_“[The] number of words in the language is immense & their variations are almost beyond description. Every word is limited & definite in its meaning & the great difficulty is to find terms sufficiently general. Again the power of compounding words is beyond description.” But even as he struggled with this problem, Smith was convinced of the necessity of books: “We must have books in the native language, schools, & the Scriptures translated, or we are but beating the air....”_ _By 1846 the missionaries had become pessimistic about their progress in publishing. The amount of effort required for just a few pages was tremendous. Their best linguists—Smith and Cornelius Rogers—were no longer with the mission. The Indians were not as receptive to the printed word as the missionaries had hoped. In that year the press was moved from Lapwai to The Dalles, and this first publishing venture came to a close. After the Whitman massacre, the press was used in the Williamette Valley by some men who were among the first newspaper publishers in the Pacific Northwest._ _The immensity of this undertaking can be grasped only if one remembers the primitiveness of the land in 1839 when the missionaries distributed the first pages ever printed in the Oregon Country._ [Illustration: (uncaptioned)] [Illustration: Page from _Nez Percé Laws_ printed by Henry Spalding on the mission press. WHITMAN COLLEGE] TAMALWIT NAKSIP. Ka kuna patuna papahwitatasha titokanm, Lapaham pa kalatita panitoktatasha; kaua wapshishuikash autaaiu laptit wah pahat _Wawia_ tsalawi ituna papahwisha kakashl ka hiwash takspul hu ma kunmanimn. Wah tsalawin papahwisha himakeshna ka kunim pawausa takspulns kaua Pakaptit wawia autsaiu. [Illustration: (continued)] LAPITIP. Ka ipnim panpaitataisha ishina shikam inata, kaua kunia pusatatasha, miph panahnatatasha; hu ita mina inata hinptatasha, wawianash, hu itu uiikala ka hiwash hanitash patuain: ka kuna ioh pai hikutatasha, kaua kunapki hitamatkuitatasha ka kush wamshitp hiwash tamatkuit; kaua autsaiu laptit Wawia wapshishuikash, hu ma mitaptit, pilaptit, mas pakaptit, ka kale miohat hitimiunu. MITATIP. Ka ipnim passoaitataisha ishina tamanikash kaua kuna tamanikina popsiaunu; hu mu ipalkalikina pawiskilktatasha kaua kunapki kokalh haasu, tamanikina popsiaunu; kunapki kaua hiwasatitatasha tamanikitp, ipalkalikina taks panitatasha, kaua hanaka wapshishuikash autsaiu laptit wah pahat Wawia. Kush uiikalaham hiutsaiu ka kalaham kush hiuiakiu. _continued from page 41_