One of the first steps taken by the Catholic fathers was to separate for a short time the Canadians from their Indian wives, after which they were married according to the rites of the church. The vicar-general sums up his labors for the winter under the head of baptisms one hundred and thirty-four, sepultures nine, and marriages forty-nine. Not only did he marry the unmarried, but remarried those before united by the Protestant ministers, to the unutterable disgust of the latter. He also withdrew a number of persons from the temperance society formed by the Methodists, and from their prayer-meetings.
In the summer of 1839 Demers paid a visit to the interior. For thirty days he taught the natives in the vicinity of Fort Colville, after which he spent two weeks at Fort Walla Walla in the same manner. In the mean time the vicar-general had established himself among the Cowlitz in a log house twenty by thirty feet in size erected for his use, and had received the first-fruits of the mission farm, which amounted to six bushels of wheat and nine bushels of pease. His farmer had fenced twenty-four acres, and ploughed fifteen besides for the autumn sowing. His house was used both as a residence and a chapel, and the establishment received the name of St Francis Xavier. A visit was made to the natives at Nisqually during the summer, and in the autumn both Blanchet and Demers repaired to Fort Vancouver, where they received permission from Douglas, McLoughlin not yet having arrived from England, to form an establishment in the Willamette Valley, the governor and committee having withdrawn their objections. On what grounds the prohibition was removed does not appear; but it is probable that McLoughlin represented to the directors in London that the Canadian families in the Willamette were permanently settled, and being free, had a right to live where they liked, and choose their own teachers.
The vicar-general repaired immediately to the
