OREGON MISSION PRESS 49
The records of the Sandwich Islands press do not give any evidence that the Ten Commandments referred to in the as- signments were ever printed.
Mr. Himes' account continues :
"On Dec. 30th the press was packed with the intention of sending it to Doctor Whitman's station, Wai-il-et-pu, to print a book there. The next day it started on its journey and that evening the pack horse fell down a precipice and it was sup- posed that the press was dashed to pieces. On Jan. 1, 1840, Mr. Rogers rode to the scene of the accident, gathered all the material together and returned. By the 17th the press was again set up, and it was discovered that nothing was lost save a few type. By this experience it was found that it would be easier to send the manuscript to the press than the press to the manuscript. Printing was resumed on the 20th, and on the 28th, Mr. Hall having started for the Sandwich Islands, Mr. Rogers who had been taught to set type and operate the press by Mr. Hall, was employed to take charge of the press and do the printing for the mission for 30, English money per year and his board, thereafter, so long as the mission was sustained, the usual routine of work was pursued."
As Mr. and Mrs. Hall were spending the winter at Dr. Whit- man's station at Waiilatpu, where Mrs, Hall had given birth to a child on Nov. 5, 1839, the reason for the attempt to send the press there was probably the better to accommodate the printer, rather than the manuscript, since Dr. Whitman had not written the book as originally planned, but had deputed the task to Messrs. Smith and Rogers at Kamiah.
To Mr. Hall's anxiety to return to his wife and infant daugh- ter at Waiilatpu, must also be ascribed his haste in leaving the completion of the book in the hands of Mr. Rogers, for he did not leave Dr. Whitman's for Fort Vancouver, on his way back to the Islands, until February 29, Dr. Whitman ac- companying 4 him as far as Fort Walla Walla.
He embarked for Honolulu May 19, 1840, arriving home safely June 24, with Mrs. Hall's general health much improved.
Dr. Whitman in a letter to Mr. Greene from Waiilatpu, March 27, 1840, thus describes the new book and its printing :
"The Book which the Anual Meeting of the mission, ap- pointed me to write I employed Mr Smith & Mr Rogers to
