, 1857-04-03
The Indian Mission Of 81. Ignatius.

Ihe IHulan MlSSiOn OI 81 lSHatluS.
We find appended to the report Of Gov.
= STEVENS on the Northern route for rail
road to the Pacific, an account Of canoe
voyage made by DR.. GEO SrcHLEY. As
sist0nt Surgeon L. s. A from Fort Owen,
down the Bitter Root. Clark'S Fori;, and
Columbia rivers to Vancouver. Ia this
acceUnt some interesting particulars ere
given in regard to the Roman Catholic
Mission Of st. lgnatius, situated on the St.
Mary's river, and under the care of Father
I HoEcKEN. The mission has been estab-
Iished for nine years, and the Indians WHO
are brought under its influence comprise
the reWnants Of several tribes, to whom
the name of Kalispcns is given During
the first two years the missionaries lived in
huts made Of skins, and accompanied the
Indians in their hunting and fishing cXpe-
ditious. They found it very hard to live.
/ Afterwards, however. they established
} themselves permanently, and commenced
tilling the gfo6mi, adding lHtle every
year to the surface cultivated, and steadily
increasing ia welfare They obtained pigs,
poultry, cattle, horses, agricultural implc-
ments and tools Their supplies of clothing,
groceries, tools, seeds, ec., are shipped
directly from Europe to the Columbia
river.
One Of the two lay brethren, brother
Francis, is a jack-at-al trades, being by
turns n carpenter, blacksmith, gunsmith
and tinman, in each of which he is a good
workman, The other, brother Mageau,
superintendS the farming Together, they
have built windmill, carpenters and
!!lacksmith's shops, barns, &c, beside AM
excellent chapel, and dwelling house Of,
hcwn timber for the missionaries The
church is quite large, and is tastelully and
even beautifully decorated. The hand
somely carved aud gilded altar, the statue
of Our. Maker brazen crosses. and ricllI
bronze founts, which ornament it, one
would suppose must have been imported, |
but they were not They are the result of
the patient labor and ingenuity of the Mis-
sionaries But works of ornament are not
their ouly deeds.
a grindstone, hewn out Of native rock,
and moulded by the same hand which
made the chisel that wrought it; tinware, a
blacksmith's bellows, plowShareS, bricks for
their chimneys, their own tobacco pipes,
turned with lathe out of wood, and lined
with tin--all have been made by their in
dustry. They also make their own candies,
soap, vinegar, &c They have farm Of
about one hundred and sixty acres, and
raise wheat, barley, onions, and garden
vegetables generally. The Indians are eX-
cessvely fond OF carrots, and if the children
see carrots growing they must cat some
Father Hoeken says, al must shut my
eyes to the theft, because they cannot,
cannot resist the temptation"
Around the Mission buildings are the
houses Of the natives, bnilt Of logs end
hewcd timber Although the tribe is en-
phatically wandering one, yet the Mission
and its vicinity is looked upon as head
quarters. Their wanderings do not gen
orally extend over tract Of country mere
than hundred miles square, and they sub
sist by fishing and hunting the deer and
bear. In the winter the whole band moves
to some noted venison ground, where du-
ring the heavy SHOWS the deer cannot
escape, and are readily pursued and killed
with clubs. In this way they have cxter-
minated this animal in all except one or two
places; and unless they pay more attention
to cultivating the earth, they will soon
suffer greatly from the want Of food. -.
When the missionaries first came among
these Indians, they were a poor, miserable,
half starved race, with an nsulIicency of
food, and nearly naked, living upon fish,
camas, and other roots, and in the last ex-
tremity, upon the pine tree moss They
were Of peaceable disposition, brave,
good tempered and willing to work. OF
spiritual things they were utterly ignorant,
having no idea of a future state or Of a
Great Spirit neither had they any idea
of soul. In fact, they had not words in
their language 10 express such ideas. They
consider themselves animals nearly allied to
the beaver, because they said, :" the beaver
builds houses like US, and he is very cum
ming too, but we can catch the beaver, and
he cannot catch us - therefore We are
greater than he."
They thought when they died that was
the last Of them, and often buried alive the
very old and the very young, because they
could not take care of them. The mission
aries had an arduous labor before them,
but soon gained the confidence of these
poor red men by kind Offices, such as at
tending their sick, furnishing them with
food, and teaching them farming. The
missionary told them Of their Creator and
Saviour, and they listened and believed.
The name which they gave the Creator, in
their own language, is, "the One who
made himself" OF the soul they had no
conception, and at first the idea was singu-
larly translated to them by half-breed
interpreter, who told them they had gut
which never rotted, and that this was their
living principle or soul
The chief of the tribe became converted
and was baptized and the mass Of the
tribe followed the example and now
almost all pray and haze devotional cxcr-
n;enc in thpir fnfuiIics f'bcv hava frrao !