294 VOYAGE IN A CANOE FROM FORT OWEN TO VANCOUVER. 



are four lodges at this place, all built after the fashion of the Sioux lodges, with the single dif 

 ference that they are covered by mats of reeds instead of skins. These mats are made of rushes 

 laid parallel and fastened together at the ends. For convenience in travelling, the mats are 

 rolled into cylindrical bundles, and are thus easily carried in canoes. Our breakfast and lunch 

 to-day consisted of camas roots arid dried berries, a little flour and hard bread crumbs (our last) 

 being sprinkled in to thicken the compound, thus making a somewhat palatable compound or 

 mush, or gruel. This fills up the stomach, but does not allay hunger. Our provisions are out, 

 the ground is covered with snow, and the sky obscured with clouds. The weather is excessively 

 cold. Oar tent is wet, as indeed it has been for a week or more. Our robes and some of our 

 blankets are in the same condition; and, on the whole, our situation is quite uncomfortable. 

 Under these circumstances, I concluded to lodge all night with the Indians. Our hungry stomachs 

 were quite willing to partake of any hospitality they might offer in the shape of food. With 

 these feelings I entered the lodge of All-ol-sturgh, the head of the encampment. The other 

 lodges are principally occupied by his children and grandchildren. They provided us with dried 

 camas and berries, also a piece of raw tallow, which tasted very good. Shortly after our 

 entrance, All-ol-sturgh rang a little bell; directly the lodge was filled with the inhabitants of the 

 camp, men, women, and children, who immediately got upon their knees, and repeated, or rather 

 chanted, a long prayer, in their own language, to the Creator. The repetition of a few pious 

 sentences, an invocation, and a hymn, closed the exercises. In these the squaws took as active 

 a part as the men. The promptness, fervency, and earnestness all showed, was pleasing to con 

 template. These prayers, &c., have been taught them by their kind missionary and friend, the 

 much-loved Father Hoecken, (S. J.) He is stationed at the Mission of St. Ignatius, from which 

 we are, I hope, but a few miles distant. The participation of the squaws in the exercises, and 

 the apparent footing of equality between them and the men, so much unlike their condition in 

 other savage tribes, appear remarkable. 



November 8. We ate some more dried berries and some dried fish for breakfast, and, after 

 making our Indian friends some presents, pushed off in our canoe for the mission, which we 

 reached after paddling seven miles. I walked up to the door of the mission-house, knocked and 

 entered. I was met by the reverend superior of the mission, Father Hoecken, who, in a truly 

 benevolent and pleasing manner, said, &quot; Walk in, you are welcome; we are glad to see the face 

 of a white man.&quot; I introduced myself and the men, and stated that I had come all the way 

 from St. Mary s by water, after a journey, or rather voyage, of twenty-five days ; that I was 

 out of provisions and tired. He bade us welcome, had our things brought up from the boat, an 

 excellent dinner prepared for us, and a nice room to sleep in, and treated us with the cordiality 

 and kindness of a Christian and a gentleman. In these kindnesses the Reverend Father Mennet- 

 tree, and the lay brother, Mr. Mageau, cordially took part all uniting in their endeavors to render 

 us comfortable and make us feel at home. From the Reverend Mr. Hoecken I have the follow 

 ing particulars concerning the mission and the condition of the inhabitants in its vicinity : The 

 mission was established nine years ago; the whole country at that time being a vast wilderness. 

 Its inhabitants were the Kalispelms. They lived mostly from the Tend d Oreille or Kalispelm 

 lake, down the Clark river, to this point; they speak nearly the same language as the Flathead 

 or Selish Indians. Another mission (St. Mary s) was at the same time opened among the 

 last-mentioned tribe. Between these two, in the vicinity of the Horse and Camas plains, on the 

 Clark river, another band, calling themselves Kalispelms, has since been formed, of which 

 Ambrose is the chief; this band consists of a number of floating arid wandering families, com 

 posed of C^bokanes, Kalispelms proper, and Flatheads, who, having intermarried, have formed 

 a habit of sojourning at this locality during their annual migrations to and from the buffalo hunt 

 ing-grounds. In all, the two bands of Kalispelms number about one hundred lodges say sixty 

 of the Kalispelms proper, or those who recognise Victor as their chief and have their head 

 quarters at the mission, and about forty of the new band already alluded to, who look up to 



