DENIO] THE ASSINIBOIN 601 



tell you. you will behold a poor, naked, starved nation, have pity on 

 them? I believe he did, he was a chief, a man of sense, a rich man, 

 and no doubt said, ' Give away a portion of your good things to the 

 Indian, let him feel something soft on his back. He is not an ani- 

 mal, his body is not covered with hair like the buffalo, but he is a 

 man like yourself and requires clothing to protect himself from the 

 cold. Are you not aware Indians freeze to death? ' 38 



" When this big fort was built, when the first whites opened the 

 road up the Missouri, they found us with bone knives, stone axes, 

 clay pots, stone arrow points, bone awls, and nothing but the bow 

 and arrow to kill game ; they had pity on us, and exchanged for our 

 skins iron arms and utensils. 37 In this they did well; they bettered 

 the Indian : they made themselves rich. They had sense. They also 

 gave us good words, and I have recollected them; they have been 

 handed down to us when children, and all good Indians remember. 

 1 was told if you meet a white man give him your hand, take him 

 to your lodge, give him to eat, let him have lodging, show him the 

 road. I have done so. 



" If you meet him while on the warpath, do not steal his horse or 

 rob him of his property. If others steal his horses, bring them back; 

 if any of the fort property is damaged, pay for it. I have done so. 

 I was told to hunt, make robes, trade the skins for blankets, arms, 

 and ammunition. All this I have continued to do from my youth 

 to the present time. My part has been fulfilled. Yet you see me 

 before you still a poor man. I stand nearly alone in the village, 

 like an aged tree whose tops are dead. The bones of my friends 

 and relatives are piled around the fort or scattered over the plains. 

 All the good, all the wise, all the handsome, all the brave were 

 rubbed out by the smallpox. Young men are growing, but they 

 are not like those of the old stock. 



"The road to the fort gates has been swept free of grass by the 

 feet of my people in coming to trade. Each year we have loaded 

 your boats with the skins of our animals, and I now bring a few 

 more. The 10 robes laid before you are a present, for which I desire 

 nothing. I wish to make your heart glad and to have my name 

 remembered on the large books. 38 I know very well you are a chief 

 and will have pity on me. Let me feel something soft over my 

 shoulders. 30 Bestow some glittering mark on my back, 40 cover my 



"Four Indians had at this time been frozen to death near his camp in a snowstorm. 

 37 When the trade of tie Missouri was opened the Assiniboin were the poorest of all 

 nations, and have remained so to this day. 



118 It is customary to keep a list of men who behave well and make large trades. 

 " A blanket is wanted. 

 10 Hint for a chief a coat. 



88253°— 30 39 



