308 FLATHEAD CAMP. 



of the Muscle Shell, when we found them encamped in a very beautiful valley, formed by the 

 rocky bluffs of a deep ravine. 



The first few miles of the journey lay over a very rough and rugged country, that led through 

 a deep, wide valley, which was bounded on .each side by high, steep, rocky hills. This rock 

 was hard sandstone, the strata of which were horizontal. This formation I could trace by its 

 exposure for many miles, which extended back inlo the prairie. About fifty miles from the 

 Muscle Shell the country changes into a large and beautiful prairie, which is dotted by many 

 large and beautiful lakes, in which we found the greatest abundance of ducks and geese. Much 

 game of every kind was to be found through this portion of the country. No streams were to be 

 seen in fact no water, save that of the lakes, and the very many coulees to be found through 

 the whole section of the country. About 7 o clock of this day we neared the Indian camp. Their 

 horses I could see at the distance of many miles, being so very numerous. I took them, to be a 

 large band of buffalo ; but by a nearer approach, and with the aid of my glass, I soon saw they 

 were horses. When the guide and myself had reached their camp, three or four men met us at 

 the entrance, and invited us to enter the lodge of the chief. They very kindly took care of our 

 horses, unsaddling and watering them. As soon as the camp had heard of the arrival of a white 

 man among them, the principal men of the tribe congregated in the lodge of the chief. When 

 they had all assembled, by a signal from their chief they offered up a prayer. This astonished 

 me ; it was something for which I had not been prepared. Every one was upon his knees, and 

 in the most solemn and reverential manner offered up a prayer to God. For a moment I asked 

 myself, was I among Indians? Was I among those termed by everyone savages ? I could 

 scarcely realize it. To think that these men should be thus imbued, and so deeply too, with the 

 principles of religion, was to me overwhelming. 



After the prayer, I asked if there was any one in the camp who could speak English. This 

 question to them was like Hebrew; they understood me not. I then asked, in French, if there 

 was any one who could speak French. At this, one spoke up that he could. Imagine my feel 

 ings of joy at this. It fully and amply repaid me for the many and frequent annoyances that I 

 had met with in studying the language, for I had started without an interpreter, trusting to fortune 

 to find some one who could understand me. 1 requested him to act as my interpreter for the 

 remainder of his tribe. He was a full-blooded Flathead, and he told me he had learned to speak 

 French on the prairie, among the French Canadians and the French half-breeds. I explained 

 to him in detail the object of my visit to their camp ; that I had come among them having a 

 message from their father, which came from the Great Father, who requested them to send their 

 principal chiefs and braves to meet their agent west of the Rocky mountains, and that I desired 

 them to accompany me to the St. Mary s village, west of the mountains; that my sole purpose 

 among them was for the good and welfare of their tribe, and I explained to them the benefit and 

 necessity of some of them going with me. The chief told me that he would let me know in the 

 morning what he thought of it, and had in the meanwhile prepared for me a supper of boiled 

 buffalo-tongues, and a bed of buffalo-robes, upon which I slept soundly till morning, when I was 

 aroused by the same men, who had assembled before I had arisen, singing and praying. The 

 interpreter being present with the remainder, I asked him what the chief thought of my propo 

 sition that some of the chiefs should accompany me. He said he was opposed to it; but that he, 

 with all his lodges, would move off to see the Governor, killing game on the road. He said that 

 they had crossed the mountains to kill meat for the winter for themselves and family, and that 

 they could not think of going singly. I explained to him the impossibility of his seeing the 

 Governor at all by travelling with all his lodges, for he would necessarily be compelled to travel 

 slowly, and that I desired to travel quickly in order to arrive west of the mountains in good sea 

 son. I told him it was not absolutely necessary for him to go, but that he could send some of 

 his principal men. Finally, after much persuasion, this he consented to do, and said he would 

 give me five, who were accordingly ordered to accompany me ; one, however, of the number, not 



