308 
FLATHEAD CAMP. 
of the Muscle Shell, when we found them encamped in a very beautiful valley, formed by the 
rocky bluffs of a deep ravine. 
The first few miles of the journey lay over a very rough and rugged country, that led through 
a deep, wide valley, which was bounded on each side by high, steep, rocky hills. This rock 
was hard sandstone, the strata of which were horizontal. This formation I could trace by its 
exposure for many miles, which extended back into the prairie. About fifty miles from the 
Muscle Shell the country changes into a large and beautiful prairie, which is dotted by many 
large and beautiful lakes, in which we found the greatest abundance of ducks and geese. Much 
game of every kind was to be found through this portion of the country. No streams were to be 
seen—in fact no water, save that of the lakes, and the very many coufoes to be found through 
the whole section of the country. About 7 o’clock of this day we neared the Indian camp. Their 
horses I could see at the distance of many miles, being so very numerous. I took them to be a 
large band of buffalo; but by a nearer approach, and with the aid of my glass, I soon saw they 
were horses. When the guide and myself had reached their camp, three or four men met us at 
the entrance, and invited us to enter the lodge of the chief. They very kindly took care of our 
horses, unsaddling and watering them. As soon as the camp had heard of the arrival of a white 
man among them, the principal men of the tribe congregated in the lodge of the chief. When 
they had all assembled, by a signal from their chief they offered up a prayer. This astonished 
me; it was something for which I had not been prepared. Every one was upon his knees, and 
in the most solemn and reverential manner offered up a prayer to God. For a moment I asked 
myself, was I among Indians? Was I among those termed by every one savages? I could 
scarcely realize it. To think that these men should be thus imbued, and so deeply too, with the 
principles of religion, was to me overwhelming. 
After the prayer, I asked if there was any one in the camp who could speak English. This 
question to them was like Hebrew; they understood me not. I then asked, in French, if there 
was any one who could speak French. At this, one spoke up that he could. Imagine my feel¬ 
ings of joy at this. It fully and amply repaid me for the many and frequent annoyances that I 
had met with in studying the language, for I had started without an interpreter, trusting to fortune 
to find some one who could understand me. I requested him to act as my interpreter for the 
remainder of his tribe. He was a full-blooded Flathead, and he told me he had learned to speak 
French on the prairie, among the French Canadians and the French half-breeds. I explained 
to him in detail the object of my visit to their camp; that I had come among them having a 
message from their father, which came from the Great Father, who requested them to send their 
principal chiefs and braves to meet their agent west of the Rocky mountains, and that I desired 
them to accompany me to the St. Mary’s village, west of the mountains; that my sole purpose 
among them was for the good and welfare of their tribe, and I explained to them the benefit and 
necessity of some of them going with me. The chief told me that he would let me know in the 
morning what he thought of it, and had in the meanwhile prepared for me a supper of boiled 
buffalo-tongues, and a bed of buffalo-robes, upon which I slept soundly till morning, when I was 
aroused by the same men, who had assembled before I had arisen, singing and praying. The 
interpreter being present with the remainder, I asked him what the chief thought of my propo¬ 
sition that some of the chiefs should accompany me. He said he was opposed to it; but that he, 
with all his lodges, would move off to see the Governor, killing game on the road. He said that 
they had crossed the mountains to kill meat for the winter for themselves and family, and that 
they could not think of going singly. I explained to him the impossibility of his seeing the 
Governor at all by travelling with all his lodges, for he would necessarily be compelled to travel 
slowly, and that I desired to travel quickly in order to arrive west of the mountains in good sea¬ 
son. I told him it was not absolutely necessary for him to go, but that he could send some of 
his principal men. Finally, after much persuasion, this he consented to do, and said he would 
give me five, who were accordingly ordered to accompany me; one, however, of the number, not 
