considerable elevation. From the base of this gigantic iceberg, the river Trou takes its rise.
The people of Columbia have just arrived. I must therefore take this present opportunity, the only one I shall have for a long time, of sending you my letters, and before closing this, permit me again to recommend myself and all my missions to your holy sacrifices and fervent prayers.[151]
Meantime, I have the honor to be, with the most sincere respect and esteem, Monseigneur, your very humble and obedient servant in Jesus Christ,
P. J. De Smet, S. J.
No. XVI
A. M. D. G.
Boat Encampment on the Columbia,}
May 10th, 1846.}
Very Rev. and Dear Father Provincial:—By my last letter to the distinguished Prelate of New-York, in which I gave my different missionary excursions during 1845-46 among several tribes of the Rocky Mountains, you have learned that I had arrived at the base of the Great Glacier, the source of the river du Trou, which is a tributary of the Athabaska, or Elk river. I will now give to your reverence the continuation of my arduous and difficult journey across the main chain of the Rocky Mountains, and down the Columbia, on my return to my dear brethren in Oregon.
Towards the evening of the 6th of May, we discovered, at the distance of about three miles, the approach of two
