have been 
so long left in darkness, but show the most favorable dis 
positions to correspond to the zeal of the missionaries whom 
it will please Divine Providence to send to them. 

Valparaiso, by its commerce and population, about 40,000 
souls, is the next largest city of Chili. Here, as in Santiago, 
the buildings are of brick and but one story high, as earth 
quakes are frequent and violent in this country. The poor, 
who are very numerous, live in huts made of straw or 
boughs of trees. The interiors of the houses of the rich vie 
with the most splendid mansions of the European nobility. 
You are acquainted with the topography of this republic, 
which, on account of the beauty of its sky, the tempera 
ture of its climate, and the general fertility of its soil, is con 
sidered one of the most delightful countries in the world. 
The spring commences in September, summer in December, 
winter in June, and autumn -in March. From the com 
mencement of spring till the middle of autumn, the heavens 
are ever serene. The rains begin to fall towards the end of 
April, and often last till the middle of September. In the 
province of Coquimbo it" rains but twice or thrice a year, 
and this only for a few hours. In the provinces of Santiago, 
Aconcana, and Colcha, rain generally lasts three days, and 



22 WESTERN MISSIONS 

is then succeeded by twelve or fifteen days of fine weather. 
The rains are more copious in proportion as we advance fur 
ther south towards the Isle of Chiloe. The want of rain in 
the north is supplied by heavy dews which fall during the 
dry seasons. The temperature, which varies according to 
the seasons, is generally favorable to health. 

On the 3d of May we left the port of Valparaiso with a 
favorable wind, and, as I have already mentioned, in eight 
days we reached the harbor of Lima. The city is seen from 
the roads, and also the town of Callao, situated on the coast 
about two leagues from the capital. Father Gomila had 
offered to accompany us from Valparaiso and to act as inter 
preter, for he speaks Spanish and French, and with him I re 
paired to the city to find suitable lodgings for our company, 
who were to follow us on the succeeding day. The people 
of the city, which is very extensive, and contains a popula 
tion of 40,000 souls, were* soon apprised of the arrival of 
Jesuits. They came in crowds to kiss our hands. A re 
spectful old gentleman exclaimed, " O Fathers, how happy I 
am to see my wishes accomplished ! You are the first 
Jesuits who set foot in my country since the suppression of 
your Border. May God be praised ! Still happier would I 
be were you to remain among us." We went to lodge at 
the house of a zealous priest named Mateo Aguilar. On 
the following day we paid our respects to the bishop (Lumi- 
pizarro), who has been presented to the Roman court as suc 
cessor to the late archbishop. lie received us with great 
affection, and spoke in terms of praise and esteem of our 
Society. We also visited the principal churches and estab 
lishments of the city, after which we prepared to return to 
Callao. The omnibus, with five horses, which I had hired 
to convey us from the port of Lima, was by some accident 
detained nearly half an hour. The people came from all 



AND MISSIONARIES. ZC? 

quarters to see us, and the carriage was soon surrounded by 
a numerous crowd. Mothers, and among them ladies of dis 
tinction, pressed through the crowd, held up their children, 
kissed the hands and veils of the Sisters, and conjured them 
to remain and establish themselves in the city. The men, 
too, showed us the greatest respect. The same regard and 
affection were manifested along the road. The people were 
prompted to act in this manner by the conviction that the 
education of youth is neglected in their country, and they 
severely feel the want of it. When the Sisters arrived in 
Lima, they took up their lodgings at an old Carmelite con 
vent, now converted into an orphan asylum. The crowd 
poured into the building after them. For four or five days 
they received visits from morning till night. The most re 
spectable families came with their interpreters, and vied with 
each other in showing them marks of kindness and affec 
tion. They were obliged to accept three carriages, in which, 
accompanied by the principal ladies of the city, they visited 
the churches and the other establishments. When they 
alighted at any place, the people crowded around them, even 
in the churches, to kiss their hands, their heads, and veils. 
The humble Sisters received this homage with reluctance, 
but they were to them a heartfelt consolation; and who 
knows whether they may not prove instrumental in the de 
signs of Providence to obtain the object of this kind-hearted 
people ? There is not a single religious order in this city 
that devotes its labors to teach the inferior classes. Hence 
their want and desire of instruction. I went with my com 
panions to lodge at the former college of the Society, called 
St. Paul's, where we all occupied the same room. The 
establishment is very extensive, covering one of the square 
blocks of the city, and is divided into four square buildings, 
each having an area in the middle, and supported by a 



WESTERN MISSTOXS 

double colonnade. The roof is flat, as are all the roofs of all 
the churches and houses in Lima, for here it never rains. At 
a distance the city with its numerous domes presents a beau 
tiful prospect, but when we enter it all the buildings, appa 
rently without roofs, give it the appearance of a city in ruins. 
The streets are drawn at right angles and paved with round 
stones. They are crossed by large sewers that carry the filth 
to the river Limac, which divides the capital. One of the 
greatest curiosities of Lima is the fruit-market, by the abund 
ance and variety of tropical productions. There are seventy- 
two churches within the precincts of the city, including 
those of religious orders, which are numerous. The cathe 
dral, whose architecture is of the 16th century, is a magnifi 
cent pile. It fronts the large public square, on which is also 
built their archi episcopal palace. The other sides of the 
square are adorned with rich stores and colonnades. The 
main altar of the cathedral is a splendid piece of workman 
ship. It consists of three rows of columns supporting one 
another, and plated and ornamented with silver. 

Peru ! Land of gold and silver, with its fertile and beau 
tiful soil, and its temperate and healthy climate, once the 
terrestrial paradise of South America, now its poorest and 
most wretched region: thy commerce languishes; the edu 
cation of thy children is neglected ; the officers of thy venal 
army fly from standard to standard ; the ambition and faith 
lessness of thy leaders have exhausted thy treasury ; thy 
chiefs, destitute of patriotism, seek their own aggrandizement, 
and oppress thy people ; such is the state of things in Peru 
at. present, and it is feared the worst is still to come. 

To-day (16th May, Feast of Pentecost) we shall leave Cal- 

lao to continue our voyage. We expect to arrive at Fort 

uver, on the Columbia, in forty days, and shortly to 

embrace the Fathers sent from Missouri. I shall write a _' in 



AND MISSIONARIES. 25 

to acquaint you with whatever relates to me and my com 
panions. Remember me most affectionately to the Bishop 
and his clergy, and to all the Fathers, Scholastics, and Broth 
ers of the province as if named, and believe me to be with 
great respect and esteem, 

Very Reverend and Dear Father Provincial, 

Your most humble, obedient Son in Jesus Christ, 

P. J. DE SMBT, S. J. 
3 



26 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter II. 

To THE MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL COUNCILS OF LYONS 
AND PARIS. 

UNIVERSITY or ST. Louis, June 1, 1849. 
GENTLEMEN : 

A transient visit to some tribes of Sioux, on the Upper 
Missouri, on my way back from the Rocky Mountains, 
left in me an ardent desire to see those poor Indians 
again. I was anxious to judge more maturely of .their 
disposition, and ascertain with greater certainty what hopes 
might be entertained from the establishment of a Mission 
among them. During the course of last summer, my su 
periors granted me this truly consoling privilege. 

In order to reach their villages, I was obliged to ascend the 
Missouri as far as Bellevue (a village situated in the terri 
tory of the Ottos, 610 miles from St. Louis), and then pur 
sue my journey on horseback, over immense prairies, for 
about twenty-five days. An excursion through the magnifi 
cent plains of the great American desert, and, above all, in 
the vicinity of this noble river, which descends in innumera 
ble torrents from the Rocky Mountains, offers undoubtedly 
many charms, and might afford material for descriptions 
replete with interest ; but it would be a theme on which I 
have had predecessors, and, moreover, it would be giving the 
letters which I have the honor to address you an extent 
quite beyond what I dare assume. I will content myself 
with a sketch by Mr. Nicollet, my own experience enabling 
me to appreciate the exact fidelity of his picture. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 27 

" Consider the boundless extent of a prairie scan one by 
one its undulations, and borne as it were from wave to wave, 
from valley to hill-top, find yourself in presence of the limit 
less plain which is spread out before you ; journey onward 
hours, days, and weeks will succeed each other, and emotions 
of ever-varying delight will captivate the mind, while the 
spectacle of inexhaustible wealth and new beauties will fas 
cinate the eye. Without doubt there will be moments in 
which the ardors of a burning sun, and the privation of pure 
water capable of allaying thirst, will force you to remember 
that the best of earthly joys have their hidden thorn ; but 
these trials are rare and brief. A gentle breeze almost con 
tinually refreshes the atmosphere in these vast plains, and the 
surface is so uniform as to baffle a surprise from the most 
crafty enemy. The route is one field of verdure, enamelled 
with odoriferous wild-flowers, whose brilliant beauty has no 
witness but the azure firmament. It is particularly during 
summer that the aspect of the prairie? breathe gayety, grace, 
and life, and if there be any one moment in which they may 
excite all the sympathies of the traveller, it is when an 
Indian hunter, in pursuit of the deer or bison, animates this 
immense solitude with his presence and motions. I pity the 
man whose heart remains unaffected before so ravishing a 
spectacle !" 

My land-journey commenced at Bellevue, nine miles 
beyond the Nebraska or Platte River, thence to the mouth 
of the Niobrarah or Eau-qui-court, ten days' march. We 
met not a single Indian, and no vestige of human habitation 
greeted the eye. But ever and anon we distinguished small 
artificial mounds, erected by the hand of man ; irregular 
heaps of stones, and tombs containing the mortal remains of 
Indians, carefully wrapped in buffalo-robes. At times a soli 
tary post marked the spot where some brave had fallen in 



28 WESTERN MISSIONS 

the field of battle where reposed, perhaps, some ancient 
Nestor of the desert. These monuments, though with no 
epitaph to attest lofty deeds or transmit names to posterity, 
are a tribute of a feeling heart a mute testimony of the 
respect the Indian bears to the memory of a father or a 
friend, and of the value he attaches to the glory of his 
ancestors. Some herds of bison and dense flocks of deer, of 
several species, that fled at our approach, alone beguiled the 
tedium of the march. 

It is customary to encamp in places where the grass is 
fresh, which is generally on the border of a stream or pond 
of clear water. Care must also be taken for the safety of 
the horses during the night. To prevent all accident, they 
are hobbled enfarge, as the Canadian voyageurs say that 
is, the two fore-legs are tied together, so as to prevent their 
straying too far from the camp. Two or three men remain 
on guard against any surprise from the Indians, too justly 
renowned as the most expert of horse-thieves. These senti 
nels also protect us against the bears and wolves which 
infest the wilderness, and incessantly prowl in the neighbor 
hood of camps. Horses, on perceiving them, take fright and 
fly, unless the necessary precautions have been taken, and 
it sometimes happens that the most careful measures prove 
futile. Thus we, one day, lost a superb stallion of great 
value. Every evening he was tied to a post, with a long and 
heavy halter, but in a fright, caused by the approach of 
wolves, he darted forward with such velocity after the other 
horses as they rushed by him, that on reaching the end of his 
halter he broke his neck. 

In so long a march, through regions so singularly various, 
two great inconveniences are sometimes experienced want 
of water, and of wood. More than once we had no other 
fuel than the dry bison-dung, and throe times at our camp- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 29 

ing-ground water failed us. This is a hard trial for man and 
horse, especially after travelling all day under the burning 
sun of the month of August. Another kind of torment, 
still less supportable when the heat is most intense, is the 
appearance of fantastical rivers and lakes in the verge of the 
horizon, seeming to invite the weary traveller to advance and 
refresh his wasted strength upon their banks. Fatigue and 
thirst picture in the distance verdure, shade, and coolness 
awaiting him. The illusion increases the desire of quench 
ing your burning thirst. You hasten onward to reach the 
goal. Hour succeeds hour ; the deceitful mirage heightens 
in brilliancy, and the panting, exhausted traveller presses on 
without a suspicion that the phantom flies before him. In. 
an open, elevated region, where the atmosphere is in con 
tinual agitation, this effect may be easily produced by the 
reverberation of the sun's rays from the surface of these vast 
prairies, throwing the various tints of the verdure upon the 
deep blue of the firmament. 

Besides the difficulties arising from the nature of the 
ground, there are others which summer always brings with 
its myriads of insects. Among these, the most to be dreaded 
is the gad-fly, the sting of which will make the gentlest 
horse bound with rage. Happily for the horse in these 
plains, Providence has bestowed upon him a defender as skil 
ful as devoted. The starling, unalarmed by the presence of 
man, which, wheeling ever about the rider, lights on the back 
of the horse or on his load, to dart with wonderful skill 
upon the malicious insect which is about to attack his travel 
ling companion. 

For ourselves, we were obliged to wage continual war upon 
the swarms of mosquitoes, and their allies the " gnats." The 
latter teased us by day, the former, more cowardly, attacked 
us by night. These famished enemies, the product of the 

3* 



30 WESTERN MISSIONS 

stagnant waters and decaying plants, at the approach of a 
convoy, rush from their infected abodes, and accompany it, 
with their plaintive buzzing, to the spot where the travrlli-r 
seeks in vain a brief repose after the heat and hardships of 
the day. The winged tribe at once sound the trump of war, 
and darting on their tired victim, sting, harass, and pursue 
him until they have assuaged their sanguinary fury, and 
obliged the unfortunate traveller, already sweltering with 
heat, to seek a stifling shelter under a buffalo-robe or a thick 
blanket. One day I found myself the object of attack of a 
swarm of winged ants. They came upon me with such 
furious impetuosity, that in a few seconds I was totally 
covered. Then I waved my handkerchief about my head, 
and soon got my horse to leave far behind us this phalanx of 
black insects, which filled a space of about a quarter of a 
mile. 

To those who pass their days amid the quiet of domestic 
joys, surrounded by all the delicacies that abundance can 
produce, a journey through the prairies may appear a sad 
realization of human misery and suffering ; but to the man 
that elevates his thoughts above earthly and passing things, 
in order to devote himself to the many unfortunate souls 
who will love and serve the true God when they know him, 
such a one can perceive in these privations, in even greater 
perils and difficulties which may be encountered, only slight 
annoyances, which he will prefer to all the delights of indo- 
l.-iKv or the dangers of wealth. lie has meditated the sub 
lime words of our Lord : " The kingdom of heaven suffereth 
violence, and the violent bear it away ;" he recollects that a 
God become man " although he was without sin, bore the 
weight." His sufferings finally teach him, that it is through 
tribulations and sacrifices that he can enter the kingdom of 



AND MISSIONARIES. 31 

heaven, and conduct thereto those who may desire to range 
themselves and die beneath the banner of the Cross. 

I have the honor to be, with the most sincere respect and 
profound esteem, 

Gentlemen, 

Your most humble and obed't serv't, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



32 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter III, 

To THE MEMBERS OP THE CENTRAL COUNCILS OF LYONS 
AND PARIS. 

UNIVERSITY, June 2, 1849. 
GENTLEMEN : 

In my last letter I spoke of the annoyance resulting 
from the continual attacks and buzzing of the mosquitoes 
and bnilots. . I must add to this harsh music the more 
fearful and more disagreeable noise of the rattlesnake. 
These reptiles are frequently met in the region styled Mau- 
vaises-Terres, a very remarkable plateau, of which I will 
hereafter give a description and where the Little Missouri, 
the Mankizita-Watpa, the Terre-blanche, and the Niobrarah 
take their rise. Here also are found the many-hued chame 
leon, the hideous lizard, the horned frog, known by the per 
haps more classical name of salamander, and several varieties 
of small tortoise. I witnessed a singular trait of the instinct 
of i\ rattlesnake. The reptile was basking in the sun, sur 
rounded by eight or ten little ones. As soon as she perceived 
mu, she gave the rattle, opened her throat wide, and in an 
instant the whole brood descended. I withdrew some sec 
onds, and then returned ; the young ones had come forth 
from their living tomb, to which my presence quickly obliged 
them to seek refuge anew. 

The unbroken, arid soil of the Mauvaises-Terres, which 
will ever baffle the most energetic and persevering labor, 
boasts, however, of several millions of townships, full of life 
and movement I mean the villages of the prairie-dog the 



AND MISSIONARIES. 33 

site of each one of which extends over an area of several 
square miles of smooth table-land, on which the grass is very 
short and thin. The instincts of this remarkable animal 
(which bears some resemblance to the squirrel) are at once 
curious and amusing. The grass which springs up in the 
neighborhood of their dwellings they tear up by the roots ; 
but their vandalism has its exceptions. They seem to respect 
and spare certain flowers which generally surround their lit 
tle abodes, and give them a much more agreeable look. 
These proved to be the Hedeoma hirta, the Solanom triflorum, 
the Lupinus pusillus, the Erigeron divaricatum, Dysodia 
chrysanthemoides, Ellisia, nyctagenea, and the Panicum 
virgatum. 

They pile up the earth around their dwellings about two 
feet above the surface of the soil, thus protecting themselves 
against the inundations which, in the rainy seasons or at the 
melting of the snows, would engulf them and their little 
hopes. Guided by instinctive foresight, they carefully gather 
all the straws which are scattered over the plain, and carry 
them into their subterraneous asylums, to protect them 
against the rigors of winter. At the approach of a horse 
man, alarm is rapidly communicated to all the citizens of 
this singular republic. All quit their habitations, and with 
head erect, the ears pricked up with anxiety, and a troubled 
stare, remain standing at the entrance of their abodes, or at 
the opening of their conical hills. After a momentary 
silence, they break forth into one loud and repeated chorus 
of shrill barking. For some minutes life, motion, and rest 
less agitation reign throughout the extensive field they oc 
cupy ; but at the first gun-shot, all is tranquil, every ani 
mal disappearing like a flash. A kind of small owl, and the 
rattlesnake, appear to entertain amicable relations with the 
prairie-dog, and are commonly found at the entrance of their 



34 WESTERN MISSIONS 

lodges, and in the general fright, the three seek safety in the 
same asylum. The motives and nature of this singular sym 
pathy are unknown. The wolf and the fox are their great 
est enemies. 

The Indian word Mankizita-Watpa, commonly translated 
White Earth River, signifies, more literally, Smoking Land 
River; and in this region there are incontestable and numer 
ous indications that subterranean and volcanic fires have 
passed there. The water of the river is strongly impregnated 
with a whitish slime. We encamped on its shore. A heavy 
rain had recently washed all the ravines and dry beds of the 
rivulets and torrents, which are abundant throughout the 
Mauvaises-Terres, consequently the water was very similar 
to thin mud. What was to be done ? We must either use 
this water to prepare our evening repast, or retire without 
tea or broth. This is no easy sacrifice in the desert, after 
riding on horseback for ten or eleven' hours in the scorching 
sun. After many fruitless efforts to purity the water, we 
were obliged to use it as it was. Hunger and thirst make 
us less dainty. The mixture of mud, tea, and sugar, was, 
after all, palatable to our famished stomachs. On the mor 
row we travelled all day, and found a delicious spring, where 
we camped all night. 

The Mauvaises-Terres, in the portions which are traversed 
by the Mankizita-Watpa, are the most extraordinary of any 
1 have met in my journeys through the wilderness. The 
action of the rains, snow, and winds upon the argillaceous 
soil is scarcely credible ; and the combined influence of these 
elements renders it the theatre of most singular scenery. 
Viewed at a distance, these lands exhibit the appearance of 
extensive villages and ancient castles, but under forms so ex 
traordinary, and so capricious a style of architecture, that we 
might consider them as appertaining to some new world, or 



AND MISSIONARIES. 35 

ages far remote. Here a majestic Gothic tower, surrounded 
with turrets, rises in noble grandeur, and there enormous 
and lofty columns seem reared to support the vault of heaven. 
Further on ^you may descry a fort beaten by the tempest, 
and surrounded by mantellated walls ; its hoary parapets 
appear to have endured, during many successive ages, the 
assaults of tempest, earthquake, and thunder. Cupolas of 
colossal proportions, and pyramids which recall the gigantic 
labors of ancient Egypt, rise around. The atmospherical 
agents work upon them with such effect, that probably two 
consecutive years do not pass without reforming or destroy 
ing these strange constructions. This clayey soil hardens 
easily in the sun, is of a grayish hue, or occasionally of a 
sparkling white ; it is easily softened when mixed with water. 
The Mankizita-Watpa is the great drain of the streams of 
this country, and corresponds admirably to the name bestow 
ed upon it by the Indians. 

The industry of the settler will never succeed in cultivat 
ing and planting this fluctuating and sterile soil no harvest 
ever crown his efforts. But though it offers no interest to 
the farmer, and little to the botanist, the geologist and 
naturalist may find abundant material for study and illus 
tration ; for here are found curious remains of the mastodon 
(the largest of known quadrupeds), mingled with those of 
the mountain-hare. I have seen well-preserved skulls, 
horns, &c., so large that two men could hardly raise them. 
All of these bore the distinct impress of their primitive 
nature. 

I have the honor to be, with profound respect, 
Gentlemen, 

Your most humble and obed't serv't, 

P. J. DE SMET. 



36 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter IV. 

To THE DIRECTORS OF THE ASSOCIATION. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, June 4, 1849. 
GENTLEMEN : 

It remains for me to give some details concerning the 
Indian tribes that I was able to visit. In none of my pre 
ceding voyages had I met the Ponkahs ; this time I found 
the whole of this nation assembled at the mouth of the Nio- 
brarah their favorite haunt during the fruit season and the 
gathering of the corn harvest. The manner in which they 
accosted my travelling companions augured little good, and 
was near being attended with disastrous consequences. It 
appears, indeed, that they meditated an attack upon the lit 
tle troop of white men who, numbering but fifteen, escorted 
a wagon filled with merchandise for the Fur Company. They 
intended, at least, to pillage the convoy and kill one of the 
travellers, under pretext that he came from the country of 
the Pawnees, where one of their warriors had lost his life. 
I will present you here the laconic formula of reasoning of 
one of these barbarians, while in the act of taking aim at 
his victim. My brother was killed by a Pawnee ; thou art 
a notorious friend of the Pawnees ! I must avenge his 
death, or recover the debt (value of his body) in horses or in 
blankets! To this degree, unfortunately, has the idea of 
justice sunk in the Indian mind. Has an Indian fallen by 
the hand of a white man, every brave of that tribe consid 
ers himself justified in retaliating upon the first white man 
he chances to meet, without regard to his country or the 



AND MISSIONARIES. 37 

part of the world from which he may come. I was in ad 
vance, but at the first signal of alarm I faced the point of 
danger. At once the air resounded with reiterated cries of 
" The Black-gown has come! The Black-gown has comer'' 
Surprise and curiosity arrest the work of pillage. The 
chiefs ask an explanation, and order the spoilers to keep re 
spectfully off, and restore what they had already stolen; 
then they press around me to shake hands (a ceremony some 
what lengthy, for they were about 600 in number), and con 
duct us in triumph to our encampment on the shore of the 
Niobrarah. In my turn I made a little distribution of 
tobacco, which they appeared to appreciate more than any 
thing else. The calumet is smoked in token of fraternal good 
feeling, and passed from mouth to mouth : they lavish upon me 
as well as upon my companions the most touching marks of 
kindness and respect. Such was the happy conclusion of a 
meeting which at first inspired us with such just fears. But 
the merciful views of Providence extended further. 

They besought me to visit their village, four miles from 
our camp, in order to pass the night with them. I ac 
cepted the invitation the more willingly, as it would afford 
me an opportunity of announcing the truths of Faith. In 
fact I lost no time, and shortly after my arrival the whole 
tribe, numbering more than a thousand persons, surrounded 
the " Black-gown? This was the first time that the Pon- 
kahs had heard Jesus Christ preached by the mouth of his 
minister. The holy eagerness and attention which they lent 
to my words induced me to prolong my instructions until 
late in the night. The next day I baptized their little ones, 
and when the time of separation arrived, they besought me 
with the greatest earnestness to renew my visit, and to fix my 
residence among them. We will cheerfully listen to the 
Words of the Great Spirit, said they, and submit to all His 

4 



38 WESTERN MISSIONS 

commands that you manifest to us. Uutil their wishes can 
be gratified, 1 considered my so It' happy to find among them 
a Catholic half-breed, tolerably well instructed in his religion, 
who promised me to serve as eatechist. 

This extraordinary attention on the part of the Indians, 
and their avidity to hear the Word of God, must appear sur 
prising in a people which seems to unite all intellectual and 
moral miseries. But the Spirit of the Lord breathes where 
it will. His graces and his light prompt and aid men whom 
ignorance, rather than a perverse and disordered will, ren 
ders vicious. Moreover, that same Spirit which obliged the 
most rebellious to cry with St. Paul, " Lord, what wilt thou 
have me to do ?" can also soften the most obdurate hearts, 
warm the coldest, and produce peace, justice, and joy, where 
before reigned iniquity, trouble, and disorder. The great 
respect, and the marked attention which the poor Indians 
testify on all occasion- to the missionary who appears among 
them to announce the Gospel, are a source of much consola 
tion and encouragement to him. He discovers the finger of 
God in the spontaneous manifestations of good-will offered 
by these poor creatures. 

The language of the Ponkahs differs little from that of 
the Ottos, the Kan/as, and the Osages. Of intrepid and 
tried courage, they have, notwithstanding the paucity of their 
numbers, made themselves feared by their more numerous 
neighbors. They may with justice be styled the Flat-Heads 
of the Plains, on account of their bravery. Although at 
tached by taste to the wandering life, they have begun to 
cultivate some fields of corn, of pumpkins, and potatoes. 

II. 're, then, is a portion of the vineyard as yet untilled, 
but which only waits for a generous, charitable hand to 
cause it to yield fruits worthy of the dews of heaven. Can 
the Lord refuse his grace and his assistance to the apostolic- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 39 

man, who abandons all the advantages of civilized life in or 
der to teach, in the midst of every species of privation, the 
salutary and consoling words of the Gospel ? When I reflect 
upon the hopes that may be justly entertained of the Indian 
tribes of the North and West of the United States, I cannot 
refrain from blessing the bounty and mercy of God, and 
trembling at the consideration of the terrible judgments of 
his justice. While Europe, shaken to the centre by the 
incessant efforts of learned impiety, appears to have strength 
or vigor only to shake off the divine yoke which the blood 
of Jesus Christ has rendered " sweet and easy," the forlorn 
inhabitant of the far-distant wilderness lifts his suppliant 
hands to heaven, and in all the sincerity of his heart asks to 
know the true Faith, and to be directed in the path of true 
happiness. While in the heart of Catholicity the priests of 
the Most High sink under oppression, Providence, impene 
trable in its views, is secretly preparing for them the vast 
solitudes of another hemisphere. There, perhaps, the Di 
vine Master will fix his sanctuary, and choose to himself 
new worshippers whose simple hearts will offer him only an 
oblation of gratitude and love. 

With the greatest respect, and commending myself to 
your kind prayers, 

I am, Gentlemen, 

Your most humble and obedient servant, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



40 WKSTERN MISSIONS 



Letter V. . 

To THE DIRECTORS OF THE ASSOCIATION. 

ST. Louis, June 5, 1849. 
GENTLEMEN : 

It is time to pass to the Sioux, whose territory I reached 
a few days after my visit to the Ponkahs. Mr. Campbell, 
one of the best interpreters in the country, generously offered 
to accompany me to the different tribes of this nation. His 
acquaintance with the country and the manners of the In 
dians, as well as the respect and friendship which the latter 
entertain for him, greatly facilitated my relations with them. 
I must also add, as a tribute of well-merited gratitude, that 
the officers of Fort Bonis and of Fort Pierre received me 
with the most delicate hospitality, and that the concurrence 
of their influence aided powerfully to render my intercourse 
witlf the savages easier and more profitable. 

I have several times observed, in former letters, that the 
Indians inhabiting the valley of the Upper Missouri, are 
generally more cruel than those sojourning west of the 
Rocky Mountains. Probably this arises from their almost 
incessant wars, which inflame them with a love of plunder 
and a thirst for vengeance. At the epoch of my visit to the 
Sioux, a troop of these barbarians were returning from a war 
against the Mahas, with thirty-two human scalps torn from 
defenceless old men, and from women and children whose 
husbands and fathers were off hunting. When they re-enter 
their villages, after the combat, it is their custom to attach 
horrible trophies of their shameful victory to the points 



AND MISSIONARIES. 41 

of their lances or to the bits of their horses. At the sight 
of these spoils the whole tribe shouts with joy, and every 
one considers it the highest gratification to assist at the 
Scalp Dance and Feast which is celebrated amid the most 
discordant yells and fearful gestures. They plant a post 
daubed with vermillion in the midst of the camp ; the war 
riors surround it, flourishing in their hands the bloody scalps 
which they have brought back from the field of battle ; each 
one howls his war-song to the lugubrious tone of a large 
drum ; then giving in turn his stroke of the tomahawk on 
the post, he proclaims the victims that his hatchet has im 
molated, and exhibits ostentatiously the scars of the wounds 
which he has received. 

Such is, even at the present day, the degraded condition 
of the unfortunate Indian. They never take the field with 
out endeavoring to draw down the favor of the Great Spirit, 
either by diabolical rites or by rigorous fasts, macerations, 
and other corporeal austerities. They even go so far as to 
cut off joints of the fingers and toes. Add to the thick 
shade of heathen darkness a shocking depravation of man 
ners, and you will have a faint idea of the lamentable posi 
tion of these wretched tribes. , Yet these same men welcomed 
me with open arms, as a messenger from the Great Spirit ! 
A vivid emotion, depicted in every countenance, accompa 
nied their respectful attention to my discourse, while I in 
structed them in the great truths of religion. 

An event which occurred two days after my arrival at 
Fort Pierre, contributed much to augment their confidence 
in me. I give it as it occurred. The tribe of the Ogallallahs 
had entered in a hostile manner on the lands of their neigh 
bors, the Absharokes (or Crows), and had attacked them. 
The latter defended themselves bravely, routed their aggres 
sors, and killed ten or twelve warriors. They had even em- 
- 40 



4:2 WESTERN MISSIONS 

ployed a mode of repulsion which covered the tribe that 
experienced its effects with immortal disgrace : they pursued 
the Ogallallas with rods and clubs. Thi, according to them, 
signifies that their adversaries were worth neither the lead nor 
powder that would be expended in killing them. So shame 
ful a defeat discourages the Indian, and he no longer dares 
appear before such an enemy. 

In this affair, the chief of the vanquished nation, named 
the Red Fish, lost his daughter, who was carried off by the 
Crows into captivity. Melancholy and humbled, he deserted 
the wigwams of his tribe, which loss of honor and the death 
of so many of its warriors had overwhelmed with mourning 
and desolation. He presented himself at Fort Pierre on the 
morrow of my arrival. The object of his journey was to ob 
tain the liberty of his daughter, through the mediation of 
the officers of the fort ; he offered eighty fine buffalo-robes 
and his best horses for her ransom. In his visit to me, 
grasping my hand firmly in his, with tears coursing down 
his cheeks, and heart-broken with grief, he thus addressed 
me, "while sobs often interrupted his utterance: "Black- 
gown, I am a most unhappy father ! I have lost my be 
loved daughter. Pity me, for I have learned that the medi 
cine of the Black-gown (the prayer) is powerful before the 
Great Spirit. Speak to the Master of Life in my favor, and 
I will still preserve hope of seeing my c///A//' 

At these few words, which the emotion of the aged man 
rendered singularly eloquent, I replied, that I sympathized 
with his sorrow, but that he must himself prepare the way 
for the blessing of Heaven and that by virtuous deeds he 
might obtain from the Great Spirit the accomplishment of 
his desires. I added, that without doubt the Master of Life 
had been offended by this unjust attack upon the Crows, of 
which he himself had been the chief instigator, in his posi- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 43 

tion as Great Chief, and that to himself solely he must attrib 
ute the misfortune of his child, and all the other miseries 
which had resulted from that expedition. I exhorted him 
to abandon in future all unprovoked attacks upon his neigh 
bors, and to persuade his tribe to hearken to the orders of the 
Great Spirit, which I had come to announce to them. I con 
cluded by speaking to him of the mercy of God, who always 
hears the voice of the afflicted when they love and serve him. 
I also promised him the assistance of my prayers, and he on 
his part agreed to follow my counsels. 

Red Fish returned soon after to his nation, and collected 
all the principal chiefs, in order to communicate to them 
what had passed at the fort, and in particular his conversa 
tion with me, the Black-gown, concerning his daughter. 
At that very moment a cry of joy was heard in the extremity 
of the camp. They ran up from all sides to ask the cause ; 
at length the good tidings are announced, that the captive 
daughter has escaped safe and sound from her enemies. The 
old chieftain scarcely dares to believe what he hears. He 
rises, and on leaving his cabin he has the unspeakable con 
solation of beholding once more his beloved child, whom 
Providence had restored. Imagine, if possible, his astonish- * 
ment and delight, shared with him by his tribe. Every 
hand was lifted to heaven to thank the Great Spirit for the* 
deliverance of the prisoner. The report flew quickly from 
village to village, and this coincidence, that Divine Provi 
dence permitted for the good of the Ogallallahs, was to them 
a certain proof of the great power of Christian prayer, and 
will, I hope, contribute to confirm these poor Indians in 
their good dispositions. 

The number of half-breeds and Indians baptized among 
the Sioux amounts to several hundred. I conferred the same 
sacrament upon six adults far advanced in years, two of 



44 AVKSTERN MISSIONS 

whom were over ninety, and dwelt in a little hut of buffalo- 
skins, in which a poor fire with difficulty imparted a little 
wan nth to their members, chilled and stiffened with age. 
They received me with great joy. I spoke to them of the 
Great Spirit, of the necessity of baptism, of the future life, 
of the blessed or miserable eternity which must follow this 
state of being. They listened with avidity to the instruc 
tions which I repeated during several days, and, in fine, re 
ceived the sacrament of regeneration. They were never 
weary of telling me again and again that they had never 
ceased to love the Great Spirit, and that, being ignorant of 
more suitable prayers, they had daily offered him the first 
fruits of the calumet ! 

This recalls to my mind a fact, insignificant in itself, which 
nevertheless proved a source of genuine consolation to me. 
On my arrival in the nation of the Brules, I was singularly sur 
prised to find myself followed by a youth about fifteen years of 
age, whom my presence seemed to afford a degree of pleas 
ure which it would be difficult for me to describe. The 
little kind encouragement, by which I corresponded to his 
manifestation of contentment, so effectually conciliated his 
affection for me, that the efforts and threats even of the sav 
ages who surrounded me, could not remove him any length 
f time from my person. Scarcely had they taken him from 
my side by violence, than another path brought him back ; 
he even penetrated into the grand council of the chiefs, in 
which the expeditious diplomacy of the Brules agitated the 
questions of which my arrival among them required a solu 
tion. Night came on, and terminating the deliberations of 
the assembly, obliged me to withdraw from my new friend. 
His narrow and flattened brow, his silly stare and extraordi 
nary gestures, gave me to understand that he was of the 
number of those beings whose want of reason is a safeguard 



AND MISSIONARIES. 45 

against the loss of innocence, and I resolved to regenerate 
him on the morrow in the salutary waters of baptism. I 
therefore caused the whole tribe to be collected, and after 
giving them a clear explanation of the blessings of the sacra 
ment that I was going to confer, I caused them to under 
stand the happiness that was in reserve for all eternity to a 
being apparently so vile, and who had hitherto been only an 
object of their contempt, or at least of their compassion. 
These few words produced a profound impression upon my 
new auditory, and were followed by numerous petitions for 
the grace belonging to the Great Spirit, like my poor friend 
Paschal (this was the name of the little idiot), who is now 
treated with respect almost amounting to veneration through 
out his whole tribe. But not being able to remain with 
them longer than a few days, I contented myself with bap 
tizing a great number of their children ; and giving the 
others a hope, that later we would return and visit them, 
and that we could then instruct them, and grant, in a more 
useful manner, the favor which they -solicited. 

There is a custom existing among the Indians, which is 
excessively fatiguing to the stranger or to the missionary who 
visits one of their villages. As soon as he arrives, a succes 
sion of grand banquets is given in his honor, and Indian 
politeness exacts that he accept all these invitations and 
the savage prepares without delay the best and most delicate 
that he has. The fat dog, which with them replaces the fat 
ted calf, is the most acceptable dish, and is reserved for great 
occasions. After this, succeed' buffalo-tongues, ribs, etc., etc., 
and a great variety of fruits, grain, and roots. 

In every camp which I visited, I was conducted ceremoni 
ously from banquet to banquet, by the leading chiefs. Every 
where I was presented with a dish so filled with their deli 
cacies that each portion would have sufficed me during several 



46 WESTERN MISSIONS 

days. All must be consumed. This would be impossible 
were it not for the allowance of the blessed privilege of con 
ducting one or two eaters with us. In some of the Sioux 
camps, the guests are permitted just to touch the dish, and 
then take it home to their cabins. 

In the various camps which I visited, I presented each one 
of the great chiefs with a medal of our Holy Father, Pope 
Pius IX. On this occasion I explained to them the liiuh 
position of the Great Chief of all the Black-gowns the 
respect, the veneration, and the love that all the nations 
faithful to the Great Spirit testify to his vicar on earth, etc., 
etc. They immediately brought the calumet, and after hav 
ing offered it first to the Master of Life, imploring his bless 
ing, the savages, in their engaging simplicity, presented it to 
his visible representative, entreating me to make known to 
him the esteem and love which they bear to him, and the 
ardent desire they entertain to listen to the Black-gowns sent 
in his name. 

When distributing medals to the Indians, these explana 
tions become necessary ; for, being naturally inclined to 
superstition, they often treat those objects with more than 
respect. A Sioux chief gave me a singular proof of this. 
While I was suspending the medal of Pius IX. to his neck, 
he testified an extraordinary joy and gratitude. " 1 will place 
it" said he, " with my War-Manitou ; it will render me as 
prudent in councils during peace, as the other has rendered me 
strong in battle." I asked an explanation of these words. 
He at once opened a little box, and drew forth from it a 
package, carefully wrapped up in buckskin. ' He unrolled it, 
and, to my great surprise, I saw a colored picture of General 
Diebitsch, in full uniform, and mounted on a beautiful war- 
horse. For years the Russian had been the Manitou of war 
to the Siuux chief; he invoked him, and offered him his 



AND MISSIONARIES. 47 

calumet, before all his enterprises against his enemies, and 
attributed to him the success of the many victories he had 

trained. I endeavored to disabuse the poor Indian of his 

& m 

strange devotion, and have reason to hope that my efforts 
were not useless. 

As stated already, I was sent to the Sioux tribes to sound 
their dispositions in a moral and religious point of view. 
The little account that I have the honor of presenting you 
discloses the result of my visit. What I have narrated 
touching these inhabitants of the desert, offers little encour 
agement to the missionary. There is an immense difference 
between them and the Flat-Heads, and numerous other nations 
that occupy the regions west of the Rocky Mountains. These 
first children of my apostolate have given me consolations 
that I should vainly seek among the Sioux. Would, then, a 
mission with the latter prove destitute of success ? The little 
experience that I have been able to acquire, and my residence 
among them, inspire me to trust more confidently in Him 
who holds in his hands the most obdurate hearts and the 
most refractory wills. I hope that in the course of this year 
something may be done in favor of these degraded Indians, 
so long left without the aid of religion. The same happiness 
will be granted to the Black-Feet, who already count eleven 
hundred neophytes. The pious Associates of the Propaga 
tion of the Faith may contribute greatly to the accomplish 
ment of this holy work, by their fervent prayers. 

I quitted the uplands of the Niobrarah and the Mankizita 
towards the end of October, 1848, before the season of rain 
and snow. These places are the temporary abodes to which 
the different tribes of Sioux repair in autumn, for the pur 
pose of hunting the wild animals, which abound at that 
time, and thus provide themselves with hides and meat for 
the approaching winter. The consumption of skins in Mis- 



48 WESTERN MISSIONS 

souri must be immense, for all Indians use them for con 
structing their huts, as well as for the harness of their 
horses and their own clothing. Last year, 110,000 buffalo- 
robes, with skins of elk, gazelle, deer, big-horn, otter, beaver, 
etc., and 25,000 salted tangues, were received in the ware 
houses of St. Louis. This may give you an idea of the ex 
traordinary number of buffaloes killed, and of the extent of 
the vast wilderness which furnishes pasturage to these 
animals. 

We set oft* in a skiff from Fort Bonis, which is near the 
mouth of the Little Medicine River. Our trip was delightful. 
The weather proved magnificent, and the two shores of the 
Missouri, teeming at this season with an extraordinary quan 
tity of every species of game, offered the most graceful and 
varying spectacle, while it opened a vast field to the greedi 
ness and skill of our hunters. 

At Council Bluffs, the sky, which had been hitherto 
clear and serene, suddenly changed, to give place to wind 
and tempest, and thick clouds of snow, which accompanied 
us during two days. We took refuge in a dense forest, 
in order to defend ourselves from the inclemency of the 
storm. The wild honey which we found there was our prin 
cipal resource, one poplar alone, which we felled, furnishing 
us with' mow than \\v nccdi'd. 

We made but little proirn-s* during ten days, on account 
of head winds, rain, and snow. Before arriving at the mouth 
of the Grand Tarkio, tin- Missouri was so covered with float 
ing ice that, in our frail bark, we were exposed to the great 
est danger, especially from the many sawyers with which the 
bed of the river is thickly set, and which discover or con 
ceal their menacing heads on every side. These are trees, or 
trunks of trees, which the river uproots and washes from its 
banks, and whose roots get firmly fastened in the muddy 



AND MISSIONARIES. 49 

bed of the river. As there are no dikes or embankments 
which can hinder the river from overflowing, it often hap 
pens that whole forests are uprooted and swallowed in its 
waves. These create great embarrassment and obstacles to 
its navigation. 

Prudence forced us to abandon our boat. I therefore 
hired a farmer's wagon, which brought us safe and sound 
to St. Joseph, after a drive of two days through a great 
forest which skirts the Missouri. The steamer which I 
hoped to meet there had departed on the eve of my arri 
val, and thus the opportunity of a prompt return to St. Louis 
appeared lost to me. I resolved, however, to exert myself to 
the utmost to overtake the boat : this to many would appear 
folly ; the idea of running after a high-pressure steamboat 
certainly does appear quite ridiculous. But I relied upon 
the numerous delays of the boat at the different sand-banks, 
which were more likely to take place, also, as the season was 
advancing. I calculated well ; in twenty-four hours I was 
on board. 

For four months I had been night and day exposed to the 
open air, and, as in alt my other excursions, with no bed but 
a buffalo-robe. Yet my health had been uninterruptedly 
good, not even suffering from the slightest attack of cold ; 
but scarcely was I subjected, during one day, to the heat of 
the stove in the cabin of the steamboat, than I was seized 
with a violent sore throat it being my first indisposition 
through the whole of my long journey. 

At length, after four months' absence, I arrived without 
other accident at the University of St. Louis, where, enjoy 
ing with my brethren the charms of the community life, I 
soon forgot the little fatigues of my expedition. 

P. S. I subjoin a list of the principal forest trees found 
5 



50 



WESTERN MISSIONS 



along the banks of the Missouri, hoping it may prove agree 
able to the amateurs of botany : 



Populus angulata. 
Platanus occidentalis. 
Celtis crassifolia. 
Gledit8chia triacanthus. 
Kobinia pseudacacia. 
Juglans olivse formis. 
Cornus Florida. 
Azalia spinosa. 
Gymnocladus Canadensis. 
Morus, rubra et alba. 
Laurus sassafras. 
Ulmus Americana and aspera. 
Acer rubrum et saccharinum. 
Diospyros Virginiana. 
Salix. 



Cornus sericea. 

Prunus. 

Pyrus coronarea. 

Castanea Americana et pumila. 

Quercus palustris, macrocarpa et 

pumila. 

Betula nigra, papyracea et lenta. 
Sambucus. 

Juglans squamosa et nigra. 
Corylus. 
Fraxinus. 
Pinus. 

Juniperus Virginiana. 
Vaccinium resinosum. 
Magnolia. 



8HKUBS. 

Berberis vulgaris. Laurus benzoin. (Spice-bush.) 

Viburnum. (Arrow-wood.) Burnet saxifrage. 

Hawthorn. Vines of different species. 

Vaccinium; Oxycoccus. Elkwood. 

I am, with the most profound respect, and esteem the 
most sincere, 
Gentlemen, 

Your most humble and most obed't serv't, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 51 



Letter VI. 

To THE DIRECTORS OF THE ASSOCIATION. 

UNIVEESITY OF ST. Louis, June 10, 1849. 
GENTLEMEN : 

In order to complete the observations which I had the 
honor of offering you in 'my late letters on the Western 
tribes of Indians of the United States, I purpose submitting 
to you certain facts touching the actual condition of the In 
dians in Upper Missouri and among the Rocky Mountains. 

The facts such is, at least, my opinion reveal clearly the 
melancholy future which at no very remote epoch awaits 
these nations, if efficient means are not employed for pre 
venting the woes with which they are threatened. My visit 
to several tribes, and, above all, that which I lately paid to 
the great Sioux nation, have only confirmed the sad fore 
bodings to which my experience, during a prolonged resi 
dence among these forsaken children of the forest, had given 
birth. I have communicated these views, in substance, to 
an honorable agent of the United States Government, who 
is laboring with ardor and constancy in the amelioration of 
the condition of the Indians, and who joins, as much as is 
in his power, the use of means to the laudable wishes of his 
heart. 

I have traversed at several different times the vast plains 
which are watered by the Missouri and its principal tributa 
ries, such as the Platte or Nebraska, Yellow Stone, the 
Mankizita-Watpa, the Niobrarah, Teh an Sausan, called 
James River by the whites, the Wassecha or Vermillion, and 



52 . WESTERN MISSIONS 

the three great superior forks that constitute the source of 
the Missouri, viz., the Jefferson, the Gallatin, and the Madi 
son. Coasting along the north and south branches of the 
Saskatchawan, I penetrated three hundred miles into the in 
terior of the forests and plains watered by the Athabasca. 
In every place the whites, half-breeds, and -natives, who in 
habit these regions, agree in saying that the buffalo, moose, 
or American elk, and deer of all kinds, diminish in an alarm 
ing manner, and that in a few years these races of animals 
will have wholly disappeared. The territory traversed by 
the Athabasca furnished, some years ago, abundant game to 
the greater part of the nations of the Crees, and to a tribe of 
Assiniooins, which, sixty years previous, had detached them 
selves from the main body of their nation. Well, over this 
vast extent of territory'I met but three families, viz. an old 
Iroquois with his children and grandchildren, numbering 
about thirty-seven; a family of half-breeds composed of 
seven persons; and a Sioux with his wife and children. The 
Crees and the Assiniboins, hitherto the occupants of this land, 
have been forced to follow the track of the buffalo, and are 
beginning to intrude upon the territory of the Black-Feet. 
I resided a long time among the Flat-Heads- and the Kalis- 
pels. -I have visited at different epochs the Koetenays at the 
North, and the Shoshonies or Snakes at the South. Their 
vast territories, watered by the principal branches of the 
Upper Columbia and the Rio Colorado of the West, wnv 
formerly abundantly provided with every variety of game, 
which furnished them with clothing and nourishment 

But now that the buffalo has disappeared from these 
lands, the poor Indians are obliged to go and pass a portion 
of the year east of the Rocky Mountains, in search of their 
only means of subsistence. Often, too, in pursuit of their 
prey, they are drawn into the regions claimed by tjhe Crows 



AND MISSIONARIES. 53 

fl 

and Black-Feet, and are thus obliged to open their way, 
arms in hand. The Yantons and the Santies,*Sioux tribes, 
are beginning to make inroads on the hunting-grounds of 
the Brules, a portion of the Sioux nation. The Ponkahs are 
often driven to the necessity of hunting in the lands of the 
Sioux and of the Cheyennes. Formerly the lowas, the 
Omahas, and the Ottos subsisted principally on the product 
of their buffalo-hunts ; at present they are reduced to the 
most pitiful condition, having nothing for food but a small 
quantity of deer, birds, and roots. Such is their misery 
that they are forced to scour the country in every direction, 
and in little bands, most happy if they escape the ambush of 
an enemy more powerful than themselves, and who frequently 
massacre the old, the women, and children. It is not rare 
here to have to deplore similar cruelties. Each year shows 
an increase of these revolting scenes melancholy forerun 
ners of an approaching and tragical issue. 

The Pawnees and the Omahas are in a state of nearly ab 
solute destitution. Surrounded by enemies, where shall 
they go to hunt the wild animals which often fail them, hav 
ing retired to other sections ? It is true, that for a consider 
able time it has been customary among them to cultivate a 
little field of squashes and corn ; but often, also, when the 
harvest appears to meet their expectation and their toil, the 
enemy comes suddenly and wrests from them this last pitiful 
resource. 

The buffalo is disappearing and diminishing each success 
ive year on the prairies of the Upper Missouri. This does 
not, however, hinder them from being seen grazing in very 
numerous herds in particular localities ; but the area of land 
that these animals frequent is becoming more and more cir 
cumscribed. Besides, they do not remain in the same place, 
but change pasturage, according to the seasons. 

5* 



54: WESTERN MISSIONS 

Thence arise the incursions which the Sioux make into 
the territorieVof the Riccaries, the Mandans, the Minataries, 
the Crows, and the Assiniboins ; thence also the mutual in 
vasions of the Crows and the Black-Feet in their respective 
hunts. These depredations are committed by all the wan 
dering tribes of the desert, and give birth to dissensions, 
and to incessant and bloody wars, which annually revive and 
multiply, to their great detriment and misfortune. It is not, 
therefore, astonishing that the number of these savages is 
gradually decreasing. In the plains, war and famine lend 
their aid ; on the frontier of civilization, liquors, vices, and 
maladies carry them off by thousands. 

I have visited the Black-Feet, the Crows, Mandans, Assini 
boins, the Riccaries, the Minataries, etc., who possess the 
whole region of the Upper Missouri and its tributaries. The 
condition of all these savages, far from the influence of all 
religious and moral principles, renders them much alike 
ejusdem farince. Among them all are met the same cru 
elty, the same barbarity, the same sloth and supineness, in 
fine, the same degrading and revolting superstitions, pushed 
to the most remote limits which the human mind abandoned 
to itself, and under the empire of vile passions, can reach. 

It is quite a common observation, and I have myself 
heard it offered by several persons, that the " religious as well 
as the social condition of the Indians of these regions, is in 
nowise capable of amelioration." I am far from participa 
ting in this opinion. Let the obstacles arising from the peo 
ple who style themselves civilized, be removed ; let all trade 
in ardent spirits, that deadly scourge of the Indian, be pre 
vented; let missionaries be sent, whose zeal is prompted 
only by the love of our Divine Master, and with no object 
but the happiness of the poor souls intrusted to their care, 
and I am confident that in a short time we should have the 



AND MISSIONARIES. 55 

consoling spectacle of a sensible improvement among them. 
My personal observations serve as a foundation for these 
hopes. I have had frequent interviews with the Black-Feet, 
the Crows, the Assiniboins, the Eiccaries, and the Sioux. 
They have always lent the most marked attention to all my 
words ; they have ever listened to the holy truths which I 
preached to them with extreme pleasure and a lively interest. 
They entreated me with the most captivating ingenuousness 
to take compassion on their miseries, to establish myself 
among them, promising to join a faithful practice to the 
knowledge of the truths I should impart to them. Among 
the Indians of the great American desert, I never found 
even one who presumed to rail against our holy religion. 

To put an end to the cruel wars which decimate these na 
tions ; to rescue so many souls from the baneful consequences 
of the idolatry in which they are buried ; to prevent the to 
tal destruction of these tribes already so wretched, and yet 
redeemed like ourselves by the precious blood "of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, is it not an enterprise worthy of inflaming the 
zeal of a minister of the Gospel? a work worthy of claim 
ing the efficient co-operation and assistance of a government 
as powerful as is that of the United States ? 

As to agriculture, considered as a means of civilization, its 
introduction will always be difficult among the Indians, as 
long as there remains to them a hope of procuring buffaloes 
or other wild animals. It would prove, in my opinion, a 
chimera to pretend to introduce this branch among them on 
an extensive scale in the beginning. We know, however, by 
experience, that, although little habituated to the fatigue of 
the assiduous labor that fanning requires, some tribes have 
already attempted to cultivate their little fields. This step 
taken, each year, according to the abundance of the increase, 
the limits of these little fields might be extended. Like 



56 WESTERN MISSIONS 

their brethren who reside west of the Rocky Mountains, they 
would become more and more attached to the soil whose 
productions would be the result of their toil. Their roving 
habits, the wars which often spring from them, would insen 
sibly give place to a more peaceable and domestic life. The 
ajiimals which they would raise replacing the buffalo, would 
insensibly efface its memory amid surrounding plenty. 

During the last ten years, a great part of the disposable 
funds of the Vice-province of Missouri have been employed 
in the relief of the Indians. The liberality of the Associa 
tion for the Propagation of the Faith established at Lyons, 
and those of our friends, have assisted us powerfully in con 
verting and civilizing the tribes beyond the Rocky Moun 
tains. Several of our fellow-members still pursue there the 
same work of charity, and many of our Fathers and Brothers 
desire to visit the tribes which I visited last year. An estab 
lishment founded among them east of the Rocky Mountains 
would be most desirable ; but the pecuniary means which 
they have at their disposal are very far from answering to the 
work which they contemplate. The lively interest which 
you take, gentlemen, in the salvation and civilization of so 
many thousands of men in the wilderness, inspires me with 
confidence to appeal to your generosity, which alone can fur 
nish the means of conducting to a* happy conclusion an 
enterprise so vast and so eminently Catholic. 

There are among these Indians several hundreds of 
children of mixed blood, whose parents are anxious that 
means of instruction should be afforded them. To attain 
this, schools and establishments would be neccssaiy, in which 
agriculture could be learned ; and also many children of 
pure Indian blood could be received, as the heads of fami 
lies are desirous of confiding them to the care of the mis 
sionaries. A short statistic will give you an idea of the good 



AND MISSIONARIES. 57 

which might be done among these Indians. Among the 
Black-Feet, Father Point and myself baptized more than 1 100 
children ; among the "Gens du Sang," a tribe of Black-Feet, M. 
Thibaut baptized sixty ; the Rev. M. Bellecourt, of Red River, 
visited Fort Berthold, on the Missouri, and baptized a good 
number of the children of the Mandans ; all the savages pre 
sented him their children for baptism. F. Hoecken, in an ex 
cursion made among several tribes on the Missouri, baptized 
over 400 persons; M. Ravoux, who visited some tribes of Sioux 
in 1847, and penetrated as far as Fort Pierre, was listened to 
everywhere with a consoling eagerness, and baptized a great 
many children. In my late tour among the Sioux, the Pon- 
kahs, etc., I baptized more than 300 children and several 
adults. 

From all these facts, may we not conclude, with sufficient 
certainty, that these poor souls seem ripe for a more.peace- 
able life, and for a blessed eternity ? 
I have the honor to be, 

Gentlemen, 

Yours, &c., 

P. J. DE SMET. 



58 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter I, 

To THE CHEVALIER DIEUDONN STAS, EDITOR OF THE JOUR 
NAL DE BKUXELLES. 

BRUSSELS, June 30, 1853. 
DEAR SIR : 

After many journeys in the deserts of North America, 
I am at last in my native land, happy to be able to express 
to the benefactors of the poor Indian all the gratitude of the 
missionaries. 

Since my last departure from Belgium, I have travelled 
prairies where no mission had ever been established indeed, 
where no European probably had ever been. 

We ascended the Missouri for about seven hundred and 
thirty leagues, and crossed a plateau of over a hundred, on 
the upland that separates the waters of the Yellowstone 
from those of the Missouri. From the Yellowstone we pro 
ceeded southwest, marching about three hundred leagues to 
the Black Hills and Wolf Mountains, spurs of the Rocky 
Mountains. We left these hills at the great road leading 
from the Rocky Mountains to California. 

On the 2d of September, 1851, we were on this highway, 
trodden by the whites hastening, these latter years, to the 
gold mines. The road is fine, broad, and perhaps the longest 
in the world. On the track of the emigrant caravans, you 



AND MISSIONARIES. 59 

can travel easily from the frontier settlements to the Pacific. 
This immense avenue is like a barn-floor swept by the winds. 
No blade of grass springs up, so unceasingly is it trodden by 
the feet of thousands of Americans and Europeans hastening 
to California. Our Indians, who had seen only pathless 
wastes, crossed at most by a hunter's trail, thought, on be 
holding it, that the whole nation of the whites had passed over 
it, and that the land of the sunrise must be depopulated. 
They could hardly believe me when I told them that the 
multitudes who had gone were scarcely missed. 

Providence has supported my feeble courage, guided my 
steps, fructified the seed of the gospel in lands which had 
not yet received them. After travelling many hundred 
leagues, I saw what good could be 'done among these wan 
dering tribes, always at war, without consolation in misery, 
because they scarcely know of the hopes of eternity. With 
the grace of God, I hope to return next spring with Bishop 
Miege, the Vicar-Apostolic. We will be able to found mis 
sions for those nomade tribes on a soil fertile enough to sup 
port them, and thus removing occasion of war, let civiliza 
tion, with the light of the faith, dawn on these wastes. 

The limits of a journal do not permit me to enter into 
details on this expedition to the Great Desert, on which I 
have yet published but one letter ; but I intend to publish 
more in the Precis Historiques, published by Rev. E. Terwe- 
coren,' at the College of the Society of Jesus, Brussels. 
Besides a notice on the Mormons, a new sect, dating from 
1826, but threatening to play in America the part of the 
Moslem in Asia, I am preparing notes to develop to Euro 
peans the almost unknown state of religion in that vast por 
tion of the world, and to leave authentic documents on the 
rising church of the wilderness. I will vary these historical 
details with notes, written in the desert, on geology, 



60 WESTERN MISSIONS 

zoology, botany, the manners, religion, and language of the 
Indians. 

This will show what civilized Europeans are too apt to 
forget, that Catholicity, by the very force of her missions; 
contributes to the civilization of nations and the develop 
ment of science. The government of the United States 
knows it, and encourages our labors. The good to be accom 
plished is in every respect immense. The Catholics and 
recent converts need priests to preserve the faith, the pagans 
to learn the good tidings of the gospel. The small number 
of ministers of the Lord there does not suffice for the four 
millions of Catholics, and for all the Indians who desire 
ardently the visit of a Black-gown, to instruct and baptize 
them. I have come to Europe to appeal to generous hearts. 

I will express one more desire, and express it frankly. I 
come, too, to solicit alms. I am not unaware that Belgium 
is constantly visited by missionaries from America, the Indies, 
and the East. I am conscious that the benevolent can 
scarcely satisfy these repeated solicitations. But Europeans 
cannot conceive the immense want of succors experienced 
in these countries, to prevent defections, convert the heathen, 
form missionaries, establish schools, build churches, &c. 

Consent, sir, to contribute by your estimable paper, which 
has elicited so many generous works, to make known this 
twofold object of my coming to Europe, where I shall prob 
ably remain till the close of September. 
Your obed't serv't, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 61 



Letter II, 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Journey to the Great Desert in 1851. 

UNIVEESITY OF ST. Louis, Jan. 16, 1852. 



On the 7th of last June, accompanied by Father Christian 
Ho3cken, I embarked, at this place, on board the steamer St. 
Ange, to go to the Rocky Mountains. The boat ran to Fort 
Union, which is about three miles above the mouth of the 
River Yellow Stone, on the northern side, and about 730 
leagues northwest of St. Louis. Several passengers, mem 
bers of the American Fur Company, set out on the same 
occasion, intending to repair to the different trading-posts 
established among the Indians of the Upper Missouri. They 
took with them about eighty men ; these were principally 
Canadians, some were Americans, some Irish, German, Swiss, 
and Italians, and several "Francms de France" a title which 
is given them here, to distinguish them from the Franco- 
Americans. They went in quest of earthly wealth ; Father 
Hcecken and I in search of heavenly treasures to the con 
quest of souls. 

We had had a wet spring. Up to the moment of our de 
parture the rain had been excessive; the snows and ice, 
which had collected in heaps during the rigorous season of 
the more northern regions, detaching themselves and dis 
solving, in a very short time swelled the thousand and thou 
sand tributaries of the mighty Mississippi, These rivers, one 

6 



62 WESTERN MISSIONS 

after the other, precipitated their torrents into the "Father of 
Waters" and so swelled it that it overflowed, rolling its 
muddy billows from upland to upland, over a surface of 
eight, fifteen, and in several places of twenty miles in width. 
No longer knowing any bounds, the river, usually so grave 
and sublime, disappeared. Beneath its waters also vanished 
the verdure of the smiling plains, the stately forests, and 
the varied spring-flowers which so delight the eye of the 
traveller. A vast lake now covered all this space; and the 
immense volume of water, which went on continually en 
larging, carried ruin and desolation among the numerous 
habitations which covered the lowlands on either shore. \Ve 
could see the torrent descending with the violence and rapid 
ity of an avalanche, overturning and sweeping every thing 
with its angry waves. 

In ordinary times, the sawyers and sand-banks are the 
principal obstacles to navigation in the western waters ; they 
had now entirely disappeared, and gave the pilot.no anxiety. 
But other dangers had taken their place ; the whole face of 
the waters seemed covered with wrecks ; houses, barns, 
stables, fences of fields and gardens, were borne away, in 
confusion, with thousands of uprooted trees wood piled on 
the shore and lumber-yards, were all afloat. In the midst 
of these floating masses, whose dangerous contact we could 
not always avoid, the St. Ange used her whole power of 
steam to stem an almost irresistible current. Several times 
the boat was carried down ; twice, especially, it was a regular 
contest between the river and the steamer. The latter, for a 
good quarter of an hour, lay, as if motionless, in the midst 
of the angry waters, but, thanks to the quantity of ta^ and 
resin with which her furnaces were charged, she at last 
triumphed. 

Amid such fearful dangers, the remembrance of the object 



AND MISSIONARIES. 63 

\ 

of the missionary's voyage sustains and animates him ; he 
knows that he is in the hands of Him who can " command 
the winds and the sea," and that rarely has heaven permit 
ted that a vessel bearing missionaries should perish. 

The inundations of the rivers, the continual rains of spring, 
and the sudden transitions from heat to cold, are, in this 
climate, sure precursors of malignant fevers. The cholera 
appears to assume an epidemic type in these regions. Dis 
ease, in many forms, soon appeared on board the St. Ange. 
From the moment of its advent a mournful silence took the 
place of the rude shouts and boisterous conversations of our 
travellers. Six days had hardly elapsed from our departure, 
when the boat resembled a floating hospital. We were 500 
miles from St. Louis when the cholera broke out in the 
steamer. On the tenth, a clerk of the American Fur Com 
pany^ vigorous, and in the prime of manhood, was suddenly 
seized with all the symptoms of cholera, and expired after a 
few hours' illness. The following days several others were 
attacked with the same malady, and in a short time thirteen 
fell victims to the epidemic. 

A bilious attack confined me to my bed nearly ten days. 
Good Father Hoecken devoted himself to the sick night and 
day, with a zeal at once heroic and indefatigable. He vis 
ited them ; he assisted them in their sufferings ; he prepared 
and administered remedies ; he rubbed the cholera patients 
with camphor ; he heard the confessions of the dying, and 
lavished upon them the consolations of religion. He then 
went and blessed their graves on the bank of the river, and 
buried them with the prayers and ceremonies prescribed by 
the Roman ritual. This beloved brother had, naturally, a 
hardy constitution, and was habituated to a life of privation ; 
but the journeys and continued labors of the mission among 
the Indians had greatly weakened it, and his assiduous and 



64 WESTERN MISSIONS 

fatiguing attentions to the sick completely exhausted him. 
In vain I warned him, begging him to spare himself; his 
zeal silenced every other consideration; instead of taking 
precautions against exposure, he seemed to delight in it. It 
gave me pain to see him fulfilling this heroic work of charity 
alone ; but I was in such a state of debility that I was inca 
pable of offering him the least help. On the 18th, fears 
were entertained that my illness was assuming the form of 
cholera, I requested Father Ho3cken to hear my confession 
and give me extreme unction, but at the very moment he 
was called to another sick person, who was in extremity. 
He replied, going, " I see no immediate danger for you ; to 
morrow we will see." He had assisted three dying ones 
that day. Alas ! never shall I forget the scene that occurred 
some hours later. Father Hcecken's cabin was next to mine. 
Between one and two o'clock at night, when all on Jt>oard 
were calm and silent, and the sick in. their wakefulness 
heard naught but the sighs and moans of their fellow-suffer 
ers, the voice of Father Hoecken was suddenly heard. He 
was calling me to his assistance. Awaking from a deep 
sleep, I recognized his voice, and dragged myself to his pil 
low. Ah me ! I found him ill, and even in extremity. He 
asked me to hear his confession : I at once acquiesced in his 
desire. Dr. Evans, a physician of great experience and of 
remarkable charity, endeavored to relieve him, and watched 
by him, but his cares and remedies proved fruitless. I ad 
ministered extreme unction : he responded to all the prayers 
with a recollection and piety which increased the esteem that 
all on board had conceived for him. I could see him sink 
ing. As I was myself in so alarming a state, and fearing 
that I might be taken away at any moment, and thus share 
his last abode in this land of pilgrimage and exile, I besought 
him to hear my confession, if he were yet capable of listen- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 65 

ing to me. I knelt, bathed in tears, by the dying couch of 
my brother in Christ of my faithful friend of my sole 
companion in the lonely desert. To him in his agony, I, sick 
and almost dying, made my confession ! Strength forsook 
him : soon, also, he lost the power of speech, although he 
remained sensible to what was passing around him. Resign 
ing myself to God's holy will, I recited the prayers of the 
agonizing with the formula of the plenary indulgence, which 
the Church grants at the hour of death. Father Hoecken, 
ripe for heaven, surrendered his pure soul into the hands of 
his Divine Redeemer on the 19th of June, 1851, twelve days 
after our departure from St. Louis. Who would then have 
foretold it ? So ardent were his desires to labor for the glory 
of God, that he sighed for the wilderness he thirsted for 
the salvation of souls ! Alas ! how many projects annihi 
lated ! In any other enterprise it would have proved suffi 
cient motive for discontinuing a perilous journey ; but the 
desire of procuring God's glory endows man with strength 
that nature denies him. 

Father Christian Hoecken was born in Upper Brabant. 
He was only forty-three years old at his death. The last fifteen 
years cf his life were passed among the Indians, who had 
conceived the most profound veneration for him. He was 
all to them their father in Christ, their physician in illness, 
their counsel in difficulties, their sincere and faithful friend. 
When he could share any thing with his poor neophytes, he 
rejoiced with all the simplicity of a child. His only conso 
lation was to be among them. He was an active instrument 
in the hands of God to announce his holy word to thousands 
of pagans. The churches that he built, and the fervent con 
gregations of Indians that he collected and formed, attest 
his fervor, and the apostolic zeal which animated him. His 
holy death crowned all his labors. A martyr of charity, he 

6* 



66 WESTERN MISSIONS 

exercised his sacred ministry to bis very agony. Sad, but 
salutary, will ever be tbe remembrance of tbat last solemn 
and affecting bour. 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," ac 
cording to the languago of the apostle. Their kind lather 
<juiit'd 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 per 
formed with all the ceremonies of the Church, in the even 
ing of the 19th of June, all on board assisting. 

About a month after, on the return of the St. Ange 
which passed near tlie venerated tomb, the coffin was ex 
humed, put on board of the boat, and transported to the 
Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Florissant. There re 
pose the mortal remains of Father Hcecken, 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 re 
ceived 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 



AND MISSIONARIES. 67 

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 further into 
the country, attaining the higher and more open portions of 
the Indian territory, the epidemic 'gradually disappeared. 
We could again give a little time to the contemplation of 
the beauties of the wilderness, to reflections on the future of 
these interesting solitudes above all, of their poor, despised 
inhabitants. I will describe them in my future letters. 
They will inform you whatever striking or edifying events 
happened in my relations with the Indians during the long 
and dangerous journey which I have just terminated. 
Accept, etc., 

P. J. DE SMET. 

P. S. The following notice of the death of Rev. F. 
Hoacken, from " The Shepherd of the Valley," a weekly 
journal, is attributed to His Grace the Archbishop of St. 
Louis : 

" The Rev. Father Christian Hoecken, of the Society of 
Jesus, died of cholera, on board the St. Ange, on the 
Missouri. Those only who have had the happiness of an 
acquaintance with the deceased can form any idea of the loss 
religion has sustained by his death. To the knowledge of 
several Indian languages he joined a perfect understanding 
of the manners, prejudices, and predilections of the savages. 
He showed the most devoted attention to their interests, as 
well temporal as eternal. He enjoyed a robust constitution, 
united with a great energy of character, which induced him 
to undertake without hesitation any work that seemed likely 
to redound to an increase of the glory of God. The quali 
ties which most distinguished him amid his labors and pri 
vations were his admirable frankness, his simplicity, his 



68 WESTERN MISSIONS 

sound judgment, an ever-joyous and peaceful disposition of 
mind and heart, and an imperturbable contentment, which 
the author of this notice has never found to the same degree 
in any individual. It would be impossible to find a mission 
ary more apostolic, an'd we are convinced that the illustrious 
Society of which he was a member, counts no more faithful 
and fervent religious among her children." 



AND MISSIONAKIES. 



Letter III, 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Travels in the Great Desert, 1851. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis. January 18. 1852. 



The mouth of the river Platte, or Nebraska, is the point 
of division between the Upper and Lower Missouri. To the 
early navigators on the river it was a kind' of equinoctial, 
where, as at sea, the Neptunian tribute was exacted of all 
pork-eaters, as all were styled who vis: ted the desert for the 
first time. No one could escape. 

The flat country, or the valley of the Missouri, is covered 
with dense forests extending from the bank of the river to 
the high hills that skirt it on either side for from four to six 
miles in width. The forests are successively replaced by 
flourishing cities, fine villages, and thousands of beautiful 
farms. This alluvial soil is probably unequalled on the 
earth for the richness of some of its productions. The 
wood is in great demand. As the country is settled and trade 
becomes more important, steam-mills increase and prepare 
all kinds of timber and boards; the steamboats, too, con 
sume immense quantities of wood. 

Between the Nebraska and the Wasecha, or Vermillion, 
for about four hundred miles the forests are vast and beauti 
ful, often intersected by rich prairies of turf and verdure. 
This contrast delights the traveller. Every time he enters 



70 WKSTKRN MISSIONS 

the desert he cannot refrain from admiring this succession of 
forests and plains, this series of hills which encircle them 
and present such a variety of forms, here and there covered 
with trees and underwood of a thousand kinds, sometimes 
rising, bold, rugged cliffs, to the height of one or two hun 
dred feet, and then noble plains, ascending gradually, with 
scattered groves, so pleasing to the sight that art seems to 
have crowned the work of Nature. We wonder that we do 
not see farms, barns, and fences. Surely, one just from 
Europe would think himself on the demesne of some great 
lord, and would be amazed at not seeing the mansion and 
its appurtenances. 

Nature seems to have lavished its gifts on this region ; and 
without being a prophet, I can predict a future far unlike 
the past for this desert. The words of the Psalmist will 
be soon applied "The earth was created for the abode 
of man, and to manifest the glory and perfection of the 
Lord." 

These plains, naturally so rich and verdant, seem to invite 
the husbandman to run the furrow, and promise an ample 
reward to the slightest toil. Heavy forests await the wood 
man, ami rocks the stone-cutter. The sound of the axe and 
hammer will echo in this wilderness ; broad farms, with or- 
chard and vineyard, alive with domestic animals and poul 
try, will cover these desert plains, to provide for thick-com 
ing cities, which will rise as if by enchantment, with dome 
and tower, church and college, school and house, hospital 
and asylum. 

I speak here principally of the region from the mouth of 
the river Kansas to that of the Niobrarah or JBau gui coule, 
and extending beyond the Black Hills, continuing along 
their crest to the Rocky Mountains, thence it follows south 
wardly the already existing limits of Utah, New Mexico, and 



AND MISSIONARIES. 71 

Texas. This region contains several large rivers, with nu 
merous tributaries, the principal of which are the Platte, the 
two rivers just named, and the head-waters of the Arkansas, 
Osage, and Red. These present the greatest inducements to 
civilization. 

Will not the President of the Republic, like some of his 
predecessors, pluck some plumes from the Indian eagle, once 
the emblem of their greatness and power, to place them in 
the crown composed of the trophies of his administration ? 
In the limits which I trace he will find an extent of country 
vast enough to be represented by three or four stars more of 
the first magnitude, which will enhance the lustre of the 
galaxy of the flag of the Union. This great ^territory will 
hold an immense population, destined to form several great 
and flourishing States. 

But, then, what will become of the Indians, who have 
already come from afar to abide in this land ? What will 
become of the aborigines, who have possessed it from time 
immemorial ? This is, indeed, a thorny question, awakerf- 
ing gloomy ideas in the observer's mind, if he has followed 
the encroaching policy of the States in regard to the Indian. 
I have remarked with pleasure one ray of hope in the future 
for these poor and wretched tribes. They readily send their 
children to school ; they make rapid progress in agriculture, 
and even in several of the most necessary mechanical arts ; 
they carefully raise poultry and domestic animals. We 
may then hope that the sad remnant of these numerous na 
tions, who once covered America, now reduced to earn their 
bread in the sweat of their brow (for they can no longer 
subsist by hunting), will find an asylum, a permanent abode, 
and will be incorporated with all the rights of citizens of 
the Union. It is their only remaining chance of well-being; 
humanity and justice seem to demand it for them. If they 



72 WESTERN MISSIONS 

are again repelled and banished further inland, they will 
perish infallibly. The Indians who refuse to submit or ac 
cept the definitive arrangement, alone favorable to them, 
v/ould resume the wandering life of the plains, and close 
their sad existence as the bison and other animals on which 
they live, vanish. 

In the neighborhood of the Mankizitah, or White-earth 
River, the hills are blackened, and evidently owe this ap 
pearance to subterraneous fires. The soil is light and sterile 
for about a hundred miles; the high hills have little verdure, 
and the bottom or valley is very narrow. Some of the hills 
may even be called mountains. 

The islands of the Missouri are, in general, well wooded, 
and present on all sides most agreeable views. On some is 
found the red cedar, the most durable wood of the country, 
lasting longer than any other when plunged in water or 
buried in earth. If we except the space between the Nio- 
brarah and Mankizitah, where the low prairies are rare, and 
where the upland is almost entirely unwooded, this district 
lias many fine sites, which seem to invite the pioneer, and 
say, "The time is not far off; here you will raise your 
cabin and till your field." Coal is also very abundant, and 
will supply the failure of the forests. 

From the Mankizitah to the great bend of the Missouri, 
and thence to Fort Mandan, and even above the mouth of the 
Yellowstone, on both banks, the country is very fine ; the 
fertile soil gives most abundant crops. Here and there, on 
the banks of the great rivers, the forests are pretty fine,* 
while in the upland plains, as you recede from the. river, 
the country is destitute of trees, and even of bushes. 

In my visits to the Indian tribes, I have several times trav 
ersed the immense plains of the West. I have travelled 
over various sections, from the frontiers to the Pacific, and 



AND MISSIONARIES. 73 

from the Hudson's Bay territory, along the Saskatchewan 
and Athabasca, to Great Salt Lake, now the head-quarters 
of the Mormons. Every time that I have travelled over 
these plains, I have found myself amid a painful void : Eu 
rope's thousands of poor, who cry for bread, and wander 
without shelter or hope, often occur to my thoughts. "Un 
happy poor," I often cry, " why are ye not here ? Your 
industry and toil would end your sorrows. Here you might 
rear a smiling home, and reap in plenty the fruit of your 
toil." Yes, this void exists ; and when I say it must be filled 
by an industrious and persevering population, I concur with 
the experience of all travellers. 

It would be impossible for me to describe the sombre 
silence that reigns in this vast desert. You may pass weeks 
there, on the march, without meeting a living soul. And 
yet we become habituated to it *like it. Solitude seems to 
give scope to man's intellectual faculties ; the mind seems 
more vigorous, the thought clearer. It has always seemed 
to me that when one travels over the plains, he feels more 
inclined to prayer, meditation, confidence in God, more dis 
posed to resign himself into the hands of Him who alone is 
our refuge amid perils, and who alone can provide for all our 
wants. Doubtless the removal of all bustle and business, the 
constant dangers to which we are exposed from wild animals 
and enemies, liable to be met at every step, contribute to this. 

It has often been remarked that the songs of the birds are 
more sweet and agreeable here than in the forests of the 
east. This phenomenon is capriciously attributed to the 
effects of society. From the scarcity of wood, the birds are 
forced to perch on the same tree, or seek the same grove, 
and thus teach each other. It is commonly supposed that 
thp birds in Europe are better singers than those in America: 
can this be attributed to any other cause than that just given ? 

7 



74 WKSTKUN MISSIONS 

If you would have an idea of tin- topography, vastness, 
and extent of our western plains, imagine France, < -ei-many, 
Belgium changed into one single prairie, along water-courses, 
and inter-eeted here and there by a wood of small extent, or 
by a very small forest. 

You will excuse tin-so little digression's on the localities T 
have traversed. They will show, withal, to our unbelievers 
in Europe, that science and civilization may find their ac 
count in voyages undertaken for the good of souls and the 
glory of the Church. And then, too, all these fair and 
varied objects make us incessantly bless heaven, and say, 
with the Psalmist, " The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness 
thereof." 

At last we reached the Great Bend, where the boat came 
to land opposite a camp of lantons, a powerful tribe of the 
Sioux nation. As soon as these Indians perceived us, they 
broke out into cries of joy, and honored our arrival by seve 
ral volleys of musketry. Their women had prepared a great 
quantity of dry wood : we accepted* it thankfully, and they 
received in return a present of tobacco, lead, flour, coffee, 
and sugar the articles they prize most. 

The Indians gave us the sad tidings of the ravages which 
the small-pox was then causing at 1'ost 1 MHIJS and its neigh 
borhood, near Little Medicine River, which empties into the, 
Missouri at the upper bay of the Great Bend. This Lend is 
thirty-six miles in circumference, while it is only four miles 
i'V land. At my ivcju.-st, the captain put me ashore, 
and two hours after I was among the sick. I spent the 
night with them, giving them all the consolation in my 
power. Some believed that the disease resembled the great 
plague in London. The survivors long retained black spots. 
Even during this contagious disease, the Indians retained 
their old custom of giving a last abode to the dead, by 



AND MISSIONAKIKS. 75 

placing the body, wrapped in a blanket or buffalo-robe, on 
scaffolds raised eight or ten feet above the plain. They left 
them thus exposed to the burning heat of a July sun, the 
most intense of the year. The pestilential exhalations of 
these corpses infected the air for miles around. 

They showed me in their camp a little orphan boy who 
had turn attacked, and who, given up, had been turned out 
of the lodge in the midst of the night, during a fearful rain, 
by his adoptive father, a cruel and unfeeling man. He was 
still alive in the morning, when a Canadian perceived him, 
and, like the good Samaritan, carried him to his hut and 
lavished the most constant care on him. I had the pleasure 
to see him recovering, and to baptize him. 

Some days after, I was at Fort Pierre, situated on the 
shore, south of the Missouri, about 1500 miles above St. 
Louis, and near the mouth of the Schicah, or Bad River. 
The influenza had existed for some time in the fort, and a 
panic, had seized many at the news that the small-pox was 
in the neighborhood, and the cholera on board. In fact, im 
mediately after we started, the last broke out and carried off 
many. The Indians, nwe-strnek at the approach of danger 
from this implacable scourge, were overjoyed at my presence ; 
the children of the whites and of the Indians encamped 
around the fort were presented to me, to the number of 
eighty-two, to be regenerated in the holy waters of baptism. 

The same inquietude reigned at the post of the Arickaras. 
Some couriers had announced the approach of the boat, and 
spread alarm by reporting that there were contagious dis 
eases on board. But when the people saw that all were well, 
their fears vanished, and they welcomed the boat with the 
usual demonstrations on such occasions. Cries of joy burst 
from two thousand mouths ; volleys of cannon and musketry 
rolled echoing over the plains. The scene was beautiful and 



76 WESTERN MISSIONS 

imposing. The fort stands on a high hill, nearlv a hundred 
feet above the level of the river. A long row of Indians, in 
their gayest costumes, their faces daubed with various colors, 
lined the shore. 

I had galloped on in advance of the boat, to have time to 
instruct the half-breeds and Canadians, and baptize all their 
children. I spent two days among them. A great number 
of Indians, learning of my arrival at the fort, came to shake 
hands with me from respect, and to bid me welcome. At 
the same time they earnestly begged me to grant their little 
children the same benefit of baptism that I had granted the 
half-breed children. I yielded to their wishes, in conse 
quence of the great danger in which they were. The num 
ber of baptisms was about two hundred. Not long after, I 
heard that the cholera had swept through the village of the 
Arickaras, and that many of the children had fallen victims. 
What a consolation, that, by the sacrament, I unlocked the 
gates of heaven to them ! 

We now bade farewell to the officers of the fort, to plunge 
further into the desert. Ere long we passed the Manclan vil 
lage, composed of large huts covered with earth. This once 
numerous nation is now reduced to a few families, the only 
survivors of the small-pox of 1838. Their village lies 1800 
miles above the mouth of the Missouri, two hundred below 
the mouth of the Yellowstone. Some days after, we stopped 
at Fort Berthold, to land some goods at the great village of 
the Minataries, or Osier tribe, nicknamed the Gros Venires 
of Missouri. Their cabins are built like those of the Arick 
aras and Mandans. Four forks, or rather four forked trees, 
set in the ground, about twenty feet apart, form a square. 
These are joined on top by cross-pieces, over which other 
pieces are laid obliijiu-ly, I.-avinir a great opening in the cen 
tre, to admit air and u'ivc v.-nt to the smoke; these pieces 



AND MISSIONARIES. 77 

are woven together with osiers : the whole is covered with 
hay and earth not with turf, however. An opening is made 
on one side to receive the door, which consists of a bison- 
skin. Before the door is a sort of alley, ten or fifteen feet 
long, inclosed by pickets, and easily defended in case of 
attack. In the middle of the lodge, under the upper open 
ing which admits the light, a hole about a foot deep is dug 
to answer as a fireplace. Around the lodge there are beds, 
one, two, or three feet from the floor, with doe-skins as cur 
tains. The whole village is surrounded by a high and strong 
pallisade of large trees, squared. 

The Minataries raise Indian-corn, squashes, beans, and po 
tatoes. The other permanent villages on the Missouri are 
those of the Osages, Omahas, Ponkahs, Pawnees, Arickaras, 
and Mandans. The Minataries are of the same stock as the 
Crows, and speak about the same language. They say that 
they separated in consequence of a dispute between two 
chiefs, over a bison that both claimed to have killed on a 
hunt. . 

The great chief of the latter village, called Four Bears, is 
the most civil and affable Indian that I met on the Missouri. 
He begged me to baptize his two children and several members 
of his family. All the children of this tribe had been bap 
tized by Rev. Mr. Bellecourt, a zealous and untiring mission 
ary of the Vicariate Apostolic of Red River, which is under 
the jurisdiction of Mgr. Provencher. Rev. Mr. Bellecourt 
has visited these tribes several times, and met with great suc 
cess in disposing them in favor of our holy religion. I 
learned, to my consolation, that in all probability a mission 
would be soon established there, with one or two resident 
priests, under the direction of Mgr. Provencher. 

The place is admirably well chosen, and the benefits of 
religion will easily spread thence among the neighboring 



78 WESTERN MISSIONS 

nations, such as the Mandans, Arickaras, and Assiniboins. 
These tribes evince great eagerness to hear the word of God 
and to be instructed in our holy faith, whenever a Catholic 
missionary visits them. In Europe, the preachers and cate- 
chists must use a thousand means to win auditors ; here men 
call priests to instruct them. They are eager for this nour 
ishment of the soul, this word of God, that so many others 
despise ! What an awful account of this heavenly benefit 
must be one day rendered by men of all ages, especially the 
young, for whom religious teaching abounds in the churches, 
colleges, and schools of Europe ! 

On the 14th of July, the steamboat St. Ange reached our 
destination, Fort Union. This post is situated at 48 N. 
I had then to make all my preparations and take all my pre 
cautions for my long journey on land. Yet, withal, I found 
time to instruct and baptize twenty-nine little children, be 
tween Fort Union and Fort William, which are only three 
miles apart. I said mass daily at the fort, and gave an 
instruction. 

Yours, &c., 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 79 



Letter IV, 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 

Journey to the Great Desert in 1851. 
(CONTINUED.) 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, January 20, 1852. 
SIR: 

The whole forenoon of the 31st of July, the day on which 
the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Ignatius, founder of 
the Society of Jesus, was employed in making preparations 
for our journey into the interior of the country. Mr. Cul- 
bertson, superintendent of the forts on the Mississippi and 
the Yellowstone rivers, is a distinguished man, endowed 
with a mild, benevolent, and charitable temper, though, if 
need be, intrepid and courageous. He has always given me 
marks of kindness and friendship, but most particularly in 
this last tour. Being at the head of our troop, he was able 
to aid me in my project. 

We numbered thirty-two persons ; the greater part were 
Assiniboins, Minatarics, and Crows, who were repairing to 
the great Indian council to be held in the vicinity of Fort 
Laramie, and by the same route that we had chosen, and 
which was scarcely less than 800 miles in length. Two 
four-wheeled wagons and two carts, for transporting our pro 
visions and our baggage, composed our whole convoy. The 
four vehicles were in 'all probability the first that had ever 
crossed this unoccupied waste. There is not the slightest 
perceptible vestige of a beaten track between Fort Union 



80 WESTERN MISSIONS 

and the Red Buttes, which are on the route to Oregon, and 
161 miles west of Fort Laramie. 

Having dined, we crossed the river with our baggage. 
Following the course of one of the little tributaries of the 
Yellowstone, we advanced about six miles. We had with us 
a skilful hunter, of the Black-Feet tribe, and he made a 
hnppy commencement by bringing us two fine deer as the 
first fruits of his ability. The mosquitoes attacked us on all 
sides, leaving us no repose. We were forced to combat 
them continually with branches, handkerchiefs, and smoke. 
The last is the most efficacious weapon for dissipating these 
sanguinary insects, but it is at the same time the most diffi 
cult for the traveller to support. Night came on, and brought 
with it a terrible storm. The thunder rolled above our 
heads and the clouds discharged torrents of water. 

On the 1st of August, at six o'clock in the morning, we 
resumed our route. We took all possible precaution to 
avoid meeting any hostile band. The Indians who accom 
panied us kept their eyes on the earth to discover any re 
cent tracks of an enemy. An extraordinary experience 
gives them an admirable tact in detecting trails which are 
imperceptible to others. The foes that our travelling com- 
' panions dreaded most in the section we were about to trav 
erse, were the Black-Feet and the Sioux. After breakfast 
ing in the neighborhood of the source of the Fox River, we 
journeyed from morning till night over hilly and undulating 
plains, bounded by ranges of hills which stretch from the 
Yellowstone to the Missouri. From time to time we descried 
promontories in the distance, which serve as guides to the 
traveller. At the close of the day we pitched our camp at 
the base of the Tetons of the Yellowstone. These Tetons 
derive their name from a group of lofty hills situated in one 
of those delightful valleys which are numerous in tin-so 



AND MISSIONARIES. 81 

parts, and which, being surrounded by trees and shrubbery 
of various kinds, form a most agreeable contrast to the plains 
that we had just left behind so destitute of wood and water. 
Wild fruit, such as plums, cherries, gooseberries, sorbs, buf 
falo-berries, or Shepherdia angelica, abound. Among the 
vegetables and roots we noticed the Psoralea esculenta, or 
Breadroot : its white apple, and its charming white, oval blos 
som, nearly three inches in circumference, is universally 
found in this uncultivated solitude, and would deserve a place 
in a garden of choice plants ; the savages value it highly. 
The wild onion and the sweet onion bear handsome flowers ; 
these plants would undoubtedly improve with culture. The 
roots of the water-arrow (Sagittaria rigidd), and those of 
the wild Lily of the Valley (Convallaria borealis), are 
equally prized by the Indians, who call them Swan potatoes. 
Peanuts are also a delicious and nourishing root, found com 
monly in low and alluvial lands. The above-named roots 
form a considerable portion of the sustenance of these In 
dians during winter. They seek them in the places where 
the mice and other little animals, in particular the ground- 
squirrel, have piled them in heaps. 

The musquitoes tormented us greatly during the day. They 
especially worried our horses and mules, which were literally 
covered with them. For us, we had taken measures against 
their attacks by covering our heads with sacks formed of 
coarse gauze. 

The distance between the Tetons and Fort Union is about 
eighty miles. We saw very few deer, and from time to time 
an antelope or buck was roused from repose and fled at our 
approach. Traces of several kinds of bear, especially the 
grizzly bear, are very common ; the latter are found in the 
woody places and along the streams and rivulets. We suc 
ceeded in killing three, not without great effort and danger. 



82 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Our hunter brought us two fine, fat antelopes, which were 
soon dressed and served up for our supper. One of the In 
dians killed a skunk (Mephitis Americano). The strong 
odor of this animal is intolerable to the whites ; the savages, 
on the contrary, appear to like it, and deem its flesh exquisite. 
How true is the proverb: De gustibus non disputandum ! 
there is no accounting for tastes. 

On the 2d of August we set out at break of day, and 
were fanned by a refreshing breeze. The country through 
which we progressed was full of interest : the valleys were 
covered with a luxuriant verdure, intermingled with flowers 
of various hues. Groves of cotton-wood, elm, and ash, as 
well as groups of service-trees and cherry-trees, offered 
themselves along the beds of dry rivers and streamlets. We 
ascended, step by step, the hills which separate the waters of 
the Missouri from those of the Yellowstone, like so many 
insuperable barriers furrowed with profound ravines. We 
triumphed over these obstacles with great difficulty, and at 
length attained the summit of the hills. There a most mag 
nificent spectacle unrolled itself before our eyes. Nature 
has accumulated in this spot a great variety of her most fan 
tastical caprices. On one side is displayed a succession of 
beautiful prairies, here and there interrupted with groves of 
stunted trees and shrubs, and terminating in verdant hills 
dotted with groups of cedar and pine; on the other are 
shapeless heaps of red and white clay and piles of stones, 
which, viewed at a distance, resemble brick-kilns, from their 
peculiar color : although thrown together without any appa 
rent order, they add much interest to the landscape. 

The region through which we passed for several days fur 
nished evident proofs that it has been strongly volcanic, even 
at a very recent date, for the surface is still covered with 
lava and scoriae I counted as many as seventy conical hills, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 83 

from twenty to a hundred feet in height, grouped in one sin 
gle plain and in the space of from 'four to five miles: they 
had evidently gone through the ordeal of fire. Some of 
these hills were composed of cinders that the earth in her 
fiery convulsions appeared to have vomited from her centre. 
Several times, after having gained some miles on the heights, 
we found ourselves suddenly facing an almost perpendicular 
descent, formed of rock and white clay, down which we had 
to let our vehicles by hand. We then entered into a chain 
of valleys and fertile prairies watered by springs and rivulets, 
and embellished with the cotton-wood, elm, ash, cedar, and 
pine ; in other places the summits of the hills are remark 
able for their beauty, and the rich undulating plains for their 
abundant verdure. 

On the fourth day of our march we descried thousands of 
bison ; the whole space between the Missouri and the Yel 
lowstone was covered as far as the eye could reach. Hith 
erto the musquitoes had greatly tormented us, but now they 
entirely vanished. We sought the cause of this phenome 
non. The Indians told us that the absence of our winged 
enemies was owing to the prodigious number of buffaloes 
which were grazing in the neighboring plains, and which at 
tracted these insects. In fact, we saw these noble animals 
throwing the earth on their bodies by means of their horns 
and feet, or rolling themselves in the sand and dust, and thus 
filling the air with clouds, in the endeavor to rid themselves 
of their vexatious followers. The lot of these animals ap 
peared bad enough, for they were pursued day and night. 
During a whole week we heard their bellowings like the 
noise of distant thunder, or like the murmurs of the ocean- 
waves beating against the shore. It may be said that it iff 
the country in which the buffalo and herds of deer are gen 
erally found in the greatest abundance. A good hunter 



84 WESTERN MISSIONS. 

might easily kill here, in the course of a day, several cows, 
deer,, a mountain-goat, a red-tailed and a black-tailed buck, 
an antelope, hares, and rabbits. lie might fire twice upon 
"a grizzly bear, and perhaps meet a gray and a silver fox. 
To this list of animals we may add the beaver, otter, badger, 
prairie-dog, and several kinds of wild fowl, principally pheas 
ants and grouse. It is easy to see that our hunters possess 
the power of selecting a repast. In truth, we regaled our 
selves with what was most delicate, and left a great quantity 
of flesh in the plains for the benefit of the vultures and 
wolves, whose howlings arid rejoicings already resounded on 
every side. 

An Assiniboin gave us a singular proof of his dexterity in 
the chase.; I cannot forbear mentioning it. Alone and on 
foot, he stealthily approached a large herd of bison cows. 
As soon as he was near enough to them to allow of their 
hearing him, he began to imitate the cry of a young calf. 
At once the cows ran towards the place of concealment of 
the ingenious hunter, and he killed one of them. The troop, 
alarmed, withdrew hastily and in great disorder. He re 
loaded his rifle and renewed his cry ; the cows stopped, re 
turned as if by enchantment, and he killed a second. The 
Assiniboin assured us that he could easily have taken more 
by the same stratagem, but thinking two cows were enough 
for us, he suffered the rest to go. 

Travellers in these upper regions enjoy an excellent appe 
tite. I have been more than once astonished at the enor 
mous quantity of meat that a man is capable of consuming 
without injury to his health ; it would hardly be credited in 
Europe. One and even two buffalo-tongues, a side of veni 
son or other meat, and some additional trifles^ are not con 
sidered a large portion for one meal. 

On the 7th of August we crossed lands intersected with 



AND MISSIONARIES. 85 

numerous ravines and dried streams. The soil was much 
lighter than that we last trod; it was covered with a species 
of wild artemisia, or wormwood an infallible mark of ster 
ility. The aspect of all the ravines, shores, and beds of 
rivers and streams, as well as that of every eminence, proves 
that there are numerous veins of mineral coal in this section. 
The observations that I made on the quality of the soil, in 
duce me to believe that these deposits of coal extend as far 
as the numerous coal mines which exist in the territories 
watered by the Saskatchewan and Athabasca Lake, of which 
I have already spoken, in my letters in 1845 and 1846, after 
travelling over those places. 

Evident tokens convince the traveller that the immense 
plains that he is crossing, and on which not even a shrub 
grows, have not always been destitute of wood. Petrified 
trunks and entire trees frequently meet the eye. Astonish 
ment and admiration seize the mind, and excite conjectures 
concerning the manner in which these changes have been 
wrought. But what answer offer to the question, "Why 
are not these lands wooded as they must have been in for 
mer times ?" The steppes of Asia, the pampas of South 
America, and the western prairies of this hemisphere, seem 
to possess a common and uniform character ; generally speak 
ing, they have neither trees nor shrubs on them. Some 
observers attribute it to the action of frequent fires which 
have passed over these localities; others to the change un 
dergone in the climate, or to the natural sterility of the soil ; 
and, in fine, there are some who pretend that some operation* 
or convulsion of nature has destroyed the forests which for 
merly existed here, and has reduced them to their present 
condition. I have examined different localities; and the 
enormous heaps of shells of the testaceous kind and of the 
genus muscula, which I found some feet distant from the 

8 



86 WESTERN MISSIONS 

summits of the loftiest hills, and which were incorporated in 
alluvial earth, and mingled with sand and water-worn peb 
bles, convince me that this portion of land has undergone 
changes as great as they are amazing. 

On the same day we traversed a mountainous elevation 
which stretches as far as the Owl-head Buttes. These buttes 
or mounds, in this ocean-like prairie, serve as guides to the 
warrior, the traveller, and the hunter, who can perceive them 
thirty miles off. From the summit of this extensive eminence 
we contemplated, with pleasing wonder, the " White Earth 
country," or clay plains of the Yellowstone. From south to 
north they measure from thirty to forty miles. When on 
this height, the imagination discovers the ruins of ancient 
villages, and one seems to see confused rows of broken col 
umns, forts with their turrets and bastions, towers, domes, 
walls in decay, castles, and edifices of every sort. Some of 
these pillars of red and white hardened clay rise to an eleva 
tion of from 50 to 100 feet. It would have gratified me 
much to have passed one or two days in an attentive exam 
ination of these volcanic productions. I presume that the 
soil is not unlike that near the White Earth River, a tribu 
tary of the Missouri, and that it contains the same species of 
interesting fossils. 

