CHAPTER II

HOW THE SELISH OR FLAT HEADS OBTAINED THE FIRST NOTIONS OF CHRISTIANITY

As far back as the seventeenth century French Jesuits had crossed the ocean to Christianize the savages of Canada. Among the number was Father Isaac Jogues, who became the apostle of the Iroquois, sealing with his blood his heroic labors and the father he had come to preach.

Did he ever imagine, in the midst of his trials and sufferings, that he was preparing apostles for the unknown regions of the Northwest, and that the seed which he was planting and fertilizing with his blood on the banks of the St. Lawrence would be borne beyond the Mississippi, across the Rockies, and even to the Pacific Coast?

Between the years 1812 and 1820 a band of these Iroquois, twenty-four in number according to Bishop Rosati in his letter to the Father General of the Society of Jesus, dated St. Louis, October 20, 1839, left the Mission of Caughnawaga, near Sault St. Louis on the St. Lawrence, and crossing the Mississippi Valley, directed their course westward.

The leader of the band was Ignace La Mousse, better known among the Indians and to history as Big Ignace, or Old Ignace, because of his moral and physical superiority, and also to distinguish him from another and younger Ignace, who, as will be seen later on, also figures conspicuously in the history of the Flat Heads.

Having reached the land of our Indians, these Iroquois were kindly and hospitably received, and here the wandering band concluded to remain. The ties of friendship soon ripened into stronger ones by intermarriage, and from this on, Iroquois became members of the Selish or Flat Head nation. Old Ignace soon acquired an ascendancy and great influence over the tribe, which he wielded for the temporal and spiritual welfare of his adopted brethren. Often would he speak to them of the Catholic

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religion, its teachings, its prayers and its rites, the conclusion of all his discourses being always the same, namely, the advantage and necessity of having the Black robes or Catholic missionaries among them, by whom they could be instructed and taught the way to Heaven.

He was listened to with the greatest attention, and docile to his instructions, the Flat Heads learned from him the principal truths and precepts of Christianity, the sign of the Cross. The Lord's Prayer, and other practices of Catholic devotion. These good people strove as best they could, not only to remember what they were taught by old Ignace, but also to put it into practice. Hence they prayed in common morning and evening, observed Sunday, baptized their children and marked the graves of their dead with a cross, the symbol of Redemption. The Sunday was announced to the tribe by raising on a high pole something in the form of a flag called in their language S'chazéus. Hence the Lord's day became known to them under that name, by which they still designate it.

Gradually a strong desire to have in their midst some of the Black Robes spoken of by Old Ignace took hold of them, and the possibility as well as ways and means of obtaining the missionaries were frequently discussed in council. Ignace had suggested that some of the tribe be sent to the country of the white man, where Black robes might be had. The suggestion was adopted in a general assembly, four of their braves volunteered to make the journey. It is well to note here that two of these were partly Nez Percés and partly flat Heads, being the former by blood, and the latter by choice, since they lived with the Flat Heads as actual members of the tribe.

The proposal would likely have appeared to be the highest of folly to all but courageous people. None of them, save the Iroquois, had ever seen the village of a white man, and but few of them even a white man's face. They would have to travel thousands of miles, over trackless mountains, deserts, and treeless plains, across wide, deep rushing streams, their path being beset on every side by deadly enemies, whose eagerness and alertness to waylay them it would be next to impossible to escape. But the flat heads were without fear.

In the spring of 1831 the four braves who has volunteered

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to undertake the expedition started on their long, perilous journey, and safely reached St. Louis in the early part of October. It is not known which way they traveled, but it is likely that at least part of their course lay along the overland route followed by the traders, who se headquarters were in St. Louis. Indians were a common sight in the streets of St. Louis at the time, and it is no wonder that our Flat Heads appear to have been scarcely noticed. The privations of the journey told severely on the brave fellows. Two fell dangerously ill shortly after their arrival, and died, both being baptized during their sickness. Their names were Narcisse and Paul and, as shown by the record of their interment, they were buried in the cemetery of the parish, Narcisse, October 31; Paul, November 17.

Le trent-et-un d'Octobre mil-huit cent trent-et-un, Je sousigné ai inhumé dans ;e Cemetiére de cette Paroisse le corps de Keepeellelé out Pipe Bard du Nez Percé de la tribu de Chopweck appellée. Tétes Plattes agéd'environs quarante quatre ans, administré du St. Baptême, venant de la riviére columbia au déla des Rocky Mountains.

Their surviving companions left St. Louis most likely the following spring to return to their country. But they never reached it, and what has become of them has never been ascertained.

Geo. Catlin in his Letter no. 48, speaks of meeting two Indians, whose portraits he painted from life and with whom he traveled two thousand miles. From his description it an hardly be doubted that they were the survivors of the delegation. We are told by the same Catlin that one of them died near

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the mouth of the Yellowstone River. This leaves but one of the band unaccounted for.

But let us now listen to the Right Rev. Joseph Rosati, at the time Bishop of St. Louis. Scarcely three months after the arrival of the Indian delegation he wrote an account of it, which he sent to the annals of the Association of the Propagation of the Faith, under date of December 31, 1831. The letter runs as follows:

Some three months ago four Indians who live across the Rocky Mountains near the Columbia River (Clark's Fork of the Columbia) arrived at St. Louis. After visiting General Clark who, in his celebrated travels, has visited their country and has been well treated by them, they came to see our church and appeared to be exceedingly well pleased with it. Unfortunately, there was no one who understood their language. Some time afterwards two of them fell dangerously ill. I was then absent from St. Louis.

Two of our priests visited them and the poor Indians seemed delighted with the visit. They made the sign of the Cross and other signs which appeared to have some relation to baptism. The sacrament was administered to them; they gave expressions of satisfaction. A little cross was presented to them. They took it with eagerness, kissed it repeatedly, and it could be taken from them only after death. It was truly distressing that they could not be spoken to. Their remains were carried to the church and their funeral was conducted with all Catholic ceremonies. The other two attended and acted very becomingly. We have since learned from a Canadian, who has crossed the country which they inhabit, that they belong to the nation of Flathead who, as also another nation called Blackfeet, has received some notions of the Catholic religion from two Indians who has been to Canada, and who has related what they had seen, giving a striking description of the beautiful ceremonies of Catholic worship, and telling them that it was also the religion of the whites. They have retained what they could of it and they have learned to make the sing of the Cross and to pray. These nations have not yet been corrupted by intercourse with others. Their manners and customs are simple, and they are very numerous. Mr. Condamine (Rev. Matthew Condamine was one of Bishop Rosati's clergy attached to the Cathedral) has offered himself to go to them next spring with another. In the meantime we shall obtain some further information of what we have been told and of the means of travel.

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We must note, however, that what is stated in this letter with regard to the Blackfeet nation, should be understood to apply to the Nez Percés, who were the neighbors and friends of the Flat Heads and who, like them, desired to be instructed in the teachings of the Catholic faith. This, so far as we know, was not as yet the case with the Blackfeet. Hence, the obvious conclusion, that either the Canadian informant of Bishop Rosati was not sufficiently well informed on the subject, or that, while speaking of the tribes of the Rocky Mountains, he was misunderstood. Such a misunderstanding was very apt to occur in those early days, when so little was known of the wild Indian races of the Northwest.