Page:The Columbia River - Its History, Its Myths, Its Scenery Its Commerce.djvu/177

Rh convinced that three were Nez Percés and the fourth a Flathead. How they had learned that the white man had a “Book of Life” is not known. Captain Bonneville's journal states that Pierre Pambrun had given many of the Oregon Indians instruction in the rudiments of the Catholic worship. Some have conjectured that Jedediah Smith, a noted American trapper, and, most remarkable of all, a devout Christian, may have imparted religious thoughts to them. Miss Macbeth believed that the motive of the mission was to find Lewis and Clark, the explorers, whose visit in 1804-05 had produced a profound impression on the Nez Percés. The first published account of these four Indians appeared in the New York Christian Advocate for March 1, 1833. This was in the form of a letter from G. P. Disoway, in which he enclosed a letter to himself from his agent, William Walker, an interpreter for the Wyandotte Indians. Walker was at St. Louis at the time, and met these four Indians in General Clark's office. He was much impressed with their appearance, and learned that General Clark had given them as full an account as possible of the nature and history of man, of the advent of the Saviour, and of His work for men. Walker states that two of the four men died in St. Louis, and as to whether the others reached their native land he did not know.

In the Illinois Patriot of October, 1833, the same topic was taken up, together with the statement that Walker's report had excited so much interest that a committee of the Illinois Synod had been appointed to investigate and report on what seemed the duty of the churches in the premises. The committee accord-