On leaving the _______, whom you already are acquainted with, the first tribe which I found on ascending the Columbia was the _______. This consists of 12 families divided into three camps which are distant from the _______ 15, 20, and 25 miles, respectively, more or less. This tribe, like all the neighboring tribes, present now the appearance of a pruned vineyard, the epidemic of last winter having carried off from them almost all the younger generation.

This tribe more than any other on the Columbia for the past two years has been visited by God with earthquakes that in some places has sunk the ground, in others has piled it up greatly, and in others has broken the sides of the mountains. At the sight of such terrors, it is something new that this tribe, like its neighbors, remarkable first for their libertinism, are beginning to fear and then to pray, and although the earthquakes have not caused them to abandon their vices entirely, it has nonetheless greatly subdued their spirits.

It is true, however, that the Devil prevents the Missionary and avails himself of their good disposition to five an impulse in the wrong direction to their minds, by appearing to one and another and wishing to show them how to pray, and in only one case that I know of has he gone off foiled in his purpose, while in five or six others he has succeeded in his intentions, He appeared in this tribe to the chief of a distant camp, clothed as a missionary. The chief asked him whether he were the Black-robe; he said no, but that he was a messenger sent from Heaven to teach him the prayer; whereupon the Indian replied to him that if he were the Black-robe he would have listened to him, but that since he was not, he would have nothing to do with him, and the Devil disappeared, This chief in his Youth live in Oregon and passed a few years as the servant of a white: one day he asked the white which was the good Prayer; the white answered him that he did not practise any religion, but that he was convinced that only the Catholic Missionary taught the good prayer. This grain of good seed enclosed in the heart of this Indian for many years, finally germinated and brought forth fruit in double measure since it preserved him from the snares of the Devil into which all the others fell, and he received the word of life; when I arrived at his dwelling, he made much rejoicing, heard the instructions with much respect and assiduity, believed and was baptized --"ipse et domus ejus tota." The Devil repulsed here went to visit the chief of a nearby camp and won an easy prey, I had various conferenced with him, but got nowhere with him and the horrible blasphemies which he vomited forth declared him a worthy disciple of such a master.

In this tribe I found extreme ignorance and irreligion side by side with great docility and devotion. One day while I was preaching in the middle camp on the necessity of baptism, a young fellow, the son of the first chief interrupted me with a burst of laughter. I attributed this to some other reason than my argumentation, and repeated in other words my proposition, but again there followed a burst of laughter accompanied this time by some comment. Then the rest of the audience took my part and reproached him indignantly, telling him that if he did not believe, there were others there who thought differently from him, and that he should at least in his outward manner respect the Blackrobe.

I found others who did not oppose themselves to the prayers of the Missionary, but only on condition that he should leave them quietly to their Indian prayer, We are all sons of the same Father, one of them said to me, and we do not know whether my prayer or yours be the good prayer; on the last day, God will take the veil away which now covers our eyes and then we shall see who was right; in the meanwhile let us live together like good friends. And if I told them that then it would be too late to retrace or steps and put ourselves on the right path, they indignantly shake their heads; and after having shown them, progressing from one century to another that the present prayer of the Blackrobe is the very same as that taught by Jesus Christ to the first Blackrobes, one of them was quite indignant and said to me: It is only pride that makes you talk like that, you wish to show that you know how to pray better than all and that you excel all. Do you come from Heaven? -- You are a man like ourselves and should not set yourself above us.

But these same ones who deny to the Blackrobe the right of proselytizing, have no scruple about arrogating to themselves this right. At the time of the fishing of the red salmon, the chief of the middle camp was already well disposed for baptism; "now go wherever you have to go" he said to me, "on your return, I will keep you with me for a week, and I shall see to it that we are baptized"; but on my return to his place, I found him so perverted that I could not believe my eyes and ears.

Besides the savages that have believed in the Devil, there are also here a few whites who frequent these places and do much harm to these Indians. These whites calumniate the Catholic Missionary, attribute to him low and sinful motives for the _______ and privations to which he subjects himself; they calumniate or ridicule the doctrine which the Missionary teaches so that they fill the minds of these savages with diffidence and doubts, not to speak of worse things.

Besides the prayers, I have taught them at different times, some hymns and a short catechism, the recitation of which takes a little more than half an hour. I have drilled some who are gifted with a better memory, to ask questions and give the answers, in order that in my absence, they may be able to repeat the catechism at their leisure, and so even the slowest may be able to learn it, The tribe being on the road which leads to the Cilan Indians and other tribes more distant, the Missionary cannot do otherwise than visit often the Int. Indians and take care of them at his convenience.

