CHAPTER VII.1
PEACE BETWEEN THE BLACKFEET AND FLATHEADS.
Progress of eighteen months at the mission - Irrigation - Ingenious inventions of Father Mengarini-The medicine of the Black-robes is strong- Crows looking for a fight - Shamefully defeated by Flatheads and -Nez Perces - Deeds of arms of boys and women - The celebrated Mary Quille-Blackfeet convinced and bring children for baptismGrand dance - De Smet's route.
Reverend and Dear Father Provincial?
Et FTER an absence of about eighteen months, employed in visiting the various distant tribes and extending among them the kingdom of Christ, I returned to the nursery, so to speak, of our apostolic labors in the Rocky Mountains. judge of the delight I experienced, when I found the little log church we built five years ago about to be replaced by another, which will bear comparison with those in civilized countries, materials, everything ready to commence erecting it the moment they can procure some ropes to place the heavy timbers on the foundation. Another agreeable surprise, however, yet awaited me; a mill had been constructed, destined to contribute largely to the increasing wants of the surrounding country. It is contrived to discharge the twofold charitable object of feeding the hungry and sheltering the houseless. The flourmill grinds ten or twelve bushels in a day; and the sawmill furnishes an abund
1 This chapter follows the English text up to the point noted on page 588, and thereafter the French, which gives a fuller account. It covers Letters XXIII and XXIV, both Oregon Missions and Missions de 1'Oregon, published as letters to the Provincial of Missouri and dated as by footnotes inserted at proper points in the text.
2 Letter dated Flathead Camp, on the Yellowstone river, September 6, 1846.