INDIANS. 
177 
mimity, and under our own roof, declaring themselves heathens ! 
They paid very little attention to the objects about them, until 
the youngest of the three observed a small Chinese basket on a 
table near her. She rose silently, took the basket in her hand, 
examined it carefiiUy, made a single exclamation of pleasure, and 
then exchanged a few words with her companions in their own 
wild but musical tongue. They all seemed struck with this spe- 
cimen of Chinese ingenuity. They asked, as usual, for bread and 
cold meat, and a supply was cheerfully given them, with the ad- 
dition of some cake, about which they appeared to care very 
little. In the mean time a messenger had been sent to one of the 
shops of the village, where toys and knicknacks for children were 
sold, and he returned with a handful of copper rings and brooches, 
pewter medals, and bits of bright ribbons, Avhich were presented 
to our guests ; the simple creatures looking much gratified, as 
well as surprised, although their thanks were brief, and they still 
kept up the true Indian etiquette of mastering all emotion. They 
were, indeed, very silent, and unwilling to talk, so that it w\as not 
easy to gather much information from them ; but their whole ap- 
pearance was so much more Indian than we had been prepared 
for, while their manners were so gentle and womanly, so free 
from anything coarse or rude in the midst of their untutored ig- 
norance, that we were much pleased with the visit. Later in the 
day we went to their camp, as they always call their halting- 
place ; here we found several children and two men of the family. 
These last were evidently full-blooded Indians, with every mark 
of their race stamped upon them ; but, alas ! not a trace of the 
brave" about either. Both had that heavy, sensual, spiritless 
expression, the stamp of vice, so painful to behold on the human 
8* 