Similar tracts, which have ceased to be volcanic, are found 
in the environs of the superior sources of the Rivers Arkan 
sas, Platte, etc., and of the Big Horn, a branch of the Yel 
lowstone. Near the source of the River Puante, which 
empties into the Big Horn, and the sulphurous waters of 
which have probably the same medicinal qualities as the 
celebrated Blue Lick Springs of Kentucky, is a place called 
Colter's Hell from a beaver-hunter of that name. This 
locality is often agitated with subterranean fires. The sul 
phurous gases which escape in great volumes from the burn- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 87 

ing soil infect the atmosphere for several miles, and render 
the earth so barren that even the wild wormwood cannot 
grow on it. The beaver-hunters have assured me, that the 
underground noises and explosions are often frightful. How 
ever, I think that the most extraordinary spot in this respect, 
and perhaps the most marvellous of all the northern half of 
this continent, is in the very heart of the Rocky Mountains, 
between the 43d and 45th degrees of latitude and 109th and 
lllth degrees of longitude, that is, between the sources of 
the Madison and Yellowstone. It reaches more than a hun 
dred miles. Bituminous, sulphurous, and boiling springs, 
are very numerous in it. The hot springs contain a large 
quantity of calcareous matter, and form hills more or less 
elevated, which resemble in their nature, perhaps, if not in 
their extent, the famous springs of Pemboukkalesi, in Asia 
Minor, so well described by Chandler. The earth is thrown 
up very high, and the influence of the elements causes it to 
take the most varied and the most fantastic shapes. Gas, 
vapor, and smoke are continually escaping, by a thousand 
openings, from the base to the summit of the volcanic pile ; 
the noise at times resembles the steam let off by a boat. 
Strong subterranean explosions occur like those in " Colter's 
Hell" The hunters and the Indians speak of it with a su 
perstitious fear, and consider it the abode of evil spirits, that 
is to say, a kind of hell. Indians seldom approach it with 
out offering some sacrifice, or, at least, without presenting 
the calumet of peace to the turbulent spirits, that they may 
be propitious. They declare that the subterranean noises 
proceed from the forging of warlike weapons : each eruption 
of earth is, in their eyes, the result of a combat between the 
infernal spirits, and becomes the monument of a new victory 
or calamity. Near Gardiner River, a tributary of the Yel 
lowstone, and in the vicinity of the region I have just been 



88 WESTERN MISSIONS 

describing, there is a mountain of sulphur. I have this re 
port from Captain Bridger, who is familiar with every one of 
these mounds, -having passed thirty years of his life near 
them. 

From the Owl Buttes, where we encamped on the 7th of 
August, to the source of the Iramel, a distance-of nearly 
thirty miles, we travelled on the highlands. The surface 
was rugged, cut by deep ravines, and excessively difficult to 
pass with our vehicles. At every step we met volcanic re 
mains. For two days our route offered on the right and left 
burnt hills, some of which were covered with lava and sco 
riae, and had evidently been craters, whence volcanic matter 
had been ejected into the neighboring plain. 

At the decline of the same day, we were witnesses of a 
singularly beautiful phenomenon. The moon was surround 
ed by four circles ; the first was of a beautiful azure, the 
second a rich purple, and the third white, while the fourth 
was obscure or black. In the midst of all these circles the 
queen of night shone brilliantly. The savages augured from 
this sign, that some hostile band was near, and passed the 
whole night in arms, watching. 

On the 10th we quitted the highlands and advanced about 
twenty miles, over a barren, rugged space, excavated by 
rains. A kind of salamander, vulgarly called " horned frog," 
lizards, and rattlesnakes, were most abundant. I give you 
the information I gathered from the Indians concerning the 
antidotes they employ for curing the bite of the last-named 
reptile. Blackroot (Pterocaulon) is regarded by them as a 
sovereign remedy against the wound inflicted by this most 
venomous serpent, and Providence has rendered it very plen 
tiful, precisely in those places in which these snakes are 
found. The remedy is truly side by side with the ill for it 
is sufficient to chew the weed and apply it to the wound, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 89 

when the swelling is arrested and disappears. When an In 
dian, his horse, or his dog, has been bitten by one of these 
serpents, they pursue the reptile, which dies almost directly 
after having given its bite. They open its stomach, take 
out the blood that it has swallowed and apply it to the 
wound ; the swelling subsides at once, and the dangerous 
effects of the poison are prevented. When the swelling is 
considerable, the Indians use the sharp bones and the teeth 
of the rattlesnake to pick and open the swollen skin, and by 
this means they dissipate or remove the inflammation. The 
copperhead-snake has a poison so subtle, that its breath alone 
causes death to him who inhales it. Its tongue is not forked 
like that of other snakes ; it is of a triangular shape. When 
the reptile is startled and provoked, his head flattens, and 
he throws from his mouth a great quantity of yellow poison, 
and then blows till he expires. 

On the llth we arrived at the upper portion of a gently 
sloping plain. Having crossed it, we found ourselves at Fort 
Alexander, situated on the banks of the Yellowstone, and at 
a short distance from the little river Rosebud. Fort Alex 
ander is one hundred miles distant from Fort Union. The 
winter, it is said, is extremely severe in these regions, com 
mencing in November, and only terminating in the month 
of April. 

Accept, &c., 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 
8* 



90 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter V. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, Jan. 24, 1852. 



After remaining six days at Fort Alexander, allowing 
onr animals time to repose, and also awaiting the arrival of 
a barge belonging to the American Fur Company, which 
was freighted with some of our effects, we passed over the 
Yellowstone on the 17th of August, at about^two o'clock. 
We passed over a high and very level plain : for a distance 
of five miles the soil is light, sandy, and entirely covered 
with green toads, as the voyayeurs call different kinds of 
cactus plants that are noted for the splendor of their flowers, 
and for their grotesque and varied shapes. The round and 
the oval, about the size of a hen's egg, abound in this plain, 
and are set with long thorns, hard, and as fine and sharp as 
needles. When trampled by the horses' feet, these thorns 
spring up and adhere to the legs and belly of the animals, 
and thus render them furious and unmanageable. We soon 
arrived in Rosebud Valley, and continuing our route until 
sunset, we encamped on the borders of a little river bearing 
the same name, and quite near a beautiful pond, over which 
a new dam had been constructed by the beavers. 

This section of the country offered us frequent occasions 
of admiring the labors and ingenious industry of these in 
telligent animals. They are more numerous here than in 
any other district 1 have visited, and I am told that their 



AND MISSIONARIES. 91 

preservation is chiefly attributable to the continual excur 
sions of war-parties, either Sioux, Assiniboins, or Black-Feet, 
all implacable enemies of the Crows, and these prevent the 
huntsman and the savages from hazarding a chase in these 
parts. At present, the fur of the beaver is of so little value 
that their search is almost abandoned. In ancient times the 
Crows held the beaver in the highest veneration, because 
this nation imagined that they became beavers after death. 
This article of their creed entailed the loss of his scalp to 
many a bold huntsman among the whites, for every Crow 
Indian considered himself bound to protect, defend, and 
avenge, even with death, the spirits of his near relations, in 
their second state of existence. During late years this dog 
ma of faith has been erased from their religious code, to the 
great detriment certainly of the poor beavers. Such super 
stitions will never wholly disappear until the Catholic faith 
enlightens these wilds, over which the darkness of paganism 
still hangs. 

For four days we continued ascending the valley of the 
Rosebud, about one hundred miles, as high as the sources 
of the river. There again we found the soil light and sandy j 
it was covered with wild rose-bushes, cactus, and artemisia 
of several varieties, and intersected with ravines which Were 
exceedingly difficult to be crossed with baggage-wagons. 
The shores of this river relieve the eye with an occasional 
group of cotton-wood, intermingled with plum, cherry, and 
service trees, which thrive here in undisturbed plenty. 

The Little "Wolf Mountains, whose rivulets give rise to the 
Rosebud River, have in general a charming appearance in 
their hills and acclivities and in their combined aspect as a 
whole chain. The absence of water, especially of spring- 
water, is a painful privation to travellers in this season of 
the year. We found, indeed, some holes of stagnant water, 



92 WKSTERN MISSIONS 

in the dry beds of the rivers, but the taste is almost insup 
portable. The buffalo-herds are less numerous here than in 
the lands lying further north, owing no doubt to bands of 
warriors that roam over the space. Yet we perceived ;it 
everv moment large troops of stags, and a great many deer and 
mountain-sheep. We remarked recent traces of enemies 
such as the slain carcasses of very <l;mgerous wild animals, 
the impress of human feet in the sand, concealed encamp 
ments, and half-quenched fires. Consequently we redoubled 
our vigilance, in order to avoid a perilous surprise. A beau 
tiful chiefs-coat, of scarlet cloth, and trimmed with gold 
lace, suspended from the branch of a tree, was perceived 
waving in the air like a floating banner. There was a race 
to win the prize; an Assiniboin having carried it off, it was 
most carefully scrutinized. The conclusion was, that it had 
been offered only the day before by some Black-Foot chief. 
These Indians, when on the war-path, frequently make such 
offerings either to the sun or to the moon, hoping thus to 
render them propitious, so that through their intervention 
they may obtain many scalps and horses. The most precious 
objects which they possess and which they esteem most, are 
often thus sacrificed. The Mandans, the Arickaras, and their 
neighbors, go still further: they cut off fingers, and make 
deep incisions in th j nVshy parts of the body before starting 
for war, in order to obtain the same favors of their false 
gods. On my last visit to these Kiccaries, Minataries, and 
Mandans, I could not disivrn a single man at all advanced 
in years whose body was not mutilated, or who possessed 
his full number of lingers. How profound their ignorance! 
How fearful the idolatry in which these unhappy tribes are 
plunged ! To this sombre picture we may add a passionate 
love of gaming, which consumes the hours which should be 
devoted to necessary repose; a sloth which nothing but him- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 93 

ger can arouse; an innate inclination to dissimulation, glut 
tony, and to whatever can flatter sensuality. And still, 
amid this ocean of miseries, they feel an indescribable need 
of invoking a power superior to man : they listen attentively 
to any instruction which reveals to them the means of pro 
curing his favor, and give them information of his attributes. 
They love the missionary, and ever listen to him with de 
light ; and in his quality of priest receive him with friend 
ship and respect. To judge by the Tespect and friendship 
shown me as a priest, on all occasions and circumstances, by 
the Indians on the Upper Missouri, I am satisfied that if a 
few zealous priests were stationed here, they would soon be 
come generous Christians, full of zeal and ardor for the glory 
of our God and his holy law. " They would know their 
Father who is in heaven, and Him whom he has sent on 
earth ;" they would become faithful disciples of the Redeem 
er, who so ardently desires the salvation of all, and who did 
not disdain to shed his blood for them on the cross. 

On the 22d of 'August we quitted the valley of the Rose 
bud, and crossed the mountainous train which separates it 
from Tongue River. The crest of this chain presents a con 
tinuation of sandstone cliffs, under a multitude of varied and 
fantastical shapes. The sides are almost perpendicular, and 
consequently very difficult to ascend or descend with our 
wagons. The aid of every arm was necessary to sustain the 
teams. For several days we had to camp by a pond filled 
with disgusting water. How agreeable the contrast to find 
ourselves on the borders of this beautiful river, the waters of 
which are pure as crystal ! How eagerly did we allay our 
burning thirst ! The horses and mules appeared to rejoice, 
neighing and rearing with impatience ; as soon as their bri 
dles were loosened, they plunged into the waves and in 
dulged in long draughts. When the whole caravan had 



94 WESTERN MISSIONS 

assuaged their thirst, we continued our route. We traversed 
an undulating plain ; and perceiving in the distance a promi 
nent point of land which appeared sparkling with crystals, 
we named it Diamond Hill. It was covered with enormous 
masses of mica. For the first time since we left Fort Alex 
ander we breakfasted beside beautiful springs of fresh water, 
the most remarkable in the country. After advancing about 
twenty-three miles that day, we camped on the banks of 
Tongue River. There we had a new occasion to recall and 
arrange our recollections of the land we had seen. Coal 
also appears as abundant south of the Yellowstone as above 
it ; we met it everywhere. The slopes of the hills are well 
wooded with larch and pines of every variety up to the very 
summit, throughout the whole extent of the Little Wolf 
chain. This we left for that of the Great Wolf, which we 
reach before arriving at the Black Hills. These mountains 
form spurs of the Rocky Mountains ; the principal summits 
are over 13,000 feet high. On the 23d we left Tongue 
River. For ten hours we marched over mountain and val 
ley, following the course of one of its tributaries, making, 
however, only about twenty-Jive miles. On the day follow 
ing we crossed a chain of lofty mountains to attain the 
Lower Piny Fork, nearly twenty miles .distant We arrived 
quite unexpectedly on the borders of a lovely little lake 
about six miles long, and my travelling companions gave it 
my name. There our hunters killed several "\vild ducks. On 
quitting the lake, we discovered another elevate! portion of 
land on which red mounds and scoria?, volcanic remains, are 
scattered in all directions, as far as the Upper Piny Fork ; 
and there petrified trees are met with at every step. To 
wards evening we encamped at the base of a mountain, after 
advancing about twenty-five miles, and thought our 
favored in finding a pool of water. The next twenty-four 



AND MISSIONARIES. 95 

miles were taken in the direction of Sandy River, through 
undulating plains and mountainous hills. 

On the 27th of August we reached Powder River, one of 
the principal tributaries of the Yellowstone. Our wagoners 
will not soon forget the difficulty of conducting their teams 
through this last route, for it was a very miserable, elevated, 
sterile plain, covered with wormwood and intersected with 
countless ravines, and they vowed they would never be 
caught driving a wagon there again. 

The valley of the Powder River, in the neighborhood of 
the Buttes aux Callebasses, which are in sight, is three or 
four miles wide. Although the soil was light, the verdure 
was fine and the grazing abundant. The part where I 
crossed the valley is well wooded, and they told me that 
wood, especially cotton-wood and fruit trees, is abundant all 
along the river. This valley forms a beautiful contrast with 
the high plains of these parts, which are the very picture of 
aridity and desolation, with naught but weeds, rocks, and 
deep ravines. 

Here we happened to meet with three young Indians of 
the Crow tribe. They had been on the lookout for a Sioux 
camp, intending to steal horses, but had not succeeded. 
These young men advised us to pursue the vale of a little 
river which they pointed out to us, assuring us that by 
taking that direction we should soon arrive at Fort Laramie. 
I was surprised at this counsel, for the course of the valley 
was southwest ; however, we followed the route indicated by 
the Crows. This proved the most rugged and difficult part 
of our journey, hence we styled it " the valley of a thousand 
miseries." A name could not have been better chosen. 
Imagine a river with perpendicular banks, winding in a ser 
pentine course through a narrow valley, so that in a distance 
of three miles we were obliged to cross it ten or twelve 



96 WESTERN MISSIONS 

times, with carts and wagons, at the imminent risk of kill 
ing our horses and mules and destroying our vehicles. The 
soil, too, was sterile, and as we journeyed on water Wain.-. 
scarce on the fifth day it failed completely, and it did -again 
on the last. The night that ensued was a hard trial, for 
after so long a march we had not a drop of water to quench 
our burning thirst. 

On the 1st of September, having traversed three chains of 
hills, we gradually attained the summit of the Black Hills. 
We had one cart less, and one heavy wagon so broken that 
it had to be tied together with strips of raw buffalo-hide. 
From the summit we were so happy as to perceive a distant 
lake. We eagerly hastened in that direction, for we were 
consumed with thirst, and had serious fears for our beasts of 
burden, which were slackening their weary pace. To our 
astonishment, we directly perceived that we were still at a 
great distance from Fort Laramie. Instead of being near 
that fort, in accordance with the assurances of the three 
Crows, we discpvered ourselves in sight of the lied Buttes, 
twenty-five miles off. This is a well-known spot on the 
" Great Oregon Route," and is one hundred and sixty miles 
from Fort Laramie. On the top of the Black Hills I left a 
little souvenir of my passage, on a very high rock of a re 
markable form, I carved a large and handsome cross. Ah ! 
may the Indian tribes scattered throughout the wild solitude 
soon learn the great truths which 'this holy emblem an 
nounces ! May they soon leave the bondage in which error 
has chained them during innumerable ages ! 

The whole region over which we passed, south of the Yel 
lowstone, offers only feeble hopes to civilization. The soil is 
light, wood scarce, and water wanting during a large portion 
of the year. It is a country favorable solely to hunters and 
wandering tribes. All the animals common in the wilder- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 97 

ness abound, and during long years to come they will rest 
undisturbed in their possessions. When all the fertile tracts, 
yet vacant in the immense Indian territory, will be occupied, 
then only will the lands below the Yellowstone attract atten 
tion ; then alone will necessitous and persevering industry 
succeed in drawing any considerable portion of this region 
from its present barrenness. 

In the neighborhood and along the base of the Black 
Hills there lies a very extensive tract of fertile and tillable 
land. The verdure is rich and abounds in all the valleys, 
and these valleys penetrate the mountains like so many 
veins, where millions- of domestic animals might be raised ; 
for the springs and rivulets so seldom occurring in the cen 
tral section between the Yellowstone and the Black Hills, 
are very numerous in the interior and at the base of these 
mountains. There are also a great many sites favorable to 
the erection of mills. The climate is reputed delightful, and 
the noble forests of cedar and pine would abundantly supply 
the necessities of a population. Mines of lead and iron are 
very numerous. 

The 2d day of September we found ourselves on the 
" Great Route to Oregon," over which, liko successive ocean 
surges, the caravans, composed of thousands of .emigrants 
from every country and clime, have passed during these lat 
ter years to reach the rich gold mines of California, or to 
take possession of the new lands in the fertile plains and val 
leys of Utah and Oregon. These intrepid pioneers of civil 
ization have formed the broadest, longest, and most beautiful 
road in the whole world from the United States to the Pa 
cific Ocean. On the skirts of this magnificent way there is 
an abundance of grass for supplying the cattle and animals 
appertaining to the caravans which are incessantly travelling 
on it, from early spring to autumn, every succeeding year. 



98 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Our Indian companions who had never seen but the nar 
row hunting-paths, by which they transport themselves and 
their lodges, were filled with admiration on seeing this noble 
highway, which is as smooth as a barn-floor swept by th 
winds, and not a blade of grass can shoot on it on account 
of the continual passing. They conceived a high idea of 
the countless White Nation, as they express it. They fan 
cied that all had gone over that road, and that an immense 
void must exist in the land of the rising sun. Their coun 
tenances testified evident incredulity when I told them that 
their exit was in nowise perceived in the lands of the whites. 

They styled the route the Great Medicine Road of the 
Whites. The term medicine is applied by them to whatever 
they find grand, religious, mysterious, or incomprehensible. 
They visited and examined in detail all the forsaken camp 
ing-grounds on the way ; they brought a great variety of 
objects to me to have their use and signification explained ; 
they filled their pouches with knives, forks, spoons, basins, 
cofYee-pots, and other cooking articles, axes, hammers, etc. 
With the bits of earthen ware which bore any figure or. in 
scription, they fabricated some ornament for their necks 
ami cars. How wonderful will be the accounts given of the 
Great Medicine Road by our unsophisticated Indians when 
they go back to their villages, and sit in the midst of an ad 
miring circle of relatives. 

But these relics collected by our savage friends were not 
the sole vestiges of the great multitude of emigrants who, 
in search of gold, had crossed this vast plain with a rare 
courage and unheard-of fatigues and difficulties. The 
bleached bones of domestic animals disseminated profusely 
along the route ; the rising mound hastily made over the 
grave of a parent or a friend deceased during the long jour 
ney, and the tribute offered to memory in a coarse and 



AND MISSIONARIES. 99 

rudely-carved inscription on a narrow strip of board or on a 
stone, with other graves which offered no such testimonial 
of affection, furnish ample and melancholy proofs that death 
had considerably thinned their ranks. By such disasters 
thousands of emigrants have found themselves suddenly ar 
rested, and been mocked in the flattering hope of wealth and 
pleasure. 

The countless fragments of conveyances, the heaps of pro 
visions, tools of every kind, and other objects with which 
the emigrants must have provided themselves at great ex 
pense, but which the most impatient, eager to outstrip others 
in the Western Eldorado, had forsaken and cast aside, 
testify to that bold recklessness with which they hazard 
every thing in this enterprise which has proved fatal to 
thousands. The picture traced by Thornton in his Journal 
of 1848, is the most shocking that can be contemplated. 
Arrived in the arid lands of California, the famine had at 
first reduced them to eating their horses and mules; soon 
they had recourse to dead bodies ; then the dying were not 
spared, and at last they actually devoured each other ! 
What a salutary proof of the uncertainty that accompanies 
the grandest perspectives in the life of man, and of the de 
ceptions that unveil to him his native weakness ! 

We followed the great rpad south of the Platte to the 
foot of the Great Black Hills. On this road we found our 
selves relieved from those obstacles which had so often en 
dangered our vehicles and our animals. After eight days' 
journey along the Platte, we arrived at Fort Laramie without 
the least trouble or accident. The commander of the fort 
informed us that the Great Council was to take place at the 
mouth of Horse. River, in a vast plain situated nearly thirty- 
five miles lower down on the Platte. The next day I ac 
cepted the polite invitation of the respected Col. Campbell, 



100 > WESTERN MISSIONS 

and took a seat in his carnage. We arrived at the plain 6f 
the intended council about sunset. There the superintend 
ent, Col. M. Mitchell, received me with warm friendship and 
cordijility, and insisting that I should become his guest dur 
ing the whole time of the council. All the others showed 
me great respect. 

In this immense plain above-mentioned, we found about 
a thousand lodges, that is to say, ten thousand Indians, 
representing Sioux, Sheyennes, and Rapahos, with several 
til-put ations from the Crows, Snakes, or Soshonies, Arickaras, 
Assiniboins, and Minatarics. I purpose entertaining you in 
my next with the object of the council, and of my inter 
views with the Indians. 

Accept, etc., 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 

P. S. I subjoin a list of the animals killed by our hunt 
ers from the 1st of August till the 9th of September, 1851 : 
2 deer, 11 antelopes, 37 bison cows, 22 bulls, 3 be^rs, 2 stags, 
7 Rocky-Mountain sheep, 2 badgers, 2 polecats, 1 porcupine, 
1 wolf, 17 hares and rabbits, 13 ducks, 18 heathcock, 16 
pheasants. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 101 



Letter VI, 



To THE DIRECTOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Journey to the Great Desert in 1851. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, January 26, 1852. 
M ***** . 

During the eighteen days that the Great Council lasted, 
the union, harmony and amity that reigned among the 
Indians were truly admirable. Implacable hatreds, heredi 
tary enmities, cruel and bloody encounters, with the whole 
past, in fine, were forgotten. They paid mutual visits, 
smoked the calumet of peace together, exchanged presents, 
partook of numerous banquets, and all the lodges were open 
to strangers. A practice occurring but on the most amicable 
and fraternal occasions was seen this is, the adopting of 
children and of brothers on each side. There was a perfect 
unanimity of views between Col. Mitchell, superintendent 
of the Indian Territory, and Major Fitzpatrick, and nothing 
was omitted to foster these germs of peace. The object of 
the assembly was a distinguished proof of the highest 
benevolence on the part of the United States Government, 
as well as of the sincere desire of establishing a lasting peace 
among tribes hostile to each other, and of obtaining a right 
of passage through their possessions for the whites, and 
making the Indians compensation for injuries and losses the 
latter may have sustained from the whites. 

At the opening of the council, the superintendent made 
known to the savages that the object of the assembly was 

9* 



102 WESTERN MISSIONS 

the acceptation by them of the treaty, such as it had been 
prepared beforehand, with the consent of the President of 
the United States. This treaty was read sentence by sen 
tence, and distinctly explained to the different interpreters, 
that they might have the exact and legitimate meaning of 
^ach article. The preamble explains that it is a treaty 
between the agents named on one side by the President of 
the United States, and on the other by the chiefs or braves 
of the Indian nations that reside south of the Missouri, east 
of the Rocky Mountains, and north of the boundary line of 
Texas and Mexico, viz.: The Sioux or Dacotahs, the She- 
yennes, the Arapahos, the Crows, the Miuataries, the Mandans, 
and Arickaras. The principal articlcswere : 

Art. 1st. The Indians recognize and admit the right of 
the United States to form roads and establish military posts 
in their territory. Art. 2d. Solemn obligations agreed 
upon for the maintenance of peace, and for repairing the 
damages and losses sustained by the whites on the part of 
the Indians. Art. 3d. Indemnity accorded to the Indians 
for the destruction caused in their hunting-grounds, their 
forests, pasturages, etc., by travellers from the States who 
cross their lands. The present of $50,000 is granted to 
them on this ground. Art. 4th. During fifteen coming 
years, $50,000 will be annually paid in objects and gifts 
which may prove useful or necessary to the Indians. 

The treaty was signed by the agents of the United 
States, and by all the principal chiefs of the different nations 
who were present. Another ' treaty in favor of the half- 
breeds and the whites residing in the country was proposed, 
to-wit : That a tract of country be assigned them for their 
use, in order to form agricultural establishments and colonies, 
and that thuy should obtain the assistance of the Govern 
ment of the United States in the execution of their project. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 103 

This is the sole means of preserving union among all those 
wandering and scattered families, which become every year 
more and more numerous, and of establishing them in one 
or two colonies, with churches and schools, for their general 
instruction and well-being. 

With a few exceptions, all the half-breeds are baptized 
and received as children of the Church. During twenty 
years they have petitioned to have Catholic priests, and have 
manifested their good-will to meet the wants of their mission 
aries, and to maintain them. If ecclesiastical superiors are 
not aided to make timely provision, it is to be feared that 
the care of these new colonies will pass under the direction 
of men who will spare no exertion to extinguish in the hearts 
of the courageous and simple people the germs of faith, and 
the good wishes they entertain in favor of our holy religion. 
The question, " Shall they have priests T"> involves the salva 
tion of several thousand souls. It must be soon decided ; it 
is already agitated, and unless Catholic missionaries are sent 
there, I repeat it, it is to be feared that persons hostile to the 
true faith may take possession of the ground. 

On the second Sunday of September, Feast of the Exalta 
tion of the Cross, three days after my arrival, some lodges 
of buffalo-hides were arranged and ornamented as a sanctu 
ary, on the plain of the Great Council. Under this tent I 
had the happiness of offering the Holy Sacrifice, in presence 
of all the gentlemen assisting at the council, of all the half- 
bloods and whites, and of a great concourse of Indians. 
After my instruction, twenty-eight children (half-bloods), and 
five adults, were regenerated in the holy waters of baptism, 
with all the ceremonies prescribed by the Church. 

The Canadians, French, and half-breeds who inhabit the 
Indian territory, treat all the priests who visit them with 
great kindness, attention, and respect. It is truly afflicting 



104: WESTERN MISSIONS 

to meet them in this wilderness, like so many strayed sheep. 
By the zealous efforts of two good clergymen, fine missions 
could be founded among them these would furnish cate- 
chists, and these latter would labor iu concert with the 
priests for the conversion of so many benighted pagans, who 
wander forsaken in the deserts, and destitute of religious hope 
and consolation. 

During the two weeks that I passed in the plain of the 
Great Council, I paid frequent visits to the different tribes 
and bands of savages, accompanied by one or more of their 
interpreters. These last were extremely obliging in devoting 
themselves to my aid in announcing the gospel. The Indians 
listened eagerly to my instructions. Each time that I 
addressed them concerning the particular vices which I knew 
reigned among them, they owned their faults with admirable 
simplicity and candor, free from all human respect. During 
an instruction in the camp of the Ogallallahs, a Sioux tribe, 
in which I explained to them the ten commandments, when 
I arrived at the sixth and seventh, a general whispering and 
embarrassed laugh took place among my barbarous auditory. 
I inquired the reason of this conduct, and explained to them 
that the law I came to announce to them was not mine, but 
God's, and that it was obligatory on all the children of men ; 
that Ihe word of God required all their attention and 
respect: that those who observe his commandments will 
have eternal life, while the prevaricators of his holy law shall 
receive hell and its torments as their lot, The great chief 
at once rose and replied : " Father, we hear thee ; we knew 
not the words of the Great Spirit, and we acknowledge our 
ignorance. We are great liars and thieves; we have killed ; we 
have done all the evil that the Great Spirit. forbids us to do; but 
we did not know those beautiful words ; in future we will try 
to live better, if thou wilt but stay with us and teach us." 



AND MISSIONARIES. 105 

They besought me to explain baptism to them, as several 
of them had been present when I baptized the half-blood 
children. I complied with their request, and gave them a 
lengthy instruction on its blessings and obligations. All 
then entreated me to grant this favor to their infants. The 
next day the ceremony took place ; 239 children of the 
Ogallallahs (the first of their tribe) were regenerated in the 
holy waters of baptism, to the great joy and satisfaction of 
the whole nation. I held daily conferences on religion, 
sometimes with one band of Indians, sometimes with another. 
They all listened with great attention, and unanimously 
expressed the wish to be supplied with Catholic missionaries. 

Among the Rapahos,' I baptized 305 little ones; among 
the Sheyennes, 253 ; and among the Brules and Osage Sioux, 
280 ; in the camp of the Painted Bear, 56. The number of the 
half-bloods that I baptized in the plain of the Great Council 
and on the River Platte, is 61. In the different forts on the 
Missouri, I baptized, during the months of June and July 
last, 392 children. Total number of baptisms, 1586. A 
great number died shortly after, in consequence of diseases 
which reigned in the Indian camps. 

I witnessed, for the first time, a singular rite, to which the 
Sheyennes attach as much importance as the Asiatic tribes 
do to circumcision ; this is the " ear-cutting of the children." 
This custom appears to be common among all the tribes of 
the Upper Missouri, and probably in other places, though 
there may be perhaps some variety in the form of the cere 
mony. Among the Sheyennes, the mother chooses the 
operator, and puts the knife into his hands. She extends 
the child on the skin of some animal, carefully prepared and 
painted, and which the Canadians call pare-fleche. While 
one of the relations or friends holds the infant in a quiet pos 
ture, the operator makes five incisions in the rim of each ear. 



106 WESTERN MISSIONS 

These incisions are destined to receive and carry ornaments. 
The mother makes a present of a horse to the operator, and 
another present to each one of the assistants. 

In the same place, rudely arranged for the occasion, and 
composed of six lodges, each lodge consisting of twenty hides 
of bison cow, we witnessed another ceremony. The So- 
shonies, or Snake Indians, had scarcely quitted the Rocky 
Mountains to repair to the Great Council, when they were 
pursued and attacked by a party of Sheyennes, who killed 
two of their men, and carried away their scalps. The She 
yennes must pay, or " cover the body," which is a satisfaction 
required by the savages on such occasions, before they can 
accept the calumet of peace, or smoke it together. On this 
day the principal braves of the Sheyenne nation, and forty 
warriors of the Soshonies, were assembled. Several orations 
were delivered as preliminaries of peace. 

Then followed a feast, of which all partook. It consisted 
simply of corn, crushed and thoroughly boiled. The dogs 
were spared this time, for the Soshonies are an exception to 
the common rule among the Indians ; that is, they never eat 
dog-flesh. The feast over, the Sheyennes brought suitable 
presents of tobacco, blankets, knives, pieces of red and blue 
cloth, and deposited them in the centre of the circle. The 
two scalps were also exposed, and then returned to the 
brothers of the two wretched victims, who were seated at the 
head of the circle, between the two chiefs of their nation. 
The brothers were solemnly assured that the " scalp-dance"* 
did not take place. They wore, however, a very sombre air, 

* This ceremony, which is an essential condition, consists of dances 
and songs. The latter recount all the exploits of the braves. The 
ceremony is renewed every day, and often lasts several weeks. Women, 
old and young, as well as children, can take part ; and, in fact, the 
women make most noise and exertion. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 107 

and on accepting the scalps were deeply affected. How 
ever, they embraced the murderers, received the donations, 
and distributed the larger portion of them to their compan 
ions. After this, the usual signs of peace and amity, presents 
and reciprocal adoptions of children, were interchanged ; 
their orators Employed all their eloquence to strengthen the 
good-feeling which appeared to reign in the assembly, and 
to render it lasting. The next night the Sheyennes visited 
the lodges of the Soshonies, who were encamped beside my 
little tent. Songs and dances were prolonged till daylight, 
and prevented me from sleeping. These amusements among 
the Indians are perfectly innocent. I have never been able 
to detect the slightest gesture that could offend modesty. 
Daring my waking hours that night I reflected on the excel 
lent dispositions of these pagans, and thought, could the 
clergy of Europe but know them, they would eagerly hasten 
hither to gladden our Holy Mother, the Church, with thou 
sands of new*children. 

During this assembly, as on other occasions, I frequently 
remarked the skill and facility with which the Indians com 
municate their ideas by signs and gestures. Their move 
ments are highly expressive, and appear to be reduced to a 
language as perfect and communicable as that of the deaf 
and dumb among us. By means of these signs an Indian 
will relate the chief events of his life. This mute speech 
may be styled a language of precaution and defence, for 
when they meet in the desert, in their excursions, they make 
signs while yet very far apart, before they approach. They 
immediately know with whom they have to deal, and of 
what there is in question. They have, however, still more 
remarkable modes of communicating thought. The large 
figures displayed on their buffalo-robes are hieroglyphics, as 
easily understood by an intelligent Indian as written words 



108 



WESTERN MISSIONS 



are by ourselves ; and they often contain the narrative of 
some important event. This is not, however, because words 
are wanting in their various dialui-ts, which are quite copious 
and expressive. 

I attended the council from the outset to the close. As I 
have already stated, ten thousand Indians, belobging to dif 
ferent tribes, many of which had been at war from time im 
memorial, met on the same plain. During the twenty-three 
days of the assembly there was no disorder : on the contrary, 
always peaceable and tranquil, which is saying much for 
Indians. They seemed all to form but a single nation. Po 
lite and kindly to each other, they spent their leisure hours 
in visits, banquets, and dances; spoke of their once intermi 
nable wars and divisions as past things, to be absolutely for 
gotten, or "buried," according to their expression. There 
was not a remark in all their conversations to displease ; 
never did the calumet pass in peace through so many hands. 
To convey an idea of the importance of this action, I must 
observe, that smoking the calumet together is equivalent to 
a treaty confirmed by oath, which no one can contravene 
without dishonoring himself in the eyes of all his tribe. It 
was really a touching spectacle to see the calurnct, the 
Indian emblem of peace, raised heavenward by the hand of a 
savage, presenting it to the Master of life, imploring his pity 
on all his children on earth, and begging him to confirm the 
good resolutions which they had made. 

Notwithstanding the scarcity of provisions felt in the 
camp before the wagons came, the feasts were numerous and 
well attended. No epoch in Indian annals, probably, shows 
a greater massacre of the canine race. Among the Indians 
the flesh of the dog is the most honorable and esteemed of 
all viands, especially in the absence of bison and other ani 
mals. On the present occasion it was a last resource. The 



AND MISSIONARIES. 



109 



carnage then may be conceived. I was invited to several of 
these banquets ; a great chief, in particular, wished to give 
me a special mark of his friendship and respect for me. He 
had filled his great kettle with little fat clogs, skins and all. 
He presented me, on a wooden platter, the fattest, well 
boiled. I found the meat really delicate, and I can vouch 
that it is preferable to sucking-pig, which it nearly resembles 
in taste. 

The Indians regaled me several times with a dish highly 
esteemed among them. It consists of plums, dried in the 
sun, and afterwards prepared with pieces of meat, like a 
stow. I must own that I found it quite palatable. But hear 
what I learned subsequently, as to their manner of preparing 
it. When an Indian woman wishes to preserve the plums, 
which grow in profusion here, she collects a great quantity, 
and then invites her neighbors to her lodge to pass an 
agreeable afternoon. Their whole occupation then consists 
in chatting and sucking the stones from the plums, for they 
keep only the skins, which, after being sun-dried, are kept 
for grand occasions. 

The wagons containing the presents destined by the gov 
ernment to the Indians, reached here on the 20th of Sep 
tember. The safe arrival of this convoy was an occasion of 
general joy. Many were in absolute destitution. The next 
day the wagons were unloaded and the presents suitably 
arranged. The flag of the United States floated from a tall 
staff before the tent of the superintendent, and a discharge of 
cannon announced to the Indians that the division of the 
presents was about to take place. Without delay, the occu 
pants of the various camps flocked in, men, women, and 
children, in great confusion, and in their gayest costume, 
daubed with paints of glaring hues, and decorated with all 
the gewgaws they could boast. They took the respective 

10 



110 WESTERN MISSIONS 

places assigned to each particular band, thus forming an im 
mense circle, covering several acres of land, and the mer 
chandise was displayed in the centre. The view of such an 
assembly would give an interesting theme to a Hogarth or a 
Cruikshauk. 

The great chiefs of the different nations were served first, 
and received suits of clothes. You may easily imagine 
their singular movements on appearing in public, and the 
admiration which they excited in their comrades, who were 
never weary inspecting them. The great chiefs were, for 
the first time in their lives, pantalooned ; each was arrayed 
in a general's uniform, a gilt sword hanging at his side. 
Their long, coarse hair floated above the military costume, 
and the whole was crowned by the burlesque solemnity of 
their painted faces. 

Colonel Mitchell employed the Indians as his agents in 
distributing the presents to the various bands. The arrange 
ments were characterized by benevolence and justice. The 
conduct of this vast multitude was calm and respectful. 
Not the slightest index of impatience or of jealousy was ob 
served during the distribution ; each band appeared indiffer 
ent until its portion was received. Then, glad, or satisfied, 
but always quiet, they removed from the plain with their 
families and their lodges. They had heard the good news 
that the bison were numerous on the south fork of the 
Platte, three days' march from the plain, and they hastily 
turned their steps in that direction, resolved to make the 
buffaloes atone for the hunger they had recently suffered on 
the great council plain. 

This assembly will form an era among them, and I trust 
will be ever dear to their memories. It closed on the 23d 
of September. 

The happy results of this council are, no doubt, owing to 



AND MISSIONARIES. Ill 

the prudent measures of the commissaries of government, 
and more especially to their conciliatory manners in all their 
intercourse and transaction with the Indians. The council 
will doubtless produce the good effects they have a right to 
expect. It will be the commencement of a new era for the 
Indians an era of peace. In future, peaceable citizens may 
cross the desert unmolested, and the Indians will have little 
to dread from the bad white man, for justice will be rendered 
to him. 

Accept, &c., 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



112 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter VII. 

To THE EDITOR OF PRECIS HISTORIQUKS, BRUSSELS. 

Journey to the Great Desert in 1851. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, Jan. 30, 1852. 

M**** : 

Quite late in the afternoon of the 23d of September I 
bade farewell to the Creoles, Canadians, and half-bloods. I 
exhorted them to live well, and to pray to God, and to hope 
that he would soon send them spiritual succor for their tem 
poral and eternal happiness, and that of their children. I 
shook hands for the last time with the great chiefs and with 
.a large number of Indians, and addressed them some en 
couraging words, and promised to plead their cause with 
the great chiefs of the Black-gowns, and make known the 
desire, good intentions, and hopes they had expressed to me, 
while they would daily, in all sincerity of heart, implore the 
"Master of Life" to send them zealous priests to instruct 
them in the way of salvation, which Jesus Christ, his only 
Son, came to trace to his children on earth. 

I directed my course towards " the springs," situated about 
fourteen miles distant, in the vicinity of the trading-house 
at Robidoux, for Colonel Mitchell had named this as the 
rendezvous for all those who proposed going directly to the 
United States. On the 24th, before sunrise, we set out in 
good and numerous company. I visited, in my way, two 
trading-houses, in order to baptize five half-blood children. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 113 



In the course of the day we passed the famous Chimney- 
rock, so often described by travellers. I had already seen it, 
in 1840 and 1841, in my first visit to the Rocky Mountains, 
and mentioned it in my letters. I found it considerably di 
minished in height. 

We cast a last look upon the singular productions of 
nature, the Castle and the Tower, which are near the Chim 
ney, and resemble the ruins of lordly residences scattered 
over several acres, and presenting a very elevated and broken 
surface, amid a level plain. 

Arrived on the Platte, at the place known as Ash Hollow, 
we turned our steps towards the South Fork, fifteen miles 
away, over a beautiful rolling country of great elevation. 
Here we met the Prince P., accompanied only by a Prussian 
officer, on their way to enjoy a hunt in the Wind River 
Mountains. We exchanged our little news, and received 
with pleasure the interesting information which the prince 
gave us. His excellency must be indeed courageous, to 
undertake at his age so long a journey in such a wilderness? 
with but one man as suite, and in a wretched little open 
wagon, which carried the prince and his officer, as well as 
their whole baggage and provisions. Later, I learned that 
the prince intends to choose a location suited to agriculture, 
for the purpose of founding a German colony. 

We live in an age when wonders multiply ; we cannot say 
what, in the way of colonization, may not come to pass in a 
short time, after witnessing the success of the Mormons, who 
in less than five years have changed the face of a frightful 
desert, and live there in great abundance. Yet I am free to 
maintain, that if the prince has really formed the plan as 
cribed to him-, which I scarcely credit, I pity from the bot 
tom of my heart those who first embark in the expedition. 
The enemies whom they would have to meet are still too 

10* 



114 WESTERN MISSION'S 



powerful : Crows, Black-Feet, Sioux, Sheyennes, Rapahos, and 
Snakes, are the most feared and warlike of the desert. 

A colony established in such a neighborhood, and against 
the will of the numerous warlike tribes in the vicinity of 
those mountains, would run great dangers and meet heavy 
obstacles. The influence of religion alone can prepare these, 
parts {'or such a transformation. The threats and ]>romi>. s 
of colonists, their guns and sabres, would never effect what 
can be accomplished by the peaceful word of the Black- 
gown, and the sight of the humanizing sign of the cross. 

From the crossing of the South Fork to the junction of 
the Great Forks, the distance is reckoned to be seventy-five 
miles, and thence to Fort Kearney one hundeed and fifty 
miles. Wood is very rare between the Platte and the Ne 
braska. From the junction of the two Forks to the mouth 
of the valley is six or eight miles wide, while the bed of the 
river is about two miles in width. In the spring, at the 
melting of the snows, when this river is high, it presents a 
magnificent sheet of water, with numerous isles and islets 
covered with verdure, and skirted with cotton-trees and wil 
lows. In the autumn, on the contrary, it loses all interest 
and beauty. Its waters then escape into a great number of 
almost imperceptible passages an.d channels among the sand 
banks which cover the bed through its whole length and 
extent. 

When wood fails, as frequently happens on the banks of 
the Platte or Nebraska, the meals are cooked at fires of bison- 
dung, which, when dried, burns like turf. 

The soil of the Nebraska is in general rich and deep, min 
gled, however, with sand in several localities. There is a 
great variety of grasses, which with numerous shrubs, cov 
ered with flowers of dazzling b< auty, present a wide field of 
study to the lover of botany. As we retire from the vale, a 



AND MISSIONARIES. 115 

very sensible change is perceptible in the productions of the 
soil : instead of the former robust and vigorous vegetation, 
the plains are overgrown with a short, crisp grass ; however, 
it is very nourishing, and eagerly sought by the herds of 
buffalo and countless wild animals that graze on them. 

We arrived at Fort Kearney on the 2d of October, where 
Colonel Mitchell, the superintendent, held a conference with 
a deputation of some twenty Pawnee chiefs and braves. 
They expressed their regret that, not having assisted at the 
great council, they found themselves excluded from the ad 
vantages that the treaty would secure to the other nations, 
and had no share in the presents made by the government. 
They all made solemn promises to adhere to the 'Spirit of the 
treaty, and to execute the orders of their " Great Father the 
President," who desired that they should live peaceably with 
all their neighbors, and decreed the cessation of all depreda 
tions exercised against travellers from the United States who 
cross this territory. These Pawnee chiefs and warriors re 
ceived with all the politeness of Indian customs the various 
deputations which accompanied us on their way to Wash 
ington, that is, the Sioux, Cheyennes, and Rapahos, hither 
to their mortal enemies, regaling them with banquets, 
dances, and songs. " My heart leaps with joy," shouted a 
chief of the Pawnee Wolves, " because I find myself in pres 
ence of those that from my infancy' I have been taught to 
consider as my mortal foes. Sheyennes, I and my warriors 
have made many incursions into your territories, to steal 
your horses, and rob you of your scalps. Yes, my heart 
bounds with delight, for it had never dreamed of meeting 
yon face to face, and of touching your hand in friendship. 
You see me here poor I have not a horse to mount. Well, 
I will gladly go on foot the remainder of my days, if the 
tomahawk is to be buried by all." He offered the calumet 



116 WESTERN MISSIONS 

to all the deputies, and several accepted it. A young She 
yenne chief, named " He who mounts the clouds," refused to 
touch it, and thus answered the Pawnee : "Neither thou nor 
thy people have invited me into your territory. My father," 
added he, pointing to the superintendent, "requested me to 
follow him, and I follow him : I accept not thy calumet of 
peace, lest I betray thee. Perchance whi4e I now speak to 
thee, our brave warriors seek the lodges of thy tribe. No ! 
I will not deceive thee, therefore know that peace exists not 
between me and thee. I speak thus fearlessly and clearly, 
for I stand beneath the banner of my father." 

The allusions of the Sheyenne seemed not to mar the ex 
isting harmony ; the dances, songs, speeches, and banquets 
were kept up till late in the night. 

The following are the names of the Indian deputies. 

The Sheyenne envoys are Void vokammast, or The 
White Antelope; Obalawska, or Red Skin; and Voive 
atoish, or The man that mounts the clouds. 

The Rapaho deputies are Nehunutah, or Eagle's Head ; 
Nocobotha, or The Tempest ; and Vash, or Friday. 

The Sioux deputies are Haboutzelze, or The Unicorn ; 
Kaive ou neve, or The Little Chief; Pouskawit cah cah, or 
The Shellman ; Chakahakeechtah, >r The Watchful Elk ; and 
Mawgah, or the Goose ; the last belongs to the Black-Foot 
Sioux. 

The two Ottos and their wives, who joined us afterwards, 
were, Wah-rush-a-menec, or the Black Deer; and his wife, 
Mookapec, or the Eagle's Plume : Wah-sho-chegorah, or The 
Black Bear ; and his wife, Hou ohpec, or The Singing Bird. 

At Fort Kearney we parted with Colonel Mitchell and his 
suite, who took the route to Table River. I joined Major 
Fit/patrick and the deputies, and we continued on the south 
ern route, which crosses the Indian territory. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 117 

The country between the frontiers of Missouri and the 
Great Blue River presents a remarkable uniformity in all its 
leading features. Clay soil, rolling prairies, and the shores 
of the river well wooded. You meet forests of oak and nut- 
trees of all varieties, with maple and cotton-wood and a 
variety of trees found in the east. The hill-sides in several 
places abound in fine springs of water, surrounded by beau 
tiful groves, arranged with as much order and taste as if 
planted by the hand of man. While a luxuriant turf, enam 
elled with fragrant flowers, replaces the briars and underwood, 
the prairies on all sides, surrounded by forests which pro 
tect the water-courses, present to the sight an ocean of ver 
dure adorned with flowers, agitated by the wind, and per 
fuming the air with a thousand odors. 

The vale of the Kanzas-is broad, of a deep, brown vege 
table soil : the same remark may be made of the valleys of 
the remaining rivers of this territory, all of which are suit 
able for agriculture. The streams of water are clear ; they 
run over pebbly beds, between high banks, and teem with 
fine fish. 

Major Fitzpatrick preferred taking the southern route, in 
order to give our friends, the Indian deputies, an opportunity 
of witnessing the progress that the tribes are capable of 
making in agriculture and the mechanic arts. He wished to 
convince them that labor and its results gradually conduct 
to happiness and ease, and convince them that by adopting 
habits of industry man is freed from the necessity of wander 
ing from place to place to obtain subsistence. 

We reached St. Mary's, among the Potawatomies, on 
the 1 1th of October. Bishop Miege, and the other Fathers of 
the Mission, received us with great cordiality and kindness. 

To give the Indian deputies a relish for labor by the tast 
ing of the various products of farming, a quantity of vegeta- 



118 WESTERN MISSIONS 

bles and fruits were set before them. Potatoes, carrots, tur 
nips, squashes, parsneps, melons, with apples and pearlies, 
graced the board, and our forest friends did them most ample 
honor. One of the chiefs, " Eagle Head," said to me, " Now, 
Father, we comprehend thy words. Thou hast told us that 
in a few years the buffaloes would disappear from our terri 
tory ; that we must take measures against the day of need ; 
that then we can reap from the earth subsistence and even 
plenty for our children. When thou wast speaking to us, 
our ears were shut ; now they are opened, for we have eaten 
the products of the soil. We see here a happy people, well 
fed and well clothed. We hope that the great Father (the 
Bishop) will take pity on us and on our children. We wish 
to have Black-gowns with us, and we will cheerfully attend 
to their words." 

The day after was Sunday, and all attended High Mass. 
The church was well filled. The choiy, composed of half- 
bloods and Indians, sung admirably the Gloria, the Credo, 
and several hymns. The Rev. Father Gailland delivered a 
sermon in Potawatomie, which lasted three quarters of an 
hour, and the number of communicants was large. All this, 
joined with the attention, modesty, and devotion of the 
whole auditory, some with prayer-books and others with 
beads, made a profound and, I hope, durable impression on 
tin- minds of our Indfans of the plains. 1 hiring several day* 
they never ceased talking with me and questioning on all 
they had seen, calling it the doctrine that renders men happy 
here and conducts them to heaven. We found the M 
in a flourishing state ; the two schools are well attended ; a 
community of religious of the Sacred Heart have concili 
ated the affection of the women and girls of the nation, and 
are working among them with the greatest success. The 
Potawatomies approach their residences nearer and nearer to 



AND MISSIONARIES. 119 

the church and to their " Good Fathers," and have resolutely 
commenced cultivating the ground and raising domestic ani 
mals. Every Sunday the Fathers have- the consolation of 
contemplating a beautiful congregation of Indians assembled 
in the wood-built cathedral, and on an average one hundred 
and twenty piously approaching the Holy Communion. We 
spent two days visiting the Mission. The Indian chiefs 
quitted the establishment with hearts overflowing with de 
light, and in the consoling expectation of having similar 
happiness in their own tribes at no very distant future. God 
grant their hopes may be realized ! 

The weather was fine, and in three days we attained 
Westport and Kanzas on the Missouri. 

On the 16th of October we took places on board the 
steamboat Clara. Our Indian deputies had never seen a vil 
lage or settlement of whites except what they had seen at 
Fort Laramie and at Fort Kearney ; they knew nothing of 
the manner in which houses are constructed, hence they 
were in constant admiration ; and when for the first time 
they saw a steamboat their wonder was at its height, although 
they appeared to entertain a certain fear as they stepped on 
board. A considerable time elapsed before they became ac 
customed to the noise arising from the escape of steam, and 
the bustle that took place at the ringing of bells, etc. They 
called the boat a "ftre-canoe" and were transported with 
delight at the sight of another btfat ascending with a small 
boat behind, which they called a "pappoose" or little child. 
When their apprehensions of danger had subsided, their cu 
riosity augmented ; they took the liveliest interest in what 
ever they saw for the first time. They were in grand cos 
tume and seated themselves on the promenade deck ; as the 
boat approached the several towns and villages in her prog 
ress, they hailed each with shouts and songs. 



( 

120 TERN MISSIONS 



On the 22d of October \ve reached St. Louis. A few 
daya after all the members of the Indian deputation \\viv. 
invited to a banquet given in our University. They \\cn- 
highly pleased at the reception given them by the Rev. 
Father Provincial, and overjoyed at the encouraging hope 
that lie gave them of having Black-gowns among them a 
hope perhaps soon to be realized. 

Recommending the poor Indian to your prayers, I beg 
you to believe me with profound respect, 
Yours, etc., etc., 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 

NOTE. The word "Medicine" is frequently found in letters written 
on the religious ideas, practices, and customs of the North American 
Indians. It is necessary to know the signification that the Indians 
themselves attach to this word. 

The term Wah-kon is employed by the Indians to express any thing 
that they cannot understand, whether supernatural, natural, or me 
chanical. A watch, an organ, a steamboat, or any thing in fine, the 
operations of which exceed their capacity to understand, is called Wah- 
kon. God is called Wah-kon-tonga, or the Great Incomprehensible. 
The word Tonga in Sioux means great or lur^c. 

Wah-kon means, properly, incomprehensible, inexpressible. It is 
badly translated by the whites, who always render it medicine; thus, 
for example, the word Wah-kon-tonga, or God, has been translated 
Great Medicine ! 

The word medicine has since been so universally applied to the differ- 
nt religious and superstitious ceremonies of the Indians, that all trav 
ellers use it when writing of the natives. 

The word medicine, when applied to Indian ceremonies, whether re 
ligious or superstitious, has, however, no relation to the treatment of 
the body, but it has been so commonly adopted that I am forced to use 
it when speaking of the Indians. Thence are derived the compounds, 
"medicine-feast," "medicine-dance," "medicine-man," etc., and also 
"medicine-bag," or sack, containing idols, charms, and other supersti 
tious articles. 

My intention in giving this little note is to distinguish between t/tt-li- 
cine used in the sense of medicament, and the same word applied to 
charms, religious invocations, and ceremonies. 



AND MISSIONAEIE8. 121 



Letter VIII. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Shipwreck of the 5th of December, 1853. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, Jan. 1, 1854. 
MY DEAR BROTHERS : 

I profit by my earliest leisure moments, to inform you 
tliat we happily arrived at our place of destination on the 
27th day of December. 

I wish you and your dear children a happy and prosper 
ous New Year, and I implore God to pour down upon you 
daily his choicest favors and blessings. I can never forget 
the fraternal attachment and extreme goodness manifested to 
me so continually during my short visit to the land of my 
nativity. 

I inclose you a little sketch of my long and dangerous 
voyage. As I am overwhelmed with business, I am forced 
to write in haste currente calamo. 

The 17th of November, the day on which I bade you fare 
well, will not soon be effaced from my memory. The fol 
lowing day I rejoined Mgr. Miege and his companions, at 
Paris. The eight young men who accompanied me had 
only two days to allow them a cursory view of this great 
city, or interminable fair. They, however, visited its most 
splendid palaces, and its principal monuments, with the pub 
lic squares of this extensive and wonderful capital, and the 
palaces and gardens of Versailles. 

11 



122 WESTERN MISSIONS 

On the second we arrived at Havre, so as to be ready to 
embark thence on the morrow. The whole day was em 
ployed iu collecting our trunks, boxes, and cases, which were 
in the different offices of the port, and in making prepara 
tions for our voyage. The American steamer was ahvady in 
the roadstead, about two leagues from the city, and a small 
towboat was waiting to conduct her passengers to her. I 
had left my thirteen companions for an hour, to go in search 
of three boxes at the custom-house, and have them trans 
ported directly on board of the Ilumboldt. On my arrival 
at the proper place of embarking, all the passengers were 
there in readiness, except my company. I immediately sent 
some eight or ten persons in search of them, who searched 
all the streets and wharves of Havre for six hours, without 
procuring the least information concerning them. The mo 
ment named for sailing arrived ! when a gendarme, to whom 
I had addressed myself as a last resource, and the surest, 
after all, hastened to draw me from my embarrassment by 
informing me that the young gentlemen that were giving 
me so much solicitude had been on the Humboldt the last 
six hours, and that they also were in great anxiety concern 
ing my delay. In a word, they had mistaken their course in 
the labyrinth of wharves at Havre, and thinking they had 
not a moment to spare, had hired two little boats to convey 
them to the steamer. I hastened to join them, and readied 
the ship at the moment they were heaving the anchor to put 
to sea. 

I found gendarmes on board, in search of some suspected 
individuals. It was said that these agents had received 
strict orders to examine all the passports carefully. My 
travelling companions were all provided, except one, who had 
joined me in Paris, with the consent of his parents. I uas 
not without anxiety in his regard ; but our young deserter, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 123 

M. M****, disguised as a cabin-boy, played his part per 
fectly ; he held the lantern to aid the police-officers in a man 
ner to do honor to the most skilful cabin-boy, during their 
whole visit to the saloons and cabins. All the passengers pass 
ed in review, all the passports were minutely criticised ; but 
the agents paid no attention to the handsome lantern-bearer, 
who always remained close by them, and thus quietly escaped 
their scrutiny. My anxiety, however, did not subside until 
I saw the gentlemen leave our decks. 

Without a moment's delay, two discharges of cannon 
announce the departure of the Humboldt. Every officer, 
pilot, and sailor is at his post. The whistling of the steam- 
engine is heard for the last time, so shrill that it penetrates 
the very heart of the town : it is the signal of the engineer. 
The captain with his speaking-trumpet orders the departure, 
and the steamer steers her course in the direction of South 
ampton and Cowes places between the Isle of Wight and 
the coasts of England, where English passengers and the 
English mails are received. It was only in the evening of 
the 23d that she took the direction of New York. 

For fourteen days the Humboldt combated against a 
stormy sea and violent west wind ; Neptune received this time 
a double tribute from those who were so bold as to hazard 
crossing his domain in this season of the year. The greatest 
sufferer was Bishop Miege, who kept his bed constantly. 
The next was young Fortune Hegel, of Brussels, who has too 
weak a stomach ever to make a good sailor ; he supported 
this misery with great fortitude, never regretting that he had 
left his quiet home for some years. All the others escaped 
tolerably ; as to myself, I felt almost no inconvenience from 
sea-sickness during the whole voyage. To the violent storms 
of wind we must add several other disagreeable circumstan 
ces : the steam-engine got out of order several times, and the 



124: WESTERN MISSIONS 

boilers threatened to blow us in the air ; the coal was of a 
bad quality, and that, even, began to become scarce on the 
twelfth day of our voyage. We Vere obliged to deviate 
from our ordinary route, to get a supply of coal at Halifax, 
a seaport of Nova Scotia. This neglect on the part of the 
company was extremely fatal in its consequences. 

In the forenoon of the 6th of December, about five leagues 
from port, a fisherman presented himself on board as a pilot, 
and declared to the captain, who demanded his certificates, 
" that his papers were either in his boat, or at his own house." 
The captain relied upon his word, and intrusted him with 
the management of the ship. Against the expressed opinion 
of the officers, the false pilot changed the boat's direction, 
and notwithstanding their reiterated remonstrances, he per 
sisted in his obstinacy. An hour and a half afterwards, the 
Ilumboldt struck on the dangerous rocks called "The Sisters," 
in the neighborhood of Devil's Island. It was half-past six 
in the morning the greater number of the passengers were 
still in their berths. The shock was terrific ; I was walking 
on the deck at the moment. Discovering directly great 
pieces of wood floating on the surface of the water, I has 
tened to \\arn all my companions of their danger, for they 
were also still in their beds. Young Hegel having been 
intrusted to me. bv his father, I took him by my side as long 
an the djing'T lasted, and kept a rope in my hand for tin- 
purpose of lowering him into the first life-boat that should 
lf launched. All had been .startled from sleep. Fear had 
palsied every heart; and while the water was pouring into the 
vessel by torrents, fire broke out. It was got under but by 
great exertion, through the presence of mind and manly ener 
gy of the first engineer; after great efforts, they succeeded in 
extinguishing it. As if all things conspired to our destruc 
tion, a fog arose, so thick that we could not see thirty paces 



AND MISSION AKIES. 125 

from the vessel. The whole power of the steam-engine was 
exerted in an attempt to gain the shore, six miles distant. 
The boat soon inclined to the larboard side, where she had 
sprung a leak, and began to go down. Every arm set to 
work to aid in launching the small-boats. Had not the cap 
tain exhibited great presence of mind and an extraordinary 
firmness, there would have been much tumult and disorder. 
There was a rush to get in first, but happily we were not 
obliged to resort to this means of saving ourselves. While 
the greater number believed that all was lost, and I among 
the rest, the ship touched again, in a few fathoms of water, 
and rested on a rock. We were saved ! 

Immediately after the shipwreck, the fog rose, and we 
then discovered, for the first time and to our joyful surprise, 
that the shore was only one hundred feet from us. The sea 
was calm, the wind lowered, and the sun rose majestically. 
It was the announcement of a return of fine weather, which 
left us at Havre de Grace, and now accompanied us until we 
reached Missouri. We had the good fortune and the time 
to save all our trunks, travelling bags, and boxes. The loss 
of the ship and cargo was estimated at $600,000. 

We had for travelling companions on the Humboldt, Jews, 
Infidels, and Protestants of every shade. Some of the voy 
agers were imbued with very strong prejudices against the 
Catholic faith, but in particular against Jesuits. The wreck 
of the Humboldt was even attributed to our presence, and it 
was maliciously proposed to oblige us to quit as soon as 
possible. 

A few hours after the wreck, a steamboat from Halifax 
came to our aid. The Archbishop of that city treated us 
with great kindness, and insisted that Mgr. Miege and myself 
should become his guests during our stay. The next morn 
ing we had the consolation of offering the sacrifice of mass 

11* 



126 WESTERN MISSIONS 

in the cathedral, and my companions all received Holy Com 
munion, to thank the Almighty and our Lady for having 
saved us amid so many perils, and especially shipwreck, 
where our life was in danger. Such circumstances are well 
suited to convince us that we are in the hands of the Lord, 
who protects us and preserves our life, or calls us, as he wills, 
before his tribunal. 

Halifax numbers about 25,000 souls, one third of whom 
are Catholics, and contains three Catholic churches, two con 
vents, and four schools. 

On the 8th of December, Feast of the Immaculate Con 
ception, after the celebration of mass, we heard that the 
steamship Niagara, of the Liverpool and Boston line, was in 
sight. At each trip she stops at Halifax, remaining two 
hours. All the passengers of the Humboldt, including those 
that we took in from England, went on board, making the 
total of passengers more than four hundred. 

Among those already on the Niagara, was a little man, 
with an ape-like face and a goatish beard, who. called himself 
Francis Tapon, a self-nominated apostle, and self-commis 
sioned to teach a new religion to the universe. Francis 
declared himself an enemy of all existing creeds, but above 
all to the Pope and the Jesuits. When quitting Liverpool, 
he declared openly and aloud that he would kill the first 
Jesuit that he might meet on American soil ! In fact, he 
was so violent that the captain prudently took from him his 
gun, pistols, and poniards. The moment I set foot on the 
Niagara, I was informed of these interesting particulars. I 
advised my young friends to avoid Mr. Francis Tapon, and 
pay no sort of attention to his words or movements. He pro 
claimed from the deck the programme of his new gospel, 
that ' l was to succeed all religions." Those who heard him 
shrugged their shoulders, saying, " The man is crazy." On 



AND MISSIONARIES. 127 

arriving at Boston, lie made several ablutions, to the great 
amusement of the passengers, saying that he " was washing 
off the last filth of Europe" Mr. Tapon at last reached the 
city, and we lost sight of him, without receiving a blow. 

He is but a fanatic more for these States, which have 
already unfortunately received thousands from all the various 
countries of Europe. These creatures begin to agitate, to 
harangue, to seek to change the Constitution, and make the 
United States a land of proscription, especially against the 
Catholics. 

But let us resume our journey of voyage. We had fine 
weather, and a pleasant trip from Halifax to Boston, which 
we reached at night. Our Fathers received us with open 
arms and extraordinary charity, in which all their parishion 
ers joined, I will add to the praise of the German congre 
gation in particular, that during our stay at Boston they 
loaded our tables with poultry, choice vegetables, cakes, and 
fruits. This parish numbers about 3000 Catholics, and they 
are distinguished in the city by their piety and zeal. 
Although Boston contains a Catholic population of nearly 
75,000 souls, there are but fifteen priests, and only four or 
five Catholic schools. The Sisters of Notre Dame, from 
Namur, have a very flourishing establishment here, and are 
doing immense good. Their houses in America are very 
successful, and their subjects are asked for in many of our 
large towns. In Cincinnati these good sisters teach 2000 
children and youth. 

I accompanied young Hegle as far as St. John's College, 
at Fordham, according to the wishes of his father, who had 
intrusted him to my care for this purpose. We are always 
astonished at the rapid increase of New York, the great me 
tropolis of the United States, in commerce and population. 
Its inhabitants, who number more than 700,000, are the 



128 WESTERN MISSIONS 

descendants or representatives of every nation beneath the 
sun. The Catholics number about 200,000. 

I returned to Boston on the 14th. The day following, my 
' companions (who were quite recovered from their fatigue) 
and myself quitted this city. Their astonishment was un 
ceasing at all they saw in Boston, which is styled the Athens 
of America. Its commerce is very great, and its population 
exceeds 150,000. 

We risked ourselves on the railroad, by Buffalo, Cleveland, 
and Columbus, as far as Cincinnati a distance of seven 
hundred and seventy miles and passed over it in fifty-two 
hours, comprehending all the delays experienced at the nu 
merous stations. We changed cars six times in this distance. 
Be not astonished at the word "m&," for accidents on all 
the routes are of frequent occurrence, and often frightful. 
To-day, it may be that a bridge has been left open a hair- 
brained or intoxicated engineer pays no attention, and loco 
motive and cars are precipitated into the water ; to-morrow, 
two trains will meet in collision, dashing into each other with 
all the velocity that steam can create. In a word, there are 
all kinds of accidents. When they occur, a list is given of 
the killed and disabled, which is often a very considerable 
one, curious inquiries are made, and some days after there 
is no further mention of the affair. 

At Cincinnati our Fathers were most delighted to see us 
arriving with thirteen new and youthful companions, full of 
fervent zeal to labor in this vast vineyard of the Lord. As 
we approached St. Louis, I breathed more freely ; I was no 
longer harassed with anxiety indeed I had but one step to 
take, and I should be at home. However, this "step" meas 
ured seven hundred miles, five hundred and thirty of which 
were to be passed on the Ohio, and one hundred and seventy 
on the Mississippi, and these rivers give an annual list of 



AND MISSION AEIES. 9 ' 129 

fearful accidents. We entered the steamer on the Ohio, and 
on the morning of the 21st found ourselves cordially wel 
comed by our Fathers of Louisville, Kentucky. Continuing 
our descent on the 22d, we arrived at the junction of the 
Ohio and Mississippi without accident. 

My young companions were never weary of admiring the 
graceful and varied scenery of the lovely Ohio, now gratify 
ing the sight by a chain of romantic elevations, then by a 
succession of rich lowlands, adorned with well-cultivated and 
extensive farms ; and the attention arrested also by a succes 
sion of flourishing villages and cities. 

The Mississippi is also more dangerous than the Ohio ; 
exacting from its navigators during the winter many pre 
cautions, for the river is then low, full of sand-banks, saw 
yers, and floating ice. We were several times in danger, 
and three different times our boat ran aground, and we be 
lieved her lost. On our way we saw the wrecks of five boats. 
Five Lazarists, who shared our disasters in the Hurnboldt, 
arrived in St. Louis some days before us, but only after hav 
ing undergone a second shipwreck, and having been immersed 
in water to the neck. 

On the 26th we reached St. Louis in safety, and animated 
with joyful and grateful sentiments on finding ourselves at 
our destination. An hour after my arrival I had the comfort 
of celebrating mass, in thanksgiving for the special protec 
tion and blessings extended to us in our journey from Ghent 
to St. Louis. 

Believe me, dear brothers, 

Your devoted brother, 

P. J. DE SMET. 



130 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter IX, 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 

The Crazy Bear, an Assiniboin Chief. 
CINCINNATI, COLLEGE OF ST. XAVIEB, July 28, 1854. 

REV. AND DEAR FATHER: 

Vocations, alas ! are still extremely rare ; we must have 
ecclesiastics from Europe to go to the aid of the benighted 
Indians, who are without guide or pastor, and always desirous 
and anxious for them. I annually receive letters and most 
pressing invitations from the chiefs of the Indian tribes on 
the Upper Missouri and among the Rocky Mountains. 

The following is a faithful translation of a letter I received 
from a great chief of the Assiniboins. They occupy the 
plains of the Yellowstone and of the Missouri : they number 
about 1500 lodges, and speak the Sioux language. My cor 
respondent and petitioner is the great chief, "the Bear." 
He was one of the deputation of chiefs who accompanied me 
to the Great Council in 1851. 

" To the Medicine-man of the White Nation. 

" BLACK-GOWN, FATHER, AND FRIEND : 

" I was so happy as to become acquainted with you at 
Fort Union, in the summer of 1851 ; but I was then igno 
rant, in a great degree, of the motives of your visit among 



AND MISSIONARIES. 131 

us, and hence I could not discover to you my inmost feel 
ings and explain to you my thoughts. At Fort Union you 
preached to us telling us of the Great Spirit and his law. 
You said you would like, to come and teach us, so as to ame 
liorate the mental and moral condition of our tribes. I 
think, also, that you gave us reason to expect, that after two 
or three winters some Black-gowns would come and establish 
themselves among us, in order to show us how to live well, 
and how to train up our children. Afterwards we travelled 
together as far as the Platte. During that journey, and 
since my return from Fort .Laramie, I have learned and 
heard much of the beautiful Word of the Great Spirit, 
which you first made known to us. Now, I am persuaded 
that this Word would change our state and render us happy. 
At the Great Council, our great Father (Colonel Mitchell, 
superintendent of Indian Territory) told us that some Black- 
gowns would come and live among us in the course of four 
or five years. Black-gown, five years are long to wait! In 
this long interval I and many of my children may have en 
tered the land of spirits. Take pity on us ! The Black- 
gowns ought not to delay their coming so long. I am 
growing old : before I die I should like to begin the work, 
and then I could depart satisfied. My country is tranquil, 
we are at peace with all the surrounding tribes our ancient 
enemies, the Black-Feet, are the only ones we have to fear; 
but we can protect you. All my nation call aloud for the 
Black-gown, and invite him to come with all speed : I sin 
cerely hope that our expectation may not be deceived. We 
know that the Black-gowns devote themselves to the happi 
ness and well-being of the Indians. If to hasten the project 
pecuniary aid be wanting, I will cheerfully give a portion of 
the annuities of my. tribe to meet this deficiency. 

" I see the buffaloes decrease every year. What will be- 



132 WESTERN MISSIONS 

come of us without help ? If our children are not instructed 
in time, they will disappear like the game. 

44 1 have learned that the 4 Long Knives' (the Americans) 
have bought the lands of the Chippeways, Sioux, and Win- 
nebagoes, as far as the Red River, and of the Pawnees, 
Omahas, and Ottos, on the Missouri. The whites are ap 
proaching us on the north and on the west, which is a new 
motive for hastening the arrival of the Black-gowm among us. 

44 1 hope my words will reach you, and that you will think 
of us and our destitute situation. Do this, Black-gown, at 
the request of your friend, 

"THE BEAR, Chief of the Assiniboins." 

Remember me to Father Provincial and the Fathers of St. 
Michael's. In union with your holy sacrifices, I have the 
honor to be, 

Rev. and dear Father, 

Your devoted brother in Christ, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 

P. S. At this time thousands of whites are settling in 
the Indian Territory from the Kansas to the Running Water, 
. and two large territories have been erected by Congress, 
called Kansas and Nebraska. It is not yet known what 
arrangements will be taken for the protection of the differ 
ent aboriginal nations that are found in them ; it is much 
feared that they will be exiled further into the western wilds. 
You can see what I said in my second letter, in January, 
1852. 

The sect of Mormons is making extraordinary progress in 
the United States. I will endeavor to send you some new 
and original details on them, which I am actually preparing. 

The agitation and prejudices against our holy religion are 



AND MISSIONARIES. 133 

so great here just now, that Catholic papers from Europe 
can scarcely reach us. We are on the eve of great difficul 
ties. The anti-Catholic spirit increases daily. All the ene 
mies of our holy religion are leagued against her. As in all 
persecutions, they seek to excite the masses by atrocious lies 
and calumnies. Within the last few days three Catholic 
churches have been destroyed, and every paper speaks of 
some new exhibition in some part or other. European dem- 
agogu^es labor with all their might to establish on the Amer 
ican soil their maxims of intolerance and persecution. Of 
all tyrants, they are the most terrible and fearful. 

12 



134 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter X. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
JReligious Opinions of the Assinibolns. 

CINCINNATI, COLLEGE OF ST. XAVIER, July 28, 1854. 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER : 

In my last letter, dated the 16th of- this month, when 
sending you the translation of the address of the Bear, the 
great Assiniboin chief, I promised you a sketch of the reli 
gious and superstitious opinions of that nation. I will now 
fulfil my promise. 

I here propose acquainting you with the religious worship 
and moral code of the Assiniboins : it may be considered as 
the type of the superstitious creed of the greater portion of 
the barbarous tribes which roam over the forests and prairies 
of the Upper Missouri. 

Shrouded in idolatrous darkness, these people have no 
clear idea of their origin or end. Upon the momentous 
questions, "Whence came I?" and "What is my future des 
tiny ?" there are various conjectures, even among those na 
tions who have received even a feeble light concerning the 
eternal verities of the Gospel. All the Indians admit the 
existence of the Great Spirit, viz., of a Supreme Being who 
governs all the important affairs of life, and who manifests 
his action in the most ordinary events. They have no cor 
rect notion of the immutability of God. They think they 
can obtain his favors in the accomplishment of their projects, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 135 

whatever be their nature, by presents, corporeal macerations, 
penances, fasts, &c. Thus every spring, at the first peal of 
thunder, which they call the voice of the Great Spirit, speak 
ing from the clouds, the Assiniboins offer it sacrifices; some 
burn tobacco, and present to the Great Spirit the most ex 
quisite pieces of buffalo-meat, by casting them into the fire ; 
while others make deep incisions in the fleshy parts of their 
bodies, and even cut off the first joints of their fingers, to 
offer them in sacrifice. Thunder, next to the sun, is their 
Great Wah-kon.* They hear it, and after a storm they 
sometimes perceive the effects of the lightning on the trees, 
on their horses, and on man ; hence it is an object of dread, 
and they endeavor to appease it. 

It is rare that, during the course of a year, a family is not 
visited by some calamity ; disease; death, either natural or at 
the hands of their foes ; the loss of their horses, their richest 
treasure, by robbery ; in fine, the scarcity of game, which 
condemns them to rigorous fasts, and sometimes even to 
famine. At the least misfortune the father of a family pre 
sents the calumet to the Great Spirit, and, in prayer, im 
plores him to take pity on him, his wives, and children. He 
promises to give him a part of all he possesses, at the first 
peal of thunder in the spring. When it is practicable, the 
various camps collect, as soon as winter is over, to offer their 
gifts and sacrifices in union. This is the religious ceremony 
par excellence. The Assiniboins attach the highest impor 
tance to it. They often speak of it in the course of the year, 
and look forward to its immediate arrival with joy, respect, 
and veneration. Sometimes three or four hundred lodges of 
families assemble in one locality. One sole individual is 
named the high-priest, and directs all the ceremonies of the 

* Incomprehensible. See note, p. 120. 



136 WESTERN MISSIONS 

festival. A species of hall is constructed, with about thiuty 
lodges, of skins of the buffalo. Each lodge is composed of 
twenty or twenty-four skins, stretched over a number of 
posts, seven or eight feel high. On the top of these posts 
several hundred perches are fastened, and on these each 
family hangs the articles that it intends to offer in sacrifice. 
These consist of skins of animals, richly embroidered with 
porcelain or glass beads, adorned with feathers of every hue ; 
many-colored collars, clothes, and ornaments of all kinds, 
making a rich and varied "great Indian exhibition." Oppo 
site to this hall they raise a high pole, to which all the chiefs 
and braves hang their medicine-bags, containing the idols, 
their arrows, quivers, trophies won from their enemies, 
especially scalps. This pole is a tree, stripped of its bark, 
and thirty or forty feet high. Men, women, and children, in 
a spirit of religion, join in raising and planting it, amid the 
acclamations of the tribe. 

After these preliminaries, the ceremony begins with a 
harangue and a prayer to the Great Spirit by the high- 
priest. He implores him to accept their gifts, to take pity 
on them, protect them against sickness, accidents, and mis 
fortunes of all kinds, and to give them a plenteous hunt, 
plenty of bison, stag, deer, bighorns, wild-goat, <fec., and to 
aid them in their wars and excursions against their enemies. 
Then he offers the calumet to the Great Spirit, to the sun, 
to each of the four cardinal points, to the water, and the 
land, with words analogous to the benefits which they obtain 
from each. The sacred calumet is then passed to all the 
chiefs and warriors, who draw two or three whiffs of smoke, 
which he puffs out towards heaven, at the same time eleva 
ting the pipe. The day finishes with the great " medicine 
dance," and a variety of dances in honor of the animals 
which I have named. In these last they try\o imitate, as 



AND MISSIONARIES. 137 

much as possible, the cries and movements of those animals. 
Men alone perform this dance. 

The second day is devoted to representations ; that is, the 
jugglers, or medicine-men, perform their tricks. . Some of 
these men succeed in imposing on these simple and credu 
lous souls, who discover the supernatural in every thing that 
they do not understand : this is great or little Wah-kon, as it 
is more or less incomprehensible. Most of these representa 
tions are mere fe'ats of legerdemain, which would scarcely 
excite a smile of mirth or the least astonishment in a cir 
cle of civilized persons. During their execution the men 
and women accompany the jugglers in a kind of chant, 
which consists of words analogous to the feast, but it is diffi 
cult to define what they say, amid their modulations of tone. 

The third day is consumed in dances and banquets, in 
which all can participate. It is highly amusing to witness 
this spectacle. Among the meats, dogs are particularly 
numerous little and big, roasted and boiled, whole or en 
appalas ; these form the principal viands of the great re 
ligious banquet. Dishes of other meats, with roots, corn, 
wheat, sugar, &c., are added. All the pots and kettles of 
the whole tribe, of every form and dimension, are placed 
over a long row of fires. The braves distribute these meats 
with admirable order, giving to each one his share. These 
portions disappear with truly wonderful celerity. 

The Assiniboins have two kinds of dances for this feast. 
Most of them dance some rounds for amusement, and leave 
the circle when they choose ; but a band of young men form 
the great religious dance, and make a vow to the thunder, or 
voice of the Great Spirit. Then they perform various 
dances, which last three whole days and nights, with .only 
slight intervals, without their taking the least nourishment 
or refreshment. I have this from a credible eye-witness. 

12* 



138 WESTERN MISSIONS 

This extraordinary act is penitential, or rather, propitiatory, 
to obtain from the Great Spirit success in war. The camp, 
on this occasion, assumes a new life. All the garments and 
articles prepared during the winter, from the embroidered 
leggiu and moccasin to the eagle-plumed headpiece, adorn 
their bodies for the first time, and the whole assembly ap 
pears quite brilliant ; the camp acquires a new life. Those 
who are not at the moment occupied in the religious obser 
vances, spend their time in games and often very spirited 
conversation. The feast lasts about ten days. Before sep 
arating, each person tears or cuts the article which he sacri 
ficed. BO that no one can be tempted to take possession of it. 
This last act performed, the different companies separate to 
their own hunting-grounds. 

They have some other religious practices and ceremonies, 
which I observed on my visit, and which are curious enough 
to be noticed here. 

The sun is honored and worshipped by the greater num 
ber of the Indian tribes as the author of light and heat. 
The Assiniboins consider it likewise to be the favorite resi 
dence of the Master of Life. They evidence a great respect 
and veneration for the sun, but rarely address it. On great 
occasions they offer it their prayers and supplications, but 
only in a low tone. Whenever they light the calumet, they 
offer the sun the first whiffs of its smoke. 

The Indians regard a solar eclipse as the forerunner of 
some great disaster; and if a juggler can ascertain from a 
white man the period of the arrival of an eclipse, he is sure 
to make use of it to display his Wah-kon, or supernatural 
knowledge. At the moment of the eclipse the Indians rush 
out of their lodges, armed in full. They fire their guns, 
discharge their arrows in the air, and shout and howl, in 
order to frighten and put to flight the enemy of the Master 



AND MISSIONARIES. 139 

of Life. Their pretended success is followed by great re 
joicings. 

The bear is the terror of all American Indians, for he 
causes the most serious accidents, and is excessively danger 
ous, if he be encountered in a thick forest. Every year some 
savage is killed or crippled in a fight with a bear. They ad 
dress it prayers and invocations ; they offer it sacrifices of 
tobacco, belts, and other esteemed objects ; they celebrate 
feasts in its honor, to obtain its favors and live without acci 
dent. The bear's head is often preserved in the camp during 
several days, mounted in some suitable position, and adorned 
with scraps of scarlet cloth, and trimmed with a variety of 
necklaces, collars, and colored feathers. Then they offer it 
the calumet, and ask that they may be able to kill all the 
bears they meet, without accident to themselves, in order to 
anoint themselves with his fine grease and make a banquet 
of his tender flesh. 

The wolf is also more or less honored among the Indians. 
Most of the women refuse to dress its skin, at any price. 
The only reason that I could discover for this freak is, that 
the wolves sometimes get mad, bite those they meet, and 
give them the hydrophobia. It is, doubtless, to escape this 
terrible disease, and to avoid the destruction of their game, 
that the Indians make it presents and offer it supplications 
and prayers. In other cases he is little feared. He seldom 
injures men, but is formidable to the animals, and makes 
great ravages among them, especially among bison calves, 
kids, deer, antelopes, hares, &c. 

The "little medicine-wolf" is in great veneration among 
the Assiniboins. fie ordinarily approaches the camp during 
the night. As soon as an Indian hears his barks, he counts 
the number with care ; he remarks whether his voice is 
feeble or strong, and from what poiut of the compass it 



140 WESTERN MISSIONS 

comes. These observations then become the subject of dis 
cussion to the jugglers. What are the prognostics? Why, 
the "little medicine-wolf" announces to them that on the 
morrow they may expect a visit from a friend or from an 
enemy, or perhaps a herd of buffalo. The Indians fre 
quently regulate their movements or marches by these indi 
cations; and if, as occasionally happens, they result accord 
ing to the explanation of the barks, the little wolf is favored 
with the ceremony of a grand feast ! 

The belief in ghosts is very profound, and common in all 
these tribes. Indians have often told me, seriously, that 
they had met, seen, and conversed with them, and that they 
may be heard almost every night in the places where the 
dead are interred. They say they speak in a kind of whis 
tling tone. Sometimes they contract the face like a person 
in an epileptic fit. Nothing but the hope of gain could ever 
induce an Indian to go alone in a burying-ground at night. 
In such a case, love of gain might triumph over the fear of 
ghosts ; but an Indian woman would never be induced, on 
any condition, to enter one. 

The Assiniboins esteem greatly a religious custom of as 
sembling once or twice in the year around the tombs of tfceir 
immediate relatives. These sepulchres are raised on a species 
of scaffold, about si-veii or ei^ht f.-ct above the surface of the 
soil. The Indians call the d<-nd bv their names, and offer 
t ln-iii meats care-fully dre-sed, \vhiYh they place beside them. 
They take care, however, to consume the best pieces them 
selves, after the custom of the priests of the idols of old, 
who offered their false gods the heart, blood, entrails, and 
indigestible parts, reserving to themselves the most delicate 
portions of the victim. The ceremony of burying the dead, 
among the Indians, is terminated by the tears, wailings, 
bowlings, and macerations of all present. They tear tho 



AND MISSIONARIES. . 

hair, gash their legs, and at last the calumet is lighted, for 
this is tile Alpha and Omega of every rite. They offer it to 
the shades of the departed, and entreat them not to injure 
the living. During their ceremonious repasts, in their ex 
cursions, and even at a great distance from their tombs, they 
send to the dead puffs of tobacco-smoke and burn little 
pieces of meat as a sacrifice in their memory. 

The religious worship of the Assiniboins embraces a great 
variety of practices too lengthy to recount they all bear 
the same characteristics. I will add, however, one remark 
able point. Each savage who considers himself a chief or 
warrior, possesses what he calls his Wah-kon, in which he 
appears to place all his confidence. This consists of a stuffed 
bird, a weasel's skin, or some little bone or the tooth of an 
animal ; sometimes it is a little stone, or a fantastical figure, 
Represented by little beads or by a coarsely painted picture. 
These charms or talismans accompany them on all their ex 
peditions, for war or hunting they never lay it aside. In 
every difficulty or peril they invoke the protection and as 
sistance of their Wah-kon, as though thqse idols could really 
preserve them from all misfortunes. If any accident befalls 
an idol or charm, if it is broken or lost, it is enough to arrest 
the most intrepid chief or warrior in his expedition, and 
make him abandon the most important enterprise in which 
he may be engaged. It is true that they have a conviction 
that all assistance should come from the Great Spirit ; but 
as they can neither see nor touch him, they invoke him 
through their favorite tutelary idols. If it happen (though 
the case is very rare) that an individual should profess not 
to believe in any kind of Wah-kon, he is regarded among 
the Indians very much as an infidel or an atheist would be 
in a Catholic country. They point at him and avoid him. 
In regard to the future state, they believe tha>t the souls of 



142 WESTERN MISSIONS 

the dead migrate towards the South, where the climate is 
mild, the game abundant, and the rivers well stocked with 
lish. Their hell is the reverse of this picture ; its unfortunate 
inmates dwell in perpetual snow and ice, and in the complete 
deprivation of all things. There are, however, many among 
them who think death is the cessation of life and action, and 
that there is naught beyond it. As they feel uncertain 
which is true, they seem to attach no great importance to 
either. They seldom speak of it; they manifest their views 
to those whites who inquire of them, and in whom they feel 
confidence. 

The moral principles of the Assiniboins are few in num 
ber. Their opinions concerning good and evil have little 
precision. The social position is respected among them to a 
certain degree. Fear, on almost every occasion, governs and 
determines the conduct of the Indian. If he has any ground 
to suspect that another intends to take his life, he seizes the 
earliest opportunity of killing that person, provided he can 
do so without endangering his own life. This case is not 
looked upon as murder, but as a justifiable self-defence. The 
crime of murder, properly so called, is not known among 
them. They never kill, except in quarrels, to avenge or to 
defend themselves, and custom with them justifies the act. 
To behave otherwise, according to their received \u\vs, 
would be regarded as an act of folly. 

Theft, among the Assiniboins, is only considered disgrace 
ful when it is discovered ; then shame and infamy are at 
tached rather to the awkwardness of the thief, for having 
taken his measures so ill. The old women are acknowledged 
the most adroit thieves in the country ; nevertheless, it is 
only just to add that the men seldom omit stealing any ob 
ject, if it can prove useful to them. 

Adultery is punished with death in almost every case. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 143 

The seducer seldom escapes, if the husband and his family 
have the power and the courage to execute this law. Hence 
this crime is rather uncommon. The woman is sometimes 
killed, but always severely punished. The husband causes 
her head to be closely shaved, and her person painted over 
with a heavy coat of vermilion mixed with bear's grease ; 
she is then mounted on a horse, the mane and tail of which 
have been cut oft', and the whole body also daubed with ver- 
milipn ; an old man conducts her all around the camp and 
proclaims aloud her infidelity ; at last he commits her to the 
hands of her own relatives, who receive the culprit with a 
good beating. A woman cannot be subjected to a more de 
grading punishment. 

An Assiniboiu has no scruple in lying, when he can obtain 
any advantage from it : he rarely tells falsehoods in jest. In 
regard to theft, falsehood, and adultery, the Assiniboins differ 
from the Indians near the Rocky Mountains, especially the 
Flat-Heads and the Pends d'oreilles, who detest these vices. 
It may be observed that the Assiniboins have been in rela 
tions with the whites during a succession of years. 

False oaths are very rare among the Indians, when their 
promises are assumed with any solemnity. The objects by 
which the Assiniboin swears are his gun, the skin of the rat 
tlesnake, a bear's claw, and the Wah-kon that the Indian in 
terrogates. These various articles are placed" before him, 
and he says, " In case my declaration prove false, may my 
gun fire and kill me, may the serpent bite me, may the bears 
tear and devour my flesh, may my Wah-kon overwhelm me 
with misery." A circumstance in which perjury could save 
his life, is the only one in which a savage would be tempted 
to commit it. In extraordinary and very important affairs, 
which demand formal promises, they call upon the thunder 
to witness their resolution of accomplishing the articles pro- 



144: WESTERN MISSIONS 

posed and accepted. The whole vocabulary of the Assini- 
boin and Sioux language contains but one single word which 
can be considered insulting or as blasphemous. This word 
expresses the wish that the person or thing in question may 
become ugly, as we would say in French " Le Monstre," or 
in Flemish "Gy leelyke beest." The name of the Great 
Spirit is never pronounced in vain, but always with highest 
marks of veneration. In this respect the language of the 
poor Indian js more noble than the more polished tongues of 
many civilized nations, where there is ever on the swearer's 
lips curses and blasphemies, and where men mingle in all 
their conversation the name of the Almighty ! Such an 
individual would not only excite horror in the Indian, but 
would even excite his terror. 

The Sioux, or Dacotahs, of whom the Assiniboins are a 
branch, pretend that thunder is an enormous bird, and that 
the muffled sound of the distant thunder is caused by a 
countless number of young birds ! The great bird, they 
say, gives the first sound, and the young ones repeat it : this 
is the cause of the reverberations. The Sioux declare that 
the young thunderers do all the mischief, like giddy youth, 
who will not listen to good advice ; but the old thunderer, or 
big bird, is wise and excellent, he never kills or injures any one ! 

The Assiniboius dread vampires and bats. Should these 
fly near a man, it is an omen of evil. The \Vill-with-a-wisp 
is also a great terror to them. The man who sees one dur 
ing the night, is certain that death is about to carry away 
some cherished member of his family. 

They believe in dreams. According to them, good dreams 
come from a spirit that loves them, and desires to give them 
good advice; bad dreams, in particular the night-mare, 
render them sad and melancholy, and lead them to dread the 
arrival of painful events. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 145 

Not a day passes in an Indian family without some one 
having seen or heard something that augurs evil. This 
always excites an anxiety : hence their superstitions become 
a kind of torment. 

I have the honor to be, very dear Father, 

Your devoted Serv't and Bro, in Christ, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 

P. S. I hope to send you, in a few days, some account ol 
Indian hunts, and especially of a great bison-hunt made by 
the Assiniboins in a kind of inclosure or park. If possible, 
I will add a sketch, to enable you to understand what I try 
to describe. 

The thermometer stands here at 96, and even 102. I 
am afraid my style shows it. The heat is so excessive that 
several ^persons have fallen dead in the streets. 

I hope you have received my itinerary, my letter on our 
shipwreck on the Humboldt, and the address sent me by the 
Bear, the Assiniboin chief. Please acknowledge receipt of 

all my letters. 

13 



146 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XL 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 

Indian Hunts. 

CINCINNATI, COLLEGE OF ST. XAVIER, August 3, 1854. 
REV. AND VERY DEAR FATHER ! 

According to promise, I proceed to offer you the de 
scription of a hunt. If I succeed in making my narration 
intelligible, I shall be satisfied, and shall not regret devoting 
my time to the- writing of it. 

To be a good hunter and a good warrior are the two qual 
ities par excellence that constitute a great man among all the 
nomadic tribes of North America. In this communication 
I shaJ limit myself to the manner of conducting a hunt. 

The chase absorbs the whole attention of the savage. The 
knowledge that he has acquired, by long experience, of the 
nature and instinct of animals, is truly marvellous. He is 
occupied with it from his tender infancy. As soon as a child 
is capable of managing a little bow, it is the first instrument 
his father puts into his hands, to teach him how to hunt lit 
tle birds and small animals. The young Indians are initiated 
in all their stratagems. They are taught with as much care 
how to approach and kill the animals, as in civilized society 
a youth is instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic. 

An expert Indian hunter is acquainted minutely with the 
habits and instincts of all the quadrupeds which form the 
object of the chase. He knows their favorite haunts. It is 
essential for him to distinguish what kind of food an animal 



AND MISSIONARIES. 147 

first seeks, and the most favorable moment of quitting his 
lair for procuring nourishment. The hunter must be familiar 
with all the precautions that are necessary to elude the 
attentive ear and watchful instincts of his intended victims ; 
he must appreciate the footstep that has passed him, the 
time that has elapsed since it passed, and the direction it 
has pursued. The atmosphere, the winds, rain, snow, ice, 
forests, and the water, are the books which the Indian reads, 
consults, and examines, on leaving his cabin in pursuit of 
game. 

The tribes of the desert find their subsistence in the 
chase ; the flesh of animals affords them food, and the skins 
clothing. Before the arrival of the whites, the method of 
killing the different species of animals was very simple, con 
sisting ordinarily of stratagems and snares. They still have 
recourse to the primitive method in the hunt for large ani 
mals, when they have no horses capable of pursuing them, 
and powder and ball for killing them are wanting. 

The trap prepared for the bison is an inclosure or pen, 
and is one of the more early ways, and perhaps the most re 
markable in its execution ; it demands skill, and gives a 
high idea of the sagacity, activity, and boldness of the In 
dian. As on all other occasions of moment, the jugglers 
are consulted, and the hunt is preceded by a great variety of 
superstitious practices. I witnessed one of these hunts at 
the base of the Rocky Mountains, and of this I will en 
deavor to give you a faithful detail. 

The bisons roam the prairies in herds of several hundreds, 
and often of several thousands. On many of my travels I 
have seen with my own eyes, as far as I could discern on 
these immense plains, thousands and thousands of these no 
ble animals moving slowly, like an interminable troop, in 
one direction, and browsing the grass as they progress. 



148 WESTERN MISSIONS 

They have a fearful appearance; their hairy heads inspire 
with terror those who are ignorant of the pacific habits of 
this noble quadruped. Indeed, such is their timidity that 
one man can put to flight the most numerous herd. When 
alarmed, the tramp of their hoofs, their bellowings, and the 
columns of dust which they raise, resemble the deep mur 
murs of a tempest mingled with peals of thunder, lessening 
as they grow more remote. The flesh of the bison is much 
esteemed and very nourishing ; it is deemed the daily bread 
of all the Indian tribes on the great plains. 

A tribe that has few guns, few horses to run down the 
animals, which needs provisions, and skins for clothing (and 
such was the condition of our Assiniboins), must employ the 
old or primitive method of hunting, which has existed from 
time immemorial. 

The Indians whom I saw engaged in it were encamped on 
a suitable place for the construction of a park or inclosure. 
The camp of which I speak contained about three hundred 
lodges, which represents 2000 or 3000 souls. They had se 
lected the base of a chain of hills, whose gentle slope pre 
sented a narrow valley and a prairie, in which all the lodges 
were ranged. Opposite the hills there was a fine large prairie. 

After the construction of the lodges, a great council is 
held, at which all the chiefs and all the hunters assist. They 
first choose a band of warriors to hinder the hunters from 
leaving the camp, either alone or in detached companies, 
lest the bisons be disturbed, and thus be driven away from 
the encampment. The law against this is extremely severe ; 
not only all the Indians of the camp must conform to it, 
but it reaches to all travellers, even when they are ignorant 
of the encampment or do not know that there is a hunt in 
contemplation. Should they frighten the animals, they are 
also punishable ; however, those of the camp are more rig- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 



149 



orously chastised in case they transgress the regulation. 
Their guns, their bows and arrows, are broken, their lodges 
cut in pieces, their dogs killed, all their provisions and their 
hides are taken from them. If they are bold enough to re 
sist the penalty, they are beaten with bows, sticks, and clubs, 
and this torment frequently terminates in the death of the 
unhappy aggressor. Any one who should set fire to the 
prairie by accident or imprudence, or in any way frighten 
off the herd, would be sure to be well beaten. 

As soon as the law is promulgated, the construction of the 
pen is commenced.* Everybody labors at it with cheerful 
ardor, for it is an affair of common interest, on which the 
subsistence of the entire tribe during several months will 
depend. The pen has an area of about an acre. To inclose 
it in a circular form, stakes are firmly fixed in the ground, 
and the distance between them filled with logs, dry boughs, 
masses of stone in short, with whatever they can find that 
will answer the purpose. The circular palisade has but one 
opening ; before this opening is a slope embracing fifteen or 
twenty feet between the hills: this inclined plane grows 




* Plan of the Pen. A B C, Pen ; A C, Opening ; D, Slope ; A E and 
C F, Hills and Fences ; G, Medicine-mast. 

13* 



150 WESTERN MISSIONS 

wiilcr as it diverges from the circle; at its two sides they 
continue the fence to a long distance on the plain. 

As soon as these preparations are completed, the Indians 
elect a grand-master of ceremonies and of the pen. He is gen 
erally an old man, a distinguished personage, belonging to 
Wah-kon, or medicine-band, and famous in the art of jug 
glery, which the Indians, as I have remarked, deem a super 
natural science. His office it is to decide the moment for 
driving the bisons into the iuclosure, and give the signal for 
the commencement of the hunt. He plants the medicine- 
mast in the centre of the park, and attaches to it the three 
charms which are to allure the animals in that direction, viz., 
a streamer of scarlet cloth two or three yards long, a piece 
of tobacco, and a bison's horn. Every morning at the early 
dawn he beats his drum, intones his hymns of conjuration, 
consults his own Wah-kon, and the manitous or guiding- 
spirits of the bisons, in order to discover the favorable mo 
ment for the chase. 

The grand-master has four runners at his disposal, who go 
out daily and report to him the true result of their observa 
tions ; they tell at what distance from the camp the animals 
are, their probable number, and in what direction the herd 
is marching. These runners frequently go forty or fifty 
miles in different directions. In all their courses they take 
with them a Wah-kon ball, which is intrusted to them by 
the grand master: it is made of hair and covered with skin. 
When tho runners think that the suitable moment has ar 
rived, they immediately dispatch a man of their number to 
the grand-master, with the ball and the good news. So 
long as the mysterious ball is absent, the master of ceremo 
nies cannot take food ; he prolongs this rigorous fast by ab 
staining from every meat or dish that does not come from 
some animal killed on the area of the park, until the hunt is 



AND MISSIONARIES. 151 

over; and as they often remain a month or more awaiting 
the most favorable moment of beginning, the grand-master 
must find himself reduced to very small rations, unless he 
makes some arrangement with his conscience. It is proba 
ble that he eats stealthily at night, for he has no more ap 
pearance of fasting than his brethren of the camp. 

