4 PAWNEES. 



returned and reported to their people tales of h;irdsliip 

 M'hieh are scareely credited. But with our own i)eo[)le a 

 much larjjer interest seems to be felt in tlie barbarous na- 

 tions of the old world, than in their not less barbarous 

 neiirhbors on this side of the watei*. There are many more 

 travellers from France amon<r the western Indians than from 

 the United States. The French lan<rua<re is used more in the 

 Indian country than En*rlish. If von would obtain an»inter- 

 preterinthe Indian Territoiy, it is always necessarytoiret one 

 from the French. The customs and habits of most of the 

 tribes have undoul)tedly been much modified by thcii' iutei'- 

 course with the French i)eoi)le, who have been anu)n^" them 

 both as traders and travelers. I am convinced that their re- 

 ligious views are in some measure shaped by the superstition 

 of the French Roman Catholic poi)ulatiou, with which they 

 have become accjuainted. But to all, whether Fivnch oi' 

 P^nglish, they })rcsent many interesting topics of en(|uiry. 

 Those W'ho are farthest removed from the borders oi' civili- 

 zation, are living the simplest life in which it seems i)ossible 

 for man to subsist. If the sentiment of the poet expressed 

 with so much beauty 



" Man want^ Init little hero Ijelow, 

 Nor wants that little long," 



be true any where, it is emphatically so of the native in- 

 habitants of our western prairies. It lequires l)ut a vci\ 

 little to meet all the wants of a barl)arous i)('ople, and it 

 may well be doubted whether a great proportion of the 

 wants of man in civilized life, are not rather imafjinarv than 

 real. Many of those things we call luxuries and perhaps 

 some we call necessaries, are but passports to hasten oin* 

 journey to the tomb. Civilized man, with all his boasts of 

 improvement in his mode of living, is not capable of en- 

 during fatigue like one he calls savage, and who is content 

 to dress in the skin of the buffalo, to lire in a rude wigwam, 

 and to cook his food by the otfal of the wild l^easts. The 

 woman of civilized life wonld instantly break down under 

 a tithe of the hardships of her sister in a barljarous state. 

 After all we cannot recommend the life of a savage. With 



