" What shall we do to comply with the requisitions of our signal vocation? "
I engaged Father Point, who is skilled in drawing and architecture, to trace the plan of the missionary stations. In my mind, and still more in rny heart, the material was essentially connected with the moral and religious plan. Nothing appeared to us more beautiful than the Narrative of Muratori."' We had made it our Vade Alecum. It is chiefly to these subjects that we shall devote our attention for the future, bidding farewell to all fine perspectives, animals, trees and flowers, or favoring them only with an occasional and hasty glance.
From Fort Hall we ascended Snake river, also called Lewis' Fork, as far as the mouth of Henry's Fork. This is unquestionably the most barren of all the mountain
deserts. It abounds in absinthe, cactus, and all such plants and herbs as are chiefly found on arid lands. We had to resort to fishing for the support of life, and our beasts of burden were compelled to fast and pine; for scarcely a mouthful of grass could be found during the eight days which it took us to traverse this wilderness. At a distance we beheld the colossal summits of the Rocky Mountains. The Three Tetons were about fifty miles to our right, and to the left we had the Three Buttes at a distance of thirty miles."
14 Muratori is the historian of the Jesuit missions in Paraguay, to which frequent references are made throughout the present work. The first South American missions were established in 161o, and in the 150 years in which the missionaries continued their labors a large part of the native population came under their influence. They had nearly a clear field during this time, thanks to laws which made it difficult for strangers to introduce the vices of Europe, and appear to have been building up an exemplary Christian community. The name " reduction " comes from their system, where it was applied to the settled abodes which they induced their wandering neophytes to adopt. The Society was expelled from Paraguay in 1757, and ten years later from all Spanish America, and the entire promising structure fell to the ground.
la The Three Buttes have always been notable landmarks on the Snake River plain.