of July. This lake is close to the Continental Divide, and just across the ridge is Red Rock Lake, the ultimate source of the Missouri, 4,221 miles by water-course from the sea. Father De Smet climbed far up the side of a mountain where he could overlook this impressive scene, and then sat down, musing upon the works of God around him and the holy character of the service in which he was engaged. On a rock near him he inscribed a religious sentiment and the date July 27, 1840.
During the next month Father De Smet and his Flathead and Pend d'Oreille friends passed leisurely down the valley of the stream which flows from Red Rock Lake to join the Jefferson river, and down that stream to the Three Forks of the Missouri. His time was spent in instructing the Indians, in listening to their tales of war and peace, and in studying the prospects of missionary work among them. He became convinced that here was a field of genuine promise, and his proposition to establish a mission in their midst was received with the greatest enthusiasm. Father De Smet did not actually go into the Flathead country, which lay across the Divide in the Bitter Root Valley, as he thought it best not to take the time to go there on this occasion; but rather to hasten home, report the situation to his superiors, and get the necessary assistance for the commencement of a permanent mission. He imparted his plan to the Indians, and after giving them his word that he would return, he set out on his journey home.
He had as a companion a man whom he had picked up at the Green river rendezvous. Father De Smet thus describes him:
"A good Fleming of Ghent, John Baptiste de Velder, an old grenadier of Napoleon, who had left his native land at the age of thirty, and had spent the last fourteen years in the mountains in the capacity of beaver hunter, generously offered to serve and assist me in all my wanderings. He was resolved, he said, to pass the remainder of his days in the practice of his holy religion. He had almost forgotten