of them by merely slipping the gaff-hook under their
bodies, and lifting them out of the water,--selecting the best to
preserve for food, and throwing aside those that they consider as
worthless. These pale, emaciated creatures, I looked at with the
greatest interest. How strong is the impulse that carries them through,
in spite of these almost insurmountable obstacles! It is beyond our
knowledge, why, in coming in from the sea, they pass certain streams to
enter others; but this they are known to do, so perfectly do they
understand the mysterious direction given them.

The early explorers witnessed many ceremonies among the Indians not now
observed by them; as, the salmon-dance, to celebrate the taking of the
first salmon in the river. When the earliest spring salmon was caught in
the Columbia, the Indians were extremely particular in their dealings
with it. No white man could obtain it at any price, lest, by opening it
with a knife instead of a stone, he should drive all following salmon
from the river. Certain parts must be eaten with the rising, and others
with the falling, tide; and many other minute regulations carefully
observed. After the salmon-berry ripened, they relaxed their vigilance,
feeling that by that time the influx was secure.

The Gros Ventres celebrated the goose-dance, to remind the wild geese,
as they left in the autumn, that they had had good food all summer, and
must come back in the spring. This dance was performed by women, each
one carrying a bunch of long seed-grass, the favorite food of the wild
goose. They danced to the sound of the drum, circling about with
shuffling steps.

V.

Old Fort Colville.--Angus McDonald and his Indian Family.--Canadian
_Voyageurs_.--Father Joseph.--Hardships of the Early
Missionaries.--The Coeurs d'Alene and their Superstitions.--The
Catholic Ladder.--Sisters of Notre Dame.--Skill of the Missionaries
in instructing the Indians.--Father de Smet and the Blackfeet.--A
Native Dance.--Spokanes.--Exclusiveness of the Coeurs
d'Alene.--Battle of Four Lakes.--The Yakima Chief and the
Road-Makers.

FORT COLVILLE, July 25, 1866.

We have been making a little visit to Old Fort Colville, one of the
Hudson Bay stations, kept by Angus McDonald, an old Scotchman, who has
been there for a great many years. He is an educated gentleman, of a
great deal of character and intelligence; and his wife is an Indian
woman, who can