Let us now suppose all to be in readiness, and the circum 
stances all favorable to the hunt. The grand-master of the 
park beats his drum, to announce that the bisons are in nu 
merous herds at about fifteen or twenty miles distance. The 
wind is favorable, and comes directly from the point in which 
the animals are. Immediately all the horsemen mount their 
coursers ; the foot-soldiers, armed with bows, guns, and 
lances, take their positions, forming two long oblique diverg 
ing rows, from the extremity of the two barriers which 
spring from the entrance of the pen and extend into the 
plain, and thus prolong the lines of the inclosure. When 
the footmen are placed at distances of ten or fifteen feet, the 
horsemen continue the same lines, which separate in propor 
tion as they extend, so that the last hunter on horseback is 
found at about two or three miles distance from the pen, and 
at very nearly the same distance from the last hunter of the 
other line, in an opposite direction. When men are want 
ing, women and even children occupy stations. 

After the formation of these two immense lines, one single 
Indian, unarmed, is sent upon the best courser in the camp 
in the direction of the buffaloes, to meet them. He ap 
proaches, against the wind, and with the greatest precaution. 
At the distance of about one hundred paces he envelops 
himself in a buffalo-hide, the fur turned outside, and also 
envelops his horse as much as possible in the same manner, 
and then makes a plaintive cry In imitation of that of a 
bison calf. As if by enchantment, this cry attracts the at- 



152 WESTERN MISSIONS 

tention of the whole herd ; after some seconds, several thou 
sands of these quadrupeds, hearing this pitiful plaint, turn 
towards the pretepded calf. At first they move slowly, then 
advance into a trot, and at last they push forward in full 
gallop. The horsemau continually repeats the cry of the 
calf, and takes his course towards the pen, ever attentive to 
keep at the same distance from the animals that are follow 
ing him. By this stratagem he leads the vast herd of bisons 
through the whole distance that separates him from his com 
panions, who are on the qui vive, full of ardor and impa 
tience to share with him in his sport. 

When the buffaloes arrive in the space between the extrem 
ities of the two lines, the scene changes; all assumes an ap 
pearance of eagerness. The hunters on horseback, giving 
reiu to their steeds, rejoin each other behind the animals. 
At once the scent of the hunters is communicated among 
the frightened and routed animals, which attempt to escape 
in every direction. Then those on foot appear. The bisons, 
finding themselves surrounded and inclosed on all sides, ex 
cept the single opening into the circular pen before them, 
low and bellow in the most frightful manner, and plunge 
into it-with the speed of fear and desperation. The lines of 
hunters close in gradually ; and space becomes less necessary 
us the mass of bisons and . the groups of hunters be<-'iM-; 
more and more compact. Then the Indians commence firing 
tlu-ir LJMUIS, drawing" th.-ir an<w<, and flinging their laiirrs. 
Many animals fall under the blows before gaining the pen : 
the greater number, however, enter. They discover, only 
too late, the snare that has been laid for them. Those in 
front try to return, but the terrified crowd that follow forces 
them to go forward, and they cast themselves in confusion 
into the inclosure, amid the hurrahs and joyful shouts of the 
whole tribe, intermingled with the firing of guns. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 153 

As soon as all are penned, the buffaloes are killed with ar 
rows, lances, and knives. Men, women, and children, in an 
excitement of joy, take part in the general butchery, and 
the flaying and cutting up of the animals. To look at them 
without disgust in this operation, one< must 'have been a 
little habituated to their customs and manners. While men 
cut and slash the flesh, the women, and children in particu 
lar, devour the meat still warm with life the livers, kidneys, 
brains, &c., seem irresistible attractions: they smear their 
faces, hair, arms, and legs with the blood of the bisons; 
confused cries, clamorous shouts, and here and there quar 
rels, fill up the scene. It is a picturesque and savage scene, 
a very pandemonium a sight very difficult to depict by 
words or to recount in minute details. In the hunt which I 
have just described, and at which I was present, six hundred 
bison were taken. 

After the butchery, the skins and the flesh are separated 
into piles, and these piles are divided among the families, in 
proportion to the number of which they are composed. The 
meat is afterwards cut in slices and dried; the bones are 
bruised and their grease extracted. The dogs also receive 
their portion- of the feast, and devour the remains on the 
arena of the pen. Two days after the hunt not a vestige of 
the carnage remained. Before separating, the Indians pass 
several days in dancing and mirth. One of your Keysers or 
Ver Broeckhovens should assist at one of these spirited, pic 
turesque scenes of the Great Desert ; he would find a new 
subject for a painting. 

The old proverb says, " One half of the world knows not 
how the other half lives." The American Indians, who live 
on the spontaneous products of the soil may say as much : the 
countless herds of bison that roam over the vast plains, serve 
as daily bread to the numerous tribes of the Great Desert. 



154 WESTERN MISSIONS 

The Soshocos arc the most degraded of the races of this 
vast continent. The Americans call them " Poor Devils" 
and the French and Canadian voyageurs denominated them 
" les dignes de pitie? They roam over the desert and bar 
ren districts of Utah and California, and that portion of the 
Rocky Mountains which branches into Oregon. In my mis 
sions and journeys I have sometimes met with families of 
these wretched Soshocos, who are really worthy of pity. I 
was so happy as to baptize several of their sick children just 
before they died. 

While the Indians of the plains, who live on the flesh of 
animals, become tall, robust, active, and generally well-clad 
with skins, the Sos'hoco, who subsists chiefly on grasshoppers 
and ants, is miserable, lean, weak, and badly clothed ; he 
inspires sentiments of compassion in the minds of those who 
traverse the unproductive region which he occupies. 

After having described to you the inclosure hunt, as prac 
ticed by the Assiniboins, I will show you the reverse of the 
picture, by describing the great grasshopper hunt practiced 
among the Soshocos. This hunt deserves mention, I think, 
especially as a contrast to the other. 

The principal portion of the Soshoco territory is covered 
with wormwood, and other species of artemisia, in which the 
grasshoppers swarm by myriads ; these parts are consequently 
most frequented by this tribe. When they are sufficiently 
numerous, they hunt together. They begin by digging a 
h'ole, ten or twelve feet in diameter by four or five deep ; 
then, armed with long branches of artemisia, they surround 
a field of four or five acres, more or less, according to the 
number of persons who are engaged in it. They stand 
about twenty feet apart, and their whole work is to beat the 
ground, so as to frighten up the grasshoppers and make them 
bound forward. They chase them towards the centre by 



AND MISSIONARIES. 155 

degrees that is, into the hole prepared for their reception. 
Their number is so considerable that frequently three or four 
acres furnish grasshoppers sufficient to fill the reservoir or 
hole. 

The Soshocos stay in that place as long as this sort of pro 
vision lasts. They, as well as other mortals, have their 
tastes. Some eat the grasshoppers in soup, or boiled ; others 
crush them, and make a kind of paste from them, which 
they dry in the sun or before the fire : others eat them en 
appalas that is, they take pointed rods and string the largest 
ones on them ; afterwards these rods are fixed in the ground 
before the fire, and, as they become roasted, the poor Soshocos 
regale themselves until the whole are devoured. 

As they rove from place to place, they sometimes meet 
with a few rabbits, and take some grouse, but seldom kill 
deer or other large animals. 

The contrast between the Indian of the plain and the des 
titute Soshoco, is very striking ; but poor as he is, like the 
Hottentot, he loves devotedly his native soil. 

I shall soon leave Cincinnati for Louisville, in Kentucky, 
and then for St. Louis ; from thence, in order to comply 
with your request, I shall continue my Indian memoirs. 
Among other things, I will give you the description of the 
peace expedition sent by the Crows to the Black-Feet. I 
collected the facts on the spot, in my mission of 1851 ; for 
in the superstitious and religious ideas and practices of the 
savages, in their expeditions of war and hunting, their char 
acter and manners are best described. I will give you these 
curious details with as much fidelity as I can. 
Rev. and dear Father, 
Your devoted servant and brother in Christ, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



156 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter III, 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Indian Warfare. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, August, 1854. 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER : 

In my last I spoke of the Indian hunting in the Great 
Desert. I will give you, to-day, some general observations 
on their wars, and especially what I could learn of an un- 
h a PPy peace expedition, during my last visit to the Crows. 

It may be said that war is the ne plus ultra of an Indian's 
glory. The ambition of becoming a great warrior absorbs 
all his attention, all his talents, all his bravery ; it is often 
the object of all his voluntary sufferings. His prolonged 
fasts, his long war-paths, penances, and macerations, and his 
religious observances, have principally this sole end. To wear 
an eagle's plume, the emblem of an Indian warrior, is in his 
eyes supreme honor, and the most magnificent of ornaments ; 
for it betokens that he has already distinguished himself in 
battle. Generally at the age of seventeen or eighteen years, 
after the first fast, and after having selected his wah-kon, 
manitou, or tutelary spirit, the youthful savage joins the war- 
parties, which are composed solely of volunteers. 

A chief, or a partisan, who wishes to form a war-party, 
presents himself in the midst of the camp, tomahawk in 
hand, and painted with vermilion, the symbol of blood. He 
intones his war-song : this kind of song is short. The war- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 157 

chief proclaims with emphasis his lofty deeds, his patriotic 
and martial ardor the sentiments and motives which prompt 
him to vengeance. His song is accompanied with the drum 
and the sischiquoin, or gourd filled with little pebbles. He 
stamps on the ground, as though he could shake the earth to 
the centre. All the youth listen to him with attention, and 
any one who rises becomes a volunteer in his party ; he, 
in his turn, intones his war-song, and this ceremony has the 
force of a solemn pledge, from which a young man cannot 
honorably withdraw. Each volunteer arms and equips him 
self with all that will be necessary for him in his expedi 
tions. The whole force of public opinion among the Indians 
appears to be concentrated on this point. The narration of 
their adventures and of their valorous deeds, their dances, 
their religious ceremonies, the speeches of their orators in 
their public assemblies ; whatever, in fine, that can serve to 
inflame ambition in the mind and heart of a barbarian, is 
referred to the idea of being one day distinguished in war. 

I have now to speak of the Crows. Among all the tribes 
of the northwest portion of North America, this nation is 
considered as the most warlike and valiant. It counts about 
four hundred and eighty lodges, ten individuals to a lodge, 
and roams over the valley of the Yellowstone, principally 
in the region of the Wind River Mountains, or Black Hills, 
and the Rocky Mountains. This race is one of the noblest 
in the desert ; they are tall, robust, and well-formed, have a 
piercing eye, aquiline nose, and teeth of ivory whiteness. If 
they are considered as superior in intelligence to all their 
neighbors, they also surpass them in their wah-kon, or super 
stitious ideas and ceremonies, which reign in all their move 
ments and actions. In illustration, I will cite the following 
trait, of which I was innocently and ignorantly the cause. 

In 1840, I first met the Crows, in the valley of the Big 

14 



158 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Horn, a tributary of the Yellowstone. la my quality of 
Black-gown, they received me with all possible demonstra 
tions of respect, and with a sincere joy. I had with me a 
stock of lucifer-matches, which I used from time to time to 
light my pipe, and the calumet used in the Great Council. 
The effect of these matches surprised them greatly ; they 
had never seen any. They conversed about them in all the 
lodges, and called them the mysterious fire which the mack- 
gown carried. I was at once considered the greatest medi 
cine-man that had ever visited their tribe. They consequently 
treated me with distinguished respect, and listened to all I 
said with the greatest attention. Before my departure, the 
chiefs and principal warriors of the council requested me to 
leave them a portion of my matches. Unconscious of the 
superstitious ideas which they attached to them, I readily 
distributed them, reserving only what was necessary for my 
journey. In 1844 I visited them again. The reception 
they gave me was most solemn* I was lodged in the largest 
and finest lodges of the camp. All the chiefs and warriors 
were habited in their embroidered moccasins, leggins, and 
buckskin shirts ornamented with beads and porcupine quills, 
while eagle's feathers crowned their heads, and they con 
ducted me in grand ceremony from lodge to lodge. That I 
might participate in a grand banquet, I was provided with 
my baud of eaters, who would do honor to the viands and 
eat for me. One of the great chiefs testified a special friend 
ship for me. "It is to thee. Black-gown" said he to me, 
" that I owe all my glory in the victories I have gained over 
my enemies" His language astonished me greatly, and I 
begged him to explain. Without delay he took from his 
neck his wah-kou, or medicine-bag, wrapped in a bit of kid. 
He unrolled it, and displayed to my wondering view the 
remnant of the matches I had given him in 1840! " 1 uso 



AND MISSIONARIES. 159 

them," said he, " every time I go to battle. If the myste 
rious fire appears at the first rubbing, I dart upon my 
enemies, sure of obtaining victory." I had considerable diffi 
culty in disabusing their minds of this singular superstition. 
As you see, it requires little to acquire a reputation among 
the Indians : with a few lucifer- matches, you may be a great 
man among the Crows, and receive great honors. 

The Crows have been invested during several years, 
on the north by the Black-Feet, on the east by the Assini- 
boins and Crees, and on the south by the Sioux. Each of 
these invading nations being more numerous than the nation 
invaded, the Crows were necessarily engaged in perpetual 
war, sometimes with one and sometimes with the other of 
these tribes. Hence the last ten years show a great diminu 
tion in their population, which numbers at the present time 
not more than four hundred warriors. 

Occasionally the Crows have enjoyed peace with the tribes 
of the Black-Feet, Sioux, Bonacks, Assiuiboins, etc. ; and it 
is a quite remarkable fact, that they have never been the first 
to violate a treaty of peace, except in the following instance, 
which I will narrate in full. 

In 1843, the great chief of the nation was known by the 
title of Tezi-Grde, a word which sounds bad enough, meaning 
Rotten Belly. He was as much renowned for his bravery in 
war as for his wisdom in council, and the patriotic love that 
he testified to the whole nation. Seeing with pain the great 
losses that the continual incursions of so many enemies 
caused hh tribe, he resolved to conclude a solemn treaty of 
peace, if not with all, at least with a great part of the Black- 
Feet. Ho made all suitable arrangements, and convoked his 
council, to deliberate on the most prompt and the most effi 
cacious means of success in his great design. All the war 
riors hastened to his aid. After having discussed the dif- 



160 WESTERN MISSIONS 

ferent points, it was unanimously decided that a party of 
twenty-five braves should repair to the Black-Feet camp, to 
offer them the calumet of peace. 

The guide chosen to conduct the baud was one of the 
nation of Black-Feet, taken prisoner by the Crows some 
years before, and hitherto retained in captivity. In order to 
attach him more securely to the good cause, the Crows 
granted him his liberty, with the title of brave, and the per 
mission to wear the eagle's plume. He was, besides, loaded 
with presents, consisting of horses, arms, and ornaments of 
every kind. Having received his instructions, he set out 
joyfully and with signs of gratitude, fully resolved to neglect 
nothing to obtain and consolidate an honorable and lasting 
peace between the two nations. A place had been desig 
nated in which the two tribes might meet as friends and 
brothers, to celebrate the grand event. The deputation, 
therefore, set out for the Black-Feet camp of fou/ hun 
dred lodges, commanded by the great chief "Spotted 
Deer," or Ponukah-kitzi-Pemmy, which they found encamped 
in the valley of the Maria River, a pretty large branch 
of the Missouri River, in the neighborhood of the Great 
Falls. 

About a month before the departure of this expedition, 
two Crows had been killed, near their own camp, and their 
scalps carried away, by a war-party of Black-Feet. The two 
brothers of these unfortunate victims fasted, and took their 
oaths according to custom. These oaths consisted in vowing 
that they would each kill a Black-Foot, the first good chance. 
They communicated their intentions to no one. The bravery 
and determination of these two men were well known. 
They were elected to join the band of deputies, and promised 
ostensibly to forget their private wrongs for the public wel 
fare ; but in secret they renewed their first intentions, fore- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 161 

seeing that this excursion would probably furnish an occasion 
of avenging the double murder of their brothers. 

The band progressed slowly, using many precautions, and 
redoubling them as they approached the camp of the Black- 
Feet. When within a few days' distance from it, they sep 
arated in companies of two or three, to scour the country 
and assure themselves whether any Black-Feet parties were 
out of the village. In the course of the day the two brothers 
stayed together, and discovered two Black-Feet Indians re 
turning from the chase, with several horses laden with buf 
falo-meat. Having with them a calumet-handle, they ad 
vanced boldly towards their enemies, and offered them the 
pipe, as on similar occasions. The Black-Feet Indians re 
ceived the calumet, and were informed that a great deputa 
tion, commissioned on the part of the Crows, was repairing 
to their village, with pacific intentions. They acted with 
so much address, that, after some moments, the Black-Feet 
were entirely reassured, and conceived no suspicions nor suf 
fered the least anxiety. One of them presented his gun to 
one of the two Crows, and the other gave his horse to the 
second. They took the same way together towards the 
camp, but their path led through a deep and lonely ravine. 
There the snare was discovered. The two Black-Feet sud 
denly received mortal blows, and were thus cowardly assassi 
nated by the two Crows, who scalped their victims. They 
then killed the horses with arrows, and concealed their car 
casses beneath the underwood and briers. The two scalps 
were carefully secured in their bullet-bags. Having removed 
all traces of blood from their habiliments, they rejoined their 
companions, without making known the cruel act of private 
vengeance they had consummated, secretly and in violation 
of all received Indian usages. The day which followed this 
atrocious crime the deputation made a solemn entrance into . 



162 WESTERN MISSIONS 

the camp of the Black-Feet, and were received by the chiefs 
and braves with the greatest cordiality, and with every atten 
tion of Indian hospitality. 

The Black-Feet declared themselves favorable to the 
treaty of peace. They received joyfully the proposition 
which the Crows made by their guide and interpreter, the 
recent prisoner. All the politeness and attention of which 
Indians are capable were lavished upon the deputies. They 
were invited to a great number of feasts, to amusements and 
public sports, which lasted late in the night. They were 
afterwards distributed* to the lodges of the principal chiefs, 
in order to repose after their fatiguing journey. 

The inclination to steal is very common among the 
women of several tribes of the Northwest. The Black-Feet 
women share largely in this bad reputation. One of these 
feminine pilferers, favored by the darkness of night, silently 
entered the lodges where the Crows were peaceably sleeping. 
She relieved their pouches of all that could prove valuable 
to her. While searching, she laid her hand upon a damp, 
hairy object, and instantly perceived it to be a scalp. She 
seized it, quitted the camp in the greatest possible silence, 
and, by the glimmering of the watchfire which was burning 
in the middle of the camp, examined the bloody trophy. It 
is very difficult to move an Indian, for he is habituated to 
strange sights. Such an event would have spread alarm 
among white men, but it only tended to render the Indians 
more circumspect and more prudent in taking measures. 
The woman, after reflecting a moment, turned her steps to 
wards the lodge of the great chief, awoke him, and commu 
nicated to his ear in the softest whisper the important discov 
ery she had made. He lighted a pine torch, in order to ex 
amine the scalp. At the first glance he recognized it as that 
of a young hunter who had not yet come back from the chase. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 163 

The chief instantly formed his plan. He made signs to 
the woman to follow him, recommended her to retire to her 
own lodge, because nothing could be done before daylight, 
and forbade her to divulge her secret, or to excite the 
slightest suspicion. He feared that in the confusion which 
would probably arise, and sheltered by the darkness, some of 
the Crows might escape. 

The Spotted Deer then, alone and noiselessly, made the 
rounds of his camp. He aroused his bravest warriors, to the 
number of twenty or thirty, by a single touch, and also those 
whom he desired to consult in this circumstance. They fol 
lowed him, asking no questions, and were conducted to a 
solitary place in the vicinity of the camp. There, forming a 
circle and lighting a torch, the chief displayed the sgalp, and 
related to them the adventure of the woman. 

The youngest of his counsellors desired instant revenge on 
the Crows, but the prudent chief represented to them that 
the night was not a favorable time ; besides, that having 
smoked together the calumet of peace, to kill them in their 
own lodges, and in the very camp of the Black-Feet, would 
be at variance with all their customs and practices, and 
would draw upon them the contempt of all other Indian 
nations. He, however, commanded them to hold themselves 
armed and ready at daybreak. 

The Crows rose early. They were somewhat surprised to 
see the lodges they occupied surrounded by a band of four 
or five hundred warriors, armed and mounted on their 
fleetest coursers, and with countenances far from friendly, as 
on the previous eve. But Indians are not easily discon 
certed ; they awaited the result in silence. As soon as the 
daylight appeared in the camp, the Spotted Deer convened 
a grand council and summoned the Crow deputies -to ap 
pear. They at once obeyed, and took their places with the 



164: WESTERN MISSIONS 

) 

air of haughty indifference, peculiar to the Indian, in the 
centre of a circle of enemies who were burning with ven 
geance. When all were in order, the Spotted Deer arose, 
and thus addressed the Crows : " Strangers, only yesterday 
you arrived in our camp. You declared yourselves the 
deputies of your principal chiefs, sent to conclude with us, 
hitherto your foes, a solid and durable treaty of peace. We 
listened to your message. Your words and propositions 
seemed reasonable and advantageous. All our lodges have 
been open to you ; you have shared in our feasts and hospi 
tality ; you joined in aur games. Yesterday we had the inten 
tion of showing you to-day still greater liberality. But, before 
discoursing further, I have one single question to ask you. 
Crows! W I must have an answer; and that answer will de 
cide whether peace be possible, or whether a war of destruc 
tion must continue." Then drawiug the scalp from the bullet- 
pouch, and displaying it before them, he cried, "Tell me, 
Crows, whose hair is this ? Who among you claims this 
trophy ?" Those of the Crows who were ignorant of the 
affair, looked on with amazement, and could only imagine 
that the Black-Feet sought a pretext for quarrelling. No 
one replied. The chief resumed: "Will no one answer? 
Must I call a woman to question these Crow braves ?" Then 
beckoning to the stealer of the scalp, he said to her, '* Show 
us to which warrior this trophy belongs." Without hesita 
tion, she pointed to one of the brothers. Every eye was 
fixed upon him. The chief, Spotted Deer, approaching the 
murderer, said to him, "Knowest thou this scalp? Didst thou 
take it ? Fearest thou now to avow it ?" With one bound 
the young Crow placed himself opposite the chief, and shout 
ed, "Spotted Deer, I fear not! It is I who took the scalp ! 
If I endeavored to conceal it, I did so with the desire of 
doing more evil ! Thou askest whose hair is fhisr. Look at 



AND MISSIONARIES. 165 

the hairy fringe of thy shirt and thy leggins. In my turn, 
I ask, whose hair is that ? Belongs it not to my two broth 
ers, slain by thee or thine, hardly two moons ago ? or be 
longs it not to the relations of some Crow here present ? 
'Tis vengeance brings me here ! My brother holds in his 
shot-bag the companion of this scalp. -We determined, be 
fore leaving the camp, to cast into thy face these bloody 
tufts, at the same moment, as our challenge of defiance." 

This language determined the Black-Feet. " Young man, 
thou hast spoken well," replied the Spotted Deer; "thou art 
valiant and fearest not death, which will strike thee and thy 
companions in a few moments. Yet we have smoked the 
calumet together. It is not suitable that the ground on 
which that ceremony took place should drink thy blood. 
See, Crows, the hill before you ! It is in the way that leads 
to your lodges. So far we allow you to go. When you get 
there, we will pursue you. Go on, and leave us." 

The Crows instantly left the place, and advanced towards 
the hill designated by the Black-Foot chief, determined to 
sell their lives dearly in this unequal combat. Their ene 
mies mounted their horses, and awaited with ardor the order 
for the pursuit. 

As soon as the Crows reached the hill, the terrific war- 
whoop the Sassaskivi resounded through the camp. The 
Black-Feet, burning to avenge the outrage received, rushed 
forward with the greatest impetuosity. The Crows, after 
running some moments, found a deep ravine excavated in the 
plain by the running waters : judging the position favorable, 
they took refuge in it, and maintained themselves for some 
time. As soon as, in their first ardor, the Black-Feet ap 
proached the ravine to dislodge them, a general discharge 
of muskets and arrows from the Crows killed eighty Black- 
Feet, and wounded a great number. This discharge routed 



166 WESTERN MISSIONS 

them, and forced them to draw off. The Black-Feet dis 
mounted, and on foot there were several skirmishes between 
the two bauds ; but all were disadvantageous to the Black- 
Feet, for the Crows were protected in the hole, and only 
showed their heads through necessity, while their enemies 
fought in the open plain. A great number of Black-Feet 
lost their lives in these different attempts, while the Crows 
lost not a man. Spotted Deer, seeing the danger and the 
useless destruction of so many warriors, made an appeal to 
his braves. He proposed to them to place himself at their 
head, and to fall simultaneously on their enemies. His propo 
sition was accepted ; the war-whoop resounded anew through 
the bloody plain ; they attacked the Crows en masse, and 
after having discharged on them their guns and arrows, 
armed only with their daggers and tomahawks, they darted 
with confused violence into the ravine, and in a few moments 
horribly massacred the whole band. In this last attack, it 
is worth noting that not a single Black-Foot lost his life. 

The combat ended, the scalps were carried off by the war 
riors who had most distinguished themselves in the affair. 
The women cut the corpses of their slain in such small pieces, 
that it would be difficult to detect among them the smallest 
trace of the human form. The scalps, with all the torn 
scraps of flesh, were then attached as trophies to the extrem 
ities of poles and lances, and triumphantly borne through 
the camp, mid chants of victory, yells of rage, with howling 
and vociferations against their enemies. There was also a 
general mourning, caused by the loss of so many warriors 
fallen in this horrible engagement. Since that day, war con 
tinues without relaxation to the present time. 

This shocking recital I learned in 1851, on that very battle 
field, and from a chief who was in the engagement. 

I request you, in a special manner, to pray very particu- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 167 

larly for these poor Indians. During fourteen years they 
have implored the favor of having some of our Fathers sent 
to them. The scripture, " They asked bread, and there was 
none to break it to them," may be justly quoted in regard 
to them. In my short visits to them I have been touched 
with their affability, their beneficent hospitality, and the re 
spectful attention they gave to my instructions. I augur 
very favorably of their good dispositions, and am convinced 
that two or three fervent and zealous missionaries could 
gather consoling fruits for religion from these barbarians, 
who sigh to know and practice the Gospel of Peace. Since 
my last interview with them, in 1851, I have received sev 
eral letters from them. 

Do not forget me in your prayers, and be so good as to 
remember me to the Fathers and Brothers of St. Michael's 
College. 

I have the honor to be, with the most profound respect 
and esteem, 

Rev. and dear Father, 
Your most devoted servant and brother in Christ, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



168 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XIII. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Tchatka. 

REVEREND FATHER : 

You have received the address of Matau-Witko, or the 
Bear, the present chief of the Assiniboins. This has shown 
the favorable dispositions entertained by that chief for our 
holy religion. I spoke to you of their hunts, of an expedi 
tion of peace and war sent by the Crows, or Absharokays, to 
the Black-Feet, or Ziarzapas* their inveterate enemies. I 
have described the Assiniboin worship, which, in regard to 
ceremonies, superstitious practices, and various points of be 
lief, resembles all others in use among the different Indian 
tribes of the Upper Missouri. 

These details must have given you an idea of the depth of 
heathen darkness in which the North American Indians are 
yet shrouded. How worthy, alas! are they of exciting 
Christian compassion and devotedness ! How noble the 



* The Black- Feet are one of the most powerful tribes in the new ter 
ritory of Nebraska. They number about 10,000. Their war and hunt 
ing parties go as far north as 52, and cover all the valley of the Upper 
Missouri and its tributaries from the Rocky Mountains to 103 north. 

I have already given a table of the different tribes of the Upper Mis 
souri, and of the Sioux, as well as some notions on the bauds, territo 
ries, language, names, names of principal chiefs, and explained tlio 
word vvah-kon or medicine. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 169 

mission of rescuing the minds and hearts of this despised 
and forlorn race from the degrading superstitions and infa 
mous cruelties to which they are abandoned : of sowing in 
that uncultivated soil the mustard-seed, which will spring up 
and bear the immortal blossoms of present and future 
happiness ! 

Some of our Fathers are already engaged in this noble 
task. It is to be hoped that a greater number may be 
inspired to join them in bearing the torch of faith to all the 
nations which desire it, and incessantly implore Black-gowns. 
I speak from actual knowledge when I say that most of the 
nations of the Great Desert manifest a desire for instruction, 
and listen willingly to the word of the Lord. 

To initiate you still further in the knowledge of Indian 
manners and customs, I have fhought that you would be 
pleased to receive a sketch of the life of the most renowned 
chief of the Assiniboins. He was a crafty, cruel, deceitful 
man, a bad Indian, in every sense of the word ; his whole 
life was full of horrors. For forty years he led his tribe in 
the forest. At the commencement of his career, his band 
numbered over 2000. He led them from war to war, some 
times with success, often with reverse. Disease thinned the 
band poison and battle wasted them like snow. When 
they were but a handful, he beheld the remnant of his gal 
lant band disperse, and seek an asylum in a more powerful 
and numerous camp. He died as he bad lived. Either from 
fear, jealousy, or hatred, he had recourse to poison to rid 
himself of all who opposed him. Pursued by remorse and 
despair, he used the same means to put an end to his "own days. 
He died in most terrible convulsions. This story will show 
you that the Indians, too, have their Neros and Caligulas. 

All the accounts that I have read on the statistics of the 
Indians, show that their numbers constantly decrease. To 

15 



170 WESTERN MISSIONS 

what is this remarkable decline to be ascribed ? The history 
of the Assiniboin tribe, led by this wicked chief, is more or 
less the history of the decline of the other tribes. Ambi 
tious chiefs and partisans keep up incessant wars in their 
tribes, and unknown diseases thin them. Then comes the 
acquaintance with the whites ; the Indians learn, and easily 
adopt, the vices and excesses of the pioneers of our civiliza 
tion. The spirituous liquors, which they offer the Indians 
in abundance more terrible than war sweeps them off by 
hundreds, and they disappear, leaving behind them only sad 
mounds, as tombs, which dot the plains and highlands by 
the river-side, till the plough at last levels these last vestiges 
of a" race. 

If time permits, I will hereafter give some details on the 
actual condition of the Indian tribes under the domination 
of the great Republic. The government has just organized, 
in the western desert, two new territories Kanzas and 
Nebraska.* They embrace an extent of neither more nor 
less than between five and six hundred thousand square miles. 
They will then be divided into several States, and each of 
these States will be larger than France. Whites are already 
pouring in in thousands, all hastening to take possession of 
the best sites. The law has just passed ; no steps are yet 



* Nebraska Territory extends to 49 north, the northern boundary 
of the United States; on 'the south, the line of 40 separates it from 
Kanzus ; its eastern limit is the White River and the Missouri, which 
eeparate it from Minnesota and Iowa , on the west, it extends to the 
Rocky Mountains. 

Kansas Territory extends three degrees, or 208 miles, further south ; 
on the east is the State of Missouri ; on the north, the 37th degree sepa 
rates it from the Cherokee Reservation ; on the west, it is bounded by 
the Rocky Mountains. 

These two territories contain over 500,000 square miles, or forty 
times the surface of Belgium. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 171 

taken to protect the Indians, and already fifty new towns 
and villages are in progress ; barns, farms, mills, &c., rise 
on all sides as though by enchantment. I did not then 
think that the moment of invasion was so near. 

The narrative with which I will entertain you to-day is 
well known in all the region where the scenes occurred. I 
have it from two most reliable sources that is to say, from 
a man of tried probity and veracity, Mr. Denig, of the St. 
Lonis Fur Company, and from a worthy Canadian inter 
preter. Both resided" many years among the Assiniboins, 
and knew the subject of the story, and witnessed many of 
his acts. 

This hero is Tchatka or Gaucher, an Assiniboin chief. He 
exercised, during his long career, more power over the band 
or tribe that he led and governed, than any other savage 
Nestor whose history I have learned. He had received sev 
eral names ; but that of Gaucher, or Awkward, is that by 
which he was known among the voyageurs* and fur-traders. 
His other names were, Wah-kon-kangta, or the Great Medi 
cine; Mina-Yougha, or the Knifeholder; and Tatokah-nan, 
or the Kid. These titles were bestowed on him at different 
periods of his life, in memory of some remarkable deed by 
which he had distinguished himself, and which will appear 
in the course of my narrative. 

The family of Tchatka was very numerous, and enjoyed 
great influence. As the members purposed electing him 
their chief, and conductor of the camp, as soon as he should 
attain his majority, he attracted the attention of the north 
ern fur-traders of Upper Canada and the Hudson Bay Com 
pany's territory. The intimacy which he cultivated with 



* I use the word voyageur, a Canadian term, adopted in English to 
desiguato the white hunters of the West, a peculiar set of men. 



172 WESTERN MISSIONS 

the whites, united to a high degree of native cunning, proved 
the means of his acquiring many aits, which gave him on his 
return a kind of distinction among his people. He had also 
obtained, by means of a white man, a quantity of poison, 
and had learned its properties and use. Tchalka was an un 
principled, deceitful, cunning, cowardly man. Although 
young and vigorous, he always kept out of danger. While 
the warriors of his tribe were fighting in the plain, he would 
be seated on a hill or some other spot from which he could 
ul'x-rvt! all that passed. He had been initiated into all the 
tricks of the jugglers. lie never performed incantation and 
juggleries without a good horse beside him, on which he 
sprang in case of defeat, lie was always the first to escape, 
abandoning the combatants to their own luck, and got off as 
well as he could. As we shall see in the sequel, he became 
chief of two hundred and eighty lodges, or about twelve 
hundred warriors. The great confidence which they had in 
their leader seems to have been the cause of his great suc 
cess in the war against the Black-Feet and other enemies of 
the nation. 

As soon as Tchatka had attained the requisite age, he 
used every effort to attain his object and satisfy his ambition. 
He calculated the advantages and ascendency he would ob 
tain over the people by becoming initiated in the great band 

of medicine-men or jugglers,* and he pretended to'th- uii'i 



* The Wah-kons, or Mediciue-racn, among the American Indians, 
and the Panomoosi of Northern Asia, belong to the same class. In both 
hemispheres these charlatans pretend to heal diseases by witchcraft ; 
they predict the i*sue of wars and hunts. In all cases they pretend to 
be inspired by Munitous; that is, divinities or spirits. They generally 
retire to the depth of the forests, where they pretend to fast for several 
days, and often practice very vigorous penances, consisting especiallyin 
corporal macerations ; then they beat the drum, dance, sing, smoke, 
cry, and howl like wild boasts. All these preparatives are accompanied 



AND MISSIONARIES. 173 

of prophecy. A second motive for this initiation was, that 
he might thereby conceal his want of bravery a quality in 
dispensable in a chief. Many remarkable stories are related 
of his exactitude in predicting future events, and for which 
the simple savages could give no explanation. 

Tchatka was not ignorant that there were several persons 
in the tribe whose influence was great, who were older than 
he, and who had acquired by their valor in war, and by their 
wisdom in the council, real titles to the dignity of great chief. 
In order to arrogate to himself the sole government of the 
camp, he conceived the frightful design of getting rid of his 
competitors. He brought to the execution of his project all 
his cunning and deceit. I have already alluded to the 
poisons in his possession: By secret experiments he became 
well informed concerning their power and influence. He 
administered it himself, or by the hands of others, so adroit 
ly that not the least suspicion was excited. His character 
of prophet came to his aid. He predicted to his victims, 
often several weeks and months before the event, that they 
had not long to live, according to the revelations of his 
Wah-kon, and manitous or spirits. The accomplishment of 
this species of prediction established his reputation ; he ob 
tained the title of " Strong in Jugglery." The poor savages 
regarded him with fear and respect as a being who could 
at his will dispose of life. Many made him presents of 

by a host of furious actions, and such extraordinary contortions of body, 
that they would seem possessed. These jugglers are visited secretly by 
night by accomplices in their craft and hypocrisy, who carry them all 
the news of the village and its neighborhood. By these means the jug 
glers, on leaving the forest and returning to the village, easily impose 
on the credulous. The first part of their predictions consists in giving 
an exact account of all the events of the village since their departure- 
marriages, deaths, returns from the war or the hunt, and all other re 
markable items. 



174 WESTERN MISSIONS 

horses and other objects, in order to escape figuring on the 
list of his fatal predictions. 

The most influential and courageous personage of the 
Assiuiboins, the principal obstacle to the ambition of Gau- 
cher or Tchatka, was his own uncle. To a lofty stature, his 
uncle joined a bravery, a boldness, and a violence which no 
one dared oppose. He bore the name of the Walking Bow, 
or Itazipa-man. He was renowned for his valorous deeds in 
combat. His robe, his casque, his clothing, his tomahawk, 
lance, and even the bridle and saddle of his steed, were 
adorned with scalps and trophies taken from his enemies. 
He was surnamed The One-eyed, or Istagon, because he had 
lost an eye in battle by an arrow. 

Tchatka was jealous of the power of Istagon, and of the 
influence the latter exercised over the whole tribe. Hither 
to he had not attempted the life of his uncle ; as he feared 
his anger, he desired to assure himself of his protection. 
He needed him as long as those were living who might op 
pose his ambitious march, the success of which was so little 
merited on his part: no deed of arms, no trophy gained 
from the enemy, could authorize him to carry his preten 
sions higher. By his arts and flattery, by an assiduous at 
tention and feigned submission to the smallest desires of the 
chief, the cunning young man succeeded in gaining the 
friendship and confidence of his uncle. They saw each other 
more frequently : they gave each other feasts and banquets, 
in which the greatest harmony seemed to reign. One even 
ing Tchatka presented his guest a poisoned dish : the latter, 
according to the Indian custom, ate the whole. Knowing, 
by experience, that in a few hours the ingredient would pro 
duce its eflfccts, Tchatka invited all the principal braves and 
soldiers of the camp to repair to his lodge, announcing, that 
he had an affair of the highest importance to communicate 



AND MISSIONARIES. 175 

to them. He placed his Wah-kon in the most suitable and 
most conspicuous part of his lodge. This Wah-kon of Gau- 
cher's consisted of a stone, painted red, and surrounded by a 
little fence of small sticks about six inches in length. It 
lay at a little distance from the fire, which was burning in 
the centre of the lodge, and opposite the place where he sat. 
It had occupied this place for several years. 

As soon as the whole assembly were arranged, Tchatka 
disclosed his Wah-kon. He declared to them that the thun 
der, during a nocturnal storm, had launched this stone into the 
middle of his lodge; that the voice of the thunder had told 
him that it possessed the gift and the spirit of prophecy ; 
that the Wah-kon stone had announced that a great event 
was about to take place in the camp ; for that very night 
the most valiant brave of the tribe would struggle in the 
arms of death, and that another, more favored than he by 
the spirits, would take his place, and would be proclaimed 
great-chief of the camp; that at the very moment the chief 
expired, the Wah-kon stone would vanish, and accompany 
the spirit of the deceased into the country of souls. 

A mournful silence succeeded this singular declaration. As 
tonishment, mingled with superstitious dread, was depicted on 
the faces of all those who. composed the assembly. No one 
dared to contradict the discourse of Tchatka, or call in doubt 
his words. Besides, on so many other occasions his predic 
tions had been realized at the appointed time. He whose 
death had been foretold, without being named, was present. 
As several occupied nearly as high a rank as himself in the 
camp, and shared the power in concert with Istagon, the 
latter did not at first apply to himself exclusively the an 
nouncement of death which had just been made so mysteri 
ously. He did not yet feel the effects of the poisoned dish, 
and had not even the slightest suspicion on the subject. 



176 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Each withdrew to his own lodge ; but dark apprehensions 
troubled their minds, and agitation controlled their hearts. 
Who will be the victim announced ? 

Towards midnight a messenger informed G anchor that 
his uncle and friend was very sick, and wished positively to 
speak with him. The uncle suspected the perfidy of his 
nephew, and was resolved to stretch him dead at his feet 
while he yet possessed sufficient strength. The wily Tchatka 
answered the messenger, " Go, tell Istagon that my visit to 
him would prove useless. I could not possibly at this mo 
ment quit my lodge and my Wah-kon." 

In the mean time a great tumult and great confusion arose 
throughout the camp ; consternation became general. In 
his horrible convulsions, and before they had deprived him 
of the use of speech, Istagon declared to the braves who first 
answered his call, that he suspected Tchatka of being the 
cause of his death. They at once uttered shrieks of rage 
and vengeance against the latter, and hastened to his lod^e 
to execute their threats. Tchatka, apparently grieved and 
melancholy, on acconnt of the unhappy lot of his uncle, 
and trembling with fear at the sight of so many uplifted 
tomahawks, besought these avengers of Istagon to suspend 
their wrath and deign to listen to him. "Relations and 
friends," said he, " Istagon is my uncle ; the same blood 
flows in our veins ; he has ever loaded me with marks of 
his friendship and his confidence. How then could I injure 
him? A few moments ago you saw him vigorous with 
health ; now that he is grappling with death you come to 
discharge your vengeance upon me ! What have I done to 
deserve it ? I predicted the event ! How could I help doing 
so ? Such was the decree of my great Wah-kon ! Ap 
proach, and observe it closely, for I announced at the same 
time that my Wah-kon would disappear, in order to accom- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 177 

pany the soul of the chief into the region of spirits. If my 
word is accomplished, and my Wah-kon stone disappears, is 
it not an evident sign that the death of Istagon is rather a 
decree of the manitous than a treachery on my part ? Wait, 
and judge for yourselves." These few words had the desired 
effect ; they seated themselves as sentinels around the mys 
terious stone. Neither calumet nor dish was handed round 
in this mute circle silent in appearance, but tumultuous in 
reality, for their hearts were agitated with different emo 
tions, to which the discourse of the perfidious Tchatka had 
given rise. 

During the two hours that this scene lasted, the fire 
gradually became dim, and shed only a few feeble glimmer 
ings, which were from time to time reflected from these 
sombre and sinister faces. In the interval, some runners 
arrived, to announce the progress of the malady. " Istagon 
is in convulsions, and utters naught but shrieks of rage and 
despair against his nephew his convulsions grow more fee 
ble he is losing his speech he can only be heard with 
difficulty he is in agony Istagon is dead." Cries of dis 
tress accompanied this last message. At the same instant 
the mysterious stoiys burst into a thousand fragments, with a 
noise like thunder, which palsied all the assistants with fear. 
In scattering, it filled the lodge with cinders and fire, and 
wounded severely the nearest of the observers. Stunned 
and frightened, all took flight from this scene of prodigies. 
The indignation and revenge which animated them a mo 
ment before against Tchatka, gave place to fear, mingled 
with awe and respect for him, and they no longer dared 
approach him. The supernatural power of the Wah-kon was 
acknowledged, and he who had received it from the thunder 
was honored throughout the camp with the title of Wah- 
kon-Tangka, that is, Great Medicine. 



178 WESTERN MISSIONS 

This pretended supernatural affair is thus explained : The 
wily savage had been a long time preparing the part he in 
tended performing. Some days beforehand he pierced the 
stone, and charged it with nearly a pound of powder. A 
train of powder, carefully covered over, conducted from the 
place in which he was seated to the hole excavated in the 
stone a distance of six or eight feet. He seized a favorable 
instant for lighting a piece of tinder, and at the very mo 
ment that the death of the " One-eyed' 1 '' was announced, he 
fired the train the stone exploded. 

All these subtle and perfidious means of Gaucher must 
appear very simple in the civilized world, where poison and 
powder are so often employed in all manner of crimes and 
misdemeanors ; but among the Indians the case was widely 
different. They were then ignorant of the destructive power 
of these two articles. It is not, therefore, astonishing that 
they saw only Wah-kon that is to say, the supernatural and 
incomprehensible in all this. 

At his death, Istagon left a great number of friends, espe 
cially among the warriors, who were sincerely attached to 
him on account of his bravery. Several among them, less 
credulous perhaps than the others, eyed Tchatka with stern 
and threatening looks every time that he appeared in public. 
But as he lived retired, rarely quitting his lodge, their dis 
dain and aversion for him were not much remarked. Besides, 
as I have already observed, he had a numerous band of rela 
tives; the members of his family, on whom he could rely, 
with his partisans, formed a fourth part of all the camps, or 
about eighty lodges. 

Tchatka was well persuaded that a politic stroke was still 
necessary to gain the undecided, the discontented, and tlnj 
incredulous. Circumstances seemed to favor this measure ; 
he resolved to have recourse to it while the prodigy of the 



AND MISSIONARIES. 179 

stone was still fresh in their memory. It has occasionally 
happened, too, that on the death of a chief, a numerous 
camp divides into different companies, above all if there 
had existed any anterior discord. Tchatka, therefore, shut 
himself in his lodge during several days, without communi 
cating openly with any one. The camp expected something 
marvellous. The causes of this long retreat were discussed ; 
they lost themselves in conjectures ; all, however, were fully 
persuaded that some new manifestation, either good or evil, 
would be the result. On the fifth day of Tchatka's retreat, 
a general uneasiness was manifested among the savages, and 
they spoke of dividing. 

^VVhat was the famous Tchatka, the Great Medicine the 
hope of some, and the terror of others doing? Nothing 
else than making a drum, or tchant-cheega-kabo, of such 
dimensions that never any Indian had imagined. Sometime 
beforehand, in the premeditation of his exploit, he had 
secretly sawed a piece of an enormous hollow tree, very suit 
able to his design. Its height three feet, and its breadth 
two, his drum resembled a churn. One end was covered 
with goatskin, and the other only with wood. He employed 
several days in cutting and scraping the interior of this 
famous instrument, in order to render it lighter. On the 
exterior of this tchant-cheega-kabo, he painted the figures of 
a grizzly bear, of a tortoise, of a bison bull three superior 
genii in the catalogue of the Indian manitous. Between 
these figures were painted human heads, without scalps, fill 
ing every space, about eighty in number. On the skin of 
the drum, a chief of the Black-Feet tribe was represented, 
without a scalp, in Hack, and daubed with vermilion. 

He had finished his work, and made all his preparations. 
At midnight the voice of Tchatka was heard, with the muf 
fled sound of his tchant-cheega, which resounded through the 



180 WESTERN MISSIONS 

camp. As though just coming forth from an ecstasy, lie 
offered aloud his thanksgivings and his invocations to the 
Great Spirit, and to all his favorite manitous, to thank them 
for the new favors with which they had just crowned him, the 
effects of which were to reflect upon the whole tribe. AVith- 
out delay, every one listened to his call, and repaired to his 
lodge. Observing the usual customs, the counsellors, the 
principal among the braves and soldiers, entered the first, and 
soon filled his abode ; while hundreds of the curious, old 
and young, collected and besieged it without. Curiosity is 
at its highest pitch : they are on fire to learn the explana 
tion of the mysterious news ; they wait with anxious 
impatience. 

As a preliminary, Tchatka intoned a b'eautiful war-song, 
wjthout paying the slightest attention to the multitude which 
pressed around him. In his quality of medicine-man, his 
head-dress was made of swan's-down ; his face and his breast 
were painted in figures of different colors ; his lips, dyed 
with vermilion, indicated that he thirsted for blood, and 
breathed the spirit of war. When he perceived that the 
whole band was around him, he arose, and with the voice of 
a stentor, addressed the assembly. 

" I dreamed," said he, " friends and warriors, I dreamed ! 
During five days and five nights, I was admitted into the 
land of spirits ; living, I walked among the dead. My eyes 
have witnessed frightful scenes ; my ears have heard fright 
ful moans, sighs, lamentations, and howliugs ! Have you 
courage to listeu to me ? Can I suffer you to become the 
victims of your most cruel enemies ? For, know that danger 
is near the enemy is not far distant !" 

An* aged man, whose white hairs announced seventy win 
ters, the grand counsellor of the nation, and a juggler, replied : 

" A man who loves his tribe, conceals nothing from tho 



AND MISSIONARIES. 181 

people. When danger is at hand, he speaks; when the 
enemy is in sight, he goes out to meet him. You say you 
have visited the region of souls ; I believe in your words. I 
also, in iny dreams, have frequently conversed with the ghosts 
of the departed. Tchatka, though young has given us ex 
traordinary proofs of his power; the last hour of Istagon 
was terrible, but who dares rise to blame you ? You only 
predicted the two events : the chief died, and the Wah-kon 
disappeared. I also performed wonders in my youth. Now 
I am old ; but although my limbs begin to be feeble, I have 
yet a clear mind. We will listen to your words with atten 
tion, and then we will decide on the course we ought to take. 
I have spoken." 

The speech of the old man had a favorable effect on the 
whole assembly. Perhaps he was in Tchatka's secret. All 
the succeeding orations manifested a feeling of inclination to 
the murderer. The latter, reassured concerning the dispo 
sitions in regard to him, continued his recital with firmness 
and showed confidence respecting his future plans. 

" Let those who have ears, hearken to me ! those who 
have not, are free to go ! You know me. I am a man of 
few words, but what I advance is true, and the events which 
I predict arrive. During five days and five nights my spirit 
was wafted amid the spirits of the dead, especially of our 
relatives and friends of our friends whose bones are whiten 
ing on the plains, and which the wolves drag into their lairs 
of our friends who still, unavenged, wander up and down, 
amid swamp, and snow, and ice, in sterile and forsaken 
deserts, which produce neither fruit, nor root, nor animal, to 
subsist on. It is a place of darkness, where sunlight never 
enters. They are subject to all privations cold, hunger, 
thirst. We, their friends, their relatives, their brethren, are 
the cause of their long sufferings and fearful woes. Their 

16 



182 WESTERN MISSIONS 

sighs and moans were unsnpportable. I trembled in every 
limb; my hair stood erect on my head ; I believed my lot 
fixed with theirs ; when a kindly spirit touched my hand 
and said : * Tchatka, return to the place which thou hast left; 
return to thy body, for it is not yet time for thee to enter the 
land of spirits. Return, and thou shalt be the bearer of 
good news to thy nation the shades of thy deceased rela 
tions shall be avenged, and their deliverance is nigh. In thy 
lodge thou wilt find a drum, painted with figures that soon 
thou shalt learn to know.' At this instant the spirit left me. 
Coming forth from my dream, I found my drum, painted as 
you now behold it. When my body was restored to anima 
tion, I found that I had not changed position. During four 
days and four nights I had the same vision, varied sometimes, 
but always accompanied with complaints and reproaches 
concerning our recent defeats by our enemies, the Black-Feet. 
The fifth night, the manitou addressed me anew, and said : 
* Tchatka, henceforth the tchant-checya-kabo shall be thy 
Wah-kon. Arise, follow without delay the war-path which 
leads to the Black-Feet. At the source of the Milk River 
thirty lodges of the enemies are encamped. Set out instant 
ly, and after five days* march thou shalt reach the camp. 
On the sixth thou shalt make a fearful carnage. Every 
head painted on the drum represents a scalp, and the taking 
of these scalps will appease the manes of thy deceased 
parents and friends. Then only will they be enabled to quit 
the frightful abode where thou beholdest them, to enter the 
beauteous plains where plenty reigns, and where suffering 
and privation are unknown. At this moment a Black-Feet 
war-party is prowling around the camp. They sought a 
favorable moment, but not finding it, have gone in search of 
a weaker enemy. Set out, then, without delay; thou shalt 
find an easy victory ; thou shalt find in the Black-Feet carnp 



AND MISSIONARIES. 183 

only old men, women, and children.' Such were the words 
of the manitou, and he disappeared. I returned to my body. 
I recovered my senses. I have told you all."* Thus spoke 
this extraordinary man. 

Before continuing the strange history of Tchatka and of 
his predictions, it will be necessary to explain that he gained 
over to his cause and person several active young men, the 
best runners in the camp. From them he obtained in secret 
all the news and information that they could gather in their 
long expeditions, either as to the hunt, or as to the proximi 
ty, number, and position of the enemy. The juggler, as 
soon as he is informed, makes his medicine or incantations, 
and then prophecies to the people, who, not suspecting the 
trick, deem all supernatural that comes from the impostor's 
mouth. 

Let us continue : the discourse of Tchatka (for we will so 
style him in our narrative, although he had now received 
that of Wah-kon-Tangka or Great Medicine) had produced 
the effect he desired on all his auditory. The Assiniboins 
entertained a mortal hatred against the Black-Feet; this 
detestation had been transmitted from father to son, and 
augmented by continual aggressions and reprisals. We may 
form an idea of the propensity that Indians have for war, 
from the expression which they use to designate it. They 
call it " The Breath of their Nostrils." Each family num 
bered some member slain by their dreadful adversary. 



* Many of our Indian tribes celebrate, towards the close of winter, 
the " Feast of Dreams." The ceremonies are often prolonged to ten 
days or a fortnight. They might rather be termed Bacchanalia or Car 
nival. Even the Indians call it the " Feast of Madmen." These are 
days of great disorder; when all they dream or pretend to dream must 
be executed. Dances, songs, and music form the principal ceremonies 
of the feast. 



184' WESTERN MISSIONS 

Tehatka's words aroused in their hearts the most violent 
thirst of vengeance. The sassasfcwi, or war-whoop, was the 
unanimous response of all the warriors in the camp. They 
lighted bonfires, formed groups for chanting invocations to 
their manitous, and executed the scalp-dance. Then each 
one examined his arms, and the whole scene changed into 
a vast workshop. The soldiers sharpened the double-edged 
knives and daggers, filed anew the lances and arrows, ver 
milioned the battle-axes and the tomahawks, bridled and 
saddled the horses ; while the women mended and prepared 
the moccasins, the leggins, and the sacks of provisions ne 
cessary for the journey. As though it were a grand gala 
occasion, every one daubed his face with vermilion, accord 
ing to his fancy, and arrayed himself in his handsomest 
ornaments. Never had so lively and so unanimous an en 
thusiasm appeared in the tribe. All relied implicitly on the 
promises of Tchatka, and counted on certain victory. The 
warriors felicitated themselves on having at last found an 
opportunity to efface the shame and opprobium inflicted on 
the nation, and to avenge the death of their kindred. The 
camp breathed naught but war. The man who had set all 
in motion remained silent and alone. Tranquil in his lodge, 
beside his big drum, he would neither take part in the public 
rejoicings, nor join in the singing and dancing the war-dance. 
When the war-party was formed, and ready to depart, 
several old men and soldiers were deputed to Tchatka, to 
ask him to take the lead, and conduct the enterprise in per 
son. He replied : " You have seen that the two events 
that I predicted have drawn upon me the ill-will of a great 
number. I am young I am no warrior choose an older 
and more experienced man than I to lead the braves to 
battle. I will stay here ; leave me to my dreams and my 
drum." The deputies reported his response to their com- 



AND MISSION AKIES. 185 

rades ; but the latter insisted anew that Tchatka be of the 
company. A new deputation, composed this time of the 
nearest relatives of Istagon, sought Tchatka in the name of 
the whole camp, and announced to him that henceforward 
he should be their war-chief, and all promised him respect 
and obedience. After some hesitation, Tchatka surrendered 
to their entreaties, saying.: "Friends and relations, I forget 
the wrongs that I have endured. If my predictions are ac 
complished if we find the camp of the Black-Feet which I 
have designated if we tear from the enemy as many scalps 
as are on my drum, will you in future believe in my great 
medicine ? If I declare to you that on the second day after 
our departure we shall detect the trail of the war-party that 
has passed near our camp if we slay on the battle-field the 
great chief of the- Black-Feet, and you see him as he is 
painted on my drum, without a scalp and without hands ; if 
all this be accomplished literally, will you in future respond 
to my call ?" They all accepted his conditions. 

Immediately Tchatka arose, intoned his war-song to the 
sound of his drum, and to the acclamations of the whole 
tribe. He then joined his band, but without arms, not even 
a knife. He ordered them to fasten his drum on the back 
of a good horse, which he had led beside him by one of his 
faithful spies and runners, by the bridle. 

In order to understand better the issue, it may not be 
irrelevant to say a few words on the Indian chiefs. Each 
nation is divided into different bands or tribes, and each 
tribe counts several villages. Every village has its chief, to 
whom they submit, in proportion to the respect or terror 
which his personal qualities inspire. The power of a chief is 
sometimes merely nominal ; sometimes, also, his authority is 
absolute, and his name, as well as his influence, extends be 
yond the limits of his own village, so that the whole tribe to 

16* 



186 WESTERN MISSIONS 

which he belongs acknowledge him as their head. This 
was the case among the Assiniboins in the time of Tchatka. 
Courage, address, and an enterprising spirit may elevate 
every warrior to the highest honors, especially if his father 
or an uncle enjoyed the dignity of chief before him, and that 
he has a numerous family ready to maintain his authority 
and avenge his quarrels. Yet when the seniors and war 
riors have installed him with all the requisite ceremonies, it 
must not be supposed that he, on this account, arrogates to 
himself the least exterior appearance of rank or dignity. He 
is too well aware that his rank hangs by a frail thread, which 
may quite easily be broken. He must gain the confidence 
of his uncertain subjects, or n tain them by fear. A great 
many families in the village are better off than the chief; 
dress better, are richer in arms, horses, and other possessions. 
Like the ancient German chiefs, he gains the confidence and 
attachment of his soldiers, first, by his bravery, more fre 
quently by presents, which only serves to impoverish him 
the more. If a chief does not succeed in gaining the love of 
his subjects, they will despise his authority and quit him at 
the slightest opposition on his part ; for the customs of the 
Indians admit no conditions by which they may enforce 
respect from their subjects. 

It rarely happens, among the Western tribes, that a chief 
attains great power, unless he is at the head of a numerous 
family. I have sometimes seen whole villages composed of 
the descendants and relatives of the chief. This kind of 
nomadic community has a certain patriarchal character, and 
is generally the best regulated and the most pacific. The 
chief is less a master than a father, who reigns in a numer 
ous household by the wish to do all in his power to render 
all happy. It may be said in general of the Indian na 
tions, that tribes little united with each other, rent even by 



AND MISSIONARIES. . 187 

discord and jealousy, can possess little power and exercise 
it less. 

Let us return to Tchatka, the grand chief-elect of the 
principal band of the Assiniboins. He found himself in 
command of four hundred warriors. They marched the 
rest of the night, and during the whole of the next day, 
with the greatest precautions and in the best order, so as to 
prevent all surprise. Some scouts alone ran over and beat 
the surrounding country, leaving in their passage signals and 
rods planted in the Dearth, and inclined in such a manner as 
to indicate the route that the little army ought to follow. 
About evening they descried a thick wood, on the border of 
a little stream, arid there erected, hastily, a kind of parapet, 
or defence, with the dried branches and trunks of trees, and 
thus passed behind it a peaceful night. In the morning 
they found themselves in the midst of an innumerable herd 
of bisons, and stopped some instants to renew their stock of 
provisions.* Towards nightfall a faithful scout returned and 
communicated secretly with Tchatka. After marching still 
several miles, the chief, with the beating of his drum, Wah- 
kon, collected all his warriors, and pointing with his finger 
to a high hill, some miles distant, he informed them that 



* I have often spoken of the bisons, improperly called buffaloes, 
without mentioning the great use which the Indians make of this in 
teresting animal. They supply almost all the necessaries of life. Their 
skins form lodges or dwellings, and serve as clothing, litters, bridles, and 
saddle coverings, vessels to hold water, boats to cross lakes and rivers ; 
with the hair, the Indians make their cordage ; with the sinews, bow 
strings and thread for clothes, as well as glue ; the shoulder-blade is 
spade and pickaxe. The bison is their daily bread, their chief food. 
The dung of the animal, called bois-de-vache, furnishes abundant fuel. 
Last year 100,000 buffalo-skins were sent from the desert to the ware 
houses of St. Louis. With the proceeds the Indians obtain arms and 
all they need. 



188 , WESTERN MISSIONS 

there they would trace the war-party of the Black-Feet, of 
which he had dreamed before leaving the camp. Several 
horsemen set out without delay to reconnoitre the enemy. 
At the spot indicated they found the path tracked by nearly 
a hundred horses. All the warriors redoubled their zeal, 
ardor, and confidence in their new chief. The two succeed 
ing days offered nothing very singular. They again stopped 
in the evenincr of the fifth day, without discovering the small- 

O J * 

est vestige of proximity to the hostile camp they sought. 
The watchful scouts were gone, during the day, in different 
directions, without bringing back the least news, except the 
one who had been in secret communication with Tchatka. 
Several of the most ancient of the warriors murmured boldly, 
saying, " that the day predicted by the chief, on which they 
would surely see the effemy, had passed." 

But Tchatka silenced them all, replying to them: "You 
seem still to doubt my words the time is not past! Rather 
say, the time is arrived. You appear still young in experi 
ence and yet a great many winters are beginning to whiten 
your heads. Where <!> you think you will find the lodges 
of your enemies? Is it in the open plain, or on the summit 
of an elevation ? With a single glance of the eye we perceive 
all that is there, and is it there you pretend to discover them ; 
and that, too, in a moment in which those who should pro 
tect their wives and children are afar? The bear and the 
jaguar hide their little ones in their dens, or in the depth of 
impenetrable forests; the wolf hides them in a hole; the 
goat and the deer cover them with hay. When you hunt 
the deer, do you not peep through the trees and the briars ? 
In the fox and the badger hunt, you seek their lairs. Let 
some one go and examine the little point of forest near the 
large rock, at the end of the plain in which we are." 

Instantly, several of the most courageous and the most 



AND MISSIONARIES. 189 

experienced in the stratagems of warfare were sent to the 
discovery. Favored by the night, and with all possible pre 
cautions, they entered the little wood, and made all their ob 
servations without being perceived. In the silence of mid 
night, they reported their news, to Tchatka and his com 
panions "that they had discovered the Black-Feet en 
campment in the place indicated by the chief; that the 
lodges were occupied solely by old men, women, and chil 
dren ; that they could not hear the voices of any youth ; and 
that all the horses were gone." .This account filled these 
barbarous hearts with joy. The rest of the night was passed 
in songs and dances to the sound of the great drum, in jug 
gleries and invocations to the manitous who had inspired 
Tchatka during his five days and five nights of dreams, and 
which had conducted his spirit into the regions of souls. 

At the break of day the four hundred Assiniboin war 
riors surrounded the thirty feeble wigwams of the Black- 
Feet. The cry of war and of vengeance, which they shouted 
simultaneously, like so many bloodthirsty furies, awakened 
and filled with dreadful fear those unhappy mothers and 
children left unprotected there. In accordance with their 
expectations, the Assiniboius found few men in the camp ; 
all had gone with the war-party of which I have made men 
tion. The small number of Black-Feet youth defended 
themselves with desperate bravery ; but they could not long 
resist so many enemies. The combat was short ; the car 
nage bloody and hideous. Old men, women, and children, 
fell an easy prey to the cruel Assiniboins. Only two young 
Black-Feet escaped this shocking butchery. An Assiniboin 
who participated in the combat gave the recital of it to M. 
Deuig, and declared that with his own hand he had killed 
fourteen children and three women. M. Denig asked him if 
he had killed them all with arrows. " Some of them," an- 



190 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Bwered he; "but failing in arrows, I had recourse to the 
tomahawk and the dagger." He added, at the same time, 
that they tore from the arms of their mothers, and took 
with them a great number of little children, and that on 
their way, amid their songs and the scalp-dances, they 
amused themselves with flaying them alive and running 
pointed sticks through their bodies, in order to roast them 
alive before the fire. The piercing shrieks of these little 
creatures fell upon the ear of these barbarians, amid their 
inhuman orgies, like the sweetest and most delightful mel 
ody. All that a pitiless and savage heart could invent of 
torture, was put in practice on this occasion. The Assini- 
boins declare that they satiated themselves with cruelty, to 
satisfy the manes of their deceased parents and kindred, 
and their implacable and long-wished-for vengeance against 
the greatest of their enemies, the Black-Feet. The number 
of scalps taken surpassed greatly the number of heads paint 
ed on the drum. 

When returning to their own grounds, at the first en 
campment which they made, one of the warriors remarked, 
and loud enough for Tchatka's ear, " that the Black-Foot 
chief had neither been seen nor slain." The chief replied : 
" Our work is not yet finished ; we will therefore have an 
other encounter before repairing to our homes. The Black- 
Foot chief shall die ! I saw him scalped in my dream : such 
he was painted on the drum by the manitous. His scalp 
shall be taken from him with his own knife." 

A gentle shower fell during the night ; a heavy fog ob 
scured the sky during the morning, which obliged tl\e whole 
company of warriors to remain together, in order not to lose 
their way. After some hours' -march, the sound of a gun 
discharged in front of the line, informed those who brought 
up the rear that an attack had commenced. Every one 



AND MISSIONARIES. 191 

pressed forward to join the combatants. It was a rencontre 
with a troop of twenty or thirty Black-Feet that the fog had 
separated from their companions. Notwithstanding all the 
manoeuvres of Tchatka to shelter himself from danger, he 
found himself enveloped in the midst of the fight, ignorant 
which way to turn. The Black-Feet defended themselves 
courageously, but they were forced to yield to the superior 
number of adversaries. Several escaped by means of the 
fog, which covered them from view. 

In the heat of the engagement, Tchatka's horse was killed 
under him ; the horseman and his steed rolled in the dust. 
At the same instant a Black-Foot, of lofty stature and pro 
digious strength, hurled his lance at him, which only grazed 
the head of his enemy, and struck deep, quivering in the 
earth. Then he attacked him, knife in hand. Tchatka rose 
rapidly from his fall, and, coward as he was, in self-defence 
he displayed skill and strength. He seized the arm of his 
terrible adversary, and used every effort to wrest the knife. 
As the combat in front of the line had ceased, the Assini- 
boins, perceiving the absence of their chief, returned to look 
for him. They found him prostrate, and still combating 
with this powerful enemy. The Black-Foot now disen 
gaged, raised his arm to plunge his knife into the heart of 
Tchatka, when he received the blow of a tomahawk on his 
skull, which stretched him without consciousness beside his 
vanquished adversary. The latter, in his turn, seized the 
murderous instrument and finished the Black-Foot. On 
rising he shouted : " Friends, behold the chief of the Black- 
Feet, for his medal reveals and proclaims him ! I hold in 
my hand the knife of Mattan Zia (BearVFoot), whose 
mighty deeds you know, and who has been, during many 
years, the terror of our nation." With the same blood 
stained knife he scalped him and cut off his two hands, in 



192 WESTERN MISSIONS 

in order to accomplish the last point of his great prophecy, 
which will be repeated from father to son among the 
Assiniboins, to the last generation. On this occasion 
Tchatka received the third name, Mmayougha, or the Knife- 
holder. 

The whole tribe gave themselves up to a delirium of joy, 
which I could not describe, when the expedition returned 
with so many trophies gained from their most cruel enemies. 
The dances and incantations to the sound of the mysterious 
drum, and the public rejoicing which commonly accompany 
the scalps, were renewed a hundred times during the space 
of a single moon. The glory of Tchatka and his manitous 
was chanted in the whole camp. They announced him, 
with the highest acclamations, the Minayougha and the 
Wah-kon-Tangka par excellence, whom none could resist. He 
lost none of the advantages which he had gained in public 
opinion by his profound and cruel stratagem. The whole 
command of the tribe was intrusted to him, and never 
chief among the Assiniboins attracted so much respect and 
fear. 

Like a true bashaw, or modern Mormon, he selected three 
wives at once, without even consulting them. Two of these 
had been already betrothed to two young and very influen 
tial warriors. Notwithstanding their protest, the parents 
believed themselves honored in being allied to the family of 
the great chief, by the choice which he made of their daugh 
ters, and they were conducted to the lodge of Tchatka. To 
maintain peace in his new household, and put the discon 
tented in good-humor, by destroying every hope, he gave 
orders to one of his partisans to poison, in secret, his two 
competitors. The better to shield himself from all suspicion, 
he set off in the chase. On his return, they gave him the 
news of their death. He contented himself by saying, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 193 

u that those who were capable of contradicting him in the 
smallest trifles, or who presumed to despise -his power, were 
in imminent danger of death." 

In this manner the principal accomplice associated with 
Tchatka, for executing his numerous poisonings, fulfilled his 
mandates. We shall say a word concerning the relations in 
which these two detestable men stood. The hidden abettor 
was a near relative of the chief. He was about five feet in 
height, and of a robust and vigorous frame. He had lost an 
eye in a quarrel with a young man ; over the other hung a 
great flap of flesh, beginning from the middle of his fore 
head, and extending as far as his under-jaw. He had a flat 
nose, thick lips, a large, gaping mouth, which displayed two 
rows of oval teeth, as white as ivory. He concealed lightly 
his ugly frontispiece under tufts of thick, filthy black hair, 
matted together with gum and resin, mingled with vermil 
ion. For several years, when he visited Fort Union, at the 
mouth of the Yellowstone, he was the terror of all the chil 
dren, for it was impossible to meet a human face more fright 
ful and more loathsome. Undoubtedly, the marks of con 
tempt that he everywhere received, on account of his ex 
terior, excited in him the inveterate hatred that he bore to 
his race. The artful Tchatka, perceiving some advantages 
that he might draw from a man of this nature, in the execu 
tion of his designs, had long before taken him as associate. 
He always treated him with kindness, made him presents, 
sought his confidence on various occasions, and flattered his 
vicious inclinations. He could, in consequence, always rely 
upon this man, when there was occasion to injure his equals, 
and the poison had been administered so adroitly to the two 
young warriors that neither he nor Tchatka were suspected. 
On the contrary, in the opinion of the whole tribe, a new- 
gem had been added to the brilliant reputation of Wah-kon- 

17 



194 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Tangka, who could, when distant or near, control the lives of 
his subjects. 

During the first years that Tchatka found himself at the 
head of his tribe, success very generally crowned all his un 
dertakings, and his renown passed into all the neighboring 
tribes. However, it sometimes happened that his warriors 
were beaten. On such occasions he was always the first to 
take flight, giving for excuse to his comrades that his great 
medicine (his drum) carried him away in spite of himself. 
It was most prudent to credit his word, for should any one 
be so rash as to doubt, he would be scarcely sure of escaping 
the sudden and mysterious death which seemed promptly to 
attack all his enemies in his own camp. 

In 1830, after having predicted success, he experienced 
his first great defeat, on the part of the Black-Feet, leaving 
on the plain beyond sixty warriors slain, and nearly an equal 
number wounded. From this moment dates the commence 
ment of his fall ; the prestige which hitherto surrounded his 
name and his deeds began to fail. About this time the fur- 
company had received a new and very large stock of pro 
visions at Fort Union. It had been furnished during two 
years with merchandise, for executing the treaty among the 
Indian nations in Upper Missouri. 

In hopes of repairing, in some manner, the great loss that 
he had just undergone, to arouse the dejected courage of his 
soldiers, to " cover the dead," that is to say, to put an end to 
the mourning in the families which had lost near kindred in 
the last battle, Tchatka promised them boldly, " that he 
would render them all rich, and would load them with an 
abundance of spoils, so that all the horses of the tribe would 
not be able to carry them. lie had been favored with a 
new dream, a dream which will not deceive them, provided 
they enter into his designs, and that they be faithful in the 



AND MISSIONARIES. 195 

execution of his orders." He had formed the project of 
seizing Fort Union, with a band of two hundred select war 
riors. Tchatka presented himself there. He affected a 
singular friendship for the whites. He attempted to make 

the superintendent, M. M , believe that he was en route, 

with his band, for the country of the Minataries of Missouri, 
their enemies ; that they had need of some munitions of 
war ; and that they intended continuing on their way at 
daybreak. Hospitality was kindly accorded to them. The 
chief played his part so well, that the ordinary precaution of 
disarming guests, and putting their weapons under lock and 
key, was neglected on this occasion. The plan that Tchatka 
had developed to his warriors, was, to retire to the different 
chambers of the fort, and to massacre, during their sleep, at 
a given signal, all those who occupied them. By a happy 
incident, some days previous to this enterprise, all the Cana 
dian employees at the fort, to the number of about eighty, 
had come to Fort Union for goods to trade with the Crows 
and the Black-Feet. Notwithstanding this strong reinforce 
ment, the savages might have succeeded in their design. 
An Assiniboin had a sister married to one of the merchants 
from the North. Desirous of saving the life of his sister, 
and of sheltering her in the melee which was to take place, 
he communicated to her, under the strictest secrecy, the in 
tentions of the chief, inviting her to come and pass th& night 
in his room, that he might the better protect her. The 
woman promised to follow him ; but went immediately to 
warn her husband against the danger which menaced him 
as well" as all the whites at the fort. The husband an 
nounced the plot to the superintendent and to all the gentle 
men in charge. 

The employees, one after the other, were called, without 
arousing the least suspicion. They quitted their apartments 



196 WESTERN MISSIONS 

quietly, were armed in the twinkling of an eye, took posses 
sion of the two bastions and of all the important points of 
the fort. When all the precautions *vere taken, Tchatka 
and the principal braves of his band were invited to ivpair 
to the parlor of the commandant, who openly reproached 
them with their black treachery. Giving no heed to their 
protestations, he gave them their choice, either to quit the 
fort without blows, or to be chased from it by the big guns 
(cannon), which were levelled at them. Tchatka accepted 
the former without hesitation, and instantly withdrew, con 
fused and vexed at having lost so fine an opportunity of en 
riching himself and his tribe, at having failed in his promise, 
and in the accomplishment of his pretended dream. 

Tchatka Iiad exhausted all his medicine sack, or provision 
of poisons. His former Northern friends had refused to 
furnish him any more. He was absolutely determined on 
procuring some, for poison was his only means of getting 
rid of those who opposed his ambition or contradicted him 
in his plans. He performed his diabolical deeds with such 
skill and secrecy, that the Indians were firmly persuaded 
that their chief had only to will it, and they would die. 
Hence their abject submission to his every and least caprice. 
This people, formerly free as air, was reduced, during a suc- 
vssi.ui of years, to the condition of slaves to the most cow 
ardly and pitiless tyrant. 

In the course of the year 1836, Tchatka presented hims.-lt' 
again at Fort Union, at the head of a band of hunters. They 
went there to sell their peltry, viz., buffalo-robes, beaver- 
skins, and the fur of badgers, foxes, bears, deer, goats, and 
big-horns ; in a word, the fruits of (heir hunting excursions, 
in exhange for tobacco, ornaments, blankets, guns, ammuni 
tion, Knives, daggers, and lances. A large portion of the 
peltry belonged to Tchatka. lie offered them to a mer- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 197 

chant for a very small quantity of tobacco, telling him, se 
cretly, "that he was in absolute want of poison, whatever it 
might cost," and begging him to procure a large amount ; 
" without which, the charm which surrounded him among 
his people would abandon him hopelessly." His proposition 
was heard with great horror. He only received in reply 
severe representations on the baseness of his conduct and on 
his infamous and frightful proceedings. But these were in 
effectual on his perverted heart, hardened by an astonishing 
succession of unheard-of crimes and atrocities. He left the 
fort with evident tokens of discontent, at having been frus 
trated in his attempt. 

During the two years which succeeded, Tchatka conducted 
several war-parties, sometimes with success and sometimes 
with reverses. It was perceptible that his years were ad 
vancing; that his manitous were less faithful than formerly ; 
that his predictions were no longer realized ; that those who 
criticised his arrangements lived, notwithstanding. Several 
even dared to defy his power. 

In the spring of 1838, the small-pox (it was not well 
known how) was communicated to the Indian tribes in Upper 
Missouri. The ravages of this disease entirely changed the 
position which Tchatka had hitherto held among the In 
dians. The fine camp of Tchatka, composed of twelve hun 
dred warriors, was reduced, in this single season, to eighty 
men capable of bearing arms. Other tribes .experienced 
trials still more severely. This scourge counted more than 
10,000 victims among the Crows and the Black-Feet; the 
Minataries were reduced from one thousand to five hundred ; 
the Mandans, the noblest among the races in the Upper 
Missouri, counting six hundred warriors before the epidemic, 
were reduced to thirty-two, others say to nineteen solely ! 
A great number committed suicide, in despair ; some with 



198 WESTERN MISSIONS 

their lances and other warlike instruments, but the greater 
part by throwing themselves from a high rock which over 
looks the Missouri. 

In the course of the following year, Tchatka formed the 
design of seizing, by stratagem, the large village of the Man- 
dans,* and of taking all the horses and effects which they 
could find in it. 

The village of the Mandans was then permanent, and in 
the neighborhood of the present site of Fort Clark. About 
five miles lower dwelt the Arickaras, new allies and friends of 
the Mandans, who numbered about five hundred warriors, 
and had escaped the contagion, because they were absent in 
the hunting-grounds when the scourge broke out. 

Tchatka was ignorant of the circumstances of the position 
of the Arickaras, in respect to the Mandans, and had scarcely 
given a thought to the proximity of the two tribes. Having 
collected the sad remnant of his warriors, he communicated 
to them the design he had formed. " We will go," said he, 
"to offer the calumet of peace to the Mandans. They will 
accept it with joy," added he, " for they are feeble, and have 
the hope of finding in us a protection against the Sioux, their 
most furious enemies. As soon as we are admitted in the 
village, under these appearances of friendship, we will scatter 
ourselves here and there throughout their lodges, then, by a 
simultaneous movement, we will fall, with cutlass and dag- 

* I have mentioned the Mandans, and some of their traditions, in 
several of my letters. Their Indian name is See-pohs-ka-nu-ma-ka-kee, 
which signifies a partridge. They have a remarkable tradition concern 
ing the deluge. On a high hill existing in their territory, they say that 
the big canoe (the ark) rested. Every year, when the willow buds, 
they celebrate this event by grand festivals and noisy ceremonies. 
Their tradition says that the branch brought back to the great canoe by 
the bird was a willow-branch, full of leaves. The bird they allude to 
waa the dove, and it is forbidden, in their religious code, to kill it. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 199 

ger, on all that remain of the Mandans. They cannot escape 
us. All that they possess will belong to us." The plan ap 
peared practicable to them. Desiring to do something 
which might ameliorate their condition, the Assiniboins ac 
cepted heartily the proposition of their chief. 

The secret of this expedition was confided to no one. 
They passed by Fort Union, so as to procure powder, as 
well as the balls necessary, and a few pounds of tobacco, 
" wherewith to smoke peace." Arrived in sight of the vil 
lage, they stopped, and made signals of friendship to the 
Mandans, requesting them to come and join them. Tchatka 
placed himself on a high hill, and beating his drum, he 
chanted his invocations to his manitous. He deputed twelve 
men of his tribe, I earing a little flag and the calumet of 
peace, with orders to smoke it when half way between him 
and the village. Through good fortune for the Mandans, 
some Arickaras, friends and allies, when returning from the 
chase, had stopped among them. Of all the nations of the 
Upper Missouri, the Arickaras are considered the most de 
ceitful and treacherous. Tchatka, without suspecting it, 
found himself taken in his own nets. He came to over 
throw the little Mandan tribe, and then return laden with 
booty and with scalps. He fell into the snare which he had 
spread for others, and found himself at the mercy of worthy 
competitors. 

After the Assiniboin deputies had smoked the calumet 
with the Mandans, the Arickaras set forth with all haste to 
go and announce to their chiefs this sudden and unforeseen 
reconciliation. The occasion was very favorable. Imme 
diately the war-whoop resounded throughout the camp of 
the Arickaras. A few moments sufficed to saddle their 
horses and arm themselves. They had evidently a great 
advantage over their adversaries. Hidden by a headland 



200 WESTERN MISSIONS 

of the forest, in the low valley, or bottom of the Missouri, 
they filed silently, and without being perceived, into the 
village of the Mandans. 

The ceremony of smoking the calumet of peace is ordi 
narily prolonged during several hours. First takes place a 
friendly interchange of news, a conversation in which each 
party boasts his lofty deeds, or the exploits he has achieved 
over his enemies, an exposition which is intended to excite 
the admiration of the opposite party. They then pass to 
speeches, in which the points in question are to be discussed. 
If the calumet is accepted, and passes from mouth to mouth, 
the resolutions are ratified and peace is concluded. 

They were at this point, and were disposing themselves to 
enter the village together, when suddenly the Arickaras pre 
sented themselves and shouted their war-cry. At the first 
discharge of guns and arrows, the twelve Assiniboin deputies 
lost their lives. Their scalps- were at once taken off and 
their bodies horribly mutilated. It was the affair of a mo 
ment. About three hundred Arickaras, shouting cries of 
victory, mingled with imprecations, directed their steps to 
wards the hill, in order to continue the massacre of the 
Assiniboins. At the first signal of attack, Tchatka sprang to 
his horse and fled. The greater part of the Assiniboins, 
being on foot, were easily overtaken by their enemies on 
horseback, and soon fell under the blows of the latter. 
Many among them, however, defended themselves like braves. 
Notwithstanding their great inferiority in number, they 
killed three Arickaras ; and, although wounded, were so 
happy as to gain the forest, and escape the slaughter. 

After the battle, the corpses of fifty-three Assiniboins re 
mained stretched on the plain, a prey for vultures and wolves. 
But where is their leader^ the great chief of the Assiuiboins? 
Where was he during the fight ? This famous Tchatka, this 



AND MISSIONARIES. 201 

Wah-kon-Tangka, this Minayougha, this hero of the great 
drum had been the first to fly on his fleet horse. But the 
Arickaras had fresher animals, and pressed on in hot pursuit. 
As they gained on him they fired repeatedly, and at last 
killed his horse beneath him. Tchatka rose instantly. The 
forest is before him ; if he can reach it, there is yet a shadow 
of hope. He spares no effort ; fear lends him wings ; old as 
he is, he takes the start and gains the goal before his most 
impetuous enemies in the pursuit can reach him. Some of 
his own soldiers, witnesses of this famous running-match, 
conferred on him the name of Ta-to-kah-nan, or the wild- 
goat, the fleetest animal of our plains. 

Tchatka rejoined his soldiers in the forest. Thirty only 
had escaped the tomahawk and scalping-knife of the Arick 
aras ; the greater number were wounded, and some of them 
mortally. They were the feeble remains, the last men of a 
band of twelve hundred warriors. Tchatka hung his head, 
and hardly dared to look at them. All his nation had dis 
appeared. Two of his sons fell in the last combat. His 
tchant-cheega-kabo, or great drum, was in the hands of his 
enemies ; his favorite horse killed. He had no longer a 
band, over whom he could exert his influence, and accom 
plish his execrable intentions of poisoning. 

After this defeat, the band of Tchatka having become too 
reduced to form a camp, was united to the " Gens du nord" 
or Northern people, as they termed them ; that is, to another 
great branch of the Assiniboins. From that time Tchatka 
no longer mingled with public affairs. However, he always 
continued to pass for a great medicine-man, and was some 
times consulted, particularly on great and dangerous occa 
sions. He never ceased, until his death, to inspire all who 
approached him with a certain respect, mingled with fear 
and terror. 



202 WESTERN MISSIONS 

" As we live, so we die," says the proverb. The end of 
this wicked chief was not less remarkable than his whole 
life. What follows I have from an eye-witness. I cite the 
authority of Mr. Denig, an intimate friend, and a man of 
high probity, from whom I have received all the information 
that I have offered you concerning the Assiniboins, and who 
resided among them during twenty-two years. 

In the autumn of 1843, the ** Northern People" repaired 
to Fort Union to make exchanges in trade with their pelfry. 
The first who presented himself at the entrance of the fort, 
to shake hands with M. Denig, was old Tchatka. " Brother," 
said he, laughing, " I came to the fort to die among the 
whites !" M. Denig, attaching no importance to these words, 
the aged man repeated them to him anew. "Did you un 
derstand what I said ? This is my last visit to the fort. I 
shall die here !" M. Denig then inquired concerning the 
health of Tchatka whether he felt ill. He spoke of it to 
other Indians, but all assured him that Tchatka was in good 
health as usual ; they added, however, that before quitting 
the village he had predicted to them, " that his last hour 
was approaching, and that before the next sunset his spirit 
would be in the region of souls." The gentlemen of the 
fort, informed of this news, ordered Tchatka to be called, 
and questioned him concerning his strange declaration. 
They also feared some artifice on his part, and recalled the 
tricks, deceits, and cruelties that he had practiced on his 
tribe, as well as his black treason, and his odious plots 
against the occupants of the fort, in 1831. He declared 
positively to these gentlemen that he was quite well ; that 
he experienced no kind of indisposition. He added : " I 
repeat to you, my hour is come my manitous call me I 
have seen them in my dream I must depart ! Yes, to 
morrow my spirit will take flight into the laud of ghosts !" 



AND MISSIONARIES. 

In the evening he took a good supper, and slept peacefully 
after, while the other Indians amused themselves during the 
whole night. On the morrow, Tchatka presented himself 
once more at the office of Mr. Denig, and had a slight spit 
ting of blood. They tried to make him take some remedy, 
but he refused, saying : " All is useless henceforth life is 
insupportable to me I will and I must die I have told 
you so." A little time after he left the fort with the other 
Indians, and went to the margin of the river. He soon had 
a second attack, more violent than the first. They placed 
him on a sleigh, intending to transport him to the Indian 
camp, but he died on the way, in the most terrible convul 
sions. It was, according to all appearances, the same "grand 
medicine" which he had administered on a great number of 
occasions to his unfortunate victims, during his sad and long 
administration as chief, that at last terminated his own 
career. 

The lifeless body of this too famous chief was carried in 
great ceremony into the Indian village, twenty-two miles 
distant from the fort. The whole tribe assisted at his obse 
quies. The corpse, after being painted, ornamented with 
their richest decorations, and wrapped in a scarlet-colored 
blanket and a beautiful buffalo-robe embroidered with porcu 
pine* quills, was at last elevated and fastened between two 
branches of a large tree, amid the tears, cries, and lamenta 
tions of the multitude. 

Such was the ascendency that his name and deeds exerted 
over the minds of the whole Assiniboin tribe, that the place 
where his mortal remains repose is at the present day an 



* En pore-epic is the term of the voyageurs. The long quills of the 
animal resemble those of a bird, and are stripped off by the women in 
threads, for embroidering. 



204: WESTERN MISSIONS 

object of the highest veneration. The Assiniboins never 
pronounce the name of Tchatka but with respect. They 
believe that his shade guards the sacred tree ; that he has 
power to procure them abundance of buffalo and other 
animals, or to drive the animals from the country. Hence, 
whenever they pass they offer sacrifices and oblations ; they 
present the calumet to the tutelary spirits and manes of 
Tchatka. He is, according to their calendar, the Wah-kon- 
Tangka par excellence^ the greatest man or genius that ever 
visited their nation. The Assiniboins never bury their dead. 
They bind the bodies with thongs of raw hide between the 
branches of large trees, and more frequently place them on 
scaffolds, to protect them from the wolves and other wild 
animals. They are higher than a man can reach. The feet 
are always turned to the west. There they are left to decay. 
When the scaffolds or the trees to which the dead are at 
tached fall, through 'old age, the relatives bury all the other 
bones, and place the skulls in a circle in the plain, with the 
faces turned towards the centre. They preserve these with 
care, and consider them objects of religious veneration. You 
will generally find there several bison skulls. In the centre 
stands the medicine-pole, about twenty feet, high, to which 
Wah-kons are hung, to guard and protect the sacred de 
posit. The Indians call the cemetery the village of ike 
dead. They visit it at certain seasons of the year, to con 
verse affectionately with their deceased relatives and friends, 
and always leave some present. 

The Assiniboins give their name to the Assiniboin River, 
the great tributary of the Red River of the North, in the 
English Hudson's Bay Company's territory. The word As 
siniboin signifies stone-cooking people. This tribe had, in 
former times, for want of better utensils, the custom of boil 
ing their meat in holes dug in the ground and lined with 



AND MISSIONARIES. 205 

raw skins. The water and the meat were put together in 
these holes ; then large red-hot stones were cast in until the 
meat was boiled. This custom is now almost obsolete, since 
they get pots from the whites. The original mode is used, 
however, on great occasions or medicine-feasts. The Assini- 
boin language is a dialect of the Dacotah or Sioux. They 
separated from this great nation for a trifle a quarrel "be 
tween two women, wives of the great chiefs. A buffalo had 
been found by these two women ; each of them persisted in 
having the whole heart of the animal ; from words they 
came to fisticuffs ; and in their rage they used their nails 
and teeth. The two great chiefs had the folly to take part 
with their better-halves in the quarrel, and separated in last 
ing discontent. From that epoch the two tribes have been 
at war. 

In this last short recital, I furnish your poets with materi 
als for a new Iliad. The two great chiefs possessed, with 
out doubt, names more sonorous than those of Achilles and 
Agamemnon. I leave you to continue the similitude. 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 
18 



206 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XIV, 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Indian Question. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, Dec. 80, 1854. 
REVEREND FATHER: 

The " Indian Question" has been much agitated in the 
United States during the course of this year. Two great 
Territories, Kansas and Nebraska, well henceforth form a 
portion of the great Confederation. They embrace all that 
part of the wilderness included between the confines of the 
State of Missouri and the forty-ninth degree of north lati 
tude, and extend westward to the summit of the Rocky 
Mountains. 

Questions concerning the future of the Indians have fre 
quently been laid before me by persons who appear inter 
ested in the destiny of these poor creatures. . Knowing the 
affection and the interest which you, Reverend Father, en 
tertain for them, I propose giving you my views and appre 
hensions in regard to them views and apprehensions which 
I have long entertained. I have already said a few words 
on the subject, in a letter written in 1851, and inserted in 
the fortieth number of your Precis Historiques. In the 
course of that same year 1 received a letter from a much 
respected gentleman in Paris, who requested me to give him 
some details of the condition and present state of the Indian 
tribes of North America. I will give you in this letter the 



AND MISSIONARIES. 207 

questions of that correspondent, and my replies. I will add 
what has passed since ; above all, the resolutions taken and 
the treaties concluded, from 1851 till December of the year 
1854, between the American government and the aborigines. 

First Question. Do you think that the aborigines west 
of the Mississippi will be exterminated like those east of that 
river ? In other words, will the Indians west of the^ Missis 
sippi share the same fate as their brethren east of it ? 

Reply. The same lot that the Indians east of the Missis 
sippi have experienced, will at no distant day overtake those 
who dwell on the west of the same river. As the white 
population advances and penetrates into the interior, the 
aborigines will gradually withdraw. Already, even (in 1851), 
it is perceptible that the whites look with a covetous eye on 
the fertile lands of the Delawares, Potawatomies, Shawnees, 
and others on our frontiers, and project the organization of a 
new Territory Nebraska. I should not be surprised if, in a 
few years, negotiations were entered upon for the purchase 
of those lands, and the removal of the Indians, who will be 
forced to retire further west. The great openings offered to 
emigration by the definitive arrangement of the " Oregon 
Question," as well as the acquisition of New Mexico, Califor 
nia, and Utah, have alone, thus far, hindered any efforts for 
extinguishing the Indian titles or rights to the lands situated 
immediately west of the State of Missouri, and those situated 
on the south side of the River Missouri, between the Rivers 
Kansas and Platte, and probably as high as the Niobrarah or 
Eau-qui-court. 

Second Question. In case the Indians, having formed a 
constitution for their own government, should find them 
selves in the territory of one of the United States of Ameri 
ca, would there not be reason to fear that these rising com 
munities would be treated with the same barbarity and 



208 WESTERN MISSIONS 

injustice as were the Cherokees, who, contrary to all equity, 
were deprived of their territory by the State of Georgia, and 
transported to the lands of Upper Arkansas ? 

Reply. I answer in the affirmative. In a few years 
hence (1851), treaties will probably be concluded with those 
tribes for "reserves," that is to say, for portions of their 
lands set apart for their future residences. But, although 
the letter of the treaty guarantees them such " reserves," 
you may rest assured, that as soon as the necessities of a 
thriving white population will demand these lands, the 
whites will find pretexts for dispossessing the Indians. This 
is accomplished, either by negotiation or nominal purchase, 
or by rendering their situation so painful, that they find no 
alternative but a transfer or emigration. 

Third and Fourth Questions. When the Territory of 
Oregon is incorporated as one of the States of the Union, 
could not the missionaries of that region organize the con 
verted tribes into districts and distinct counties, peopled 
with American citizens of Indian origin ? Then the proper 
ty of the Indians would become inviolable, and the mission 
aries would have time to persuade them to abandon their 
wandering, hunter life, and embrace the pastoral ; after a 
time they would cultivate the soil, without being disturbed 
oy the pretensions of the whites. 

Reply. When Oregon takes her place as a State in the 
Union, she will follow the same policy that has been hither 
to followed by the other States ; that is, she will subject all 
the inhabitants to her jurisdiction and laws. The policy of 
the United States has ever been to remove the Indians from 
each new State as soon as it is admitted as a part of the 
Confederation ; and in case portions of the tribes remain on 
their lands, as was the case in the States of New York, In 
diana, Michigan, and Ohio, the situation of the Indians is 



AND MISSIONARIES. 209 

extremely disagreeable, their progress very slow. Comparing 
themselves with the whites who surround them, and whom 
they see, ordinarily, so enterprising and industrious, they 
generally experience a sentiment of inferiority, which over 
whelms and discourages them. The Stockbridges (Mohe- 
gans), who enjoyed, for several years, all the rights of 
citizens in the State of Wisconsin, petitioned the authorities 
to relieve them from their obligations as such, and earnestly 
solicited the government to grant them an abode, either in 
Minnesota or west of Missouri. Even those who live in the 
"reserves," fine sections of land granted and secured by 
special treaties, in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, find 
ing themselves strangers on their native soil, sold all they 
had, and rejoined their tribes in the West. The neighbor 
hood of the whites had become intolerable to them. When 
the lands of the Indians cease to be valuable, and the whites 
will and can do without them, then only will the Indians 
enjoy the privilege of retaining them. 

Fifth Question. The following is an extract from a law 
of the 27th of September, 1850: "It is granted to each 
inhabitant, or occupant of public laud, including herein the 
half-breeds above eighteen years of age, citizens of the United 
States, or having made a declaration of intention to become 
citizens, or who shall make such declaration either before the 
1st of December, 1851," &c. Remark that this law proves 
two things : first, that there are half-breeds in Oregon ; sec 
ond, that the half-breeds have the rights of white citizens. 
Do you not think that at some future day, say in the course 
of a century, Oregon will be peopled solely by a heteroge 
neous race, with striking traits of a mixed race of Indian 
and white blood, and a remnant of the aborigines in the 
defiles or valleys of the mountains, like the Celts of Scotland 
and the Araucanians of Chili ? Then Oregon would enter 

18* 



210 WESTERN MISSIONS 

in the category of all the Spanish States of South America, 
in which the red men, far from being exterminated, have, on 
the contrary, used efforts to assimilate themselves to the 
whites. 

Reply. I answer to this last question, that in case the 
missionaries should collect the half-breeds with the most 
docile Indians, in districts or counties, under this territorial 
law of Oregon, and give the youth an education, both religious 
and agricultural, the result would be a greater mingling of 
Indian and white blood, and thus the future population of 
Oregon would be in some manner heterogeneous. 

The future prospect of the Indian tribes is very dark and 
melancholy. Placed, as they are, under the jurisdiction of 
the United States, surrounded on every side by whites, their 
ruin appears certain. These savages disappear insensibly as 
the emigrations of the whites succeed each other and ad 
vance. In fifty years there will be few traces of the native 
races in the western portion of this hemisphere. Where 
are those powerful tribes which, at the commencement of 
this age, dwelt in the extensive and beautiful region, now 
divided among the States of the West? liemnants only 
exist on our western frontiers. In our own day the same 
causes are in full play, and produce the same effects. And 
for the last four years, the great tide of European emigra 
tion but makes the effect more certain. These emigrations 
multiply more and more in the present day, and succeed 
like the waves of ocean. They must find room ; that room 
is the West. 

Such are the responses which I gave in 1851 to M. D . 

In the space of three years, what was simply an opinion has 
become a fact. My answer to the second question has been 
literally verified. 

In the course of this year, 1854, treaties were concluded 



AND MISSIONARIES. 211 

with the Omahas, the Ottoes, and Missouris, the Sacs, the 
Foxes of Missouri, the lowas, the Kicapoos, the Shawnees, 
and the Delawares, as well as with the Miamis, the Weas, 
the Piankeshaws, the Kaskaskias, and the Peorias. By 
these treaties, these different tribes cede to the United States 
the most extensive and most advantageous portions of their 
respective territories, and retain, as we have already said, but 
a limited and circumscribed demesne,*termed a " reserve," 
for the wants of each particular tribe, and intended as their 
future residence. 

We remark daily in the newspapers, that great numbers 
of emigrants are spreading already over the territories ceded ; 
yet the conditions precedent of the treaties between the gov 
ernment and many of the tribes, expressly forbid the whites 
to settle there before the survey and sale of the lands to the 
profit of the Indians. Notwithstanding these conditions, 
the whites settle there, and even defy the authorities to de 
ter them. 

