churches, hoping that a {101} nepapayattok, or father would settle among them.
Many Catholics reside in the different forts of this country. The honorable gentlemen of the Hudson Bay Co., although Protestants, were strongly interested in favor of these savages, and did all in their power to facilitate the introduction of a clergyman into this portion of their jurisdiction.
I have the honor to be, with the most profound respect and esteem, Monseigneur, your most humble and obedient servant in Jesus Christ.
P. J. De Smet, S. J.
No. V
A. M. D. G.
Kalispel Bay, Aug. 7th, 1845.
Monseigneur,—A few days after the departure of Father Nobili, who obtained a place in a barge belonging to the Hon. Hudson Bay Co., I started from St. Francis Xavier's with eleven horses laden with ploughs, spades, pickaxes, scythes, and carpenters' implements. My companions were the good Brother McGill,[79] and two metis or mongrels. We encountered many obstacles and difficulties among the mountains, owing to the cascades formed by the water, which, at this season, descends on every side in torrents, and with irresistible fury upon the rocks, over which we were compelled to cross. In the narrow valleys between these mountains, the rhododendron displays all its strength and beauty; it rises to the height of fifteen or twenty feet. Entire groves are formed by thousands of these shrubs,
