CONCLUSION. 



393 



tributing my riches among my relations and friends ! 

 Alas for the intense desire I had experienced to figure 

 before European eyes in my Sioux bravery ! I was com- 

 pelled to renounce all hope of this innocent gratification. 

 Bon gre, mal gre, " willy nilly " (as old English writers 

 say), I was compelled to resign myself philosophically to 

 my fate, and, with a noble mental resolution, I resolved 

 to think no more of a loss which could not be repaired. 



And thus, of my residence among the Redskins, and of 

 my musical lessons to the Indian beauty, the only sou- 

 venirs which I, at this hour, retain, are a bow and a few 

 arrows ; a pouch for powder and lead, embroidered with 

 porcupine-quills ; and my panther-skin. Who knows 

 what has become of the remainder of my curiosities'? 

 Whose shoulders, I wonder, are decorated with my pre- 

 cious furs ? 



Here ends the narrative of my excursions as a hunter 

 among the forests, mountains, and prairies of 



THE FAR WEST. 



