Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/142

 fallen accompanied by a terrible storm the day after our arrival. His grief turned into joy and he did not know how to show his gratitude.

It was very surprising that the Bow chief, with the help of several others, had scattered his band in search of us, in order to find us. Every day groups of them arrived at the villaye, very downcast, believing us to be lost. All the tribes had separated in order to find food more easily. We continued to proceed with the Bow tribe until the first day of March, keeping constantly east southeast.

I sent one of our Frenchmen with an Indian to the tribe of the Gens de la Petite Cerise (Little Cherry Indians), having learned that they were near. They spent ten days on the journey and brought us word inviting us to join them.

I communicated our plan to the Bow chief, who showed emotion on seeing us resolved to leave him. We were just as sorry to leave him because of the kind behavior which he had always shown us. To console him, I promised to come to visit him, on condition that he should settle near a small river which I pointed out to him, and build a fort and grow grain there.

He acquiesced in all that I proposed to him and begged me to leave again the following spring and join him as soon as I had seen my father at Fort La Reine. To relieve his distress, I promised all that he asked, and presented him with everything that I thought might be useful to him.

Seeing that there was no likelihood of being conducted to the Spanish territory and having no doubt that my father was very uneasy about us, we determined to depart for Fort La Reine, and left the Bow tribe, to the great regret of all.

On March 15 we reached the tribe of the Little Cherry. They were returning from their winter quar-