most of their lives. That I had mine I do not deny;
and how much this had to do with my remaining
here I do not care to say. JSTor can I bring my will
to write of myself in this connection. These things
must remain untold. They were sincere then, and
shall be sacred now.
At night, when no wars or excitement of any kind stirred the village, they would gather in the chiefs or other great bark lodges around the fires, and tell and listen to stories ; a red wall of men in a great circle, the women a little back, and the children still behind, asleep in the skins and blankets. How silent ! You never hear but one voice at a time in an Indian village.
The Indians say the Great Spirit made this moun tain first of all. Can you not see how it is ? they say. He first pushed down snow and ice from the skies through a hole which he made in the blue heavens by turning a stone round and round, till he made this great mountain, then he stepped out of the clouds on to the mountain top, and descended and planted the trees all around by putting his finger on the ground. Simple and sublime !
The sun melted the snow, and the water ran down and nurtured the trees and made the rivers. After that he made the fish for the rivers out of the small end of his staff. He made the birds by blowing some leaves which he took up from the ground among the trees. After that he made the beasts out of the remainder of his stick, but made t