The new organization of the Territories of Kansas and Ne 
braska abrogates the protecting " intercourse laws." There 
by it has overthrown the feeble barrier which opposed the 
introduction of intoxicating liquors, which the inhabitants 
so expressively define by the term " Indian fire-water." In 
a few short years these little " reserves," or Indian settle 
ments, will be surrounded by a white population ; these 
whites, being for the most part vicious and corrupt, will 
introduce and furnish liquors in abundance, in order to sat 
isfy the depraved taste of the Indian. In all this the sole 
object is to deprive these unfortunate men of all that remains 
to them in land and money. In this position of affairs, I 
cannot conceive how the Indians can be protected against 
the dangerous influences which will inevitably surround 
them on all sides. Ere long (perhaps by the close of 1856) 



212 WESTERN MISSIONS 

the delegates of the Territory of Kansas will knock at the 
door of Congress for admittance into the Union. If this 
request be granted, we may at once bid farewell to the 
independence of the Indians and the maintenance of their 
4 * reserves." The new State will directly establish her juris 
diction over all the inhabitants found within her limits. 
Although the Indians appear to be necessarily protected by 
the general stipulations accorded on the part of the govern 
ment itself constant experience demonstrates that they can 
not exist within the limits of a State, unless they become 
citizens thereof. Witness the Creeks and Cherokees in the 
State of Georgia, who at one time were on the point of 
bringing the General Government and the State into conflict. 
In several of the late treaties that I have mentioned, the 
Indians have renounced their permanent annuities, and, in 
exchange, have consented to accept considerable sums for a 
limited number of years, and payments at fixed terms. 
However liberal be the annuity, the Indian never lays any 
thing aside for his future necessities : ~this is his character. 
He lives from day to day. All is expended in the course of 
.the year in which the payment is made. Let us suppose, 
therefore, that the amount of the last payment has been 
poured forth, what will Consequently become of those poor 
tribes ? Here, it appeal's to me, is the solution of the prob 
lem : they must either perish miserably, or sell their re 
serves, or go and rejoin the wandering bands of the plains, 
or cultivate the soil. But, observe well, they are surrounded 
by whites who contemn them, hate them, and who will de 
moralize them in a very short time. If it be asked, to what 
must be attributed the improvidence of the tribes, which 
neglect to exhange their permanent annuities for sums to be 
paid at limited terms, but of greater length? The reason is 
found in the disparity of the parties who make the treaty. 



AND MISSION AMISS. 213 

On one side stands a shrewd and, perhaps, unscrupulous gov 
ernment officer ; on the other, a few ignorant chiefs, accom 
panied by their half-breed interpreters, whose integrity is far 
from being proverbial. 

Adding to these facts the ravages caused every year by 
the small-pox, the measles, the cholera, and other maladies, 
as well as their incessant wars and divisions, I think I may 
repeat the melancholy foresight, that, in a few years, there 
will remain but very feeble vestiges. of those tribes in the 
reserves guaranteed to them by the late treaties. At this 
moment the agents continue to make new treaties, by which 
the government proposes to purchase the lands of the Osages, 
Potawatomies, and several other tribes. 

Since the discovery of America the system of removing 
and of exiling the Indians further inland or in the interior, 
has been assiduously exercised by the whites in this portion 
of the continent. In the early times, they went by slow de 
grees ; but as the European colonies multiplied and increased 
in power, the system has been pushed with more vigor. At 
present, this same policy marches with gigantic steps. Re 
sistance on the part of the natives but hastened their ruin. 
The drama of population reaches its last scene at the east 
and west bases of the Rocky Mountains. In a few years the 
curtain will fall over the Indian tribes and veil them forever. 
They will live only in history. The whites continue to 
spread like a torrent over California, over Washington, Utah, 
and Oregon ; over the States of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, 
Texas, and New Mexico ; and lastly, over Kanzas and Ne 
braska.* 

* On the 1st of August, 1854, in the Territories of Kanzas and Ne 
braska, there was not a town or village of whites. On the 30th of 
December, of the same year, thirty or forty sites had been chosen for 
building villages and towns without delay. Labor was begun at many 



214: WESTERN MISSIONS 

Within a recent period, and since I have resided in 
America, all these States and these Territories were still the 
exclusive domain of the Indians. As the whites settle and 
multiply in them, the Indians disappear, and seem to die out. 
The immense regions that I have just named include several 
millions of square miles. 

Father Felix Martin wrote me recently from Canada : 
" The Indian Missions are reduced almost to nothing. They 
follow in the train of those sad tribes which are no more 
what they once were. It is like a body which gradually 
sinks in itself. It is losing its grandeur, its force, its primi 
tive forms. They have lost the character of nations ; they 
are individualities, with some ancient traditions, and even 
these traces are gradually becoming effaced." 

If the poor and unfortunate inhabitants of the Indian Ter- 
itory were treated with more justice and good faith, they 
would cause little trouble. They complain, and doubtless, 
justly, of the dishonesty of the whites. These banish them 
from their native soil, from the tombs of their fathers, to 
which they are devotedly attached, and from their ancient 
hunting and fishing grounds : they must consequently seek 
what is wrested from them, and build their cabins in another 
and a strange clime. But they are scarcely at ease in their 
new abode when they are removed a second and third time. 
With each successive emigration, they find their grounds re 
stricted, their hunts and fishing-places less abundant. Yet, 
in all the treaties, the agents promise them, on the part of 
the President, whom they call their Great Father, protection 
and privileges that are never realized. Is it, therefore, aston 
ishing that the savages give the whites the name of forked- 
points ; houses are building, farms laid out. All is life and activity in 
these virgin territories. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 215 

tongues, or liars ? They say that the whites " march in 
winding tracks to attain their objects;" that their declara 
tions of friendship, all beautiful and favorable as they appear, 
" never entered their hearts," and pass, ever with the same 
facility, " from the end of the tongue ;" that they approach 
the Indian, " a smile on their lips," take him by the hand, 
to deceive him more easily, inebriate him, and corrupt his 
children. "Like serpents," said Black-Hawk, in his famous 
speech, " they have glided in among us ; they have taken 
possession of our hearth-stones. The opossum and the deer 
have disappeared at their approach. We are overwhelmed 
with misery. The very contact of the whites has poi 
soned us." 

These complaints and lamentations have been a thousand 
times repeated, in vain, in the speeches of the Indian orators, 
when the agents of the United States government endeavor 
to make propositions for the purchase of their lands. A 
feeble ray of hope for the preservation of a great number of 
Indians is left, if the law proposed by Senator Johnson is 
adopted in sincerity on both sides, by the government and 
by the Indians. Mr. Johnson proposes to establish three 
territorial governments in the Indian Territory inhabited by 
the Choctaws, Creeks, Cherokees, the Chickasaws, and other 
tribes, with the provision of being admitted later as distinct 
members of the Confederated United States. On the 25th 
of last November, Harkins, chief among the Choctaws, ad 
dressed a speech on this subject to his nation, assembled in 
council. Among other things, he said to them : " I appeal 
to you, what will become of us if we reject the proposition of 
Senator Johnson ? Can we hope to remain a people, always 
separate and distinct ? This is not possible. The time must 
come ; yes, the time is approaching, in which we shall be 
swallowed up ; and that, notwithstanding our just claims ! 



216 WKSTEKN MISSIONS 

I speak boldly. It is a fact ; our days of peace and happi 
ness are gone, aud forever. No opposition, on our part, can 
over arrest the inarch of the United States towards grandeur 
and power, nor hinder the entire occupation of the vast 
American continent. We have no power nor influence over 
the most minute project of this government. It looks upon 
and considers us in the light of little children, as pupils 
under its tutelage and protection ; it does with us as seems 
to it good. Can the Choctaws change the face of things ? 
If the desire of life is not extinct in our hearts ; if we will 
preserve among us the rights of a people, one sole means re 
mains to us : it is to instruct and civilize the youth, promptly 
and efficaciously. The day of fraternity has arrived. We 
must act together, and by common consent. Let us atten 
tively consider our critical situation, and the course now left 
us. One false step may prove fatal to our existence as a 
nation. I therefore propose that the council take this sub 
ject into consideration, and that a committee be named by 
it to discuss and deliberate on the advantages and disadvan 
tages of the proposition made to the Choctaws. Is it just 
and sage for the Choctaws to refuse a liberal and favorable 
offer, and expose themselves to the destiny of the Indians of 
Nebraska ?" 

According to news received recently, through a journal 
published in the Indian country, the speech of the chief has 
produced a profound impression, and was loudly applauded 
by all the counsellors. All the intelligent Choctaws approve 
the measure. The Protestant missionaries oppose the bill, 
and employ all their artifices and influence to prevent its 
success. Harkins proposes their expulsion. " It is our 
money," said he, " that these mercenaries come here to get. 
Surely, our money can get us better teachers. Let us, 
therefore, try to procure good missionaries, with whom we 



AND MISSIONARIES. 217 

can live in harmony and good understanding ; who will give 
us the assurance that their doctrine is based on that of the 
apostles'and of Jesus Christ." 

The Chickasaws are represented as opposed to Senator 
Johnson's measure. We trust, however, that the vote of 
the majority will prove favorable, and that the three terri 
torial States will be established. It is, in my opinion, a last 
attempt and a last chance of existence for the sad remnants 
of the poor Indians of America. 

It is, I will say, if I may here repeat what I wrote in my 
second letter in 1853, their only remaining source of happi 
ness : humanity and justice seem to demand it. If they are 
again repulsed, and driven inland, they will infallibly perish. 
Such as refuse to submit, and accept the definitive arrange 
ment, the only favorable one left, must resume the nomade 
life of the praries, and close their career with the vanishing 
buffaloes and other animals. 

I have the honor to be, Rev. Father, 

Your very humble and devoted 

Servant and brother in Christ, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 
19 



218 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XV. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Watomika and the Delawares. 

CINCINNATI, COLLEGE OF ST. XAVIER, March 15, 1855. 
REV. AND VERY DEAR FATHER : 

I am sure you will be gratified to make the acquaint 
ance of Watomika, the swift-footed, or celeripes. He is the 
son of a renowned warrior, chief of the nation of the Dela 
wares, or Lenni-Lenapi, who formed one of the most pow 
erful Indian nations at the epoch of the discovery of the 
American continent by Christopher Columbus. Later, I 
will speak to you of his early years; at present, I will inform 
you of the particulars attending his conversion to the true 
Faith. 

Watomika received his education in a Calvinistic or Pres 
byterian college. He adopted the tenets of that sect in good 
faith. Naturally inclined to piety, he passed, daily, whole 
hours in the meditation and contemplation of heavenly things. 
He fasted regularly one day in the week, taking no nourish 
ment until sunset. This kind of life was not relished by the 
disciples of Calvin, and Watomika frequently found himself 
the sport and butt of his youthful schoolmates. 

After concluding his course of study, he resolved to be 
come a minister. He prepared himself for this step with 
great assiduity ; prayed more, and fasted more frequently. 
In proportion as he sought to understand and penetrate 



AND MISSIONARIES. 219 

point by point the doctrines of Calvin, there arose in his 
soul, doubt upon doubt, at the same time that he experi 
enced a great interior commotion, which neither his prayers 
nor his fasts could allay. Frequently, in all the sincerity of 
his soul he entreated the Lord to enlighten his mind by 
heavenly truths, and grant him grace to understand them. 
He petitioned fervently, he knocked at the door courageous 
ly, and, like the widow in the Gospel, sought the lost treas 
ure perseveringly. The ways of God are wonderful, and his 
aid is never invoked in vain. Watomika was sent as a 
preaher to St. Louis, to replace an absent brother in one of 
the houses of worship of his sect. One day, he was walking 
out to breathe the fresh air, and Providence conducted him 
into the street in which our church stands, and that at the 
moment, when the children were flocking in to catechism. 
He knew the word Catholic only by having heard it asso 
ciated with the most absurd and inconsistent doctrines, 
which the sectaries insinuate with so much malice, audacity, 
and presumption, not only in their school-books, their Read 
ers and Spellers, their works on Geography and History, 
but which they adroitly introduce into their prayer-books 
and works of piety. Watomika, therefore, only knew the 
Catholics through the prisms of falsehood and calumny. 
Attracted either by curiosity or by novelty, he entered the 
church with the children. A certain sentiment of respect 
seized him ; he found it inexplicable. The altar, the cross, 
the images of the Blessed Virgin and of the Saints, emblems 
of faith, all spoke strongly to his eyes. The Holy of Holies, 
who dwells in his tabernacle, and of whose real presence he 
was ignorant, secretly touched his heart and inspired him 
with respect for his temple. He followed the catechetical 
instructions of the children with the greatest interest and 
liveliest attention. The instruction of Father D had 



220 WESTERN MISSIONS 

reference to several points, concerning which he had long 
and sincerely desired to be enlightened. He returned home, 
delighted and astonished at having found in a Catholic 
church a portion of the treasure that he had so long hitherto 
sought in vain. He afterwards had the courage to overcome 
his prejudices and repugnances, and have recourse to a 
priest nay, to a Jesuit. He proposed to this religious, all 
his doubts, perplexities, and anxieties. In short, Watomika, 
a child of the forest, a worthy descendant of a powerful 
American race, abjured his errors, embraced our holy reli 
gion, and, some time after, enrolled himself among tlfe fol 
lowers of St. Ignatius. His scholasticate is nearly ended, at 
the moment in which I write these lines ; Watomika will 
soon receive Holy Orders, to which he aspires with a devout 
ardor. This is sufficient on ray part concerning Light-foot ; 
let us now hear his own exposition of the religious ideas, 
traditions, manners, and customsof his tribe. 

The name Delawares, that the Indians of his nation bear, 
was given them by the whites. It is derived from Lord 
Delaware, one of the early English colonial governors in 
America. Among themselves these people are called Lenni- 
Lenapi, or " the primitive nation." They resided anciently 
in a great country west of the Mississippi. With the "Five 
Nations," so renowned in the Indian history of this continent, 
they seized and occupied a large territory southeast of their 
ancient domain. In the course of this long migration, the 
Delawares divided into three great tribes, called the "Tor 
toise tribe," the "Turkey tribe," and the "Wolf tribe." In 
the time of William Penn, they occupied the whole of Penn 
sylvania, and extended from the Potomac to the Hudson. 
As the white population began to increase, strengthen, and 
extend over these vast territories, the Delawares (like all the 
other tribes) found it necessary to plunge deeper into the 



AND MISSIONARIES. 221 

forests, and yield to their conquerors or usurpers. While a 
great part of the nation established themselves on the Ohio, 
on tke margin of the Muskingum, others regained the shores 
and the forests of the Mississippi, whence, according to their 
traditions, their ancestors had set forth. When colonies of 
Europeans came to take possession of that large and hand 
some river, which the celebrated Father Marquette first dis 
covered, and gave the now consoling and sublime name of 
the Immaculate Conception, they repulsed once more the 
Delawares, and Government granted these Indians a little 
territory southwest of Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri. 
In the course of the year that has just closed (1854), the 
Delawares have ceded to the United States this last foothold. 

These Indians had received from the President of the 
United States, whom they call their Great Father, the most 
formal assurances that their rights should be respected, and 
that he would see that all the conditions of the treaty were 
faithfully executed, viz., that the lands should be sold to the 
highest bidder, and exclusively to the profit of the nation. 
It was, therefore, very astonishing to the Delawares, imme 
diately after the conclusion of the treaty, to find themselves 
invested on every side by the whites, who, disregarding the 
clauses of the treaty, seize all the sites favorable for towns, 
cities, villages, farms, and mill-seats, and declare that they 
will only pay a dollar and a quarter per acre ! Will the 
Government yield to this ? 

The Delawares, or Lenni-Lenapi, believe that the Great 
Spirit first created the land and water, trees and plants, birds 
and fishes, animals and insects ; in the last place, he created 
the first Lenap or Delaware. He placed a snail on the shore 
of a beautiful and large river, which took its source in a dis 
tant mountain, near the rising of the sun. After twelve 
moons, the snail produced a red-skinned man. The latter, 

100 



222 WESTERN MISSIONS 

discontented with his solitary lot, made a bark canoe, and 
descended the river, in search of society. On the third day, 
at sunset, he met a beaver, which addressed him the follow 
ing questions : " Who art thou ? whence coinest thou ? 
whither art thou going ?" The man answered : * 4 The Great 
Spirit is my father. He gave me all the earth, with its riv 
ers and its lakes, with all the animals which roam over the 
plains and forests, the birds which fly in the air, and the 
fishes that swim in the sea." The beaver, surprised and ir 
ritated by so much audacity and presumption, imposed si 
lence on him, and commanded him to quit his domain with 
out delay. An animated and noisy quarrel took place be 
tween the man and the beaver, who defended his liberty 
and rights. The beaver's only daughter, frightened at the 
Boise, quitted her abode and placed herself between the man 
and her father (ready to tear each other in pieces), entreat 
ing them, by the mildest and most conciliating words to 
cease their dispute. 

As the snow melts at the approach of the sun's benignant 
rays, as the turbulent waters of cascades and waterfalls run 
on then peaceably and clear, as calm succeeds to tempest, 
so, to the voice of the young child, the anger of the stranger 
and the wrath of his adversary gave place to a profound and 
eternal friendship ; they embraced affectionately. To render 
the union more durable and more intimate, the man asked 
the beaver's daughter for a companion. After a moment's 
reflection, the latter presented her to him, saying: "It is 
the decree of the Great Spirit, I cannot oppose it ; take my 
daughter, cherish and protect her. Go in peace !" The 
man, with his wife, continued his voyage to the mouth of the 
river. There, at the entrance of a meadow enamelled with 
flowers and surrounded with fruit-trees of all kinds, in the 
midst of animals and birds of every kind, he chose his abode 



AND MISSIONARIES. 223 

and arranged his wigwam. From this union sprang a nu 
merous family : they are called the Lenni-Lenapi, that is to 
say, the primitive family, or the ancient people, at the pres 
ent day known under the name of Delawares. 

The Delawares believe in the existence of two Great 
Spirits, that they call Waka-Tanka and Waka- Cheeka that 
is, the Good Spirit and the Bad Spirit, to which all the ma- 
nitous, or inferior spirits, whether good or wicked, must ren 
der homage and obedience. 

According to their religious code, there is a future state. 
It consists in a place of pleasure and repose, where the pru 
dent in council, intrepid and courageous warriors, indefatiga 
ble hunters, and the kind and hospitable man, will obtain 
an eternal recompense ; and a place of horrors for the wick 
ed, for the forked tongues, or liars, for the slothful and indo 
lent. They call the first place Wak-an-da, or country of 
life, and the other, Yoon-i-un-guch, or devouring and insa 
tiable gulf which never gives up its prey. 

They say that the country of life is an island of ravishing 
beauty and of great extent. A lofty mountain rises majesti 
cally in the centre, and on the summit of this mountain is 
the abode of the Great Spirit. Thence he contemplates at 
once the extent of his vast domain ; the courses of the thou 
sand rivers, clear as crystal, which extend through it like so 
many transparent threads, adorning the shady forests, the 
plains enamelled with flowers, and the tranquil lakes, which 
reflect continually the beneficent rays of a glorious sun. 
Birds of the handsomest plumage fill these forests with their 
sweet melodies. The noblest animals, bisons, elk, deer, 
goats, big-horns, graze peaceably in these smiling, hand 
some, and luxuriant plains. The lakes are never agitated 
either by wind or tempest ; and slime nor mire can never 
mingle with the limpid waters of their streams. Aquatic 



224: WESTERN MISSIONS 

birds, the otter, the beaver, and fishes abound in them. The 
sun illumines the country of life : in it, eternal spring reigns. 
The blessed souls who are admitted within its realms, re 
sume all their strength and are preserved from all di- 
they experience no fatigue in the chase or in other agreeable 
exercises that the Great Spirit allows them, and have no ne 
cessity for repose. 

The Yoon-i-un-guch, on the contrary, which environs the 
country of life, is a broad and deep water; it presents at 
once a terrible succession of cataracts and yawning gulfs, in 
which the roaring of the waves is frightful. There, on the 
top of an immense rugged rock, which rises above the loftiest 
and most turbulent waves, is the residence of the spirit of 
evil. As a fox lies in wait, as a vulture ready to dart upon 
its prey, Waka-Cheeka watches the passage of souls, con 
ducting to the country of life. This passage is so narrow, 
that only one soul at a time can possibly occupy the bridge 
which composes it. The bad spirit presents himself under 
the most hideous form, and attacks each soul in its turn. 
The cowardly, indolent soul immediately betrays its baseness, 
and prepares for flight ; but at the same instant, Cheeka 
seizes it, and precipitates it into the open gulf, which never 
yields up its victim. 

Another version says, that the Great Spirit has suspended 
a bunch of beautiful red bay-lorries about the middle of the 
bridge, in order to try the virtue of those who cross it in 
their voyage to the country of life. 

The Indian that has been active and indefatigable in the 
chase, or courageous and victorious in war, is not attracted by 
the tempting fruit ; he continues his onward progress with 
out attending to it. On the contrary, the indolent and cow 
ardly soul, tempted by the fascinating bays, stops, and 
stretches out his hand to seize it; but instautly the timber 



AND MISSIONARIES. 225 

which forms the bridge sinks heavily beneath his feet ; he 
falls, aijd is lost forever in the dire "abyss. 

The Delawares believe that the existence of good and evil 
spirits dates back to so remote an epoch that it is impossi 
ble for man to conceive its commencement ; that these spirits 
are immutable, and that death has no empire over them ; 
they created the manitous, or inferior spirits, who enjoy, like 
themselves, immortality. They attribute to the good spirit 
all earthly blessings r light, the heat of the sun, health, the 
varied and beneficent productions of nature, their success in 
war or in the chase, &c. From the wicked spirit proceed 
all contradictions and misfortunes, darkness, cold, failure in 
hunting and war, hunger, thirst, old age, sickness, and 
death. The manitous cannot of themselves do either good 
or evil ; for they are only the faithful mediators of the 
great spirits, for the execution of their orders and their 
designs. 

They believe the soul is material, although invisible and 
immortal. They say that the soul does not quit the body 
immediately after death, but that these two parts of man 
descend into the grave, where they remain together during 
several days, sometimes during weeks and months. After 
the soul has left the tomb, it retards anew its departure for 
a time, before it is capable of breaking the bonds which have 
so intimately attached it to the body on earth. It is on ac 
count of this strong attachment, this intimate union between 
the body and the soul, that the Indians paint and carefully 
adorn the body before interring it, and place provisions, 
arms, and utensils in the tomb. This custom is not only a 
last duty of respect paid to the dead, but at the same time a 
profession of their belief that the soul will appear under the 
same form in the " country of life," if it be so happy as to 
attain it. They are convinced that the utensils, arms, and 



226 WESTERN MISSIONS 

provisions, are indispensable to the soul in traversing the 
long and dangerous trip*which leads to the "island. of hap 
piness." 

Watomika, of whom I have spoken, assured me that he 
daily placed a favorite dish on the tomb of his father, during 
a whole month, persuaded each time that the food had dis 
appeared, that the soul of the departed had accepted the 
viand. He never discontinued repeating this last testimony 
of filial love and fidelity to the manes of his father, whom 
he tenderly loved, until a dream assured him that that soul 
so dear had entered the u regions of life," and was in the en 
joyment of all the favors, and all the advantages that the 
Great Spirit grants so liberally to those who have faithfully 
accomplished their obligations on earth. 

It is unnecessary to indicate to you the striking points of 
resemblance with several ancient traditions of religion. Al 
though fabulous in several circumstances, this Indian narra 
tive includes ideas on the creation, the terrestrial paradise, 
heaven and hell, angels and demons, &c. 

The Lenni-Lenapi offer two kinds of sacrifice, namely, to 
the good spirit and to the evil spirit ; that is to say, to Waka- 
Tanka and to Waka-Cheeka. 

One of these ceremonies is performed in common, and 
the whole tribe or village take part in it ; the other is pri 
vate, one family or several households sharing in it. The 
solemnity of the general sacrifice takes place in the spring of 
the year. It is made to obtain the benedictions of Waka- 
Tanka on the entire nation, that the earth may be rendered 
fruitful, the hunting-grounds abound with animals and birds, 
and the rivers and lakes crowded with fish. This particular 
sacrifice comprehends all the sacrifices which take place in 
certain circumstances and in certain seasons of the year. 
They are offered to either the good or evil spirit, for ob- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 227 

taining personal favors, or preservation from all accidents 
and misfortunes. 

Before the great feast or annual sacrifice, the great chief 
convenes his council. It is composed of inferior chiefs, of 
senior warriors who have taken scalps in war, and jugglers 
or medicine-men. They deliberate on the proper time and 
suitable place for the sacrifice. The decision is proclaimed 
by the orators to the assembled tribe. Immediately every 
individual begins taking his measures, and making his prep 
arations for assisting worthily at the festival and giving bril 
liancy to the ceremonies. 

About ten days previous to the solemnity, the principal 
jugglers, to whom the arrangement of the ceremonies has 
been confided* blacken their foreheads with powdered char 
coal mixed with grease ; this is their token of mourning and 
penance. They retire, either into their own lodges, or into 
the most hidden and inaccessible thicknesses of the neigh 
boring forests. Alone, they pass the time in silence, in jug 
gleries, and in superstitious practices ; they observe a most 
rigorous fast, and often pass ten days in a complete absti 
nence, without partaking of the least nourishment. 

In the mean time the medicine-lodge is erected in its 
widest dimensions. Every one contributes to it whatever he 
possesses of value, or that he considers precious, to serve as 
ornaments on this grand occasion. 

On the day named, early in the morning, the chiefs, fol 
lowed by the medicine-men and all the people, each in full 
costume and carefully painted with different colors, march in 
procession to the lodge, and participate in a religious ban 
quet hastily prepared. During the repast, the orators make 
their customary discourses ; these turn principally upon all 
the events of the year just elapsed, and on the success ob 
tained, or the misfortunes experienced. 



228 WESTERN MISSIONS 

After the banquet a fire is kindled in the centre of the 
lodge. Twelve stones, each one weighing three pounds, are 
placed before the fire and heated to redness. The victim, 
which is a white dog, is presented to the jugglers by the 
great chief, accompanied by all his grave counsellors. The 
sacrificant, or master of ceremonies, attaches the animal to 
the medicine-post, consecrated to this use, and painted red. 
After making his supplications to Waka-Tanka, he immo 
lates the victim with a single blow, tears out his heart, and 
divides it into three equal parts. At the instant they draw 
from the fire the twelve red-hot stones and arrange them in 
three heaps, on each of which the sacrificant places a piece 
of the heart enveloped in the leaves of the kinekinic,* or 
sumac. 

While these pieces are consuming, the jugglers raise with 
One hand their idols, and holding in the other a gourd 
filled with little stones, they beat the measure, dance, and 
thus surround the smoking sacrifice. At the same time they 
implore the Waka-Tanka to grant them a liberal share of 
blessings. 

After the heart and the leaves are entirely consumed, the 
ashes are collected in a beautiful doeskin, ornamented with 
beads and embroidered with porcupine, and presented to the 
sacrificant. This last immediately goes forth from his lodge, 
preceded by four masters of ceremonies, bearing the skin, 
and followed by the whole band of jugglers. After ha 
ranguing the multitude in the most flattering terms, he 
divides the 1 ashes of the sacrifice into six portions. lie casts 
the first towards heaven, and entreats the Good Spirit to 



* The Kinekinic (Sasakkomenah, in Ojibway) is a shrub of the genus 
Rhus. The Indians generally use the leaves to mix with tobacco when 
they smoke. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 229 

grant them his blessings; he spreads the second on the 
earth, to obtain from it an abundance of fruits aud of roots. 
The remaining four portions are offered to the four cardinal 
points. "From the east the light of day (the sun) is grant 
ed them. The west sends them the greatest abundance of 
showers, which fertilize the plains and forests, and supply 
with water the springs, and those rivers aud lakes which 
furnish them with fish. The north, with its snows and ice, 
facilitates to them the operations of the chase ; the hunters 
can in the cold season, with more ease and security, follow 
the tracks of the animals. In the spring the southern gales 
call forth the new verdure, blossoms, and fruits; it is the 
season when all the wild animals bring forth their young, 
that they may feed on the fresh herbage, and the tender 
branches of trees and shrubs." The sacrificant implores all 
the elements to be propitious. Finally, he addresses the 
medicine-men, thanking them for all that they have done to 
obtain the assistance and favor of Waka-Tanka in the course 
of the ensuing year. Then the whole assembly shout joy 
fully their approbation, and withdraw to their wigwams, to 
pass the remainder of the day in feasting and dancing. The 
white dog is carefully prepared and cooked. Each member 
of the confraternity of jugglers receives his portion in a 
wooden dish, and is bound to eat the whole (excepting the 
bones). This repast terminates the grand festival and the 
annual banquet. 

The difference between the particular and the general sac 
rifice consists in this, the heart of any other animal may be 
offered to the good spirit by one juggler only, and in presence 
of one single individual, or of one or several families, in favor 
of whom the offering is made. 

When any misfortune happens to one or to several families, 
they immediately address the chief of the jugglers, imparting 

20 



230 WESTERN MISSIONS 

to him their afflictions and difficulties. This communication 
is made in the most submissive terms, in order to obtain his 
intercession and his aid. He at once invites three individuals 
among the initiated to deliberate together on the affair in 
question. After the customary incantations and juggleries, 
the chief rises and makes known the causes of the anger of 
Waka-Cheeka. They then go to the lodge, prepared fur the 
sacrifice ; kindle a large fire in it, and continue according to 
the ritual of the grand sacrifice. The jugglers endeavor to 
reader themselves as hideous as possible, painting their faces 
and bodies, and wearing the most fantastical accoutrements. 
Undoubtedly they wish to resemble more closely (at least in 
the exterior) the hideous and evil spirit whom they serve, 
and thus obtain his favors. 

The unhappy suppliants are then introduced into the 
lodge and present the sacrificant the entrails of a crow, by 
way of offering. They place themselves opposite the jug 
glers. The red-hot stones, mounted in one heap, consume 
the entrails, wrapped in the leaves of kinekinic, or sumac. 
The chief secretly draws from his sack of juggleries, which 
contains his idols and other superstitious objects, a bear's 
tooth, and hides it in his mouth. Then he covers his right 
eye with his hand, moans and shrieks, as though he were 
undergoing the greatest sufferings and the most excruciating 
agony. This play continues some moments. He pretends 
to draw the tooth from his eye, and presents it triumphantly 
to his credulous clients, making them believe that the anger 
of Waka-Cheeka is appeased. If the affair is very import 
ant, the jugglers often receive several horses, or other objects 
of value, and all retire satisfied and joyous. 

1. J. DK SMET, S. J. 



AND MISSION AEIES. 231 



Letter XVI. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Kistalwa and Maria, parents of Watomilca. 

NAMUR, January SO, 1857. 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER '. 

I narrated to you, in one of my letters, the conversion 
of Watomika (Light-foot) and his vocation to the religious 
state. A short notice concerning his parents will interest you. 

Watomika was born in the village of Muskagola, in Indian 
Territory. His father, called Kistalwa, the Runner of the 
Mountain-path, was grandson of Hobokou, or the Tobacco- 
pipe, a distinguished chief and warrior of the tribe of Dela- 
wares, or Lenni-Lenapi, which figure worthily in the Indian 
history of the United States. Ketchum, his cousin, is the 
actual chief of the Delawares, and the successor of Kistalwa. 

During the last fifteen years of his life, Kistalwa exercised 
the functions of great chief. On many an occasion, he proved 
by his boldness, while hunting the bear, tiger, and buffalo, 
and especially by his bravery in war, that he was worthy at 
once of the high position which he occupied in his nation, 
and of the title of descendant of a long succession of chiefs 
and illustrious warriors. Educated in the superstitions of 
paganism, Kistalwa was ignorant of the Christian religion. 
He saw in the whites who visited his tribe, naught but 
usurpers of the lands of his ancestors, who continually 
pushed them into unexplored wilds; but .government agents, 



232 WESTERN MISSIONS 

who, little by little, and in proportion as it extended its vast 
empire, would succeed in exterminating the whole Indian 
race. He saw them introducing themselves among them 
men, who, under the appearance of friendship, extended the 
hand, addressed them kind and flattering words, encouraged 
the Indian to drink fire-water (as the latter call liquors), 
inebriated them, in order the better to deceive them in their 
infamous traffic, and fomented the most abject vices. He 
was witness of the fatal influences that these perverse and 
hypocritical men exerted in the tribe. Is it then surprising 
that he hated not only those individuals, but even the reli 
gion to which they pretended to belong, even the very name 
of Christian, which they presumed to bear ? Like the aged 
Hamilcar, father of Hannibal, Kistalwa never ceased to in 
spire the young Watomika with an eternal hatred towards 
the treacherous white race. 

The mother of Watomika was of French orign. Accord 
ing to the accounts of this woman, her parents came from 
the province of Auvergne, and, after crossing the ocean, 
they settled in a rich and lovely valley, on the shores of the 
Rio-Frio, a tributary of the Nueces, in Texas, which then 
formed a part of Mexico. Green plains, with which the val 
ley abounded, served as pasturage to countless troops of wild 
cattle and thousands of wild horses. The Cotnanches, not 
less savage and wandering, came there from time to time to 
make their great hunt, and provide themselves with those 
impetuous coursers, which render them the terror of their 
enemies in war. Here Maria, mother of Watomika, was 
born. She had a brother, called Louis, three years older, 
and born in France. 

Days, months, even years, rolled on, without the peace of 
the solitary cottage of the intrepid Frenchman, as he was 
denominated, ever being disturbed. He had no other D.-i-li- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 233 

bors than the wandering savages, who, at certain seasons of 
the year, visited him, testified much friendship and attach 
ment for him, and bringing him their peltry and provis 
ions, received in exchange those articles which were suited 
to their wants or would afford them pleasure. This little 
family, so tranquil, so happy in the lonely wild, sheltered 
from those political commotions, from those furious tempests 
which arise and scatter fear, disorder, and ruin into the most 
charming provinces of fair France, their native country the 
Bucheur family, remote from those tragical and bloody spec- ' 
tacles, believed they had found repose in the solitude, far 
from the confusions and vicisitudes of which they had been 
witness in the last century. But, alas ! the dreams of life 
are very deceitful, and often very short 1 The visions of 
man's imagination here below are illusory and uncertain. 
Passing for the greater part with the speed of lightning, 
they dazzle but an instant. The intrepid Frenchman counted 
upon a long continuance of happy years. Eight years had 
already elapsed, and peace and happiness ever reigned in his 
little household. The savages appeared to be sincerely at 
tached to him ; he was their friend, their benefactor ; he 
thought himself securely sheltered from all danger on their 
part. 

Suddenly, an unforeseen event annihilated his fondest 
hopes. A little party of Comanche hunters were massacred 
by some Spaniards on the Rio Grande. Instantly the cry of 
war and of vengeance resounded in all the camps of the 
tribe. The Indian warriors already scour the plains and the 
forests, in search of the scalps of the white man, and eager 
to drench their hands in his blood. They had sought in 
vain for weeks, when the remembrance of the solitary of the 
Rio Frio presented itself to the thought of one soldier of the 
band. He proposed the blow ; it was accepted. In their 

20 



234 WESTERN MISSIONS 

frenzied rage they forgot the benevolence and friendship of 
which they had continually received proofs in the cabin of 
the honest Frenchman, and of his faithful companion. They 
even forgot the innocent caresses of the two little children. 

Favored by the darkness of night, they approached this 
peaceful dwelling. While the whole family were buried 
in a profound slumber, the war-whoop of the barbarians 
aroused them. Armed with clubs, the aggressors burst in 
the doors, and ere the family had time to recover from their 
panic, they seized the father, mother, and the children. 
They led them to a little distance from the house, so that 
they might themselves be the melancholy witnesses of the 
destruction by fire of all that the savages could not transport. 

This was only the commencement of their misfortunes. 
The wrath and revenge of the Indians, inflamed by all the 
injuries received from some whites, was, in the absence of 
the really culpable, to fall upon these innocent victims. 
They loaded them with opprobrium and overwhelmed them 
with cruelties. After a precipitate and painful march, con 
tinued during several days, almost without being able to take 
the least repose, and with very little food, they arrived at 
the village of the great Comanche chief, a near relation of 
the hunters massacred by the Spaniards. 

The camp was warned beforehand of the approach of the 
warriors. They were received with all the honors of a real 
triumph, consisting in scalp-dances, songs, and festivals, as if 
these miserable wretches had actually distinguished them 
selves by a heroic action and in battle array. While the 
council was sitting in the lodge of the chief, in order to de 
liberate on the lot of the prisoners, these last were conducted 
all around the village, amid the most atrocious injuries which 
each barbarian had the right to inflict on them. The chief 
at last proclaimed the sentence, which was heard and ac- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 235 

cepted with loud acclamations. The post was immediately 
erected in the camp and surrounded with fagots. The 
Frenchman and his wife were fastened to it together, in 
order that they might perish in the flames. The savage 
dances, the frenzied gestures, the cries, vociferations, and 
howlings of these infuriated barbarians, augmented the deep 
anguish and horrible agony of their unfortunate victims. 
The father and mother never ceased, until their latest breath, 
conjuring their cruel executioners to take pity on their 
poor, innocent children. Little Louis and Maria were spared, 
on account of their infant years. The former was ten years 
of age ; the girl was only seven. They were, however, forced 
to witness the sacrifice of their beloved parents, whom they 
could neither deliver nor comfort. They trembled in every 
limb, shed torrents of tears, called their father and mother 
by their sweetest names, and supplicated, but in vain, those 
cruel and merciless hearts to spare their lives. The moaning 
of the father, amid his cruel tortures, and the agonizing 
shrieks of the dying mother, rent the hearts of these tender 
children. In their despair, they would have thrown them 
selves at their feet, heedless of the flames, if the monsters 
that surrounded them had not opposed them. 

Immediately after this tragical and shocking scene, the 
two unhappy orphans were subjected to a new trial, not loss 
hard and afflicting in the melancholy circumstances in which 
they found themselves. Hitherto they had passed together 
the innocent and joyous days of their childhood ; they shared 
each other's sports, and made little excursions together : now 
that their tender hearts wished to sympathize in this bitter 
trial, they were pitilessly separated, never to see each other 
again on earth. The only son of a chief who was present 
had lately fallen in war. This chief claimed Louis, to take 
the place of his son, put him on a beautiful horse, and con- 



236 WESTERN MISSIONS 

ducted him to his country. From that time they have never 
heard of him. If he still lives, he probably now replaces his 
adopted father as Comanche chief, and wanders with his rod 
brothers in the boundless prairies of Texas, New Mexico, and 
the Great Desert. Maria was adopted in the family of a 
great Comanche warrior, who treated her as his own child, 
and who resumed, soon after, the trail leading to his own 
country, situated to the north of Texas. She passed seven 
years in this family, when she accompanied her Indian 
parents to a trading-post, established in the upper part of 
lied River. They there met a great party of Dela wares, led 
forth by the young and brave Kistalwa, son of Buckongohela. 
The two companies at once paid the customary compliments, 
and smoked the calumet of peace and of fraternity. 

Maria attracted the attention of the Delaware party, 
especially of Kistalwa, who conversed with her. She con 
sented to accompany him to the lodge of Buckongohela, 
provided her adopted parents gave their approbation. Kis 
talwa hastened to propose the matter to the old Comanche. 
The latter, surprised, rejected the proposition with severity, 
and refused, positively, to hear it mentioned. He even took 
steps to prevent any interview between the young Delaware 
and his adopted daughter. Kistalwa was firm ; he did not 
suffer himself to be easily intimidated, and this first refusal 
only served to encourage him to persist in his request, at 
every hazard. The history of the young white girl had 
deeply touched his heart. He determined absolutely to take 
her, to tear her, if necessary, from one of the tormentors of 
her unfortunate father and mother. He, therefore, returned 
to the charge with such determination, and with such posi 
tive arguments, that the Comanche began to reflect on the 
consequences of a second refusal, and to tremble for the se 
curity of his whole family. The affair assumed a new aspect ; 



AND MISSIONARIES. 237 

the old Indian lent a more attentive ear to the discourse of 
the youthful warrior. Kistalwa perceived it, and imme 
diately put his calumet and tobacco at his feet. According 
to Indian usages, if the adverse party pays no attention to 
the calumet, it is a sign that he refuses all arrangement. 
But the Comanche, to the perfect delight of his guest, 
hastened to light the calumet, and offered it to the Great 
Spirit and to all the manitous in his calendar, as a token of 
his sincerity. The calumet then passed from mouth to 
mouth, as in conclusion of the treaty. The one promised 
his daughter ; the other, in testimony of his gratitude, made 
a present to the father of two splendid horses and an ample 
supply of tobacco and of munitions. 

Kistalwa soon made his preparations for departure, and 
caused the white girl to be informed of his intentions. She 
found it difficult to quit her Comanche parents, to whom she 
was sincerely attached. Maria, by her mildness, her intelli 
gence, and her other good qualities, which distinguished her 
from her companions, had won every heart in the Comanche 
family. They, on their side, had manifested towards Maria, 
during her long sojourn in their lodge, all the respect and 
affection of real brothers and sisters. The separation was 
therefore painful ; and their mutual grief was evidenced by 
an abundance of tears in exchanging the last farewell. 
Hence, in bidding adieu to Maria, the old Comanche im 
plored his manitous to protect the path through which she 
would pass : having placed her under their safeguard, he com 
mitted her into the hands of Kistalwa and his band of warriors. 

Proud of the treasure which they took with them, they 
resumed, as if in triumph, the way to their own country. 
The sun shone, the plains abounded with animals, the chase 
was successful, no enemy disputed their passage, all was pro 
pitious and happy during their long journey. 



238 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Maria, at her arrival among the Lenni-Lenapi, hencefor 
ward her own nation, was received there with every mark of 
tenderness and affection by the great chief Buckongohela. 
He gave her the name of Mouotawan, or the White Ante 
lope, on account of her delicate form and her exceedingly 
fair complexion. 

Two years after, Mouotawan was married to Kistalwa, 
with the ceremonies and rites used in that tribe. The fol 
lowing are the details of this kind of solemnity : when a 
young man desires to marry, he declares his intention to 
the father and mother of the young person of his choice, if 
they are living, if not, to the nearest relations and friends. 
These decide on the suitableness of the marriage. The 
young man then takes his gun, his shot-pouch, and his pow 
der-horn, and passes three consecutive days in pursuit of 
game in the neighboring forests and plains. If he obtains 
success and returns with his horses laden with the products 
of the chase, it is a certain presage of happiness and peace 
in the new state which he is about to enter; if, on the con 
trary, he returns to the lodge with empty hands or with poor 
game, the augury is unfavorable, and the friends often defer 
the marriage to a more propitious time. The hunter, on his 
return, chooses the most delicate specimens of his game, 
places them at the entrance of the wigwam of his intended, 
and then retires without saying a word to any one whomso 
ever. When the present is accepted, it is a sign that no 
objection exists on the part of the family or friends to the 
projected union. Without delay the betrothed make all 
the preparations which prelude the marriage. The young 
man and young woman carefully paint their faces with dif 
ferent colors and devices, and adorn themselves with their 
finest ornaments. These last consist in bracelets, neck 
laces of glass and porcelain beads, handsome birds'-feathers, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 239 

habits of antelope and buck skins, richly embroidered and 
worked with porcupine-quills of various tints. The bride 
groom ties fox and wolf tails around his heels and knees in 
the fashion of garters, and inserts feathers of the eagle's tail 
in his hair the last are marks of great distinction. The 
principal jugglers make an offering of tobacco to Waka- 
Tanka, or the Great Spirit, in order to obtain his favors for 
the young couple, and present him a beaver-skin in sacrifice, 
as a mark of their gratitude for the future blessings which 
they implore for them. The friends and near relations pre 
pare the grand marriage-feast together. There the young 
man is presented to the family by the great master of cere 
monies. He places a beaver-skin in the hand of each of the" 
betrothed. . They exchange these between them, and thus 
ratify their consent to the marriage. The repast commences, 
the guests do honor to the viands, they dance and sing to 
the drum and the flute, and amid these amusements and the 
recitation of interesting tales, terminates the nuptial cere 
mony among the Lenni-Lenapi. 

Monotawan became the mother of two sons ; the elder was 
called Chiwendota or the Black Wolf, the junior received 
the name of Watomika or the Light-foot. 

Please accept my best respects, and believe me, 

Your devoted brother in Christ, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



240 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XVII. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS UISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Fire-worship. 

ST. Louis, November 14, 1857. 
REV. AND VERY DEAR FATHER I 

The ancient worship of fire exists among our Indians 
from time immemorial. It is found in their traditions, as in 
the history of almost all the nations which have had temples 
and altars in which was a pyre, a hearth, a brasier, in order 
to entertain continually the fire used in their sacrifices. The 
Greeks adored fire under the name of Haitos, and the Latins 
under the name of Vesta. Father Charlevoix represents the 
tribes of. Louisiana, and especially the ancient tribe of the 
Natchez, as keeping up a perpetual fire in all their medi 
cine lodges or temples. Among the Moquis of New Mexico 
the sacred fire is constantly maintained by aged men. They 
believe that great misfortunes will afflict the whole tribe 
should the fire be extinguished. 

The superstitious devotion to fire was general among the 
Mexicans at the period of the Conquest. In a book en 
titled, Inie Calotle in Ilhuicac, or Way to Heaven, printed 
in 1607 and 1612, we see that each one of the eighteen 
months of the Mexican year was consecrated to a particular 
divinity, honored by festivals more or less solemn, and al 
most always by human sacrifices. 

The first month, which begun on the second of February, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 241 

was consecrated to Altachuala, god of the detention of waters; 
the second, to the destroying god of nations the third, to 
the god of the waters ; the fourth, to the god of maize ; the 
fifth, falling about Easter, to the god Tezcatlipoca, which was 
the Jupiter of the Romans ; the ninth was consecrated to the 
god of war. 

The tenth month, called Xocolh-huetzi, began on the 4th 
of August. Then took place the great feast of the god of 
fire, or Xuchten-hetli, with numerous human sacrifices. They 
thrust living men into the flames. When these were half 
burnt, but still alive, they tore out the heart, in presence of 
the linage of the god. Then they planted in the middle of 
the court of the temple a lofty tree, around which they per 
formed a thousand ceremonies and sacrifices worthy of the 
founder of this feast. It lasted longer than the others. 

In the eleventh month falls the festival of Toci, mother of 
the gods; on the twelfth, that of the Coming of the gods ; 
on the thirteenth, the Feasts upon the mountains ; the fif 
teenth month was reserved to the god of war, and the seven 
teenth to the god of the rains. 

The 12th of January commenced, with the eighteenth 
month,- called Itzcali, another feast of fire. Two days pre 
vious (the 10th), in the middle of the night, they kindled 
the new fire before the idol of the god, elegantly ornamented. 
With this fire they lighted a grand pile. The hunters 
brought all that they had killed or fished, from the waters, 
and presented it to the priest, who cast it into the furnace. 
Then all the assistants were obliged to eat very hot the ta- 
malillos, that is to say, little loaves of corn-meal containing 
a small portion of roasted meat. What was most singular 
in this festival, is that, three successive years, no human vic 
tim was immolated, and the fourth year, the number of vic 
tims surpassed that of other feasts. The king in person and 

21 



242 WESTERN MISSIONS 

the lords presented themselves in the midst of this heap of 
corpses to dance, and all sung, with respect and solemnity, 
the reserved chant, which they call in their language, Neteu- 
hicuicaliztli. 

" In a Treatise on the Idolatry a,nd Superstitions of the 
Mexicans, a manuscript of 1629, we perceive that what par 
ticularly attracted the veneration of the Mexicans was fire. 
For this reason this element presided at the birth, and at al 
most all the actions of life among these victims of error. 
The infant was born in this superstition. At the moment of 
its birth, fire was kindled in the room of the mother, and it 
was maintained four consecutive days, without removing any 
of it They believed that if the live coals were drawn out, 
a cloud would suddenly appear over the eye of the newly 
born. On the fourth day, the elders took the child and the 
fire out of the chamber ; then they passed the fire four times 
around the child's head, twice in one direction and twice in 
its opposite. Then the new-born infant received its name, 
which was in general that of the animal or of the element 
to which its birthday was consecrated, as the alligator, the 
serpent, the tiger, the eagle, etc. ; or the water, the fire, the 
house, etc. 

In the different sacrifices, tapers and incense almost always 
had a share. 

We also find among them a mythological recital, which 
shows that a personage, formerly covered with leprosy, ob 
tained the empire of the future world, for having passed by 
the ordeal of fire, and was transformed into the sun, to the 
great disappointment of other great personages who shrank 
from the test. Is this the cause of their respect for fire, and 
the reason why they attribute to it a mysterious power? 
The Potawatomies say that Chipiapoos, or the Dead-man, is 
the grand manitou that presides in the country of souls and 



AND MISSIONARIES. 243 

there maintains the sacred fire, for the happiness of all those 
of his race who arrive there. I have spoken of it in my 
" Oregon Missions" p. 285.* 

Fire is, in all the Indian tribes that I have known, an em 
blem of happiness or of good fortune. It is kindled before 
all their deliberations. " Having extinguished the enemy's 
fire," signifies with them, to have gained the victory. They 
attribute* to fire a sacred character, which is remarkable ev 
erywhere in their usages and customs, especially in their re 
ligious ceremonies. They generally maintain mysterious 
ideas concerning the substance and phenomena of fire, which 
they consider supernatural. To see a fire rising mysteriously, 
in their dreams or otherwise, is the symbol of the passage of 
a soul into the other world. Before consulting the manitous, 
or tutelary spirits, or before addressing the dead, they begin 
by kindling the sacred fire. This fire must be struck from 
a flint, or reach tl^em mysteriously by lightning, or in some 
other way. To light the sacred fire with common firej would 
be considered among them as a grave and dangerous trans 
gression. 

The Chippeways of the north kindle a fire on every new 
tomb, during four successive nights. They say that this 
symbolical and sacred light illumines their solitary and ob 
scure passage to the country of souls. The following is the 
origin of this sacred and funereal fire among this people. I 
received the legend from the mouth of our worthy Watoinika. 

A little war-party of Chippeways met some enemies in a 
large and beautiful plain. The war-whoop was instantly 
shouted, and the contest commenced. Their chief was a 
valiant and distinguished warrior. On this occasion he sur- 

* Longfellow has embodied this legend of Chipiapoos in his poem, 
" Hiawatha," but ascribes it to a plagiarist, who copied Father De 
Srnet's narrative without the least credit. Editor. 



244: WESTERN MISSIONS 

passed himself in bravery, and a great number of his enemies 
fell beneath the redoubled blows of his tomahawk. He was 
giviug the signal and the cry of victory to his braves in 
arms, when he received an arrow in his breast and fell lite- 
less on the plain. The warrior who receives his last blow 
in the act of combating is never buried. According to the 
ancient custom, he remains seated on the battle-field, his 
back resting against a tree, and his face turned in the direc 
tion which indicates the flight of his enemies. It was the 
case with this chief. His grand crest of eagle feathers was 
properly adjusted on his head, each plume denoted a trophy 
or a scalp won in combat. His face was carefully painted. 
They clothed him and adorned him with his most beautiful 
habiliments, as though he were yet alive. All his equipment 
was placed at his side, his bow and quiver of arrows, of which 
he had made such noble usage in war, reposing on his 
shoulder. The post of the brave was planted before him in 
solemn' ceremony. He received all the honors due to an 
heroic and illustrious warrior. The rites, the chants, the fu 
nereal speeches, all, all were celebrated according to the cus 
tom of his nation in similar circumstances. His companions 
at length offered him their last farewells. No one had the 
slightest doubt of his death, of the glorious death of their 
great chief. Were they deceived ? The sequel of the legend 
will show. 

Although deprived of speech and of all other means of 
giving signs of life, the chief heard distinctly all the words 
of the songs and of the discourses, the cries, the lamenta 
tions, and the bravadoes of his warriors. He witnessed their 
gestures, their dances, and all their ceremonies around the 
"post of honor." His icy hand was sensible to the pressure 
of the friendly grasp ; his lips, though pale and livid, felt the 
ardor and heat of the farewell embrace and salute, without 



AND MISSIONARIES. 24:5 

his being able to return it. Perceiving himself thus forsaken, 
his anguish became excessive, as also his desire to accom 
pany his companions in their return to the village. When 
he saw them disappear one after the other, his spirit agitated 
him in such a manner, that he made a violent movement, 
he arose, or rather seemed to rise, and followed them. His 
form was invisible to them. This was for him a new cause 
of surprise and contradiction, which swelled at once his grief 
and his despair. However, he determined to follow them 
closely. Wheresoever they went, he went also. When they 
marched, he marched ; whether riding or on foot, he was in 
their midst. He camped with them ; he slept by their side ; 
he awoke with them. In short, he shared in all their fa 
tigues, in all their troubles, in all their labors. While he 
enjoyed the pleasure of their conversation, while he was 
present at their repasts, no drink was presented to allay his 
thirst, no dishes to appease his hunger. His questions and 
his responses equally remained without response. "War 
riors ! my braves !" cried he, with bitterness and anguish ; 
" do you not hear the voice of your chief? Look ! Do you 
not see my form ? You remain motionless, you seem not 
to see and hear me. Stanch the blood which is flowing 
from the deep wound I have received. Suffer me not to die 
deprived of aid, to famish amid abundance. you braves ! 
whom I led often into the thickest of the fight, who have 
always been obedient to my voice, already you seem to for 
get me ! One drop of water to quench my feverish thirst, 
one mouthful of sustenance ! In my distress, how dare you 
refuse me !" , 

At each halt, he addressed them in alternate supplication 
and reproach, but in vain. No one understood his words. 
If they heard his voice, it was rather for them as the passage 
or the whispered murmurs of the wind of summer through 



246 WESTERN MISSIONS 

the foliage and branches of the forest, unnoticed and un 
heeded. 

In fine, after a long and painful journey, the war-party 
arrived on the summit of a lofty eminence, which overlooked 
the whole village. The warriors prepared to make their 
solemn entrance. They decorated themselves with their 
handsomest ornaments, carefully painted their faces, attached 
to themselves their victorious trophies, especially scalps, 
which they fastened on the ends of their bows, tomahawks, 
and lances. Then burst forth a unanimous shout, the cry of 
joy and of victory of the Chippeways, the " Kumaudjeewug ! 
Kumaudjeewug ! Kumandjeewug !" that is to say, they 
have met ; or, they have fought ; or, they have conquered. 
This enthusiastic shout resounded throughout the whole 
camp. According to custom, the women and children went 
forth to meet the warriors, in order to honor their return 
and proclaim their praises. Those who had lost some mem 
bers of their family, approached with anxiety and eagerness, 
to find out whether they were really dead, and to assure 
themselves that they died valiantly, in battling with the 
enemy. The old man, bowed by the weight of years, con 
soles himself for the loss of a son, if he sank like a brave 
man, arms in hand ; and the grief of the youthful widow loses 
all its bitterness when she hears the praises bestowed on the 
manes of her valiant spouse. The stirring recitals of the 
combat awaken a martial fire in the hearts of all the youth ; 
and children, yet incapable of understanding the cause of the 
grand festival, mingle their infantine shouts of joy and glad 
ness with the boisterous and reiterated acclamations of the 
whole tribe. 

. Amid all this clamor and all these rejoicings, no one 
was conscious of the presence of the great war-chief. lie 
heard the information that his near relations and his friends 



AND MISSIONARIES. 247 

received concerning his fortunes. He listened to the recital 
of his bravery, of his lofty deeds, of his glorious death in the 
midst of his vanquished enemies. He heard them speak of 
the post of the brave, planted in his honor on the field of 
battle. " Here I am !" cried he ; " I. see ! I walk ! Look 
at me ! Touch me ! I am not dead ! Tomahawk in hand, 
I shall renew my march against the enemy, at the head of 
my braves ; and soon, in the banquet, you will hear the tones 
of my drum !" No one heard him ; no one perceived him. 
The voice of the great chief was no more to them than the 
perpetual din of the falling waters from cascade to cascade at 
the foot of their village. Impatient, he took the direction of 
his lodge. There he found his wife in deep despair, cutting, 
in token of mourning, her long and floating locks, lamenting 
her misfortune, the loss of a cherished husband, and the 
desolate state of her orphan children. He strove to unde 
ceive her, and to comfort her with words of tenderness ; he 
sought to clasp his infants in his arms ; but here again, vain 
and futile were his efforts ; they remained insensible to his 
voice and his paternal caresses. The mother, bathed in 
tears, sat inclining her head between her hands. The chief, 
suffering and dejected, besought her to dress his deep wound, 
to apply to it the herbs and roots contained in his medicine- 
sack ; but she moved not ; she answered only with tears and 
groans. Then he approached his mouth close to the ear of 
his wife, and shouted aloud, " I am thirsty ! I am hungry ! 
Give me food and drink!" The woman thought she heard 
a rumbling in her ear, and spoke of it to her companions. 
The chief, in his vexation, struck her a severe blow on the 
brow. She quietly pressed her hand to the stricken place, 
and said,*" I feel a slight headache." 

Frustrated at every step, and in all his attempts to make 
himself known, the great chief began to reflect on what he 



248 WESTERN MISSIONS 

< 

had heard, in his youth, from the distinguished jugglers. 
He had learned that sometimes the spirit or soul quits the 
body and wanders up and down at hazard, according to its 
own will and pleasure. He therefore thought, that per 
chance his body was tying on the field of battle, and that 
his spirit only had accompanied the warriors on their return 
to the village. He instantly resolved to return by the path 
he had pursued, at a distance of four days' march. The 
three first days he met no one. In the afternoon of the 
fourth, when approaching the battle-field, he remarked a fire 
in the centre of the path which he was following. Wishing 
to avoid it, he quitted the track ; but the fire, at the same 
instant, changed position, and placed itself before him. In 
vain he tried to go from right to left, the same mysterious 
fire ever preceded him, as if to bar his entrance to the field 
of battle. " I also," said he to himself," " I am a spirit ; I 
am seeking to return into my body ; I will accomplish my 
design. Thou wilt purify me, but thou shalt not hinder the 
realization of my project. I have always conquered my 
enemies, notwithstanding the greatest obstacles. This day I 
will triumph over thee, Spirit of Fire !" he said, and, with 
an intense effort, he darted towards the mysterious flame. 
He came forth from a long trance. He found himself seated 
on the battle-ground, his back supported against the tree. 
His bow, his arrows, his clothes, his ornaments, his war 
accoutrements, the post of the brave, all were in the same 
state and occupied the same position in which his soldiers 
had left them on the day of strife. He raised his eyes 'and 
perceived a large eagle, perched on the highest branch of a 
tree Above his head. Instantly he recognized his manitou- 
bird, the same that had appeared to him in his earlier days, 
when he came forth from the state of childhood ; the bird 
that he had selected for his tutelary spirit, and of which he 



AND MISSIONARIES. 24:9 

had always worn a talon suspended from his neck. His 
rnanitou had carefully guarded his body, and had prevented 
the vultures and other birds of prey from devouring it. The 
chief arose, stood some minutes, but found himself weak and 
reduced. The blood from his wound had ceased to flow, 
and he dressed it. He was acquainted with the efficacy of 
certain leaves and roots suitable for healing bruises. He 
sought them, gathered them with care in the forest, and 
crushing some between two stones, applied them. He 
chewed and swallowed others. 

After the lapse of a few days, he felt sufficient strength to 
attempt to return to his village ; but hunger consumed him. 
In the absence of large animals, he lived on little birds that 
his arrows brought down, insects and reptiles, roots and 
berries. After many hardships, he arrived at length on the 
shore of a river that separated him from wife, children, and 
friends. The chief uttered the shout agreed upon in such 
circumstances, the shout of the happy return of an absent 
friend. The signal was heard. A canoe was immediately 
sent for him. During the absence of the canoe, the conjec 
tures were numerous concerning the absent person, whose 
friendly voice of approach had just been heard. All those 
wWo had belonged to the warlike band were present in the 
camp. The dead alone remained on the field of battle. 
" Might not the unknown on tne other shore be an absent 
hunter? Or might not this shout prove a bo*ld ruse of an 
enemy to take the scalps of the rowers ?". To send a canoe 
was therefore judged imprudent, because they were not sure 
of the absence of an individual from the village. 

While on the opposite shore all these conjectures were in 
creasing, the war-chief embarks. He soon presents him 
self before them, amid the acclamations and joyful shouts of 
all his relatives and friends. The Indians eagerly pour forth 



250 \VKSTERN MISSIONS 

from every lodge to shake hands and celebrate the happy 
return of their chief and faithful conductor. That day will 
be for them ever memorable and solemn. They return 
thanks to the Master of Life, and to all the rnanitous of the 
Indian calendar, for the preservation and return of their be 
loved chief. The whole day is consumed in dances, songs, 
and banquets. 

When the first burst of astonishment and universal joy 
had a little subsided, and the usual tranquillity was restored 
to the village, the chief beat his drum in order to convene 
his people. He related to them the whole story of his ex- 
traordinaryxidventures, and terminated his recital by making 
known to them, and imposing on them, "the worship of the 
sacred and funereal fire" that is to say, the ceremony which 
consists in maintaining, during fo^ur consecutive nights, a fire 
on every newly-closed sepulchre. He told them that this 
devotion is advantageous and agreeable to the soul of the 
deceased ; that the distance to the country of souls is four 
long days ; that in this journey the souK needs a fire every 
night in its encampment; that this funereal-fire, kindled on 
the tomb by the near relations of the departed, serves to en 
lighten and warm the soul during its peregrination. The 
Chippeways believe that when this religious rite is neglecled, 
the soul or spirit is forced to .discharge the difficult task of 
making and maintaining a fire itself, and that with the 
greatest inconvenience. 

Here I am, dear Father, at the close of the legend of the 
Chippeways. I give it as I received it. I am assured that 
it is very ancient. The worship of fire among our Indians 
springs from the worship of the primitive pagans, who, in 
order to purify themselves, leaped over fire, either a myste 
rious one, or lighted in honor of some divinity. The laws 
of Moses prohibited this practice among the Jews. 



AND MISSION ABIES. 251 

Yet, one word more, reverend Father, and I finish this 
lengthy epistle. If you will read over one of my former 
letters, you will there find that in my visit to the Crows, 
camped at the base of the Rocky Mountains, I was.the ob 
ject of an extreme veneration among these savages. Why, 
I was considered as the bearer or the guardian of the mys 
terious fire. In effect, I carried a box of phosphoric matches 
in the pocket of my soutane. The savages perceived that I 
used them to light my pipe or their calumet. In a second 
visit I learned the cause, very futile in itself, which had at 
tached such great importance to my poor person. 

I receive from time to time news from these poor and un 
fortunate pagans. They do not forget the visits which they 
have received, and I certainly never forget these dear chil 
dren of my heart. They continue to beg, earnestly, every 
year, that missionaries be sent them to baptize their children 
and instruct them in the holy faith, which can alone render 
them happy here and hereafter. 

You asked me one day, reverend Father, in an excursion 
which we made together during my last visit in Belgium, 
" What is the degree of civilization of the tribes that you 
have visited ?" I replied to you : " I do not know all that 
Europeans wish us to comprehend by the word civilization" 
These savages are spoken of as exceptional beings, possess 
ing another nature. They are men like ourselves. They 
only differ from us because they are ignorant, poor, and un 
fortunate. But their hearts are so good ! There are some 
who have much natural ability, and what is more valuable, 
a great deal of faith and virtue ! Is not the close of ray 
letter a confirmation of what I said to you ? What grati 
tude ! What desire to know God ! If, therefore, there is 
question of civilization of souls for heaven, oh ! we have no 
need of European civilizers. Cause prayers to be offered 



252 WESTERN MISSIONS 

that God may send us missionaries, and we will make them 
happy ! 

I commend all these dear savages, our brethren in Jesus 
Christ, redeemed by the same blood, and inclosed in the 
same Sacred Heart I commend them all most earnestly to 
your holy sacrifices, and to your kind prayers. 

Deign to believe me, with the most profound respect, rev 
erend Father, 

Rse. Vse. servus in Christo, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 253 



Letter XVIII. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 

The Four Tribes of the Black-Feet Gros-Ventres, Pegans, 
Blood-tribe, and Black-Feet proper. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, October 28, 1855. 
REV. ,AND DEAR FATHER : 

In some of my letters of 1846, I spoke of my visit to the 
Black-Feet. I sojourned among the tribes, the Gros-Ventres, 
Pegans, Gens du Sang, and Black-Feet proper, about six 
weeks, and had the happiness of regenerating in the holy 
waters of baptism several hundred children and adults. In 
the month of October, after having bid adieu to Father 
PcTint, who proposed passing the winter in the Indian camps, 
in order to sound further their dispositions in a religious 
point of view, I left the country of the Black-Feet, in or 
der to repair to St. Louis, where the affairs of the missions 
were awaiting me. During the residence of Father Point 
among those Indian populations, he collected many interest 
ing traits concerning the character and manners of the sav 
ages ; he had the kindness to communicate them to me. I 
sent a copy of his relation to our superiors in Europe ; but 
I do not think it has ever been published. In the hope that 
it will afford you pleasure, and that it will prove worthy of 
your attention, I transmit to you some of the principal ex 
tracts. In 1847, Father Point wrote me : 

22 



WESTERN MISSIONS 

" I think I can say, to the glory of the only Author of all 
Good, that with his grace I have not lost my time among the 
Black-Feet. I have performed six hundred and sixty-seven 
baptisms, the records of which are in due form ; I have taken 
notes of whatsoever appeared to me suitable for interesting 
the curious or edifying the pious. During the winter I was 
accustomed, daily, to give three instructions, or catechetical 
lessons, proportioned to the three very different classes of my 
auditors. It is unnecessary for me to say that the prayers 
have all been translated into Black-Foot, and learned in Fort 
Louis and in the camp of the Pegans, and there is scarcely 
any camp among the Black-Feet in which the sign of the 
cross is not held in veneration, and even practised, at least 
among those individuals who have had any intercourse with 
the missionary. 

" Of the twenty-five or thirty camp-leaders, or chiefs, who 
visited me, or whom I have visited, there is not one who 
has not given ideas of his people or tribe less disadvanta 
geous than those generally entertained, and of course among 
the whites who inhabit the Indian Teritory as elsewhere. 
Among the different camps, there is a species of emulation 
as to which shall have the Black-gown, or rather the mission, 
on its lands. Concerning this article I have decided nothing. 
I have only said, that in case a Reduction were formed, it 
would be built in the position or locality which would afford 
the greatest advantages to all the tribes, taken collectively. 
All found this idea reasonable, and have promised that they 
would exert their utmost endeavors to satisfy the Black- 
gowns. 

"The Gros-Ventres of the plains appear to me to have the 
advantage over the others, in being more adroit, more docile, 
and courageous ; but they are more strongly attached to their 
old superstitions, and are terrible demanders, as the Canadian 



AND MISSIONARIES. 255 

employees here call shameless beggars : happily, they are not 
offended when refused. The Pegans are the most civilized, 
but the most noted thieves. The Gens du Sang are well 
made, of fine blood, and generally less dirty. It is said that 
the Black-Feet proper are the most hospitable. 

" Such are the most striking traits of these four nations, 
so long at war with almost all their neighbors, and some 
times among themselves, at least, partially. Since they have 
had the proof that the true prayer renders men more valiant, 
happier, and generally tends to make him live longer (three 
advantages which they exalt above all others, and which 
they believe they perceive united in the Flat-Heads), the 
medicine-sack, or idolatry, with many, is falling into dis 
credit. 

'I Several traits of divine justice, against those who have 
shown themselves less docile in following our counsels, and, 
on the contrary, several striking evidences of protection, in 
favor of those who followed them, have contributed greatly 
to work an admirable change in their ideas. By that, I do 
not mean to pronounce them saints : no ; theft and assassina 
tion are not yet, in the eyes of the young, particularly, desti 
tute of attractions. For this reason, notwithstanding the 
peace concluded with the Flat-Heads, and the inclination of 
the great men to maintain it, there were many depredations 
committed during the winter, to the detriment of the latter. 
But, let it be said, to the praise of the chiefs, the whole was 
disapproved by them. Nine or ten thieves have received 
their deserts from the Pends-d'Oreilles. This pacification, so 
desirable, unden the double relation of humanity and social 
commerce, is the condition, sine qua non, of the conversion 
of the greater part of those poor Indians, unless God is 
pleased to work a miracle, which rarely has happened, ex 
cept among the Flat-Heads. 



256 WESTERN MISSIONS 

" I pursued in the hunt, during nearly six weeks, the fifty 
lodges of the Pegans, which are under the command of the 
chief, Amakzikiune, or * The Great Lake.' This camp is 
one of the seven or eight fractions of the Pegan tribe, 
amounting in all to about three hundred lodges. This tribe 
forms a part of the four, known under the generic title of 
Black-Feet. I have spoken of them already. The Pegans 
are-the most civilized, on account of. the relations of a por 
tion of their people with the Flat-Heads. If the Gros- 
Ventres were less importunate, I would willingly entitle 
them 'the Flat-Heads' of the Missouri. They have some 
thing of their simplicity and their bravery. They are im 
properly ranked among the Black-Feet: besides, they did 
not originate in the country, they do not speak their lan 
guage, and are different in many respects.* 

"However this may be, these four tribes may contain 
about a thousand lodges, or ten thousand souls. This is not 
half what they were, before the contagion of small-pox intro 
duced among them by the whites. I believe that women 
constitute more than two thirds of them, if not even three 
quarters. This inequality, so baneful to morals, is the result 
of war. In the visit that I paid to the Gros-Ventres, divided 
into two camps, I counted two hundred and thirty lodges. 
I visited, or received visits from, several fractions or detach 
ments of Black- Feet, and further, an entire camp of Gens du 
Sang ; and all were in such dispositions, that only a word on 
my part would have been necessary to enable me to baptize, 
with their consent, all the children from the largest down to 



* The Gros-Ventres of the plains are a branch of the Rapahocs, who 
roam over the plains of New Mexico, aud those on the Platte and Ne 
braska rivers. They separated from the nation a century and a half 
ago, on account of differences between their chiefs. The Gros- Venires 
gave me this information. (Note by Father de Sinet.) 



AND MISSIONARIES. . 257 

those of only a clay old, which the mothers brought me of 
their own free will. I could have baptized a great number 
of adults ; they even seemed to desire it ardently ; but these 
desires were not yet sufficiently imbued with the true princi 
ples of religion. I could not content myself with the per 
suasion generally existing among the savages, that when they 
have received baptism they can conquer any enemy what 
soever. The courage and the happiness of the Flat-Heads 
have inspired them with this belief. This explains why 
some wretches, who seek only to kill their neighbors, were 
the first to petition for baptism. All say that they would 
be glad to have Black-gowns ; but why do the greater part 
desire them ? Because they think that all other imaginable 
blessings will come with them ; not only courage to fight, 
but also every species of remedy to enable them to enjoy cor 
poreal health. The Gros-Ventres conducted to me a hump 
backed person and a near-sighted person that I might heal 
them. I said that this kind of cures surpassed my abilities ; 
which did not, however, hinder them from making other 
similar requests. But at last, by continually repeating to 
them, that the Black-gowns can heal souls, but not always 
the body, some at last believe me. They believe also that 
we can excite diseases, and cause the thunder to roll when 
we are not satisfied. Quite recently, there was an earth 
quake in the land of the Gros-Ventres, and directly the re 
port was spread abroad that I was the cause of the Earth's 
trembling ; and that this shock was an indication that the 
small-pox was about to return into the country, etc., and all 
this happened because the Indians did not give attention 
sufficient to the discourse of the Black-gown. There is ac 
tually a malady raging among the Pegans, said to be mortal, 
and which indeed has proved fatal to a few persons. As 
this disease begins in the ear, they consider themselves more 

22* 



258 . WESTERN MISSIONS 

justified than the Gros-Ventres, in saying 'that this punish 
ment arrived to them on account of their hardness of heart,' 
in listening to the words of the Great Spirit. For myself, 
what appeared most striking, was the sudden death of a 
dozen of persons, stricken down either in their lodges or in 
war, but at the moment that they were straying most wide!/ 
from" the right path. One of these, belonging to the Dlack- 
Feet, had robbed me of three mules; he died on the mor 
row after his arrival home, and after finding himself divested 
of his capture, which were conducted back to me. This 
death was certain to provoke the saying: 4 Woe to him who 
robs the Black-gowns!' Thus in one way or another Al 
mighty God is preparing the way for the conversion of these 
poor idolaters. 

" To return to the Pegans ? with whom I have lived about 
six weeks, I will observe that those who, among the savages, 
call themselves 'Great Men' would be disposed to listen 
wholly to us, could we but make terms with them on the 
article of plurality of wives ; that the youth, in their turn, 
would as cheerfully, if we could immediately make ' Great Men' 
of them ; but this being scarcely possible, all the reasonings 
of the wise can with difficulty induce them to refrain from 
robbery. If they can rob adroitly and in large value from 
the enemies of their nation, they never fail to do it ; but if 
the theatre of their legitimate thefts is too remote, it is not 
rare to find them seeking among friendly tribes (for example, 
the Pends-d'Oreilles or the Flat-Heads) what would prove 
too troublesome to seek elsewhere. A few days since, the 
three brothers of The Great Lake, to one of whom the Flat- 
Heads have three times granted life, came with two good 
and handsome horses taken from the Pends-d'Oreilles, who 
had just spared the lives of two of their youth. Already 
twice before, after similar misdeeds, The Great Lake, not- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 259 

withstanding my strong remonstrances, had not the courage 
to blame them. Among the Black-Feet, the rich people, 
who undertake to rebuke the wicked who possess nothing, 
have naught to gain and all to lose. As there is neither 
lawful authority on one side nor conscience on the other, a 
second theft, or a musket-shot, is not rare. 

" In these thefts, however, there is one thing which" ex* 
cuses, to a certain degree, the silence of the chief of whom I 
have just spoken ; it is the robbery of two horses to his det* 
riment committed by a young Flat-Head ; but this precedent 
cannot certainly justify the reprisals ; for, besides restitution 
having been promised to him, he knew well that the thief 
in question was an outcast from his tribe ; that he ought not 
to imitate him ; that he was only to follow the example of 
the good, who were all desirous of dwelling in peace with 
the Black-Feet, etc. But in vain we instruct them and re 
fresh their memories, we discover that these reasons enter 
their minds with difficulty, and still less their hearts, which 
have neither the uprightness nor the generosity of their allies. 
Aside from these miseries, and some false maxims derived 
from the whites, the remainder, and even the very efforts of 
hell to resume a prey which is escaping her, all that is ac 
complishing at this moment in this country announces that 
the day of its regeneration is not remote. What most con 
soles us, is that this regeneration, if things continue, will be 
due, in great measure, to the present exemplary conduct at* 
the fort. 

" Every day after mass, I teach the children their prayers ; 
every evening the men recall them to memory mutually ; at 
six o'clock in the evening these recite their prayers in com 
mon in my own room, after which I give them an instruc 
tion ; then comes the turn of the women. Now % these wom- 
eu, baptized and lawfully married, or preparing for baptism 



260 WESTERN MISSIONS 

and marriage, oblige their husbands to say (the latter having 
almost all approached the sacraments) : * What a change ! 
what a difference!' In fact, this difference is so sensible, 
ihat it is ol>vitns to all the savages who come in throngs to 
the tort, and do not return without coming to assure me, 
4 that they also \vish to Irani and follow the way to heaven, 
since it is only in that path and in heaven that real happi 
ness is found.' What are their narrations when they return 
to their families? New visitors, better disposed than ever 
in regard to the fort and on the subject of prayer, easily 
make known. 

"I have yet one consoling piece of news to announce. 
On my route, travelling with the Pegan camp, I baptized 
fourteen little infants of the Crow nation, so well did 1 find 
them disposed, these were on their way to visit the Gros- 
Ventres. They desire to see you among them again. In 
dulging this hope, they will go to meet you in the spring. 
At a distance, as when present, Reverend Father, I shall 
never cease to offer devout and heartfelt petitions for the 
success of an enterprise, to which it lias pleased Divine Prov 
idence to associate me from its commencement. It will al 
ways be allowable for me to do by prayers, what I cannot 
effect by my works. I am, etc., 

" N. POINT, S. J." 

The project of going to these poor Indians has never been 
abandoned. Every returning spring they send pressing in 
vitations to the Black-gowns to come and establish them 
selves among them, in order to be taught the way of the 
Lord. During the current year, we have received invitations 
from the Black-Feet, the Crows, the Assiuiboins, the Sioux, 
Ponkahs, and Omahas, with many other tribes; the number 
of these Indians surpasses 70,000. A great number of in- 



AND MISSIONARIES. .261 

fants and adults have received baptism. The vast wilderness 
that they occupy boasts not a single priest at this moment ! 
During fifteen years they supplicate pastors ! ) 

Allow me, Reverend Father, to request the aid of your 
prayer and holy sacrifices, and deign to commend the poor 
Indians to the kind remembrance of the pious souls of your 
acquaintance, that the Lord may condescend to hear these 
unhappy men, and send good pastors into this wide-spread 
" vineyard," so long neglected, but which promises such a 
glorious harvest. 

In union with your devout petitions and holy sacrifices, I 
have the honor to be, with the most profound respect and 
highest esteem, Reverend and dear Father, 

Your very devoted servant and brother in Jesus Christ, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



262 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XIX, 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
The Sioux. 

PARIS, November 17, 1856. 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER I 

I find with pleasure in your number of the 15th inst., 
the interesting letter of Father Adrian Hoeken, written to 
me from the Flat-Head camp, which I sent you from St. 
Louis before I started for Belgium. 

Herewith are four letters of his brother, Father Christian 
Hoeken, which will, I think, be found as interesting as Father 
Adrian's. In a few days I shall see you at Brussels. 

First Letter of Father Christian Hoelcen.To Father De Smet. 

Sioux COUNTY, POST VERHILION, Dec. 11, 1850. 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER : 

You have doubtless learned, by Father Duerinck's let 
ters, that I set out last June for the Sioux country. The 
season was quite favorable when I left Kansas, but I had a 
pretty cold time as I crossed Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota, 
till I got to the post of the American Fur Company, called 
Post Vermilion. My inability to find a good guide to lead 
me to Fort Pierre, the great post of the Missouri, made me 
lose five days of excellent weather. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 263 

At last I succeeded in finding a companion who had 
crossed backward and forward, for the last thirty-three years, 
every plain, mountain, forest, and prairie of the West. I set 
out the day before the weather changed. On the third day 
the snow overtook us. On reaching James River we found 
it impassable ; the water was too high and too cold for our 
horses to swim it. We had to ascend it to find a ford. We 
travelled eight or nine days without finding any place or 
means to cross. A violent north wind set in, so that we were 
nearly frozen to death. We accordingly began to descend 
the valley of the river, but had not made over five or six 
miles when night surprised us, and we had to encamp in a 
spot which offered scarce wood enough for one night. We 
had hardly encamped when the north wind began to blow 
with horrible violence ; the snow fell so thick and fast, that 
you would have said the clouds had burst. You may im 
agine our positron, and how much we pitied each other. 
Sleep was out of the question. The next morning we struck 
our camp. The snow and wind raged with unabated fury 
for two days and two nights. In some spots there were six, 
fifteen, and even twenty feet of snow. Conceive our position 
if you can, as we made our way along the valley of James 
River, which runs between two chains of mountains, with 
deep ravines near each other. 

We were almost out of provisions, entirely alone, in a sad 
desert, where we could see nothing but snow ; we had no 
one to encourage us, except the spirit of divine charity, at 
whose voice I had undertaken this painful journey. The 
snow grew high around us, our horses would not proceed. 
The gloomy thought that we could never cross the river 
crushed out all courage ; but I was consoled when I remem 
bered the words of Divine Wisdom : "It is good for you to 
suffer temptation." To fill up our misery, rheumatism seized 



\ 

264 WESTERN MISSIONS 

both my knees, so that I could not set one foot before an 
other. One of our horses fell latne and was no better than 
myself. Moreover, the keen norther froze my ears, nose, 
and feet, and my companion's feet. The poor man com 
plained of violent pains in the bowels, caused doubtle>> \-\ 
fatigue and hunger. The elements seemed to conspire against 
us ; and it is only by a special assistance of heaved that we 
did not perish in this strait. " I never saw any thing like it. 
I have lived, wandered, travelled, for thirty-five years all 
over the upper Missouri, but never, never was I in such a 
scrape as this." Such were the frequent exclamations of my 
guide. For my part, I was forced by a dire necessity to 
march against my inclination, or rather to drag myself along 
as best I could. I gathered up what little courage I had 
left. 1 walked on in the snow from morning to night, pray 
ing and weeping in turns, making vows and resolutions. 
The aspirations of the prophets and apostles were the subject 
of my communications with Heaven. " Confirm me, Lord, 
in this hour. Rebuke me not in thy fury, and chastise me 
not in thy wrath." This I repeated at almost every instant. 
When I sank to my waist in snow, I cried: "Have mercy, 
Lord, have mercy on us. For thee and for thine have we 
come unto this hour. Stretch out thy arm to lead us. Lord, 
we perish," Meanwhile, we advanced painfully over the 
mountains of snow, till night summoned us to plant our tent, 
which consisted, be it said here, of a square piece of a skin 
teutrpover. We set to work with courage, clearing away 
the snow, getting down a framework and wood enough for 
our fires at night. The fire is kindled ; we have finished our 
night prayers; we have only a morsel to eat. Now, then, 
repose for a few hours. Impossible. Sleep has fled our eye 
lids; the smoke blinds and stifles us, at almost every instant 
we had to cough ; my companion said that it was impossible 



AND MISSIONARIES. 265 

to distinguish one object from another, the smoke had so 
blinded him. How sleep, with the wolves howling and 
prowling around us ! The snow and sometimes rain and hail 
fell on us all night long. Often, while listening for any 
noise, the prayer, " From all danger, rain and hail, deliver 
us, Lord!" escaped my trembling lips involuntarily. 
Thank Heaven, the Almighty heard our humble supplica 
tion ; every day he gave us fine weather, though bitter cold. 
My greatest fear every morning, was that my companion 
would bring word that our horses were dead of cold or hun 
ger in those bleak and sterile tracts. Had this loss befallen 
us, our misfortune would have been complete. I put myself 
and all belonging to me under the special protection of our 
good and amiable patroness, the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, 
and I often reminded her, with filial- confidence, that we had 
been committed to her care at the foot of the cross. 

From day to day, my guide was the more urgent that 
we should abandon the lame horse so as not to be frozen for 
him. We had to lose a good part of the day in unloading 
and reloading him, because he fell at almost every step 'on 
the slippery snow ; yet by care, pain, fatigue, and patience, 
we arrived with our two horses at Post Vermilion. Fam 
ished and almost dying as we were (having had nothing to 
eat for ten days, but a little bread and a prairie-hen that my 
companion killed by chance), sleepless and wearied to death, 
we reached Vermilion on the 8th of December, the feast of 
the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To 
express the joy that overflowed my soul on that happy day 
I would need write in tears, not in ink, and you could trace 
my feelings better than if delineated with a pen. I was at 
the end of hunger, cold, snow, rain, hail, tramping, and blas 
phemy that filled me with horror every time my companion 
vented his wrath on the horse or the evils we experienced. I 

23 



266 WESTERN MISSIONS 

rebuked him frequently and begged him to refrain, but in 
vain ; the poor man had always the same excuse : " It was a 
second nature with him, and lie meant no harm." Wretched 
excuse ! I suffered more from his troubles and murmurs than 
from all the other miseries put together. To my prayers of 
blended hope, and fear, and anguish, succeeded now hymns 
of gratitude and joy. Instead of my ordinary aspirations : 
'* Enough, Lord, it is enough. Command the winds and there 
shall be a great calm. Lord, thou hast said : Ask and you 
shall receive. Give us this day our daily bread," and so on, 
I now exclaim : " We praise thee, Lord ! great is thy power, 
Lord God of hosts." 

Mr. Charles Larpenteur, whose hospitality you have often 
enjoyed when travelling in the desert to visit the Indian 
tribes, is now in charge of the post, and he received us 
with all the goodness of a father. He procured us all that 
he could. May the Lord bless him, for he deserves it. 
"The Samaritan in the Gospel," said he, "took care of an 
unfortunate man, and poured oil and wine into his wounds. 
Sir," he added, "you are welcome. I offer you all I have; 
I wish to treat you -as well as is in my power." The dignity 
and worth of charity are never better felt than on similar 
occasions, and by beggars like us. 

I shall spend some days instructing and baptizing a score 
of people who live around here. I shall endeavor to recover 
from my unusual hardships before I start. In the mean while 
the snow will melt, the roads become better, and I will re 
sume my journey. 

Receive the assurance of my respect. Present my re 
spects to the Fathers and Brothers, and believe me, 
Rev. and dear Father, 

Your devoted servant and brother in Christ, 

CHRISTIAN HOEKKN, S. J. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 267 

You see, Rev. Father, by this letter of Father Hoeken, that 
the consolations of heaven are constantly tempered by the 
desolations of earth. This is the support of the laborers in 
the vineyard of the Lord. 

I have come to Europe for missionaries. Belgium has 
already furnished many. St. Francis Xavier asked for Bel 
gians. Shall I succeed in getting some? Cannot I count 
on my own land as much as on Holland, France, or Italy ? 



Second Letter of Father Christian Hoeken. To Father Elet. 

TERRITORY OF THE PLATTE, Dec. 28, 1850. 
REVEREND AND DEAR FATHER PROVINCIAL : 

According to my express promise in my letters, I write 
to tell you where I have been, and what I have done since 
I left the Kansas, till my return from the Upper Missouri. 

I travelled by the way of Weston, without a cent in my 
pocket. I had to trust entirely to Providence. A draft of 
ten dollars on Father De Smet, enabled me to get the actual 
necessaries for my journey. I should have drawn more, but 
it was all they could let me have. 

On the way I met several old friends, whose liberality did 
not improve my poverty. I reached St. Joseph at the foot 
of the Black-Snake Hills. My horse could not stand the 
hard travel. Others were of my opinion, among them was 
Mr. Scanlan, who offered me an Indian horse to go as far as 
Bellevue, and also to take charge of mine. I accepted his 
kind offer. In two days I was quite disappointed. The horse 
was very lazy, and weak in the bargain. I changed him at 
the great Pacoa river for a good horse, whose exterior prom 
ised better in the long journey before me. I gave the man 
a draft on Mr. P. A. Sarpy to pay the difference. 



268 WESTERN MISSIONS 

On reaching Bellevue, I learned from Mr. Sarpy that 
Messrs. Bruyere and Argot had started the day before, and 
that I could easily overtake them ; that there was no guide 
for me, and they knew none about there. I bought the 
necessary utensils, a little pot, tin-pans, provisions, <fec., and 
started in pursuit of the gentlemen, who live about thirty 
miles below Post Vermilion at the mouth of the great Sioux. 
I overtook them next day at Boyer River. I travelled in 
their company seven days, when we reached the great Sioux. 

I spent three days there instructing the people, and bap 
tized fourteen persons. They treated me with great kind 
ness, and expressed their extreme delight at the prospect of 
the establishment of a Sioux mission. They promised to 
pay for their children's board. They are not only full of 
good-will, but capable of acting. 

As for the mixed race of the San ties (a Sioux tribe), they 
receive from government about a thousand dollars a head, 
according to the treaty made last year at St. Peter's River 
in the Upper Missouri. You see, then, Reverend Father, that 
if we defer founding a mission among them, they will send 
their children elsewhere. Do not imagine that the number 
of these poor children, all baptized by Father De Smet and 
others, is insignificant. The halfbreeds exist in great num 
bers everywhere, with thousands of Indians. Must all these 
children, of whom several thousand have already received 
holy baptism, perish for want of instruction? Are they 
doomed to remain sitting in the shadow of death ? May I 
not announce to them all, the precious tidings of vocation to 
grace ? I trust, in God's mercy, the day of their deliverance 
is at hand ; that they will soon perceive the aid of the 
Saviour and Redeemer. My daily prayer is (above all at 
the Holy Altar) that their expectations and frequent appeals 
may at length find a term. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 269 

I forgot to say, that on arriving at Linden, a village situ 
ated eight miles below the River Nishnebatlana, I found 
Major Matlock very dangerously ill with dysentery. He 
recognized me at once, and cried out : " Father Hoeken, I ana 
extremely glad to see you. I wished to see you much a long 
time; but I am so indisposed at this moment that I can 
not converse with you. Could you not come a little later?" 
" Most willingly," I replied : "1 will see you by and by." 
An hour after I returned to his room in the hotel; I found 
him half asleep. He heard my voice, and after having dis 
missed those who were with him, he spoke to me of his 
religious convictions. He informed me that he had been 
brought up in the Methodist sect, but that he did not believe 
in their views, and that his most ardent desire was to be 
come a Catholic. He then made his confession to me ; after 
which, I baptized him conditionally. He appeared to me to 
be perfectly contented and resigned to die. I have since 
learned that he did not long survive his baptism. May he 
rest in peace. 

I commend myself to your prayers and sacrifices, Rev. 
Father Provincial, 

Your most humble servant, 

CHRISTIAN HOEKEN, S. J. 



Third Letter of Father Christian Hoeken. To Father Met. 

- ST. JOSEPH'S, Jan. 3, 1851. 
REV. AND VERY DEAR FATHER PROVINCIAL I 

I was obliged to wait in order to regulate my account 
with Mr. P. A. Sarpy, who was absent when I arrived at 
Council Bluffs. That time was not lost. I had the happi- 

233 



270 WESTERN MISSIONS ' 

ness of baptizing a great number of children of the Omaha 
tribe, and I met the young chief, Logan Fontenelle. He is 
a spiritual child of Father De Smet. He is very worthy of 
the post he fills in his tribe, and will do all in his power to 
convert his people and bring ttyem to the true faith.* 

I quitted Council Bluffs on the 27th of December. I 
arrived on the River Nishnebatlana at a place called French 
Village. It is occupied almost exclusively by Canadians, by 
half-breeds, and a mixture of Indians united among them 
selves. I was received with much kindness, and employed 
Saturday and Sunday in confirming and strengthening them 
in the faith. 

As soon as my arrival was known, the people collected on 
all sides, in order to secure to their children the grace of bap 
tism. You can easily imagine what a consolation it was to 
me after the fatigues of the late journey. On examining the 
state of things, I found that those people needed instruction in 
regard to the sacrament of marriage. They listened to me 
with profound attention, and followed my advice on this 
point. I baptized sixteen persons, among whom was one 
converted from Mormonism and one Sioux squaw. I gave 
the nuptial benediction to three couples. In the midst of a 
meeting held in a private house, the conversation fell on the 
construction of a village church ; each one offered his ser 
vices, and promised to approach the sacraments. How great 
and plentiful is the harvest, but alas, how few are the reap 
ers ! We must, in truth, but in sadness, repeat with the 
prophet Jeremy : " The children ask bread and there is no 
one to break it to them." What a vast field for them of 
whom the Scripture says : " How beautiful upon the moun- 



* He fell, in 1855, hi a combat against a great war-party of the Sioux. 
(Note by Father De Smet.) 



AND MISSIONARIES. 271 

tains are the footsteps of those who proclaim the glad tidings 
of peace and salvation." A month's travelling in the desert 
through which these people are wandering deprived of in 
struction, would bestow on our missionaries greater experi 
ence of the evils of ignorance and of superstition, than man j 
years passed in studying them in books and writings, and 
one hour of conversation would inspire Christian hearts with 
sentiments of more real compassion, than all the discourses 
of rhetoric and all the artifices of eloquence could ever pro 
duce. If the Catholics of civilized countries, and provided 
with all the advantages that civilization offers for the soul 
and for the body, could, during one single week, experience 
what is endured in the midst of the ravages and violence of 
this poor Indian country, their hearts would open to the sen 
timents of a truly active compassion, and they would extend 
a charitable hand to relieve the misery and mitigate the bit 
terness of their wretched and afflicting condition. There are 
in human life certain marks of degradation which, at first 
sight, awaken the tender sentiments of a Christian heart ; 
there are interior trials and sorrows which need to be related 
to excite charity towards those who suffer them. Such are, 
my dear Father, the troubles and sufferings of the Indians. 
Deprived of civilized society, destitute of all the advantages 
of social life, ignorant of the very elements of individual 
duty, they are a prey to exterior deceptions, to interior illu 
sions, and their days are counted by overwhelming evils and 
misfortunes as numerous as the hours which mark their du 
ration. But when it pleases a wise Providence to permit 
that they be visited by other and extraordinary trials, as it hap 
pened to the Potawatomies, who lost their harvest, their ills 
are increased a hundredfold, and nothing but the consolations 
of the Gospel are capable of ameliorating the hard lot of 
barbarism and the anguish of ignorance. /May Heaven deign 



272 WESTERN MISSIONS 

to inspire a large number of worthy ministers of the Church 
with a zeal in conformity with the will of God, and inspire 
also a great number of Christians with that charity which 
covers a multitude of sins, in order that they may come to 
their aid amid the painful sufferings which they are at this 
moment undergoing. 

My respects to all, 

Rev. Father Provincial, 

Your most humble servant, 

CHRISTIAN HOEKEN, S. J. 



Fourth Letter. To Rev. Father Elet. 

BELLEVCE, December 23, 1850. 
REV. AND VERY DEAR FATHER PROVINCIAL I 

I left Post Vermilion on the third Sunday of Advent ; 
I descended the Great Sioux as far as its confluence. There 
I met with Major Hal ton, who is agent for the Upper Mis 
souri. 

He employed all his eloquence to persuade ine to accom 
pany him as far as Fort Pierre, which is the post of the Little 
Missouri. He will probably stop there, at about the middle 
of January. God alone knows what the weather will prove 
at that time, He presented us a beautiful buffalo-robe, and 
told mo, that if we would establish a mission in these sec 
tions, he would contribute annually a hundred dollars. An 
other gentleman added, I have three children to educate ; I 
will furnish three hundred dollars per year, and be assured, 
continued he, that every white man residing in this lo 
cality that has a family of mixed race (and there are a great 
number of them), will assist you to the best of their ability 
one in one manner and another in another, according to 



AND MISSIONARIES. 273 

their means. The Brules, the Jantons, and the other Sioux 
tribes, assembled in council said: "The missionaries shall 
not perish with hunger among us ; we will bring them an 
abundance of buffalo-robes and buffalo-meat, so that they 
can purchase clothes for the children who will be confided 
to them." 

For the love of God and of souls, I conjure you, reverend 
Father, not to defer any longer. All the good that Father 
De Smet and others have produced by their labors and visits 
will be lost and forgotten, if these Indians are disappointed 
in their expectations. They weigh men's characters in the 
balance of honesty ; in -their eyes whosoever does not fulfil 
his promises is culpable; they do not regard or consider 
whether it be done for good reasons, or that there is an im 
possibility in the execution. Some of them have sent their 
children to Protestant schools, and they will continue to do 
so as long as we form no establishments among them. 

From all this you may easily conclude that there is apos 
tasy and all its attendant evils. Immortal souls are precious 
in the sight of God. You are acquainted with my disposi 
tions arrange every thing according to your own good will 
and pleasure. My sole desire is to endure fatigue and suffer 
ing, as much as I can with God's assisting grace, and as long 
as I shall live. I have deposited my hopes in the bosom of 
my God ; I expect my recompense from his goodness, not in 
this life, but in the next. 

Yours, &c., 

CHRISTIAN HOEKEN, S. J. 

These four letters of Rev. Father Hoeken show sufficient 
ly, my dear and reverend Father, the spiritual wants of these 
nations and their desire of being assisted. Apostasy is more 
frequent than is generally believed in Europe. Oh ! if the 



274: WESTERN MISSIONS 

zealous priests of the Continent knew what we know, had 
they seen what we have witnessed, their generous hearts 
would transport them beyond the seas, and they would has 
ten to consecrate their lives to a ministry fruitful in salutary 
results. Time presses; already the sectaries of various 
shades are preparing to penetrate more cfeeply into the 
desert, and will wrest from those degraded and unhappy 
tribes their last hope that of knowing and practising the 
sole and true faith. Shall they, in fine, obtain the Black- 
gowns, whom they have expected and called for during so 
many years ? 

Accept, Rev. Father, the assurance of my sincere friend 
ship. 

P. J. DE SMET. 






AND MISSIONARIES. 275 



Letter XL 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Tributes to the Flat-Heads,. 

To the Mother Superior of the Convent and Academy of Erps-Querbs, between 
Brussels and Louvain. 

BRUSSELS, FEAST OF ST. XAVIEB, December 3, 1856. 
REVEREND MOTHER: 

The festival of to-day renews in my mind the recollec 
tion of the pleasant time I spent at Erps, last Monday. 

I must again thank you for the kind reception I received 
at your convent and academy. 

The repeated invitations you have extended to me, since 
my return to Belgium, through Father Te^wecoren, who 
took me there, made it a duty on my part to go. I owed 
you this visit also personally, Reverend Mother, on account 
of the ties which always have existed, and still exist, between 
your family and mine. This recommendation was made to 
me at Termond. It was, indeed, pleasant for me to meet 
you, after thirty-five years' absence, and especially to find 
you consecrated to God by the vows of religion. During 
my long travels over the world, I have always found in re 
ligious communities the greatest amount of happiness to 
which man can aspire here below. 

