which can degrade human nature, I could scarcely realize the scene which
I had witnessed. Wonder at such unaffected tenderness and piety, where
it was least to have been sought, contended in all our bosoms with shame
and confusion, at receiving such pure and wholesome instructions from
creatures so far below us in the arts and comforts of life." The simple
prayers of the poor Indians were not unheard. In the course of four or
five days they returned, laden with meat. Captain Bonneville was curious
to know how they had attained such success with such scanty means. 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 made use of the same weapon to flay the carcasses. To carry
through their lessons to their Christian friends, the poor savages were
as charitable as they had been pious, and generously shared with them
the spoils of their hunting, giving them food enough to last for several
days.

A further and more intimate intercourse with this tribe gave Captain
Bonneville still greater cause to admire their strong devotional
feeling. "Simply to call these people religious," says he, "would convey
but a faint idea of the deep hue of piety and devotion which pervades
their whole conduct. Their honesty is immaculate, and their purity of
purpose, and their observance of the rites of their religion, are most
uniform and remarkable. 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 of Christian charity, for it would appear that they had
imbibed some notions of the Christian faith from Catholic missionaries
and traders who had been among them. They even had a rude calendar of
the fasts and festivals of the Romish Church, and some traces of its
ceremonials. These have become blended with their own wild rites, and
present a strange medley; civilized and barbarous. On the Sabbath, men,
women, and children array themselves in their best style, and assemble
round a pole erected at the head of the camp. Here they go through a
wild fantastic ceremonial; strongly resembling the religious dance of
the Shaking Quakers; but from its enthusiasm, much more 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 g