station of St. Francis {92} Borgia,[71] presented themselves at the baptismal font. Five chiefs were among the number; the most distinguished are Stiettiedloodsho, or chieftain of the Tribe Valiant; Selpisto, the head chieftain, and Chalax, that is to say the White Robe, surnamed the Juggler or great medicine man.[72] The word medicine man, in their language, is synonymous with juggler.
How consoling it is to pour the regenerating waters of baptism on the furrowed and scarified brows of these desert warriors,—to behold these children of the plains and forests emerging from that profound ignorance and superstition in which they have been for so many ages deeply and darkly enveloped; to see them embrace the faith and all its sacred practices, with an eagerness, an attention, a zeal, worthy the pristine Christians.
Were I to give you the history of these chiefs, I should greatly exceed the limits I have proposed. Suffice it to say, that these heroes of the Rocky Mountains have been for years the terror of their enemies. Chalax had acquired great celebrity as a juggler, and in predicting future events; if we may credit the Kalispels and the whites who have travelled in company with him, these prophecies have been verified. {93} He indicated the day, the place, and the number of Blackfeet who would attack their camp. Having interrogated him relative to this affair, he, with great simplicity and candor, replied: "I am called the