But independent of this personal motive, the Academy of 
the Servants of Mary would leave, in my mind, a most pleas 
ing recollection. I shall never forget this little family festi 
val, the charitable and pious words addressed to me by one 



270 WESTERN MISSIONS 

of your scholars, in the name of her companions ; the earm-st 
attention paid by them to my accounts, and the prayers they 
promised me for my poor Indians ; that beautiful hymn in 
honor of St. Francis Xavier, the patron of missionaries ; the 
happiness of the little village-children, gathered in the day- 
school, where their hearts learn to love God and serve him 
by labor; the respectful deference of all the sisters, and of 
your worthy director. 

I thank you, then, Reverend Mother, for this welcome ; 
and, in the name of the Indians, I thank you especially for 
the alms which the convent has confided to me for them, 
and the vestments which you prepare. The Indians pray 
for their benefactors ; they will pray especially for the Ser 
vants of Mary, and for their young pupils, as soon as I tell 
them all. 

As an anticipated testimony of their gratitude, and that 
the remembrance of this day may abide, your community 
ever prosper more and more, your young ladies, when they 
come forth fro/n that house of the Lord, preserve preciously 
the inappreciable gift of piety and the pure lustre of all 
virtue, I propose to give to the first little Indian girls that I 
baptize after my return, the Christian names of the religious 
and pupils whom I saw assembled, that they may pray for 
their benefactresses. Please to prepare a list, and send it to 
Father Terwecoren, who is collecting all that is offered for 
the mission. 

I add to this letter a copy of the tributes of admiration 
paid to, the Flat-Heads, as well as the Pater and Ave in 
Osage. It is a little souvenir for the Academy of Erps- 
Querbs. 

I. Tribute of admiration rendered to the Flat-Heads, by 
an officer of the United States army, sent with Governor 
Stevens to explore St. Mary's Valley. These lines are drawn 



AND MISSIONARIES. 277 

from a report recently issued by order of government. Ex 
plorations, &c., from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean, p. 
308. Lieutenant Mullan says : 

"When I arrived at the camp with my guide, three or 
four men came out to meet us, and we were invited to enter 
the lodge of the great chief. With much eagerness they 
took care of our horses, unsaddled them, and led them to 
drink. As soon as the camp had been informed of the 
arrival of a white man among them, all the principal men of 
the tribe collected at the lodge of the chief. 

"All being assembled, at a signal given by the chief, 
they prayed aloud. I was struck with astonishment, for I 
had not the least expectation of such conduct on their part. 
The whole assembly knelt. In the most solemn manner, 
and with the greatest reverence, they adored the Lord. I 
asked myself : Am I among Indians ? Am I among people 
whom all the world call savages ? I could scarcely believe 
my eyes. The thought that these men were penetrated with 
religious sentiments, so profound and beautiful, overwhelmed 
me with amazement. 

"I could never say enough of those noble and generous 
hearts among whom I found myself. They were pious and 
firm, men of confidence, full of probity, and penetrated at thtf 
same time with a lively and religious faith, to which they 
remain constant. They never partake of a repast without 
imploring the blessing of Heaven. In the morning, when 
rising, and at night, when retirin-g, they offer their prayers 
to Almighty God. The tribe of the Flat-Heads among the 
Indians is the subj.ect of their highest esteem ; and all that I 
witnessed myself justifies this advantageous opinion." 

Here is another testimony from the Hon. Isaac J. Stevens, 
governor of Washington Territory. Giying orders to Lieut. 
M., he says : 

24 



278 WESTERN MISSIONS 

u Tell those good Flat-Heads that the words of Father De 
Smet in their behalf have been received by their Great 
Father, the President of the United States, and that all good 
people are devoted to them. I would like to rebuild St. 
Mary's. Let them know that I am attached to them, and 
ready to aid their old benefactors in their well-being. This 
would be most pleasing to me." 

He wrote to the Indian agent : 

" You are already aware of the character of the Flat-Heads. 
They are the best Indians of the mountains and the plains 
honest, brave, and docile, they only need encouragement to 
become good citizens they are Christians, and we are 
assured that they live up to the Christian code." 

This passage is from the report to the President, in 1854. 
You see, reverend brother, that my eulogium at Erps-Querbs, 
on the Flat-Heads, is also in the mouths of the Americans. 
It is the same with the other Indians. The sisters and the 
pupils may then rely on the prayers and gratitude of the lit 
tle girls who bear their names. . May these children of the 
desert have the same means of salvation as the children of 
Belgium. 

II. Pater and Ave, in Osage. 

Int&tze ankougtapi manshigta ningshe, shashe dichta 
Father our in heaven ' who art, name thy 

ouchoupegtselou,wawalagtankapi dichta tshighselou. Hakistse 
be hallowed. kingdom thy come. Will 

ingshe manshingta ekionpi, manshan lai ackougtsiow. 

thy in heaven be done on earth be it done likewise. 

Humpale humpake sani watstltse ankougtapi wakupiow. 

To-day and day every bread our to us give. 

Ouskan pishi wacshiegchepa an^ionle ankale, aikon 
Action bad to us which has been done, we it forgive, BO 



AND MISSIONARIES. 279 

ouskan pishi ankougtapi waonlapiow. Ouskan pishi 
action bad ours us forgive. Action bad 

ankagchetapi wasankapi ninkow. Nansi pishi ingshe 
to do by us lead us not. But evil from 

walietsi sapiow. Aikougtsiou. 
deliver us. Amen. 

Hawai Marie, Wagkonda odikupi odishailow. 

Hail Mary, of the Great Spirit of gifts thou art. 

Wagkonda shodigue acchow. Wakoki odisanha 

The Great Spirit with thee is. The women among them 

odichoupegtsiow. Jusus tsaitse oulagran ingshe 
thou art blessed. Jesus of the womb the fruit thy 

ougoupegtsiow. Walagui Marie Wagkonda, Ehonh, 
is blessed. Holy Mary, of the Great Spirit the Mother, 

wawatapiow, dekousi antzapi aitchanski. Aikougtsiou. 
pray for us now and at the moment of our death. Amen. 

Accept, reverend Mother, this trifling homage of my grati 
tude, and express the same sentiments to your worthy 
Director, community, and pupils. 

Your servant in Christ, 

P. J. DE SMET. 



280 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XXI, 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Oregon Missions. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, July 16, 1857. 
REVEREND FATHER : 

Since my return to St. Louis I have been very busy, and 
not very well, in consequence of the sudden transition from 
a cold climate to one where the thermometer stands at 90* 
Fahrenheit. I have not been able, thus far, to send you any 
interesting article. I have lately received a long and beauti 
ful letter from Father A. Hoeken, in the Rocky Mountains. 
It appeared, on the llth instant, in the freeman's Journal, 
which you receive regularly. I shall try and send you a 
translation. 

I inclose to-day a short notice of Father Eysvogels. If 
you give it a place in your Precis, it will give pleasure to 
the friends and acquaintances of that good Father in North 
Brabant. 

As you propose terminating a volume of my letters, you 
would do well, perhaps, to add, if there is time, a letter to 
the St. Louis Leader, dated June 19, 1855, which you can 
have translated. 

ST. Louis, June 19, 1855. 
MR. EDITOR : 

From a letter received from the Rocky Mountains about 
two months ago, I learn that the Indians, in our different 
missions in Oregon, continue to give great satisfaction to 



AND MISSIONARIES. 281 

their missionaries, by their zeal and fervor in the holy prac 
tices of religion. " I hope," writes Father Joset, u that the 
holy Sacrament of Confirmation, which many have lately 
received, will add still more stability to their good resolu 
tions. The arrival of Monseigneur Blanchet, of Nesqnaly, 
had been announced only a few hours before, yet, notwith 
standing that one half of the neophytes were absent on 
their hunting-grounds, the zealous prelate gave confirmation 
to over six hundred persons. He expressed the greatest 
satisfaction at the flourishing condition of the missions, and 
the exemplary and Christian conduct of the Indian faithful. 1 ' 
The conversions to our holy faith, if you consider the 
small number of our missionaries, are very consoling and 
encouraging. Father Joset says, that in the mission of St. 
Paul's alone, among the Shuyelpies or Kettlefall Indians, he 
had one hundred and sixty-three converts in the course of 
the year. He further states in his letter, that Lieut. Mullan, 
of the United States Army, visited the Flat-Heads, and 
several others of our missions, by order of Governor Stevens, 
of the new Territory of Washington, and that the distin 
guished officer had expressed great delight at all he saw 
among the Indians, promising withal to favor them and to 
speak well of them in his report. Governor Stevens him 
self, in his report to the President of the United States, com 
mends them highly, and calls upon the government for aid 
and assistance. " They are," says he, speaking of the Flat- 
Heads, " the best Indians of the mountains and the plains 
honest, brave, and docile they only need encouragement to 
become good citizens ; they are 'Christians, and we are 
assured that they live up to the Christian code," &c. 
Most respectfully, dear sir, 

Your humble and obedient servant, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 
24* 



282 WESTERN MISSIONS 

You see, Reverend Father, that I have cited the testimony 
of Governor Stevens, as to our Indian missions. The details 
which I shall give you in this letter emanate from the same 
source, as honorable as it is truthful. They form part of an 
official report on the state of Oregon, sent by that magis 
trate to the President of the United States, in 1855, and 
published by order of government. 

Speaking of the tribe of Pends-d'Oreilles, the governor 
says : 

" I am indebted to Dr. Suckley for many interesting facts 
in relation to the mission of St. Ignatius, established among 
the loj&fir Pends-d'Oreilles ; it would be difficult to find a more 
beautiful example of successful missionary labors. The mis 
sion was established nine years ago, by Rev. P. J. De Smet, 
the whole country at that time being a vast wilderness. 

" For the first two years the missionaries lived in skin 
lodges, accompanying the natives on their periodical hunts 
and visits to their fishing-grounds. 

"During this time they found it very hard to live. Their 
food consisted principally of camash-roots and dried berries, 
which at best contain very little nourishment. They raised 
some wheat, which they boiled in the beard, for fear of 
waste ; parching some of the grains to make a substitute for 
coffee. After this, they slowly but steadily increased in wel 
fare. Each year added a small piece to their tillable ground. 
They then obtained pigs, poultry, cattle, horses, agricultural 
implements, and tools. Their supplies of tools, seeds, gro 
ceries, clothing, &c., are shipped direct from Europe to the 
Columbia river. There are two lay brethren attached to 
the mission. One of them, Brother Francis, is a perfect Jack- 
of-all-trades. He is by turns a carpenter, blacksmith, gun 
smith, and tinman ; in each handicraft he is a good work 
man. The other, Brother McGean, superintends the farming 



AND MISSIONARIES. 283 

operations. They both worked hard in bringing the mis 
sion to its present state of perfection, building successively a 
wind-mill, blacksmith's and carpenter's shops, barns, cow 
sheds, &c., besides an excellent chapel, in addition to a large 
dwelling-house, of hewn timber, for the missionaries. 

" The church is quite large, and is tastefully and even 
beautifully decorated. I was shown the handsomely carved 
and gilded altar, the statue of our * Mother,' brazen crosses, 
and rich bronzed fonts work which at sight appears so well 
executed as to lead one to suppose that they must all have 
been imported. 

" Works of ornament are not their only deeds. A grind 
stone, hewn out of the native rock, and modelled by the 
same hand which made the chisel which wrought it, tin 
ware, a blacksmith's bellows, plough-shares, bricks for their 
chimneys, their own tobacco-pipes, turned with the lathe out 
of wood, and lined with tin, all have been made by their 
industry. In household economy they are not excelled. 
They make their own soap, candles, vinegar, &o., and it is 
interesting and amusing to listen to the account of their 
plans, shifts, and turns, in overcoming obstacles at their first 
attempts, their repeated failures, and their final triumphs. 
The present condition of the mission is as follows : 

"The buildings are : the house, a good, substantial, com 
fortable edifice ; the chapel, a building sufficiently large to 
accommodate the whole Kalispelum nation. A small build- 
''' ing is attached to the dwelling-house ; it contains a couple 
of sleeping-rooms, and a workshop, a blacksmith's shop, and 
a store-room for the natives. These are all built of square 
or hewn timber. Besides these there are a number of 
smaller out-buildings, built of logs, for the accommodation 
of their horses and cattle during the winter, and an excel 
lent root-house. 



284 WESTERN MISSIONS 

" The mission farm consists of about one hundred and 
sixty acres of cleared land : wheat (spring), barley, onions, 
cabbages, parsnips, peas, beets, potatoes, and carrots. Father 
Hoeken s:vys, that if the children see carrots growing, th.-y 
must eat some. Says he, 4 1 must shut my eyes to the 
theft, because they cannot resist the temptation. Any thing 
else than carrots, the little creatures respect.' 

"The Indians are very fond of peas and cabbages, but 
beets, and particularly onions, they dislike. The other pro 
ductions of the farm are cattle, hogs, poultry, butter, and 
cheese. Around the mission buildings are the houses of the 
natives. These are built of logs and hewn timber, and are 
sixteen in number. There are also quite a number of mat 
and skin lodges. Although the tribe is emphatically a wan 
dering tribe, yet the mission and its vicinity are looked upon 
as head-quarters. 

"When the missionaries came among the Indians, they 
found them to be a poor, miserable, halt-starved race, with 
an insufficiency of food, and nearly naked : living upon fish, 
cainash and other roots, and, as the last extremity, upon tho 
pine-tree moss. They were in utter misery and want. The 
whole time was occupied in providing for their bellies, which 
were rarely full. They were of a peaceable disposition, 
brave, good-Umpered, and willing to work. 

" Of spiritual things they were utterly ignorant. Unlike 
the Indians east of the mountains, they had no idea of a 
future state or of a Great Spirit, neither had they any idea 
of a soul ; in fact, they had not words in their language to 
express such ideas. They considered themselves to be ani 
mals, nearly allied to the beaver, but greater than the beaver, 
* because,' they said, * the beaver builds houses like us, and 
he is very cunning ; true, but we can catch the beaver, and 
he caunot catch us, therefore we are greater than he.' 



AND MISSIONARIES. 2S5 

They thought that when they died, that was the last of 
them. , While thus ignorant, it was nothing uncommon for 
them to. bury the very old and the very young alive, because, 
they said, 'these cannot take care of themselves, and we can 
not take care of them, and they had better die.' 

" The missionaries had an arduous labor before them. 
They commenced by gaining the good-will of tie inhabit 
ants, by means of small presents, and by manifesting great 
interest in their welfare, in attendance upon the sick, and by 
giving the poor creatures food, seeds, and instruction as to 
farming. 

" The Indians gpould not help seeing that no hopes of tem 
poral or personal benefit induced the missionaries thus to 
labor among them. 

" The missionaries told them that they had a Creator, and 
that he was good. They told them of their Saviour, and of 
the manner of addressing him by prayer. To this they 
listened, and believed. 

"The people look up to the Father, and love him. They 
say that if the Father should go away, they would die. 

" Before the advent of the missionaries, the inhabitants, 
though totally destitute of religious ideas, still believed that 
evil and bad luck emanated from a fabulous old woman or 
sorceress. They were great believers in charms or medi 
cine. Every man had his particular medicine or charm, and 
from it they expected either good or ill. With some it 
would be the mouse, with others the deer, buffalo, elk, sal 
mon, bear, &c. ; .and whichever it was, the savage would 
carry a portion of it constantly with him. The tail of a 
mouse, or the fur, hoof, claw, feather, fin, or scale, of whatever 
it might be, became the amulet. When a young man grew 
up, he was not yet considered a man until he had discovered 
his medicine. His father would send him to the top of a 



286 WESTERN MISSIONS 

high mountain in the neighborhood of the present mission ; 
here he was obliged to remain without food until he had 
dreamed of an animal ; the first one so dreamed about 
becoming his medicine for life. Of course, anxiety, fatigue, 
cold, and fasting, would render his sleep troubled, and replete 
with dreams. In a short time he would have dreamed of 
what he i4anted, and return to his home a man. 

" The missionaries say that these Indians are industrious, 
and not lazy, as compared to other Indians ; that they are 
willing to work ; but the land is so poor, and so little of it is 
susceptible of cultivation, that they cannot farm enough. 

" The mission farm, as already stated, contains about one 
hundred and sixty acres. This is kept up for the natives, as 
but a few acres would be amply sufficient for the mission 
aries. Each Indian who wishes it, is allowed a certain 
amount of land to cultivate for his own use, and is provided 
with tools and seeds. 

" Before reaching the mission of St. Ignatius, Dr. Suckley 
found four lodges of the Pends-d'Oreilles about half a mile 
above the outlet of Lake Deboey. These lodges were all 
built after the fashion of the Sioux lodge, with the single 
difference that they were covered with mats of reeds, instead 
of skins. These mats are made of rushes laid parallel, and 
fastened together at their ends. For convenience in travel 
ling, the mats are rolled into cylindrical bundles, and HIV 
thus easily carried in canoes. Dr. Suekley's provisions being 
out, he concluded to lodge all night with All-ol-stargh, the 
head of the encampment. The other lodges were principally 
occupied by his children and grand-children. 4 Shortly after 
our entrance,' says Dr. Suckley, * All-ol-stargh rung a little 
bell ; directly the lodge was filled with the inhabitants of the 
camp, men, women, and children, who immediately got on 
their knees, and repeated, or rather chanted, a long prayer, 



AND MISSIONAEIES. 287 

in their own language. The repetition of a few pious sen 
tences, an invocation; and a hymn, closed the exercises. In 
these the squaws took as active a part as the men. The 
promptness, fervency, and earnestness, all showed, was pleas 
ing to contemplate. The participation of the squaws in the 
exercises, and the apparent footing of equality between them 
and the men, so much unlike their condition in other savage 
tribes, appear remarkable.' " 

The following trait, mentioned by Mr. Doty in his report, 
attests their good faith and decision of character : 

"On the 1st of November, six Pends-d'Oreille Indians 
came to this post, and delivered up all the horses that were 
stolen. It appears that they were taken by two young Pends- 
d'Oreilles, and run to the Pends-d'Oreille camp, then hunting 
beyond the Muscle-Shell, under the command of a chief of that 
nation, ' Alexander.' The horses were recognized, by the 
stamps, as belonging to the whites, and the young men con 
fessed having stolen them at this post. A council was held, 
and it was determined that it was a great sin to steal horses 
from the white men who were friendly to them ; that the 
wishes of the 'Great Soldier Chief,' who had been at St. Mary's, 
were known to them, and they had promised compliance 
with them ; that stealing these horses would give the Pends- 
d'Oreilles the name of liars and triflers ; that they had 
always borne a good name, and were ashamed to have mean 
things said of them now ; therefore the horses must be taken 
back by the great chief and five principal men of the tribe. 
Accordingly, they came boldly to the fort and delivered up 
the horses, without asking any reward, but, on the contrary, 
expressing much sorrow- and shame that they had been 
taken. 

"Thus the six Indians' proved themselves not only honest, 
but brave in the highest degree, coining, as they did, five 



288 WESTERN MISSIONS 

days and nights into an enemy's country, simply to do an act 
of justice to strangers. They remained here two days, ami 
on departing were accompanied by Mr. Clark and myself 
fifteen or twenty miles on their journey." 

In regard to the Flat-Heads, the governor says : 

" Lieut. Mullan, in his journal of September 20, relates 
the following incident, illustrative of their noble character : 
4 We had to-night a great luxury, in a string of mountain 
trout, brought into camp by one of our Flat-Head friends. 
Our Indians displayed, on this occasion, a trait worthy of 
notice. They were without meat or any thing to -eat. We 
were without meat, but had a little flour left from our small 
stock of provisions. These being the first fish caught by any 
of the party, they insisted on our taking them. This we 
refused, but they insisted, until we were compelled to accept 
them.' He continues : ' I cannot say too much of the three 
noble men who were with us. They were firm, upright, 
reliable men, and, in addition thereto, entertained a religious 
belief, which they never violated. They did not partake of 
a meal without asking the blessing of God ; they never rose 
in the morning or retired at night without offering a prayer. 
They all knew the country well, and were excellent guides 
and hunters. When they could not find fresh meat, they 
accepted the remnants from our scanty table with the great 
est contented ness.' 

The Flat-Heads recognize Victor as their chief, an Indian 
of the same name being the chief of the lower Pends- 
d'Oreilles. These two tribes usually accompany each other 
in their great hunting expeditions east of the Rocky Moun 
tains. The heroism of the Flat-Heads in battle, and their 
good faith towards others, have been the theme of praise, 
both from priest and layman." 

Speaking of the Coeur-d'Alenes, the governor says : 



AND MISSIONARIES. 289 

"The Coeur-d'Aleue Indians are under-estimated by ail 
the authorities. They have some seventy lodges, and num 
ber about five hundred inhabitants. They are much indebted 
to the good Fathers for making considerable progress in agri 
culture. They have abandoned polygamy, have been taught 
the rudiments of Christianity, and are greatly improved in 
morals and in the comforts of life. It is indeed extraordi 
nary what the Fathers have done at the Coeur-d'Alene mis 
sion. It is on the Coeur-d'Alene river, about thirty miles 
from the base of the mountains, and some ten miles above 
the Coeur-d'Alene lake. 

"They have a splendid church, nearly finished by the 
labors of the Fathers, brothers, and Indians ; a large barn ; 
a horse-mill for flour ; a small range of buildings for the 
accommodation of the priests and brothers ; a store-room ; a 
milk or dairy room ; a cook-room, and good arrangements 
for their pigs and cattle. They are putting up a new range 
of quarters, and the Indians have some twelve comfortable 
log-cabins. The church was designed by the superior skill 
of the mission, Pere Ravalli, a man of skill as an architect, 
and undoubtedly, judging from his well-thumbed books, of 
various accomplishments. Pere Gazzoli showed me his sev 
eral designs for the altar, all of them characterized by good 
taste, and harmony of proportion. The church, as a speci 
men of architecture, would do credit to any one, and has 
been faithfully sketched by our artist, Mr. Stanley. The 
massive timbers supporting the altar were from larch-trees 
five feet in diameter, and were raised to their place by the 
Indians, with the aid simply of a pulley and a rope. 

" They have a large, cultivated field, of some two hun 
dred acres, and a prairie of from two to three thousand acres. 
They own a hundred pigs, eight yokes of oxen, twenty cows, 
and a liberal proportion of horses, mules, and young animals. 

25 



290 WESTERN MISSIONS 

" The Indians have learned to plough, sow, till the soil 
generally, milk cows (with both hands), and do all the 
duties incident to a farm. They are, some of them, expert 
wood-cutters ; and I saw at work, getting in the harvest, 
some thirty or forty Indians. They are thinking of cutting 
out a good trail to St. Mary's valley, over the Cceur-d'Alene 
mountains (on the route passed over by me). They need 
agricultural implements and seeds. 

" The country generally, on both sides of the Coeur-d'Alene 
river and lake, is rolling and beautiful. It is interspersed 
with many small prairies, all affording excellent grazing, and 
most of them adapted to crops. The rolling country could 
be easily cleared, and would yield excellent wheat and vege 
tables. I have no question that all the country, from the 
falls of the Coeur-d'Alene to some distance above the mis 
sion, and thence to near Clark's Fork, a region of three or 
four thousand square miles, is adapted to grazing and culture. 
A small portion will be overflowed by the melting of the 
mountain snows, and another portion will be occupied by 
the mountain spurs or isolated peaks, capable simply of fur 
nishing timber and fuel. 

" The Fathers state that a better site for the mission is 
furnished by a river flowing from the southeast into the 
western end of the Coeur-d'Alene lake, and called by them 
St Joseph's river. It is said to be larger than the Coeur- 
d'Alene river, to have many prairies along its banks, and the 
country generally to abound in wood, grass, and water. 

" On the return of the Indians from the field above spoken 
of, I talked to them in these words : 

" * I am glad to see you, and to find that you are under 
such good direction. I have come four times as far as you 
go to hunt the buffalo, and have come with directions from 
the Great Father to see you, to talk with you, and to do ;ill 



AND MISSIONARIES. 291 

I can for your welfare. I see cultivated fields, a church, 
houses, cattle, and the fruits of the soil the works of your 
own hands. The Great Father will be delighted to hear this, 
and will certainly assist you. Go on ; and every family will 
have a house and a patch of ground, and every one will be 
well clothed. I have talked with the Black-Feet, who prom 
ise to make peace with all the Indian tribes. Listen to the 
Good Father and to the Good Brothers who labor for your 
good.'" 

These details are drawn from the Message of the President 
of the United States to Congress, 1854-5, p. 416. 

Accept, dear Father, my respectful homage, and believe me 
Your devoted servant and brother in Christ, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



292 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XX1L 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Indians of the Rocky Mountains. 

ST. FRAXCIS XAVIEB, Feb. 4, 185G. 
REVEREND FATHER: 

I have just received a letter from Father Adrian Hoe- 
ken, dated Oct. 18th, at the united camp of the Flat-Heads 
and Pends-d'Orcilles, in the region of the great plains, east 
of the Rocky Mountains. The Indians had gone there to 
attend a peace council, held by order of the United States 
Government. Father Hoeken attended, at the express re 
quest of Governor Stevens of Washington Territory, who 
shows every regard to the Fathers, and whose reports to the 
President evince the lively interest which he feels in the 
improvement of the material condition of the Indians under 
our care. 

The Black-Feet, Crows, Flat-Heads, Pends-d'Oreilles, 
Koetenays, and a great number of chiefs of other tribes 
attended the council. It is to be hoped that the stipula 
tions of the new treaty will be ratified by government. On 
the one hand, the Indians promise to remain at peace with 
each other; on the other, the whites and the government to 
aid them by subsidies in educating their children, and by 
farming implements to encourage them to leave their no- 
rnade life and settle in a convenient spot on their own lands. 
It is to be hoped that the council will succeed in realizing 
this laudable plan. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 293 

Father Hoeken tells me that the Indians of our missions 
west of the Rocky Mountains (the Flat-Heads, Pends- 
d'Oreilles, Pointed Hearts, Koetenays, Skoyelpies, or Ket 
tle-Falls Indians), continue, by their regular arid religious 
conduct, to give the missionaries great consolation. He 
speaks also of the good dispositions of the Crows, Black- 
Feet, and others east of the mountains. These Indians 
earnestly solicit missionaries. Colonel Cummings, superin 
tendent of Indian Affairs, who presided at the great Indian 
council, assured me, on his recent return to St. Louis, that 
all the tribes of the Upper Missouri are devoted to us. He 
would gladly use his influence with government for the suc 
cess of our missions among them. Before settling out for 
the council, he expressed the wish that I should accompany 
him to the great Indian assembly. 

In a letter from . JFather Congiato, dated at Santa Clara, 
Nov. 29, that superior of the mission of California and Ore 
gon, speaks of his visit to the missions in the mountains. It 
lasted three months. The following is an extract : 

" The Fathers do much good in that remote region. Like 
his venerable brother, who died on the Missouri in 1851, 
Father Hoeken does the work of several men. He has suc 
ceeded in uniting three nations and a part of the Flat-Heads 
to live together under his spiritual direction. 

"All was going on wonderfully well when I was in Ore 
gon ; now all is on fire. The Indians who live on the banks 
of the Columbia, from Walla Walla to the Dalles, have joined 
the Indians of northern California to make war on the 
Americans or whites, and commit great depredations. One 
of the Oblates (Father Pandory) has been massacred.* The 
last tidings which I received from the mission of St. Paul at 

* This was a false report. E0. 
253 



29-i WESTERN MISSIONS 

- 

Colville, inform me that your Indians express their horror 
for the excesses committed by the Indians, and show no dis 
position to join them in the war. Pray -for your fellow mis 
sionaries in Oregon." 

Several papers in this country ascribe the origin of this 
war to the cruelties perpetrated by some whites on a peace 
ful and tranquil band of Indians. I do not thiuk that our 
Indians will take the least part in the difficulties which have 
arisen between the Americans and the Indians of the Colum 
bia. They will doubtless follow the advice of their mission 
aries, who will divert them from such a great danger and so 
sad a misfortune. Moreover, they are at some distance from 
the actual seat of war, and have had but trifling intercourse, 
if any, with the hostile tribes. 

Do not forget me in your prayers, and obtain prayers for 
the wretched. I have just received a second letter from 
Father Hoeken from the Flat-Head village of St. Ignatius. 
He has several nations there. The conversions among the 
Indians have been very consoling and numerous in the course 
of last year. 

In the name of all the Indians east and west of the moun 
tains, he im'plores me to revisit them. The Black-Feet, 
Crows, Assiniboins, Sioux, and others, incessantly implore 
our aid. These nations are still very numerous. They num 
ber over 70,000 souls. Religious should, before all else, be 
children of obedience. It is the affair of our superiors. We 
shall never cease to aid them by our prayers, and commend 
them in a special manner to the remembrance of the pious. 
Yours &c. 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 295 



Letter XXIII. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
The Flat-Heads. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, April, 1856. 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER '. 

I inclose you a letter of Rev. Adrian Hoeken, brother of 
Christian, whose death you announced in your volume of 
1853, p. 394. 

Father Adrian Hoeken was one of my earliest travelling 
companions in the missionary journeys to the Flat-Heads. 
He has ever labored, and still continues to labor here, with 
the greatest zeal and the most plentiful results. 

I have this month dispatched a perfect cargo to him, by a 
steamer which was about to ascend the Missouri. It con 
sisted of tools, clothes, and provisions of all kinds. The boat 
will go 2,200 miles; then the goods will be transported by 
a barge, which will have to stem the rapid current about 600 
miles ; there will then remain 300 miles by land with wag 
ons, through mountain denies : so that the objects shipped 
in April can arrive among the Flat-Heads only in the month 
of October. 

We hope that other evangelical laborers will soon go to 
assist Father Hoeken. The savages request missionaries. 
We shall perceive that this mission and that of the Pends-- 
d'Oreilles continue to flourish. 



296 WESTERN MISSIONS 



FLAT-HEAD CAMP, IN THE BLACK-FEET COUNTRY, Oct. 18, 1855. 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER *. 

You will thank God with me for the consoling increase 
he has given, through the intercession of Mary, to the mis 
sions which you began in those remote parts. During the 
many years that I have passed among the Kalispels, though 
my labors have not been light and my trials have been nu 
merous enough, God has given me in abundance the conso 
lations of the missionary, in the lively faith and sincere piety 
of our neophytes. We have found means to build a beau 
tiful church, which has excited the admiration of even Lieu 
tenant Mullan, of the United States army. This church is 
sufficiently large to contain the whole tribe, and on Sundays 
and festival days, when our Indians have adorned it with 
what ornaments of green boughs and wild flowers the woods 
and prairies supply ; when they sing in it their devout 
hymns with fervor during the Holy Sacrifice, it might serve 
as a subject of edification and an example to quicken the 
zeal of many an old Christian congregation. There is among 
our converts a universal and very tender devotion to the 
Blessed Virgin, a most evident mark that the Faith has ta 
ken deep root in their souls. Every day, morning and even 
ing, the families assemble in their lodges to recite the rosary 
in common, and daily they beg of Mary to thank God for 
them for having called them from the wild life of the forest, 
spent as it is in ignorance, rapine, and bloodshed, to the 
blessings of the true religion and its immortal hopes. 

The Kalispels have sustained a great loss in the death of 

their pious chief, Loyola, with whose euphonious Indian 

. name, JZtsowish-simmcgee-itshin, " The Grizzly Bear Erect," 

you are familiar. Ever since you baptized this excellent 

Indian chieftain, he was always steadfast in the faith. He 



AND MISSIONARIES. 297 

daily made progress in virtue, and became more fervent in 
the practices of our holy religion. He was a father to his 
people, firm in repressing their disorders, and zealous in ex 
horting them to be faithful to the lessons of the missionaries. 
In the severe trials to which Divine Providence subjected 
his virtue in his latter years, when within a short space of 
time he lost his wife and three of his children, he bore the 
heavy stroke with the edifying resignation of a Christian. 
During his last illness, of several weeks' duration, he seemed 
more anxious to do something still for the promotion of piety 
among his people, than to have his own great sufferings al 
leviated. His death, which occurred on the 6th of April, 
1854, was lamented by the Indians with such tokens of sin 
cere grief, as I have never before witnessed. There was not 
that false wailing over his tomb which Indian usage is said 
to prescribe for a departed chieftain ; they wept over him 
with heartfelt and heartrending grief, as if each one had lost 
the best of fathers, and their grief for the good Loyola has 
not died away even at this day. Never had I thought our 
Indians capable of so much affection. 

As Loyola, contrary to Indian customs, had not designated 
his successor, a new chief was to be- chosen after his death. 
The election, to which all had prepared themselves by prayer, 
to lead them to a proper choice, ended in an almost unani 
mous voice for Victor, a brave hunter, whom you as yet 
must remember as a man remarkable for the generosity of 
his disposition. His inauguration took place amid great re 
joicing. All the warriors, in their great costume, marched 
to his wigwam, and ranging themselves around it, discharged 
their muskets, after which each one went up to him to pledge 
his allegiance, and testify his affection by a hearty shaking 
of hands. During the whole day, numerous parties came to 
the mission-house to tell the Fathers how much satisfaction 



298 WESTERN MISSIONS 

they felt at having a chief whose goodness had long since 
won the hearts of all. Victor alone seemed sad. He dreaded 
the responsibility of the chieftainship, and thought he should 
be unable to maintain the good effected in the tribe by the 
excellent chief Loyola. 

In the following winter, when there was a great scarcity, 
and almost a famine among the Kalispels, Victor gave an af 
fecting proof of his generous self-denying charity. He dis 
tributed his own provisions through the camp, hardly reserv 
ing for himself enough to sustain life, so that on his return 
from the annual chase, when yet at a considerable distance 
from the village, he fell exhausted on the ground, and had 
to be carried by his companions, to whom on that very day 
he had given all the food that had been sent up to him for 
his own use. 

The Indian is often described as a being devoid of kind 
feelings, incapable of gratitude, and breathing only savage 
hatred and murderous revenge ; but, in reality, he has, in 
his untamed, uncultured nature, as many generous impulses 
as the man of any other race, and he only needs the soften 
ing influence of our holy religion to bring it out in its most 
touching forms. We need no other proof of it than the grate 
ful remembrance of all the Indians of their late chief Loyola, 
the generous character of Victor, and the affectionate feel 
ings of all our converted tribes for their missionaries, and es 
pecially for you, to whom they look up as to their great 
benefactor, because you were the first to bring them the 
good tidings of salvation. 

Among our dear Flat-Heads, Michael Insula, or Red 
Feather, or as he is commonly called on account of his small 
stature, "The Little Chief," is a remarkable instance of the 
power which the Church has of developing the most amiable 
virtues in the fierce Indian. He unites in his person the 



AND MISSIONARIES. 299 

greatest bravery with the tenderest piety and the gentlest 
manners. Known amid his warriors by the red feather 
which he wears, his approach is enough to put to flight the 
prowling bands of Crows and Black-Feet, that have frequent 
ly infested the Flat-Head territory. He is well known and 
much beloved by the whites, who have had occasion to deal 
with him, as a man of sound judgment, strict integrity, and 
one on whose fidelity they can implicitly rely. A keen dis- 
cerner of the characters of men, he loves to speak especially 
of those whites, distinguished for their fine qualities, that 
have visited him, and often mentions with pleasure the so 
journ among them of Colonel Robert Campbell, of St. Louis, 
and of Major Fitzpatrick, whom he adopted, in accordance 
with Indian ideas of courtesy, as his brothers. He has pre 
served all his first fervor of devotion, and now, as when you 
knew him, one can hardly ever enter his wigwam in the 
morning or evening without finding him with his rosary "in 
his hands, absorbed in prayer. He cherishes a most affec 
tionate remembrance of you, and of the day he was baptized; 
he longs ardently to see you once more before his death, 
and but yesterday he asked me, when and by what road you 
would return. In speaking thus, he expressed the desire of 
all our Indians, who all equally regret your long absence. 

It was proposed, during the summer of 1854, to begin a 
new mission about one hundred ancf ninety miles northeast 
of the Kalispels, not far from the Flat-Head Lake, about fifty 
miles from the old mission of St. Mary's, among the Flat- 
Heads, where a convenient site had been pointed out to us 
by the Kalispel chief, Alexander, your old friend, who often 
accompanied you in your travels in- the Rocky Mountains. 
Having set out from the Kalispel mission on the 28th of Au 
gust, 1854, I arrived at the place designated on the 24th of 
September,, and found it such as it had been represented a 



300 WESTERN MISSIONS 

beautiful region, evidently fertile, uniting a useful as well as 
pleasing variety of woodland and prairie, lake and river the 
whole crowned in the distance by the white summit of the 
mountains, and sufficiently rich withal in fish and game. I 
shall never forget the emotions of hope and fear that filled 
my heart, when for the first time I celebrated mass in this 
lonely spot, in the open air, in the presence of a numerous 
band of Kalispels, who looked up to me, under God, for their 
temporal and spiritual welfare in this new home. The place 
was utterly uninhabited, several bands of Indians live with 
in a few days' travel, whom you formerly visited, and where 
you baptized many, while others still remained pagan. I 
was in hope of gathering these around me, and God has been 
pleased to bless an undertaking begun for his glory, even 
beyond my expectation. In a few weeks we had erected 
several frame buildings, a chapel, two houses, carpenter's and 
blacksmith's shops ; wigwams had sprung up at the same 
time all around in considerable numbers, and morning and 
evening you might still have heard the sound of the axe and 
the hammer, and have seen new-comers rudely putting to 
gether lodges. About Easter of this year, over one thousand 
Indians, of different tribes, from the Upper Koetenavs and 
Flat-Bow Indians, Pends-d'Oreilles, Flat-Heads, and Moun 
tain Kalispels, who had arrived in succession during the win 
ter, when they heard of the arrival of the long-desired Black- 
gown, made this place their permanent residence. All these 
Indians have manifested the best dispositions. Besides a 
large number of children baptized in the course of the year, 
I have had the happiness to baptize, before Christmas and 
Easter, upwards of one hundred and fifty adults of the Koet- 
enay tribe, men of great docility and artlessness of character, 
who told me that ever since you had been among them, 
some years ago, they had abandoned the practice of gam- 



AND MISSION ARIES. 301 

bling and other vices, and cherished the hope of being in 
structed one day in the religion of the Great Spirit. 

By the beginning of spring, our good Brother McGean \ 
had cut some eighteen thousand rails'; and placed under 
cultivation a large field, which promises to yield a very plen 
tiful harvest. Lieutenant Mullan, who spent the 'winter 
among the Flat-Heads of St. Mary's, has procured me much 
valuable aid in founding this mission, and has all along taken 
a lively interest in its prosperity. I know not how to acquit 
the debt of gratitude I owe this most excellent officer, and I 
can only pray, poor missionary as I am, that the Lord may 
repay his generosity and kindness a hundredfold in blessings 
of time and eternity. We are still in want of a great many 
useful and important articles indeed, of an absolute neces 
sity in the establishing of this new mission. I am confident, 
many friends of the poor Indians may be found -in the United 
States, who will most willingly contribute their mite in such 
a charitable undertaking we will be most grateful to them, 
and our good neophytes, in whose behalf I make the appeal, 
will not cease to pray for their kind benefactors. 

Please make arrangements with the American Fur Com 
pany to have goods brought up by the Missouri river to Fort 
Benton, whence I could get them conveyed in wagons across 
the mountains to the missionary station. 

The Right Rev. Magloire Blanchet, bishop of Nesqualy, 
who in his first visit confirmed over six hundred Indians, al 
though he arrived unexpectedly, when a great many families 
had gone to their hunting grounds, among the Kalispels and 
our neighboring missions, intended to give confirmation here 
this summer. I was very desirous of the arrival of this pious 
prelate, who has done so much good, by his fervent exhorta 
tions, to strengthen our neophytes in the faith. It had al 
ready been agreed upon that a party of Indians should go to 

26 



302 WESTERN MISSIONS 

meet him as far as the village of the Sacred Heart, among 
the Cceur-d'Alenes, about two hundred miles from St. Igna 
tius' mission, when our plans were broken up by a message 
from Governor Stevens, summoning all our Indians to a 
council, to be held some thirty miles off, in St. Mary's or 
Bitter Root valley, at a place called llellgate, whence a 
number of chiefs and warriors were to accompany him to a 
Grand Council of Peace among the Black-Feet. I was ab 
sent on a visit to our'brethren among the Coeur-d'Alenes, 
the Skoyelpies, and other tribes, when I received an invita 
tion from the governor to be present at the councils. I had 
found, in my visit, all our missions rich in good works and 
conversions, though very poor in the goods of this world 
all the Fathers and Brothers were in the enjoyment of ex 
cellent health. v Father Joset, among the Skoyelpies, at the 
Kettle Falls of the Columbia, had baptized a large number 
of adults and children. During the late prevalence of the 
small-pox, there were hardly any deaths from it among the 
neophytes, as most of them had been previously vaccinated 
by us, while the Spokans and other unconverted Indians, 
who said the " Medicine (vaccine) of the Fathers, was a poi 
son, used only to kill them," were swept away by hundreds. 
This contrast, of course, had the effect of increasing the in 
fluence of the missionaries. 

With mingled feelings of joy at all the good effected, and 
of sorrow at the miserable death of so many of God's crea 
tures thankful to God for all his blessings, and submissive 
to the mysterious judgments of his Providence, I set out, ac 
companied by my neophytes, for the Black-Feet territory. 
The grand council took place in the vicinity of Fort Beuton. 
Our Indians, who were in great expectation of seeing you 
with Majors Cummings and Culbertson, were indeed much 
disappointed at not finding you. The Black-Feet, although 



AND MISSIONARIES. 303 

they are still much given to thieving, and have committed 
more depredations than ever, during the last spring, are very 
anxious to see you again, and to have missionaries among 
them. Governor Stevens, who has always shown himself a 
real father and well affected towards our Indians, has ex 
pressed a determination to do all in his power to forward the 
success of the missions. The establishment of a mission 
among the Black-Feet would be the best, and indeed the only 
means to make them observe the treaty of peace which has 
just been concluded. Until missionaries are sent, I intend, 
from time to time, to visit the Black-Feet, so as to do for 
them what good I may, and prepare the way for the conver 
sion of the whole tribe. I hope a new mission may soon be 
realized, for it is absolutely necessary, both for their own 
sake and for the peace of our converted Indians on the west 
ern side of the Rocky Mountains. 

From all I have seen, and from all I have learned during 
this last trip, I may say, that the Crows and all the tribes on 
the upper waters of the Missouri, as well as the various bands 
of Black-Feet, where so many children have already been 
regenerated in the holy waters of baptism, by you and by 
Father Point, are anxious to have the Black-gowns perma 
nently among them, and to learn " the prayer of the Great 
Spirit." The field seems ripe for the harvest. Let us pray 
that God may soon send zealous laborers to this far-distant 
and abandoned region. 

The chief, Alexander, the Kalispel, Michael Insula, and 
the other Flat-Head chieftains, the leaders of the Koetenay 
and Flat-Bow bands, and all our neophytes, beg to be re-' 
membered in your good prayers they, on their part, never 
forget to pray for you. Please remember me. 

Your devoted brother in Christ, 

ADRIAN HOEKEN, S. J. 



30-i WESTERN MISSIONS 

The following extract from a letter of Rev. T. Congiato, 
superior of the Missions of the Society of Jesus in California 
and Oregon, written since the commencement of Indian hos 
tilities, and dated Santa Clara, 29th of last November, will 
perhaps prove not uninteresting to those who take an inter 
est in the success of our Catholic mission. Rev. T. Con 
giato writes : 

" On my return from our missions among the Rocky 
Mountains, which it took me three months to visit, I found 
here a letter of yours full of edifying news, for which I am 
very thankful. Our college here is progressing. The num 
ber of members of our Society is on the increase, and reaches 
nearly forty. All over California, our holy religion is making 
great progress, and priests and churches are multiplying. In 
the Oregon missions our Fathers are doing much good. At 
the mountains, Father Adrian Hoeken, a worthy brother of 
Father Christian Hoeken, the apostle and zealous missionary 
among the Potawatomies, who died in 1851, while on his 
way to the Upper Missouri tribes, has succeeded in bringing 
three nations and a part of the Flat-Heads to live under his 
spiritual guidance. Every thing seemed to be going on well 
when I left Oregon, but now the country appeal's on fire. 
All the Indians living on the banks of the Colombia, from 
Walla Walla down to the Dalles mountains, together with 
the Indians of North California, are in arms against the 
whites, and commit great depredations. One of the Father 
Oblates, Father Pandory, has been killed. Please pray, and 
make others pray for our brethren in Oregon. The last 
accounts I received from St. Paul's mission, at Colville, 
stated that our Indians disapproved highly of the depreda 
tions committed by the other Indians, and showed no dis 
position whatever to join them." 

It may, indeed, bexonfidently anticipated that the Indians 



AND MISSIONARIES. 805 

of the Catholic missions of the mountains who have al 
ways shown great kindness to the whites, and have always 
lived in peace with them, will continue to listen to the good 
counsel and advice of their missionaries, and will abstain 
from any act of hostility. Moreover, they are removed from 
the seat of war, and have seldom had any intercourse with 
the hostile tribes. Most respectfully, dear sir, 

Your obedient servant, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 
26* 



306 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XXIV. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
The Flat-Heads, etc. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, August 4, 1857. 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER ! 

You will find inclosed in this letter a recent letter from 
Rev. Adrian Hoeken, S. J. I hope that it will merit a place 
in your Precis Historiques. In Holland I am sure it will 
afford pleasure. 

****** 
The expression of the sentiments of the poor Indians in 
my regard, fill me with confusion, and I would not have 
sent the letter entire, but that you insisted on my sending 
each piece entire. For the rest, we must never forget, that 
these wretched Indians, deprived of every thing, and neg 
lected by other men, experience an excessive joy for the least 
benefit, and feel grateful to any one who treats them with a 
little attention. A great lesson for our fellow-countrymen. 
Among those whom infidel and revolutionary writers in 
Belgium style savages and barbarians, you could not find 
one enough so to figure in the bands of Jemappes, or even 
in the rioters of Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, and Mons. Here 
the Black-gown is respected, loved. The Indians perceive 
in him the emblem of the- happiness that the missionary 
brings him in presenting him the torch of faith. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 307 

Letter of Rev. Father Adrian Hoelcen. 

MISSION OF THE FLAT-HEADS, April 15, 1857. 
REV. AND BELOVED FATHER I 

Before entering into a few details, I beg you to excuse 
the want of order in this letter. Much time has elapsed 
since I had the pleasure of receiving news from you, who 
have so many titles to my love and gratitude, and whose 
name is frequently on the lips, and always in the hearts, of 
each of the inhabitants of this remote region. Your letter of 
the 27th and 28th of March reached us towards the end of 
August, it was read, or rather devoured, with avidity, so dear 
was it to our hearts. It was remitted to us by our chief, 
Alexander, who accompanied Mr. R. H. Lansdale to the 
Cceur-d'Alenes. Scarcely had we cast a glance at the ad 
dress, and reco'gnized your handwriting, than, not being able 
to contain our joy, all, with one consent, cried out, " Father 
de Smet ! Father de Smet !" You cannot imagine the de 
light your letters afford us and our dear Indians. God be 
praised ! Your name will be ever held in benediction among 
these poor children of the Rocky Mountains. Ah ! how 
often they ask me these questions : " When, oh when ! will 
Father de Smet come to us ? Will he ever again ascend the 
Missouri ? Is it true that he will not come to Fort Benton 
this fall?" These, and many other similar questions, show 
how dear to them is the remembrance of their father in 
Christ ; of him who first broke to them the bread of eternal 
life, and showed them the true way to happiness on earth 
and bliss hereafter. It is not strange, then, that your letters 
should have been read several times, and that every time 
they gave us new pleasure and excited new interest. 

I can never cease admiring Divine Providence, which pre 
sides over all, and which in particular takes care of our be- 



308 WESTERN MISSIONS 

loved missions. Among the unnumbered proofs of its con 
tinual protection, your assistance in our late distress, and the 
liberality of our benefactors, are not less remarkable, nor less 
worthy of our gratitude. Our storehouses wene empty, and 
tli.' war briwi-cn the Indians nearest the seaboard took away 
all hope of procuring other resources. Never, never was 
charity more appropriate, nor received with greater joy. 
May Heaven prolong your days and those of our benefactors T 
May you continue to foster the same interest towards us that, 
until the present moment, you have never ceased to testify ! 
Yes, beloved father, let the recollection of our missions be 
ever equally dear to you. They are the fruit of your own 
heroic zeal, fatigues, and labors. Ah ! never forget our dear 
Indians ; they are your children in Christ, the offspring of 
your boundless charity and your unwearied zeal ! 

During the months of June, July, and August, disease 
raged cruelly in our camp, as well as in that of the Flat- 
Heads. However, there were few victims of its terrible 
attacks. 

Father Menetrey, my co-laborer, visited the Flat-Heads, 
where he had been asked for by the chief, Fidelis Teltella 
(Thunder), whose son was dangerously ill. Later, I visited 
them myself in their camash prairies. A second time, in 
the opening of the month of June, I remained some days 
with them, at HeJlgate, and I distributed medicines to all 
those who had been seized with the epidemic, and a little 
wheat flour to each family. Victor, the great chief, Am 
brose, Moses, Fidelis, Adolphus, and several others, came 
here of their own accord, to fulfil their religious duties. 
Since last spring there has been a notable amelioration in 
the whole nation. Ambrose has effected the most good. 
He had convened several assemblies, in order to arrange and 
pay off old debts, to repair wrongs, etc. The Indians appear, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 309 

however, very reluctant to part with their lands ; they will 
scarcely hear of the dispositions to be taken. 

Father Ravalli labored as much as he could to pacify the 
tribes which reside towards the west, namely : the Cay uses, 
the Yakamans, the Opelouses, etc. As our neophytes hith 
erto have taken no part in the war, 'the country is as safe for 
us as ever. We can go freely wheresoever we desire. No 
one is ignorant that the Black-gowns are not enemies ; those, 
at least, who are among the Indians. Almost all the Coeur- 
d'Alenes, in order to shield themselves from the hostilities of 
the Indians, and to avoid all relations with them, are gone 
bison-hunting. A few days since, Father Joset wrote me 
that Father Ravalli had already written to him several 
weeks before : " I fear a general rising among the Indians, 
towards the commencement of spring. Let us pray, and let 
us engage others to pray with us, in order to avert this ca 
lamity. I think that it would be well to add to the ordinary 
prayers of the mass, the collect for peace." 

If the less well-intentioned Indians from the lower lands 
would keep within their own territory, and if the whites, the 
number of whom is daily augmenting in St. Mary's valley, 
could act with moderation, and conduct themselves pru 
dently, I am convinced that soon the whole country would 
be at peace, and that not a single Indian would hencefor 
ward imbrue his hands in the blood of a white stranger. 
"Were I authorized to suggest a plan, I would propose to 
have all the upper lands evacuated by the whites, and form 
of it a territory exclusively of Indians ; afterwards I would 
lead there all the Indians of the inferior portion, such as the 
Nez-Perces, the Cayuses, the Yakomas, the Cceur-d'Alenes, 
and the Spokans. Well-known facts lead me to believe that 
this plan, with such superior advantages, might be effected, 
by means of missions, in the space of two or three years. 



310 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Our Indians here are doing "well. Last spring we sowed 
about fifty bushels of wheat, and planted a quantity of po 
tatoes, cabbages, and turnips. God has graciously blessed 
our labors and our fields. Here all generally like agriculture. 
We give the seeds gratis to everybody. Our ploughs and 
our tools are also free to be used by them. We even lend 
our horses and oxen to the poorest among the Indians, and 
we grind all their grain gratuitously. But our mill, which 
goes by horse-power, is very small, and we are not able to 
build another. 

Mr. R. H. Lansdale, agent of the government, a very just 
and upright man, has assumed his functions at the Plum- 
trees, a place situated quite near the place where we cross 
the river, a few miles from this. We gave him all the 
assistance of which we were capable. I had indulged the 
hope that the government would come to our aid, at least 
for the building of a small church ; but so far my expecta 
tions have been frustrated. Alas ! are we never to cease 
deploring the loss of our little church among the Kalispels I 
Several of these latter-named, and among others, Victor, on 
seeing the chapel, formerly so dear to them, but now for 
saken and neglected, shed tears of regret. 

When, oh when ! shall the oppressed Indian find a poor 
corner of earth on which he may lead a peaceful life, serv 
ing and loving his God in tranquillity, and preserving the 
ashes of his ancestors without fear of beholding them pro 
faned and trampled beneath the feet of an unjust usurper? 

Several among the Kalispels, Victor and others, already 
have possessions here. However, they have not yet re 
nounced those which they own in the country lower down. 
Twelve very poor habitations are the beginning of our town 
called St. Ignatius. Our little abode, although very modest, 
is sufficiently comfortable. To any other than you, this 



AND MISSIONARIES. 311 

word comfortable might sound singular ; but you, Reverend 
Father, who understand perfectly what it means when ap 
plied to a poor missionary, will comprehend the relative 
application of the word. Our community numbers six mem 
bers. Father Joseph Menetrey, who is missionary, prefect 
of our chapel, and inspector in chief of our fields, etc. ; 
Brother McGean, farmer ; Brother Vincent Magri, dispenser, 
carpenter, and miller; Brother Joseph Spegt, .blacksmith, 
baker, and gardener ; Brother Francis Huybrechts, carpenter 
and sacristan. 

I intend going to Colville after the harvest and during the 
absence of the Indians. 

Father Menetrey, of his own free will, went to Fort Benton 
with a pair of horses. The distance by the great road is 
294 miles. He took horses because we could with difficulty 
spare our oxen, and also because, according to information 
received from Mr. Lansdale, the road is impassable to oxen 
which have not, like horses, iron shoes. Father Menetrey 
arrived at the fort on the 17th of September, and was very 
favorably received by the occupants ; but he was obliged to 
wait some time for the boats. He speaks with high eulogi- 
ums of the Black-Feet, and regrets that he has not jurisdic 
tion in that part of the mountains. He returned on the 12th 
of November. 

How express to you, Rev. Father, the joy that filled our 
hearts, when we opened your letters and the different cases 
which you had the charity to send us ? We each and all 
wept with grateful joy! In vain, the night following, I 
strove to cairn the emotions that these missives, as well as the 
liberality of our benefactors, had produced in my heart ; I 
could not close my eyes. All the community, yes, the whole 
camp, participated in my delight. In unison we rendered 
thanks to Divine Providence, and that day was a perfect hoi- 



312 WESTERN MISSIONS 

iday. The next day, having a little recovered from my ex 
citement, I was ashamed of my weakness. You who know 
what it is to be a missionary ; you who know so well his pri 
vations, his trials, his pangs, you will easily forgive my exces 
sive sensibility. 

I had agreed with Father Congiato that he would send 
your Reverence my lists, as well as the money that he might 
allow me. I was bolder in soliciting your charity and your 
benevolence in our favor, because I knew the love and inter 
est that you bear to our missions ; and that, on the other 
hand, I only executed a plan that yourself had conceived and 
suggested, when, in consideration of the circumstances, it 
would have appeared to every one else illusory and incapa 
ble of execution. 

Scarcely had Father Menetrey gone than I received a let 
ter from father Congiato, in which he said to me : " If you 
think that your supplies can be furnished at a more reason 
able price from Missouri, order them thence, I will pay the 
cost. Write on this subject to Rev. Father De Srnet." liad 
I received this letter somewhat later, I scarcely know what 
would have been my decision ; for it is very doubtful that 
we should have been able to find any one who would return 
to Fort Benton. I entreat you, be so good as to excuse the 
trouble that we give you ; our extraordinary situation is the 
sole excuse that I can offer in favor of our importunity. A 
thousand thanks to you, and to all our benefactors who con 
curred so generously in the support of our missions. I also 
thank our kind brethren in St. Louis, for the very interesting 
letters that they had the kindness to write me. Receive too, 
our grateful sentiments, Rev. Father, for the catalogues of the 
different provinces, the classical books, Shea's Catholic Mis 
sions, the works of controversy, etc., etc. I should never 
conclude did I attempt to enumerate all your gifts, which we 



AND MISSIONARIES. 313 

were so overjoyed to receive. Brother Joseph was beside 
himself with gladness when his eyes fell on the little pack 
ages of seeds, the files, scissors, and other similar objects. 
Accept, in fine, our thanks for the piece of broadcloth you 
sent us; by this favor we continue to be u lack-gowns" 
Ah ! with my whole heart I wish that you could have seen 
us as we were opening the boxes. Each object excited new 
cries of joy, and augmented our grateful love for the donors. 
All arrived in good order. The snuff had got a little mixed 
with the clover-seed, but no matter ; my nose is not very 
delicate. It is the first donation sent into these mountains, 
at least since I have been here. We bless God, who watches 
over all of his children with so much care and liberality, 
even over those who appear to be the most forsaken. 

On the following day I sent Father Joset his letters. I 
found an opportunity that very day. 

It would have been very agreeable to me to receive a copy 
of all your letters published since 1836. The portraits were 
veiy dear to me. I could not recognize Father Verdin's, but 
Brother Joseph knew it at the first glance. Yours was also 
recognized at once by a great number of the Indians, and on 
seeing it they shouted " Pikek an !" It made the tour of the 
village, and yestefday again, an inhabitant of Koetenay came 
to me with the sole intention of " paying a visit to Father 
De Smet." This did them an immense good, only seeing 
the portrait of him who was the first to bear them the light 
of faith in these regions, still overshadowed with the dark 
ness of moral death ; and who first dissipated the mists in 
which they and their progenitors during untold ages had 
been enveloped. Believe me, reverend father, not a day 
passes, without their prayers ascending to heaven for you. 

In what manner can we testify our gratitude in regard to 
the two benefactors who so generously charged themselves 

27 



314 WESTERN MISSIONS 

with the care of transporting and delivering to us our 
cases without consenting to accept the slightest recompense ? 
Undoubtedly they will reap a large share in the sacrifices 
and prayers that daily rise to Heaven for all our benefactors, 
and which are with a grateful heart and the remembrance 
of their beneficence towards us, the only tokens of our 
thankfulness that we can offer them. How noble the senti 
ment which prompted them gratuitously to burden them 
selves and their boats, with the charitable gifts destined by 
the faithful, to the destitute missionaries of the Indians! 
Heaven, who knows our poverty, will reward them with bet 
ter gifts than we could have imagined suitable to their lib 
erality. 

The package destined for Michael Insula, the " Little 
Chief" lies here for the present. He has not yet opened 
it. The good man is abroad on a hunting excursion ; but 
we expect him back in a few days. I doubt not that he will 
be very sensible to these marks of friendship, or, as he usu 
ally expresses it, " these marks of fraternity." He set out 
from here, when he had harvested the grain he had sowed. 
Always equally good, equally happy, a fervent Christian, he 
is daily advancing in virtue and in perfection. He has a 
young son, Louis Michael, whom he teaches to call me papa. 
It is a real pleasure to him to be able to speak of your rev 
erence and of his two adopted brothers, Messrs. Campbell and 
Fitzpatrick. I will give him the packet directly after his 
return, and will inform you of the sentiments with which he 
will have received it, as well as his reply. 

Here in our missions, we already observe all the conditions 
stipulated in the treaty concluded last year by Gov. Stevens, 
at Hellgate. Our brothers assist the Indians, and teach them 
how to cultivate the ground. They distribute the fields 
and the seeds for sowing and planting, as well as the ploughs 



AND MISSIONARIES. 315 

and other agricultural instruments. Our blacksmith works 
for them : he repairs their guus, their axes, their knives ; the 
carpenter renders them great assistance in constructing their 
houses, by making the doors and windows ; in fine, our little 
mill is daily in use for grinding their grain, gratis ; we dis 
tribute some medicines to the sick ; in a word, all we have 
and all we are is sacrificed to the welfare of the Indian. The 
savings that our religious economy enables us to make, we . 
retain solely to relieve their miseries. Whatever we gain 
by manual labor and by the sweat of the brow, is theirs ! 
Through love of Jesus Christ, we are ready to sacrifice all, 
even life itself.. Last year we opened our school ; but cir 
cumstances forced us to close it. Next spring we shall 
have a brother capable of teaching, and we intend opening 
it a second time ; but in the interval we shall not earn a 
cent. During last October, the snow forced Fathers Joset 
and Ravalli and Brother Saveo to return to the Cceur- 
d'Alenes. 

We have done, and shall continue to do, all that lies in 
our power for the government officers. Still our poor mis 
sion has nevr received a farthing from the government. Do 
not think, reverend father, that I complain oh no ! you are 
too well assured no earthly good could ever induce us to 
work and suffer as we da here. As wealth itself could never 
recompense our toils, so privations are incapable of leading 
us to renounce our noble enterprise. Heaven, heaven alone 
is our aim ; and that reward will far exceed our deserts." On 
the other hand, we are consoled by the reflection that He 
who provides for the birds of the air will never abandon his 
tenderly loved children. Yet it is not less true, that, if we 
had resources (humanly speaking), our missions would be 
more flourishing ; and that many things that we now accom 
plish only with great patience and sore privations, and which 



316 WESTERN MISSIONS 

again frequently depend upon contingencies, could be effected 
more rapidly aud with less uncertainty of success. 

In our mission, there are persons of such a variety of 
nations, that we form, so to speak, a "heaven in miniature. 
First, our community is composed of six members, all of 
whom are natives of different lands. Then we have Creoles : 
Genetzi, whose wife is Susanna, daughter of the old Ignatius 
Chaves ; Abraham and Peter Tinsley, sons of old Jacques Boi- 
tenx ; Alexander Thibault, a Canadian, and Derpens. There 
are some Iroquois : old Ignatius is settled here, as well as the 
family of Iroquois Peter. The death of this venerable old 
man is a great loss to the mission. Then we- have Creoles 
from the Creek nation ; Pierrish, and Anson, with his bro 
thers ; then some Flat-Heads ; Kalispels; two camps of Pends- 
d'Oreilles ; then several Spokans ; some Nez-Perces, Koe- 
tenays, Coeur-d'Alenes, and Kettle-Falls Indians ; a few 
Americans, settled a few miles from here; and some Black- 
Feet. All, though of different nations, live together like 
brethren and in perfect harmony. They have, like the 
primitive Christians, but one heart and one mind. 

Last spring, and during the summer following, we had 
several Black- Feet here. They behaved extremely well. 
Among others, the Little Dog, chief of the Pegans, with 
some members of his family. They entered our camp with 
the American, flag unfurled, and marching to the tones of 
martial music and an innumerable quantity of litthe bells. 
The very horses pranced in accordance with the measure, 
and assumed a stately deportment at the harmony of the 
national hymn. 

We held several conferences with the chief concerning 
religion. He complained that the whites, who had been in 
communication with them, had never treated this so impor 
tant affair. So far the best understanding reigns between us, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 317 

and it would appear that all the old difficulties are forgotten. 
May Heaven keep them in these favorable dispositions. Last 
summer the Crows stole about twenty horses from our nation. 
A few days after, others visited our camp. The remembrance 
of this theft so excited the people that, forgetting the law of 
nations, which secures protection to even the greatest enemy 
as soon as he puts his foot within the camp, they fell upon 
the poor guests, and killed two of them ere they had time to 
escape. 

May God bless the government for establishing peace 
among the Black-Feet ! However, as hitherto the means 
have not proved very efficacious, I fear that the quiet will 
not be of very long duration. I trust that our society will 
one day effect a more enduring peace. A mission among 
them would, I am persuaded, produce this blessed result. 
And if to bedew this hitherto ungrateful soil requires the 
blood of some happy missionary, it would bring forth a hun 
dredfold, and the Black-Feet would respect our holy religion. 

I am much distressed at learning that an epidemic disease 
is making terrible ravages among the Black-Feet. Accord 
ing to the last news, about 150 Indians had perished in one 
camp alone, near Fort Benton. When the malady had ceased 
scourging men, it fell upon their horses. Many are dead 
already, and many are dying. We have lost five. Our 
hunters are forced to go to the chase on foot ; for, according 
to their account, all the horses are sick. If the Nez-Perces 
lose their horses in the war with government, horses will be 
very dear here. 

Michael, the Little Chief, has arrived. I presented him the 
gracious gift of Col. Campbell. He was astonished that the 
colonel should think of him, and was much moved at this 
mark of attachment. Then he cited a long list of kindred, 
dead since his last interview with Col. Campbell, and enter- 

27* 



318 WKSTERN MISSIONS 

tained me at length with the great number of Americans 
that he had seen annually passing Fort Hall. He told me 
with what solicitude and anxiety he sought his friend among 
those successive multitudes, and when at length he could not 
discover him, he believed that he was dead. 

Our Indians are bison-hunting, and quite successful. Five 
Spokans have been killed by the Banacs, and six of these 
last killed by the Spokans and Coeur-d'Alenes. The Flat- 
Heads have had a man killed by the same Banacs. Louis, 
Ambrose's son, was killed last fall by the Gros-Ventres. All 
last winter a good understanding prevailed among the Black- 
Feet. Many of them will come, I think, and reside with us. 

The Nez-Perces and the Spokans endeavor to spread a 
bad spirit among the Indians who reside in the country be 
low. They endeavor to communicate their hatred of the 
Americans ; but our chiefs are firm, and will in no wise 
acquiesce in the desire of their enemies. Victor, the great 
chief, and Ambrose, are here again, in order to accomplish 
their spiritual duties. Unfortunately a great antipathy pre 
vails among these tribes. 

Mr. McArthur, formerly agent of the Hudson Bay Com 
pany, has now settled at Hellgate. 

To conclude, Rev. Father, I entreat you to believe that, 
notwithstanding your reiterated exhortations to assure me, it 
is not without a feeling of restraint that I inclose you anew 
the list of things we need this year. I am aware that you 
are weighed down with business ; but who, as well as your 
self, can know and understand our position ? 

I entreat you to present my respects to all my kind friends 
who are at the university, at St. Charles, and elsewhere. 
Your reverence's most respectful servant, 

A. HOEKEN, S. J. 



AND MISSION ABIES. 319 



Letter XXV. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
TJie Potaw atomies. 

TURNHOUT, December 16, 1856. 

REV. AND DEAR FATHER *. 

I am, this day, in the city where one of the most zeal 
ous benefactors of foreign missions, I mean the late M. De 
Nef, resided many years. From this, I shall set out for Hol 
land, and I purpose meeting you again in Brussels, please 
God, in the month of January. 

I yield most cheerfully to the wish you express to publish 
the letter that I addressed, in 1838, to the excellent Superior 
of the Orphanage of Termonde, and of which a fragmentary 
copy was given you at Erps, on the occasion of your pleasant 
trip to the pious servants of Mary and their edifying pupils. 
The original letter will, no doubt, be communicated by the 
house of Termonde. I rely on you for all other pieces you 
may find in your search for manuscripts. 



NATION OF THE POT AW ATOMIES, ST. JOSEPH, July, 1838. 

t 

VERY KIND' MOTHER : 

I received your letter of March 13th, with all your good 
news of Termonde, even dat Charles Geyzel Jcoster geworden 
is. Ongelwyfelt zat het eenen goeden koster zyn* All your 

* " Charles Geyzel is named Vicar. No doubt he will prove a good one. 



320 WESTERN MISSIONS 

communications give me great pleasure and much consola 
tion. I do not forget my native place. Continue, therefore, 
to send me very frequently the most minute details. All 
that a Termoutois can learn of that point of the globe, even 
when he finds himself in an American desert, two thousand 
miles away, amid Indians and wild beasts, is always charm 
ing to him. Indeed, the reception of your letter was a holi 
day for me. 

What shall I say to you, Mother, on all that you write 
me of the actual state of your house, and of the good Ma- 
rolles that the Lord destines to take care of so many poor 
and miserable, under the direction of your worthy director ? 
Ah ! I assure you, I bless God for it, in the sincerity of my 
heart. If he deigns to hear me, he will keep you all, your 
orphan boys and girls, your old men and your children, be 
neath his powerful and holy grace. It is my ardent and 
daily prayer before the altar. I thank you all, teachers and 
pupils, that you do not forget me, above all, in your prayers. 
I hope you will continue to implore the Blessed Virgin to 
protect our poor missions, and obtain for us, from her Divine 
Son, who can refuse her naught, the grace and strength ne 
cessary to overcome the numerous' obstacles which separate 
the savage from the path of salvation. 

You no doubt expect a little recital from the depth of our 
wilderness. Well, I will exhibit you the light and the shade. 
It is just that you, who pray so much for us, should know 
somewhat of the exact state of our affairs. Your prayers for 
us, I am sure will, if possible, increase in fervor. 

First I will narrate to you the great loss that we expe 
rienced towards the end of April. Our superior sent us, 
from St. Louis, goods to the amount of $500, in ornainc'i.ts 
for the church. A tabernacle, a bell, and provisions and 
clothes for a year. I had been for a long time without 



AND MISSIONARIES. 321 

shoes, and from Easter we were destitute of supplies. All 
the Potawatoraie nation were suffering from scarcity, having 
only acorns and a few wild roots for their whole stock of 
food. At last, about the 20th of April, they announced to 
to us that the much-desired boat was approaching. Already 
we saw it from the highest of our hills. I procured, without 
delay, two carts to go in search of our baggage. I reached 
there in time to witness a very sad sight. The vessel had 
struck on a sawyer, was pierced, and rapidly sinking in the 
waves. The confusion that reigned in the boat was great, 
but happily, no lives were lost. The total damage was val 
ued at 840,000. All the provisions forwarded by govern 
ment to the savages were on board of her. Of our effects, 
four articles were saved : a plough, a saw, a pair of boots, 
and some wine. Providence was still favorable to us. With 
the help of the plough, we were enabled to plant a large 
field of corn ; it was the season for furrowing. We are using 
the saw to build a better house and enlarge our church, 
already too small. With my boots, I can walk in the woods 
and prairies without fear of being bitten by the serpents 
which throng there. And the wine permits us to offer to 
God every .day the most holy sacrifice of the mass, a privi 
lege that had been denied us during a long time. We, 
therefore, returned, with courage and resignation, to the 
acorns and roots until the 30th of May. That day another 
boat arrived. By that same steamer I received news from 
you, as well as a letter from my family and from the good 
Carmelite superior. 

Our congregation already amounts to about three hun 
dred. At Easter we had fifty candidates for the first com 
munion. I recommend, in a very special manner, these poor 
Indians, that they may maintain their fervor. The dangers 
and scandals which surround them are very great. I have 



322 WESTERN MISSIONS 

remarked, in one of my preceding letters, that one of the 
principal obstacles to the conversion of the savages is drink 
ing. The last boat brought them a quantity of liquors. 
Already fourteen among them are cut to pieces in the most 
barbarous manner, and are dead. A father seized his own 
child by the legs and crushed it, in the presence of its 
mother, by dashing it against the post of his lodge. Two 
others most cruelly murdered an Indian woman, a neighbor 
of ours, and mother of four children. We live in the midst 
of the most disgusting scenes. The passion of the savages 
for strong drink is inconceivable. They give horses, blankets, 
all, in a word, to have a little of this brutalizing liquid. 
Their drunkenness only ceases when they have nothing more 
to drink. Some of our neophytes have not been able to re 
sist this terrible torrent, and have allowed themselves to be 
drawn into it. I wrote an energetic letter to the govern 
ment against these abominable traffickers. Join your prayers 
to our efforts to obtain from Heaven the cessation of this 
frightful commerce, which is the misery of the savages in 
every relation. 

I visit the Indians in their wigwams, either as a mission 
ary, if they are disposed to listen to me, or as a physician 
to see their sick. When I find a little child in great dan 
ger, and I perceive that the parents have no desire to hear 
the word of God, I spread out my vials : I recommend my 
medicines strongly. I first bathe the child with a little 
camphor ; then, taking some, baptismal water, I baptize it 
without their suspecting it and thus I have opened the 
gate of heaven to a great number, notwithstanding the wiles 
of hell to hinder them from entering. 

During the winter a chief of a neighboring nation brought 
me his child, attacked with a very dangerous malady ; it 
only had a breath of life remaining. The father asked med- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 323 

icine from me. I gave him to understand that his child was 
past recovery, but that I had the means of rendering it, after 
death, the happiest of his nation. I explained to him the 
favors arising from the sacrament of baptism. The chief, 
quite delighted, offered me his son in order to secure its 
happiness, and the child died on the following day. 

I might cite you a great number of other consoling traits 
with which Heaven favors us, but my sheet is too small to 
allow of it. 

I will consecrate this last page to a description of the prin 
cipal incidents of my excursion of 360 miles further into the 
Indian Territories, through the country of the Omahas, and 
in the immense tract of country occupied by the Sioux. 
The object of this journey was to afford the benefit of bap 
tism to some children, to give adults some ideas of our holy 
religion, and to establish a durable and advantageous peace 
between the two nations. Our savages have lived, during 
the last two years, in a terrible dread of this numerous and 
warlike nation ; lately, also, two of our people had been 
massacred. 

I embarked on the Missouri, the 29th of April, in a steam 
boat. I met on board, to my great joy, two old friends : 
the one a French mathematician, Mr. Nicollet, a very learned 
and pious man; the other, Mr. Gayer, a German. These 
gentlemen are making a scientific excursion of 4500 miles 
into the Indian countries. The waters of the river were low ; 
the sand-banks and the sawyers very numerous and difficult 
to pass ; the winds strong and contrary. Our progress was 
very slow. We had many an opportunity to make excur 
sions in the woods and prairies, searching for new minerals, 
which abound in these wilds, and rare and curious plants, 
among which we made some beautiful discoveries. I thought 
of you, my good mother, when I found myself in those 



324 \VKSTKRN MISSIONS 

beautiful parterres. I imagined once, for an instant, that 
you were there, with your little children. I heard your ex 
clamations : " Potten, potten, kinderen f wel,welf .... Dat 
zyn schoone bloemen ! Wie zoudc hct koniten yelooven ? . . . 
Maer ziet, maer ziet / . . . . Komt hier, moeder ; hier heb 
ik eene schoone" etc., etc.* Indeed it was truly the most 
beautiful view one could fancy. When the bell called us 
back to the steamer, I quitted those little parks of wild flow 
ers with much difficulty. I gathered a great number of 
plants, which I preserved iu my herbal. We passed over 
several spots where there were only onions, round, and about 
as large as the marbles children use for play, but excellent 
for eating. In another place we gathered a great quantity 
of asparagus, as thick as a man's thumb. All the passengers 
of the steamboat regaled themselves with it during four days. 
I will tell you nothing of our little encounters with the 
wolves and the serpents; dat zoude het spel vcrbrodden 
(that would dispel the charm). 

On the route, I instructed and baptized, on the vessel, a 
woman with her three children, and heard the confessions of 
a great number of Canadian voyageurs, who were going to 
the Rocky Mountains. 

A tomb attracts attention in these regions ; it is the tomb 
of Black Bird, the great chief of the Omahas. This chief 
became celebrated by the ascendency which he possessed 
over his nation ; he was an object of terror and respect to 
his people, for they believed that he could control life and 
death. The origin of their belief is as follows : He had pro 
cured a large quantity of arsenic, by the aid of a merchant ; 
the latter at the same time instructed him in the method of 



* Vases flower-pots children oh I what a beautiful flower ! Here 
here, mother, I have oue still more lovely, etc., etc. Come here, &c. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 325 

using it; but the wretch soon received his recompense. 
Black Bird invited him to dine with him on a day appointed, 
and adroitly administered to him a good dose of his terrible 
medicine. The merchant, to the great pleasure of his host, 
died some hours after, in frightful torments. Proud of his 
attempt, Black Bird soon meditated a perfidious blow, and 
made great preparation for its execution. He dispatched a 
party of his people to the chase, so as to kill some deer and 
buffaloes for his banquet. The principal warriors and the 
minor chiefs had become jealous of the ascendency that the 
great chief exercised for some time over the nation. Black 
Bird, informed of their discontent and murmurs, invited to 
his feast to the very last of his warriors who had murmured. 
He lavished his attentions upon them, and showed the most 
distinguished marks of cordiality to his guests, wishing 
apparently to be reconciled with them, and to efface the bad 
impression that his hard-heartedness and haughty bearing 
had caused. As soon as each one had emptied his plate, 
and the poison had begun to act on some, he threw off the 
mask, and began to harangue them on the great power of 
his manitou or genius which guided him, and, brandishing 
his tomahawk in triumph, bade them, with sarcasm and bit 
terness, " to intone their death songs, if any warlike blood yet 
circled in their veins ;" adding, with the accent of revenge, 
" that before the sun's rising" it was night " the vultures 
would fly above their wigwams, and that their wives and 
children would mourn over their lifeless corpses." It was a 
night of confusion, tears, fear, and tumult. No one escaped 
the poison ! 

The whole life of this man was a chain of crimes and cru 
elties. Tired of " pouring out blood," as the Indians say, or 
rather pursued by remorse and despair, he allowed himself 
to die with hunger. Before expiring, he gave orders to his 

28 



326 WESTERN MISSIONS 

faithful warriors to bury him on the highest of the hills, an 
elevation of three hundred feet, seated on his most beautiful 
courser, facing the impetuous Missouri, " so that," said he, 
" I can salute all the voyagcurs." His tomb resembles a little 
hillock. It is surmounted by a pole, to which the Indians 
attach a flag. It can be easily distinguished eighteen miles off. 

Our boat passed near the village of the Omahas, com 
posed of about 1400 souls. It is situated at the extremity 
of a beautiful prairie, about three miles in extent, at the foot 
of a little range of hills. No one came to the shore to see 
us pass, fearing, it seems, that the small-pox was on board, 
and might be introduced among them. Only two years ago, 
by an unpardonable imprudence of the captain, this disease 
was introduced into the Indian country by the same vessel, 
and produced ravages frightful and unheard of in the Indian 
annals. Twenty-five or thirty thousand died in a few weeks. 
Of twelve hundred men of the tribe of the Mandans, only 
seven families escaped the contagion. About eighty warriors 
of this little nation committed suicide in the days of calam 
ity, some in despair at the loss of their children and friends, 
others through fear of becoming the slaves of their enemies, 
and the greater number saying that they were horrified at 
the idea of seeing their bodies corrupted while yet alive. 

On the llth of May I reached my destination, and quitted 
with regret my four new children in Christ and my two 
friends. It would have been very gratifying to me to have 
accompanied these two gentlemen in their lengthy course, 
if my health and circumstances would have allowed me, so 
as to visit the numerous nations of the mountains. 

On my arrival among the Sioux, the chiefs and warriors 
of the tribe of Jantons invited me to a feast. All were seat 
ed in a circle in a grand lodge or tent of buffalo hides. Each 
one rested his chin on his knees, the legs drawn close up to 



AND MISSIONARIES. 327 

the body, a position that my corpulency would not allow me 
to assume. I therefore seated myself like a tailor on his ta 
ble, with my legs crossed. Every one received a big piece of 
venison in a wooden trencher ; those who cannot finish their 
portion are permitted to take away it is their custom the 
remains of his plate. I was among this number, and I had 
enough left for two days. 

The repast concluded, I disclosed to them the principal 
object of my visit among them, viz. : a durable peace be 
tween the Sioux and the Potawatomies their neighbors. 
Having discussed the different points, refuted the false re 
ports that divided the two nations, I persuaded the Sioirx to 
make some presents to the children of such of our Potawat 
omies as they had killed, which is called covering the dead, 
and to come and smoke with them the calumet of peace. 
The feast and the council were terminated with the most 
perfect cordiality. The same evening I gave them an in 
struction on the Apostles' Creed, and I baptized a great 
number of their little children. This nation, dispersed over 
a wide extent, reckons 32,000 souls. 

The object of my voyage being attained, I seized the first 
opportunity of returning to my mission. The savages, be 
sides, had already struck the camp to follow the bison, which, 
were moving away. My vessel, this time, was a tree hol 
lowed out, which is called a canoe, ten feet in length, by one 
and a half in width. I could just seat myself in it. Before 
this, I had crossed the river in this sort of craft, but never 
without fear, it being evidently very dangerous ; now I had 
three hundred and sixty miles to descend on the most peril 
ous and most impetuous of rivers, and it was necessary, for I 
had no other way. Happily I was accompanied by two very 
skilful pilots, who, in paddling on the right and left, darted 
with the fleetness of an arrow through the numerous sawyers 



328 WESTERN MISSIONS 

with which the river was filled, the frail bark which the 
slightest shock could overturn. Judge how swift its course 
is : in three days, sailing from four o'clock in the morning 
until sunset, we had passed over one hundred and twenty 
leagues. Two nights only I slept in the open air, having no 
bed but my buftalo-robe, and no pillow but my travelling- 
bag. Yet, I can assure you, that my slumbers were as peace 
able and profound as I ever enjoyed in my life. A good 
appetite, for the air on the water is fresh, prepared us for 
three excellent meals each day. My companions were well 
provided with bread, butter, coffee, and sugar ; the game was 
also abundant, and we had but to select. I never saw so 
many ducks, geese, bustards, swans, and wild turkeys, in 
such a short trip. At our last encampment, attracted with 
out doubt by the sight of the fire which sparkled at our feet, 
a noble stag approached us, trampling with his feet a little 
more, and we might have had our skulls broken in by this 
enraged animal. It aroused the pilot, who, seizing the gun 
that was lying beside me, discharged it about two inches 
from my ear. This report awaked me suddenly, without, 
however, frightening me. 

During my route, except the Sioux, I saw only one Indian 
hunter, and one single village, that of the Omahas. What a 
contrast with the beautiful, little, and populous Belgium ! 
The huts of the Omahas are built of earth, and are conical; 
their circumference at the base, one hundred and twenty to 
one hundred and forty feet. To construct them, they plant 
in the ground long and thick poles, bend and join together 
all the ends, which are fastened to about twenty posts in the 
inside. These poles are afterwards covered with bark, over 
which they put earth about a foot in depth, and then cover 
the whole with turf. They look like small mounds. A 
large hole in the summit, permits light to enter and smoke 



AND MISSIONARIES. 329 

to escape. The fire-place is in the centre, and every hut 
holds from six to ten families. 

A young French Creole conducted his wife to me, to have 
her instructed in our holy religion. He came down with 
her quite recently from beyond the Rocky Mountains, a dis 
tance of eleven or twelve hundred leagues. The recital that 
she gives me of the life led by her nation, the Ampajoots, is 
truly heartrending. The soil is one of the most ungrateful ; 
they have no game at all. If they hazard leaving their 
country, their more numerous neighbors kill them without 
mercy. They are without clothes, without habitations, and 
roarn like wild animals in the prairies, where they live on 
roots, grasshoppers, and large ants. They crush the last- 
named insects between two stones, and make a species of 
cake of them, which they cook in the sun or before a fire, 
to regale themselves with after. This poor Indian woman, 
aged about twenty-five years, had never eaten meat. Her 
astonishment was excessive when she first saw chickens, pigs r 
cows, and oxen, with other domestic fowls and animals, run 
ning about our dwellings. As soon as she is sufficiently in 
structed to receive baptism, I will name her Isabella, and 
you shall Jbe her godmother. Therefore do not forget the 
poor Ampajoot in your prayers. 

Your letter that you mentioned, dated July, did not reach 
me. The distance is about two thousand miles, and the 
dangers are great. My letter to the Carmelites is about the 
same as this. I am, excellent Mother, 

Your devoted servant, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 
28 



330 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XXVI. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Tlie Potawatomies. * 

Father Duerinck, of the Society of Jesus, to Rev. P. J. De Smet, of the some 
Society. 

, 1850. 

REV. FATHER: 

Called from Bardstown college to hasten on and com 
plete the work begun by my predecessor, who for several 
years had presided over this mission, I arrived, early in No 
vember, 1849, at St. Mary's, and was received with the 
warmest welcome by my religious brethren. 

I was accompanied by two lay-brothers. One was to act 
as treasurer, the other as cook. A third brother joined us 
in the course of the fall, and we made him herdsman. They 
also sent a young Irishman to teach the boys in our school 
English, having been for some time deprived of tiat branch 
for want of a teacher. It was intended, too, that he should 
form them to virtue, as far as he was capable. 

We set to work. Although one of the brothers aban 
doned us suddenly, yet, thanks to the protection of the Al 
mighty, we succeeded in covering in the buildings in course 
of erection before the cold set in. 

We cannot here pass over in silence the aid afforded us, in 
our misery, by the Association for the Propagation of the 
Faith. Their charity, which embraces the whole world, 
gave us six hundred dollars, and this sum, increased by the 
five thousand dollars granted by government, as well as sev- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 331 

enteen hundred dollars spontaneously offered by our neo 
phytes, furnished means to lay at least the foundation of 
the work. 

In the early part of 1850 our mission contained seven 
members ; three Fathers and four lay-brothers. The Ladies 
of the Sacred Heart were five. 

Our first care was devoted to the instruction of youth. 
We felt that if we could thereby gain the parents, our school 
would daily increase in numbers, while those of the Baptists 
would be deserted. But the sky became clear and serene 
only after a storm. 

There is in this country a certain class of men called 
medicine-men, or jugglers. Very ignorant, they are distin 
guished only by the pride of their character. They have re 
ceived some vague notions about the Catholic religion, and 
utterly despise the acquisition of the heavenly goods, a love 
of which we endeavor to infuse into the children. They de 
mand from us temporal aid, which our poverty does not 
enable us to give. This gives rise to dissatisfaction, and 
even threats and insults. Some wicked ones made it a 
ground for exciting the people against us. They drew com 
parisons between the Protestant schools and ours. The con 
sequence of all this was, that a great number of boys and 
girls were, so to speak, wrested from our school and taken, 
in spite of themselves, to the Baptist school. Elated by this 
first success, the partisans of that sect did not hesitate to say 
openly that our school and mission would soon close. But 
we are convinced, on the one hand, that there is, in the 
apostolic career, no good enterprise that the devil does not 
seek to embarrass ; and, on the other, relying on the justice 
of our cause, and the almighty protection of God, always 
hoped that this storm would soon pass, and that excited 
minds would resume their ordinary calm. 



332 WESTERN MISSIONS 

We had, too, in a manner, to maintain the war against 
our own neophytes. All who have visited these parts are 
well aware that these denizens of the woods beg their bread, 
whether pressed by want or not, and you constantly hear 
them repeating : " I am hungry." According to one of 
their traditions, they believe that all that an individual pos- 
in private belongs, of full right, to the whole village. 
The previous years, as our Fathers had no scholars to feed, 
they were able to give abundant alms, with a certain pro 
fusion, to the tribe confided to their care, and this was a 
potent means of gaining the affection and esteem of all : but 
circumstances had changed ; we, too, had to change our tac 
tics, and we did not feel that we could give so lavishly out of 
doors what we needed so much within. We had, conse 
quently, to restrict ourselves to aiding, as far as our means 
permitted, those really in distress. As for the others, we 
told them that they ought, by their own labor, to obtain 
wherewith to live ; that such was the law of the Sovereign 
Master, and that if they obeyed it faithfully, they would 
soon have every thing in abundance ; that their health would 
also be better. We especially sought to inculcate that, by 
destroying idleness, the source of all evil, they would soon 
experience in their soul the joy and happiness which a life 
sanctified by the practice of Christian virtues affords. Our 
counsels made some impression on a small number of the 
most sensible ; but for the rest, especially at first, the food 
was too spiritual for them to relish. Hence many, if they 
did not accuse us of avarice, at least, reproached us with 
being too hardhearted. Yet, as there was really no ill-will 
among them, and, by God's grace, they saw all the pain and 
trouble we took for the salvation of their souls, they did not 
long listen to their most deadly enemy, but returned to bet 
ter feelings. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 333 

Towards the latter part of February, Father Hoeken, after 
giving the eight days' retreat in our mission, started for St. 
Louis, whence he proceeded to Michigan, to assist the Pota- 
watomies of that State. It would be impossible to describe 
the joy experienced by these poor men of the woods at the 
sight of a minister of the Gospel, whose great age rendered 
him so venerable, and who proclaimed the eternal truth in 
their own language. Father Hoeken, unable to prolong his 
stay, left them, after a few days, to the great regret of all. 
He immediately returned -to those whom he could so justly 
call his children in Christ, bringing a lay-brother to teach 
the boys. Another brother had joined us, not long before, 
who acted as shoemaker, and, at the same time, endeavored 
to restore somewhat our little church choir, which had 
greatly declined. 

As the Potawatomies occupy a large tract, in order to 
afford more easily the consolations of religion to all the Cath 
olics, we have erected two churches beyond the Kansas, one, 
dedicated to Our Lady of Dolors, is about seventeen miles from 
our residence ; the other, dedicated to St. Joseph, is in a little 
village six miles hence. Before erecting these two churches, 
we agreed that every Sunday one of our Fathers should go 
to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice alternately, in one of the two. 

St. Joseph's village has a Baptist establishment, where 
children are instructed. Boys are mixed up with girls, and 
it is needless to say that this cannot be without detriment 
to morality. The superintendent of the school is a physi 
cian also ; so that, being at the same time teacher, physician, 
and preacher of the Word of God, as he says, he enjoys .a 
triple income not to be despised. He has been among the 
Potawatomies since he was a boy, but all his efforts to win 
them to his doctrines have been thus far fruitless. He had 
formerly one adherent, but one day he happened to sell his 



334: WESTERN MISSIONS 

friends a great deal of strong liquor, vand they becoming 
intoxicated, rushed on the Baptist house and burst in the 
doors with great uproar. In consequence, the only neophyte 
they had in the country was, ipso facto, visited with major 
excommunication as they call it. The Catholics have such 
an aversion for the Protestant ministers, that they will not 
even receive them as physicians. We will cite one fact, 
although we cannot approve it. It will show how greatly 
the Catholics fear being perverted by the Protestants. 

A woman was dangerously ill. As soon as t^e Protestant 
minister heard it he went to see her as a physician, though 
without ceasing to be a minister. When he arrived at the 
sick woman's house he was met by some very stout men, 
who called out : " What brings you here ?" " I come," replied 
the minister, " to bring medicines to the sick person, and I 
am sure that she will be helped." " We have medicines as 
good as yours," they replied, roughly. " If you will not let 
me give her remedies, at least permit me to offer her some 
consolation." "Gently; she needs rest, not consolation." 
"But let me see her." "No, she will not see any one." At 
these words the minister retired, accusing us as the authors 
of his ill reception, and vowing summary vengeance. 

In fact, a few days after, one of our community, called by 
a sick man, went to see him. At the door of the loclg-e he 
found a furious young man, who addressed him in about 
these terms : " The sick man has been confided to my care ; 
the physician does not want him troubled, so that you shall 
not see him." The Father replied in a calm but firm tone, 
that he was a priest and not a doctor ; that he had no inten 
tion of contravening the doctor's orders ; that he gave him 
all due respect ; that he had still less intention of troubling 
the sick person ; that, on the contrary, he came to afford 
him the consolations of our holy religion ; that as he had 



AND MISSIONARIES. 335 

been called in by the sick man himself, he would not go 
without seeing him. On this the young man desisted ; but 
at the very moment the minister, who had kept out of sight 
in the house, appeared and apologized for the young man's 
conduct. 

A Methodist minister also came along. He tried to sow 
cockle among the Potawatomies. As he had resided nearly 
twenty years among the Ottos, he speaks the Potawatomie 
with uncommon ease. He, too, settled in St. Joseph's, 
hoping to gain the people more easily, as they were remote 
from us. He especially endeavored to get the chief (Joseph 
Mechkomi) into his toils. Fortunately, however, he was not 
a man to be caught by words. One day the minister went 
to see him, and found him reading the Bible. " What are 
you reading ?" said he, as he entered. " The Word of God," 
replied Mechkomi. " And what does the Lord say to you ?" 
" He says, ' beware of false prophets, for they will come in 
the form of lambs, but within they will be ravening wolves.' " 
Then, he added, in a still firmer tone, " And do you stop lay 
ing snares for us, or go elsewhere, for here you lose your 
time and trouble." The minister, astonished, took the ad 
vice, and withdrew to another part. 

The following is a general view of the spiritual fruit that, 
with God's grace, we have been enabled to gather this year. 
I will sum up all briefly. Fifty couples have been united in 
the holy bonds of marriage; 36 dead have been buried 
with all the ceremonies of the Church ; we have heard about 
5000 confessions; 117 persons, including 30 adults, have 
received holy baptism. I will relate the conversion of but 
three, because they are the most remarkable, and suffice to 
show us the infinite goodness and mercy of God to sinners. 

The first of these converts, Chawnekwok by name, had 
experienced for years the inward struggle of grace, which 



336 WESTERN MISSIONS 

urged him to bridle his passions and devote himself to God^s 
service; but he had always resisted this appe'al till IK- \v,-is 
was far advanced in years. At last, however, alurm.-d l.y 
the thought of eternal pains, and pursued night and day by 
remorse of conscience, he durst no longer defer, and resolved 
to give himself forever unreservedly to his Creator and Sov 
ereign Lord. Then, painting his face various colors, he weut 
to a priest and imparted his courageous resolve. He told 
him at the same time, that he had selected for his abode a 
spot near the church ; that he would soon return to his fam 
ily to acquaint his wife with his design ; that then, having 
washed his face, he would come back to be instructed in the 
faith. For a month our good old man used every imagina 
ble means to gain his wife to Christ, or at least to bring her 
with him to the village. As nothing could induce her, but 
instead of yielding she only increased in obstinacy, he ad 
dressed her in about these terms : " Go, wretched woman ! 
go on provoking the wrath of the Almighty; for my part, I 
shall not expose myself to the eternal flames of hell on your 
account !" After these words he left her, and came to reside 
with the Christians, Desirous of ridding himself of all that 
had formerly served for the worship of the devil, he placed 
in the missionary's hands a bag full of medicines and herbs, 
begging him to choose such as could really help the sick, 
and to destroy all those to which a magical or a supersti 
tious power was attributed. Some were very strange. To 
some were ascribed power to kill enemies, even at a great 
distance; to" others, power to attract whole herds of stags; 
to others, power of getting the coat, pistol, or other articles of 
a person met on the way. There were some, too, to win the 
friendship of whoever you wished, and to excite, in others 
improper thoughts. All these objects, and many others 
which the devil employs to deceive tlu< pt-oplf, \\viv rommit- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 337 

/ 

ted to the flames, in the presence of the good old man, who 
at the sight felt such profound joy that he could not refrain 
from tears. After a due probation, he received holy bap 
tism. From that moment he changed completely his mode 
of life ; in all the difficulties and miseries of life, he main 
tained so calm and cheerful a spirit, that the missionary 
could not help one day asking him the reason : " Father, 
once our name is inscribed in heaven in the Book of Life, 
nothing should afflict us on this earth." 

Chawnekwok, having seen and felt himself how sweet it is 
to serve the Lord, ardently desired to communicate his hap 
piness to the members of his family. He took especial 
care of a niece aged about eight. By a pious stratagem, 
he-induced her parents to let the little girl come and live 
with him. In three days he taught her all the prayers that 
catechumens are accustomed to learn, and then took her to 
the priest to be regenerated in the waters of baptism. 

He then tried to gain his own son, who, at last, gave him 
as much consolation as he had given him pain at first. 
This young man had formerly been among the catechumens ; 
but he was such a slave to vice, and his relapses were so fre 
quent, that the missionary, finding him deaf to his father's 
counsels and exhortations, had lost all hope of ever gaining 
him, and resolved to abandon him to the tyranny of his 
shameful passions. The pious old man, on learning the mis 
sionary's resolution, threw himself at his feet and implored 
him with tears to take pity on his wretched son, and not to 
give him up; he told him that he would go and see him 
himself, that he would once more beseech him not to resist 
the grace of God, and that he had no doubt that if the mis 
sionary would join his prayers to his, the lost sheep would 
return to the fold. The missionary could not resist this 
touching appeal, and consented to accompany him, more 

29 



338 WESTERN MISSIONS 

\ 

from esteem for the father, than from hope for the son. The 
old man set out at once, although it was midwinter, and he 
had taken nothing that day. The missionary followed him 
closely, and had the consolation of restoring to the strait 
path of virtue this new prodigal child, gained by the prayers 
and tears of his virtuous father. 

God, who shows himself so good and so merciful to the 
greatest sinners, will certainly not forsake those whom he 
beholds leading, amid the shades of heathenism, a more 
orderly life. The Supreme Truth has promised that heaven 
will not refuse ulterior graces, to those who employ well 
what they have. 

The realization of this has appeared in the conversion of 
a woman named Misseniko. She was dangerously sick. 
Although she could not reproach herself with any grievous 
fault, she was not tranquil ; for she knew that without faith, 
it is impossible to please God. Hence, without delay for 
she always did what she deemed the surest and most perfect 
she called in the priest. The minister of the Lord taught 
her what God required of her. She at once asked and re 
ceived baptism. With every desire gratified, she constantly 
exclaimed amid the pangs of sickness : " I shall die will 
ingly ; for I have received holy baptism. I shall see God 
and all his saints for eternity." The conversion of this 
woman is due, we believe, in a great measure to the prayers 
of her daughter, who had gone, a few days before, to receive 
her reward in heaven. Young Misseniko was always dis 
tinguished for her tender devotion to the Mother of God. 
She preserved, with great respect, the scapular which she 
had received at school. She held this object of devotion in 
such esteem that, during her illness, while delirious she 
raised her hand to her scapular whenever it was touched, for 
iV-.-tr any one should deprive her of her precious treasure. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 339 

The pious girl died, and her mother bewailed her bitterly. 
But one night the eldest sister of the deceased saw her, not 
in a dream, as she herself relates, but when perfectly awake, 
saw her all radiant with light, and heard her utter, these 
words : " Why do you weep so bitterly for me ? I am en 
joying eternal happiness. I died in the morning, as you 
recollect, and I remained in the flames of expiation till 
about noon, then the Blessed Virgin delivered me and took 
me up to heaven." Although stones of this kind should not 
be lightly credited, we must nevertheless admit, that the 
Lord is admirable in his saints, and in his manner of guiding 
his elect. 

