k, to which he pointed in instructing them.
He considered it a miracle, that they yielded their hearts to his
teaching; but it seemed to me, that if the good priest's gentle ways and
entire devotion to their welfare had produced no effect, it would have
been as contradictory to all the laws of nature as any miracle could be.
While instructing some savages from Puget Sound, he said the idea came
into the mind of one of the priests, to represent by a ladder, which he
made on paper, the various truths and mysteries of religion, in their
chronological order. This proved vastly beneficial in instructing them.
It was called the "Catholic ladder," and disseminated widely among the
Indians; their progress in religion being measured by their knowledge of
this ladder. At the same time that he sent the ladder among them, he
sent also roots and seeds and agricultural tools. I could hardly repress
a smile at seeing that he spoke with the same enthusiasm of their
success with the beans and potatoes, as with the ladder. The truth is,
that he had deeply at heart the good of these, his "wild children of the
forest," as he always called them. It was quite touching to him, he
said, to see how ready they were to believe that God took charge of
earthly things as well as of heavenly.

One of his associates in the early missions was a Belgian priest, whose
journal he showed us. He brought over, to aid in the work, six sisters
of Notre Dame, in 1844. The vessel which brought them to the Pacific
coast stopped at Valparaiso and Lima, to inquire how to enter the
Columbia River. Not receiving any satisfactory information, they sailed
north till they reached the forty-sixth degree of latitude. Then they
explored for several days, and at length saw a sail coming out of what
appeared to be the mouth of a river. They immediately sent an officer to
find out from this vessel how to enter; but, as he did not return, they
were obliged to approach alone the "vast and fearful mouth of the
river," and soon found themselves in the terrible southern channel, into
which, they were assured afterwards, no vessel had ever sailed before.
The commander of the fort at Astoria had endeavored, by hoisting flags,
by great signal-fires, and guns, to warn them of their danger. They saw
the signals, but did not suspect their intention. They sailed two miles
amidst fearful breakers. When at length they reached stiller water, a
canoe approached them, containing an American ma