Vlll                                        PREFACE.
strive, at the same time, either to modify them some-
what, or uproot them altogether. But in Paris, I had
occasion to meet some of the leading men in literature
and science, who pressed me to relate the story of my
wanderings in Texas and Mexico ; they listened to the
recital with a degree of interest which I dared not
presume it merited, and pressed me to publish it in all
its naïve simplicity. In the hope that the publication
might prove useful to the foreign missions, I yielded at
length to their kind solicitations.
I felt that, notwithstanding the interesting letters of
missionaries which appear in The Annals of the Propa-
gation of ihe Faith, the fife of priests who consecrate
themselves to the work of propagating the gospel, and
introducing the blessings of civilisation among people
steeped in barbarism and ignorance, is neither known
nor adequately appreciated in Europe. The mission-
aries, notwithstanding prodigious efforts of industry,
devotedness, and courage, die amid the ice of the North,
of on the sands of the desert, after having exhausted
their strength in labouring for the moral, religious, and
physical well-being of their fellow men, and this whilst
their countrymen at home make no effectual efforts to
aid them in this noble work, which causes the name of
France to be blessed by every people and in every
tongue ; for it cannot be denied that, although the work
of the missions is universal and catholic above all, yet
still it is pre-eminently French, and that nine-tenths of
the missionary priests are Frenchmen.
Pious people will ask, no doubt, are not the sums of
money distributed through the missions by the Propa-