Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 29).djvu/171

 Canadian cavaliers arriving in crowds with their wives and children, whom they had brought from great distances, to assist at the solemn services of the church.

At 9 o'clock all were arranged in perfect order in the church; the men on one side, the women on the other. The Rev. Mr. Blanchet celebrated the August Sacrifice, assisted by twenty acolytes. The piety of his parishioners contributed much to our edification.

On arriving at the mission of St. Paul, of Willamette, we proceeded at once to the residence of the Very Rev. Mr. Blanchet, who received us with the greatest kindness, and immediately placed at our disposal everything on {80} the place. My first care was, to seek some convenient locality where, according to the plan of our Very Rev. Father General, a mother mission could be established. For this purpose I made several unsuccessful excursions into the adjacent country. The most eligible situations were already occupied. The Methodists, indeed, offered to sell me their Academy, which is a sufficiently large and handsome house, but entirely destitute of wood and arable land.[62] In this perplexity Mr. Blanchet relieved me, by a generous and disinterested offer. He proposed to examine the property belonging to the mission, and take such portions of it as I should judge most proper for our projected establishment. We accordingly set out on this new excursion; but we had scarcely proceeded two miles when we came