"Accustomed," adds Captain Bonneville, "as I had heretofore been, to
find the wretched Indian revelling in blood, and stained by every vice
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.
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