in the neighborhood and the cholera on board. In fact, immediately after we started, the last broke out and carried off many. The Indians, awe-struck at the approach of danger from this implacable scourge, were overjoyed at my presence; the children of the whites and of the Indians encamped around the fort were presented to me, to the number of eighty-two,' to be regenerated in the holy waters of baptism.
The same inquietude reigned at the post of the Aricaras. Some couriers had announced the approach of the boat, and spread alarm by reporting that there were contagious diseases on board. Fut when the people saw that all were well. their fears vanished, and they welcomed the boat with the usual demonstrations on such occasions. Cries of joy burst from 2,000 mouths; volleys of cannon and musketry rolled echoing over the plains. The scene was beautiful and imposing. The fort stands on a high hill, nearly a hundred feet above the level of the river. A long row of Indians, in their gayest costumes, their faces daubed with various colors, lined the shore.
I had galloped on in advance of the boat, to have time to instruct the half-breeds and Canadians and baptize all their children. I spent two days among them. A great number of Indians, learning of my arrival at the fort, came to shake hands with me from respect, and to bid me welcome. At the same time they earnestly begged me to grant their little children the same benefit of baptism that I had granted the half-breed children. I yielded eagerly to their wishes, in consequence of the great danger in which they were. The number of baptisms was about Zoo. Not long after, I heard that the cholera had swept through the village of the Aricaras, and that many of the children had fallen victims. What a consolation, that by the sacrament I unlocked the gates of heaven to them!
We now bade farewell to the officers of the fort, to plunge farther into the desert. Ere long we passed the Mandan