the red-coats went away and never came back again. Later 

 on there was war between the white men of this land and 

 those that lived far away towards the southwest. I did not see 

 any of the things that were done in these wars, for they weie 

 too far off, and all I ever knew about them was told me by 

 the crows and other birds. 



"It was some years before the happening of this last war 

 I have just mentioned that I first saw any of the white people 

 of this country. They came, in the beginning, in very small 

 parties; usually not moie than two would be together. They 

 had long hair and beards, and were roughly dressed — mostly 

 in the skins of animals. They looked wild and savage, acted 

 as if suspicious and uneasy, and would often stop and look 

 all around and listen. In their rambles they seemed to con- 

 fine themselves to the banks of the river and of the little 

 streams that flowed into it. I couldn't see them doing any- 

 thing, and I wondered what they weie after or what they 

 could be wanting. But the crows soon found out and told 

 me. The business of these men was to catch, with some kind 

 of a trap, the beavers who had their homes in the river and 

 the creeks. They caught them for the purpose of getting 

 their skins, which it seems these white people coveted very 

 much. The red people did not like to have the beavers de- 

 stroyed in this way, and whenever they got a good chance, 

 would kill these white trappers and break their traps to pieces, 

 and it was this danger that caused the killers of the poor 

 beavers to be so watchful and guarded in everything they did. 



' ' It was while the war was on I have mentioned between 

 the people of this country and those off toward the southwest 

 that a few new and strange kind of men came to this region. 

 They wore a different kind of garb from anything I had ever 

 seen before. Their outer garment was a long black dress or 

 gown, that came down nearly to their feet. And around their 

 necks, and hanging down on their breasts, they wore chains 

 of beads, and from the center of each chain was suspended a 

 small bright object that glittered in the sun. I learned that 

 the red men called these new-comers great medicine men, and 

 said that they talked much about a Great Spirit who lived 



15 



