volume xxi) notes their observance of Sunday, and forms of worship.

The delegation which Ignace undertook for the purpose of securing a "black robe," set out in 1835. His first intention was to visit Canada, but learning that Jesuits were at St. Louis he journeyed thither, taking with him his two sons to be baptized. See Palladino, _Indian and White in the Northwest_, pp. 19, 20, where a record of this baptism is given. Again in 1837, Ignace headed a second delegation. Upon the South Platte they were overtaken by a band of Sioux, who at first dismissed Ignace, for he was dressed as a white man. Unwilling to abandon his companions, he declared himself an Indian, whereupon all were killed after a brave defense.--ED.

[186] Young Ignace, who accompanied Father de Smet on his first visit (1840) to the Flatheads, became a zealous convert, and lived at St. Ignatius mission until his death in the winter of 1875-76.--ED.

[187] For further details of this exploit of Pilchimo see letter ix, _post_.--ED.

[188] This Indian was known as Francis Saxa, and as late as 1903 was living on his own ranch in Missoula County. See his portrait in Palladino, _Indian and White in the Northwest_, p. 20.--ED.

[189] Francis Ermatinger, one of the chief factors for the Hudson's Bay Company, came to the Columbia region about 1824; two years later he was in command of Fort Kamloops when Governor Simpson passed that way. In 1828, he appears to have been stationed at Fort Okinagan on the upper Columbia, while Wyeth met him in the Snake River country in 1832-34. He married a niece of Madame McLoughlin, wife of the governor of Vancouver, and held various important stations. In the autumn of the year in which De Smet encountered him, he led the brigade into California as far as Yerba Buena (San Francisco). Upon the establishment of the provincial government in Oregon, he was elected (1845) treasurer. He is thought to have ultimately retired to Canada.--ED.

[190] For Fort Hall see our volume xxi, p. 210, note 51 (Townsend).--ED.

[191] Bidwell (_Century Magazine_, xix, p. 120) gives the names of three in addition to Romaine, the Englishman--Peyton, Rodgers, and Amos E. Frye. Thirty-two of the California party went on to Fort Hall with the missionaries, while the remainder, among them Bidwell, branched off to the west from Soda Springs.--ED.

[192] For Bear River and Soda Springs see Townsend's _Narrative_, in our volume xxi, pp. 199, 200, notes 44, 45.--ED.

[193] According to Bidwell (_op. cit._, p. 120), these two men were Bartleson, from Jackson County, Missouri, and "a Methodist Episcopal preacher, whose name I think was also Williams."--ED.

[194] This cañon of the Sweetwater is about five miles above Independence Rock. It is a cut about three hundred yards long, and thirty-five wide through a spur of the mountains in Natrona County, Wyoming. See illustration of cañon in Frémont's "Exploring Tour," _Senate Docs._, 28 Cong., 2 sess., 174, p. 57.--ED.

[195] The ascent of the South Pass is so gradual that without instruments it is difficult to know when one attains the summit. See Wyeth's _Oregon_, in our volume xxi, p. 58, note 37.--ED.

[196] For Little and Big Sandy, see Townsend's _Narrative_, in our