JOHN WESLEY POWELL. 39 



The three men who climbed the canyon wall and thus escaped 

 the dangers of the river, ran unwittingly into still greater peril and 

 never reached the settlements. Their story was not fully known 

 until the autumn of the following year, when Professor Powell en- 

 camped with a band of Plateau Indians, the Kai'-vav-its, was vis- 

 ited by Indians of another band, the Shi'-vwitz. 



"This evening, the Shi'-vwitz, for whom we have sent, come 

 in, and, after supper, we hold a long council. A blazing fire is 

 built, and around this we sit the Indians living here, the Shi'- 

 vwits, Jacob Hamblin, and myself. Hamblin speaks their language 

 well, and has a great influence over all the Indians in the region 

 round about. He is a silent, reserved man, and when he speaks 

 it is in a low, quiet way that inspires great awe. His talk is so 

 low that they must listen attentively to hear, and they sit around 

 him in deathlike silence. When he finishes a measured sentence, 

 the chief repeats it, and they all give a solemn grunt. But, first, 

 I fill my pipe, light it, and take a few whiffs, then pass it to Ham- 

 blin; he smokes, and gives it to the man next, and so it goes 

 around. When it has passed the chief, he takes out his own pipe, 

 fills, and lights it, and passes it around after mine. I can smoke 

 my own pipe in turn, but when the Indian pipe comes around I 

 am nonplussed. It has a large stem, which has, at some time, been 

 broken, and now there is a buckskin rag wound around it, and tied 

 with sinew, so that the end of the stem is a huge mouthful, and 

 looks like the burying ground of old dead spittle, venerable for a 

 century. To gain time, I refill it, then engage in very earnest con- 

 versation, and, all unawares, I pass it to my neighbor unlighted. 



"I tell the Indians that I wish to spend some months in their 

 country during the coming year, and that I would like them to 

 treat me as a friend. I do not wish to trade; do not want their 

 lands. Heretofore I have found it very difficult to make the natives 

 understand my object, but the gravity of the Mormon missionary 

 helps me much. I tell them that all the great and good white men 

 are anxious to know very many things; that they spend much time 

 in learning, and that the greatest man is he who knows the most. 

 They want to know all about the mountains and the valleys, the 

 rivers and the canyons, the beasts, and birds, and snakes. Then 

 I tell them of many Indian tribes, and where they live; of the Eu- 

 ropean nations; of the Chinese, of Africans, and all the strange 

 things about them that come to my mind. I tell them of the ocean, 

 of great rivers and high mountains, of strange beasts and birds. 

 At last I tell them I wish to learn about their canyons and moun- 



