which Charboni, in his history of New France (botanical section) tells wonders. The Solanum tri f olium, with its handsome flower, likewise attracts attention everywhere.
A forest fire was raging during our passage, and had spread over a dozen miles of the mountain side and even to their highest parts. The smoke was very thick, and thousands of tree-trunks, fallen one upon another in confusion, obstructed the regular road and all the surface of the ground. We succeeded at last, axe in hand, and after plenty of minor miseries, in getting out of all the obstacles caused by the conflagration. In the course of the 17th we crossed the Coeur d'Alene river forty-two times. On the 18th we reached the Mission of the Sacred Heart.
The mission among the Coeur d'Alenes continues to prosper, under the prudent management of the excellent and worthy Father Gazzoli and his zealous companion, Father Caruana, and the good Brother Huybrechts from Antwerp and three other brothers. The Coeur d'Alenes continue to give great satisfaction and consolation to their worthy missionaries, by their constancy in the practices of religion and their perseverance in the faith. May heaven preserve their from the dangerous contact of the whites! They are threatened unceasingly with the loss of their lovely fertile lands and of the advantageous position occupied by the mission.
Captain Mullan, of the United States army, speaks as follows in a report which has recently been published by order of the Government and at Government expense. You will find the paragraph somewhat long, but I prefer to give it entire. The captain puts the Indian question to his Government very directly--the response, or at least the ordinary practice, when the whites take possession of the lands of the Indians, is to push them farther back into the wilderness or to exterminate them.
The captain in his report praises the missionaries and their converts very highly, and goes on to say
" They have chosen a beautiful site, on a hill in the mid-