And, doubtless, the sun of divine justice enlightens all 
men. God wills not the death of the sinner, but that he be 
converted and live. He not only, so to speak, goes forth to 
meet those who come towards him, but he even pursues 
those who fly from him ; he urges, he presses them con 
stantly to do penance, that thereby we may better under 
stand- that what good there is in us, is not due to our own 
merits, but to his sole goodness, to the infinite mercy of 
God. 

Here is a remarkable instance. There was in the south 
ern part of our mission, a man named Kamchas, a slave of 
liquor, and of all the vices which usually attend that bad 
habit. One night, he was suddenly awakened from a deep 
sleep, and seemed to hear a voice cry : " One of your rela 
tives has just died suddenly over the river. Get ready, for 
you will soon follow him." At first, Kamchas took this cry 
for a dream, endeavored to banish the disagreeable idea, and 
get to sleep again ; but the terrible voice troubled him. To 
calm his mind, he crossed the river as soon as it was day 
and came to our village. He had hardly got there, when, 
to his amazement, he heard of the death of a young kins~ 



34:0 WESTERN MISSIONS 

man. You may easily conceive his feelings, his pain, and 
his anguish. One day, while reflecting on the event, and 
more than usually troubled, he met the missionary, who, sec- 
ing him persist in his idolatry, explained to him the duty of 
all men to know and serve one only God, creator of heaven 
and earth. He urged him to determine the course of his future 
life, and to make an humble confession of his faults. Kam- 
chas 'hearkened to the advice. Four weeks after, he came 
to the Father, humbly to solicit baptism ; but, according to 
custom, obtained this favor only after a long preparation. 
The neophyte really put off the old man to put on the new. 
Thenceforward patience, mildness, temperance, diligence, a 
spirit of prayer, and a remarkable devotion to the blessed 
sacrament, were the virtues most resplendent in him. When 
he met any thing difficult, or less agreeable to corrupt na 
ture, he was accustomed to excite his courage by words like 
these : " To become a slave of Satan, you overcame the 
greatest difficulties ; and you cannot surmount a little one 
to be a child of God !" Although, as warned from above, 
he spent but a short time longer on earth, he thus laid up 
the merits of a long life. 

Such are, Reverend Father, the chief benefits recei?ed 
from heaven during the year 1850; and for which, on the 
31st of December, we, with unanimous voices, thanked God 
by the joyous Te Deum. 

Accept, Rev. Father, the assurance of my profound re 
spect. 

Your devoted brother in Christ, ' 

J. J3. DUEBINCK, S. J. 



AND MISSIONAEIES. 341 



Letter XXVII. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 

Excursion among the Potawatomies. 

UNIVEKSITT OF ST. Louis, Feb. 26, 1858. 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER I 

1 send you a copy of a letter that I addressed to Mrs. 
P., a Belgian lady, residing at Brooklyn, near New York. 
She is a great benefactress of the missions. My letter contains 
some details concerning my recent visit to the Potawato 
mies, on the actual and. very critical state of those Indians, 
and of all the nations and Indian tribes in the two new Ter 
ritories of Kansas and Nebraska. 

What I wrote to you in December, 1851, and you pub 
lished in the Precis Historiques, of 1853, pages 398, etc., has 
been literally verified. A great number of towns and vil 
lages have sprung up in it as if by enchantment. The prin 
cipal towns of Kansas are : Wyandot, Delaware, Douglas, 
Marysville, lola, Atchinson, Fort Scott, Pawnee, Lecompton, 
Neosho, Richmond, Tecumseh, Lavinia, Lawrence, Port Wil 
liam, Doniphan, Paolo, Alexandria, Indianola, Easton, Leav- 
enworth, and many others. They differ in population and 
improvements. Lawrence and Leavenworth are the most 
considerable. This latter, which is now an episcopal city, 
contains already more than 8000 inhabitants. They project 
building a Territorial university in the town of Douglas. A 
medical college is established at Lecompton. The Univer- 
29* 



34:2 WESTERN MISSIONS 

sity of Kansas is incorporated and established at Leaven- 
worth. Funds are set apart for the erection of schools, on a 
vast scale. They accrue from the sale of lands granted by 
the United States, which are extraordinarily extensive. All 
fines, pecuniary penalties, escheats, ordained by law, are also 
to be poured into the treasury of the schools and colleges. 

Two months from this, the Territory of Kansas will be 
admitted as an independent State, and will form a portion of 
the great confederation of the United States. There exists 
little doubt, at present, but that Kansas will adopt the laws 
of the free States that is to say, there will be no slavery. 

Good Father Duerinck has left a manuscript concerning all 
that passed in the Mission of St. Mary's. If it would give you 
pleasure, I will send it to you, according as time will admit. 



UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, February 24, 1856. 
MRS. S. P., BROOKLYN, N. Y. 

Madam : I have just terminated a journey of over, 
800 miles, going and returning in the midst of ice and 
snow by the most miserable roads and in wagons, which 
increased the inconveniences of the way. On my return to 
St. Louis, your kind letter and charitable donations were re 
mitted to me. Accept my most humble thanks, with my 
heartfelt gratitude. I will assign the vestment to the mis 
sion of the Flat-Heads, which is very poor in church furni 
ture. I hope to find, in the beginning of spring, a good op 
portunity of dispatching it by the boats of the Fur Company. 
The marine plants will be most acceptable to the Fathers in 
our colleges of Namur and Antwerp, in Belgium, and will 
be admired, I am sure, in the collections of those two estab- 
n " or rnore. madam, receive, one and all, my sin- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 34:3 

cere thanks for the new benefits that you have just added 
to the long list of numerous others, commenced many years 
since ; and for which we have naught but poor prayers to 
render. We shall not cease to address them to the Lord, 
for the happiness of your family ; and I will appeal to our 
pious Indians, that they continue to pray for their kind 
Mothers their good benefactresses. 

The occasion of the voyage, which I have mentioned in 
the beginning of my letter, was a glimmer of hope of being 
able to discover the body of our dear brother in Jesus Christ, 
the Rev. Father Duerinck. Some days after the unfortu 
nate accident, the captain of a steamboat had seen a dead 
body on a sand-bank, near the place of the accident, and 
had buried it. At this news I started to visit that solitary 
grave, on the bank of the Missouri, near the town of Liberty. 
He, whom this grave contained, was not the brother, the 
cherished friend and relative I sought. His dress denoted a 
hand on some boat. I was very much grieved. Our peti 
tions so far have not been heard. We hope, however, that 
the great St. Anthony of Padua, implored by so many pious 
souls, will be propitious ; and I beg you to be so kind as to 
join your prayers with these fervent invocations. It would 
be a source of consolation could we find the lost remains of 
Father Dueriuck, and inter them in consecrated ground, be 
side his brethren who have preceded him. 

From the town of Liberty I repaired to St. Mary's, in 
order to regulate some affairs there. I began the mission of 
the Potaw atomies in 1838. My heart seemed to dilate 
among these good children of the plains, where, in former 
days, I had found so many consolations in the exercises of 
the holy ministry. I had the happiness of seeing a great 
number of Indians approach Holy Communion, with the 
deepest recollection. From the altar I addressed them some 



344: WESTERN MISSIONS 

words of consolation and encouragement in the service of 
the Divine Pastor. They have great need, especially at 
present, for the whites have surrounded them on all sides; 
and they will soon hem them in more closely on their own 
little reserves, or portions of earth that the government has 
granted them. 

I am aware, madam, that you take a deep interest in the 
welfare of the poor Indians. Allow me, therefore, to con 
verse with you some moments on their position in general, 
and in particular of what concerns the Indians of St. Mary's 
among the Potawatomies. 

At the period of my arrival among the Potawatomies (in 
1838), the nation numbered beyond 4000 souls. It is now 
reduced to 3000, of whom 2000 are Catholics. All the sur 
rounding tribes have diminished in the same ratio. 

To what are we to attribute this rapid decrease of the In 
dian race ? This is one of those mysteries of Providence 
that all the sagacity of philosophy has in vain endeavored 
to penetrate. The immoderate use of intoxicating liquors, 
change of climate and of diet, vices, pestilential maladies (all 
these evils which contact with the whites produces among 
savages), improvidence and want of industry, all, united or 
singly, give, it appears to me, but an imperfect solution of 
this great problem. Whence is it that the red-man bends 
with such difficulty to the manners and customs of the Euro 
pean race? Whence is it again, that the European race 
refuses so obstinately to sympathize with the red race ; and 
notwithstanding its philanthropy, or love of mankind, seems 
rather disposed to annihilate than to civilize these poor chil 
dren, offspring of the same Father ? Whence springs that 
insurmountable barrier between the two races ? Whence is 
it that the stronger pursues the weaker with such an ani 
mosity, and never relents until the latter is overthrown ? 



AND MISSIONARIES. 345 

There is involved in this, perhaps, a secret that none but the 
Judge Supreme can explain. 

Often when I reflect on the position of so many barbarous 
nations, who formerly were the owners of immense countries, 
and which are at the present day in imminent danger of be 
ing totally dispossessed by another people, I call to mind the 
primitive inhabitants of Palestine, who, masters also of one 
of the most beautiful countries in the world, saw themselves 
deprived of it by a severe but most just judgment of the Cre 
ator, whose menaces they had despised and whose glory they 
had profaned. Like the Canaanites, the savage tribes", taken 
in general, have been punished gradually. Perhaps they, like 
them, have been too long deaf to the divine voice, inviting 
them to quit their gross errors and embrace the doctrines of 
truth. Who has entered into the councils of Eternal Wis 
dom? Who can accuse his judgments of injustice? Can 
not God, to whom the whole creation belongs, dispose of his 
property according to his own good pleasure ? But in dis 
playing his justice, he forgets not his mercy. Here below 
he strikes only to heal. His divine heart is ever open to 
those even whose iniquities he punishes. 

The melancholy changes to which the condition of the 
Indian has been subjected within a few years, has led me to 
these mournful reflections. Under the administration of 
President Pierce, the whole vast Indian country within the 
Rocky Mountains, comprehended in the Vicariate of Bishop 
Miege (except a little portion situated towards the south), has 
been organized into two territories, known under the names 
of Kansas and Nebraska ; that is to say, that the Congress 
has decreed that this country is incorporated into the Union 
and open to the whites who are willing to settle there, in 
order to form, after a lapse of time, two States, similar, in all 
respects, to the other States of the great republic. Although, 



34:6 WESTERN MISSIONS 

for the moment, the new colonists have orders to respect the 
territories or the lands reserved to the savages, we may 
nevertheless say that this decree has virtually destroyed all 
the Indian nationalities. Scarcely was the law known than 
the emigrants, like the waters of a great river which has 
overflowed its banks, impetuously passed the barrier and 
inundated the country. Now see the poor Indians sur 
rounded by white men, and their reserves forming little 
more than islets arnid the ocean. The savages, who before 
had vast countries for their hunting-grounds, are at present 
restricted within narrow limits, having naught for subsist 
ence but the product of their farms, which few of them 
know how to cultivate properly. Again, this state is 
only precarious. Unless they hasten to divide their lands 
and become citizens, they are in danger of losing all, and 
of being naught but vagabonds. How replete with diffi 
culties is such a change ! What a stormy and tempestu 
ous future for these unfortunate tribes ! The evil is great, 
but it is one that must be encountered, since there is no 
remedy. The Indians, even the most advanced in civiliza 
tion, seem to us ill prepared to meet all the exigencies of 
their situation. 

In order to form a just idea of their critical position, and 
of the melancholy consequences which will be the result, 
unless restrained by a special protection of Divine Provi 
dence, imagine two societies one representing the manners 
and customs of barbarians, the other all the splendor of 
modern civilization coming in contact. How many years 
will elapse before there will be a perfect fusion between the 
two societies, before unison will exist, before they can dwell 
together in complete harmony? Much time will be required 
ere the barbarous state will attain the height of the civilized ! 
Neither the first, nor the second, nor tHfc third generation, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 34:7 

notwithstanding untiring efforts, would obtain that happy 
result, such as the thing is understood in our days. Hence, 
previous to a perfect fusion between the societies, the civil 
ized society will have the advantage over the barbarous ; it 
will have it entirely at its mercy, to make it subservient to 
its will and pleasure, in a word, the barbarian can no bet 
ter sustain itself in presence of civilization, than the sim 
plicity of childhood can contest against the malicious pru 
dence of mature age. This, in my opinion, is what will be 
realized in the Great Desert, when the copper-colored race 
will come in contact with the white. The judgment of the 
savage is not sufficiently ripe to be able to compete with the 
wisdom of man born in the bosom of civilization. It is this 
conviction which fills us with anxiety for the future of our 
dear neophytes in the different missions: We confide solely 
in Divine Goodness, which, we hope, will not fail to come to 
the help of his children. 

It was not difficult to descry from afar that grand event 
which must engulf, in one common wreck, all the Indian 
tribes. The storm which has just burst forth over their heads 
was long preparing ; it could not escape the observing eye. 
We saw the American republic soaring, with the rapidity of 
the eagle's flight, towards the plenitude of her power. Every 
year she adds new countries to her limits. She ambitioned 
nothing less than extending her domination from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific, so as to embrace the commerce of the whole 
world, and dispute with other mighty nations the glory of 
pre-eminence. Her object is attained. All bend to her 
sceptre ; all Indian nationality is at her feet. Far be it from 
us, however, to accuse the noble republic of injustice and 
inhumanity in her late treaties. It seems to us, on the con 
trary, that no nation has ever furnished them more means of 
civilization. If any one must be blamed on his point, it is 



348 WKSTKRN MISSIONS 

rather private persons, new colonists, who act and place 
themselves in direct opposition with the good intentions of 
the government in behalf of the savages. 

But though the future appears sombre and melancholy, 
the past, at least, leaves not the missionaries comfortless. In 
the space of the last ten years, our Fathers at Saint Mary's 
have baptized beyond four hundred adults, and a great num 
ber of children. The Gospel seed has not fallen on sterile 
soil. The greater part of these neophytes have always given 
proofs of a strong faith aud of a tender piety. The heart of 
the missionary is soothed with an unspeakable joy, on wit 
nessing their assiduity in the church, their ardor in approach 
ing the sacraments, their resignation in sickness, their natu 
ral charity, exercised especially in regard to the poor, the 
orphans, and the sick ; and, above all, their zeal for the con 
version of unbelievers. They are styled savages, or Indians; 
but we may boldly assert that, in all our great cities, and 
everywhere, thousands of whites are more deserving of this 
title. 

A great number of Potawatomies have made considerable 
progress in agriculture, and live in a certain degree of afflu 
ence. The whites who pass by, and visit the little territory 
of the Potawatomies, especially in the environs of St. Mary's 
mission, are agreeably surprised. They find it difficult to 
believe that they are among Indians. 

It must be acknowledged that the Potawatomies have 
been specially favored by Heaven. During the last quarter 
of a century, they have had the happiness of having Black- 
gowns among them ; and, during sixteen or seventeen years, 
they have Ladies of the Sacred Heart, for the education 
of their girls. The mission, on its present footing, with its 
two schools, for girls and boys, is a double advantage for 
those good people. The children acquire there, with religious 



AND MISSIONARIES. 349 

instruction, the love of industry; the adults find employ 
ment in it, and hence a means of subsistence. They see, by 
the manual labor of our brothers, what man can acquire by 
diligence. 

We may add, that God has treated the Potawatomies with 
great predilection. He has willed that several nations 
should contribute to their salvation. Such are, among others, 
Belgium, Holland, Prance, Ireland and Italy, Germany, 
Canada, and the United States. Each of these countries 
has offered them material aid and missionaries. Mgr. Miege 
has resided among them four years ; hence their humble tem 
ple, constructed of logs, has been exalted to the rank of 
cathedral. 

In the critical conjuncture in which they stand at present 
on the eve of forming a last treaty with the Government of 
the United States, a treaty of life or death for this poor 
tribe they have, in the person of Colonel Murphy, the agent 
of the government, an advocate, a protector, and the best of 
fathers. This, madam, leads me to hope that God has very 
particular designs of mercy over them, and that he will 
never .forsake them. In the moment of danger, you, I am 
confident, will not forget them in your charitable prayers. 

Be so kind as to recall me to the kind remembrances of 
Mr. and Mrs. B., and of Miss R., and believe me, with the 
most profound respect and esteem, madam, 

Your most humble and most obedient servant, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



I have the honor to be, reverend and dear Father, 
Revee. Vse. in Xto., 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 
30 



350 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XXVI II. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 

The Osages. 

BRUSSELS, December, 185-. 
REV. FATHER: 

I send you three letters of the Rev. F. Bax, deceased. 
The two first, under date of the 1st and 10th of June, 1850, 
have been published, in part, in the " Annals of the Propaga 
tion of the Faith," in the month of May, 1852 ; the third has 
not been published, that I am aware of; it is the last letter 
written by the Rev. F. Bax. You are well acquainted with 
the merit of this man of God, so prematurely removed from 
his labors. I have already given a biographical sketch in a 
letter to the " Precis Historiques." 

First Letter of Father Bax to Father De Smet. 

MISSION OF ST. FRANCIS HIERONYMO, AMONG THE OSAOES, June 1, 1850. 
REV. AND VERY DEAR FATHER: 

Already three years have elapsed since we commenced 
the toils of our mission. I will say nothing to you of the 
embarrassments inseparable from such an enterprise; you 
are too well acquainted with this ground, and tire aware, 
also, that to prepare it for cultivation, exacts the courage that 
Christian charity alone can inspire. I will not, therefore, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 351 

stop to relate the obstacles, the fatigues of every sort, that we 
encountered in our route. At present, the burden is allevi 
ated ; particularly since the arrival of a teacher and of a 
brother, the affairs of the mission are extending, and wear a 
much more favorable aspect. 

I profit by my earliest leisure moments, to satisfy the de 
sire that you have several times testified to me, of having 
some details concerning our dear mission of the Osages. I 
hope, in this way, to offer you a slight testimony of our 
gratitude for the interest you take in our labors and in our 
success. These marks of attention, on your part, Reverend 
Father, give us the assurance that, if momentarily you re 
main remote from your dear Indians, your heart neverthe 
less sighs continually towards our poor and isolated children 
of the wild solitude. 

You are aware, that this mission was, during several years, 
in the hands of the Presbyterians. They were obliged to 
abandon it in 1845. Those gentlemen were forced to come 
to this resolution by the Indians themselves, who were fully 
determined never to adopt the doctrine of Calvin. In the 
course of the same year, Major Harvey, superintendent of 
the Indian tribes, having assembled in Council the different 
tribes of the Osage nation, exposed to them, in the liveliest 
colors, the advantages of a good education ; he added, that 
if such should prove their will, their Great Father (the Presi 
dent) would send them missionaries to instruct their chil 
dren. At this proposition, the Great Chief replied, in the 
name of the Council : 

" Our Great Father is very kind ; he loves his red-skinned 
children. Hear what we have to say on this subject. We 
do not wish any more such missionaries as we have had dur 
ing several years ; for they never did us any good. Send 
them to the whites ; perhaps they may succeed better with 



352 WESTERN MISSIONS 

them. If our Great Father desires that we have missiona 
ries, you will tell him to send us Black-gowns, who will 
teach us to pray to the Great Spirit in the French manner, 
Although several years have elapsed since they have visited 
us,* we always remember this visit with gratitude; and we 
shall be ever ready to receive them among us, and to listen 
to their preaching." 

The superintendent, a just and liberal man, wished only 
the welfare of the Indians. Although a Protestant, he com 
municated this reply to the Government, and supported and 
confirmed it with his own remarks and observations. In 
pursuance with his advice, the President had recourse to the 
Superiors of our Society, requesting them to assume the 
charge of this mission. 

At first, the Father Provincial offered some objections, 
knowing that no one had yet been able to succeed in ameli 
orating the condition of this people, under the double rela 
tion of spiritual and temporal. In the interval, the Indians 
were in the most painful uncertainty, not knowing whether 
the " Great Father" would grant or refuse them their peti 
tion. But they were soon satisfied; our Society accepted 
the mission. 

In the autumn of 1846, the Reverend F. Schoenmakers 
quitted St. Louis to go to the Osages, with the intention of 
returning, after having examined the state of affairs, the 
houses, etc. He came back to St. Louis in midwinter, and 
his second departure was retarded until the following spring. 

After Father Schoenmakers had left them, the poor In 
dians counted the days and the hours until spring, at which 



* The Very Reverend M. de la Croix, now Canon at Ghent, had vis 
ited the Osages in 1820. Father Van Quickenborne visited them sev 
eral years later, as well as the Rev. Mr. Lutz. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 353 

time he promised to return to them ; but they waited in 
vain ! The year glided past ; they lost all hope of seeing 
him again. Nevertheless, they were resolved to accept none 
but Catholic missionaries. 

When all our preparations were completed, Father Schoen- 
makers, myself, and three coadjutor brothers, quitted St. 
Louis on the 7th of April, 1849, and we arrived on the bank 
of the Neosho, a tributary of the Arkansas, situated about 
130 miles from Westport, frontier town of the State of 
Missouri. 

To you, my dear Father, who have many times traversed 
the great wilderness of the West, in its whole extent, from 
the States to the Pacific, who have travelled over the Rocky 
Mountains and (heir valleys our pains, troubles, and fatigues 
must appear truly insignificant. But this trial was very 
severe to us, who were entering, for the first time, into the 
immense prairies of the Indians, which we had only measured 
according to the deceptive images of our imagination. Tru 
ly, the reality appeared to us very different. We endured 
hunger, thirst, and cold. For a fortnight we were obliged 
to pass our nights in the open air, in the dampest season of 
the year, each having naught for a bed but a buffalo-hide 
and a single blanket. 

About 100 miles from Westport we had a panic. Ar 
rived at a place named " Walnut Grove," we perceived, in 
the distance, a large troop of mounted Indians, who turned 
directly towards us. Unaccustomed to such sights, we were 
seized with great anxiety, which soon changed to genuine 
fright ; for we saw those savages, on approaching us, alight 
from their horses with extraordinary agility. At once they 
took possession of our carts and wagons, which we fancied 
destined to pillage. They examined our chests and our bag 
gage as minutely and coolly as old custom-house officers. 



354 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Happily we recovered from our fright. We presented them 
some rolls of tobacco. They shook hands with us in token 
of friendship. Sooii after we lost sight of them, congratu 
lating ourselves at having escaped at so trifling an expense. 
An idea, however, occupied us : they might repent of their 
benevolence towards us, and attack us and steal our horses 
during the night. We consequently left the ordinary route, 
and went and camped far in the plain. These Indians, as 
we learned later, belonged to the nation of Sauks, and had 
been paying a visit to their allies, the Osages. 

On the 28th of April we reached our destination, to the 
great surprise and delight of the Indians ; for, as I have al 
ready observed to you, they had resigned the hope of seeing 
us. It would be impossible to paint to you the enthusiasm 
with which we were received. They considered us as men 
whom the Great Spirit had sent to teach them the good 
news of salvation ; to trace out to them the path to heaven, 
and to procure them, also, earthly peace and plenty. 

At the first sight of these savages, and finding myself sur 
rounded by these children of the desert, I could not suppress 
the pain I felt. I saw their sad condition. The adults had 
only a slight covering over the middle of the body ; the lit 
tle children, even as old as six or seven years, were wholly 
destitute of clothing. Half serious, half jesting, I thought 
that a truly savage portion of the Lord's vineyard had been 
given me to cultivate ; but I did not lose courage. The ob 
ject of my desires, and the subject of ray prayers, during 
many long years, had been to become a missionary to the 
Indians. That grace was obtained; I felt contented and 
happy. 

On our arrival, we found the houses unfinished, very 
inconvenient, and much too small for a great number of 
children; they were also very badly situated, not being, as 



AND MISSIONARIES. 355 

they should have been, in the centre of all the villages which 
compose the mission. From this resulted an increase in the 
number and difficulties of our occupations. 

The population of the tribes (comprised under the name of 
Great Osages and Little Osages), is nearly 5000 souls, of 
whom 3500 reside on the banks of the Neosho ; and the oth 
ers on the Verdigris, a little river smaller than the former, 
although the valleys and the prairies that it waters are more 
favorable to culture. 

The Osages who remain on the banks of the Neosho are 
divided into several villages. The Little Osages form a pop 
ulation of 1500 souls, and are twenty-two miles from the 
mission. The village of Nanze-Waspe contains six hundred 
inhabitants, at a distance of twelve miles; the village Bif- 
chief is composed of three hundred souls, four miles; the 
Weichaka-Ougrin, of five hundred, three miles; Little-Town 
numbers three hundred inhabitants, and is thirty miles dis 
tant ; Bif-hill, or Passoi-Ougrin, situated on the Verdigris, 
forty miles, off, has a population of six hundred souls ; les 
Cheuiers, or Sanze-Ougrin, amount to nearly seven hundred, 
fifty -five miles ; the Black-Dog, or Skankta-Sape, village, sixty 
miles off, contains four hundred inhabitants. There are, be 
sides, other small villages, dispersed at a great distance from 
us. The two rivers on which they dwell empty into the Ar 
kansas. The lowlands are in general swampy, but the plain 
of the Neosho is sandy. 

Formerly the Osages were represented as cruel and per 
verse, addicted to the most degrading vices ; calumny de 
picted them as thieves, assassins, and drunkards. 

To this last reproach, I am grieved to say they have given 
occasion ; they are passionately fond of intoxicating liquors. 
The effects of this vice had becoyie so terrible that, on our 
arrival, entire tribes were nearly destroyed. In the spring 



356 WESTERN MISSIONS 

of 1847, in one village alone, thirty young men, in the prime 
of life, were victims to strong drink. I have met men, 
women, and children, in a complete state of intoxication, 
Dragging themselves to their wigwams like so many brutes. 
This spectacle, my dear Father, drew forth many tears and 
si<*hs from those who had been selected and sent to labor for 
the happiness and salvation of these unfortunate beings. It 
was extremely painful to look at those sons of the wilderness, 
delivered to the enemy of God and man. Thanks to our 
Lord, the evil was extirpated at its root ; the advice of a 
kind and very worthy agent of government, as well as our 
own efforts, have succeeded so well, that drunkenness has 
been almost completely banished. Daily prayers are offered 
that this crime, and all the miseries which arise in its train, 
may not appear among us. At present, the Indians them 
selves comprehend the necessity of temperance. Several 
among them come frequently to tell me, with great simpli 
city, that they do not fall into this vice any more. These 
savages exhibit in their stoical resolutions, a degree of cour 
age that should excite a blush on the cheek of many a white 
man. 

Those who call them thieves and assassins have calumni 
ated them. Some bauds of thieves, going from the north to 
the south, cross the settlements of the Osages, as well as 
those of the whites who inhabit the frontiers. It is their 
trade to steal every thing and carry all away, and in. such a 
manner that the Osages have been accused of the thefts. 
We may say as much of the pillages committed on the route 
to Santa Fe. 

According to my experience, there are few nations, in this 
region, as affable and as affectionate as the Osages. Indeed, 
it may be said, that it is natural to them to wish to live in 
peace and perfect friendship with all whom they know. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 357 

Peace and harmony reign among them ; no harsh words 
ever escape their tongues, unless when they have drunk to 
excess. Now they are at peace with all the tribes, except 
with the Pawnee-Mahas, whose manner of acting towards 
them would inspire aversion in civilized people as well as in 
barbarians. Scarcely are the Osages gone forth to hunt, 
than the Pawnees, who wait this moment, fall on their un 
defended villages, pillage the wigwams, and steal the horses. 
The Osages have frequently made peace with this nation ; 
but the treaties have hardly been ratified, ere the perfidious 
enemy renewed its attacks. 

I have long but vainly endeavored to put an end to the 
cruel mania of taking off the scalps of the dead and wounded. 
In this project, as in many others, I have been checked by 
the bad counsels and bad examples of the whites. I should 
be pleased to be able to tell the savages, with whom I am 
charged, to imitate the whites, and it would be most agree 
able to me to propqse them as models of imitation ; but my 
words would be very ineffectual. Here, as formerly in Pa 
raguay, the Indian derives no advantage from the vicinity of 
the whites ; *on the contrary, he becomes more artful, more 
deeply plunged in vice, and finding no blasphemous words 
in his own tongue, curses his God in a foreign language. 

To demonstrate to you the evil effects of the proximity of 
the whites, I will cite you a little anecdote. The fact oc 
curred about a year ago. I was giving an instruction in a 
village named Woichaka-Ougrin, or Cockle-Bird. The sub 
ject was intemperance. I spoke of the evil consequences of 
this passion, of its effects on the health, of the rapidity with 
w T hich it conducts men to the tomb, or separates them from 
their wives and their children, whom the Great Spirit had 
intrusted to them. I added that the pleasure attending 
drinking was extremely short, while the punishment would 



358 WESTERN MISSIONS 

be eternal. As I was concluding, Shape-shin-kaouk, or The 
Little Beaver, one of the principal men of the tribe, arose 
aud said to me: "Father, what thou sayest is true. We 
^believe thy words. We have seen many buried because they 
loved and drank fire-water. One thing astonishes us. We 
are ignorant ; we are not acquainted with books ; we sever 
heard the words of the Great Spirit : but the whites, who 
know books, who have understanding, and who have heard 
the commandments of the Great Spirit, why do they drink 
this fire-water ? why do they sell it to us ? or why do they 
bring it to us, while they know that God sees them ?" 

I will now enter into some more particular details concern 
ing our missions and our label's. Immediately after our ar 
rival in the spring of 1847, our first care was to prepare a 
school. It was opened on the 10th of May. The scholars 
were not very numerous at the commencement ; some half- 
bloods and three Indians were the only ones that presented 
themselves. The parents, full of prejudices against a "school," 
gave for excuse, that the children who had been confided to 
the former missionaries (the Presbyterians), had learned 
nothing, had been whipped every day, made to work con 
tinually, and at last ran away: These reports spread far 
and wide. The most efficacious correction that a father 
could employ against a child, was to threaten it with being 
sent to school. I had proofs of this a short time after our 
arrival. In one of my visits to a village of Little Osages, 
called Hu?egta, having an interpreter with me, I entered 
into the lodge of the first chief. On presenting myself, I 
offered my hand in token of friendship. " Who are you ?" 
said he to me. " A tapouska, or missionary," was the reply. 
During some moments, he hung his head without uttering a 
word. Then raising his eyes, he said, in a bad humor : 
"The missionaries never did any good to our nation." The 



AND MISSIONARIES. 359 

interpreter answered that I did not belong to the class of 
missionaries that he had seen ; that I was a French tapouska, 
a Black-gown, who had come at their request and at that of 
their "Great Father." Then serenity reappeared on the 
visage of the chief, and he cried out, " This is good news." 
He immediately offered me his hand, called his wife, and or 
dered buffalo-soup, wishing to feast my arrival. He pro 
posed several questions relative to the manner in which I 
would educate the children, if they were sent to me; he de 
clared to me that he did- not approve of whipping the chil 
dren ; he asked me, in fine, if we would instruct aged per 
sons. When I told him that we came to instruct everybody, 
to announce the word of God to the whole nation, he ex 
pressed much delight and gratitude. As soon as he knew 
us and learned the object of our visit, his prejudices and his 
appsehensions vanished. 

At my first visits, the children would not approach me. 
I dissipated their fears by giving them cakes or marbles, with 
which my pockets were always filled. They became familiar, 
and in a short time they were extremely attached to me. 
The first who came to school, being very happy, expressed 
their satisfaction and their delight to their parents, praising 
the care of the Black-gowns in teaching and feeding them. 
This news spread abroad. Now the children entreat the 
parents to suffer them to go to the mission; the parents 
never refuse them, for the Indian is full of indulgence towards 
his little ones. 

Before the close of the year, those who were received and 
those who desired to be admitted, surpassed the number that 
we could lodge. We have ever since been crowded. In a 
house built for twenty persons only, we were obliged to 
lodge fifty children. In order to take measures, the nation 
assembled and requested the agent to petition their Great 



360 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Father to augment and enlarge the houses of the mission. 
The government acceded to this demand. 

The chiefs cannot be too much praised for the good ex 
ample that they have given to the nation, and the ardent 
desire that they manifested fur the education of their daugh 
ters. When they first made me this latter request, 1 found 
myself singularly embarrassed for the means of realizing so 
laudable a project. Father Schoenmakers resolved to interest 
a kind and fervent community of nuns in the education of 
the Osage girls. With this intention he went to St. Louis ; 
but he knocked in vain at the door of several convents of 
that city, for the enterprise frightened every one. He was 
not discouraged. At length he succeeded in obtaining the 
good and charitable Sisters of Loretto, in Kentucky, for the 
education of the girls of this remote mission. In the autumn 
of the year 1847, four religious arrived to share our labors. 
Their sufferings, their trials, and their privations were very 
great. They were obliged to sleep in the open air. That 
did not hinder two other Sisters from coming to join them a 
little after in their heroic enterprise. Their patience, their 
kindness, their courage, and their perseverance have gained 
the esteem, affection, and love of every one. They are suc 
ceeding : they have already produced a considerable change, 
and are doing great good. The talents displayed in the di 
rection of their school, and the rapid progress of the children, 
are admired by all the strangers who visit this community. 

In order not to pass the limits of a letter, I will leave the 
rest till another moment, and I will inclose it to you in a 
few days. 

In the mean time, reverend and very dear Father, I com 
mend myself to your holy sacrifices and your good prayers. 
Your ever devoted Brother, 

J. J. BAX, S. J. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 361 



Letter XXIX. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
The Osages. The second Letter of Father Bax. 

HOLLAND, January, 1857. 
REVEREND FATHER: 

I inclose the second letter of Father Bax, mentioned in 
mine of December 1st. 

VILLAGE OF ST. FBANCIS HIEROBTYMO, June 10th, 1850. 

REV. AND VERY DEAR FATHER : In my last letter I was 
obliged, against my inclination, to give you a very abridged 
description of the truly prosperous state of our schools. 

Nothing astonishes the whites more than the extraordinary 
progress of our little Osages in the different branches taught 
them. Such are : reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, 
and grammar, for the boys; reading, writing, geography, 
needlework, embroidery, and drawing, for the girls. To 
these dispositions all join a very decided taste for music, and 
find great pleasure in singing pious canticles. They are, be 
sides, very polite, docile, and obedient. As soon as they 
perceive 1 a white, their first movement is to go and present 
him the hand. Their sensibility and good dispositions have 
often alleviated the pain that we experienced when our means 
would not suffer us to provide for their necessities. 

If it happen that one of the Fathers is absent during three 
or four days, they are OB the watch for the moment when 

31 



362 WESTERN MISSIONS 

he is expected. As soon as they perceive him, which some 
times takes place at a distance of three or four miles, noth 
ing can hind* them from running to meet him, and crying 
out : " Father, how are you ? how do you do ?" 

The greater number among them are remarkable for truly 
admirable sentiments of devotion. Hence religion is the 
most efficacious means for correcting the faults usual at their 
age. The most powerful rebuke that we can make them is 
to ask them : " My child, when you were baptized, did you 
not promise God that you would be good ?" Of a consider 
able number, we may report great progress in the catechism. 
Forty have made their first communion. These last visit the 
Blessed Sacrament with as much regularity and devotion as 
tne most fervent among the faithful. 

The above, Rev. Father, gives us the highest consolation. 
Hardly two years since, these little neophytes were running 
naked in the woods and on the plains, addicted to every kind 
of vice, and having no knowledge of their Creator, nor of 
the end of their creation. Never has the goodness of God 
been more manifest to me ; never have I seen the divine in 
fluence more generally felt and better appreciated ; never, 
before this day, have I been so intimately convinced that the 
Lord offers to all nations, to every family, and to each indi 
vidual, the means of being saved, and of being united to the 
Holy Church. 

What happened to us on the day of our arrival here, 
serves as a powerful confirmation of this truth. It was re 
ported to us that an Indian had just died in a village about 
four miles distant. I expressed to my informant the grief 
this misfortune caused me. He told me that another man, 
in the same place, was at the point of death. In the hope 
of arriving in time to baptize him, I set out immediately. 
Arrived at the place where the Neosho divides into two 



AND MISSIONARIES. 363 

branches, I found the waters so swollen that it was impos 
sible to pass them, and would be so during several days more. 

On the fourth day (it was Sunday), a half-blood passed 
the river on the trunk of a tree, to come and hear mass. I 
questioned him concerning the state of the sick man. He 
had been in his agony during four days; he had ever shown 
an excellent deportment, and had manifested an earnest de 
sire to see the Black-gown, who had come to announce the 
word of God to his nation. I mounted my horse directly, 
with some apprehension that my guide might delay my ar 
rival. In this I was mistaken he reached there more 
quickly on foot than I on my horse. 

I found my Indian extremely ill ; evidently he was hast 
ening rapidly to eternity. As soon as I entered the lodge, 
he saluted me with joy and affection. I made him compre 
hend, by means of an interpreter, that I came to speak with 
him of the Great Spirit, and instruct him in the truths neces 
sary to salvation. "I thank thee, Father: thy words are 
kind arlft consoling ; my heart is overjoyed that thou hast 
come." Such were the words he addressed me with a dying 
voice. I 'spoke to him of the dispositions requisite for re 
ceiving baptism, and told him, among other things, that he 
must renounce all the bad actions that he might have com 
mitted, be contrite for them, and never again do evil, though 
he might be restored to health ; that if he was sincerely dis 
posed to act thus, the Great Spirit would forget all the sins 
of his past life. "Father," he replied, "I always wished to 
be good"} I never stole, I never became drunk, I have never 
killed. However, if I have offended the Great Spirit, I re 
pent. I desire to please him, so that, if I die, he may have 
mercy on me, and grant me the grace of being admitted into 
his presence." Fatigued .with the effort he had made to 
speak, he kept silence during several moments ; then, again 



364 WESTERN MISSIONS 

opening his eyes, he said: "Father, if thou believest me 
worthy of receiving baptism, thou wilt grant me a great favor 
and many blessings." Fully satisfied with the lively desire 
that he manifested, I administered that sacrament to him. 
Scarcely was he regenerated in the healing waters of bap 
tism, than he expired, and went to enjoy the happiness re 
served to the children of the Church. 

The consoling death of this Indian was followed by a most 
distressing scene. I had never witnessed demonstrations of 
sorrow so profound. The men, throwing off that stoical in 
difference which appears to be so natural to them, heaved 
deep sighs and shed torrents of tears ; the women, with di 
shevelled hair, shrieked and gave all the signs of a despair 
over which reason cannot predominate. I buried the Indian, 
on the following day, in accordance with the ritual of the 
Church. The whole village was present at this ceremony. 
The assistants witnessed the attention and respect which we 
pay to the dead with a deep gratitude. From that time 
forth, we have- always assisted the sick in -their agony. The 
time for instructing them is very short, and their ideas con 
cerning religion are more than imperfect ; but, on the other 
side, they have all the simplicity and good-will of children, 
and their dispositions are most consoling. 

A few days ago I baptized the oldest man in the nation. 
Impossible to tell you the impressions I experienced when 
pouring the holy water over that head, whitened with length 
of years. Baptism is one of the sacraments of our holy re 
ligion that the* Indians understand the best, and it is the 
one that they are most desirous of receiving. 

Some incidents, that a few would style providential, and 
others accidental, have contributed much to augment (in this 
tribe) faith concerning the efficacy of that sacrament. I 
will cite but one example. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 365 

/ 

One evening it was during the autumn of 1848 an 
Indian arrived at the Mission. Grief and anxiety were de 
picted on his face. As soon as he perceived me, he said to 
me: "Father, come without delay, for my wife is dying. 
All despair, and I consider her already as dead. Thou didst 
tell us to call thee when any one was sick or in danger of 
death. I wish her to learn the words of the Great Spirit 
before she dies. This is why I come to call thee." I had 
just arrived from a village called Cawva-Shinka, or Little 
Village, situated thirty miles from the Mission ; I was ex 
hausted with fatigue. But how resist an invitation so press 
ing, and above all in a circumstance so grave ? After a mo 
ment of repose, I set out with the man. Arrived at the vil 
lage at midnight, I found the lodge filled with women and 
children, crying, and singing the Indian death-song. I be 
sought them to conclude these lugubrious accents, and ap 
proached the sick woman, extended on a buffalo-hide, and 
scarcely covered with some tattered blankets. She was un 
conscious. As she appeared to me not likely soon to return 
to herself, I resolved to remain until morning. An Indian 
had the kindness to lend me his blanket ; I wrapped myself 
in it, and endeavored to take a few hours' rest. But it was 
vain. I never passed such a miserable night. The women 
and the children recommenced their frightful clamor; the 
dogs of the wigwam passed back and forward over me with 
such steady regularity, that it would have been quite impos 
sible to me to count the number of visits. About daylight, 
the patient began to give some signs of life ; but she could 
not yet speak. As soon as she had recovered her senses 
entirely, I made her a short exhortation. She appeared at 
tentive, and gave signs of real joy. I baptized her, and de 
parted. Two hours after my leaving she was perfectly re 
covered. She arose, took her infant, and nursed it. 



366 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Not long after, I returned to the same village, and found 
myself immediately surrounded by men, women, and chil 
dren, shouting, unanimously, " Komkai" we are very glad 
to see you. This word is used for giving a cordial reception. 
After recounting to me the fact, and the cure of the sick 
woman, they brought me twenty-five children to baptize. 
w Father," said they to me, " we believe thy words. \Vo 
know that baptism comes from the Great Spirit. We are 
poor, ignorant people ; we cannot read the book that con 
tains the word of the Great Spirit ; but thou wilt explain it 
to us, and we will believe thee." I have had very evident 
proofs of the sincerity of their good intentions, and of their 
firm resolution not to offend God, after having received 
baptism. 

About a month ago, I stopped at an Indian wigwam. Its 
inmates had not been able to go to the chase, on account of 
the illness of their little daughter. Her mother told me 
that they were suffering with hunger, and that they had not 
eaten meat for a long time. She added that she had seen a 
stray ox in the forest, belonging to a white man, and, that 
she would have killed it had she not recalled the promise 
that she had made at her baptism rather to die than do 
that which is sinful ; that she preferred to die of hunger, to 
offending the Great Spirit ; and, that if she had killed the 
ox, the Great Spirit would no longer have had cotnpassion 
on her in her misery. This little recital pleased and edified 
me. I could not refrain from reflecting, that the condition 
of the world would be widely different, did all Christians 
remember as faithfully and practically their baptismal vows 
as did this poor Indian woman. 

So far, we have baptized more than five hundred persons. 
One hundred adults and children have had the happiness of 
receiving the sacrament of regeneration before dying. When 



AND MISSIONARIES. 367 

the Indians are well taught, we have not much to fear in 
regard to their exemplary conduct. The greatest obstacle 
for us is in the difficulty that we experience in acquiring 
their tongue. It contains very few words, and those quite 
inconvenient for expressing abstract ideas. These people 
have some confused ideas of a Supreme Being, of the im 
mortality of the soul, of the bliss or of the chastisements of 
the future life ; but these ideas are mingled with material 
and superstitious notions. The following is an example : 
They believe that those whom the Great Spirit admits into 
his happy abode will there receive an abundance of buffaloes, 
moose, deer, aud corn ; that when a person dies, his soul 
continues to inhabit the place in which it quitted the body ; 
that souls sometimes return from the other world, to take 
and conduct there other souls. For this reason they fear to 
travel in the dark, especially when any one is very ill ; they 
think that then there certainly is some spirit fluttering about 
in the air. Some of their Vig-kontah (jugglers) pretend, on 
many occasions, to have the power of chasing this spirit, and 
of saving the life of the person who is dangerously sick. 
When there is danger of death, the most superstitious have 
frequent recourse to these " medicine men ;" a horse, a mule, 
or even several, must reward these services. I knew one of 
those impostors who by this trade had gained, in one spring 
only, thirty-two horses. Their efforts tend principally to 
persuading the poor Indians not to call upon us in their mal 
adies. They declare, with the greatest assurance, that they 
will annul the efficaciousness of our power. 

Last spring I went to pay a visit to the Little Osages. The 
day of my arrival, I baptized three persons who were dan 
gerously sick ; they died the next day. Some days after, a 
malignant fever broke out, and proved fatal to many. The 
jugglers attributed the cause of the scourge to my presence, 



368 WESTERN MISSIONS 

declaring that I had annihilated their power over the spirits. 
It is afflicting, but also somewhat laughable, to see these jug 
glers endeavoring to drive away the spirits. They make 
themselves as hideous as possible, equip themselves with all 
their instruments and weapons, discharge their guns, bran 
dish their clubs and tomahawks, beat the drum, and have 
recourse, in fine, to whatever can produce a noise ; in a word, 
they employ all imaginable tricks to deceive those poor 
Indians. But their power, which was formerly very -great, is 
beginning to decline. The esteem which the savages had 
for them is daily diminishing. The Indians are attached to 
us, principally, say they, because we have no wives and 
children. " If you had," they say, " you would do like the 
missionaries (the presbyterians) who preceded you, you 
would think too much of your families, and you would neg 
lect the red-man and his children." 

I often go and visit them in their villages, and I am always 
received with the greatest civility. A crier precedes me, to 
announce my approach. When they are all collected in a 
large wigwam, or beneath the wide-spread branches of some 
stately tree, I begin my instruction. They listen most 
attentively. When I have done speaking, the chief rises, 
and addresses his tribe some words of paternal advice, and 
repeats what the missionary has said, or makes comments on 
it. One Sunday a chief named Pai-nonpashe, of the Great- 
Hill Village, on the Verdigris River, came to see his two 
children, who were boarding with us. A short instruction, 
which I gave after mass, produced such an impression on his 
mind, that, when returning home, he said to a half-breed who 
accompanied him : " I begin now to discover what we,must 
do to be agreeable to the Great Spirit, and to become happy 
in this life and in the other." 

The excellent health enjoyed by our children -at the mis- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 369 

sion school, greatly astonishes the parents. Indeed, thus far 
sickness has been unknown among them ; not one of them 
has died since we have been here. This contributes much to 
augment the confidence which the Indians feel towards us, 
and dissipates all their fears during the season of the great 
hunts, in which they are obliged to remove from us for 
several months. 

When the frightful ravages caused by the cholera along 
the river Kansas, at "Westport, and in other places, were 
known here, the Osages, panic-struck, immediately resolved 
to go and seek their safety in the plains. Some desired to 
conduct their children with them ; but the majority opposed 
it, in the firm persuasion that they would be in security un 
der the care of the Black-gowns, and protected by the Son 
of God and his Holy Mother. They therefore retired to the 
plains, and left their children with us. They had been but 
a short. time in their new abode, when the cholera declared 
itself in the most terrible manner, and carried off a great 
number. Perceiving their error in having fled from the mis 
sion, they hastened to return, and encamp, as they said, 
quite near the kind Fathers. They consequently hastened 
with such precipitation that they made no provision, and 
travelled day and night. In proportion as they reached 
their own lands, the scourge diminished. The last case of 
death occurred at fifteen miles from the mission. 

The greatest difficulties we encounter arise from the half- 
bloods, almost all of French origin. They have nothing of 
the Catholic but baptism, and an inviolable attachment to 
their creed, of which, for want of instruction, they know 
almost nothing, and they practise still less. They have, 
again and again, proved to the Protestant ministers that 
their efforts to make them change their religion were abso 
lutely useless. 



370 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Another obstacle for us is the mode of life that the Indians 
are obliged to lead, in order to procure the provisions that 
are necessary for their subsistence. They commonly pass six 
months of the year in the chase, which forces them to remove 
from us, and exposes the morality of those who would wish 
to live as exemplary Christians, to great temptations and 
dangers. I hope that this state of affairs will change ; for 
many are already convinced that they cannot long rely on 
the game, and that they should have already commenced 
cultivating their grounds, had they but the means necessary. 

A deputation of the nation, composed of the principal 
chief, of five warriors, and an interpreter, went to pay a visit 
to, their "Great Father." President Taylor received them 
with the greatest kindness, and encouraged them to com 
mence cultivating their lands. I cannot express to you the 
gratitude that I experience when I think of the truly pater 
nal care lavished on my dear savages by their Great Father, 
and by all the officers employed in the Indian department. 
The savages have been greatly flattered by it. I am fully 
convinced that great good will result from it. 

This, Rev. Father, is but an imperfect sketch of the state 
of, our mission, in which we hope to gather many fruits of 
salvation, if it please God that we remain in it. Pecuniary 
difficulties have placed, and still place us in very critical 
positions; but, Rev. Father, the assistance that we some 
times receive from the Propagation of the Faith, from some 
generous hearts and friends of the Indians, relieves us. We 
hope in divine Providence for all and in all. "God is faith 
ful." Commend us to the prayers of your pious congrega 
tion, and of your kind community in St. Louis. 
Reverend and most dear Father, 

Your devoted brother in Jesus Christ, 

J. J. BAX, S. J. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 371 



Letter XXX, 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
The Osages Third Letter of Father Bax. 

BRUSSELS, January 25, 1857. 
REVEREND FATHER : 

This letter is the last written by the Rev. Father Bax. 
I gave you an extract from it in my 22d Letter, when sketch 
ing the biography of that zealous missionary, who fell a vic 
tim to his devotedness in the malady, the ravages of which 
he here mentions : 



MISSION AMONG THE OSAGES, ST. FRANCIS ) 

HIERONYMO, April 18, 1852. ) 

REVEREND AND DEAR FATHER : I desired to write to you 
much sooner, but we have been for some time, and are yet, 
in a terrible crisis. I have never witnessed aught like it ; 
yet God's gracious will be done ! 

About three weeks before the grand solemnity of Easter, 
forty-five children of our boarding-school fell sick, in an 
interval of three days and a half. At first, we could not 
discern the nature of the malady. It commenced by a 
heavy cold, attended with a burning fever. After four or 
five days, the measles broke out. At first the alarm was 
not very great, but the measles disappeared and was replaced 
by a putrid fever. On Passion Sunday, the safest of my 



372 WESTERN MISSIONS 

life, we had two corpses laid out, and about twelve of our 
children in danger of death. Eleven of our scholars fell 
victims in a short time, and two will perhaps speedily follow 
them. We are obliged to interrupt the school for some 
time, until this terrible visitation be passed. The contagion 
is spreading among the Indians, and the mortality is very 
great. It will be difficult to collect again the scattered flock. 
However, I may say, that never hitherto, either among peo 
ple of color or whites, either among persons of the world or 
religious, have I been witness to so much piety and fervor on 
the bed of death, as were exhibited by our young neophytes. 
They may serve as models. Some, prompted by their own 
piety, asked to hold the crucifix in their hands, and pressed 
it fervently to them, without being willing to yield it, during 
more than two hours. They wished the statue of the Blessed 
Virgin to be placed near the pillows of their beds. They 
implored the assistance of their holy Mother, and fixed their 
dying eyes on her image. I firmly hope and believe that 
they already enjoy the presence of God. v 

The Lord seems to be willing to gather into his garner the 
little that we have sowed here below. What may be the 
designs of Providence for the future, we cannot and dare 
not conjecture. We have lost several of our best scholars, 
and of those on whom we had founded our greatest expec 
tations. 

Reverend and dear father, 

Your very devoted servant 

and brother in Jesus Christ, 

J. J. BAX, S. J. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 373 



Letter XIIL 

To A FATHER OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS.* 
Conversion of Randolph Benton, son of Thomas H. Benton. 

REVEREND AND DEAR FATHER : 

While Kossuth was in our midst, stirring up civil and 
religious dissensions, God consoled his calumniated children 
by the conversion of several Protestants. To comply with 
the wish expressed in your last letter, I will relate to you 
the details of the conversion of young Mr. Randolph Ben- 
ton, the only son of the distinguished and Hon. Thomas H. 
Benton, one of the most eminent statesmen of this vast 
republic. 

This great man, who, for thirty years, with the greatest 
distinction and with a patriotic zeal, has served his country 
as Senator from Missouri, professes, with the rest of his fam 
ily, the Presbyterian religion. Young Randolph, possessed 
of talent, and yet very young, had been difficult to manage^ 
and had proved the source of a good deal of anxiety to his 
worthy parents, particularly to his aged father, who had 
formed great hopes of him. The son was only twenty-two 
years and four months old when he died, and yet, though so 
young, he had rambled over the greater portion of the Uni 
ted States, New Mexico, California, and Oregon. At the age 
of fourteen he accompanied his brother-in-law, the celebrated 

* This letter was transmitted by Father De Smet, after Col. Beuton's 
death, to the "N. Y. Freeman's Journal," and published May 1, 1858. 

32 



374: WESTERN MISSIONS 

Colonel Fremont, in the exploration of the Great Western 
Desert. Four years later, he resided for some time at West 
phalia, Missouri, where we had a residence, and there ap 
plied himself to the study of the German, under the instruc 
tion of one of our Fathers, and perhaps it is owing to this 
circumstance, that ever since he has felt so much respect for 
our holy religion. I will briefly relate the details of his con 
version. 

He had returned from New Mexico to St. Louis, and for 
some weeks had been staying with his parents. He con 
ceived the idea of applying himself to the study of the sci 
ences and of the ancient languages, and of rapidly acquiring 
a knowledge of them. In this intention, and by the advice 
of his father, he called upon the President of the Univer 
sity,* and asked to be admitted to its classes as an extern, if 
his age should be an objection to his entrance as a boarder. 
The arrangements for his admission had all been fixed, when 
a few days later he was attacked with bilious diarrhrea, 
which very quickly prostrated him. 

It was at this moment that, meeting the honored Senator, 
I was informed by him of the sad news of his son's danger 
ous illness. At his request I visited the invalid, and found 
him in a condition truly alarming. Young Randolph ex 
pressed to me the very great joy he felt upon seeing me, and 
thanked me warmly for my visit. I seated myself by his 
sick couch, and exhorted him to place all his confidence in 
divine Providence, and in the mercy of our Redeemer. He 
listened to me with marked attention, and at the same time 
manifested sentiments both of piety and resignation to God's 
will. "O God," he exclaimed, "yes, O God, thou dost 
send to us what is best !" I then spoke to him of the essen- 

* St. Louis University. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 375 

tial points of our religion, to all of which Randolph ex 
pressed his assent, couched in words replete with fervor and 
piety. The Senator was present during the interview, and 
seeing in his son such Christian sentiments, affectionately 
clasped my hand, and leading me away a little distance from 
the bed, said to me with transport, "Oh, but it is consoling! 
The words of my son fill me with joy, despite the grief which 
tears my heart. God be blessed. If he dies he will die a 
Christian." The venerable old man then burst into tears, and 
retired into a neighboring room in order to conceal his emo 
tion. I returned to the bedside of Randolph, and he an 
nounced to me his desire of being received into the Catholic 
Church. "I desire, with all my heart," he said, "to be bap 
tized. It is a great boon which Heaven vouchsafes to me. 
My father certainly will consent to it." I immediately en 
tered the apartment to which his father had retired, to 
communicate his son's wish, and to console him by the 
condition of his son in a religious point of view. I also 
spoke of the urgency and the necessity of baptism. The 
Senator willingly consented. He would have desired that 
the ceremony should be postponed for a few hours " until 
the opiates, which for a day past had been given to the 
patient, should have procured for him a little sleep," but 
there was danger in thus delaying. This forced sleep made 
me uneasy. I remarked to the Senator that the ceremony 
could not in any manner disturb the patient's sleep, except 
for a very few moments ; it might have a beneficial effect in 
tranquillizing his mind. He affectionately asked me to per 
form for his son the duties of my holy ministry. The latter 
learned this consent with joy and gratitude, and immediately- 
prepared himself to receive the holy sacrament of baptism. 
While I was administering it to him, he devoutly crossed his 
arms over his breast, and raising his eyes to heaven prayed 



376 WKSTEKN MISSIONS 

with fervor, thanking God for the signal grace accorded to 
him. I then left him, urging him to try and take some 
sleep. I left in order to procure the blessed sacrament of the 
holy oils. An hour later I received the following note, writ 
ten by Colonel Benton : 

HALF-PAST 11 O'CLOCK, March 16, 1852. 

MY DEAR FATHER DE SMET : 

I went into the room the moment you left me. He 
immediately said to me, " Are you pleased with what I have 
done ?" I said, " I am ;" and then engaged him to yield to 
the opiates he had taken, and go to sleep. He said, "Ex 
citement and happiness have done more for me than sleep 
could do," and immediately turning his eyes to heaven as he 
lay on his back, the head raised on the pillow, he said in a 
clear, calm, modulated voice, and radiant look, " Thank God, 
I am happy !" Then turning his eyes to me, with the same 
voice and look, he repeated the words to me, and said, " I 
intended to do it long ago, but did not know whether you 
would like it." I told him he made me happy. And truly 
it is the first feeling of relief I have had in these five terri 
bly days and nights. So, dear Father, all is in your hands 
now. You are giving peace to me in giving it to him. 
Affectionately, 

THOS. H. BENTON. 

In another letter of Colonel Benton to me, on the day sub 
sequent to the death of his son, he wrote as follows : 

- 
DEAR FATHER DE SMET : 

This is to introduce to you Mr. Burke, a school com 
rade and friend of my poor child years ago. I wish you to 



AND MISSIONARIES. 377 

talk with him. He will show that it was indeed long (in his 
short life) that he meditated the step he took even four 
years ago. He will give to you gratifying details, as he has 
to me, and will show (what you and I well knew, from him 
self and from our observation) that it was not the near 
approach of death and the sick-bed that brought him to this 
act, but his own heart, in the hnppiest state of his health 
and mind. 

THOS. H. BENTON. 

Young Randolph, during his last hours, was surrounded 
by many of his near relatives and friends. During his lucid 
moments he did not cease to manifest the deepest gratitude 
to the divine goodness, that he should have been led back 
to the fold of Christ. He received the last sacraments with 
sentiments of great fervor ; and tranquilly, about sunrise of 
the 17th March, 1852, went to sleep in the Lord, confident 
in the hope that he exchanged ~this mortal life for another 
and a happier one forever in heaven. The funeral services 
were performed at the cathedral. The Most Rev. Arch 
bishop himself officiated and pronounced a beautiful dis 
course, well suited to the occasion. These circumstances, 
together with the edifying scenes of the last moments, and 
of the conversion of his son, cannot fail to leave a deep and 
favorable impression upon the mind and the heart of the 
venerable and illustrious Senator ; for he shared the happy 
sentiments so piously and so tenderly expressed by his son, 
before and after the latter had had the happiness to receive 
the grace of baptism. 

I have the honor to be, etc., 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 
82* 



378 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XXXII. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 

Religious Situation of St. Louis and St. Ferdinand. Death of 
Bee. Father Bax.The Osages. 

REVEREND FATHER : 

The following is the copy of a letter which I wrote to 
the Canon De la Croix, at Ghent. If that respected ecclesi 
astic will allow its publication, it may form the continuation 
of those which I have already 'addressed you : 



ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE, KENTUCKY, April 16, 1855. 

REVEREND SIR : I am informed, by a letter from one of 
our Fathers in Belgium, that you have authorized him to 
announce to us an advantageous donation, allowed by the 
" Propagation of the Faith" in Lyons, for the purpose of aid 
ing the society in its labors in Missouri, which, at the present 
time, extends into several other States and Territories, situated 
in the West of this vast republic. I thank you, in the name 
of the Rev. Father Provincial, with sentiments of the most 
sincere and heartfelt gratitude. 

Since the period of your departure, there have been many 
changes in the wild-woods which you were one of the first 
to evangelize. I thought it would give you pleasure to enter 
into some details concerning the cities of St. Louis and of 



AND MISSIONARIES. 379 

St. Ferdinand, with which you were formerly so well ac 
quainted, and of the nomadic tribe of the Osages, of which 
you were the earliest apostle. 

In 1823, St. Louis counted but 3000 or 4000 inhabitants. 
There was but one poor Catholic church and two schools 
were all that she could boast. At the present day her popu 
lation exceeds 120,000 souls; there is a handsome cathedral, 
with eleven other churches, a seminary for the secular clergy, 
a large and magnificent hospital, directed by the Sisters of 
St. Vincent of Paul ; a college of one hundred and fifty 
boarders, one hundred and twenty half-boarders and externs, 
and three hundred or four hundred children gratuitously 
admitted. There, is a boarding-school for the children of 
good families, under the direction of the Brothers of the 
Christian schools ; the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, the 
Sisters of the Visitation, and the Ursulines, have handsome 
and extensive boarding-schools for young iadies. Five asy 
lums, for the two sexes, contain beyond five hundred 
children ; and there is also a foundling hospital. A house of 
retreat is opened to penitents, and to young girls in danger. 
Eleven or twelve schools for boys and girls, are conducted by 
religious. I regret that I have not the statistics of the 
fructus animarum (fruit of souls) ; it must be extremely 
consoling, for all the churches are very well frequented. 

The fervor of the Catholics corresponds everywhere to the 
zeal of their pastors. The union and harmony which reign 
between the secular and regular clergy, under the paternal 
administration of our venerable archbishop, contributes much 
to propagate our holy religion, and to maintain the fervor of 
the faithful in St. Louis. The Faith keeps pace with the 
rapid and wonderful increase of our flourishing city, which 
you saw in its cradle ! 

The following are some details of the spiritual fruits which 



380 WESTERN MISSIONS 

rejoice the pastors of the church of St. Francis Xavier : In 
the course of the last year the communions exceeded fifty 
thousand. Every year the conversions of Protestants to the 
Catholic religion amounts to as many as sixty or eighty. The 
two Sodalities of the Blessed Virgin number more than four 
hundred members, belonging to every rank of society law 
yers, physicians, merchants, clerks, ?uid artists, are members 
of them ; all approach the holy table once a month, and 
wear the miraculous medal of our good Mother. The Arch- 
confraternity numbers from five thousand to six thousand 
members ; the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart, two thou 
sand. The sunday-school attached to the church is fre 
quented by nearly one thousand children. 

From St. Louis to St. Ferdinand, or Florissant, fifteen 
miles distant, there is a succession of beautiful farms and 
neat country residences. You would not easily, Reverend 
Sir, recognize it now. The convent, of which you were the 
founder, has been enlarged since your departure, and has 
passed into the hands of the Lorettines, a branch of the 
house of Loretto, in Kentucky, instituted by the venerable 
M. Nerinckx. The farm, formerly belonging to the bishop, 
is greatly extended. Of the old cottage, and of the crib 
which served you as a bed, there now remains but an edify 
ing remembrance our brothers have replaced them by a 
novitiate and scholastumte, built of hewn stone ; these two 
establishments contain, at the present day, a community ot 
nearly sixty religious, forty of whom are novices ; among the 
latter many Americans. 

You will undoubtedly be gratified to have some news ot 
the mission of St. Francis Hieronymo among the Osages, to 
whom you were the first to announce the consolations of the 
everlasting Gospel. The seed of salvation which you planted, 
and which was afterwards neglected, has not been sterile. 



AND MISSION ARIES. 381 

You are acquainted with the difficulties of the Osage mis 
sion. Being in the neighborhood of the boundary line of the 
United States, these Indians learn to adopt, very easily, all 
the vices of the whites, without joining to them any of their 
virtues, They forget the frugality and simplicity which for 
merly characterized them, and give themselves up to intem 
perance and the perfidiousness of civilized life. However, 
every year a considerable number of adults enter the bosom 
of the Church ; a great number of children receive baptism, 
and as they often die very young, they are so many innocent 
souls who intercede in heaven for the conversion of their 
unhappy parents, buried in the grossest superstition and 
idolatry of paganism. 

In the spring of 1852 an epidemic malady, which made 
great ravages, became for a large number (although weaken 
ing the power of their nation) a blessed occasion of salva 
tion. The violence of this disease, against which the Indian 
cannot be easily induced to take necessary precautions, the 
sufferings of the whole tribe, the universal panic, the grief 
all these miseries presenting themselves under a thousand dif 
ferent forms wrung the hearts of the missionaries. Naught 
but the reflection that Providence had sent this terrible scourge 
for their spiritual good, was capable of consoling them. 

During this unhappy year, and Avhen the extreme violence 
of the epidemic had ceased, we were called to deplore the 
loss of Father Bax, who fell a victim of truly heroic charity, 
exercised towards the poor savages, in order to soothe their 
sufferings, and win their souls to God. Father Bax vwas 
born on the 15th of January, 1817, in a village near Turn- 
hout, in Belgium. The disease, which commenced among 
the children of the mission, spread rapidly throughout all 
the villages of the tribe. Father Bax, by his knowledge of 
medicine, and the cures which he effected, was renowned 



382 WESTERN MISSIONS 

throughout the nation. The savages came in troops from 
every side to call him into their camps. It would be diffi 
cult to form an idea of all the fatigues he was obliged to 
endure. From early morning, after having given some 
assistance to the children of the mission school, he would go 
into the environs, from cabin to cabin, bearing gladness and 
comfort in his passage. He afterwards would turn his steps 
to the other camps of the nation, to offer them the same 
blessings. To do the last, it became necessary to employ 
several days, and endure very heavy fatigue in visiting them. 
The zealous religious administered the last sacraments to the 
dying, baptized the expiring infants, taught the catechu 
mens, exhorted, and often succeeded in converting, the most 
obstinate. He performed at once the office of physician, 
catechist, and priest. He returned to the house of the mis 
sionaries, exhausted with fatigue, only to renew on the mor 
row the same deeds of charity, braving the inclemency of 
the seasons the frequent rains of spring, the sudden and 
overpowering heat of summer, with the sudden cold which 
succeeds the heat in these sections, at this epoch of the year. 
All this devotedness was not capable of hindering the 
malice of some enemies let us rather say, the rage of hell, 
irritated at the view of so many souls rescued from its grasp. 
The devil invented against the excellent missionary, and 
against the whole mission, a calumny, extremely ridiculous, 
without doubt, in the eyes of the civilized, but entirely in 
accordance with Indian prejudices, superstition, and credulity. 
A report was spread throughout the camps, that the whites 
were the authors of the scourge ; that the Black-gowns (the 
priests) had a magical charm, vulgarly called medicine, 
which killed all the Indians ; that this charm was a certain 
fooAr, in which they inscribed the names of the Osages, and 
thereby obtained a power of life or death over all those 



AND MISSIONARIES. 383 

whose names the book contained. The register of baptisms 
was meant. They hold the superstitious belief that whoso 
ever possesses a book, has an absolute empire over the life 
of those whose names are written in it. The calumny 
spread from village to village, in all the cabins ; as it was 
propagated, its details assumed a darker hue. The malevo 
lent went about exhorting their companions to attack the 
mission, saying that they would arrest the course of the 
malady, if they could attain the destruction of the terrible 
magical charm, by burning the enchanted book possessed by 
the missionaries. This absurd tale was sufficient to engage 
several parents to withdraw their children from the mission 
school. 

Fortunately, the Black-gowns had influential friends among 
the chiefs of the Osages. They went no farther on reason 
ing with the most intelligent Indians, they succeeded in ap 
peasing their rage and ill-will. The Lord, who permits the 
rising of the tempest, can calm it at his own good time ! 

Heaven accorded its benedictions to the efforts of Father 
Bax and his companions in this painful ministry. Of nearly 
1500 savages, who were swept away by the epidemic, all, 
with a very few exceptions, had the happiness of being for 
tified by the last sacraments of the Church before dying. 
Seized, at last, himself with symptoms of the illness, Father 
Bax continued his ordinary labors, and dragged himself 
around to visit the sick and dying. His zeal would not suf 
fer him to attend to himself. Strength soon failed him. 
He was dying while still laboring ! He was obliged, at last, 
to consent to allow himself to be transported about forty 
miles from the mission, to Fort Scott, a military post, where 
one of the most skilful physicians of the United States army 
then resided. It was too late, all the cares of the doctor, 
proved useless. The good religious, the indefatigable mis- 



384 WESTERN MISSIONS 

sionary, was a fruit ripe for heaven. At the end of six wvks 
he died as he had lived. His last aspirations showed still 
his unfading zeal for the conversion of his dear savages. 

During the five years that he passed in the missions, he 
brought back to the faith a great number of halt-bloods, 
formerly baptized in the Church, but for want of priests 
and instructions, unfortunately perverted by Protestant min 
isters ; besides, he baptized more than 2000 Indians, as well 
children as adults, of every age. He instructed his neo 
phytes with the greatest care, and the most pains-taking as 
siduity. His charity had so gained the'hearts, that all these 
savages called him only by the beautiful word, which in the 
Osage language signifies, "the Father who is all heart." 

His death excited profound regret. His fellow-religious 
cherished him, and had always been edified by his ex 
ample and his virtues ; the whites whom he visited on the 
frontiers of the States, whom he fortified and encouraged in 
the abandonment in which he found them, loved him as a 
protector; but his loss was especially felt by the tribe 
which he evangelized with so much constancy, ardor, and 
success. 

Some days before his death, Father Bax wrote me as 
follows : 

" The contagion is spreading among the Indians, and the 
mortality is very great. The difficulty will be, to collect the 
scattered flock; however, I have the consolation of being 
able to say, that never yet, either among the negroes, or 
among the whites, or among religious, or among persons of 
the world, have I ever been witness to as much fervor aud 
piety on the bed of death. Edifying is the death of which 
our young neophytes have given the example. Some, of 
their own freewill, asked to hold the crucifix in their hands ; 
they clasped it without leaving it, for more than two hours. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 385 

The statue of the Blessed Virgin was to be placed by their 
pillows. Imploring the assistance of their good Mother, they 
fixed their dying eyes on her image. I have the strong 
hope that they already enjoy the presence of God. The 
Lord seems to wish to gather into his granary the little that 
we have sowed here below. What may be the designs of 
his Providence for the future of our mission, we cannot,, 
and we dare not conjecture. May His holy will be accom 
plished !" 

This is the last letter I had the happiness of receiving 
from Father Bax. 

The Osage nation, like the greater part of the other 
tribes of the Great Western Desert, which were formerly so 
numerous and flourishing, is rapidly diminishing in numbers. 
It is now reduced to 3000 souls, and divided into twelve vil 
lages, situated in different directions around the centre of the 
mission. Ordinarily, the Osages dwell or encamp in the 
valleys on the borders of the rivers, or near some spring of 
pure and overflowing water. They live, for the most part, 
as in the primitive times, on the roots and spontaneous fruits 
of the earth, and the animals which they kill in the chase. 

There are but two Fathers to visit these different villages, 
situated at the distance of fifty and seventy miles from each 
other. The toils and fatigues of the holy ministry there are 
excessive. The catechumens must be instructed, the neo 
phytes sustained, the sick and dying visited, and continual 
efforts made to convert obstinate adults. Amid so many 
obstacles, so many privations and difficulties, the missionaries 
find also sweet consolations in the fruits which the Lord 
deigns to grant to their labors. Every year they baptize 
among the Osages about two hundred and fifty persons. 

The missionaries also visit the neighboring tribes, such as 
the Quapaws, who number only three hundred and fifty, 

33 



386 WESTERN MISSIONS 

and of whom one hundred and thirty adults and children 
have been baptized in the course of the last two years. En 
tire families have received baptism among the Piorias and 
the Miamis. The Senecas, the Cherokees, Creeks, Shaw- 
nees, and other nations, situated two- hundred miles south of 
the mission, can be visited only once or twice in the year. 
Notwithstanding the opposition of Protestant ministers, there 
are some Catholics among all these tribes. A great number 
of European Catholic families live dispersed on the frontiers 
of the States of Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, which border 
on the Indian territory now called Kansas. They receive, 
from time to time, the visit and the spiritual aid of one or 
other Father of the mission of St Francis Hieronymo. The 
sight of a priest, the happiuess of hearing mass, and of ap 
proaching the holy table, draw tears of joy from these .ex 
cellent children of the Church. Without these visits they 
would be entirely abandoned. The destitution of priests is 
one of the principal causes of the defection of thousands of 
Catholic*, who gradually lose their faith. 

Two boarding-schools have been established in the mission 
of the Osages : one for boys, under the direction of a Father 
and of several brothers ; the other for girls, under the direc 
tion of the Sisters of the Loretto, from Kentucky. These 
two schools ordinarily contain more than a hundred Indian 
children. They teach them the elements of literature, with 
the principles of civilization, at the same time that they ex 
cite and cultivate piety in their hearts. These schools en 
courage the hope, that the day will come when these savage 
tribes may become changed and civilized and Christian com 
munities. It will be difficult, above all, in these districts, to 
bring the adults to this mode of existence : they are too 
much accustomed to the nomadic life ; too proud of their 
barbarous independence, and frequently enslaved to the de- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 387 

grading vices of the whites, and to the immoderate use of 
ardent spirits, which they easily obtain by their commerce 
with the latter, and in their frequent visits to the frontiers 
ot' the States. Each sincere and durable conversion among 
these, is a miracle of grace. 

The United States- government grants to the Osages, for the 
support of their schools, an annual subsidy, accruing from the 
sale of their lands. This assistance being insufficient, and in 
order to give a striking testimony of attachment and friendship 
towards the Black-gowns, all the chiefs of the nation have 
obtained, by treaty, from the government, an augmentation of 
funds destined to the maintenance of the schools ; and also a 
liberal donation for making provision for the other necessities 
of the mission. The mission owns a farm, which contrib 
utes towards defraying its expenses. With all this, it may 
be said, that the missionaries are still obliged to live a poor 
and hard life, in the midst of many privations. Yet it must 
be admitted, that the mission among the Osages is estab 
lished on a tolerably solid footing. 

We give the following extract from the annual message 
of the President of the United States, in 1854. The agent 
of the Osages, in his report to the government, speaking of 
this nation, says : 

" The schools, under the direction of the Fathers x>f the 
Society of Jesus, among the Osages, are very flourishing. 
These Fathers merit great eulogiums for their endeavors to 
ameliorate the condition of this nation. Having had the 
pleasure of assisting at the examination of their scholars, I 
cheerfully add my testimony to that of others in favor of the 
method pursued in these establishments. I doubt whether 
there are any schools in the Indian territory which exercise 
so salutary an influence on the minds of the Indians, or that 
can even be compared with them. The pupils progress rap- 



388 WESTERN MISSIONS 

idly in theii studies; they are well fed and well clothed, and 
appear happy and satisfied. 

''The Catholic establishment, as well as the whole nation 
of the Osages, have met with an irreparable loss by the death 
of the indefatigable Father Bax. The most rigorous season 
could never hinder him from visiting the most remote tribes 
of the nation, when there was question of carrying consola 
tion to the sick, and of accomplishing the duties of his sacred 
ministry." 

\Ve cannot without sighing cast a look over the immense 
Indian territory, which stretches far away to the Rocky 
Mountains. There a great number of nations still continue 
their errant life. There remains but a feeble ray of hope 
that they will obtain spiritual aid. It is not because the 
field is barren ; it has been already explored by the Fathers 
Hoeken and Point, both of the Society of Jesus, and by the 
Rev. Messrs Bellecourt and Ravoux. I have gone over its 
whole extent at different periods. All the missionaries de 
clare unanimously, that everywhere, in all their visits, they 
have been received with the most touching deference by the 
savages ; that the various tribes have testified the deepest 
interest ia our holy religion. Several thousand children and 
a great number of adults, particularly among the Black-Feet, 
the Crows, the Sioux, Pom-ahs, Ricarics, Minataries, Chey- 
ennes, and the Rapahocs, have already been regenerated in 
the holy waters of baptism. The personal and material 
means have hitherto been wanting for beginning therein du 
rable establishments. The Indians year after year renew their 
invitations. We shall continue to supplicate the Master of 
the vineyard, to deign to send us auxiliaries, so as to diffuse 
our missions in this extensive region. "The harvest is great, 
but the laborers are few." 

By a letter recently received from the Rocky Mountains, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 389 

and written by Father Joset, I learn that the Indians of our 
different missions in Oregon continue to give much consola 
tion to their missionaries, by their zeal and fervor in the 
holy practices of religion. " I hope," writes Father Joset, 
"that the Sacrament of Confirmation, that they have just 
received, will give greater stability to their good resolutions. 
Although the arrival of Mgr. Blanchet was announced only 
some hours before (for there is as yet no post in those wilds), 
and that we found it impossible to assemble more than half 
of the neophytes, the prelate however gave Confirmation to 
more than six hundred faithful. The pastor was enchanted 
with our missions and our neophytes. The conversions to 
the faith in these missions are every year very consoling." 

Our new establishments in California succeed well; our 
college of Santa Clara has nearly a hundred boarders. 

Be so good, Reverend Sir, as to present my most humble 
respect and esteem to Mouseigneur, the bishop of Ghent ; to 
the President of the Ecclesiastical Seminary, to the Canons, 
Van Crombrugghe, De Smet Helias, De Decker, and to our 
Reverend Fathers. 

Commend me, if you please, to the prayers of your good 
Religious, and allow me to commit myself in a particular 
manner to your memento at the Holy Sacrifice, in which 
union I have the honor to be 

Your most humble and most obedient servant, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J 
33* 



390 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XXXIII. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
The Mormons. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, Jan. 19, 1858. 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER I 

I propose to give you in this letter a short sketch of the 
natic sect of Mormons, against whom the government of 
the United States has just sent troops, in order to subject 
them to the laws, or force them to leave the country. The 
facts which I will relate on the origin and history of this 
singular people, are chiefly drawn from a recent work by 
John Hyde, who had been an elder or minister of the Mor 
mon sect. 

The founder of the Mormons was one Joseph Smith, born 
of an obscure family, December 23, 1805, at Sharon, Wind 
sor county, Vermont. The whole life of this man, from 
youth up, was marked by fanaticism, fraud, and vice. More 
than fifty persons of good reputation and in every way 
worthy of respect, who knew him at Palmyra, New York, 
where he had settled with his family, have testified under 
oath that Joseph Smith was regarded as a man of no moral 
character and given, to vicious habits. In 1820 Smith em 
braced Methodism. In April of that year he pretended lib 
have had a revelation from Heaven, while praying in the 
wood. He said that God the Father, and Jesus Christ his 
Son, had appeared to him, and had declared to him that his 



AND MISSIONARIES. 391 

sins were forgiven, that God had chosen him to restore his 
kingdom on earth, and propagate anew the truth of the 
Gospel, which all Christendom had lost. In 1823, Smith, 
forgetting his revelations and his pretended divine mission, 
plunged as deep as ever in blasphemy, fraud, drunkenness, 
and other vices. Then, he said, an angel appeared to him 
and revealed the existence of a book, written on gold plates, 
and containing the history of the ancient inhabitants of 
America. This is the origin of the "Book of Mormon," or 
Golden Bible, the Koran of these Mahometans. The next 
day Smith visited the spot designated by the angel as the 
spot where the book was. This was on the slope of a hill 
between Palmyra and Manchester. There he pretended to 
find in fact golden plates in a stone box ; but this time his 
efforts to raise them were vain. There was, he says, a great 
contest between the devil and the angels as to it; but al 
though the devil was beaten, the angel did not give the book 
to Smith, who received it only four years after, on the 22d 
of September, 1827. 

The Book of Mormon is, like the Koran, a tissue of con 
tradictory plagiarisms and absurd inventions. The whole is 
interlarded with passages from the Bible. It has been proved 
that the portion given as historical is merely a plagiary of a 
romance of Solomon Spalding, whose manuscript -Jiad been 
stolen by Smith. Spalding had written, under the title of 
The Discovered Manuscript, a romance on the origin of the 
American Indians. He died before publishing it. After his 
death, his widow removed to New York, and Smith is known 
have worked near her house. Some time after the publica 
tion of the Book of Mormon, she discovered the loss of her 
husband's manuscript. Many of Spalding's relatives and 
friends detected the Discovered Manuscript, slightly altered, 
in Smith's book. Spalding had been in the habit of reading 



392 WESTERN MISSIONS 

long passages from his novel ; the singularity of the facts, 
names, and style, which was biblical, had so struck them 
that they did not forget it. Now, the Book of Mormon had 
the same characteristics, the same strange names, the same 
incredible facts, the same style. John SpaUling, the author's 
brother, thus expresses himself on the poiut: "My brother's 
book was entitled the Discovered Manuscript. It was an 
historical novel on the first inhabitants of America. Its 
object was to show that the American Indians were descend 
ed from the Jews, or the lost tribes. There was a detailed 
description of their voyage, by land and sea, from their 
departure from Jerusalem to their arrival in America, under 
the orders of Nephi and Lehi. I have recently read the 
Book of Mormon. To my great astonishment, I have found 
almost the same historical matters, the same names, &c., 
such as they were in my brother's writings." Many other 
persons, who knew Solomon Spalding well, and who for the 
most part knew nothing of Joseph Smith, gave similar tes 
timony under oath. 

The Book of Mormon probably derives its name from one 
of the chapters of this novel. A descendant of Lehi ob 
tained the plates of gold, brass, <fec., on which the prophets 
had engraved tfce history of the voyages and wars of their 
race, and this descendant was called Mormon. He abridged 
this history, and gave it to his son, Moroni. The latter, hav 
ing added a sketch of the history of Jared, inclosed all in a 
box, which he buried on a hill, A.D. 400. Smith, declaring him 
self chosen to give this wonderful book to the world, pretend 
ed to have received the gift of understanding and translating 
it He did not write this translation himself, but dictated it. 
During the dictation, he was concealed behind a curtain, 
made of a bed- quilt, for the plates were so sacred that he did 
not even permit his secretary to gaze on them. To give a 



AND MISSIONARIES. 393 

still higher idea of his golden bible, he explained the title 
after his own fashion. According to him, the word Mormon 
comes from the Egyptian mon, signifying good, and the Eng 
lish word more so that Mormon means Better ! Now, the 
Bible, says Smith, in its widest signification, means good, 
since our Lord says in the Gospel, " I am the good shepherd." 
The ignorant and fanatical believe all those fables. 

The Book of Mormon, although most known, is not the 
chief book of the sect. The Book of Teachings and Cove 
nants, containing some of the revelations which Smith pre 
tended to have received from heaven, is regarded by his disci 
ples as a book of the law which God has given this genera 
tion. Smith also published other revelations, which are con 
tained in a little book called The Pearl of Great Price. 
Much of the doctrine of Smith is a mere repetition of the 
works of various Protestant sects. He has imitated Mahomet 
in his infamous immorality, by permitting polygamy. To 
all this, his successor has added abominable doctrines on the 
nature and attributes of God. 

Smith organized his new religion in 1830. He could 
then number only six disciples. The next year, having ob 
tained new adherents, he sent elders, two by two, to preach 
the new doctrine. When the number of his disciples had 
sufficiently increased, he founded a colony in Missouri, but 
their conduct induced the people of that State first those 
around Independence, where the Mormons had first settled, 
and then those of Liberty to expel them from the State. 
In 1834 the Mormon sect adopted the pompous title of 
" Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," and thence 
the Mormons called themselves Latter-Day Saints, or simply 
Saints. 

Smith and his adepts having acquired, in 1839, a large 
tract in Illinois, in a beautiful section on' the banks of the 



394: WESTERN MISSIONS 

Mississippi, built a flourishing city, which they called Nau- 
vof), erected a magnificent temple, now in ruins, and lived 
there till 1844, when they rendered themselves odious to the 
people of that State. They were attacked by an ungovern 
able mob, and the false prophet and his brother, Hiram, were 
massacred in prison, at Carthage. 

In 1845 these persecutions continued, and the Mormons, 
driven at last from Nauvoo, resolved, in council, to seek a 
solitary and' permanent abode in some fertile valley at the 
foot of the Rocky Mountains. They carried out this project 
in 1847, penetrated into the desert some twelve hundred 
miles, and founded a new city on the banks of the Great 
Salt Lake, at the foot of a lofty chain of mountains forming 
a portion of the eastern limits of the Great Basin. Brigham 
Young, Smith's successor as prophet and chief, was their 
leader in this long and painful march. 

The valley of the Great Basin is about five hundred miles 
long from north to south, and three, hundred and fifty from 
east to west. It is formed by the Sierra Madre bounding it 
on the east, and by the Goose Creek and Humboldt moun 
tains on the west. Utah Territory, thus occupied by the 
Mormons, contains in all 187,923 square miles. The lake, 
which is now only seventy miles long and thirty-five wide, 
probably filled, at a remote epoch, the whole valley. On all 
sides, on the slopes of the mountains, at a uniform height, 
are traces which water alone could have made. In 1841, I 
traversed much of this valley, in my rambles in the Rocky 
Mountains. The country was then wooded and agreeable, 
watered by springs and streams, winding through the valley. 
Since the Mormon emigration, the forests have disappeared 
on the slopes of the hills and mountains, and, as the snows 
are more exposed to the rays of the sun and melt quicker, 
the springs dry up, and the streams give scarcely water 



AND MISSIONARIES. 395 

enough in the spring to irrigate the cultivated fields and sup 
ply the domestic animals. 

Salt Lake City contains, at present, 15,000 inhabitants. 
They are mostly English, Scotch, and Swedes. Hardly qne 
fourth of the Mormons are Americans by birth. They are 
scattered up and down, in the villages and towns of all 
the plains and valleys of Utah, so called from an Indian 
tribe of that region. The Territory is bounded on the north 
by Oregon, on the west by California, on the east by the 
Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, and on the south by 
New Mexico. The total number of the inhabitants of the 
Territory is less than 50,000, although the Mormon leaders, 
for ends of their own, represent it as much higher. The 
number of Mormons, in different countries, is estimated at 
300,000. They send their emissaries to all parts of the 
globe. These take good care not to present Mormonism in its 
true colors, to those who are not as yet prepared to accept it 
such as it is. Many of the Mormons at Salt Lake, it is said, 
adopted the new sect only in hopes of finding there an 
earthly paradise, with unlimited abundance for every want. 
Ouce in Utah, it is no easy matter to escape the snares and 
despotic power of the leader. 

Brigham Young, president of the Mormon church, and 
now rebellious governor of Utah Territory, enjoys absolute 
authority over his people. - This man is, like Joseph Smith, 
a native of Vermont, born at Whittingham, June 1, 1801. 
Having embraced Mormonism in 1832, he soon became 
Smith's intimate friend. Since he became chief of the 
Mormons, he has displayed boundless ambition, and talents 
far superior to Smith's. He labors to establish Mormonism 
all over the American continent. As to the Territory which 
he governs, he wishes to make it an independent State in the 
confederation. He has often declared that he will permit 



896 WESTERN MISSIONS. 

no one else to be governor of Utah. lie defies the author 
ity of the President, and of all the Union. The judges and 
other officers appointed by the general government for the 
civil administration of Utah, have been expelled from the 
territory, after seeing it useless to attempt to exercise their 
functions. Young has set up tribunals of his own, and in 
the United States courts \vhich he tolerated before his rebel 
lion, the juries gave verdicts according to his direction. The 
government, at last, resolved to resort even to force to make 
him respect its authority. Accordingly, last fall (1857), a 
detachment of 2500 men was sent to the Territory to main 
tain the new governor and his suite. 

On this, Young prepared to resist. The troops have 
already entered Utah, but the severity of the winter arrests 
them about one hundred and fifty miles from the Mormon 
capital. The Mormons are not idle. They have surprised a 
train of seventy-six wagons, pillaged and burned them, car 
rying off all the animals, horses, mules, and oxen. _ This loss 
is estimated at a million of dollars. The troops, ill lodged 
and ill fed, will suffer terribly if the winter is severe, as it is 
usually in the elevated parts which they occupy. As soon 
as the spring opens, large reinforcements will be sent. 
There is a great diversity of opinion here on the matter. 
Many think that the war will be long and bloody, and that 
the Mormons will resist to the death. A great manifesta 
tion on the part of the government will, doubtless, be neces 
sary ; and I think that as the new forces approach the rebel 
territory, the Mormons will retire after setting fire to their 
towns, and march to occupy some new district Sonera, per 
haps, or some other thinly-settled tract in the vast Mexican 
territory. This fanatical sect will find repose only outside 
of all other civil jurisdiction. It will master and subject all, 
unless it is mastered and expelled in season. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 397 

One more word on the Mormons and I have done. A 
new organization has been given to the Mormon troops. In 
1840, Smith organized the Nauvoo Legion, and compelled 
all his disciples from the age of sixteen to fifty to enter it. 
This little troop has continually increased, and preserves its 
old name. No effort is spared to render the soldiers perfect 
in military discipline and exercises. They have at their 
head officers who served under General Scott in the Mexican 
war. Young's whole army might, in case of necessity, be 
brought up to 8000 men. This number would not be for 
midable, were they not all animated with a spirit of fanati 
cism which will make them fight, if it comes to that, with 
an obstinacy like that of the first Mahometans. Besides the 
community of religion and interest, there exists among them 
another bond. A great number of them are bound to the 
President and Prophet Young by horrible oaths. There 
exists among this people a society called the Mormon En 
dowment, into which members are admitted amid ceremo 
nies most capable of inspiring superstitious terror. The ini 
tiated take an oath of blind obedience, as understood by the 
secret societies of Europe. The penalty of death awaits 
him who violates his oath. If the Mormons wish war, as 
they so loudly proclaim, they will have a chance this year, 
but they cannot long resist the troops of the United States. 
I have the honor to be, Rev. Father, 

Your servant in Christ, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 
84 



308 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XXXIV. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Missions of Kentucky. 

REVEREND FATHER: 

I inclose a copy of a letter to my nephew, Charles De 
Smet, advocate at Antwerp. 



DEAR CHARLES : / 

I received your kind letter and read it with inexpressi 
ble pleasure and great consolation. I seize my first leisure 
moments to satisfy your request by giving you some ideas 
of America, and of Kentucky where I now am, and most of 
which I have seen. 

The United States would be truly the wonder of the 
world, if the moral state of the country corresponded to the 
marvellous development of its material resources, to its ever- 
increasing population, its immense territory, and increasing 
commerce. Hardly seventy years since, all the country west 
of the Alleghany mountains, a region now so thickly set 
tled, was but a vast wilderness, traversed here and there by 
a few feeble Indian tribes, decimated by war and pesti 
lence. On the waters of those rivers which irrigate the 
whole bosom of the continent, where hundreds of fine large 
steamers now dash along, full of passengers, loaded with 
goods, naught was then to be seen but the solitary canoe, cut 



AND MISSIONARIES. 399 

from a tree, gliding down the stream, or laboriously stem 
ming its current with its little band of Indian warriors, -with 
eagle or vulture plume, armed with bows or tomahawks. 
Now, along these waters rise, as if by enchantment, hun 
dreds of cities and towns. On every side cultivated fields, 
farm-houses, and well-stored barns ; on every side, herds of 
cattle and horses, browsing on the hill-side and the plain, 
once covered with forests. Railroads and macadamized 
roads lead to numberless colonies in the interior. English, 
Irish, German, French, emigrants from every European 
nation, have come hither in hopes of finding those comforts 
which they could not hope in their own densely-peopled lands. 

It might be supposed that in a country which boasts of 
unexampled tolerance and liberty, the Catholic Church would 
be, if not protected, at least spared from persecution. But it 
is not so. A party, whose only principle is a hostility to the 
Faith, has several times been formed. Now it flourishes 
under the name of Know-nothing^ and it might be termed, 
" the ignorant and brutal." One of their main objects is, to 
annihilate, if possible, our holy religion in the United States. 
It is a secret society, the members of which are bound by hor 
rible oaths. It extends its branches over all parts of the 
Union. As a general thing, ministers of the different Prot 
estant sects belong to it. Their fury has already been marked 
by the destruction of Catholic churches in several parts ; by 
insults to priests and religious; by laws parsed in several 
States to seize or control the Catholic Church property, laws 
which they threaten to pass wherever they attain power. 

Kentucky, of which I have promised you a description, 
evinces a more conservative and really free spirit than most 
of the other States. Its material prosperity, fertile soil, 
beautiful sites, natural curiosities, interesting history, make 
it one of those most favored by nature. 



400 WK.STFKX MISSIONS 

The name Kentucky, given to the country by the Indians, 
signified, according to some, a dark and bloody ground, and 
was so called because in old times it was the battle-field of 
various tribes in their bloody wars. 

Then vast herds of bison, elk, and deer roamed over the 
plains and prairies, covered with rich, long grass, studded 
with wild roses. No tribe resided here permanently. Every 
year, at the hunting-seasons, they came from all the country 
round to lay in their winter store. Here hostile tribes met : 
hereditary feuds, envenomed from generation to generation, 
by reciprocal reprisals, brought on frequent engagements. 

In 1769 the celebrated Daniel Boone, whose name seems 
to indicate a family of Belgian origin, advanced into the 
dark and bloody ground. This courageous man first planted 
his solitary cabin amid these vast forests, with no aid against 
the attack of the savages but his forecast, coolness, and 
bravery. His adventures, which he made known during a 
trip to the settled parts of the Atlantic, drew around him 
many families from Maryland and Virginia. They formed 
two principal colonies, at a distance of fifteen miles apart, 
and thus became the nucleus^ of the flourishing State of 
Kentucky, which now contains over a million of inhab 
itants. 

For several years, till 1797, the settlers were exposed to 
frequent attacks from the Indians, who surprised their towns, 
burning and pillaging all that they found in their way. 
There is now no trace remaining of these hardy lords of the 
forest : the savage form, his shrill war-whoop, which once 
spread dismay through every plain and forest, are now as 
much unknown in Kentucky as in the countries of Europe. 
The Indians have been exterminated or repelled into the 
plains beyond the Missouri. 

Meanwhile Boone, seeing the numbers of the civilized in- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 401 

habitants increasing around him, soon began to perceive that 
the country was too full, that the population was too dense ; 
he needed a new wilderness, a freer country. He accord 
ingly retired with his family and flocks of domestic animals 
beyond the Mississippi, in a remote region, where white set 
tlers had not yet penetrated. Here again he found himself 
struggling alone against wild and uncultivated nature; against 
numerous hordes of sanguinary warriors, jealous of the en 
croachments of white settlers. 

The State of Kentucky extends on the north along the 
Ohio over five hundred miles ; it is separated from Missouri 
on the west by the Mississippi, and terminates on the east 
at the base of the Cumberland Mountains, which separate it 
from Virginia. The soil produces in abundance wheat, 
maize, tobacco, hemp, and most of the fruits of your lati 
tudes. It abounds in picturesque sites. There is nothing 
more agreeable than a steamboat-trip down the Ohio, in the 
spring, along its banks, now frowning with rocks, now 
stretching out into green fields of grain, with now wooded 
hills, where oaks of various kinds, poplar, beech, sycamore, 
wild vines, chestnut, and hickory, meet, mingle, cross, and 
interlace their thick branches, presenting the grand and free 
aspect of unbroken forests. From time to time, amid this 
noble scenery, which won for the Ohio the name of la Belle 
Riviere, given to it by the early French explorers, new cities 
rise, as if by enchantment, and spread before you all the fruits 
of the active civilization of the most commercial cities of 
Europe. 

The eastern part of Kentucky and the banks of the Ohio 
possess rich mines. Immense strata of white stone, fit for 
building or making lime, are found some feet below the sur 
face, in almost all parts of the north. Near Lexington, the 
first city founded in Kentucky, mummies were discovered, re- 



402 WESTERN MISSIONS 

sembling, it is said, those of Egypt. North of this city, on 
the banks of the Blue Lick, great quantities of bones have 
been found, among the most remarkable being those of the 
ancient mastodon or mammoth, an enormous animal, of a 
species now extinct ; of the elephant, no longer seen in 
America ; and of a kind of bison, unknown in our days. 

Near our college of St. Joseph, at Bardstown, which I 
visited last April, the surface of the soil is covered with dif 
ferent kinds of petrifactions. There are found in that local 
ity, in abundance, trilobites, terebratula, spirifer, etc. (I use 
the American geological names), as well as many others. 
Limestone is very abundant ; it belongs generally to the class 
known in geology as the inferior calcareous of the second 
formation. It is intermingled with a great quantity of fer 
ruginous particles, and the strata are so thick and colossal 
that they suffice in building whole cities. 

At about sixty-six miles south of the college is the famous 
cavern, called, from its enormous dimensions, Mammoth Cave. 
It attracts thousands of visitors, who come from all parts of 
the United States to witness its wonders. It is, undoubted 
ly, one of the most extraordinary curiosities in the world, or 
rather, in the whole subterranean world, with its mountains, 
its precipices, its rivers, its rugged banks, its enormous domes, 
which seem like temples built by the hands of nature, and 
defying art to equal the boldness of its high and immense 
vaults, suspended 'without columns. The cavern has many 
galleries, or alleys, like the catacombs of Rome. Nobody 
would dare venture in without a guide ; he would probably 
never find the entrance, on account of the countless wind 
ings of this natural labyrinth. 

