; but if he had offered twelve barrels of
flour, we would not have parted with them. (This was true.) But our
father, Rainville, has spoken; and we have pleasure in giving them to an
English warrior. I have spoken."

"Ho!" says I; upon which the Indian took his seat with the other; and it
was my turn to speak. I was very near beginning, "Unaccustomed as I am
to public speaking;" but I knew that such an acknowledgment would in
their estimation, have very much lessened my value as a warrior; for,
like the Duke of Wellington, one must be as valuable in the council as
in the field, to come up to their notions of excellence. So I rose, and
said--

"I receive with great pleasure the dress which you have given me.--I
know that you do not like to part with it, and that you have refused the
American at the fort, and I therefore value it the more. I shall never
look upon it, when I am on the other side of the great waters, without
thinking of my friends the Sioux; and I will tell my nation that you
gave them to me because I was an English warrior, and because you liked
the English."

"Ho!" grunted the whole conclave, after this was interpreted.

"I am very glad that you do not forget the English, and that you say
they kept their word, and that their rifles and blankets were good. I
know that the blankets of the Americans are thin and cold. (I did not
think it worth while to say that they were all made in England.) We
have buried the hatchet now; but should the tomahawk be raised again
between the Americans and the English, you must not take part with the
Americans."

"Ho!" said they.

"In the Fur Company's store you will find many things acceptable to you.
I leave Mr Rainville to select for you what you wish; and beg you will
receive them in return for the present which you have made me."

"Ho!" said they; and thus ended my first Indian council.

It is remarkable that the Sioux have no expression to signify, "I thank
you," although other Indians have. When they receive a present, they
always say, _Wash tay_: it is good.

Of all the tribes I believe the Sioux to be the most inimical to the
Americans. They have no hesitation in openly declaring so; and it must
be acknowledged that it is not without just grounds. During the time
that I was at St Peters, a council was held at the Indian agent's. It
appears that the American Government, in its paternal care for the
Indians, had decided that at any _strike_ taki