Preparatory to the chase, they performed some religious rites, and offered up to theGreat Spirit a few short prayers for safety and success; then, having received theblessings of their wives, they leaped upon their horses and departed, leaving the wholeparty of Christian spectators amazed and rebuked by this lesson of faith anddependence on a supreme and benevolent Being. "Accustomed," adds CaptainBonneville, "as I had heretofore been, to find the wretched Indian revelling in blood, andstained by every vice which can degrade human nature, I could scarcely realize thescene which I had witnessed. Wonder at such unaffected tenderness and piety, whereit was least to have been sought, contended in all our bosoms with shame andconfusion, at receiving such pure and wholesome instructions from creatures so farbelow us in the arts and comforts of life." The simple prayers of the poor Indians werenot unheard. In the course of four or five days they returned, laden with meat. CaptainBonneville was curious to know how they had attained such success with such scantymeans. They gave him to understand that they had chased the buffalo at full speed,until they tired them down, when they easily dispatched them with the spear, and madeuse of the same weapon to flay the carcasses. To carry through their lessons to theirChristian friends, the poor savages were as charitable as they had been pious, andgenerously shared with them the spoils of their hunting, giving them food enough to lastfor several days.
A further and more intimate intercourse with this tribe gave Captain Bonneville stillgreater cause to admire their strong devotional feeling. "Simply to call these peoplereligious," says he, "would convey but a faint idea of the deep hue of piety and devotionwhich pervades their whole conduct. Their honesty is immaculate, and their purity ofpurpose, and their observance of the rites of their religion, are most uniform andremarkable. They are, certainly, more like a nation of saints than a horde of savages."In fact, the antibelligerent policy of this tribe may have sprung from the doctrines ofChristian charity, for it would appear that they had imbibed some notions of theChristian faith from Catholic missionaries and traders who had been among them. Theyeven had a rude calendar of the fasts and festivals of the Romish Church, and sometraces of its ceremonials. These have become blended with their own wild rites, andpresent a strange medley; civilized and barbarous. On the Sabbath, men, women, andchildren array themselves in their best style, and assemble round a pole erected at thehead of the camp. Here they go through a wild fantastic ceremonial; stronglyresembling the religious dance of the Shaking Quakers; but from its enthusiasm, muchmore striking and impressive. During the intervals of the ceremony, the principal chiefs,who officiate as priests, instruct them in their duties, and exhort them to virtue and gooddeeds.
"There is something antique and patriarchal," observes Captain Bonneville, "in thisunion of the offices of leader and priest; as there is in many of their customs andmanners, which are all strongly imbued with religion."The worthy captain, indeed, appears to have been strongly interested by this gleam ofunlooked for light amidst the darkness of the wilderness. He exerted himself, during hissojourn among this simple and well-disposed people, to inculcate, as far as he wasable, the gentle and humanizing precepts of the Christian faith, and to make themacquainted with the leading points of its history; and it speaks highly for the purity andbenignity of his heart, that he derived unmixed happiness from the task.
"Many a time," says he, "was my little lodge thronged, or rather piled with hearers, forthey lay on the ground, one leaning over the other, until there was no further room, alllistening with greedy ears to the wonders which the Great Spirit had revealed to thewhite man. No other subject gave them half the satisfaction, or commanded half theattention; and but few scenes in my life remain so freshly on my memory, or are sopleasurably recalled to my contemplation, as these hours of intercourse with a distantand benighted race in the midst of the desert."The only excesses indulged in by this temperate and exemplary people, appear to begambling and horseracing. In these they engage with an eagerness that amounts toinfatuation. Knots of gamblers will assemble before one of their lodge fires, early in theevening, and remain absorbed in the chances and changes of the game until long afterdawn of the following day. As the night advances, they wax warmer and warmer. Betsincrease in amount, one loss only serves to lead to a greater, until in the course of asingle night's gambling, the richest chief may become the poorest varlet in the camp. [Return to Contents].
