IMPUNITY OF LUNATICS. 65 



paper ; and these, he told me, were the beginnings of a new 

 religion, which was being revealed to him by degrees. He 

 assured me that there was more of it on the paper then than 

 there had been a short time before ; and that soon the whole of 

 it would be there, when he would be the greatest chief in North 

 America. 



Of course I did not attempt to put him right, as he would 

 not have believed me and might have turned me out, which 

 would have been very awkward just then. It seems that the 

 service had been a series of prayers to the new God, and that 

 the five Indians were the only converts he had made so far. 



One great reason for my safety while with him was that 

 most of the Indians looked upon him as a madman ; and, as 

 such, under the special protection of the " Great Spirit/' I 

 have seen a good many lunatics in Indian camps, and they were 

 always well cared for, and perfectly safe from everyone, no 

 matter what they might do. One of them has taken a chief's 

 gun from a lodge in which I was sitting and walked away with 

 it ; and the chief has only followed him on the chance of his 

 laying it down, and never dreamt of taking it from him. 



The camp broke up on the morning of the second day, much 

 to my delight as I had had to remain the whole time in the tent, 

 and had been constantly stared at by hundreds of Indians, who 

 were coming in and going out all day long, evidently hoping to 

 get presents ; but my host advised me not to give any, as I had 

 not enough for all and should consequently only make enemies; 

 but I found out afterwards that he hoped I would give the 

 whole of them to him for having saved my life. 



I remained another day with my old friend, who was called 

 "White Hawk" (a most inappropriate name, as he was one of 



