a few years in such a way as to amass a good competency, these gentlemen retire, disgusted apparently with their lack of success in the conversion of the Indians, and go elsewhere for the rest of their days to repose in peace and abundance.
Most Reverend Archbishop
As the Right Reverend Prelates of the United States are about to assemble in the first National Council in Baltimore, it appears to me a fitting occasion to address to your Grace a few lines on a subject which, in my humble opinion, is of the highest importance, since on it depends the salvation of thousands of our poor, bereft and benighted brethren of the wilderness. The spiritual destitution of these poor children of nature attracted the attention of the Right Reverend Bishops in one of the early councils; and their paternal solicitude thought fit to place several of the Indian missions under our care. To carry out an undertaking so highly recommended, the Fathers, at four different periods, made collections in several dioceses. These means, together with the yearly allowance made by the Association for the Propagation of the Faith at Lyons (continued up to last year but now suspended), as well as what we derived from our own private funds in Europe, enabled us to establish the fol lowing missions: First, amongst the Flatheads and Mountain Indians are two Fathers and four Brothers engaged; second, among the Poinied Hearts or Coeur d'Alenes are two Fathers and two Brothers; third, among the Kalispels or Ear-rings [Pend d'Oreilles] and Kettle Falls Indians on the Columbia are two Fathers and two Brothers; fourth, among the Carriers, Okinagans and Sioushwaps in New Caledonia are two Fathers and one Brother; fifth, in the Willamette valley at St. Francis Xavier's mission-house
2 Addressed to Archbishop Eccleston of Baltimore. Dated St. Louis, April 26, 1849.