To Father De Smet, full of enthusiasm in his work and with his active mind open to all around him, the long journey was a veritable pleasure tour except that he was unwell much of the time. His letters are filled with interesting notes upon the country, and descriptions of his varied experiences along the way. His buoyant and hopeful demeanor on this journey is a proof of his thoroughly optimistic and cheerful temperament. He was suffering from chills and fever and was at one time in such a state that he had to be carried on a litter fixed up in a wagon. He was strongly urged to turn back; but he felt that too much was at stake, as he was the only person with the expedition that could carry out the work, and his abandonment of it would be a sore disappointment to the Indians. He therefore resolved to keep on. The malaria did not finally leave him until on his way home some three months afterward.
At Green river, to Father De Smet's joy and astonishment, he found a deputation of ten Flathead Indians who had been sent on to meet him after the return of Pierre Gaucher. There were also present other Indians, notably of the Snake nation, and a motley crowd of trappers and hunters, - making in all a curious assemblage such as only a rendezvous of the fur trade in those early times could produce. Father De Smet enjoyed the novelty of it all, and was especially delighted at the prospect of success which the presence of the Flatheads assured. There was an instant bond of sympathy between him and his hosts which made them from the first more brothers than strangers. The Sunday following their arrival a formal mass was celebrated on the prairie - the first ceremony of the kind in the Rocky Mountains north of the Mexican possessions.
After four days delay at the Green river rendezvous, Father De Smet and his Flatheads started to join the main camp. Their route took them through the wonderful valley of Jackson Hole and across the great Teton range into the valley of Pierre's Hole, renowned for its beauty and