Francis Parkman 245 



his movements with a suspicious eye." Mr. Park- 

 man once told me that it was rare for a young 

 brave to obtain full favour with the women with- 

 out having at least one scalp to show ; and this 

 fact was one of the secret sources of danger which 

 the ordinary white visitor would never think of. 

 Peril is also liable to lurk in allowing one's self to 

 be placed in a ludicrous light among these people ; 

 accordingly, whenever such occasions arose, Park- 

 man knew enough to " maintain a rigid, inflexible 

 countenance, and [thus] wholly escaped their sal- 

 lies." He understood that his rifle and pistols 

 were the only friends on whom he could invariably 

 rely when alone among Indians. His own observa- 

 tion taught him " the extreme folly of confidence, 

 and the utter impossibility of foreseeing to what 

 sudden acts the strange, unbridled impulses of an 

 Indian may urge him. When among this people, 

 danger is never so near as when you are unpre- 

 pared for it, never so remote as when you are 

 armed and on the alert to meet it at any moment. 

 Nothing offers so strong a temptation to their 

 ferocious instincts as the appearance of timidity, 

 weakness, or security." 



The immense importance of this sojourn in the 

 wilderness, in its relation to Parkman's life work, is 

 obvious. Knowledge, intrepidity, and tact carried 



