factors. In 1845 and 1846, several stations were formed, and the extensive mission of New Caledonia was commenced.
In the beginning of February, [18451 I set out to visit our different settlements and stations, and to form new ones among the neighboring tribes of our reductions. The entire surface of this region was then covered with snow five feet deep; and I was compelled to go from the Bay of Pend d'Oreilles to the Horse Plain, in a bark canoe, a distance of 250 miles.
I was among my dear Flatheads and Pend d'Oreilles of the mountains, during the Paschal time, and had the great consolation of finding them replete with zeal and fervor in fulfilling the duties of true children of prayer. The solemn feast of Easter, all the Flatheads at St. Mary's devoutly approached the most blessed sacrament during my mass; and about 300 Pend d'Oreilles (the greater number adults), belonging to the station of St. Francis Borgia, presented themselves at the baptismal font. Five chiefs were among the number; the most distinguished are Stiettiedloodsho, or chieftain of the Braves; Selpisto, the head chieftain, and Chalax, that is to say the White Robe, surnamed the juggler or great medicine man. The word "medicine man," in their language, is synonymous with juggler.
How consoling it is to pour the regenerating waters of baptism on the furrowed and scarified brows of these desert warriors - to behold these children of the plains and forests emerging from that profound ignorance and superstition in which they have been for so many ages deeply and darkly enveloped; to see them embrace the faith and all its sacred practices, with an eagerness, an attention, a zeal, worthy the pristine Christians.
Were I to give you the history of these chiefs, I should greatly exceed the limits I have proposed. Suffice it to say that these heroes of the Rocky Mountains have been for years the terror of their enemies. Chalax had acquired