A remarkable evenness of temperature prevails in this 
cavern ; the cold of winter scarcely penetrates it, and the 
heat of summer leaves a mild and moderate atmosphere. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 403 

To descend to it, you enter a chamber as sombre as the Tar 
tarus of Virgil. No ray of sunlight enters it. Each bears 
a torch. This pale light adds to the sublimity of the place, 
especially when you find a chamber incrusted with stalac 
tites. There the reflection of the torches seems to change 
the vaults and sides of the cavern into a continuous mass of 
precious stones. The principal gallery, which is ordinarily 
followed, leads to a distance of eleven miles under ground. 
Sometimes it expands, like the corridor of a palace ; some 
times the vault descends, so that you have to creep along, 
and it even forms a narrow passage, called "The fat-man's 
misery ;" elsewhere the passage expands into immense halls, 
with a vaulted roof three hundred feet high ; then soon, 
stopping before a mountain of broken rock, or opening a 
precipice, it plunges into new depths, threatening to take you 
to the very centre of the earth. In these great halls, nature 
seems to have assumed, for their embellishment, the most fan 
tastic forms, resembling objects of art, fields, vines, trees, stat 
ues, pillars, altars, forming as many stalactite sculptures, 
produced by the action of water, which, filtering for long 
centuries through the rocks, has formed all these marvellous 
works. While traversing the great gallery, you pass, at two 
different times, a deep and rapid river which flows in these 
parts ; its source and mouth are both unknown. It contains 
white-fish and crabs, varieties of which are found in almost 
all our rivers, but which are here entirely destitute of eyes, 
and evidently created to live only in this subterranean river. 
There is one place where you have to row ten minutes before 
reaching the opposite shore, because the river follows the 
course of the gallery and makes it its bed. There is at this 
point a beautiful vault, perfectly arranged for prolonging and 
redoubling an echo. The Magnificat, chanted by a few 
voices, had an effect which the most numerous choir and all 



404: WESTERN MISSIONS 

the music of a cathedral could not produce, so much docs 
the echo augment the volume and sweeten the harmony of 
sounds. The sublime silence of this spot, the torches reflected 
in the subterranean waters, the measured beat of the oars, 
the idea of a world suspended over your head, and so differ 
ent from that where you are, all produce an indescribable 
impression on the soul. 

Returning to the entrance of the cavern, you experience 
in summer an effect like that caused by a sea-voyage when 
you near the port ; although you have been under ground 
only a part of a single day, you discern the odor of the 
plants and the flowers at a distance. The impressions pro 
duced by these subterranean wonders are so profound, that 
the sight of the verdure of the fields, the brilliant rays of 
the sun, the varied plumage of the birds warbling in the 
trees, impress you with the idea that you are entering a new 
world. 

Let us return to St. Joseph's college. Bardstown, where 
it is situated, was the first Episcopal See erected west of the 
Alleghany mountains. Thence Bishop Flaget, the first 
bishop, governed his immense diocese with so holy a zeal. 
Now that the see is transferred to Louisville, the cathedral 
of Bardstown is attached to the college, and has become a 
parish church. The college has about two hundred pupils, 
mostly boarders. Bishop Flaget, before his death, had 
placed it under the direction of the Society of Jesus. 
Bardstown is a kind of centre of religious houses. On one 
side you have the Dominican Fathers, at *he convent of St. 
Rose, near Springfield ; on the other, the Trappists, who 
have been for some years at New Haven. There are also 
several establishments of nuns, Lorettines and Sisters of 
Charity. 

The city forms about the centre of the district, in which 



AND MISSIONARIES. 405 

reside the vast majority of the Catholics in the diocese of 
Louisville. They number about 70,000. 

Tt was also in this neighborhood that, early in this century, 
the very Rev. Mr. Nerinckx, a Belgian, distinguished him 
self by his apostolic labors, and left among the people the 
impress of his zeal and virtues. He founded, in 1812, the 
congregation of sisters known here under the name of Sis 
ters of Loretto, or Lorettines. It has already spread over 
different parts of the States of Kentucky and Missouri, Kan 
sas Territory, among the Osage Indians, and to New Mexico. 

I must close. Time presses. I have only a few moments 
to start for Chicago and Milwaukee. Farewell. Do not 
forget me, dear Charles. 

Your devoted uncle, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



406 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XXXV. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
The Ursulines of America. 

Addressed to the Rev. Mother Superiors of Saventhem and Tbeldonck. 

BRUSSELS, March 21, 1857. 

MY DEAR REVEREND MOTHER : 

On the point of quitting Belgium, I repass in my 
memory the benefits which I have received there, and in ' 
particular the reception given me in the various religious 
communities. 

Among these .asylums of piety and virtue, your academy 
holds a very high rank. As in America, so in my own land, 
I have been able to see. genuine proofs of the religious spirit 
which animates the Ursulines, and the great good which 
they do, and which they are yet called upon to perform, by 
the fervor of their prayers and by the education of youth. 

I congratulate all your community, Reverend Mother, be 
cause this spirit proves that God has founded this house and 
designs to sustain it. I felicitate myself, because I found 
there consoling subjects of edification, and beautiful exam 
ples to narrate to my poor Indians. I congratulate Belgium, 
where the new Ursulines continue so generously the work of 
their pious predecessors, to whom so many mothers are in- 
habted for the sentiments of piety which animate them. I 



AND MISSIONARIES. 407 

rejoice with the Church, whose afflicted heart the daughters 
of St. Angela console, by rendering themselves so worthy of 
the religious state one of the most sparkling gems which 
adorn the brow of the spouse of Christ. Continue then, 
pious souls, to walk in the footsteps of your Saviour. It is 
the sole way in which real happiness is found. 

I just alluded, Rev. Mother, to, the Ursulines of America. 
I spoke of them to your beloved pupils in my visit witi 
Father Tervvecoren. Nevertheless, it may prove agreeable to 
you to have some more precise information. I need scarcely 
say that I have no pretension to a complete notice. I must 
content myself with giving a summary idea of their actual 
condition and prospects. 

The Ursulines were the first religious who established 
themselves in the northern parts of North America. Before 
the close of the 17th century, there were in Canada six 
communities of women, among whom two were of the Ursu- 
line order: the House of Quebec, founded in 1639, and that 
of Three Rivers, founded in 1697. 

In the States of the American Union, New Orleans, capi 
tal of Louisiana, was the first of all the cities of the confed 
eracy which obtained a community of Ursulines. This con 
vent was founded in 1727. At the period of this foundation 
Louisiana belonged to France. It is in this sense that Mr. 
De Courcy, in his remarkable sketches of the Catholic 
Church in the United States, observes that till 1790 the Uni 
ted States did not know what a nun is. 

In 1730, the community of New Orleans numbered seven 
Ursulines. Devoted to education and charitable works, they 
directed a school, an hospital, and an orphanage. The num 
ber of their orphans increased greatly at the time of the 
massacre by the Natchez, which occurred that year. The 
French expedition delivered from slavery many fatherless 



408 WESTERN MISSIONS 

children, and transported them to New Orleans.* "These 
little girls," writes Father Le Petit on the 12th July, I730,f 
"that none of the citizens would adopt, have only aug 
mented the charity and attention of the' Ursulines. They 
have given them a separate hall, and two private mistresses. 
There is not one of this holy community who is not de 
lighted at having braved the dangers of the sea, were she to 
do naught else than preserve these children iu innocence, 
and bestow a polite and Christian education on the young 
French girls, who are in danger of being not much better 
educated than their slaves. We trust that these holy nuns 
will shortly occupy the new house destined to their use, and 
after which they so long sigh. Once settled in it, to the 
instruction of boarders, orphans, day-scholars, and negresses, 
they will also add the care of the sick in the hospital, and 
that of a house of refuge for women of doubtful virtue. 
Perhaps even, in time, they may be able to receive regu 
larly every year, a number of ladies to make a spiritual 
retreat, according to the inclination with which we have 
inspired them. 

"In France, so many works of charity and zeal would 
occupy several communities and several different institutes. 
]3ut what cannot faith accomplish? These different labors 
do not astonish seven Ursulines, and they intend to accom 
plish them, with God's grace, and not permit. the religious 
rule to suffer. Those who, before being acquainted with 
them, thought that they came too soon, and in too great 
number, have greatly changed their sentiments and lan 
guage. Once they witnessed their edifying conduct and the 



* The reader will find some account of this in Bishop Spaulding's 
Life of Bishop Flaget. 
t " Lettres Edifiantes." 



AND MISSIONARIES. 409 

great services that they render to the colony, they found 
that they came too late, and that too many could not come 
if they possessed equal piety and merit." 

The following will show what took place at the conclusion 
of a peace that terminated a melancholy war.* " The Illi 
nois had no other house but ours, during the three weeks 
that they remained in this city. They charmed us by their 
piety and by their edifying life. Every evening they' recited 
the rosary in alternate choirs, and heard mass every morn 
ing, during which, particularly on Sundays and festivals, 
they sung different hymns of the Church conformably to the 
various offices of the day. At the end of the mass they 
never failed -to sing, with all their heart, the prayer for the 
king. The nuns sang the first Latin couplet in the usual 
Gregorian notes, and the Illinois continued the rest in the 
same tone. This spectacle, which was new, attracted many 
to the church, and inspired a tender devotion. In the course 
of the day, and after supper, they often sang alone or all 
together different prayers of the Church, such as the Dies 
irce, the Vexilla Regis, the Stabat Mater. It was easy to 
perceive that they relished singing these devout hymns more 
than the generality of Indians, and even more than many 
French their frivolous and often dissolute songs. 

" You would be astonished, as I was myself, on arriving 
at this mission, to see that numbers of our French people 
are not nearly as well instructed as are these neophytes. 
They are not ignorant of any of the narratives of the Old 
and New Testament. They have excellent methods of hear 
ing holy mass, and of receiving the sacraments. Their cat 
echism, with its literal translation by Father Le Boulanger, is 
a perfect model for those who have need of one in new mis- 



* " Lettres Edifiantes." (Amerique.) Paris: 1781. Tom. vii. p. 61. 
85 



410. AVKSTERN MISSIONS 

sions. These good Indians have been left in ignorance of 
no mystery or duty. What is fundamental and essential in 
religion, has been explained in a way equally instructive and 
solid. 

"The first day that the Illinois saw the Ursulines, Maman- 
touensa (chief of the Kaskaskias) perceiving around them a 
troop of little girls, said : ' I see that you are not religious 
without an object.' 

"He meant that they were not solitaries who labored 
solely for their own perfection. ' You are,' added he, ' like 
the Black-gowns, our fathers ; you labor for the good of oth 
ers. Ah ! if we had up there two or three of you, our wives 
and daughters would have more sense, and be better Chris 
tians.' 'Well,' said the Mother Superior, 'select those you 
would like,' ' It is not for me to choose,' answered Mamau- 
touensa, ' but for you who are acquainted with them ; the 
choice should fall on those who are roost generous, and who 
love God the most!' Imagine how delighted those good 
nuns were, to hear from savage lips sentiments so reasonable 
and Christian."* 

Such were the commencements of the pious Ursuline 
Community of New Orleans. To these details, I will add a 
few others, concerning the state of the convents of your or 
der in 1855. In that year the house in New Orleans num 
bered fifty-two professed religious, three novices, and throe 
postulants. TJie academy had one hundivd and thirty board 
ers, and twelve half- boarders. In the vicariate of Upper 
Michigan, at Sault St. Marie, the Ursulines have a school for 
girls, and they were making preparations to establish a 
boarding-school destined to the education of girls whose so- 



* "Lettres EJifiantes." (Memoires d'Ameriqne.) Paris Edition, 
1781. Tom. vii. p. 61. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 411 

cial position exacts a more finished and a higher course of 
studies. 

In the diocese of Cincinnati, at St. Martin, near Fayette- 
ville, in Ohio, the community of Ursulines consisted of thirty- 
three professed nuns, nine novices, and four postulants. The 
boarding-school which they direct, numbers sixty pupils. 

In the same State, at Cleveland, the community at the 
same epoch was composed of fourteen professed religious, ten 
novices, and four postulants. They direct a boarding-school. 
This establishment is situated in the most agreeable and 
healthy portion of the city. Young ladies are there taught 
the common branches, and the most elevated of a select 
course of tuition. Boarders, day-boarders, and day-scholars, 
are admitted. Near Cleveland, four sisters direct an ele 
mentary select school and two parish schools. 

At Toledo, two of the religious are charged with three 
elementary select schools and two free schools. At Morrisa- 
nia, near New York, they have a convent and a boarding- 
school. In the diocese of Galveston, in Texas, the Ursulines 
numbered, in 1855, fifteen professed religious; their board 
ing-school counted from eighty to one hundred pupils. At 
San Antonio, there were fourteen professed, three novices, 
and four postulants. The number of pupils varied from one 
hundred and forty to one hundred and sixty. In the diocese 
and city of St. Louis, where I have most generally resided 
since my departure from Europe, the convent of Ursulines 
is composed of from twenty to twenty-five religious, who di 
rect a school of forty or fifty young ladies. In separate 
buildings they have a day-school, numbering from one to 
two hundred. 

When reflecting upon all these benefits of our holy reli 
gion, spread with a liberal hand over America, we owe a 
testimony of gratitude to the venerable Bishop Carroll, who 



412 WESTERN MISSIONS 

contributed to establish, or prepare, the pious institutions to 
which is intimately connected the well-being and happiness 
of these countries. 

** At the moment when the Society of Jesus was suppressed 
by Clement XIV., some Jesuits forsook Great Britain, to 
withdraw into North America, their country. John Carroll 
conducted them. Bound to the institute by the profession 
of four vows, Carroll was not long in winning the esteem of 
that immortal generation which was silently preparing the 
enfranchisement of the country. He was the friend jof 
Washington and Franklin, the counsellor of that Carroll, his 
relation, who contributed in so efficacious a manner to the 
Constitution of the United States. The forethought and the 
knowledge of the Jesuit were appreciated by the founders of 
American liberty. Attached to the Protestant worship, they 
were about to consecrate its triumph by law ; but Catho 
licity appeared to them, in the Fathers of the Society, so 
toK-rant, and so proper for the civilization of the savages, that 
they could not to John Carroll refuse to secure the principle 
of religious independence. Carroll was admitted to discuss 
the bases with them : he laid them so well, that the liberty 
of worship has never been violated in the United States. 
The Americans had pledged themselves to sustain them : 
they never believed themselves authorized to betray their 
solemn promise even by the progress that the missionaries 
elicited in the Roman Faith. When the Union was consol 
idated, Pope Pius VI., in 1789, gave a guide to all those 
faithful dispersed in the cities and forests. John Carroll re 
ceived first the title of Bishop of Baltimore ; later he became 
archbishop and metropolitan of the other dioceses, and apostol 
ical legate, with another Jesuit, Leonard Neale, as coadjutor."* 

* "History of the Society of Jesus," by J. Cn-tineau Joly, t. vi. p. 276. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 413 

From this epoch dates, for all North America, the open 
ing of a new era. Bishop Carroll took the initiatory step in 
a general revival of religion. He had had no models ; he 
will have a multitude of imitators. 

"After providing, by the foundation of a college and a 
seminary, for the education of youth and the recruiting of 
the clergy, the Bishop of Baltimore occupied himself with 
introducing into Maryland religious communities of females, 
who would aid in educating the young, in relieving the sick 
and needy, and adopting orphans. These good works have 
ever been the patrimony of the Church, and a Christian 
community must be considered ephemeral, as long as it has 
not laid the foundation-stones of convents for the practice of 
prayer and charity."* 

From that time, how many works of salvation have 
sprung up on the soil of America ! how many astonishing 
traits have betokened the finger of a benign Providence ! 

Here is one, Reverend Mother, that is very interesting. 
I told it, I believe, to the Ursuline nuns and pupils of Sa- 
ven them and Theldonck, but having since read it again in 
the remarkable work of Mr. Henry de Courcy, " The Catho 
lic Church in the United States," as translated and augment 
ed by Mr. John Gilmary Shea, I can write with more preci 
sion. 

In 1807, Daniel Barber, a congregational minister of New 
England, had baptized in his sect Miss Allen, daughter of 
the celebrated American general, Ethan Allen, so famous in 
his native State, Vermont. This young lady was then 
twenty-two. 

Soon after she went to Montreal and entered the academy 



* H. de Courcy, " Catholic Church in the United States," p. 76 ; and 
in "Ami de la Religion," 1855, n. 5872. 

35* 



414 WESTERN MISSIONS 

of the Sisters of the Congregation. Miss Allen spontaneously 
embraced the Catholic religion, and wishing to make the 
supernatural sacrifice of her whole being, she consecrated 
herself to the things of Heaven in the community of Hospital 
Sisters of the Hotel-Dieu, where she died piously in 1819, 
after having by the edification of her last moments converted 
to the Catholic faith the Protestant physician who attended 
her. 

The conversion of Miss Allen produced other fruits of 
grace among her coreligionists. Her former pastor, Mr, 
Barber, became an Episcopalian, but did not stop there in 
his path to truth ; in 1816 he abjured the errors of the pre 
tended Reformation. The son of this converted minister, 
Virgil Barber, born in 1782, was, like his father, a Protestant 
minister. He too, convinced of the necessity of being recon 
ciled to the Church of Rome, entered it with his father. 
Mrs. Virgil Barber followed these examples. These two 
spouses having become Catholics, did more. With mutual 
consent they resolved to leave all and separate for the ser 
vice of God. In this pious view, Mr. Virgil Barber went to 
Rome in 1817, to obtain of the Supreme Pontiff the neces 
sary permission. He embraced the ecclesiastical state, and 
was ordained in the eternal city. After remaining two years 
in Europe, he returned, bringing the authorization for his 
wife to enter religion. She joined the Visitation order at 
Georgetown, and for two years performed the duties of the 
novitiate. 

Mr. and Mrs. Barber had five children, four daughters 
and one son. The last studied at the Jesuit college at 
Georgetown ; the daughters at the Academy of the Visita 
tion, but without knowing that their mother was a novice 
in the same convent. 

After her novitiate, the five children were taken to the 



AND MISSIONARIES. 415 

chapel to witness their mother's profession ; and at the 
same time, their lather, on the steps of the altar consecra 
ted himself to God in the Society of Jesus. At this touch 
ing and unexpected spectacle, the poor children burst into 
sobs, believing themselves forsaken on earth; but their 
Heavenly Father watched over this privileged family. He 
called the four daughters to embrace the religious state ; 
three of them became Ursulines ; one at Quebec, another at 
Boston, and the third at Three Rivers; the fourth sister 
made her profession among the Visitation nuns of George 
town. Their brother Samuel entered the Society of Jesus. 

Father Virgil Barber, after filling with great edification 
different posts in Pennsylvania and Maryland, became Pro 
fessor of Hebrew in Georgetown College, and died there 
March 27, 1847, at the age of 65. 

Sister Barber of the Visitation, long resided at Kaskaskia, 
where she founded a monastery. Sister Mary Barber of 
St. Benedict, witnessed the destruction of the Ursuline con 
vent at Charlestown, and died at Quebec, May 9th, 1848. 
Sister Catherine Barber of St. Thomas, followed Bishop Odin 
to Texas in 1849; of the fourth of these pious daughters 
I find no detail. 

The grace of conversion extended to other members of 
the family. A nephew and pupil of Father Virgil Barber, 
William Tyler, born in Protestantism in 1804, at Derby, 
Vermont, became in 1844 the first Catholic bishop of Hart 
ford, and died in his diocese in 1849. 

I close, Reverend Mothej, by begging you to accept once 
more the expression of my lively gratitude for all the as 
sistance that you have given to my mission, as well as for 
the prayers promised me, not only by the religious, but 
also by the pupils. I thank them all, and I recommend 
them to the good remembrances of my poor Indians. May 



4:16 WESTERN MISSIONS 

your daughters in Jesus Christ continue to give themselves 
devotedly to the holy work of educating the young: God, 
they will find by happy experience, does not wait for eter 
nity in order to give them an ample recompense ! May the 
dear children continue to profit by these salutary lessons 
and fascinating examples; they will then retain in the world 
their engaging piety and their gayety of heart, because they 
will preserve their precious innocence. 

I pray you to thank also in my name your worthy direct 
ors, M. Larabertz at Theldonck and Mr. Paeps at Saven- 
them, who received me with that fraternal cordiality which 
should reign among priests and religious, called to labor to 
gether for the salvation and perfection of souls, and to aim 
at one sole end, in their works and their aspirations, viz., 
the greater glory of God. 

Accept, Reverend Mother, the homage of my gratitude 
and believe me your devoted servant in Christ. 

P. J. DB SMET, S. J. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 417 



Letter XXXVI. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Voyage of the Leopold Z, from Antwerp to New Torlc. 

REVEREND FATHER : 

Time absolutely fails me, or I would cheerfully give you 
long details. I send you a letter that I addressed to the 
respectable M. M*****, at M. If you deem it worthy of 
the Precis Historiques, please copy it immediately, and dis 
patch the original. Our voyage was pleasant, and all my 
companions are well, and have given me great satisfaction. 
On the 18th I shall set out 'for St. Louis, &c. 



Mr DEAR FRIEND : 

To accomplish my promise, I hasten to give the news of 
our voyage. I am well aware that you will not only be 
pleased, but that you will expect a letter with a certain 
impatience. 

We have just safely arrived in America, after a delightful 
and tranquil passage. Embarking at Antwerp on the 21st 
of April, we reached New York on the 7th of the month of 
Mary. I send you a sketch of our itinerary. 

The eve of our departure, we were invited to dine in the 
family of the worthy and honored Count Le Grelle, late 



418 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Burgomaster of Antwerp, who was desirous of testifying to 
us on this occasion, as he did 'on several other departures of 
missionaries, the deep interest which he takes in our cherished 
American missions. The day of our departure, he was so 
kind as to accompany us as far as the port. A great num 
ber of other persons, and several of our near and dear rela 
tives also, came to the quay, to bid us a last adieu and wish 
us a successful voyage. 

They weighed anchor between nine and ten in the morn 
ing. The weather was superb. The large and beautiful 
ship, Leopold I., was full of animation. A multitude of 
emigrants, from Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, 
Russia, France, etc., etc., were already on board, and were 
occupied with an infinity of petty cares and arrangements, 
in order to render the long passage agreeable, or, as the 
English say, comfortable. The sailors, attentive to the word 
of command, and every one at his post, were making the 
latest preparations for setting sail. 

We took but a day to reach Southampton, and remained 
there until the next day, to take in English and Irish passen 
gers. Our number increased then to more than six hundred 
and twenty persons. During the whole of this day the air 
resounded with the songs of the Germans and Hollanders, 
collected on the deck ; several parties executed dances, to 
the sound of the violin and guitar ; our main-deck resem 
bled a floating village at the Kermesse (annual fair). But 
fine things never endure long, and here follows a proof. 

Scarcely had we lost sight of the Isle of Wight, than the 
scene assumed a new aspect. We found the sea in extra 
ordinary agitation. Although the wind was tolerably mod 
erate, and the weather sufficiently fine, the swell shook the 
ship with such violence, bearing us now on the summit of 
the highest waves, and then precipitating us into an abyss, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 419 

between the turbulent and foaming surges which rose moun 
tain high around us. It was an agitation which succeeded a 
tempest, or many heavy contradictory winds, which had 
passed, a short time before, in our neighborhood. That day 
resembled a genuine day of mourning ; the songs and dances 
ceased ; no animation or vivacity was exhibited anywhere ; 
the table was almost deserted ; hunger and gayety made 
their exit together. Here and there might be seen groups 
of men, women, and children, with sinister faces and hag 
gard eyes, pale and wan as spectres, leaning over the vessel's 
side, as though making some hasty communication to the 
sea. Those especially who had revelled most freely, and per 
haps looked too deeply into the wine-cup, wore the most 
melancholy and lengthened faces; they looked absolutely 
like old parchment -franzyne gezichten. Neptune was at 
his post ; this inexorable toll-gatherer exacted the very last 
portion of his tribute ; willingly or unwillingly, it must be 
paid ; and, remark it well, how contradictory the humor of 
the stern sea-king, for we leave the table after dessert, but he 
requires the list exactly rendered, from dessert to the initia 
tory course of soup. 

Though this was my eleventh trip across the Atlantic, I 
was not exempted from the general sea-sickness. I endeavor 
ed to resist, but all in vain. I was, therefore, obliged humbly 
to submit, and share the common misery. The old adage 
says, " violent sufferings do not last long," hence the indis 
posed insensibly recovered, and we had no deaths to mourn. 
We had a worthy and excellent physician on board, M. The- 
mont ; he was on his feet night and day, and lavished his 
cares on all indiscriminately. 

This little shadow passed, the remainder of the passage 
was unclouded. The weather was favorable from that day 
forward. The winds were sometimes a little contrary, but 



420 WKSTKKN MISSIONS 

the ocean was calm and tranquil, until within six days' dis 
tance from New York. 

I had the consolation of saying mass every day in my 
cabin. My young companions frequently received, and 
several of the emigrants enjoyed the same happy privi 
lege. You would have been edified had you seen our 
little altar, neatly adorned and surmounted with a pretty 
little statue of the Blessed Virgin, garlanded with flowers 
that some ladies from Holland had removed from their bon 
nets. On Sunday I said ma^s in the grand saloon, where 
more than a hundred persons could conveniently find places ; 
several Protestants asked permission to be present. Hymns 
were sung, during the sacrifice, in French, Latin, Dutch, and 
German. It was certainly' a rare spectacle on the ocean, 
where one is much more habituated to hearing blasphemies 
than the praises of God. 

On the 2d day of May, when near the Banks of New 
foundland, the sea became covered with a dense fog. It 
continued thus during four days, so that the captain could 
not make an observation. We could not distinguish any 
thing a few feet from the boat. The misfortunes of the 
Lyonnais and of the Arctic are still recent. We were in 
continual danger of coming in contact with some sailing ves 
sel pursuing the same route. As a precaution, the great 
whistle of the steam-engine was heard day and night, in its 
loudest and most piercing tones, in order to give the alarm 
to vessels which might be in our passage. By means of this 
manoeuvre we were able to advance with our ordinary rapid 
ity, ten or twelve knots, or four leagues, an hour. 

However, as we were rapidly approaching land, and the 
fog increasing in intensity, it appeared that we were pro 
gressing more or less at random ; and as the observations of 
the meridian -had become impossible, we were not without 



AND MISSIONARIES. 421 

anxiety. We, therefore, had recourse to Heaven, and we 
said our beads together, with the Litany of our Blessed 
Mother, and some special prayers to obtain, by the interces 
sion of the souls in purgatory, a serene sky. Our prayers 
appear to have been heard. Some hours after, the fogs had 
vanished, and we had one of the most glorious evenings that 
can be witnessed at sea. The full moon reflected on the 
waves, shone in its splendor from the starry and cloudless 
firmament. The next day the sun rose majestically. We 
saw a great number of vessels sailing towards every point of 
the compass. At last, all eyes being turned towards the 
west, we descried in the distance, above the horizon, as it 
were, a long train of rising mists. The officers apply the 
spy-glass and announce that those are the much-desired 
coasts of America ! Songs and exclamations of joy were 
simultaneously offered by all hearts. The emigrants, grouped 
upon the upper deck, all saluted the New World, the land 
of promise, which bore in its bosom all their hopes and all 
their future prospects. As the objects and shores presented 
themselves more distinctly to view my young companions 
could not satisfy their longing eyes at the view of that land, 
to the salvation of which they came to devote their lives, 
and on which they will be, I trust, instruments of salvation 
to thousands of neglected souls. Before the close of that 
lovely day, the 7th of the month of Mary, we found ourselves, 
at four o'clock in the afternoon, in the roadstead off Staten 
Island, in the bay of New York. 

One duty remained for us to fulfil. In the name of all 
the passengers of the first and second cabin, who amounted 
to more than a hundred persons, I presented to the worthy 
commandant of the steamship, M. Achille Michel, and to all 
his officers, a document signed by all, to express our cordial 
gratitude and sincere thanks for their assiduous attentions, 

36 



422 WESTERN MISSIONS 

their great kindness and politeness in regard to all the pas 
sengers ; and, at the same time, to compliment them for 
their naval skill in the management of the large and noble 
ship, Leopold I. In all my sea-voyages, I have never met a 
commandant more capable, and officers more attentive to 
their charges. The whole crew was well selected and per 
fectly organized. It is rare to find sailors more tranquil, la 
borious, and respectful. The names of Messrs. Edward Mi 
chel, commander ; Justius Win. Luning, first mate ; Louis 
Delmer, second mate ; Julius Nyssens, third' mate ; Leopold 
Grosfels, fourth mate ; Augustus Themont, surgeon, and 
Edward Kremer, engineer, will always be dear to us. We 
also pay a tribute of respectful thanks to Messrs. Posno and 
Spillaerdts, of Antwerp, for their assiduous attentions to us 
before embarking, and for all the precautions which they so 
kindly took to render this long voyage pleasant. Most 
cheerfully we wish the happiest success to the great and 
noble enterprise of the "Atlantic Steamship Company of 
Antwerp." 

On arriving in New York, our dear brethren of St. Xavier's 
College, New York, and of St. John's College, at Fordham, 
near the city, gave us a most hearty reception, pleased at 
seeing a new reinforcement to the apostolic work in America. 
Beautiful and vast America, so superb in all its natural fea 
tures, is in pressing need of fervent, holy, and zealous mis 
sionaries ! The thousands of Catholic emigrants who seek a 
home on her shores from year to year, render her penury, in 
this respect, more afflicting and melancholy. Ah ! may the 
generous hearts of Catholics in Holland and in Belgium 
continue to be, moved with an increasing compassion for so 
many thousands of souls, redeemed by the blood of Jesus 
Christ, who are deprived of pastors and of the consolations 
of religion. May they not cease sending new troops of 



AND MISSIONARIES. 423 

young missionaries, filled with a thirst for the salvation of 
their neighbor. The harvest is great ; the Father of the 
family only waits for the harvesters. No country in the 
world-has in prospect so magnificent a future. How happy, 
if she can be induced to acknowledge the true Church, which 
alone can make us happy here below and secure us a happy 
eternity, for which we have all been created and redeemed. 

Time presses, I must close. Be so kind as to recall me to 
the kind souvenirs of, etc., etc. Continue to pray for me, and 
accept my esteem and gratitude for all your deeds of kind 
ness to me ; we retain them with unfading gratitude. 
I have the honor to be, 

Most worthy and respected sir, 

Your very humble and ob't serv't, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



424 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XXXVII. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 

Rev. Charles Nerinckx, 
Pastor of Everberg-Meerbeek and Missionary in America, 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, August 29, 1857. 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER .* 

During my last visit to Belgium I heard you express a 
wish to publish in your Precis Historiques a sketch of the 
life of the venerable and holy missionary, Rev. Charles 
Nerinckx, the apostle of Kentucky. 

One of our best Catholic periodicals, the Metropolitan, of 
Baltimore, has just given a sketch of the Very Rev. Charles 
Nerinckx. I hasten to send you a copy. In a note, the 
author of the sketch refers to the Life of Bishop Flaget, by 
Dr. Spalding, the learned bishop of Louisville ; the United 
States Catholic Miscellany, vol. v. 1825 ; the Catholic Al 
manac for 1854, etc. 

I propose adding some lines on the same subject, in grati 
tude to the memory of our zealous and holy countryman, in 
the thought that they will, perhaps, be agreeable to the 
readers of the Precis Historiques. 



UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, November, 185T: 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER I 

In your letter of October 20th, acknowledging receipt 
of the Memoir of Charles Nerinckx, taken from the Metro- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 425 

politan of July loth, and the translation, you say that you 
have already received from me a sketch of the same mission 
ary, published by Bishop Spalding, now bishop of Louisville, 
in his Sketches of Kentucky. I remember, in fact, my send 
ing it. As the Memoir relies on the authority of the same 
worthy prelate, as the substance of the two notices is the 
same, and as an old missionary in America had already 
translated that in the Sketches, I think you will do well to 
publish the latter.* 

MEMOIR. 

Charles Nerinckxf was born on the 2d of October, 1761, 
at Herffelingen, a rural commune of the province of Bra 
bant, arrondissernent of Brussels. His parents were distin 
guished for their virtues and their strong attachment to 



* At all times* the Belgians have distingished themselves in the great 
work of the propagation of the faith. No region so distant that it does 
not preserve traces of their footsteps ; no people, infidel or savage, which 
does not recall and bless the name of some missionary who quitted his 
native Belgium. The great St. Francis Xavier admired their virtues 
and their devotedness. " Mitte Selgas 1 " 1 (send me Belgians), was his pe 
tition from the depths of India. 

How interesting would be a work to retrace the labors of our princi 
pal missionaries ! But while biographies of other Belgian celebrities 
abound, we find few of those apostolic men, who expended their sweat 
and blood in a work which a saint calls the divinest of all divine works. 

While this gap remains unfilled we are happy to recall a name well 
known in Belgium. Charles Nerinckx, one of the most celebrated Bel 
gian missionaries, was, in the beginning of this century, one of the 
glories of the rising Church of the United States. Trans. 

We have some letters of this worthy missionary of Kentucky, which 
we will publish. Many others must-be in existence. Persons commu 
nicating them to us will contribute to the good these edifying pieces 
may do. Note of Father Terwecore^, 

t The Nerinckx family is known by the many pious and zealous eccle 
siastics it has produced. One of them, early in the present century, 
repaired to London, where he still directs the Church of St. Aloysius, 
36* 



426 WESTERN MISSIONS 

religion. His father was a physician of some eminence in 
the profession ; and his mother seems to have been a woman 
of great piety. The tender mind of Charles was imbued 
with a deep and abiding religious feeling. At an early age, 
he was placed in the elementary school at Ninove, where he 
commenced his studies. At the age of thirteen, he was re 
moved to the college of Geel, in the province of Keinpen ; 
whence he was afterwards sent to the university of Louvain, 
where he entered on the study of philosophy. His parents 
determined to spare no expense which might be necessary to 
give him a thorough education ; and they were highly grati 
fied to find that Charles corresponded so well with their 
parental solicitude, and that he more than fulfilled their 
highest expectations. 

Having completed his academic course, and duly consulted 
God in prayer, the young Charles resolved to study for the 
Church. Accordingly, in the year 1781, he was sent by his 
parents to the seminary of Mechlin, where he entered on 
the study of theology. Here he was still more remarkable 
for tender and solid piety, than he was for the rapid advance 
ment he made in his studies. Though he far outstripped 
his companions, yet he did not permit himself to be elated 
with His success. He referred all his actions to God, to 
whom he was united by an habitual spirit of prayer. He 
concealed his success, even from his own eyes, under the 
garb of a deep internal humility ; and from those of his 
companions, under the veil of an unaffected modesty. He 
feared the praises of men more than others usually seek them. 



which he erected, and the orphan asylum annexed to it, also founded 
by him, and placed under the direction of Sisters called the Faithful 
companions of Jesus. Another religious of the family labors in the toil 
some mission of Missouri. The Belgian clergy count several mem 
bers of the same family. Note of Belyian translator. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 427 

His studies completed, he was ordained priest in 1785 : 
and in the following year was appointed cure, or pastor, of 
Mechlin, the arcbiepiscopal city. He filled this important 
post for eight years, and gathered there the abundant first- 
fruits of his ministry. The good people of Mechlin yet 
remember his piety and laborious zeal, the effects of which 
they still feel. The rectory of Everberg-Meerbeek, half way 
between Mechlin and Brussels, having become vacant by the 
death of the aged incumbent, M. Nerinckx was appointed to 
fill it, by the general suffrage of a board of examiners, who, 
after the searching examination, or concursus, recommended 
by the Holy Council of Trent for such cases, unanimously 
awarded him the palm over all other candidates. Though 
loth to leave Mechlin, where the people were much attached 
to him, yet he hesitated not to enter upon the new field of 
labor thus opened to him by Providence. 

The extensive parish of Everberg-Meerbeek was in a neg 
lected and deplorable condition. The parish church was in 
a dilapidated state, and the people had been much neglected, 
in consequence of the age and infirmities of his predecessor 
in his pastoral office. M. Nerinckx immediately set about 
remedying all these evils ; he repaired the church, and was 
assiduous in his efforts to revive piety among his new parish 
ioners. Believing that the hearts of the parents could be 
most effectually reached through their children, he spared 
no pains to instruct the latter, and to rear them up in the 
most tender sentiments of piety. He gave them catechetical, 
instructions on every Sunday evening after vespers.* To do 
this the more successfully, he divided the parish into sections, 
and distributed the children into regular classes, which he 
taught himself, or through pious catechists whom he had 
selected ; and he had the names of all the children of his 
parish carefully registered. He soon won the hearts of the 



428 WESTERN MISSIONS 

children, and was able easily to obtain their regular attend 
ance at catechism. He frequently inculcated on them a ten 
der devotion to the Holy Virgin, and taught them to sing 
canticles, which he had composed in her honor. 

The effects of this discipline were soon discernable. The 
children were prepared for their first communion, and soon 
became models of piety for the whole parish. The hearts 
of the parents were touched ; and the most neglectful or 
obdurate among them, were gradually brought to a sense of 
duty. Piety was seen to flourish in a parish before distin 
guished only for its coldness and negligence. Numerous 
pious confraternities in honor of the Blessed Virgin were 
established, as well as associations for visiting the sick, and 
for other charitable objects. Thus, by the zeal of one man, 
aided by the Divine blessing, a total reformation was effected 
in a short time ; and the parish of Everberg-Meerbeek be 
came a model for all others. 

M. Nerinckx, though kind and polite to all, was rather 
austere in his manners, as well as rigid iu his discipline. He 
was, however, always much more rigid with himself than 
with others. He never lost a moment, nor allowed himself 
any recreation. He paid no idle visits for mere pastime ; he 
visited the different families of his parish only on duty, and 
generally on Sunday evenings. He knew well that a priest who 
does his duty has little time to spare for idle conversation. 
Wherever good was to be done, or a soul to be saved, there 
was hej found, by day or by night, in rain or in sunshine, in 
winter or in summer. When not actually engaged in the 
ministry, he was always found at home, employed in prayer 
or in stu<4y. He was an enemy of promiscuous dances, and 
he succeeded in abolishing them throughout his parish. 

It was natural that a man of so much zeal, and one who 
had done so much good, should be viewed with an evil eye 



AND MISSION ARIKS. 429 

by the infidel leaders of the French revolutionary movement, 
who had recently taken possession of Belgium. An order 
for his apprehension was accordingly issued ; and M. Nerinokx 
was compelled to fly from his dear parish, which he left a 
prey to the devouring wolves. In 1797 he secreted himself 
in the hospital at Termoude, which was under the charge 
of twelve or fifteen hospitaller nuns, of whom his aunt was 
superior. Here he remained for seven years, during all of 
which time he carried his life in his hands. He acted as 
chaplain to the hospital, the former incumbent having been 
banished to the Isle of Rhe. He bore his persecutions with 
entire resignation to the holy will of God, and edified all by 
the practice of every virtue. He encouraged the good nuns 
to persevere in their heavenly calling of mercy. He said 
mass for them every morning at two o'clock, and then re 
tired to his hiding-place before the dawn. 

In his retreat he had full leisure to apply to study, and he 
lost not a moment of his precious time. He wrote treatises 
on theology, on Church history, and on canon law ; and his 
manuscripts would Jiave filled eight or ten printed octavo 
volumes. These he was often afterwards solicited to publish ; 
but his modesty took the alarm, and he was inflexible in his re 
fusal. In the hospital of Termonde were shut up many of the 
prisoners who had been made in the revolutionary battles 
fought in Belgium. Some of these were horribly maimed. 
M. Neriuckx did all he could, in his dangerous situation, to 
assuage their sufferings, and to impart to them spiritual suc 
cor. At the dead hour of night, he often stole to their cells, 
at imminent hazard of his life, and administered to them 
the holy sacraments ; and when they were hurried to execu 
tion, he viewed them from his hiding-place, and imparted to 
them the last absolution. Often, too, he visited by stealth 
his dear parish of Everberg-Meerbeek, administering the 



430 WESTERN MISSIONS 

sacraments to his people, consoling them in their sufferings, 
and strengthening them in the hour of danger. 

Beset with dangers, and uncertain as to the duration of 
the dreadful storm which was then sweeping over Europe, 
M. Nerinckx at length determined to bid adieu to his unhap 
py country, and to emigrate to the United States. Here 
" the harvest was great, and the laborers few ;" and no im 
pediment was placed in the way of a free exercise of religion, 
according to each one's conscientious convictions. lie accord 
ingly made his escape, in a vessel which sailed from Amster 
dam to the United States, on the 14th of August, 1804. 

He had a long and dangerous passage of ninety days. The 
old and rickety vessel was often in imminent danger of foun 
dering at sea ; and, to add to the distress, a contagious dis 
order carried off many of the passengers and crew. Still 
they were not chastened under the rod of affliction ; the 
heart of M. Nerinckx often bled over their wickedness, which 
he was wholly unable to check; and he afterwards was in 
the habit of styling this ill-fated ship " a floating hell." The 
captain, in particular, was a very profane and wicked man. 
M. Neriuckx was wont to ascribe his preservation from ship 
wreck, to a special interposition of Divine Providence. 

He reached Baltimore about the middle of November, 
and immediately offered his services to the Patriarch of the 
American Church Bishop Carroll* for whatever inii>n 

* Bishop Carroll was an illustrious scion of one of the two hundred 
English Catholic families, who, in 1633, flying from the religious oppres 
sion to which they were subjected in their native land, crossed the 
Atlantic, and settled Maryland, under the guidance of Lord Baltimore. 
He was a member of the Society of Jesus till the suppression of the 
order, in 1778. He continued to cultivate that portion of the Lord's 
vineyard, with his old fellow-religious, till his promotion to the episco 
pate, in 1789. Pope Pius VI. confided to him the new See of Baltimore, 
and placed under his jurisdiction the whole extent of the United States. 



AND MISSIONARIES. . 431 

in the United States lie might think proper to assign him. 
Bishop Carroll received the good exile with open arms, and 
immediately sent him to Georgetown,* to prepare himself 
for the American mission, by learning English, with which, 
as yet, he was wholly unacquainted. M. Nerinckx was then 
in his forty-fifth year ; and yet he applied himself with so 
much ardor to the study of the English language, as to be 
.able in a few months to speak and write it with considerable 
facility. 

Bishop Carroll was well aware of the forlorn condition of 
M. Badin,f who was alone in Kentucky, and he determined 
to send the new missionary to his assistance. And had he 
sent us no other, Kentucky would still have ample reason to 
be forever grateful to him for the invaluable treasure he sent 
in M. Nerinckx. 

The good missionary hesitated not a moment to comply 
with the wish of his new superior. What cared he for the 
dangers, privations, and labors, w.hich he foresaw he would 
have to endure on the arduous mission to which he was 
hastening ? H^d he not been already trained to this severe 
discipline of the cross ; and had he come to America 'to rest 

His death, which occurred in 1815, caused extraordinary grief through 
out the country. 

* Georgetown College is the oldest Catholic university in the United 
States, and has been at all times a fruitful hive of missionaries. It is 
situated on a height, in view of Washington. It has been, since its 
origin, under the direction of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus. This 
college has acquired new importance by the magnificent observatory- 
erected there some years since, and by the astronomical observations 
made there. 

t TJie Rev. Mr. Badin, who died recently, after an apostolate of over 
half a century, was a native of France. He studied at Baltimore, where 
he was ordained in 1793, by Bishop Carroll. He was the first priest or 
dained in the United States, where, so shortly before, the Catholics had 
groaned under the English penal laws. 



432 WESTERN MISSIONS 

on a bed of down, and to dally with luxuries ? From an 
early period of his life, labors and sufferings had been his 
daily bread; and now he was too much accustomed to them 
any longer to feel any apprehension on their account. He 
was, on the contrary, rejoiced to enter on a mission which 
no one else wished, or was indeed willing to accept. 

He left Baltimore in the spring of 1805, and, after a long 
and painful journey, reached Kentucky on the 5th of July, 
following. He immediately applied himself zealously to the 
labors of the mission, which he cheerfully shared with M. 
Badin, the vicar-general. For the first seven years he 
resided with M. Badin, at St. Stephen's ; afterwards, he took 
up his residence chiefly near the church of St. Charles, 
which he had erected on Hardin's Creek, and named after 
his patron saint. But he was seldom at home : he lived on 
his scattered missions, and passed much of his time on horse 
back. 

His labors in the arduous field upon which he had now 
entered, were as great as their fruit was abundant. With 
his whole soul, he devoted himself to the work of the min 
istry. He even seemed to court labors and sufferings for 
their own sake. Of a powerful frame, and of herculean con 
stitution, he never spared himself. His rest was brief, and 
his food was generally of the coarsest kind. He generally 
arose several hours before day, which hours he devoted to 
prayer and study. In fact, he seemed to be always engaged 
in mental prayer, no matter how numerous or distracting 
were his employments. 

He appeared to live solely for God and for his neighbor. 
Performing his duty was his daily bread. And though old 
age was fast creeping over him, yet he relaxed in nothing 
his exhausting labors. His soul was still fresh and vigorous ; 
and God so preserved his health, thai, even at the ago of 



AND MISSIONARIES. 433 

sixty, lie seemed gifted with all the strength and vigor of 
youth. 

He seldom missed offering up the holy sacrifice daily, no 
matter what had been his previous fatigues or indisposition. 
Often was he known to ride twenty-five or thirty miles fast 
ing, in order to be able to say mass. His missionary labors 
would be almost incredible, were they not still so well re 
membered by almost all the older Catholics of Kentucky. 

His courage was unequalled ; he feared no difficulties, and 
was appalled by no dangers. Through rain and storms ; 
through snows and Tee ; over roads rendered almost impas 
sible by the mud ; over streams swollen by the rains, or 
frozen by the cold ; by day and by night, in winter and in 
summer, he might be seen traversing all parts of Kentucky 
in the discharge of his laborious duties. Far from shunning, 
he seemed even to seek after hardships and dangers. 

He crossed wilderness districts, swam rivers, slept in the 
woods among the wild beasts ; and while undergoing all 
this, he was in the habit of fasting, and of voluntarily morti 
fying himself in many other ways. His courage and vigor 
seemed to increase with the labors and privations he had to 
endure. As his courage, so neither did his cheerfulness ever 
abandon him. He seldom laugh'ed, or even smiled; but 
there was withal an air of contentment and cheerfulness 
about him which greatly qualified the natural austerity of 
his countenance and manners. He could, like the- great 
Apostle, make himself " all to all, to gain all to Christ." He 
appeared even more at home in the cabin of the humblest 
citizen, or in the hut of the poor negro, than in the more 
pretending mansions of the wealthy. 

He was averse to giving trouble to others, especially to 
the poor. Often, when he. arrived at a house in the night, 
he attended to his own horse, and took a brief repose in the 

37 



434 WESTERN MISSIONS 

stable, or in some out-house ; and when the inmates of the 
house arose next morning, they frequently perceived him 
already up, and saying his office, or making his meditation. 
He made it an invariable rule never to miss an appointment, 
whenever it was at all possible to keep it. "He often arrived 
at a distant station early in the morning, after having rode 
during all of the previous night. On these occasions, he 
heard confessions, taught catechism, gave instructions, and 
said mass for the people generally after noon ; and he seldom 
broke his fast until three or four o'clock^in the evening. 

In swimming rivers, he was often exposed to great danger. 
Once, in going to visit a sick person, he came to a stream 
which his companion knew to be impassable. M. Nerinckx 
took the saddle of his friend who refused to venture 
placed it on his own, and then, remounting the horse, placed 
himself on his knees on the top of the two saddles, and 
thus crossed the flood, which flowed over his horse's back. 
On another occasion, he made a still more narrow escape. 
He was swept from his horse, which lost its footing and was 
carried *away by the current ; and the rider barely saved 
himself, and reached the other shore, by clinging firmly to 
the horse's tail. 

On one of his missionary tours, he narrowly escaped 
being devoured by the wolves, which then greatly infested 
those portions of Kentucky which were not densely settled. 
While travelling to visit a distant station, in what is now 
called Grayson county, but what was then an almost unre 
claimed wilderness, -he lost his way in the night. It was the 
dead of winter, and the darkness was so great that he could 
not hope to extricate himself from his painful situation. 
Meantime, while he was seeking a sheltered place, where he 
could take some repose, the famished wolves scented him, 
and came in hundreds, fiercely howling around him. With 



AND MISSIONARIES. 435 

great presence of mind, he immediately remounted his horse, 
knowing that they would scarcely attack him while on 
horseback. lie hallooed at the top of his voice, and tempo 
rarily frightened them off; but soon they returned to the 
charge, and kept him at bay during the whole night. Once 
or twice they seemed on the point of seizing his horse, and 
M. Nerinckx made the sign of the cross, and prepared him 
self for death ; but a mysterious Providence watched over 
him, and he escaped, after sitting his horse the whole night. 
With the dawn, the wolves disappeared. 

As we have said, he was a man of powerful frame and her 
culean strength. A proof of this will be presented in the 
following singular adventure, which is well known to all the 
older Catholics of Kentucky. 

He was in the habit of rigidly enforcing order in the 
church, during the celebration of the divine mysteries. Prot 
estants, and persons of no religion, often attended church, 
led thither chiefly by curiosity. These sometimes did not 
conform to the rules of propriety; and M. Nerinckx, who 
was little swayed by human respect, was not slow to admon 
ish them of their faults in this particular. As he was not 
very well versed in the English language, and was by nature 
rather plain and frank, his admonitions were not always well 
understood, or well received. Once, especially, a man by 
the name of Hardin a youth of powerful frame and strength, 
and somewhat of a bully took great offence at something 
which M. Nerinckx had said, and which it seems he had en 
tirely misunderstood. He openly declared that he would be 
avenged on the priest, the first time that he would meet him 
alone. 

An opportunity soon occurred. M. Nerinckx was going 
to the church of St. Charles, from St. Stephen's, when Kar 
elin waylaid him on the road. Springing from his hiding- 



436 WESTERN MISSIONS 

place, he seized the Wile-reins of M. Nerinckx's horse, and 
bid him stop, "for tliat he intended to give him a sound 
drubbing." At the same time he cut one of the stirrup- 
leathers, and ordered the rider to dismount an order whi-h 
was promptly complied with. M. Nerinckx remonstrated 
with him ; told him that he had meant in nowise to offend 
or injure him ; and that his profession wholly forbade him 
to wrangle or fight. Hardin, however, persisted, and was in 
the act of striking the priest, when the latter took hold of 
him, and quietly laid him on the ground, as though he had 
been the merest child; observing to him, meantime, with a 
smile, "that he would neither strike or injure him, but that 
he felt authorized to see that himself received no injury at 
his hands." In this position he held him motionless on his 
back, until he had obtained from him a promise that no fur 
ther attempt should be made on his person. 

After this rencounter, M. Neriuckx quietly remounted his 
horse, and proceeded on his journey, Hardin as quietly 
moving off in the other direction. On arriving at the 
church, one of his friends asked M. Nerinckx, " how it hap 
pened that his stirrup-leather had been cut?" He replied, 
by simply stating the adventure in a few words; and observ 
ing, with a smile, " that these young buckskins could not 
handle a Dutchman !" After this he never was heard to 
speak of the affair ; but Hardin was wont to say to his 
friiMuls, " he often thought before that he had handled men, 
but that he really never had hold of one before he met 
Priest Nerinckx, who, he verily believed, had something 
siijM-i natural about him." 

M. Nerinckx often manifested his great bodily strength in 
the course of his laborious life. He erected no less than 
t-n churches in Kentucky; two of which those of Holy 
Cross and of Lebanon were of brick, and the rest of hewed 



AND MISSIONARIES. 437 

logs. He was not content with directing the labors of 
others ; he was seen intermixing with the workmen, aiding 
them in cutting timber, in clearing out the undergrowth, 
and in every other species of hard labor. He generally 
worked bareheaded under the broiling sun ; and, in removing 
heavy timber, or, as it is commonly called, rolling logs, he 
usually lifted against two or three men of ordinary strength. 
He built his own house, chiefly with his own hands ; and 
was wont to say cheerfully, " that his palace had cost him 
just $6.50 in money !" 

He had charge of six large congregations, besides a much 
greater number of stations, scattered over the whole extent 
of Kentucky. Wherever he could learn that there were a 
few Catholic settlers, there he established a station, or erected 
a church. The labor which he thus voluntarily took on 
himself is almost incredible. To visit all his churches and 
stations generally required the space of at least six weeks. 

He never took any rest or recreation. He seemed always 
most happy, when most busily engaged. He seldom talked, 
except on business, or on God, on virtue, or on his mission 
ary duties. On reaching a church or station, his confes 
sional was usually thronged by penitents, from the early 
dawn until mid-day. Before beginning to hear confessions, 
he usually said some prayers with the people, and then 
gave them a solid and familiar instruction on the man 
ner of approaching the holy tribunal. If he seemed austere 
out of the confessional, he was in it a most kind, patient, 
and tender father. He spared no time nor pains to instruct 
his penitents, all of whom, without one exception, were deeply 
attached to him. To his instructions chiefly, in the confes 
sional, are we to ascribe the piety and regularity of many 
among the living Catholics in Kentucky. 

But it was on the children and servants that he lavished 
37 



4:38 WESTERN MISSIONS 

his labor with the greatest relish. Thoroughly to instruct 
them, and prepare them for their first communion, was his 
darling employment. He thought no time nor labor, that 
was devoted to this favorite object of his heart, too long or 
ill-spent. For this purpose, he usually remained a week at 
each of the Qhurches and stations. During this time, he 
had the children and servants daily assembled, and devoted 
his whole time to them. He thus renewed in Kentucky the 
edifying scenes which had been witnessed in his former 
parish of Everberg-Meerbeek, in Belgium. The children 
were much attached to him ; and he possessed a peculiar 
tact in winning their hearts, and stimulating them to learn 
their catechism, and to be virtuous. He distributed them in 
regular classes, and awarded premiums to the most deserving. 
Thus he laid, broad and deep, the foundations of Catholic 
piety in Kentucky. 

In Kentucky, also, as in Belgium, he sought to inculcate 
a tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin. The first church 
which he erected he dedicated to God under her invocation, 
and called it Holy Mary's, after her. His churches were 
generally built in the form of a cross : the two arms of 
which, with one half of the body, were occupied respectively 
by the men and women, who were always kept separate. 

After mass, he was in the habit of practising a devotion, 
as beautiful as it was touching and impressive. He went to 
the centre of the church, where, surrounded by the little 
children, who so dearly loved him, he knelt down, and, with 
his arms extended in the form of a cross the children rais 
ing also their little arms in the same manner he recited 
prayers in honor of the five blessed wounds of our Divine 
Saviour. The parents often joined the children in this 
moving devotion. After this, he led his little congregation, 
composed chiefly of children, into the adjoining graveyard, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 439 

where lie caused them to visit and pray over the graves of 
their deceased relatives and friends. 

God blessed his labors with fruits so abundant and perma 
nent as to console him for all his toils and privations. He 
witnessed a flourishing church growing up around him, in 
what had recently been a wilderness, inhabited only by fierce 
wild beasts and untamable savages. He saw in the virtues 
of his scattered flock, a revival of those which had rendered 
so illustrious the Christians of the first ages of the Church. 
M. Badin had laid the foundation ; and, like a skilful archi 
tect, he reared the superstructure, in that portion of the 
flock intrusted to his charge. The results of his labors 
prove how much one good man, with the blessing of God, 
can achieve by his single efforts, prompted by the lofty mo 
tive of the divine glory, and directed with simplicity of 
heart to one noble end. 

Yet, though learned and of solid judgment, he was not 
remarkable for brilliancy of talent, for engaging address, or 
for pulpit eloquence. His discourses were plain, matter-of- 
fact instructions, delivered in broken English, and with little 
rhetorical ornament. 

Though he had something austere in his manner, and 4 
though he was a foreigner, and spoke English very imper 
fectly, yet it is remarkable that he made, perhaps, more con 
verts among Protestants, than any other missionary who ever 
labored in Kentucky, if we except M. Badin. So true is it, 
that conVersion is not ordinarily effected by human eloquence 
alone, or by any other mere human means, but by the grace 
and blessing of God, crowning with success the labors of the 
missionary. M: Nerinckx seldom made a missionary tour 
without receiving some one into the bosom of the Holy 
Catholic Church. In one of these excursions, he made no 
fewer than thirteen converts. And those whom he received 



440 WESTERN MISSIONS 

into the Church were well grounded in the faith, and gen 
erally proved steadfast. 

The transcendent merits of M. Nerinckx did not escape 
the eye of Bishop Carroll. Besides having charge of the 
whole territory of the United States, this venerable patriarch 
of the American Church was also administrator of the dio 
cese of New Orleans, which had been for many years without 
a bishop. On the division of his vast charge into five different 
dioceses, in 1806, and the erection of his own see into an 
archbishopric, he recommended to the Holy See the Rev. 
M. Nerinckx, as a suitable person to take charge of the 
vacant diocese of New Orleans,* in the character of adminis 
trator. The Sovereign Pontiff acceded to his request, and 
dispatched a brief to that effect. The appointment of M. 
Nerinckx to this situation was intended as the forerunner of 
his consecration as bishop of New Orleans. 

The good missionary was with M. Badin when he learned 
the news of his appointment. He meekly bowed his head, 
and observed to his friend, beginning with the words of the 
psalmist: " Bonilatem et disciplinam et scientiam docendus, 
docere non valeo" " Having myself to be taught goodness, 
'and discipline, and knowledge, I am not able to teach these 
things to others." He mildly, but firmly refused the prof 
fered honor. Desirous of retaining him in Kentucky, where 
his labors were so fruitful, M. Badin, in conjunction with the 
Dominican Fathers of St. Rose, petitioned the Holy See 
that he might not be compelled to accept an office which 
would tear him from a field of labor in which he had already 



* Louisiana, of which New Orleans is the chief city, was sold to the 
United State*, by Napoleon, in 1801. The episcopal see of New Orleans, 
erected in 1793, was, at the cession, without an incumbent; the first 
bishop, a Cuban, having been transferred to another see, and his suc 
cessor having been unable to reach his diocese. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 441 

proved so eminently useful. They also represented, that the 
great delicacy of conscience characteristic of M. Nerinckx, 
would render him exceedingly unhappy in so arduous a situ 
ation, if it would not wholly unfit him for its responsible 
duties. 

The Pontiff yielded to the entreaties of M. Nerinckx, 
thus supported by the suffrage of his brethren in the 
ministry ; and he did not insist on his accepting the appoint 
ment. 

Among the establishments made by M. Nerinckx, that of 
the Sisters of Loretto, or of " the Friends of Mary at the 
Foot of the Cross," is the principal, and has proved of the 
greatest benefit to the diocese of Kentucky. His objects in 
founding this invaluable sisterhood were : to enable pious 
females to aspire to the lofty perfection of the religious state, 
and to promote, through their means, the Christian education 
of youth of their own sex, especially of those whose parents 
were needy and too destitute to defray the expenses attend 
ing the education of their offspring. 

In the course of his long missionary career, M. Nerinckx 
discovered many young females who sought to practise a 
more perfect virtue than was compatible with the distractions 
of the world. They had caught no little of his own spirit 
of prayer, of disengagement from the world, and of lofty 
enthusiasm in the path of Christian perfection. He observed, 
too, many young girls who were raised in ignorance, and 
greatly exposed to temptation. He devised an admirable 
means of promoting the spiritual welfare of both these 
classes of females, in the establishment of the new Sis 
terhood of Loretto which name he gave them out of 
reverence for the famous shrine of the Virgin, at Loretto, 
in Italy. 

The foundation of the new society was laid on the 25th of 



442 WESTERN MISSIONS 

April, 1812 nearly a year after the arrival of Bishop Flaget* 
in Kentucky. The mother establishment was called Loretto, 
and was erected on Hardin's Creek, near the church of St. 
Charles. The houses were built of wood, and were very 
poorly furnished. They were erected on one side of an 
oblong inclosure, in the centre of which was reared a large 
wooden cross. The chapel of the sisters occupied a central 
position in the buildings which stood on either side. 

The number of those who attached themselves to the new 
institute increased every year. Soon the buildings were too 
small for the number of applicants; and the pious founder 
was under the necessity of erecting new houses,f and of 
creating branch establishments of the society. In twelve 
years from its commencement, the number of Sisters exceeded 
a hundred ; and they had already under their charge six dif 
ferent schools for girls. In the letter above quoted, Bishop 



* This great bishop arrived- in Kentucky, June 11, 1811, and died 
there, piously, in 1850. Bishop Portier, of Mobile, says of him : "The 
diocese of Bardstown was the cradle of religion in the West, and its 
venerable founder, by his long career, may well be styled the patriarch 
of North America, as his labors and virtues proclaimed him the model 
of apostolic life. 

t According to a letter of M. Nerinckx, dated from Loretto, Ky., 
September 11, 1818, addressed to the Superior of the Hospital Nuns of 
Vilvorde, the Sisters of Loretto had then four houses, viz: The 
Mother house ; that of Olives, four hundred miles from Loretto, where 
seven sisters had been sent, at the request of the bishop, to found a 
house ; Gethsemane, and Calvary. Loretto then contained twenty-two 
novices and some postulants. During the whole summer they had sup 
ported and, in a great measure, clothed eighty or ninety persons, at the 
expense of the convent, although it possessed no lucrative property 
and no certain income : the school even, in this respect, was almost 
unproductive, as the asylum and lower classes paid nothing. 

In this letter, M. Nerinckx recalls himself to the kind remembrance of 
some persons especially of Vilvorde, who had contributed, by alms, to 
the missions. We may be permitted to cite the names of some of our 



AND MISSIONARIES. 443 

Flaget, after having denominated the sisterhood the most 
valuable legacy which the good M. Nerinckx had left to his 
diocese, speaks as follows of the condition of the society, in 
1824, immediately after the death of the founder: 

" Their number is over one hundred ; they have charge of 
six schools. They give education to upwards of two hund 
red and fifty girls yearly in their houses, and take in some 
orphans gratis. The missionaries generally send the chil 
dren whom they wish to prepare for their first communion 
to these monasteries, whenever they can, and they, as well 
as the boarders, are admirably well instructed in all that may 
be useful, both for this world and for eternity." 

The assiduous attention to the religious instruction of girls 
constituted, in fact, the principal utility of the pious society. 
It is difficult to estimate how much it has, by this means, 
contributed towards fostering and sustaining piety in this 
diocese. Within the first ten years of its existence, the Sis 
terhood had already prepared for their first communion eight 
hundred young ladies. These afterwards became mothers of 
families, and were able to instruct' others; and thus the good 
was perpetuated from generation to generation. 

M. Nerinckx watched over the new institution with the ten 
der solicitude of a parent. He devoted to th& spiritual instruc 
tion of the Sisters and of their scholars, all the time he could 
spare from the heavier duties of his missionary life. He en 
deavored to infuse into them his own spirit of prayer and 



own place. They are, the rector and nuns of the order of St. August 
ine, the Eev. Messrs. Van Haecht, Van Ophem, Van Hamme and his 
sisters, Mile. Van Laethem, and others whom he indicates without 
naming. 

He also mentions a printed letter, which the hospital sisters would 
soon receive. We do not know this missive of the missionary. Note 
of Father Terwecoren. 



444 WESTERN MISSIONS 

mortification. He labored assiduously, both by word and 
example, to disengage them entirely from the world, and to 
train them to the practice of a sublime Christian perfection. 
He ardently sought to keep alive in their hearts the true 
spirit of the religious vocation ; to make them despise the 
world, trample on its vanities, and devote themselves wholly 
to the service of God and of the neighbor, by a faithful com 
pliance with the duties growing out of the three simple vows, 
of poverty, chastity, and obedience, they had taken. 

Especially did he endeavor to impress upon them the obli 
gation of placing implicit reliance upon the good providence 
of God, not only in their spiritual, but also in all their tem 
poral concerns. A favorite maxim which he had always in 
his heart, and frequently on his lips, was embodied in this 
golden saying: " Do not abandon Providence ; and he will 
never abandon you." How could that good heavenly 
Father, who " clothes the lilies of the field, and feeds the 
birds of the air," abandon those who had put all their trust 
in him, and had devoted themselves entirely, both in body 
and soul, to his service ? 

In fact, this unbounded confidence in the providence of 
God, was almost the only legacy he was able to bequeath to 
the Lorettines. They had, in the commencement of their 
society, but little of this world's goods to depend upon. It 
was not difficult for them to practise the poverty which they 
had vowed ; they were already extremely poor and desti 
tute ; and in fulfilling their vow, they had but to love and 
submit cheerfully to that which was a stern necessity of their 
condition. Their houses were poor and badly furnished; 
their clothing was of the plainest kind ; and their food was 
of the coarsest. 

M. Nerinckx himself set them the example of the poverty 
and mortification which their institute required them to love, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 445 

as well as to practise. According to the testimony of his 
bishop, "he himself led an extremely austere and mortified 
life; his dress, his lodging, his food were poor; and he had 
filled his monasteries with this holy spirit. Those women 
sought for poverty in every thing in their monasteries, 
in the plain simplicity of their chapels. The neatness, the 
cleanliness, the simplicity of their dwellings, and of their 
chapels, excited the wonder of their visitors." 

To keep up the constant practice and spirit of prayer in 
their houses, M. Nerinckx inculcated, besides regular and 
devout attendance at all the pious exercises of the commu 
nity distributed throughout the day, the utility of raising 
their hearts to God by a pious aspiration or ejaculation, 
whenever they would hear the clock strike, or would pass 
from one occupation to another. 

Especially did he enjoin upon them a tender devotion to 
the Blessed Virgin, weeping at the foot of the cross, and a 
frequent repetition of the pious ejaculation : " suffering 
Jesus ! O sorrowful Mary !" To feed and keep alive the 
spirit of piety, he recommended to them frequent visits to 
the holy sacrament of the altar ; and we have already seen 
the provision which he made to keep up the perpetual adora 
tion of Jesus Christ in this, the greatest mystery of his 
undying love for mankind. 

To foster the spirit of humility and mortification, he recom 
mended manual labor, and the love of being employed in the 
most menial offices of the house. To encourage them to 
practise these employments with cheerfulness and love, he 
pointed to the lowly life, and the voluntary hardships and 
privations of the Blessed Saviour ; and to the great utility of 
such mortifications, for the atonement of sin, and the laying 
up of abundant merits in heaven. 

This austerity was apparent in the body of rules which he 



446 WESTERN MISSIONS 

drew up for the guidance of the society. They breathed the 
purest spirit of Christian perfection ; but experience subse 
quently demonstrated that some of them were too rigid for 
health, and ill-suited to the nature of the climate. Of this 
character were, the great exposure of the Sisters to every in 
convenience of weather, while laboring hard in the fields, or 
forests, and the practice of going barefoot during a great 
portion of the year. As we have said, the poverty of the 
society at its commencement compelled hard labor ; the other 
practice was adopted, with many others of a similar nature, 
to cherish a constant spirit of mortification. But these 
more rigid regulations were retrenched from the rule on its 
subsequent revision, while its substance and spirit were fully 
retained. 

The heart of the good founder was consoled by the early 
piety and fervor of the Sisterhood. These appeared to enter 
into the entire spirit of their state, and to correspond, to the 
full, with his instructions. According to the testimony of 
the good Bishop Flaget,* " they were the edification of all 
who knew them : and their singular piety, and their peni 
tential lives, reminded one of all that we have read of the 
ancient monasteries of Palestine and of Thebais." 

Thus did the good M. Nerinckx, alone and unaided, except 
by Divine Providence, found a society of pious ladies, which 
has already done, and will no doubt continue to do, incal- 



* Bishop Flaget wrote, in 1834: "The Lorettines were founded in 
Kentucky by a learned and zealous missionary from Flanders, Mr. 
Charles Nerinckx, in the second year of my episcopate. The rules of 
this new community were submitted to the Sovereign Pontiff, who made 
various changes. His Holiness took this new family under his protec 
tion, as 1 was informed by his eminence, Cardinal Fesch; and what is 
still more flattering, the Sisters of Loretto, in Kentucky, received from 
the Pope all the spiritual privileges enjoyed by the chapel of Loretto, 
in Italy." 



AND MISSIONARIES. 447 

culable good to religion in this diocese. M. Nerinckx suc 
ceeded in doing what M. Badin had been unable to accom 
plish. The latter, with intentions and views very similar to 
those afterwards entertained by the former, had constructed 
an edifice for a monastery at St. Stephens ; but before it 
could be completed, it was burned down by accident, and 
thus the whole design was frustrated. It was in the order of 
Providence, that the exertions of M. Nerinckx should be 
crowned with better success. His success, in fact, surpassed 
his own most sanguine expectations. The branches of his 
institution yearly multiplied, and soon Kentucky was too 
narrow a field for the exercise of its charity and zeal. 

The good founder had been induced to send a colony of 
the Lorettines to Missouri ;* and he had already received 
gratifying accounts of the success which had there crowned 
their labors. Though almost exhausted with his missionary 
toils, and worn down by old age, he yet determined to pay a 
visit to this distant branch of the society, in order to en 
courage the Sisters in the path of usefulness on which they 
had entered. 

Another principal motive of his journey to Missouri, was 
an ardent desire for the conversion and civilization of the 
Indians, who were there very numerous at that time. He 
had formed a plan to induce the heads of families and the 
chiefs of the savage tribes to send their children to the 
schools of the society, where they might be taught the Eng 
lish language, the elements of learning, and especially the 
catechism. This he conceived to be the best means of 



* There are now four convents of the Sisters of Loretto in Kentucky 
three in Missouri, one in Nebraska, and one. in New Mexico. Rev. D. 
A. Deparcq, a Belgian, the present director-general, resides at the 
mother-house of Loretto. Belg. Trans. 



448 WESTERN MISSIONS 

reclaiming the Indian tribes ; and, in fact, it was but a carry 
ing out of a favorite system, which he had found so eminently 
successful, both in Europe and in America that of reaching 
the parents through the piety of their children. 

This was the last journey that the good missionary ever 
performed. He died in the midst of it, on the 12th of 
August, 1824, at the house of the Rev. Mr. Dahman, parish 
priest of St. Genevieve. He breathed his last, while closely 
engaged in the labors of the mission, and while panting for 
new means of promoting the glory of God and the salvation 
of souls. His death was worthy of his life. Calm, patient, 
collected, and resigned to the will of Heaven; praying to the 
last, and longing to be freed from the prison of the body, 
and to be with Christ, the good priest bade farewell to this 
world, with a confident assurance of a blessed immortality 
in the next. 

The fever of which he died he had contracted in the dis 
charge of his -missionary duties. The. chief circumstances 
of his death are so well related by Bishop Flaget, that we 
will give them in his own words : 

" After the arrival of M. Nerinckx at the residence of the 
Sisters, in Missouri, he wrote to me a most affecting letter, 
describing the good they had accomplished in that diocese, 
and the hopes which he entertained of their being one day 
useful to the Indians. Thence he went to visit an establish 
ment of Flemish Jesuits, which is pretty numerous, and about 
ninety miles distant from the monastery. After spending 
some days of edifying fervor in the midst of those holy and 
beloved countrymen of his, he set out on his return to the 
monastery, and thence intended coming to Kentucky. Near 
St. Louis, he had an interview with an Indian chief, who 
promised to send him a great number of the young females 
of his tribe, to be educated by the Sisters. He made haste 



AND MISSIONARIES. 449 

to carry this news to the monastery, and his heart bnrned 
within him, while his imagination pictured to. itself the good 
prospect which lay open to his hopes. 

" On his road, however, was a path to a settlement of eight 
or ten Catholic families, who had not seen a priest during 
more than two years. Desirous of doing all the good in his 
power, he assembled them, heard their confessions, gave them 
instructions, and celebrated for them the holy sacrifice of 
the mass. He was thus occupied, from a little after day 
break, until towards three o'clock in the evening. Seeing 
the good dispositions of those Catholics, he proposed to them 
to build a church, in order to encourage priests to come to 
them ; a subscription was immediately opened by those 
present; out of his own small means he gave ten dollars; 
and signatures for over nine hundred dollars were instantly 
affixed to the sheet. 

"After all this exertion, in such broiling weather, he felt 
feverish symptoms. These continued next day, but appa 
rently much diminished. He wished to go to St. Genevieve, 
which was only fifteen or eighteen miles distant; and though 
the journey was short, still the exertion and the burning sun 
greatly increased the fever. The pastor of St. Genevieve 
(M. Dahman) received him with great kindness and affection. 
He was obliged to betake himself immediately to bed ; the 
physicians came promptly, and paid him every attention ; 
but to no purpose. 

" M. Nerinckx was, I trust, in the eye of God, ripe for 
heaven ; and his Lord saw that it was time to bestow upon 
his faithful servant the recompense of his labors. He had 
the use of his reason to the last, and edified all who saw him 
by his piety and patience. On the ninth day of his sickness, 
about nine in the morning, he received the holy viaticum 
and extreme unction, after having made his confession ; and 

38* 



450 WESTERN MISSIONS 

about five in the evening, he breathed out his pure soul to 
return to its Creator, with entire resignation, and without a 
struggle. The Lorettines in Missouri requested to have his 
body, which was accordingly conveyed to their cemetery 
from St. Genevieve." 

The transfer of his remains to this monastery of Bethle 
hem, Missouri, was made by the direction of Bishop Rosati, 
who had arrived at St. Genevieve on the morning after the 
death of the good missionary. He assisted at his funeral 
service, which was performed with great solemnity. 

M. Nerinckx had reached his 63d year; and, during the 
last forty years of his life, he had labored for the glory of 
God and the good of his neighbor, with a constancy,*an ac 
tivity, and a zeal, seldom equalled, never, perhaps, surpassed. 
His whole life had been one continual voluntary martyrdom, 
and holocaust. He contemned this world, and panted only 
for heaven * but he ardently wished to go to paradise with a 
numerous escort of souls, whom he had been instrumental 
in rescuing from perdition, and leading to salvation. This 
thought seemed to engross his whole mind and soul ; and his 
life was but a carrying of it out. That God, whom he 
served so long and so faithfully, has no doubt long since 
crowned these lofty aspirations of his humble and heroic 
servant. 

A little before his death, M. Nerinckx had intended to 
found also a religious brotherhood, bound together by the 
ordinary vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience ; and 
wholly devoted, like the Lorettines, to the service of God and 
the good of the neighbor. He had even begun this estab 
lishment, and had already received into it some members, 
one of whom, James Vanrissalberghe, accompanied him on 
his last journey to Missouri, and assisted him in his last 
illness. But death cut short his design in this respect : 



AND MISSIONARIES. 451 

and, deprived of its founder, the brotherhood soon ceased to 
exist. 

In the year 1833, his remains were translated to Kentucky, 
and deposited in a suitable monument erected at Loretto, 
the mother-house of the Lorettines. This monument stands 
in the centre of the conventual graveyard. The base of it 
is a parallelogram, about six feet long, by three wide. It 
is built with brick, covered with a plain oak-plank, painted 
and sanded in imitation of stone, and surmounted by a large 
urn. On each side of the brick-work is a projecting tab 
let, on each of which is engraved one of the inscriptions 
that follow : 

" In memory of Rev. Charles Nerinckx, a native of Flan 
ders, who died August 12, 1824, in Missouri. His remains 
were translated to Kentucky in 1833, by brother Charles 
Gilbert, at the request of the Loretto Society, and interred 
at this place by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Flaget, and the Rev. G. 
I. Chabrat, superior of the Society." 

"M. Neriuckx came to Kentucky in 1805, and devoted 
himself zealously to that laborious mission, during which 
time he was nominated to the diocese of New Orleans, but 
he refused that dignity ; and in 1812, with the approbation 
of the Holy See, instituted the Lorettines, or Friends of Mary, 
and died in performing the visitation of the order, at St. 
Genevieve, Missouri, aged 63." 

One of the end-tablets has " B.equiescat in pace'" and 
on the other end-tablet are these words : " Loretto's mite of 
esteem and veneration for its founder." " Do not forsake 
Providence, and he will never forsake you. C. N." this 
being a favorite saying of his to the nuns, at a time when 
Providence was almost their only dependence for the next 
day's dinner. 

Such was the life, such the death, and such the establish- 



452 WESTERN MISSIONS 

ments, of the Rev. Charles Nerinckx, one of the very 
best priests who ever labored on the arduous missions of 
America.* 



Letter of the Rev. M. Nerinckx giving an Account of his 

Vocation. 

ST. MARY'S (Rolling Fork, Ky.), Jan. 23, 1806. 
REV. AND DEAR FlilEND '. 

Not to be wanting to our close friendship, nor deserve 
the reproach of delay, or even of negligence, in a cause as 
serious as God's honor, the propagation of religion, the sal 
vation of our neighbor and our own, I cannot help writing 
letter on letter to call with loud cries vigorous laborers to 
one of the most plenteous harvests, and seek in every direc 
tion whatever is needed to labor there. We agreed, when 
we took our last farewell, to employ all our zeal to succor 
ourselves pur brethren in America, who suffer and die of 
spiritual hunger; and till that end is obtained, to endeavor 
to secure the concurrence of men better fitted than ourselves 
in word and pi-ay er. Let us keep our word. Let us not 
lose courage, although our first attempts have not answered 
our expectations. Persuade the good whom you seek; send 
the generous men whom you may convince. The plan to 
adopt, and the means to use, were suggested in my letters 
last year. You have, doubtless, received them. If the 



* During his stay in Kentucky, Rev. M. Nerinckx made two voyages 
to Belgium, in 1816 and 1819, to obtain of his generous countrymen aid 
not to be found in America. Among the young men whom he took 
over on his lust voyage, were several seminarians of Mechlin, most of 
whom became members of the Society of Jesus in the United States, 
and continue to labor in the vineyard of ftie Lord. Belg. Trans. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 453 

motives and reasons which induced me myself to under 
take this voyage could persuade others to follow, here is 
some idea of them. 

According to the parable in the Gospel, seated, counting 
my resources, using the most considerations of which I was 
capable, and repeatedly meditating on my project, I found 
the following motives for setting out : 

1. The danger of my own defection, of being perverted or 
falling into error, if I remained at home, and the almost utter 
uselessness of my presence in Belgium in the actual state of 
things. 

2. Certain hope of propagating the honor of God under 
this severe menace : " Woe to me if I have not preached the 
Gospel.* 

3. The tendency of the American people towards the 
Catholic religion, and the penury of priests. 

4. The urgent opportunity of paying my evangelical debt 
of ten thousand talents. A dignified sinner in my own, 
land, which abounds in advantages, I almost despaired of 
doing real penance, and making due satisfaction. Hence I 
concluded that I must undertake inevitable toils and sorrows. 

5. The favorable advice of competent persons, without 
whose council I did not deem it prudent to act. 

Such were nearly the principal motives of my resolution, 
which I confirmed by the following thoughts well suited to 
spur me on : 

First. A lively ardor of vigorous faith in God, and ekpe- 
cially in his ministers. The jobject of this faith was : 1. The 
greatness of God and his majesty, and his domain and rights 
over our ministry, and our duty to serve him Everywhere. 
" I arn thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid. All serve 
thee ; how shall I not serve thee ?" and the perfectly incom 
prehensible honor with which, too, he has deigned to honor 



454: WESTERN MISSIONS 

us, by introducing us into the holy of holies, and by ranking 
us with the princes of his people, which he has certainly not 
done for us to stand idle. 2. The labors, sweat, and sorrows 
of Jesus, our master, so worthy of love in all points of view, 
and of his disciples whose sufferings we have seen. 3. The 
soldiers of earthly kings serve without choice of country, 
and are forced to serve for a ration of bread and water ; and 
what trials do they not meet, what kinds of death do they 
not face without any remuneration ? Can it seem equitable, 
then, for us to shrink from the sweet yoke or service of the 
Lord, which gives hope of so great a recompense, under any 
pretext? 4. The sea alarms but merchants expose to the 
same and greater dangers their money, their goods, their 
body, their soul, their families; and when they are broken 
and extenuated by labors, they still find themselves empty- 
handed. 

Second. A firm hope of an eternal personal reward, and 
to be obtained by so many others whom we will perhaps 
lead back from the ways of error, as also the hope of increas 
ing God's* thence resulting glory, and of obtaining season 
able aid from God, our stay and support. The horror of 
eternal pains, which, according to the judgment already 
written, await the wicked and slothful servant, and which 
will torture him. 

Third. The fire, ever burning in the presence of God, 
the^Blessed Virgin, <fcc. St. Ignatius preferred to live uncer 
tain of his own salvation, and labor for his neighbor's soul, 
than to die at once with the certainty of being saved. Aided 
by these and like thoughts, I felt arising in me that fortitude 
which permitted me to say, when the storms of obje'ctions 
arose : " What I have resolved, I have resolved." 

The objections which I successively answered, and my 
replies, were as follows : 



AND MISSIONARIES. 455 

First objection. You must have a vocation. 

Reply. 1. But it need not be confirmed by miracles. 
2. I am already a priest, and it is rather late to raise doubts 
as to my vocation. Better examine a vocation before ordi 
nation, than hesitate after being initiated into the holy min 
istry. It requires as much divine vocation to be a parish 
priest, with cure of souls in Belgium. Neither advantages, 
parents, love of home, nor a clinging to one's native soil 
and house by puerile affection, give surer testimony in the 
choice of a state of life. We have rarely seen an excuse of 
non-vocation alleged. When a rich benefice is vacant, no 
powerful motives are needed to induce most men to accept ; 
but, on the contrary, to prevent them from seizing. So that 
when you can get an advantageous post, you find a voca 
tion ; but when there is question of going to undertake 
labors elsewhere, vocation is doubtful. Then the vocation is 
not wanting to him that is called ; but here and there, the 
one called is wanting to his vocation. Non deest vocato 
vocatio, sed passim vocations vocatus. 

Second objection. The faithful in Belgium also require 
succor. 

Reply. Only those who wish to need succor, need it ; 
those who do not wish, do not need it. At least, there is 
certainly more need in America, where there are not two 
priests to a league, but not even one priest to be found for a 
hundred leagues at a time, while Catholics multiply ; and, 
moreover, the word sowed produces fruit a hundredfold 
that word, now so unpalatable to most Belgians. 

Third objection. The people will perhaps say : If all the 
good go, what will become of us ? 

Reply. Who are you that suffer yourself to be called 
good ? Trust in your vocation, expecting all from God's 
goodness. Yet neither the wicked, who neglect their serious 



456 WESTERN MISSIONS 

amendment, should leave their country to go to lands white 
for the harvest, nor will all the good go. If even this hap 
pened by a just judgment of God, he is the Master let him 
do what is good in his sight ; but, meanwhile, what evil 
hast thou prevented in thy country ? what errors hast thou 
faced ? what corruptions hast thou extirpated ? what infrac 
tions hast thou not consented to ? etc., etc. Weep, then, 
over thyself, and take pity on thy own soul. If apostolic 
men had remained in their own lands, and they were few 
enough, we should not have been Christians this day. 
Should we not, then, pity our brethren ? 

Fourth objection. We need means, money, aptitude. 

Reply. As to means and aptitude, the judgment of them 
must be left to prudent men, who do not belong to the 
family, and who, although not bound to oblige themselves to 
the same, are not zealous towards those whom the thing 
concerns. As to money, God will provide it, my so*. 

Fifth objection. Our parents, who need help or consola 
tion, will be afflicted. 

Reply. Remember that the priest belongs to the Lord, 
and not to his father. Assist your parents as much as you 
can, and provide for the future ; but remember, too, that 
you must be about your heavenly Father's business. As to 
the precept of leaving father and mother for God's sake, ex 
amine the Scriptures, the acts and lives of the apostles, and 
the examples of the saints. 

You see, then, dear friend, what induced me to undertake 
this voyage. I have never yet repented coming ; and if any 
one of these motives can be useful to another, I willingly 
permit him to adopt and confirm it by new and better ones. 
There are, doubtless, many, stronger and more cogent, 
which your zeal and serious considerations may suggest. 
But as those I have set forth suffice for me, who am so ob- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 457 

tuse, and whose heart is so slow and perverse, I do not see 
why I should insist further. 

I commend myself earnestly to your prayers, your holy 
sacrifices, and other pious actions, and subscribe myself 
Your very devoted servant, 

C. NERINCKX, 
Missionary in America. 



Letter of Archbishop Carroll. 

BALTIMORE, April 1, 1806. 
SIR: 

Your very estimable friend, Mr. JSTerinckx, has sent me, 
from Kentucky, an account of his apostolic labors, a large 
package of letters addressed to you, which I have the honor 
of transmitting by a vessel that is to leave this port to-mor 
row for Amsterdam. While transmitting them I take a 
liberty which you will surely pardon me. 

From the description given me by Mr. ISTerinckx, I am aWare 
of your zeal for the increase of the true religion in the diocese 
which Providence has confided to me, and of your kindness in 
interesting yourself to send ecclesiastics whose life and talents 
will edify the faithful and maintain the faith. Ah ! sir, if it 
were possible for you to find and persuade five or six priests 
like Mr. Nerinckx, it is incredible how much they would ex 
tend in these vast regions the kingdom of Jesus Christ. 

Although he has but imperfectly acquired our language, 
still every account from Kentucky already speaks of him as 
a man who has won the respect, attachment, confidence, and 
veneration of the whole people. I feel only one anxiety 
about him ; it is, that incessantly engaged in the functions 
of his apostolate, he will be exhausted by toil. 

His friend, Mr. Cuypers, who was to have been his co- 
39 



458 WESTERN MISSIONS 

adjutor and consolation, sank under the delicacy of his con 
stitution before commencing his career in the mission which 
awaited him. I do not know whether it was in his voyage 
to Amsterdam, or a few days after his landing, that he was 
attacked with a dysentery. It did not at first seem danger 
ous. I advised him to go to Georgetown College, the health 
iest place in the country, both to recruit and to become 
more familiar with our language, before starting to join M. 
Nerinckx. Notwithstanding all possible care, his disease 
grew worse, and he died a few. days before Christmas, in the 
arms of my coadjutor. You will say with me, that his 
death, disastrous for my diocese, is only the greatest advan 
tage to him, by advancing the day of his happy entrance 
into heaven. His piety made a lively impression on all at 
the college, and served to excite all to the exercises of virtue. 

Receive, sir, the assurance of my gratitude, respect, and of 
my desire to serve you when in my power. 

I have the honor to be, sir, 

* Your most ob't serv't, 

f> JOHN, Bishop of Baltimore. 



Additional Remarks 5y Father De Smet. 

Mr. Nerinckx was strongly attached to our Society. On 
every occasion he testified his high esteem for it. He made 
two voyages to Belgium, in 1817 and 1821, and each time 
obtained several postulants for the Society cheerfully com 
plying with the request made by Father Anthony Kohlmann, 
then Provincial of the Society of Jesus in Maryland, who 
begged him to obtain, if possible, young men disposed to 
labor in the American mission. 

On his first voyage, Mr. Nerinckx was accompanied back 
by Mr. Cousin, of the diocese of Ghent, and by four young 



AND MISSIONARIES. 459 

men, viz. : James Van de Velde, of Lebeke, near Termonde, 
professor in the Petit Seminaire, of Mechlin ; Sannon, from 
near Turnhout ; Verheyen, of Merxplas, who had made the 
Spanish campaign under Napoleon ; and Timmermans, of 
Turnhout, secretary of the commissary of the district. Chris 
tian de Srnet, of Marcke, near Audenarde, and Peter de Meyer, 
of Segelsem, joined this little band of missionaries, in order to 
enter the Society of Jesus as lay-brothers. 

Mr. Cousin died at White Marsh, at the close of his no 
vitiate. Mr. Van de Velde died bishop of Natchez, and I 
have already given his biography. Father Verheyen, mis 
sionary in Maryland, there ceased to live in 1823. His great 
zeal for the salvation of souls, and his solid virtues, attracted 
to him the esteem and respect of all who were so happy as 
to know him. Father Timmermans, socius of Father Van 
Quickenborne, finished his career at St. Stanislaus, Missouri, 
in 1824. He was an indefatigable missionary, and one who 
.rendered great service to religion in those districts. Brother 
Christian de Smet died at the college of Georgetown, D. C., 
after having been a model of a true and holy religious during 
the years that he passed in the Society. Brother Pierre de 
Meyer is the sole survivor of the party. I obtained from Mr. 
Nerinckx some quite interesting particulars concerning their 
long and dangerous voyage, which are still fresh in the mem 
ory of our good Brother Pierre. 

They embarked on the 16th of May, at the island of 
Texel, Holland, on the brig Mars, Captain Hall, of Baltimore. 
The voyage was long and dangerous. Scarcely had they 
entered the English Channel than a storm suprised them, 
and threatened to submerge them. One of the sailors, precip 
itated from the topmast into the sea, was lost. Universal 
fear and consternation reigned on board. It was Whit-Sun 
day. During three days the vessel, without sails and with- 



460 WESTERN MISSIONS 

out a helm, beaten by the winds and waves, floated about at 
the mercy of the ocean. 

In another tempest the ship sprung a leak, large, and 
deemed irreparable. During more than three weeks all 
the pumps were in action, without interruption, night or 
day, and all, passengers and crew, even the venerable mis 
sionaries, were obliged to work. Happily there were on 
board about a hundred emigrants, Swiss and Germans. 
Without their aid it would have been impossible to save the 
brig. When approaching the Banks of Newfoundland the 
Mars fell in with a piratical vessel, which gave her chase 
and succeeded in boarding her, after a long pursuit. The 
captain of the pirates, named Moony, was a native of Balti 
more. Far from manifesting hostile intentions, he appeared 
full of joy at meeting a countryman. As the Mars was fail 
ing in provisions, Captain Hall bought several barrels of bis 
cuit, salt beef, some tuns of fresh water, and a great quantity 
of dried fruits and wine, which the pirate had in abundance, 
having plundered, three days before, a Spanish merchant-ship, 
on its way to Spain. 

Neither the captain nor the mate of the Mars was quali 
fied for his post. Their calculations always varied. After 
passing the Azores, they steered straight for the tropics. 
Then finding themselves too far south, they turned towards 
the Banks of Newfoundland. Sailing thus at random, the 
vessel, one fine morning, was on the point of striking on the 
dangerous shore of northern Long Island. At last, after a 
voyage of sixty-six days, they made Chesapeake Bay, July 
26th, and on the 28th reached Baltimore in safety. 

In 1821, the Very Rev. M. Nerinckx once more visited his 
native country, in order to obtain spiritual succor necessary 
to his numerous missions in Kentucky. On this occasion 
the Father Provincial of Maryland again renewed with earn- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 461 

estness his request to conduct hither a good reinforcement 
of young Belgian missionaries. 

During the sojourn of the zealous missionary in Belgium, 
some professors and students in the Lesser Seminary of Mech 
lin conceived the idea and formed the intention of entering 
into the Society of Jesus, -to devote themselves to the salva 
tion of souls in the United States. They soon had an oppor 
tunity of realizing their noble design. The Very Rev. M. 
Nerinckx appeared in their midst. The picture which he 
drew of the abandoned state of the poor Catholics in these 
immense countries, in which, for want of priests, thousands 
forget or forsake the Faith, excited their fervent sympathy 
and zeal. He spoke to them at length of Kentucky, where 
the Lord had wrought so many wonders by his ministry, and 
painted to them in living colors the absolute abandonment 
in which the Indian tribes of the Great Desert roamed, to 
the conversion of whom the Sons of St. Ignatius had, at all 
times, devoted themselves. The young candidates at once 
presented themselves to the respectable missionary, resolved, 
if he would consent, to accompany him to America. This 
consent was easily obtained, and he received them with open 
arms. They afterwards were forced to overcome numerous 
and great obstacles which opposed their departure, arising 
from their parents and the government of Holland. 

The following are the names of these young candidates 
who presented themselves to the Rev. M. Nerinckx, to enter 
the Society of Jesus, in America. I commence with the 
eldest : Messrs. Felix Verreydt, of Diest ; Josse Van Assche, 
of St. Amand ; Peter Joseph Verhaegen, of Haecht ; John 
Baptist Smedts, of Rotslaer ; John Anthony Elet, of St. 
Amand; Peter John de Smet, of Termoude.* 

* Father Elet and Father Sinedts are dead, and sketches of them will 
be found in this volume. 



462 WESTERN MISSIONS 

It was agreed with M. Nerinckx that his six companions 
should meet in Amsterdam, in order to make all the prepara 
tions necessary for the long voyage over the Atlantic, and also 
to make ulterior arrangements for eluding the vigilance of 
government, which had given the authorities strict and severe 
orders to arrest them. They succeeded in gaining the ren 
dezvous. OD the 26th of July, 1821, they arrived at Am 
sterdam. On the 31st of the month, the Feast of St. Igna 
tius, they quitted the city and embarked in a little boat, in 
order to repair to the island of Texel, in the Zuyder-Zee. 
The following day they stopped at "Wieringen, where they 
visited a 'Catholic church, and, some hours after, they 
landed at Texel and took lodging in a Catholic house that 
some friends in Amsterdam had prepared for them before 
hand. At length, on the 15th of August, they got on board 
the brig Columbia, after having gained the open sea in a 
little pilot-boat, which had passed the Helder without being 
observed by the police. The voyage, therefore, commenced 
under the auspices of our Holy Mother, on the day of her 
glorious assumption into heaven. We experienced, it is 
true, some storms and some heavy gales of wind ; but all 
passed without the least unfortunate incident 

At the end of forty days we disembarked in the beautiful 
city of Philadelphia. The next day we exchanged adieux 
with the venerable and worthy M. Nerinckx, a man eminent 
for sanctity and learning, and full of zeal for the salvation of 
souls, justly deserving to be styled one of the principal 
apostles of the American Church, as the author of the biog 
raphy which I have recapitulated in this letter has so well 
displayed him. We quitted him, filled with reverence and 
respect for his person. The sage counsels which he unceas 
ingly gave us, and the example of his eminent virtues that 
we had beneath our eyes during the forty days' passage, have 



AND MISSIONARIES. 463 

ever remained present to the memory of his companions. 
We enjoyed the distinguished favor of possessing him some 
time at the novitiate of St. Stanislaus, Missouri, a few days 
before his death. 

In union with your holy sacrifices and prayers, I have the 

honor to be, 

Reverend Father, 

Your devoted servant, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



464 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XXXV11I. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Charles Felix Van Quidceiibowe. 

NEW YORK,' May 16, 1857. 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER I 

This notice of the Rev. Charles Van Quickenborne has 
been based on a sketch of his life, in the archives of the vice- 
province of Missouri, and I have inserted some facts from my 
own knowledge. 

Father Charles Felix Van Quickenborne was the first 
Jesuit who appeared in the great valley of the Mississippi 
after the re-establishment of the Society of Jesus. He was a 
man full of zeal for the salvation of souls. The conversion 
of the Indians was, in particular, the object of his predilec 
tion and of his prayers. Long will his name be held in 
benediction, and his memory celebrated in the places which 
had the happiness of receiving the fruits of his numerous la 
bors and of his truly apostolic virtues. 

He was born in the diocese of Ghent, at Peteghem, near 
Deynze, on the 21st of January, 1788. Having commenced 
his studies at Deynze, he went to Ghent to complete them, 
and there he embraced the ecclesiastical state. Van Quick 
enborne constantly distinguished himself by his talents and 
his application. Ordained priest, he was sent to Roulers, to 
teach belles lettres. He remained there four years ; tliat is 
to say, until the moment that the ecclesiastical seminary was 
closed. A short time after his return to Ghent he was sent 



AND MISSIONARIES. 465 

as vicar into a parish where he had the singular happiness, 
as he frequently said with pleasure, of finding Mr. Corselis 
as Dean. The friendship and the distinguished virtue of this 
venerated priest exerted a very salutary influence over the 
mind of the young vicar, and made an impression which was 
never obliterated. 

About this time the Society of Jesus, in the expectation of 
its approaching re-establishment, had prepared a novitiate 
at Rumbeke, near Roulers. There, yielding to the impulse 
of his zeal, Van Quickenborne presented himself, on the 14th 
of April, 1815. From that moment he sighed for the mis 
sion of America. 

Scarcely had he finished his novitiate than he obtained 
from Father Thaddeus Brzozowski, then general, the per 
mission to consecrate himself entirely to the desired mission. 
He embarked at Amsterdam. After a navigation fraught 
with perils, he had the happiness of reaching America, near 
the close of the year 181Y. 

At the opening of the year 1819 he was placed at the 
head of the novitiate of Maryland, at White Marsh. He 
displayed, in this responsible position, all the means which it 
furnished him for the salvation of souls. Superior and master 
of novices, he became, at the same time, farmer, carpenter, 
and mason. He erected a handsome stone church on the 
novitiate grounds, and built a brick one at Annapolis. At the 
same time he attended, as a missionary, a vast district, which, 
during several years, he was to evangelize alone, before a 
companion could second his charitable toil. 

