labors among the Indians at this place were most consoling. A large cross was erected as a rallying-point, many children were {35} baptized, and two tribes, who were at war with each other, were reconciled. The Catholic ladder was passed from one nation to another, and all prayed to be instructed still more fully in the truths of salvation. After baptizing one hundred and four persons, the missionaries returned to Vancouver, and thence repaired to their respective stations during the winter season. A wide field was here opened to their zeal, not only among the catechumens who solicited baptism, but among the settlers, who were anxious to repair by their fervor the neglect of former years. In the summer of 1840 the Columbia was visited by Captain Belcher, from England, for the purpose of surveying the river.[30]
In the spring of 1841, Mr. Demers, after giving the usual mission at Vancouver, went to Nisqualy, and with the aid of Indian guides penetrated as far as Fort Langley
- [Footnote: and reverence for their instructors." After speaking of the good feeling promoted
among the Indians by the Catholic clergymen, he continues: "Besides inculcating good morals and peace, the priests are inducing the Indians to cultivate the soil, and there was an enclosure of some three or four acres, in which potatoes and beans were growing."—Ed. of Catholic Almanac.]