From the Intielikum (?) I passed to the Cilan Indians who are the next tribe. The Cilans are situated about 16 mile beyond the last camp of the Intiel. The number of the Indians is more or less equal to that of the Intiel., perhaps a few more, They have their squalid dwellings on the band of the Columbia where they have their little camps, but they pass the winter 5 or 6 miles from there at their lake Cilan, and they pass the summer about 60 miles from there on the river Mitgan, very close to another little tribe which bears the name of this little river, and there they carry on the fishing for the red salmon , and there they gather the fruits and they pass a great part of the autumn, about 30 miles from their camp, on the Columbia very near another tribe which bears the name Itlakam (?) which is merely the name of this locality where they fish for white salmon. I have visited this tribe of Cilans already three times, once on their own land, the second time at Mitgan, and the third at Itlakam. I shall now say something about these three visits.

Last spring I went to see the Cilans for the first time. When I arrived opposite their dwellings, by way of introduction they left me for a long time on the other side of the Columbia without anyone coming to take me across to the other side of the river. The chief was not there, and no one dared render this service to the missionary, Finally there came two lads whom I had baptized the winter before, and who were here on a visit to their relatives, Arriving on the other side of the river, I put up my tent, and a little while after the chief arrives -- Ninusize (?) is his name. He passed without giving me his hand, and appeared displeased to see me there, but others came, though timidly, to bid me welcome. As evening came on, I rang for prayer, and my tent filled with people, no adult males, However. When it was dark, Ninusize had me called for a conference; I entered his big wigwam where there were gathered all the men; he asked me various questions, to which I replied, but not yet knowing their language sufficiently, no conclusion was arrived at, although our session lasted almost until morning._____________ ______________________________________________________ __________________________________________. He told me finally that I might withdraw and I returned to my tent. In the morning I was to depart, circumstances not permitting a longer stay. A number of Indians came to give me their hand. and the chief stayed off at some distance. I went up to him and gave him my hand, and attributing to my ignorance of the language the unsatisfactory conclusion of our conference the night before, I told him that I would strain myself to learn the language better, and that I would visit his tribe again at Mitgan. He answered me neither yes or no , and this ___________________________.

Only toward the end of the red-salmon season was I able to turn toward Mitgan, but better late than never, and so I set out, On the way I met various people who suggested that I should not go, that I would be beaten , that Ninusize had done so about here and there wherever there were any who had been baptized and had forced them to abandon the prayer and to throw away the medal and cross which they had hanging from their necks. My companion was terrified, and when we arrived he asked me to permit him to put up his tent on this side of the Mitgan River, the Cilans being on the other side of the river. Although then was not the time to show fear, I permitted him to do this, while I, without dismounting from my horse, crossed the river and went directly to the tent of the chief. The tent was full of people of every age and both sexes; when I saw N., I advanced, offered him my hand, but he let me wait a long time before giving me his; with a ferocious face he asked me savagely whether I had been sent from Washington; I answered no, but that I had been sent by God; a little after he said that he had never yet killed a white; then stretching himself out he took a lad who was near him, and suggested words insulting to the missionary, which the boy repeated in a loud voice. I laughed with the others, looking for a chance to change the subject. When the chief finished, his son-in-law presented to me a magpie which his son held bound on a cord, telling me to baptize it; I saw that it was not a tragedy they wanted, but a comedy; in any case, however, that I would not be the hero; taking the magpie in my hand, I began to philosophize on the difference between the human soul and the soul of a brute animal and passed then to speaking of the ingratitude with which men repay God for his benefits and finished with the account that one day we should have to render to our present Benefactor; the bell for prayer interrupted my perforation.

I went with the others to the prayer and found a large tent for this use, the greater part of the people were kneeling or seated facing outside. Their priest was an old "medicine man" much opposed to the Blackrobe. He began with an exhortation and ended by reciting together with all the others, with great tranquillity and devotion a short prayer, the whole lasting 7 or 8 minutes. When they were finished, I asked who had taught them this prayer, and good old man answered me: "Old Blanchet" , and when I asked for more enlightenment, he added: that it was only since the time of the earthquake that the Cilans had prayed; on feeling the earth move beneath their feet for the first time they were all in great consternation, and said among themselves: let us pray. But since they did not know how, an ancient old woman said in Chinook a short prayer which Bishop Blanchet of Portland had taught her about 30 years before, and which she always said every morning and night; this prayer they translated into the language, and adopted for their prayr. After the prayer I returned to my companion on the other side of the river and there I passed the night. The following morning, however, I made him cross the river and put up our tent near to the Cilans. I rang morning and night for prayer and a sufficient number always gathered. I remained here three days during which I received many visits from the chief, but although this time I was able to speak fluently, he always seemed discontented. The morning I was to leave, he appeared. took a blanket which was already rolled up for departure, stretched it out, sat down and invited me to sit, and when I had sitten he said to me: I have already told you several times that we do not wish to have anything to do with you, and we do not wish you to come any more to the Cilans, but you seem not to understand. We do not like your prayer. Do you understand well? - Very well indeed, I replied. And then, he added, what do you intend to do? I will open my heart to you, I replied, since you have always shown yourself to be a man with a head, and once you have understood the doctrine which the Blackrobe teaches, you will embrace it, and influence the other chiefs to embrace it. He shook his head, but I saw that I had touched "the cords of Adam". He began a new conversation which lasted about two hours, at the end of which he said to me: I am displeased that you are leaving, now that you have begun to win my heart, stay on. I told him that I would gladly have stayed, a few days yet, but that my companion wishing to depart, I could not stay any longer, but that I would, however, see him at the fishing of the white salmon, and so we parted.

