Father DeSmet and his Flathead guides, together with a dozen Canadians, started northward across the mountains which separate the headwaters of the Colorado from those of the Columbia. They crossed the historic Teton's Pass and came to the beautiful valley at the foot of the three Tetons, of which Father DeSmet has left a striking description. In this valley they found the camp of the Flatheads and of their neighbors, the Pend d'Oreilles, numbering about i,6oo persons. DeSmet describes the affecting scene of his meeting with these children of the wilderness: 'The poles were already up for my lodge, and at my approach, men, women, and children came all together to meet me, and shake hands and bid me welcome. The elders wept with joy, while the young men expressed their satisfaction by leaps and shouts of happiness. These good savages led me to the lodge of the old chief, called in his language, 'Big Face.' He had a truly patriarchal aspect and received me in the midst of his whole council with the liveliest cordiality. Then I had a long talk on religion with these honest folk. I set a schedule of spiritual exercises for them, particularly for the morning and evening -prayers in common and for hours of instruction."
"One of the chiefs at once brought me a bell to give the signals, and on the first evening I gathered all the people about my lodge; I said the evening prayers, and finally they sang together, in a harmony which surprised me very much, several songs of their own composition on the praise of God. This zeal for prayer and instruction (and I preached to them regularly four times a day) instead of declining, increased up to the time of my departure."
DeSmet was wholly astonished at their fervor and regularity at religious exercises. In speaking of this subject on another occasion he exclaims: "Who would not think that this could only be found in a well-ordered and religious community, and yet it is among the Indians in the defiles and valleys of the Rocky Mountains." He was likewise astonished at the innocence of their lives and he has left pages of writing in----
