to
a bead or pin, is brought to you, if found; and often, things that have
been thrown away. Neither have I known any quarrelling, nor lying. This
absence of all quarrelling the more surprised me, when I came to see the
various occasions that would have given rise to it among the whites: the
crowding together of from twelve to eighteen hundred horses, which have
to be driven into camp at night, to be picketed, to be packed in the
morning; the gathering of fuel in places where it is extremely scanty.
All this, however, is done without confusion or disturbance.

"They have a mild, playful, laughing disposition; and this is portrayed
in their countenances. They are polite, and unobtrusive. When one
speaks, the rest pay strict attention: when he is done, another assents
by 'yes,' or dissents by 'no;' and then states his reasons, which are
listened to with equal attention. Even the children are more peaceable
than any other children. I never heard an angry word among them, nor
any quarrelling; although there were, at least, five hundred of them
together, and continually at play. With all this quietness of spirit,
they are brave when put to the test; and are an overmatch for an equal
number of Blackfeet."

The foregoing observations, though gathered from Mr. Wyeth as relative
to the Flatheads, apply, in the main, to the Skynses also. Captain
Bonneville, during his sojourn with the latter, took constant occasion,
in conversing with their principal men, to encourage them in the
cultivation of moral and religious habits; drawing a comparison between
their peaceable and comfortable course of life and that of other tribes,
and attributing it to their superior sense of morality and religion. He
frequently attended their religious services, with his people; always
enjoining on the latter the most reverential deportment; and he observed
that the poor Indians were always pleased to have the white men present.

The disposition of these tribes is evidently favorable to a considerable
degree of civilization. A few farmers settled among them might lead
them, Captain Bonneville thinks, to till the earth and cultivate grain;
the country of the Skynses and Nez Perces is admirably adapted for the
raising of cattle. A Christian missionary or two, and some trifling
assistance from government, to protect them from the predatory and
warlike tribes, might lay the foundation of a Christian people in the
midst of the great western wilderness, who