As the time drew near for the fishing of the white salmon, I went to the banks of the Itlakam (Stlakam?), where I should find the Cilans. On my arrival, I entered the tent of N., confident what at length he would bid me welcome, but no; he gave me his hand, yes but with a dark look. I sat down waiting for the monarch to speak of the reason for his new dread (or perhaps : anger): after some time, he spoke: you had already won my heart a little at Mitgan, but now my heart is further from you than it was at first; I have found out that after your departure from Mitgan, you went to Nesquali and that you told the Chief of the Americans that you had tried again to win over the Cilans, but that if you had not succeeded, he would have sent soldiers to bind ________________________ was with some difficulty that I showed him that this was a calumny against the Blackrobe; at length he let himself be persuaded and gave me firewood (?) to put in my tent. A little later I asked him for a little bell - I already had one , but with the bell I intended to ask, implicitly, for permission to say my prayer aside; he understood this and replied that they had only one prayer and only one tent for this purpose. All right, I replied, I will go to the tent with the others and there I will give the instructions. He did not answer, and when I heard the bell, I went with the others, and after a few moments of silence he said to me: Speak Blackrobe! I began and continued to give a short instruction morning and evening before their short prayer. Three days later, after the instruction, I said that I was also going to say my prayer which I did all the time I stayed there, with many accompanying me. I stayed at Stlakam for nine days; N. came late every evening and asked me many questions, but in another tone of voice now. The third day after my arrival he said to me: Now I have no longer two hearts with you, Blackrobe, but only one. I do not think that it will be difficult for me to send away one of my wives and to give up gambling. I answered him that his words gave me much consolation, but did not surprise me, that I had often thought that one day or another he would speak to me as he had just done. The morning of the fourth day I told him to gather together the young men to begin to teach them the prayer, which he did with good will, assisting himself only at Catechism, and so he continued to do for two days. The evening of the fifth day there arrived the mother of Mussus the Pentarcha of these tribes. This old women hearing that the little daughters of N. were learning the prayers, said in an angry tone \: Ah! N. too now believes, since e sends his daughters to the Catechism. At this N. began to fear and the next day the daughters of N. did not appear for Catechism, one fled away and was called back. The evening of this day, a famous medicine man of the Stlakam, one of those visited by the Devil, and a relative of N., raised voice and spoke like an obsessed man almost all night against the Blackrobe and his prayer; and N. appeared no more in my tent. The seventh day, four or five jokesters wishing to intimidate me came to sit on the fringes of my tent, but my tent without my perceiving it, filled suddenly with people who loved the Blackrobe and the jokesters having sitten there an hour murmuring, withdrew. On Sunday after Mass, I baptized two ladies and was hardly finished when the don of N. coming with precipiate steps toward my tent began a philippic against those who loved baptism; in general it was: that God had given them their land, and that the Blackrobe under the pretext of teaching them the prayer was the precursor of the whites who would come to hunt them from their land. He might have said more for all I know, but I did not wish to listen to more, since I did not like to leave him to intimidate as he wished, the newly baptized and those who loved the Blackrobe, I went out of my tent and interrupted him telling him to come into my tent and there he would be given satisfaction; he approached but did not enter, and so from outside he asked one question to which I replied, but perhaps because he was so heated he did not know what more to say, and went away to go into his own tent. After a few hours they rang for the prayer, I went as usual; first spoke ________ , the medicine man of whom I have made mention now and again, then N., and finally I spoke striving to give the air to their doubts and preoccupation and to inspire their confidence in the Blackrobe. On Monday when I was ready to depart, N. came and told me that he was thinking of sending away those two Cilan women who had been baptized, in order to prevent disorders, citing what his son had done the day before. _________________ __ __________________ , I wished to see whether I could not intimidate him for his own good, and so I told him, no, that these two savages would not abandon their land, and that I would come again and again to the Cilans to finish their instruction, that I would baptize all the adults who presented themselves and all the children whose parents offered them for baptism, that if any disorders came about because of this, it was his place as chief to suppress it, and many other things I said to him, reprehending, encouraging, praising: when I had done, he went away without saying a word. A little afterwards, seeing him with a goodly number of men seated a little distance off, I went to give them my hand: all gave me their had civilly, and the Demosthenes of the preceding day shook my hand more than others. So ended my third visit to the Cilans. The following day, a day's journey from there, I baptized two other Cilans, a young man about 20 years old, and an old man, offering thus to the Lord four of these savages as the first fruits of the tribe

I recommend myself to your devout prayers and am respectfully

Your Rev's least serv't in Christ

U. Grassi.

There are two footnotes -- one about a letter to the Provincial, and another asking Fr. Giorda to send the news contained to someone who had asked for it.