which he extols their virtues, and their docility. It would be difficult to" find a parallel in the history of Christian missions for this rapid and permanent transformation of a savage tribe into a Christian community with morning and evening prayers in common.
The camp gradually moved up the Henry Fork of the Snake River to Lake Henry, one of the sources of the Columbia River, Here DeSmet climbed the mountain of the Continental Divide, whence he was able to see Red Rock Lake, the ultimate source of the Missouri. "The two lakes," he writes, "are scarce eight miles apart. I started for the summit of a high mountain for the better examination of the two fountains that gave birth to these two great rivers; I saw them falling in cascades from an immense height; hurling themselves with uproar from rock to rock; even at their source they formed two mighty torrents, scarcely more than a hundred paces apart. The fathers of the Company who are in missionary service on the banks of the Mississippi, from Council Bluffs, to the Gulf of Mexico, came to my mind." And his heart went out to the nations on the banks of the Columbia to whom the faith of Christ was yet to be preached. There he engraved on a soft stone, this inscription: Sanctus Ignatius, Patronus Montium, Die Julii 23, 1840.
After two months among the Flatheads, DeSmet determined to return to St. Louis for assistance. He appointed a chief to take his place, to preside over the devotions and to baptize the children. He was accompanied by thirty warriors, among whom was the famous chief. Insula, whose futile trip to the rendezvous on the Green River in 1835, we have already mentioned. Father DeSmet reached the St. Louis University on the last day of the year, 1840. His first missionary journey to the nations of the Oregon Country had been accomplished and, like another Paul, he returned rehearsing all the things that God had done with him, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Nations.
On the feast of the Assumption, 1841, Father DeSmet had
