When you go in, they begin a list of things which they
want - blankets, powder, tobacco, &c.; always concluding with, "Tea, for
God's sake!" for they have renounced the worship of the Great Spirit for a
corrupted form of Christianity.
We were received in one camp by two very handsome squaws, mother and
daughter, who spoke broken English, and were very neat and clean. The
floor was thickly strewn with the young shoots of the var, and we sat down
with them for half an hour. The younger squaw, a girl of sixteen, was very
handsome and coquettish. She had a beautiful cap, worked in beads, which
she would not put on at the request of any of the ladies; but directly Mr.
Kenjins hinted a wish to that effect, she placed it coquettishly on her
head, and certainly looked most bewitching. Though only sixteen, she had
been married two years, and had recently lost her twins. Mr. Kenjins asked
her the meaning of an Indian phrase. She replied in broken English, "What
one little boy say to one little girl: I love you." "I suppose your
husband said so to you before you were married?" "Yes, and he say so now,"
she replied, and both she and her mother laughed long and uncontrollably.
These Indians retain few of their ancient characteristics, except their
dark complexions and their comfortless nomade way of living. They are not
represented in the Legislative Assembly.
Very different are the Indians of Central America, the fierce Sioux,
Comanches, and Blackfeet.
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