among the Indians of the Upper Missouri, principally among the hostile bands of the Dakotas or Sioux, to endeavor to bring them to peace and to make clear to them the critical and dangerous position in which they would be placed if they persisted in continuing their murders and brigandages upon the whites.
On the 3oth of March I left St. Louis, by rail, in company with Generals Sherman, Harney, Sanborn, Terry, Sheridan and several other envoys of the Government, bound for Cheyenne City, Nebraska, by way of Chicago and Omaha. At North Platte City, at the junction of the two great forks of the Platte river, a council was held with Spotted Tail, head chief of the Brules, and his principal warriors. This council terminated favorably, and was followed by a rich distribution of presents - victuals, garments and weapons -which made the hearts of our savages melt with joy.
" I have finished my modest article upon my excursion among the Indian tribes of the Upper Missouri. According to my promise and my custom, I send you the first copy.
" This letter may very well be my last. My health is very much undermined in consequence of the fatigues of my late painful journey of about 6,ooo miles, but still more by the shocking heat that we have suffered for three months past. In proportion as I advance in age, heat becomes more and more insupportable to me:.,"., Very often any one would say that I resemble a man whose end is at hand.
" Let us take up the subject of my travels.
" After a few days spent among the Potawatomies of Kansas, I found myself really, as you might say, demolished, panting with open mouth for the slight breeze, hardly able to stir the little fine leaves of the acacias which surround and shade the Mission of St. Mary's. This was on the 29th of July. Every one was languishing. I was under a burning sun, with the thermometer ranging from io4 to io9° in the shade, and up to 130 in the sun. I shall, I doubt not, feel the effects for a long time; but, let us be patient, and hope!
" I will try to give you in this letter an account of my missionary journey; but I beg that you will pay no attention to the disconnectedness of my narrative."
From the French of the Linton Album, p. 132 et seq.