His labors were precious for Maryland ; but the poverty 
of that mission was extreme. This led the Rt. Rev. Wm. du 
Bourg, bishop of both Louisianas, to request that the novi 
tiate be transferred to Missouri. The superior of the mission 
consented to it. Father Van Quickenborne, therefore, set 



466 WESTERN MISSIONS 

out with two Fathers, seven scholastic novices, and three co 
adjutor brothers. After a journey of 1600 miles, amid the 
heat of summer, with continual fatigues and privations, he 
arrived near Florissant, where he commenced the novitiate 
of Saint Stanislaus. To form this new establishment, he 
found no other materials than those he drew himself from the 
forests and the rocky bed of the river. But his ardor for 
labor was daunted by no difficulty ; his inflexible courage 
was not to be arrested by any obstacle. He was always the 
first at work. He seemed to multiply himself, going from 
one workman tp another, exciting and encouraging every one 
by his example far more than by his words. Endowed with 
an admirable patience, and with a great spirit of mortifica 
tion, he was never exacting to any one but himself, listened 
only to the enthusiasm which inspired him to spend himself 
without reserve, and never knew what it was to spare his 
own health or strength. He was near becoming a victim to 
this self-forgetful ness. One day he was working at the 
squaring of a timber, aided in this labor by a young novice. 
The latter, not yet versed in the work, used his axe with an 
eagerness of which he was far from imagining the conse 
quences. Right glad to perceive the wood yielding under 
his blows, he only thought of multiplying them. One of 
them, ill-directed, struck the Father on the foot. Notwith 
standing this wound, and the loss of blood, the Father did 
not give up his labor until he found himself fainting, then 
only would he take a seat and allow the cut to be bound up 
with a handkerchief. The laborers, meanwhile, were three 
miles from the farm, which served them as a common resi 
dence. The Father endeavored to return there on foot ; but, 
on the way, the pain arising from the wound became so vio 
lent that he was constrained to yield and suffer himself to be 
put on the horse that had been sent for him. A burning 



AND MISSIONARIES. 467 

fever obliged him to keep his bed for several days. As soon 
as he became a little better he desired to return to his work, 
but he must use the horse. Thence arose a new accident. 
The. shores of the river are swampy in certain places ; the 
horse sunk into one of these mires ; the Father needed all his 
calm and coolness to regain the solid ground ; but all the 
efforts that he made to extricate his poor animal proved use 
less ; he was obliged to see him perish. These accidents, 
instead of shaking his constancy, had the effect of rendering 
him more firmly determined to accomplish his purposes. It 
was surrounded by difficulties, which would have appeared 
insurmountable to a courage less heroic, that he constructed 
the novitiate of Florissant, aided by his Belgian novices. In 
1828 he undertook the construction of a university at St. 
Louis. He also built, at St. Charles, a stone church and a 
convent for the religious of the Sacred Heart, as well as a 
residence. These toilsome undertakings, and all the mani 
fold cares arising from them, seemed but to freshen his ac 
tivity : he only finished one enterprise to begin a new one. 

Florissant and St. Charles became so many rally ing-points 
around which little colonies of Catholics and Protestants 
formed and multiplied. The missionaries went in every di 
rection to afford spiritual aid for so many abandoned souls, 
too often more destitute of the riches of grace than of those 
of earth. Father Van Quickenborne devoted himself to 
these apostolic courses with real gladness of heart ; his con 
suming zeal found the sweetest consolation in the conversions 
which he effected. The Protestants testified the greatest 
respect towards him, although then (in 1824, 1825, etc.), as 
at present, their ministers spared no means to fetter his pro 
ceedings and arrest the effects of his zeal. They depicted our 
religion as an assemblage of absurd and contemptible doc 
trines ; they drew the most revolting portrait of the mission- 



468 WKSTKKN MISSIONS 

ary. Among certain of the lower classes, they even went so 
far as to make him a monster with cloven feet, horns on his 
head, and armed with claws. Hence, when the Father ap 
peared among them for the first time, these poor people 
flocked around, scanned him attentively from head to foot, 
and finding him like other men, they immediately listened 
to him, and were converted without the least difficulty. 

In one of his rides, there happened to him one of those 
singular facts in which he recognized more particularly the 
action of divine Providence. Arrived at a place where the 
road branched, he intended taking the more beaten road, 
but his horse resisted. In vain he urged him to obey ; the 
animal prevailed over the missionary, and darted rapidly into 
the other and less agreeable way. The route crossed a for 
est. Night came on, and he found himself obliged to stop 
at a little cottage, as poor as solitary, and, as it were, lost 
by its little dimensions in the towering wood. The Father 
met with a cold reception. As they perceived that he was 
a missionary priest a great reserve was maintained. Supper 
was indeed served for him, but they spoke with him in a 
timid and embarrassed manner. He understood the cause. 
In a corner of the room lay a child sick with a fever, and in 
extremities. The missionary asked the distracted mother 
whether her boy had received baptism. On being answered 
in the negative, he began to explain the necessity of this 
sacrament. " God himself sent me here," added he, ' to 
open to your child the portals of heaven ; you must hasten, 
for soon he will be no more !" The mother replied disdain 
fully, that she would never suffer a priest to baptize her son ; 
that she did not believe in baptism. It was in vain to insist. 
As the child was consumed with thirst the Father, feigning 
to renounce his first idea, very kindly attempted to relieve it 
from time to time, by giving it a little water, and at a 



AND MISSIONARIES. 469 

moment when the mother, occupied with other things, 
turned her attention elsewhere, he baptized the child, who 
soared to heaven a few moments after. 

A short time after this, passing near the same cottage, the 
Father called again and asked to see the mother of the 
child. This time he found her affable and obliging. She 
evinced a very great desire to have some information con 
cerning the Catholic religion. Soon she avowed that all she 
had heard on the necessity of baptism troubled her, and that 
she deplored it as a misfortune that she had deprived her 
son of so great a grace. " Console yourself," said the kind 
Father, " your son received baptism, and he now enjoys the 
beatific vision. He now intercedes for you with God. Re 
ceive baptism, and you will one day share his happiness." 
These words produced the desired effect. The woman was 
converted, and, with her whole family, received baptism. 
Such were the blessed consequences of the obstinacy of the 
horse. Strangely enough, on the day after, he followed the 
other road without any show of resistance. 

The salvation of souls was, with this apostolic man, an 
ever-present thought, desire, and necessity. He had also a 
wonderful art in seizing occasions and profiting by circum 
stances. He understood also, by his conversations and nar 
ratives, how to communicate to others the zeal with which 
he was inflamed. They were captivated, so that those who 
could not assist him by their labors, pledged themselves, at 
least, to assist him by their prayers. Thus, in order to 
engage his novices to pray with ardor, he granted them a 
little feast each time that the conversions attained a certain 
number. 

The Protestants, we have already observed, made efforts 
to throw obstacles in the path of the man of God, but he 
had to struggle especially with the Methodists. One day 
40 



470 WESTERN MISSIONS 

he gave a severe blow to the influence of these noisy secta 
rians. Being on a mission, he heard that they were to hold 
a meeting- in a place named to him. For a long time he had 
sought an occasion of coining in contact with them. He, 
therefore, set out for the appointed locality, and endeavored. 
to attract there all the Protestants that he could find. The 
Methodists were holding their meeting in the church. The 
Father, on his arrival, found an immense concourse. His 
religious habit and his venerable air, at first excited a pro 
found astonishment in men, most of whom saw a priest for 
the first time. In their amazement, several cried out : 
" What does that queer man want ?" The Father answered 
modestly, that he was desirous of hearing from their mouths 
some explanations on certain important points which con 
cern religion, and begged they would allow him to propose 
a few questions. Then, profiting by the consent which they 
gave him, he began to interrogate them on the essential 
points that distinguish the true from the erroneous doctrines. 
The ministers wish to reply, but no two answer in the 
same manner. They refute themselves, and contradict each 
other. The Father insists; they disagree. The confusion 
only increases, to the great scandal of the auditors, who thus 
have an evidence that those ministers, so habituated to 
despise the priests in their absence, are incapable of reply 
ing to them when they meet them. The Father left these 
men disputing (to their shame and confusion), and went to 
make a discourse in the open air on the unity, sanctity, 
catholicity, and apostolicity of the Roman Catholic Church, 
which all sects and all their ministers united can never 
shake. Such astonishing boldness, the talents of the 
preacher, and the solidity of his reasonings, conciliated the 
attention and respect of all. He had gained a signal vic 
tory over the ministers of falsehood and calumny. During 



AND MISSIONARIES. 471 

a long period, their discourses had no echo in that place. 
Every time that the Father returned there, they opened the 
hotel of the town to him, that he might celebrate mass and 
preach. His sermons, every time, produced numerous con 
versions. 

On entering the apostolical 'career, Father Van Quicken- 
borne enjoyed a robust health ; but the severe labors and 
incessant hardships of the apostolate undermined his 
strength. However, his infirmities never cooled the ardor 
of his zeal. His charity and his confidence in God seemed 
to supply the weakness of nature, and God, more than once, 
seconded his efforts in a marvellous manner. One day, while 
he was retained in his bed by a severe, and even serious 
malady, they came to tell him that a poor Catholic, dying, a 
hundred miles off, implored the comforts of religion. To 
the amazement of all, he caused a cart to be prepared, 
ordered his mattress to be laid in it, and taking with him 
the Blessed Sacrament and the oils he set forth, after giving 
to them all his blessing. All received it, as though it would 
be the last. They followed their kind Father with fears and 
regrets. After a few days he reappeared among them quite 
triumphant ; he had administered to the sick man, and was 
himself perfectly cured. 

His apostolical zeal inclined him above all to those places 
in which he saw more spiritual privation and more neglect. 
He ardently desired to go and evangelize the poor Indians, 
wandering in the wilderness. He made several excursions 
among the Osages and the lowas, and each time the most 
precious fruits met his expectation. In 1836, he succeeded, 
by soliciting, in collecting some money in the different 
States. He at once commenced a fixed residence among 
the Kickapoos ; already he had built a house and chapel. 
He had visited the neighboring tribes, and formed the 



472 WESTERN MISSIONS 

most extensive and solid designs for their conversion, 
when he was suddenly arrested in the midst of his enter 
prises. The Superior of the Missions in Missouri, on paying 
the visit to his missionaries, found the Father so feeble in 
health that he judged him incapable of continuing his la 
bors. As soon as the Superior returned to St. Louis he re 
called him. 

Faithful to the voice of obedience, Father Van Quicken- 
borne quitted his cherished mission. He reappeared at St. 
Louis with a cheerful countenance, reposed there some days, 
went to make his annual retreat at the novitiate, and then 
set out for St. Charles, so .as to go thence to the little parish 
of St. Francis in the Portage des Sioux. There, he was to 
lead a quiet life, assisted by one coadjutor brother, and only 
bestowing his cares on this little flock. But is there any 
hope of limiting his zealous efforts? He set himself at once 
to build a church in the neighborhood, and he was de 
sirous of converting a certain number of Protestant families. 
These labors were absorbing his whole attention, when he 
was attacked by a bilious fever which carried him off in 
some days, resisting all the cares of an experienced phy 
sician. 

Father Pallaisou assisted him in the hour of death. The 
man of God was calm until the end, and filled with devout 
resignation. He received the last sacraments with a deep 
and touching piety, and saw death approaching without fear. 
About twenty minutes before expiring, perceiving his last 
moment, "Pray for me," said he to the. Father and Brother 
who were near him. These were his last words. He ex 
pired without agony. His death took place on the 17th of 
August, 1857. His body, followed by crowds, was borne 
to St. Charles, and interred with much pomp in the mid 
dle of the graveyard, at the foot of the cross. Catholics 



AND MISSIONARIES. 473 

and Protestants assisted at his funeral, for he was beloved 
by all. 

The lengthened labors of this apostolic man, and the 
churches which he built, suffice to perpetuate his memory, 
were it not already deeply engraven in the hearts of all who 
knew him. 

Accept, etc., 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 
40* 



474: WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XXXIX, 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Theodore de Theux. 

NEW YORK, May 16, 1857. 
REV. AND VERY DEAR FATHER : 

In several of your letters you requested me to give you 
some notes concerning the life and character of Father de 
Theux, of* saintly memory. Will you be so kind as to add 
the information which follows to what I have already sent, 
and blend them, in form of a biography, in one letter ? 

John-Theodore-Mary-Joseph de Theux was born at Liege, 
on the 25th of January, 1789. His parents, not less dis 
tinguished by their piety than by their birth, endeavored to 
inspire their children betimes with the love and fear of God, 
and to form them to the practice of all the virtues, as do 
those rare families in which faith is hereditary. 

Theodore had not yet terminated his study of the human 
ities, when he felt a strong conviction that God called him 
to the ecclesiastical state. Having finished them, he entered 
the seminary of Namur in 1808. Devoting himself with 
untiring application to the study of philosophy, he distin 
guished himself as much by his success as by his regularity 
of conduct, his piety, and gentleness. At the end of the 
course he won the first prize for the collective examinations, 
which lasted several days. He showed, in every circum 
stance, a great soundness of judgment. His success in his 



AND MISSIONARIES. 475 

theological studies, Holy Scripture, canon-law, and other ec 
clesiastical sciences was equally brilliant. 

His former companions preserve a most delightful recollec 
tion of the relations of young De Theux with his class-mates, 
whom he assisted with his lights and counsels. The amenity 
of his temper gained him every heart ; it reflected his soul, 
which was inflamed with the fire of heavenly charity. He 
passed four or five years in the seminary of Namur. 

He received the tonsure in March, 1810 ; minor orders in 
the month of June following ; the sub-deaconship, the 21st of 
December, 1811; the deaconship, the 22d of February, 1812. 
Admitted to the priesthood the 21st of June following, feast 
of the angelical Saint Aloysius, the Abbe de Theux, before 
the end of the same year, had a fine opportunity of display 
ing the zeal which he never ceased exciting in his heart. 
He was named vicar of the parish of St. Nicholas at Liege. 

It was the epoch when the imperial government, in the 
height of its combat with all Europe, multiplied beyond 
measure the prisons of State ; and while the faithful cardinals 
mourned in the strongholds of Piedmont and France, the 
generous defenders of Spain expiated at Liege the fault of 
having fought for the liberty of their unhappy country. The 
greater number of them languished in the hospitals. In 
order to be able to offer them the consolations of the 
Church, the new vicar of Saint Nicholas occupied himself 
wholly with the study of the Spanish language, and, with 
the help of God, in a short time,- he was able to hear the 
confessions of the imprisoned. It was very beautiful to see 
this young priest, a member of one of the first families of 
Liege, braving, at the pillow of the dying, the pestilential in 
fluences of the epidemic which raged among the prisoners, 
particularly at the hospital of St. Laurent. Attacked by the 
disease, the Abbe de Theux was received into the bosom of 



476 ^ WESTERN MISSIONS 

his family. God, in order to try him, permitted that the 
malady should be communicated to several of his near ivla- 
aud prove the cause of death to one of his brothers. 
Theodore, however, escaped death. God, who had great 
designs over him, would not allow that he should so soon 
become the victim of his zeal. 

In 1815, named by M. Barrett, administrator of the Epis 
copal See of Liege, Professor of Dogmatic Theology and of 
Holy Scripture, he presided at the opening of the seminary 
and gave the first course of theology. At this epoch there 
was only one class in the seminary of Liege. In the exer 
cise of his new functions he conciliated the love and respect 
of his pupils, as well by his xc-al and his devotedness, as by 
his tender and paternal solicitude. But his love for God 
and his neighbor demanded labors more painful, sacrifices of 
a nobler grade. He embraced, with as much eagerness as 
happiness, the occasion that Providence offered him. 

The Abbe Charles Nerinckx, one of the first and most 
efficient missionaries of Kentucky, after a voyage to Rome, 
visited once more the land of his nativity, Belgium. The 
picture that he presented of the disastrous state of the mis 
sions of the United States touched the compassionate heart 
of the Abbe de Theux. After assuring himself, by fervent 
prayers and other meritorious works, that such was the 
good pleasure of God, he rooKvd to quit his native land, to 
renounce the intercourse of a tenderly-loved family, to bid 
farewell to numerous and sincere friends, and go into a 
strange land to labor for the salvation of souls and spend the 
rest of his days. 

He left Antwerp for America on the 15th of April, 1816, 
with one companion, who, like himself, was desirous of being 
enrolled among the followers of St. Ignatius. The two trav 
ellers arrived safely. On the 7th of August, they were ad- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 477 

mitted to the novitiate of White Marsh, Prince George's 
Co., Md. Father de Theux took his first vows on the 18th 
of August, 1818. 

Being the eldest son, Theodore would have inherited his 
father's title. He renounced it in favor of his brother Bar 
tholomew, at present Count de Theux de Meylandt, former 
minister of Belgium, member of the Chamber of Represen 
tatives, minister of State, etc. 

The fervor of the priest only augmented in the religious. 
All those of his brethren who have had an opportunity of 
seeing him and conversing with him, are unanimous in testi 
fying to his distinguished virtue, singular piety, and the rare 
prudence of his zeal. For several years previous to rny de 
parture for the Indian missions, I had the happiness of be 
ing his room-mate, in a little wooden cabin. At his express 
petition, I served him as adraonitor. He made an agree 
ment with me that he should present himself to me twice 
each week, to ask of me the faults and defects that I might 
have remarked in him. He besought me with earnestness 
and humility not to spare him ; to have no favorable consid 
eration for him ; to warn him openly and frankly of the least 
thing that I might discover in him reprehensible. At the 
same time he promised me the deepest gratitude, and assured 
me that he would often pray for me. In vain I observed 
him closely in the accomplishment of his spiritual duties in 
his classes of theology, at table, in recreation, so as to prove 
to him my desire to oblige him. I often made efforts to sur 
prise him in some fault, but never, that I know, was I able to 
find him deficient. As I discovered that he seemed to be 
disappointed because I did not correct him, so as to tran 
quillize him I had recourse to trifles to the merest baga 
telles. The more I told him the more he thanked me, and 
the more also, undoubtedly, he prayed for me. He united 



478 WESTERN MISSIONS 

in himself the simplicity of a child with the humility of a 
great saint. While I occupied the same apartment with 
him, I ever remarked that he was scrupulously punctual to 
every duty, whether spiritual or otherwise, and each had its 
appointed hour. Every day he studied the sacred Scrip 
tures. He read over his breviary with a profound recollec 
tion, kneeling before his crucifix or at the foot of the altar, 
before ^he Blessed Sacrament. 

These exercises of piety, and the unceasing labors of the 
missions, perfected this beautiful soul, and Father de Theux 
was admitted to his solemn profession on the loth of Au 
gust, 1829. From the second year of his novitiate he had 
been named Operarius (that is to say, charged with exercis 
ing the holy ministry in the church of the Holy Trinity). 
His great zeal and his exemplary piety, won him the respect 
and the confidence of all intrusted to his care. Hence, 
when he was obliged to leave this church for Missouri, there 
was a general regret. 

From 1822, different 'localities became successively the 
scene of the apostolical works of this holy religious. He 
was professor of theology, superior of the missions, master 
of novices in Louisiana at Grand Coteau, at St. Charles in 
Missouri, and at Cincinnati in Ohio. Everywhere he gave 
proofs of an indefatigable zeal, of an unlimited devotedness. 
Everywhere he gained the esteem and affection of his 
brethren, and of all those with whom he was called to treat, 
whether Catholic or Protestant. Everywhere he left the 
ineffaceable remembrance of his virtues, and the regret 
caused at his departure. It was in the exercise of his apos 
tolical functions that he contracted the germ of the malady 
of which he died. 

When he resided at Grand Coteau, Louisiana, going one 
day to visit a sick person, he passed through a place called 



AND MISSIONARIES. 479 

Lafayette. A young Frenchman who was amusing himself 
boisterously in an inn, drinking and laughing with several 
boon companions, saw the Father passing by, and pointing 
him out with his finger, he took his cane and shouted that 
he was going to show them how to treat that " canaille de 
pretres /" "I'll make this Jesuit quake under my blows," 
said he, and he came out to put his intention into execution. 
The braggadocio accosted the Father with curses and insult 
ing language, and asked him with effrontery on what part of 
his person he would prefer to receive the caning. The man 
of God answered the unjust aggressor with a voice perfectly 
calm : " Friend, if God wills that I be beaten I will endeavor 
to bear it patiently. Know, however, that I am an Ameri 
can citizen. I desire to know why you attack me with such 
insults, and by what right you dare attempt to strike me ?" 
These words intimidated our youthful boaster. Without 
acknowledging his fear he replied, and this time without 
swearing, " You are armed, or you would not be so bold." 
He alluded to a case which the Father carried under his 
arm, and in which he kept the holy oils, his stole, and sur 
plice. . " Yes," answered the religious, exhibiting his cruci 
fix, " I am armed, and this is my weapon ; I have no need 
of any other." Our bravo returned less impetuous. He 
went back to his tavern companions, who received him 
with loud and reiterated shouts of insulting laughter. 

Another day, Father de Theux was performing in the 
church of Grand Coteau the obsequies of an unhappy man, 
deceased without the sacraments, and that after a miserable 
life. He seized the opportunity to address the assistants 
some severe words on the misfortune of such a life followed 
by a death so sad. Suddenly a man, known as an enemy to 
the clergy, and to the Jesuits especially, arose and chal 
lenged the Father in a brusque and insolent manner. " I 



480 WESTERN MISSIONS 

will not suffer," said he, "that the memory of my friend be 
publicly insulted." Father de Theux, with his ordinary 
calmness, turned towards the interlocutor and said : " I am 
at home. This is my own church. I have the right to 
speak in it, and to say what I please ; but he who now in 
terrupts me has no right to speak here. If he does not like 
my sermon let him retire from the church." The insolent 
man immediately went out, to the great satisfaction of the 
good Catholics who were present, and Father de Theux tran 
quilly continued his sermon. 

In 1844, the Bishop of Cincinnati found himself frequently 
menaced, as well as the Catholics of his diocese, by tumult 
uous mobs, composed of the enemies of our holy faith. He 
asked counsel of Father de Theux. After some moments of 
reflection, the Father answered, that he would obtain peace 
and security in those difficult times if he would have re 
course to the Sovereign Pontiff, and would encourage the 
other bishops of the United States to follow his example, so 
as to obtain the favor of adding, in the preface of the mass, 
to the word conception the prefix immaculate. The worthy 
bishop received the advice with respect, and the request was 
soon after made at Rome and crowned with success. 

In 1845, Father de Theux was attacked with one of those 
bilious fevers so common in the southwest of the Union. It 
threatened him with speedy death. The physicians pro 
nounced it mortal. However, his constitution triumphed, 
the danger ceased, the patient recovered, and, after a few 
days of convalescence, he was able to devote himself to the 
exercises of zeal to which he had consecrated his whole life. 

At the opening of the year 1846, Father de Theux de 
sired to provide for the education of children too remote 
from St. Charles, Missouri, to come to the catechetical instruc 
tions. He set out to seek and select a suitable position; 



AND MISSIONARIES. 481 

when returning, he and his companion lost their way. Over 
taken by a cold rain, which wet him through, he was at 
tack with a pleurisy. After some days the disease became 
more violent, baffling every remedy. The pleurisy soon de 
generated into an inflammation of the bowels. Although 
the Father possessed a strong constitution, labor and hard 
ship had exhausted him to such a degree that he could no 
longer contend with the malady. He foresaw his approach 
ing end and prepared himself for it with care, convinced 
that God would ere long call him. During three weeks he 
endured excruciating pains and sufferings, but preserved 
every faculty until the end. He employed a portion of time 
in arranging all the affairs of his charge with perfect exacti 
tude ; and preparing himself with redoubled fervor for the 
passage from time to eternity, he employed the rest in mak 
ing acts of resignation, of patience, and of other virtues, by 
means of texts drawn from Holy Writ, ejaculatory prayers, 
and ardent sighs towards the God of his love. He received 
the last sacraments with a piety which edified every one. 
He himself directed the priest who was administering them, 
and who trembled on seeing the anguish which this worthy 
religious was enduring. The dying voice of the faithful ser 
vant of Jesus was heard distinctly responding to the prayers 
of the agonizing. 

Father de Theux desired to be warned of the progress of 
his illness, and of the approach of death. Three days before 
his demise the physician told him that he could not pass the 
following day. " No, doctor," gayly replied the patient, " 1 
shall not die to-morrow ; I shall die on Saturday. Saturday 
will be the day." He had always wished to die on a day 
consecrated to the Blessed Virgin, and he always cherished 
the firm belief that he would not be disappointed in his 
hope. Early on Saturday morning he began, repeating fre- 

41 



482 WESTERN MISSIONS 

quently these invocations: "Jesus, have mercy on me! ... 
Mary, pray for me!" There remained for him only a few 
hours of exile, and it was in the act of repeating these words 
that Father de Theux yielded up his last sigh, at seven 
o'clock in the morning, on the 28th of February, 1846, on 
the day of the week consecrated to the devotion and hom 
age of Mary. His latest petition was heard. It was, no 
doubt, one of the recompenses of the Mother v of God, who is 
also ours. He had also, in the latter period of his life, estab 
lished at St. Charles, in the mission church,' the Arch-confra 
ternity of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to which he had 
a tender devotion. Whether God had really manifested to 
him the day on which he should give up his soul, or whether 
his words were the expression of a strong and inflamed de 
sire, we cannot decide ; but the fact is, that he died on Sat 
urday, the 28th of February, 1846. 

Father de Theux was one of those men whom it is diffi 
cult or impossible to know thoroughly, until after having 
long and carefully observed their conduct and habits. He 
never spoke of himself unless morally obliged, or when there 
was an evident utility ; and ordinarily then, according to the 
manner of the great apostle, he did it in the third person. 
To give you an example, I will cite the following incident: 
He was speaking of the necessity of working perseveringly 
in the control and subjection of the vicious and rebellious 
inclinations of our corrupt nature, and even its infirmities. 
To apply his remarks, he indicated that habitual dispo 
sition which inclines to sleep in prayer, and the following 
is the substance of what he said on this point : " I know 
a man who contended thirty long years against this infirm 
ity. Still he spared no endeavors to free himself from it. 
He stood, he knelt; he took a step forward or backward 
according as circumstances would admit, but often he could 



AND MISSIONARIES. 483 

not ; then he had recourse to this means. He took a pin or 
needle with him, and without allowing others to perceive 
him, he tormented his body by piercing it with the sharp 
little instrument, in order to render his soul fit for medita 
tion when the rule or inclination demanded it." All those 
who were listening to him were interiorly convinced that 
he was speaking of himself, and that the eulogium due to 
such constant and persevering efforts belonged to none but 
himself. 

His character inclined him to severity, but it was solely 
on himself that he exercised it. No one ever saw him allow 
himself the least satisfaction which seemed to flatter sen 
suality. Every thing had its allotted time. Of a healthy 
constitution, he believed, correctly, that he ought to contri 
bute to its preservation so far as the rules of religious tem 
perance would permit. Hence no singularity at his repasts 
was ever observed in him, either for the quantity or for the 
manner, unless we may call singularity a constant habit of 
adhering invariably, for every kind of beverage, to a meas 
ure and quality fixedly determined in accordance with all 
the rules of Christian temperance and religious poverty. 

His modesty was really angelic. His eyes were generally 
cast down. He raised them frequently towards God when 
engaged in prayer. It was easy to perceive that he had 
made a covenant with his eyes, that they were never to look 
on any dangerous object. His spirit of prayer was calm, 
without pretension, and continual. 

Being a little deaf, he often quitted his room for the exer 
cises of the community before the bell gave the signal, lest 
he might not hear it. When he arrived too soon, he took 
his rosary and prayed until the common notice was given. 

Sanctifying himself, he edified all those who knew him by 
an exactitude to the practice of our holy rules. His virtue 



484 WESTERN MISSIONS 

consisted in doing ordinary things with an extraordinary 
perfection. 

\V<- may resume this edifying life by saying, that Father 
dc Theux was a genuine model of the religious state. With 
an inflamed zeal for the salvation of souls, there shone in 
him great humility, a burning and expansive charity, and 
complete self-renunciation. He joyfully accepted all priva 
tions, all contradictions, without ever seeking to be remarked. 
He was prayerful, because he was mortified and obedient. I 
speak knowingly of his rare virtues, for 1 was so happy as to 
pass the early years of my scholasticate under his paternal 
guidance, he being my spiritual director and my professor of 
theology. 

Although there was no ostentation in the practice of his 
duties, he could not avoid the observant eye of his brethren, 
as well as of strangers. He was known among the people 
as the man who performed miracles. And, without doubt, 
had he not wrought any other than the sublime examples 
which he left of the Christian and religious virtues, he 
would have already deserved that great and glorious title. 

His death is a great loss to the society, to the missions of 
the western States, and to the work of civilization. His 
obsequies took place on the 2d of May, and his body was 
transported to St. Stanislaus, near Florissant, a locality which 
the deceased had edified, as he had so many others, by the 
practice of all the virtues. His remains find sepulture near 
those of Fathers Van Quickenborne, Timmermans, Van 
Lommel, etc. 

The impression that he made on the students of St. 
Xavier's college, Cincinnati, was so profound, that some 
young Protestants, who had not a very clear idea concern 
ing the canonization of saints, one day inquired seriously of 
their professor whether Father de Theux was canonized or 



AND MISSIONARIES. 485 

not? and the professor having explained to them the nature 
of this ceremony in the Church (which is only done a long 
time after death), they answered : " Well, however that may 
be, he deserves it." 

Accept, Rev. Father, the assurance of my respect and 
affection, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



486 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XL, 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Father John Anthony Elet. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis. 
REVEREND FATHER : 

I present a brief, biographical notice of our country 
man, the Rev. Father Elet, of the Society of Jesus, a religious 
who accomplished much gfcod, and whose memory is held in 
benediction. 

John Anthony Elet was born at St. Amand, in the prov 
ince of Antwerp, on the 19th of February, 1802. Having 
completed his early studies in the college of Mechlin with 
much distinction, under the direction of the venerable Mr. 
Verloo, he entered the ecclesiastical seminary of the same 
town. These two establishments, which have given many 
learned men to Belgium, were ever dear to his heart ; to the 
hour of his death, it was a consolation and delight to him to 
hear and speak of them. 

In 1821, at the age of nineteen, he took the generous 
resolution of quitting his country, under the guidance of 
the apostle of Kentucky, the very Rev. Mr. Nerinckx, in 
order to devote himself to the forsaken missions of North 
America. 

He began his novitiate in Maryland, on the 6th of Octo 
ber, 1828. Before the close of his two years of probation, he 
was sent, with several Fathers, brothers, and novices, all 
Belgians, but one brother who was an American, to Mis- 



ANP MISSIONARIES. 487 

souri, to establish a mission amid the old French settlements, 
the new American ones, and the wandering tribes of Indians, 
dispersed throughout this vast territory. 

-Father Elet finished his course of philosophy and theology 
under Fathers Van Quickenborne, born at Peteghen-lez- 
Deynze, and De Theux, born at Liege, and was ordained 
priest in 1827, by Mgr. Rosati, bishop of St. Louis. 

He had the consolation of seeing the mission which was 
at first so small and weak, erected into a vice-province, and 
extended into Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, Indian 
Territory (now Kansas and Nebraska), and forming beyond 
the Rocky Mountains in Oregon, Washington, and Cali 
fornia, the nucleus of a new mission, which promises ere 
long to equal the most flourishing. To all this success he had 
greatly contributed. 

Father Elet, one of the first founders of the university of 
St. Louis, was president of this institution for several years. 
In 1840, he was sent to Cincinnati, chief town of Ohio, to 
take the direction of the college of St. Xavier, which the 
Rt. Rev. Bishop of that city, Mgr. Purcell (now archbishop), 
had just confided to the Society of Jesus. In a short time 
Father Elet erected in addition a free-school, sufficiently 
extensive to allow the admission of four or five hundred poor 
children. 

Mgr. Flaget, the first, and for a long time the sole bishop 
of the whole immense valley of the Mississippi, which ex 
tends from the Alleghany mountains on the west, to the 
Rocky Mountains on the east, invited the Jesuit Fathers to 
Kentucky, and offered them, through his worthy coadjutor 
and successor, Bishop Spalding, his beautiful college of St. 
Joseph, situated at Bardstown, thirty-nine miles from Louis 
ville, one of the oldest and most renowned of the educa 
tional establishments of this portion of the great American 



488 WESTERN MISSIONS 

confederacy; and which has sent out several illustrious 
bishops, and a great number eminent in Church and State. 
Father Elet was at that time vice-provincial. A short time 
after, he opened a house of education at Louisville. 

Daring his provincialship, he sustained a very painful loss 
in the person of his brother, Father Charles Louis Elet, who 
having arrived in 1848 to share his labors, died at St. 
Joseph's college on the 23d of March, 1849, at the age of 
thirty-seven. He felt a deep sorrow at this death, not only 
because he lost a brother, but because the province was thus 
deprived of a zealous priest snatched away in the flower of 
his age, and from whom such eminent services might have 
been expected. Yet his grief was mingled with great con 
solation. His brother had left in Belgium the remembrance 
of an exemplary life wholly devoted to the good of others 
during his short sojourn in America, he had ever shown 
himself the model of a fervent and charitable religious. A 
holy death crowned so edifying a life. The Bishop of 
Louisville, who visited him in his last hours, announced his 
death to the Provincial, in a letter as honorable to the noble- 
hearted writer, as to the pious sentiments of him whose loss 
it deplores. I insert the letter, it is dated 

"BARDSTOWN, 23d of March, 1849. 

" MY DEAR FATHER ELET : Allow me to unite my voice to 
that of those numerous friends, who will offer you their 
sympathy on the occasion of the melancholy event, which 
this day's post will inform you. I mean the death of your 
very holy and amiable brother. Providence permitted me 
to be here at the moment. I had the happiness of visiting 
him twice. On these occasions, I gave him with my whole 
heart the episcopal benediction. He devoutly kissed my 
pectoral cross, which contains a relic of the Holy Cross. I 



AND MISSIONARIES. 



489 



cannot tell you how much he edified me by his mild tran 
quillity under the most painful agony. He showed every 
mark of an elect of God and if God loved him more than 
you did, resign him cheerfully into his adorable hands. Is 
it not better to have a brother in heaven than on earth ? I 
hope to be able to attend his funeral, and will offer the Holy 
Sacrifice for the repose of his soul. In the midst of the 
sorrow caused by this mournful and mysterious decree of 
Providence, I congratulate myself that Kentucky possesses 
the mortal remains of your holy brother. 

u Deploring most sincerely your loss, I am &c., 

" M. J. SPALDING, Bishop" 

Father John Anthony Elet did not long survive his wor 
thy brother. He had never enjoyed robust health, and had 
passed about thirty years in America in incessant labor. 
When still young, he had discovered alarming symptoms of 
a kind of consumption. It manifested itself anew, and with 
greater violence, towards the end of the year 1850, during 
a journey which he made to Louisiana, for business relative 
to the society. He continued, however, to fill the charge of 
vice-provincial until about the middle of the following year, 
when he withdrew to the novitiate of St. Stanislaus, to pre 
pare for death. He beheld it rapidly approaching, but far 
from fearing, he desired it with his whole heart. Not, that 
he wished to be delivered from earthly sufferings, but be 
cause his love for Christ inflamed him with a burning desire 
to be united to his divine Saviour. His piety, which had 
always been distinguished, now seemed to transport him, 
and, like the glorious sunset, reflected the virtues he had 
practised during life. Some days before his death, although 
scarce able to walk, he dragged himself with difficulty to 
the domestic chapel, and remained there for a considerable 



490 WESTERN MISSIONS 

time prostrate before the altar in a profound adoration. On 
the 1st of October, eve of the Feast of the Holy Angels, at 
the moment when the Holy Viaticum was brought to him, 
and the words " Domine non sum diynus" were pronounced, 
he was heard distinctly repeating, " Non sum dignus, Domine, 
non sum dinnus!" (I am not worthy, Lord, I am not worthy.) 
To a prayer in honor of the Immaculate Conception ot Mary, 
he added aloud these words, " Credo, credo, Domine Jesu /" 
(I believe, I believe, Lord Jesus.) He afterwards expressed 
a lively wish to die on the Feast of the Holy Angels. God, 
whose will he had so faithfully fulfilled, was pleased to hear 
the desires of his servant. On the next day, towards mid 
night, it was proposed to impart the last absolution : " Yes," 
said he, " it is the moment." Some seconds after a beauti 
ful prayer of St. Charles Borromeo was recited. "When 
they came to the passage where the saint acknowledges that 
" he has sinned," but adds, that " he had never denied the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," Father Elet exclaimed "never! 
never 1" After having kissed the crucifix for the last time 
with the most touching devotion, at midnight precisely, dur 
ing the renewal of the absolution, he expired, like one fall 
ing into a gentle slumber. 

Father Elet had a special devotion to the Holy Angels, 
Every year, during his rectorship, on their festival, he re 
quested all the Fathers to offer mass in their honor, so as to 
obtain a special protection over the whole house. He had 
also introduced in several places, that devotion to the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus, which is observed on the first Friday of every 
month encouraging the pious practice of receiving com 
mission on that day, and of making an act of reparation to 
the Sacred Heart, which a priest recites before the altar, 
closing the pious service by the benediction of the Blessed 
Sacrament It was remarked that he expired precisely at 



AND MISSIONARIES. 491 

the hour in which the Feast of the Holy Angels terminated, 
and the first Friday of the month commenced. 

Father John Anthony Elet was loved and respected wher 
ever he was known ; he was universally regretted. In the 
United States, a territory almost as extensive as the whole 
of Europe, where the Catholic clergy are so few that they 
would scarcely supply one single diocese of Belgium, the 
death of every good priest leaves a gap in the ranks which 
all feel. Father Elet's death would shed a gloom over many 
zealous hearts, did they not hope that from above he will 
intercede for America, more powerfully than he could have 
done in our midst. 

D. 0. M., 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



92 WESTERN MISSIONS 



' Letter ILL 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
John Baptist Smedts, S. J. 

CINCINNATI, February 19, 1855. 
REVEREND FATHER : 

I think you will give pleasure to the relatives and 
friends, as well as to the former acquaintances of Father 
Smedts in the seminary of Mechlin, if you would allow 
space in your Precis Historiques to the following notice. 
His Eminence, the Cardinal was professor in the ecclesiasti 
cal seminary at the time of the departure of the deceased ; 
Mgr. De Ram, the Very Rev. MM. Bosmans, Van Hemel, 
etc., were perfectly well acquainted with him. The rector 
magnificus, of the university of Louvain, my intimate friend 
at college, accompanied Father Smedts and myself as far as 
Contich or Waelhem.* 

Father John Baptist Smedt^ of the Society of Jesus, died 
in America, at St. Louis, Missouri, February 19, 1855. 
Born at Rotselaer, in Brabant, on the llth of April, 1801, 
he formed part of the colony of missionaries, who re 
commenced in 1823, on the banks of the Missouri and 
the Mississippi, the labors of the former Jesuits, which had 
been interrupted in the last century by the suppression of 
the society. He left his country in 1821, with some other 

* Mr. De Ram, there asked me for a souvenir, and for want of some 
thing better I bent a piece of money with my teeth, and he had it still 
in 1348. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 493 

young Belgians, MM. Felix Verreydt, of Diest; Josse Van 
Asche, of St. Amand; Peter Joseph Verhaegen, of Haecht; 
John Anthony Elet, of St. Amand, and Peter John de 
Smet, of Termonde; all were under the conduct of the 
venerable Mr. Nerinckx, a Belgian secular priest, a distin 
guished missionary in America, and the apostle of Kentucky. 
As it was necessary to be cautious with a suspicious govern 
ment, inimical to the Catholic religion, and particularly 
hostile to missions, the departure was as secret as possible. 
On this account Father Smedts saw himself forced to make 
a sensibly painful sacrifice, and to set out (as well as his 
companions), without proffering a last adieu to all that was 
dearest to him on earth, parents, brothers, sisters, and friends. 
They were obliged to beg, for the love of God, and the sal 
vation of souls, the money necessary for a long voyage. 
Arrived at Amsterdam, the 27th of July, he repaired from 
thence to the isle of Texel, to shelter himself from the gov 
ernment of Holland, which had instituted a pursuit. On 
the vigil of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he 
quitted the island, and embarked in an open fisherman's 
bark, which conducted him on board of the American ship 
" Columbia," which was waiting for the missionaries at a 
great distance from the coast. 

On the 6th of October, in the same year, Father Smedts 
began his novitiate at White-Marsh, Prince George's county, 
Maryland, where the Jesuits had a mission for many years. 
He was yet a novice when the provincial, at the special re 
quest of Mgr. du Bourg, bishop of Louisiana, and of all the 
great territories west of the Mississippi, sent him to Mis 
souri, with the five Belgians who came with him, as well as 
Father Van Quickenborne, of Peteghem (master of novices), 
Father Timmermans, of Turnhout, and three lay brothers, 
namely : Peter de Meyer, from the vicinity of Audenarde, 

42 



494 WESTERN MISSIONS 

Henri Rieselinan, of Amsterdam, and one American. One 
can with difficulty imagine the fatigues attendant upon this 
journey of 1200 miles, made on foot, and through a country 
which was as yet scarcely inhabited, and in the slow-mov 
ing, uncomfortable flat-boats of the Ohio River. 

The early years of his residence in Missouri were passed 
in a poor cottage, our novitiate, situated near the village of 
St. Ferdinand, about eighteen miles from St. Louis. Ordained 
priest in 1826, he passed several years in the missions in the 
rising cities and villages of Missouri, constantly distinguish 
ing himself by his great desire for the salvation of souls, and 
by an indefatigable zeal, which induced him to surmount 
joyfully all the fatigues attached to the missions of a new 
country, and almosU destitute of priests. Later, he filled 
during several years, the important charge of master of 
novices, until 1849. He passed the remainder of his life, 
either in the missions, or in fulfilling the functions of minis 
ter, or of spiritual father in the colleges. He held this 
last-named charge in the university of St. Louis, and was 
the spiritual director of a great number of pupils, when he 
was attacked by the slow consumption of which he died. 

His whole life was irreproachable and exemplary. Shun 
ning the world, simple in his manners, patient in sufferings, 
he had, besides, exhausted his strength in the service of the 
Lord. For him death had no terrors, he perceived it ap 
proaching with a holy peace of soul, and with a strong con 
fidence in the divine mercy ; he longed to break the bonds 
of earth, and be united to his God. Let us indulge the 
hope that he has gone to meet in heaven the first com 
panion of his missionary toils and sacrifices, Father Elet, 
and the whole troop of holy pioneers in the laborious mis 
sions of the New World. 

P. J. Ds SMET, S. J.. 



AND MISSION AEIKS. 495 



Letter XLIL 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Francis Xavier cPHoop. 

LOUISVILLE (Kentucky), March 29, 1855. 

REVEREND FATHER :* 

I am about to fulfil a duty by satisfying the quite spe 
cial request of one of your former disciples, Father Francis 
X. d'Hoop. I did not expect, on arriving at Louisville, that 
I was about to assist at his last moments. You will remem 
ber that he was one of the band that I conducted to Amer 
ica in 1837. 

4 

The Rev. Father d'Hoop died young, and much regretted 
by all those who had the happiness of knowing hyn. He 
did much in his short life, and this country loses in him a 
fervent and zealous missionary. He leaves in sorrow a great 
number of children in Jesus Christ, of Protestants converted 
to the faith, of strayed sheep brought back to the sheepfold 
of the good pastor. These faithful souls will, I trust, con 
tinue to bless the cherished memory of their spiritual Father, 
and he will intercede for them from heaven, that they may 
persevere in the faith. 

As you are acquainted with the family of Father d'Hoop, 

* This letter was originally addressed to Kev. Father Vanderhofstadt, 
of the college of Tournai. 



496 WESTERN MISSIONS 

and as 1 have received many proofs of your great charity, I 
have taken the liberty of addressing you, in order to request 
you to communicate to them the news of his decease. The 
details which I give in the little notice which follows, will 
contribute to alleviate their grief. 

Father Francis Xavier d'Hoop, of the Society of Jesus, 
died in America. Born at Meulebeke, in the diocese of 
Bruges, in Belgium, on the 4th of January, 1813, he pur 
sued his studies with success in the college of Thielt, in 
West Flanders, and afterwards repaired to the college of 
Turnhout, founded by the venerable De Nef, whose name 
alone is a eulogium. In this nursery of missionaries, which 
has furnished so many worthy priests and so many excellent 
subjects to the country, Father d'Hoop, following the exam 
ple of a great many others who had preceded him, took the 
generous resolution of devoting himself to American mis 
sions, and of embracing the religious life. In the month of 
September, 1837, he quitted his country and embarked for 
the United States, with four companions. On the 21st of 
November, of the same year, he entered the novitiate of the 
Jesuits at St. Stanislaus, Missouri. After two years' probation, 
he was sent in quality of sub-prefect to the university of St. 
Louis, and applied himself at the same time to the acquiring 
of the languages most used in the country ; in particular, 
the English, German, French, and Spanish. He was after 
wards sent to the college of St. Charles at Grand Coteau, 
in Louisiana, where, for several years, he taught rhetoric 
and natural philosophy, with great success. He was or 
dained priest by Mgr. Blanc, archbishop of New Orleans, on 
the 29th of August, 1845. From that period until his death, 
he faithfully fulfilled as a true religious all the charges which 
were confided to him by his superiors. The cities of St. 
Louis, of Cincinnati, Chillicothe, Bardstown, and Louisville, 



AND MISSIONAKIES. 497 

were successively witnesses of his zeal and labors. Although 
suffering, during several years, with a painful disease in both 
legs, he always acquitted himself with fidelity in every duty 
of the charges confided to him by his superiors, and his zeal 
even appeared to augment with his sufferings. 

Father d'Hoop attracted every heart by his religious sim 
plicity, and his charity and zeal. 

He contracted the malady, of which he died, on return 
ing from a mission given in Madison, the capital of Indiana. 
Filled with confidence in God, and with proofs of an entire 
submission to the divine will, he gave up his soul to his Cre 
ator, at Louisville, Kentucky, on the 23d of March, 1855. 

The next day, a solemn high mass was celebrated in the 
cathedral, at which the bishop and a greater part of the 
clergy of the city assisted. Bishop Spalding himself offi 
ciated at the obsequies, and with his accustomed eloquence 
pronounced the eulogiura of the departed. His mortal re 
mains repose in the cemetery of St. Joseph's college, Bards- 
town. 

The Very Rev. Mr. du Pontavice, vicar-general and pastor 
of Madison, wrote us a very consoling letter : " I learned," 
says he, "the death of the Rev. Father d'Hoop at the 
moment when I was vesting to celebrate the holy sacrifice 
on Passion Sunday. I forgot my text ; your letter took its 
place, I spoke of his death, but I fear not to have edified 
as much as I ought to have done, for my voice was inter 
rupted with sobs. I will add, that the whole of my numer 
ous auditory was in tears. 

*' At the holy altar I recalled the blessed moments of his 
presence. Here he celebrated mass. In this chair of truth 
his eloquent and most edifying words were heard ; words 
which converted so many sinners, imparted tranquillity and 
peace to souls hitherto troubled, and called forth abundant 

42* 



498 WESTERN MISSIONS 

tears of hoi} 7 joy and happiness. My heart was poured forth, 
so to speak, from my eyes. 

" I shall never forget the moments that he passed with me 
at my house. I seem yet to hear the consoling words, so 
fraught with heavenly wisdom, which his lips pronounced. 
As a man of God, and as a scholar, we found in him an in 
exhaustible treasure of varied and extensive information. 
At the first impression of the idea that the last days of his 
apostolic life were devoted to me, my heart was over 
whelmed with grief; but on a moment's reflection, calm joy 
succeeded to sorrow. Father d'Hoop was ripe for heaven, 
and I rejoice that it was in my parish he exerted his last 
effort to obtain the crown of immortality, and that my 
parishioners received his last adieux. Prostrate before the 
high altar he pronounced the words of consecration to the 
sacred hearts of Jesus and of Mary, for 'the pastor and his 
flock," etc., etc. 

Accept, &c., &c., 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 499 



Letter XLIII. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, 'BRUSSELS. 
Death of the Right Rev. Dr. Van de Velde, Bishop of Natchez. 

ST. Louis, December 1, 1855. 
KEVEREND FATHER : 

It is with the deepest sorrow, which will be shared by 
all our brethren in Belgium, and by the numerous friends of 
the prelate, that we announce the demise of Dr. Van de 
Velde, bishop of Natchez. 

Although the venerable prelate was far advanced in age, 
and notwithstanding the length of an apostolical career, the 
uninterrupted labors of which had excited the admiration of 
the United States, every thing induced the hope that he 
would, during a long period to come, bear the burden of the 
episcopate. His unexpected death was a severe blow to all 
who knew him. It is an immense, we had almost said an 
irreparable, loss to the city of Natchez. 

James Oliver Van de Velde was born ontheSd of April, 1795, 
in the environs of Termonde, Belgium. At this epoch, the 
country was strongly agitated by the partisans of the French 
revolution. While yet very young, he was confided to the 
care of a pious aunt, in the village of St. Arnand, in Flan 
ders. A confessor of the faith, a worthy priest from 
France, escaped from the persecution which afflicted his 
native country, had 'found a retreat in the same family. It 
was he who formed the mind and heart of the youthful 



500 WESTERN MISSIONS 

James, and directed his education with assiduous care and 
unwearied toil. James soon became the favorite child of the 
clergy of St. Amand. He manifested from his tender in 
fancy a lively desire to embrace, at a future day, the ecclesi 
astical state. In 1810, he was placed in a boarding-school 
near Ghent, where his talents distinguished him among his 
school-mates. At the age of eighteen, lie taught French 
and Flemish, at Puers, for two or three years. 

While he was engaged in teaching, the religious and 
political situation of the country changed. In consequence 
of the battle of Waterloo, the congress of Vienna reunited 
Belgium to Holland, under William I., of Orange, a Calvin- 
ist, violent against the Catholic religion. Like many others, 
the youthful professor, impatient of the oppressive yoke un 
der which his native land was bowed, formed the project of 
retiring into England, or into Italy. With this intention, he 
studied the languages of these two countries. But his former 
benefactor and confessor, the Very Rev. M. Verlooy, director 
of the seminary of Mechlin, encouraged him, and proposed 
to him to accept, in his new institution, a class of Latin, of 
French, and of Flemish, and to enter his name at the same 
time on the list of the pupils of the great archiepiscopal 
seminary. It was there that he perfected himself in the 
direction of the Latin classes, and that he studied the ele 
ments of logic, and of speculative theology. 

However, as the intention of quitting his country ever 
remained present in his mind, his pious and zealous director 
counselled him to devote himself to foreign missions. To 
this effect, he was presented to the Rev. Charles Nerinckx, 
the celebrated missionary of Kentucky, who, on his return 
from Rome, and some time before leaving for the United 
States, came to Mechlin. After he had informed himself 
concerning the state of the missions, and they had deliber- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 501 

ated on the continuation of his theological studies, it was 
agreed that he should accompany Mr. Nerinckx, and that, 
after terminating his theological course in the seminary of 
Bishop Flaget, he should devote himself to the exercises of 
the sacred ministry. But Providence disposed otherwise. 

Mr. Nerinckx quitted Europe on the 16th of May, 1817, 
accompanied by several young Belgians, destined to the 
novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Georgetown, and among 
them was young Van de Velde. But this last named, before 
the arrival of the ship in the port of Baltimore, fell, during 
a tempest, and burst a blood-vessel. Having lost a great 
deal of blood, he was obliged to be transported to St. Mary's ; 
even after his convalescence, he was incapable of continuing 
his voyage as far as Kentucky. The Rev. Mr. Brute, who 
was then president of the seminary, tried to induce him to 
remain in Baltimore ; the Rev. Mr. Nerinckx, on the con 
trary, counselled him strongly to follow his travelling com 
panions to Georgetown, and remain with them in the novi 
tiate of the Society of Jesus. He was received with great 
kindness and chanty by the Rev. Anthony Kohlmann, then 
superior of the missions of the Society of Jesus in America. 

After two years of novitiate, he was admitted to the sim 
ple vows, according to the custom of the society, and named 
prefect of classes. At the same time he applied assiduously 
to the study of poetry, of rhetoric, and philosophy. Such 
was his progress, that he was named professor of belles- 
lettres. 

In 1827, at thirty-three years of age, he was ordained 
priest, in Baltimore, by Archbishop Marechal. During the 
two years that he was applying to the study of moral and 
polemical theology, he exercised the functions of chaplain of 
the Convent and Academy of the Visitation, at Georgetow'n. 
In 1829, he was charged with the missions of Rockville and 



502 WESTERN MISSIONS 

of Rock Creek, Montgomery county, Maryland. During 
the autumn of 1831, his superiors sent him to St. Louis, 
where a college had lately been erected and was in full 
activity, under the direction of the Society of Jesus, and the 
patronage of Bishop Rosati. He was welcomed by his 
brethren there with sincere and joyful cordiality, Soon 
after, he was named professor of rhetoric and of mathe 
matics. In 1833, he filled the office of vice-president and 
of procurator of the college, which had" just been elevated 
to the rank of university. He retained this post until 1837, 
the epoch of his admission to the solemn vows. He was 
named procurator of the vice-province of Missouri, with 
out ceasing to be vice-president of the university. In 
1840, he became president of the university of St. Louis.* 
The year after, being chosen representative of the vice-prov 
ince, in the congregation of Procurators, he set out for 
Rome, where he had several audiences with the Sovereign 
Pontiff, Gregory XVI. On his return to St. Louis, he con 
tinued his functions as president of the university, until the 
month of September, 1843, when he was named vice-provin 
cial of Missouri. Under his administration, several churches 
were built, as well, as a more spacious house of novitiate ; 
the colleges and the missions continued to flourish. In 1848, 
he had, anew, the office of procurator of the vice-province 
and of socius of the provincial, and accompanied his superior 
to the council of Baltimore. 

Many prelates had been acquainted with him for years. 
His talents, his zeal, and his piety, induced them to propose 
him to the Pope for the see of Chicago. In the month of 
November of the same year, he received his bulls. It was 

* An oratiop, delivered by him on the 4th of July, 1841, was printed 
ut the time. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 503 

only on the opinion of the archbishop of St. Louis and of 
three theologians, who decided that the documents from 
Rome contained a formal command on the part of the Sov 
ereign Pontiff, that he would accept the nomination. He 
was consecrated bishop, on Sexagesima Sunday, February 
11, 1849, by the Archbishop of St.- Louis, the Most Rev. 
Peter R. Kenrick, assisted by Bishops Loras and Miles. The 
Right Rev. Dr. Spalding pronounced a discourse adapted to 
the consecration. This ceremony took place in the church 
of St. Francis Xavier, attached to the university. 

Bishop Van de Velde first visited the country contained 
in his extensive diocese, which is in the vicinity of St. Louis. 
He only reached Chicago on Palm Sunday, the day on which 
he took possession of his episcopal see. 

Bishop Van de Velde had suffered during many years 
with rheumatic pains ; he soon perceived that the cold and 
damp climate of Chicago was extremely injurious to him. 
The Roman revolution hindered the prelate from addressing 
himself to the Sovereign Pontiff; as soon as order was re 
established, he wrote to the 'Holy Father, requesting him to 
-accept his resignation, and permit him to return to his for 
mer companions of the Society of Jesus. He received a 
reply from Cardinal Fransoni, which jencouraged him to bear 
the burden of the episcopate with patience and resignation. 
Some time after, on the occasion of troubles and difficulties 
which arose in the diocese, and which had an unhappy in 
fluence on his corporal ailments, Bishop Van de Velde wrote 
anew to Rome, imploring the Holy See to accept his resig 
nation. The affair was submitted to the decision of the first 
national council which was to be held in Baltimore, in the 
spring of the year 1852. This council resolved to create 
a new diocese of Quincy, for the southern portion of 
Illinois ; but .it decided that, for the advantage of Chi- 



504 WESTERN MISSIONS . 

cago, Bishop Van de Velde, should not be transferred 
to it. 

The bishop intended visiting France and Belgium after 
the council ; he resolved to extend his voyage as far as 
Rome, and to bear in person his petitions to the throne of 
St. Peter. Having been selected to bear the decrees of the 
council, he reached Rome on the 22d of June. Pius IX. re 
ceived Bishop Van de Velde with the greatest affability. 
After two audiences, Dr. Van de Velde received the desired 
response, viz., that he should be restored to the Society of 
Jesus, even in quality of titular bishop, and that he should 
be transferred to a milder and more favorable climate. 
Bishop Van de Velde quitted Rome on the 16th of Septem 
ber. After visiting some parts of France, Germany, and 
Belgium, he assisted at Liege at the consecration of Mgr. 
de Montpellier. He embarked at Liverpool on the 17th of 
November, and arrived at New York on the 28th of the 
same month. 

After his return to Chicago, he repeated his episcopal visit 
of the diocese. It was during this circuit that he received 
his brief of nomination to the vacant see of Natchez, to 
which he had himself asked to be transferred. The majority 
of the clergy and of the faithful in Chicago received with 
deep regret the news that they were to be deprived of the 
presence of their excellent and worthy bishop, who had 
labored with so much zeal and ardor for their well-being, 
and had done so much for the propagation of our holy re 
ligion in Illinois. Under his administration seventy churches 
had been commenced, and the greater number of them com 
pleted. He had constructed two Orphan Asylums, without 
mentioning other establishments and important works. 

Mgr. Van de Velde was obliged to remain some time in 
the place as administrator of Chicago and Quincy, because 



AND MISSIONARIES. 505 

the Rev. Mr. Melcher, named bishop of Quincy and adminis 
trator of Chicago, had not accepted his nomination. It was 
only on the 3d of November, 1853, after having purchased 
a beautiful piece of- land as a site for the future cathedral of 
Quincy, that Bishop Van de Velde quitted his numerous 
friends in Chicago and set out for Natchez. He arrived 
there on the 23d of the same month, an4 was most joyfully 
received by the clergy and all the people. His great reputa 
tion had preceded him. On the 18th of December, after 
having assisted at the consecration of the Rt. Rev. A. Mar 
tin at New Orleans, and after making a spiritual retreat at 
Spring Hill College, near Mobile, he assumed possession of 
his new diocese. 

The bishop undertook, with fresh zeal, the administration 
of his new charge, and exerted himself to extend the cause 
of religion in the State of Mississippi. He immediately 
visited the different congregations, in order to become ac 
quainted with all the necessities of his diocese, made efforts 
to procure apostolical laborers in this section of the Master's 
vineyard, founded two schools, and took measures for com 
pleting the cathedral of Natchez, and of erecting a college 
in it. For this purpose he purchased a beautiful site in the 
suburbs of the city. But God, in his impenetrable designs, 
called the good bishop to himself, before he could realize all 
the plans he had conceived for the well-being of religion, and 
the instruction of the flock confided to him. 

His death had, in its causes, a most afflicting character; 
he was so unfortunate on the 23d of last October, as to fall 
on the stairway and break his leg in two places. This dis 
tressing news spread rapidly among the Catholic population. 
The faithful hastened in crowds to the episcopal residence, 
in order to express their sorrow to their beloved pastor, and 
tender him all the consolations and assistance of which they 

43 



506 WESTERN MISSIONS 

were capable. The inflammation of the l<?g, excited at first 
a slight fever, which soon assumed the type of yellow-fever, 
and provoked agonizing convulsions during several days. 
During all his illness, the bishop evinced an astonishing 
patience, a perfect resignation to the will of God, a truly 
Christian calm, and that amid the severest trials and most 
painful sufferings. Having received the last consolations of 
the Church with great devotion, h$ committed his soul into 
the hands of his Maker on the 13th of November, the feast 
of St. Stanislaus, in whose honor he had just finished a 
novena. 

The exposition of the body of the venerable deceased 
offered a solemn and very imposing spectacle. The corpse, 
covered with the episcopal vestments, deposited in a rich 
sarcophagus of metal, was placed in the episcopal abode, on 
a catafalque in the form of a cross, to which they had given 
an inclination so as to give the corpse the appearance of be 
ing partly erect. He remained thus exposed during the 
whole night which succeeded his death. A great number 
of pei-sons of all grades of society and of different religious 
creeds, visited the mortal remains of the venerable prelate. 
These visits were prolonged until late in the night. A sweet 
smile seemed to animate the features of the deceased ; to see 
his eyes partly opened, one would have supposed that he was 
attentively listening, and with pleasure to those who sur 
rounded him, and that he was preparing to answer their 
questions. The spectators could scarcely credit that he was 
no more. Efforts had to be made, especially by the Catholics, 
to tear themselves from their respected pastor and father. 

The obsequies took place on the 14th, at nine o'clock, in St. 
Mary's cathedral, in the midst of an immense concourse of 
people, gathered to pay their last tribute of respect and af 
fection to their venerated bishop. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 507 

The solemn mass was sung by the Most Rev. Anthony 
Blanc, archbishop of New Orleans, assisted by the Rever 
end MM. Francis X. Leroy, Grignon, and Pont. The 
Rev. Father Tchieder, of the society, pronounced the funeral 
discourse. After the service, the coffin was deposited in a 
vault prepared expressly under the sanctuary of the cathedral. 
We commend the soul of Bishop Van de Velde, our 
venerable brother in Christ, to the sacrifices and prayers of 
our dear fathers and brothers in Belgium, and to the devout '* 
remembrance of the numerous friends of the deceased. 
I have the honor to be with the deepest respect, 
Reverend Father, 

Your most humble 

and devoted servant, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



508 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XL1V. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 

John Nobili. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, Jan. 18th, 1858. 
REV. AND DEAR FATHER ! 

You published a short notice of Father Nobili in the 
Precis Hiatoriques for 1857, page 284. Moreover, our very 
Rev. Father General has given you a token of his paternal 
kindness, by sending you a letter and copy of a correspond 
ence with Father Congiato, the new superior of the mission, 
on the death of his predecessor, also published by you, page 
293. 

I send you as a complement to these data, an extract 
from the San Francisco Herald of March 20, 1856, which 
consists in a biographical notice of Father Nobili. Will 
you be so good as to translate it if you find it sufficiently 
interesting. 

On Monday, March 3d, funeral rites were rendered to 
Father John Nobili, of the Society of Jesus, superior of the 
college of Santa Clara.' 

The uews-of his death spread with great rapidity, in all 
the country around. This religious was generally known in 
the whole State, and all those who enjoyed his acquaintance 
could not refrain from entertaining the highest esteem for 
him, and, very often, a very profound attachment. It can, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 509 

therefore, be easily understood what lively sorrow this mel 
ancholy news excited. At San Francisco, in particular, when 
the telegraph transmitted this sad announcement, an inde 
scribable mourning covered, so to speak, the whole city. 
The sadness and dejection manifested on every side, made 
known that all had lost an excellent friend, and that Cali 
fornia had experienced a great, a public loss. Only a short 
time before, this worthy religious had been seen in the 
streets of San Francisco, and it was with great difficulty that 
we could be persuaded that he was no more, and that hence 
forth he would never appear in our midst. 

Father Nobili was born in Rome, on the 8th of April, 
1812. His parents, distinguished for their piety, educated 
their children in accordance with the correct principles of 
Christian morality. His mother, of whom he ever spoke 
with the most affectionate respect, was a model of all those 
virtues that form the ornament of a mother. His father was 
a lawyer. 

John, while yet young, was confided to excellent masters. 
His progress, in the different studies to which he applied, 
could easily presage much that is elevated in riper years. 
Endowed with natural talents, of a superior order, he em 
ployed his efforts in developing them, anct"his masters found 
the task of adorning his faculties and increasing his informa 
tion, easy and agreeable. But, at the same time that his 
understanding acquired maturity, his heart, that portion 
which is so neglected in our day in the plans of education, 
was not left to itself in order to be overrun, like an untilled 
soil, by noxious weeds. The seeds of virtue were planted 
betimes. They cast deep roots, and acquired a great strength 
long before the passions and a corrupt world could turn 
them aside with evil principles, or even give them a bad 
tendency. The pious counsels of his mother were always 
43* 



510 WESTERN MISSIONS 

for John Nobili an efficacious stimulant to virtue, and he 
took care never to forget them. The pious wishes of his 
parents were realized, and all their tender cares fully recom 
pensed by the progress of their son in fervor and in devotion, 
as well as in profane sciences. 

But their joy was complete when he told them, at an age 
still tender, the generous resolution that he had taken of 
consecrating himself entirely to the service of God. He was 
then only sixteen years of age. Having finished his first 
course of studies in the Roman college, he entered the Soci 
ety of Jesus on the 14th of November, 1828. 

During his novitiate (a period of probation destined to 
show whether the candidate possesses the qualities necessary 
for living in accordance with the rules of the society), he was 
distinguished for his regularity and his punctuality. His 
dispositions were noble. His superiors named him Prefect 
of the Novices. 

Later, his talents proved so brilliant that when he was 
studying humanities and rhetoric, his compositions in Latin 
poetry and other verse, were read in all the public sittings, 
without being subjected to any previous correction. In 
1831, he commenced the study of philosophy. In 1834, 
appointed to teach the humanities, he taught them in the 
Roman college, and in the colleges of Loretto, Piacenza, and 
Fermo. The superiors had so exalted an opinion of his ac 
quisitions in rhetoric, that he was appointed to preside over 
the public exercises of five colleges of his order in Italy. 
He began his theological studies in 1840, and was ordained 
priest in 1843. 

A short time after, he asked and obtained the permission 
to go and preach the Gospel to the savages of North Amer 
ica. In company with Father De Smet, he sailed to Ore 
gon, by Cape Horn, towards the end of the year 1843. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 511 

During this irksome passage, which lasted nearly eight 
months, he was subjected to great privations, and was at 
tacked by a disease of the pericardium. On arriving at 
Fort Vancouver, he was intrusted with the spiritual care of 
the Canadians, who are employed by the Hudson Bay 
Company, as well as of the Indians, the number of whom 
is very considerable along the shores of the Columbia. The 
ship in which he ascended was near perishing on the bar of 
the Columbia. The captain was three days in discovering 
the mouth of the river. At last it was indicated to him by 
the sight of a vessel which was coming out of it. 

On arriving with his companions in Oregon, Father No- 
bili found himself in presence of an epidemic. It was a vir 
ulent type of dysentery, and it was considered contagious. 
The physicians attributed it to the deleterious qualities of the 
river water. A great number of savages died of it, espe 
cially among the Tchinooks, and the Indians of the Cas 
cades. They were, for the most part, encamped along the 
rivers, in order to be able to go to Fort Vancouver and ob 
tain the advice of a physician. This was a favorable oppor 
tunity of exercising the holy ministry, and Father Nobili 
seized it with the greatest zeal. 

He applied carefully to the study of the language of the 
Indians, and, after a short time, he was capable of speaking 
several dialects. In the month of June, 1845, the Father 
set forth for Willamette, accompanied by a brother novice, 
to visit the tribes of New Caledonia, among which he made 
several apostolical excursions. 

It would be impossible to give any other (in this notice) 
than a feeble idea of the miseries, privations, and sufferings 
of good Father Nobili during his sojourn among the savage 
tribes. The following description will furnish us with some 
information concerning the country. We extract it from the 



512 WKSTKRN MISSIONS 

work of Father de Smet, entitled, " Oregon Missions," Xo. 
VII., p. 122. "We traversed waving forests of pine and cedar, 
in which daylight scarcely penetrated. Ere long we entered 
sombre forests in which we were obliged to clear a road, axe 
in hand, in order to avoid those collections of trees over 
thrown and piled up by the tempests of autumn. Some of 
these forests are so dense, that at the distance of twelve feet 
I was unable to distinguish my guide. The safest means of 
extricating one's self from these labyrinths, is for the rider 
to trust to the sagacity of his horse. If the reins are aban 
doned to him, he will follow the foot-prints of other beasts 
of burden. This expedient has served me a hundred times. 

" Whatever the imagination can depict as frightful, ap 
pears to be aggregated here, to inspire dread. Precipices 
and ravines ready to swallow the traveller ; gigantic sum 
mits and elevations of different hues; inaccessible peaks; 
fearful and impenetrable depths, in which noisy waters are 
continually precipitating ; oblique and narrow paths, by which 
it becomes necessary to ascend ; several times, indeed, I was 
obliged to take the attitude of a quadruped and walk on my 
hands. 

" The natural pyramids of the Rocky Mountains, seem to 
challenge the efforts of human invention. They serve as a 
resting place for the clouds which, descending, surround their 
gigantic summits in sublime repose. The hand of Omnipo 
tence laid their foundations, and suffers the elements to 
form them, and from age to age they proclaim his glory." 

On whatever side Father Nobili turned his steps among 
these Indian tribes, he was received with open arms, and 
they brought him infants to be baptized. An extract from 
the Journal of Father Nobili, dated Fort Colville, June, 185G, 
and published in the Oregon Missions, No. XVII., reveals 
the zeal of the missionary. 



AND MISSIONARIES. 513 

" While I remained at Fort Vancouver, I baptized upwards 
of sixty persons, during a dangerous sickness which raged 
in the country. The majority of those who received bap 
tism, died with all the marks of sincere conversion. On the 
27th of July, I baptized nine children at Fort Okinagaue 
the children of the chief of the Sioushwaps were of the 
number. He appeared full of joy at seeing a Black-gown 
direct his course towards their country. On the 29th I left 
Okinagane, and followed the company. Every night I 
prayed with the whites and Indians. On the road, three 
old men came to me, and earnestly begged me to * take 
pity on them, and prepare them for heaven /' Having in 
structed them in the duties and principles of religion, and 
the necessity of baptism, I administered to them, and to 
forty-six children of the same tribe, what seemed to be the 
height of their desires, the holy sacrament of regeneration. 

" On the llth of August, a tribe of Indians, residing about 
the Upper Lake on Thompson's River, came to meet me. 
They exhibited towards me all the marks of sincere and 
filial attachment. They followed me several days to hear 
my instructions, and only departed after having exacted a 
promise that I would return in the course of the following 
autumn or winter, and make known to them the glad tidings 
of salvation. 

" At the Fort of the Sioushwaps, I received a visit from 
all the chiefs, who congratulated me on my happy arrival 
among them. They raised a great cabin to serve as a church, 
and as a place to teach them during my stay. I baptized 
twelve of their children. I was obliged, when the salmon 
fishing commenced, to separate for some months from these 
dear Indians, and continue my route to New Caledonia. 

"I arrived at Fort Alexandria on the 25th. All the 
tribes I met manifested towards me the same emotions of 



514 WESTERN MISSIONS 

joy and friendship. To my surprise I found at the Fort a 
frame church. I returned in the fall and remained there a 
month, engaged in all the exercises of our holy ministry. 
The Canadians performed their religious duties I joined 
several in marriage, and administered to many the holy 
communion. Twenty-four children and forty-seven adults 
received baptism. 

" On the 2d of September, I ascended the River Frazer, 
and after a dangerous trip, arrived, on the 12th, at Fort 
George, where the same joy and affection on the part of 
the Indians attended me. Fifty Indians had come down 
from the Rocky Mountains, and patiently awaited my arrival 
for nineteen days, in order to have the consolation of wit 
nessing the ceremony of baptism. I baptized twelve of their 
children, and twenty-seven others, of whom six were adults 
advanced in age. I performed there the ceremonies of the 
planting of the cross. 

"On the 14th, the feast of the exaltation of the holy 
cross, I ascended the River Nesqually, and on the 24th, 
arrived at the Fort of Lake Stuart. I spent eleven days in 
giving instructions to the Indians, and had the happiness 
of abolishing the custom of burning the dead, and that 
of inflicting torments upon the bodies of the surviving 
wives or husbands. They solemnly renounced all their 
juggling and idolatries. Their great medicine-hall, where 
they used to practise their superstitious rites, was changed 
into a church. It was blessed and dedicated to God under 
the patronage of St. Francis Xavier. The planting of the 
cross was solemnly performed with all the ceremonies proper 
to such occasions. Sixteen children and five old men re 
ceived baptism. 

" The 24th October, I visited the village of the Chilcotins. 
This mission lasted twelve days, during which time I bap- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 515 

tized eighteen children and twenty-four adults, and per 
formed eight marriages. I blessed here the first cemetery, 
and buried, with all the ceremonies of the ritual, an Indian 
woman, the first converted to Christianity. I next visited 
two other villages of the same tribe in the first I bap 
tized twenty persons, of whom three were adults. In the 
second, two chiefs with thirty of their nation received bap 
tism, and two were united in matrimony. Polygamy pre 
vailed everywhere, and everywhere I succeeded in abolishing 
it. In a neighboring tribe I baptized fifty-seven persons, 
of whom thirty-one were adults. I also celebrated nine mar 
riages. 

" After my return to the Sioushwaps, I baptized forty-one 
persons, of whom eleven were adults. I visited five more 
villages among the neighboring tribes, among whom I 
baptized about two hundred persons. I performed the 
ceremony of the planting of the cross, in eight different 
places, and founded four frame churches which were con 
structed by the savages. 

** On an average, each village or tribe consists of about two 
hundred souls. 

"In the neighborhood of Fort Alexandria the 

number of souls amounts to 1255 

About Fort George 343 

In the neighborhood of Frazer's Lake 258 

" Stuart's Lake 211 

" " McLeod'sLake 80 

" " FortRabine 1190 

" Bear Lake . 801 



Total number of souls 4138 



516 WKSTERN MISSIONS 

*' Population on Thompson's River, or on the land of the 
Sioushwaps or Atnaas. 

"The number of Sioushwaps, so called, is 583 

" of Okinaganes G85 

Population on the North Branch 525 

" on Lake Superior 322 

" at the Fountain of Frazer Lake 1127 

Number of Knife Indians 1530 

Total number of souls .. . 4772." 



During his sojourn in New Caledonia, Father Nobili 
had to endure great privations. Through the course of one 
whole year, his only subsistence was a sort of moss or grass 
and roots. His chief food was horse-flesh, and often he was 
reduced to eating the flesh of dogs and "wolves. What he 
suffered from cold, hunger, and other privations is only 
known to God. To man, the reality would seem incredible. 

After having dwelt among the savage tribes six years, 
during which he showed himself a worthy disciple of Jesus 
Christ, in bringing back souls to God, and in eradicating the 
vices which predominate in them, in obedience to the orders 
of his superiors, he forsook his dear Indians and came to 
California, in 1849, with his health greatly enfeebled. 

He remained some time in San Francisco, and afterwards 
went to San-Jose, in which place he tarried until the spring 
of 1851. The whole period of his residence there, he ex 
cited the ' admiration of that city, with its inhabitants of 
various religions denominations, by his indefatigable labors. 
When the cholera broke out in 1850, the horse of the man 
of God was saddled day and night, so as not to lose a minute 
of time, and to be able to visit without delay those who 



AND MISSIONARIES. 517 

might call for his services. The labors of Father Nobili are 
well known in that place they will live forever in the 
memory of those who received his assistance, or who wit 
nessed his consuming charity. 

In 'the spring of 1851, His Grace Archbishop Alemany 
appointed him to a mission in Santa Clara. As soon as he 
entered on this new charge, he commenced founding the 
college of Santa Clara. This college succeeded so well, 
that it is known as the first educational institution in the 
State. 

It is unnecessary to speak of his trials and his labors since 
the establishment of this college the whole State knows 
and appreciates them. It is not an unmeaning phrase when 
we say that the " greater glory of God," device of the society, 
was the primum mobile of all has actions. How shall we 
express the deep solitude with which he watched over the 
college ? He applied earnestly with an incessant attention 
to its increase, to the direction of its progress, to the pro 
motion of its interests, and to the augmentation of its ma 
terial resources. He exercised a paternal kindness and care 
towards the pupils intrusted to him. He was affable and 
complaisant towards those who visited him, and displayed a 
ready religious hospitality. His conduct towards all was 
polite and agreeable, but full of a certain dignity which con 
ciliated the respect and admiration, not only of Catholic 
laymen, but even of those who did not acknowledge his 
clerical character. He was scrupulously exact in fulfilling the 
minor observances of the religious rule. Divine service had 
peculiar charms for him ; he loved its offices and its liturgy, 
and he paid extreme attention to all that concerns the beauty 
of the sanctuary, for all that regards in any manner the ex 
terior glory of the mysterious Daughter of the King of 
heaven. In fine, his strong faith, his irreproachable mau- 
: 44 



518 WESTERN MISSIONS 

ners, his pure life, his zeal, his charity, and his other count 
less virtues, caused him to shine as a burning light before his 
own people, and before " those without." 

All these traits, and a great number of others not less re 
markable, are precious in the sight of God, full of edification 
for men, and do honor to the memory of the deceased. It 
is unnecessary that we should dwell longer upon them, or 
develop them more at length ; the radiance which already 
surrounds them, has bestowed a lustre to which no words of 
ours can add. However, we cannot refrain from relating one 
more circumstance : it is the exemplary patience with which 
he supported troubles and endured sufferings, especially the 
pains of his last malady. The illness that snatched him 
away (the lock-jaw) is extremely painful. The sufferings 
that it ordinarily causes, were augmented by the irritability 
of the nervous constitution of the patient ; nevertheless the 
Father endured the whole courageously, and with an en 
tire resignation to the divine will. He requested the 
prayerful assistance of others, so that he might be favored 
with the grace of perfect resignation. In his last hour, 
during the moments that preceded his departure, when his 
eyes wandered from object to object as if to seek some 
aid, every time that they fell upon the crucifix they rested 
there, relieved and comforted by that image of the divine 
Redeemer, and by the recollection of the passion of Jesus. 
It was in the act of kissing this sacred emblem, that 
Father Nobili closed his eyes, and his spirit returned to 
its Creator. 

After the death of this lamented Father, nothing was 
omitted that the Catholic worship prescribes, or that the 
respect and affection of his religious companions could sug 
gest, to honor his mortal remains. His body was directly 
carried to the church of the mission, and placed upon a 



AND MISSIONARIES. 519 

catafalque before the grand altar. His Grace Archbishop 
Alemany celebrated the solemn mass of requiem, assisted 
by the Rev. Father Llebarra, vicar-general, Rev. Mr. Gal 
lagher, pastor of St. Mary's cathedral, San Francisco, and 
some other Jesuit Fathers. The Rev. Mr. Gallagher pro 
nounced the funeral oration, and gave an eloquent and 
touching abridgment of the religious and estimable career 
of Father Nobili. If is to him that we are particularly 
indebted for the more important facts that we have pre 
sented in this imperfect notice of this illustrious apostle of 
California, who devoted himself without reserve to religion, 
and to the education of youth. 



Accept, Rev. and dear Father, with this biographical 
notice of one of my Oregon companions, the assurance of 
my affectionate respect. 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



520 WESTERN MISSIONS 



Letter XLV. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
Anthony Eysvogels. 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, July 16, 1857. 
REV. AND LEAR FATHER : 

I have few details as to the life and death of Father 
Eysvogels, yet I send what I find. 

Anthony Eysvogels was born in the little village of Oss, 
situated in North Brabant, Holland, Jan. 13, 1809. After 
finishing his divinity course in his native land, he caine to 
America and began his novitiate in Missouri, Dec. 31, 1835. 

On the 1st of May, 1838, Father Eysvogels set out with 
Fathers Verhaegen and Claessens for the Kickapoo mission. 
Thence, his superiors sent him to Washington, Mo., and from 
this place to Westphalia in the Osage district. There a holy 
death closed an exemplary life. The good Father, resigning 
himself entirely into the hands of the Lord, prepared for his 
great passage by prayer and the reception of the last sacra 
ments, which but little preceded his death. His illness was 
brought on by the care lavished by the holy religious on a 
patient suffering with small-pox, which disease he himself took. 
Father Eysvogels was only forty-eight and a half years old. 
The interment was made with solemnity by Father Ferdinand 
Helias, and his parishioners raised a subscription to erect a 
monument to the zealous director of their souls. 

Accept, Rev. Father, the assurance of my regard and esteem. 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



AND MISSION AKTES. 521 



Letter XLVl. 

To THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS. 
John B. Duerinck, Missionary of the Potawatomies, America. / 

UNIVERSITY OF ST. Louis, Dec. 23, 1857. 
REVEREND FATHER : 

A fatal and most deplorable accident has just deprived 
us of one of our most zealous aird indefatigable missionaries. 
Father John B. Duerinck, superior of the mission of St. 
Mary's, among the Potawatomies, in the Territory of Kansas, 
perished on the 9th of this month, while descending the 
Missouri river in a small boat. This is an irreparable loss to 
this fine mission. 

I cannot describe to you how deep is the affliction whicli 
this mournful news has caused us. The first report reached 
us on Sunday, the 18th instant. We were expecting him at 
St. Louis, whither he had been summoned by his superiors, 
in order to prepare himself for his last vows in the society. 
A letter dated November 24th, in which he announced his 
departure from the mission, had arrived some days before. 
The following is an extract : 

"I intend to repair to the town of Leavenworth and 
thence to St. Louis, in the course of this week. The chiefs 
of the tribe, the warriors, sages, seniors, and young men, 
have all decreed to send a deputation to Washington, or 

rather two, one composed of Indians of the prairie, Pota- 
440 



522 WESTERN MISSIONS 

watomies not converted, and the other of Indians of the mis 
sion. These latter have put me on their list, in order that I 
may accompany them to Washington to advance the inter 
ests of the mission, and aid them in attaining with more 
certainty the object of their proceedings with the gov 
ernment. It will belong to the superior to decide on 
what I shall do. Whatsoever be his decision, I shall be 
content." 

The earliest news of the death of the zealous missionary, 
although still not very precise, was accompanied by circum 
stances which hardly left any doubt concerning his fate. Two 
or three days after, we learned certain details of his loss. 
He went from the mission of St. Mary's to Leavenworth, on 
horseback, a distance of about eighty miles. Thence he 
went, in a stage-coach, fiftj miles further, to the town of 
Kansas. He afterwards set out from Kansas, in a boat, with 
four other travellers, intending to descend the Missouri river 
as for as a place where steamboats would be met, which, on 
account of the lowness of the waters in this season of the 
year, cannot go up the river as high as Fort Leavenworth. 
Descending the river is a very perilous enterprise, considering 
the rapidity of the current, and the numerous forest- trees, 
detached from the shores and buried in the bed of the river. 
To strike against one of these " sawyers" is enough to cap 
size the boat, and every year a number of boats are lost in 
this manner. The danger was certainly not unknown to 
Father Duerinck : but, a son of obedience, and a man of 
zeal, he thought, without doubt, that he ought not to recoil 
before a danger which so many travellers encounter every 
day. This devotedness cost him his life. Twenty-five miles 
below Kansas city, the point of their departure, between the 
towns of Wayne and Liberty, the boat, striking against a 
snag, capsized. All the passengers were thrown into the 



AND MISSIONARIES.' 523 * 

water, except two, who managed to cling to the sides of the 
boat, and holding on to it until the current brought them to 
a sand-bank. The three others, among whom was Father 
Duerinck, perished. 

Such a death has, without doubt, its melancholy side ; but 
it appears glorious when we reflect on the cause which oc 
casioned it, and on the example of so many holy mission 
aries and illustrious apostles who, adventuring with courage 
into dangers, in the keeping of God alone, have perished, far 
from all human aid, but so much the more protected in their 
last moments by him for whose honor they had exposed 
their lives. 

John Baptist Duerinck was born at St. Gilles, near Ter- 
monde, on the 8th of May, 1809. Formed to piety from his 
infancy, by the lessons and examples of his pious parents, he 
cast, from that time, the foundation of those Christian and 
religious virtues, of which he offered, in after years, so beau 
tiful an example. When a college student, his excellent 
conduct, and his success, attracted to him the esteem and af 
fection of his professors and class-mates ; and the president 
of the episcopal seminary of Ghent remembers him still as 
one of those who had afforded him most pleasure during 
their studies in philosophy. 

He had long experienced a desire to devote himself to the 
conversion of the savages of North America. After obtain 
ing the consent of his worthy parents, he embarked at Ant 
werp, on the 27th of October, 1833, and entered the Society 
of Jesus, in Missouri, in which he commenced his novitiate 
at St. Stanislaus, near the village of Florissant, in the open 
ing of the year following, the 16th of January, 1834. 
Having finished his novitiate, he passed several years in 
different colleges. His talents for financial affairs caused 
him to be intrusted successively with the charge of 



52-i WESTERN MISSIONS 

treasurer in our colleges at Cincinnati,, St. Louis, and 
Bardstown. 

Every where, the Father Duerinck showed an exemplary 
exactitude in fulfilling his duties, and constantly gave proofs 
of the virtues which characterize the true religious. His 
zeal, his devotedness, as well as the frankness of his temper, 
gained him friends, not only among ourselves, but also with 
strangers and Protestants. 

A great admirer of nature, he consecrated his hours of 
leisure to the study of its wonders and secrets, and to the 
contemplation in them of the beauty and omnipotence of 
God. He was attached especially to the study of botany, 
and he acquired a vast and thorough knowledge of this 
branch of natural science. He traversed a great portion of 
Ohio and Illinois, in search of curious flowers and all kinds 
of rare plants, and made a beautiful and exquisite collection 
of them, which is preserved in the college of St. Francis 
Xavier, in Cincinnati. The botanical society of that city 
elected Father Duerinck a perpetual member, and offered 
him the chair of professor of botany ; but his modesty and 
his numerous duties would not suffer him to accept the 
charge. A new plant that he discovered, and which received, 
in his honor, the name Prunus Duerinckiana, shows how 
they esteemed his researches in the science. 

The distinctive trait of his character was, a great natural 
energy, joined to an ardent zeal for the glory of God and 
the salvation of souls. \Ylicii there was question of gaining 
his neighbor to God, no obstacle seemed to be able to arrest 
him. lie made himself all to all, according to the example 
of St. Paul, in order to win them to Jesus Christ. He 
had admirably adapted his manners to the customs and 
ideas of that section of country, and if he could not convert 
the numerous Protestants with whom he was in relation, he 



AND MISSIONARIES. 525 

rarely failed gaining their good will; and it is a great step 
towards their conversion, to induce them to esteem the 
Catholic priest. 

In 1849, Father Duerinck was sent among the Indians. 
This was the accomplishment of that desire which had con 
ducted him to America. He employed all his energy and 
all his talents, in this difficult work. The mission of the 
Potawatomies, of which he became the superior, owes to 
him, in great part, its actual prosperity. The greater num 
ber of the savages of this tribe had been converted for several 
years ; hence it was necessary to consolidate the work of 
their conversion, by attaching them to the civilized life, and 
leading them to prefer agriculture, and the other useful arts, 
to the pleasures of the chase and the indolence so character 
istic of the barbarous life. Already, previous to his arrival, 
the missionaries had persuaded them to cultivate some little 
fields, animating them by their example, and by motives of 
faith. It had been discovered, that when there was question 
of labor, the motives of religion were the only ones which 
had any empire over the hearts of the Indians, and they 
succeeded in inducing them to work in a spirit of penance. 
Profiting by this strong and simple faith, Father Duerinck 
endeavored to excite them to more extensive labors, and, by 
causing them to discover a certain plenty in the culture of 
their fields, he allured them into a forgetfulness of the danger 
ous life of the plains and forests. With the purpose of 
forming youth to an intelligent labor, schools of arts and 
trades had been established for the youth of the tribe. He 
made two journeys to Washington, to interest the govern 
ment in this work, and to obtain assistance in it. These 
schools have obtained a permanent existence. 

During these latter years, the mission of St. Mary's has 
been exposed to great danger of demoralization ; first, in 



526 WESTERN MISSIONS 

consequence of the great number of caravans which have 
passed by the mission since the discovery of the gold mines 
of California, and, secondly, on account of the immense tide 
of emigration which has taken place since Kansas became a 
Territory. Amid these dangers, the neophytes^thanks to 
the care of the missionaries, have preserved their ancient 
regularity and their early fervor. 

At the sound of the bell, the savages assemble, with the 
same piety as formerly, either in the church or in their 
dwellings. The confessions and communions are not less 
numerous. All, not excepting the Protestants, admire their 
zeal and their piety. 

So far, the neophytes have maintained peace with the 
whites. Rare occurrence ; for ordinarily the approach of 
the whites is the signal of a war of extermination, if they 
cannot force the savages to quit their cabins and emigrate 
into new and more remote deserts. However, the danger of 
their present situation cannot be dissembled. They are 
already surrounded by whites, eager to take possession of 
19,200 acres of land, that the government has solemnly 
granted them by treaty. It is especially in such a situation 
that the death of Father Duerinck, their father and bene 
factor, who was tenderly devoted to them, and whom they 
consulted in all their important enterprises and in all their 
difficulties, will be keenly felt. It is undeniably a real 
calamity for the whole tribe. 

Father Duerinck was superintendent of the Catholic 
schools among the Potaw atomies. Several of his letters 
have been published in the annual documents which accom 
pany the message of the President gf the United States. 
They are found in the report of the Secretary of the Interior, 
vol. i., and all bear the date of "St. Mary's Potawatomie 
Mission, Kansas Territory." They are as follows: 1852, 



AND MISSIONARIES. 527 

September 24, pp. 379-381 ; 1853, August 31, pp. 325-327 ; 
1854, September 25, pp. 317-319; 1855, October 1, pp. 
422-425 ; 1856, October 20, pp. 666-669 ; 1857, October 17. 
The last one (the 6th September, 1857,) was published on 
the 17th of last October, in the Boston Pilot, and will ap 
pear, like the others, in the next report of the Secretary of 
the Interior. 

The officers or agents of the government of the United 
States have always rendered the most honorable testimony 
to the zeal and success of Father Duerinck. la 1855, Major 
G. W. Clarke, agent of government for the Potaw atomies, 
speaking, in his annual report to the commissary of Indian 
affairs, concerning the two schools established in the mission, 
one under the direction of the Fathers, the other under the 
direction of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, thus 
expressed himself: " I cannot speak in terms too favorable 
of the condition of these two establishments. Besides the 
ordinary course of literary education for girls, they learn 
sewing, knitting, embroidery, and all the other labors of a 
well-understood domestic training. An industrial school, is 
attached to this institution. In it the youth are taught use 
ful and practical arts, such as agriculture, horticulture, etc. 
Father Duerinck is a man endowed with great energy, and 
understands business well. He is entirely devoted to the 
welfare of the Potawatomies, of whom he has shown him 
self the friend and father, and who, on their side, entertain 
the highest esteem for him. I have no hesitation in express 
ing my conviction of the utility of this establishment. Its 
effects are visible in the neatly-kept houses, and the little 
well-cultivated fields of the Indians of the mission, and in 
the spirit of order which reigns in the environs." 
, f In his report of 1856, Major Clarke renews these approving 
expressions. " Since last year," says he, " the Indians of this 



528 WESTERN MISSIONS 

agency have made rapid progress. They have cultivated 
more extensive fields, and manifested, in different ways, their 
desire to conform to the customs of civilized life. The school 
of St. Mary's mission occupies the first rank among the 
schools of the missions, and merits my most sincere praises. 
The labors of Father Duerinck, and of the ' Religious of 
the Sacred Heart,' serve not only to ameliorate the rising 
generation, and form it to the customs of civilized life, but 
their good examples, and their counsels, evidently have a 
great influence on the well-being of the adult population." 

The numerous emigrants who are settled in the neighbor 
hood of the mission, have ever displayed the highest esteem 
for Father Duerinck. 

The public journals have announced his death as a calam 
ity, which not only will leave a great void in the Indian 
mission, but will excite lively regret among his numerous 
friends m the different States, and, above all, in the inhabi 
tants of the new territory who have had the happiness of 
knowing him. He enjoyed universal esteem. 

The following is the homage paid to the memory of Father 
Duerinck, by all his religious brethren in the Potawatomie 
mission : 

"Rev. Father Duerinck, whom we all regret with tears, 
arrived at the mission of St. Mary's in the beginning of 
November, 1849, in circumstances the most critical and em 
barrassing, in the judgment of all persons versed in business 
matters. The mission had just accepted a school of boys, 
and one of girls, on conditions so onerous that good sense 
pronounced them intolerable. They were obliged to nothing 
less than to support annually about one hundred and twenty 
children, as boarders, for the small sum of fifty dollars each : 
that is to say, for fourteen cents a day, lodging, food, clothing, 
books, paper, etc., must be furnished to each child ; while no 



AND MISSIONARIES. 529 

hotel-keeper in the place would have consented to board and 
lodge any person for less than five dollars per week. Fur 
ther : the United States Government had allowed a certain 
sum for the furnishing or the construction of edifices, and, 
by an addition of unfortunate circumstances, the task had 
scarcely been begun, when the money was already expended. 
Well, thanks to the intelligence and activity of Father 
Duerinck, the mission met all these expenses, and triumphed 
over all the obstacles. But how many trials and fatigues 
were necessary to shelter his dear Indian family from indi 
gence ! Crossing immense deserts, to buy animals at a low 
price, and conduct them to St. Mary's ; descending and 
ascending the Missouri, a distance of several hundreds of 
miles ; continually on the watch, in order to discover an op 
portunity favorable for the arrangement and disposition of 
the products of the farm ; exerting himself in every way to 
find means of subsistence ; ever imagining new resources, 
forming new plans, and executing new projects, to meet the 
wants of the great family which had been intrusted to him, 
is what Father Duerinck nobly undertook for the good of 
the mission, and in which he succeeded perfectly. 

" The Father had a strongly-marked character, or rather 
a soul virtuously courageous. The infirmities to which he 
was subject, never drew from him aj>laint, nor produced the 
least alteration in his manners. For him, winter seemed to 
have lost its frosty rigors, and summer its stifling heats. He 
continually braved the inclemency of the seasons. We have 
seen him undertake a long journey in the extreme cold, and 
continue it in defiance of the icy breath of the north wind, 
and on arriving at the house where he proposed to lodge, 
perceive that some of his limbs had become as hard as stone 
by the cold which had stiffened them ; so that, in order not 
to lose the use of them, it became necessary to bathe them 

45 



530 WESTERN MISSIONS 

in ice water. He neglected his sleep, he forgot his meals ; 
he was ready for every sacrifice in the interest of his beloved 
Indians. Amid all these many labors and hardships, his 
humor was always equable, his brow serene, his temper 
patient, his manner affable. Neither the pecuniary difficul 
ties, nor the embarrassments of every kind which sprung up 
at every instant, could trouble the peace of his soul. The 
practice of humility was, so to speak, natural. Never any 
thing savoring of pretension; nothing affected was ever re 
marked in his air ; never a word, which, even remotely, 
breathed vanity. He was completely ignorant of those re 
fined allusions by which self-love seeks sometimes to give 
importance to personality. Although superior, and highly 
esteemed by all those who know how to appreciate good 
manners, his great delight was to apply, like the last of the 
domestics, to the most menial works. He was so dead to all 
that is called 'pride of life,' that he never opposed but an im 
perturbable brow to the bitter reproaches, to the outrages 
which he sometimes received from people of little education. 
Very often, on the earliest occasion, he would avenge him 
self for these insults by rendering some striking service to 
the person who had insulted him. When he was reproached 
with being too kind in regard to certain people who were 
known to be enemies to the Catholics, 'Well,' replied he, 
4 we will force them to like us.' Father Duerinck was char 
itable, but his charity was prudent and enlightened. In 
short, no one ever did more good among the Indians of these 
sections. He assisted the poor and infirm liberally. He 
comprehended better than any one, by what way to procure 
the savages the benefit of civilization. He aided them in 
every way, exciting them to labor, and recompensing their 
industry. This, in his case, succeeded so well that the Pot- 
aw atomies of St. Mary's excel greatly those of the other vil- 



AND MISSIONARIES. 531 

lages, in those qualities which constitute good citizens. 
Those who have had the most intimate relations with the 
Father, know how far his liberalities extended, and their 
prayers, inspired by the most sincere gratitude, will- never be 
wanting to call down upon our good Potawatomies the ben 
edictions of the God of mercy. 

"The death of good Father Duerinck is an incomparable 
loss. In him, St. Mary's has lost him who was its soul and 
life; the Indians, a signal benefactor; the widows and or 
phans, an experienced counsellor; the mission, an excellent 
superior ; and we, the best of Fathers. This blow (as fatal 
as unexpected) has thrown every one into mourning bitter 
mourning. Nothing could console us for so sudden a loss, 
did we not know that nine ye^ars of trials and -abnegation, of 
continual combats against his own inclinations, undertaken 
and sustained for the greater glory of God, are the best 
preparations for a holy death." 

To this fraternal token of respectful affection I will add, 
Rev. Father, the homage which the agent of government 
(Colonel Murphy) paid Father Duerinck. When he was 
apprised of his death, he wrote in these terms to Major 
Haverty, superintendent of Indian affairs at St. Louis : 

"The model school of the mission of St. Mary's continues 
without intermission, under its ancient preceptors, its salu 
tary operations, with its habitual and regular system. At 
this moment (December 2d), the mission and the whole 
vicinity are plunged in profound grief, caused by the death, 
sudden and unexpected, of its superior, the Father Duerinck. 
I consider this loss as one of the greatest calamities which 
could happen to the Potawatomies, of whom he was the 
devoted friend and the Father. It is one of those decrees of 
Providence, infinitely wise, to which we must submit in all 
humility. Happily for the mission school at St. Mary's, the 



532 WUSTKKN' MISSIONS AND MISSION Alii KS. 

vacancy left by Father Duerinck can be tilled. The chil 
dren will continue to receive the same kindness and the 
same instruction. It is especially the parents and young 
men who lose the most in being deprived of his good advice 
and his example." 

This letter is, no doubt, very consoling, Rev. Father, for" 
the missionaries, and very encouraging to those whom <Jod 
calls to become so. May generous Belgium send us other 
zealous missionaries, as well to respond to our ever-increas 
ing want*, as to replace those whom death, alas! too rapidly 
mows down. 

I commend to your holy sacrifices, and to your prayers, 
and to the pious souvenirs of all our dear brethren in Bel 
gium, the soul of the Rev. Father Duerinck. 
I have the honor to be, 

Rev. and dear Father, 

Revee Vse in Cto, 

P. J. DE SMET, S. J. 



THE END.