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.
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