reached the encampment of Pigewis, the chief
of the Red River Indians; and on pitching our tents for the night a
little way farther up on the banks of the river, he came with his
eldest son and another Indian and drank tea with me in the evening. It
was the first time that I had met with him, since I received the
encouraging information from the Church Missionary Society, relative to
the Mission School at the Colony, and I was glad of the opportunity of
assuring him, through the aid of an interpreter, who was of our party,
"that many, very many in my country wished the Indians to be taught
white man's knowledge of the Great Spirit, and as a proof of their love
to them, my countrymen had told me to provide for the clothing,
maintenance, and education of many of their children; and had sent out
the young person whom he then saw to teach the little girls who might
be sent to the school for instruction." Though not easily persuaded
that you act from benevolent motives; he said _it was good!_ and
promised to tell all his tribe what I said about the children, and that
I should have two of his boys to instruct in the Spring, but added,
that 'the Indians like to have time to consider about these matters.'
We smoked the calumet, and after pausing a short time, he shrewdly
asked me what I would do with the children after they were taught what
I wished them to know. I told him they might return to their parents if
they wished it, but my hope was that they would see the advantage of
making gardens, and cultivating the soil, so as not to be exposed to
hunger and starvation, as the Indians generally were, who had to wander
and hunt for their provisions. The little girls, I observed, would be
taught to knit, and make articles of clothing to wear, like those which
white people wore; and all would be led to read the Book that the Great
Spirit had given to them, which the Indians had not yet known, and
which would teach them how to live well and to die happy. I added, that
it was the will of the Great Spirit, which he had declared in His Book,
'that a man should have but one wife, and a woman but one husband.' He
smiled at this information, and said that 'he thought that there was no
more harm in Indians having two wives than one of the settlers,' whom
he named. I grieved for the depravity of Europeans as noticed by the
heathen, and as raising a stumbling block in the way of their receiving
instruction, and our conversation closed upon th