BOURGEOIS - Toronto Public Library

THE MISSISSOURI INDIANS 357
outside of the village to depose it as an offering to his God, and
singing a lamen table dirge as he went on.
Tired of so dreadful a scene, I withdrew and n:tllrned to my
quarters, where I found the guards of police indulging with the
girls during the absence of their parents. As to the warriors,
the sun was high the next mornillg before the last of them left
his companions stand at the beam to take his painful tum
before the old priest.
The old priest was handsomely rewarded for his trouble and
attendance, the young warriors on whom he operated so signally
loaded him with presents, and, the Ilext morning, he was one of
the richest men in the village.
The Indians, as it is well known, are extremely attached to
their children, and become inconsolable when they have the
misfortune of losing any of them; such is their distress, that
they throwaway all their property, cut off joints of their
fingers and commit a thousand extravagances; on the other
hand, they are cruel enemies, and will go any length for
revenge. Still there are surprising instances of generosity
evinced among them. The following, in particulal', deserves to
be mentioned.
In the fall of 180l, a party of Enasa1l beiug in need went
towards the Rocky Mountains in search of horses, which they
determined to make their own, wherever found. After travelling
several days in vain through ext.ensive plains, tlley came to the
foot of the Rocky Mountains and resolved upon cl'o:3sing them.
In a valley beyond the first range, they discovered a small cam[l
of Flat-head or Snal{e Indians of four 01' five tents, which, in
the followiug night, they approached. At day break next
morning, the men of the l:amp mounted their horses and roue
off for the chase. The warriors t.aking advalltage of the absence
of the men, fell upon the camp and destroyed a!l the women
and children within their reach and carried away the property.