[119] In Voyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses, containing the French original of this letter, Father de Smet classes the Paiute and Yampah Ute with the Sampeetches as the tribes called by the French les Dignes de pitié.—Ed.
[120] The following account of the religious beliefs relates to the mountain tribes with whom De Smet was most familiar, chiefly those of the Salishan stock.—Ed.
[121] A Canadian Missionary, who lived for a long time among the savages, gives the following account of the popular tradition of the Indians respecting the creation of the world:—"Water, they say, was every where formerly; and Wiskain, a spirit, or subordinate deity, commanded the castor to dive into it, in order to procure some earth. The castor obeyed the order, but he was so fat that he could not possibly descend to the bottom, and he had to return without any earth. Wiskain, nothing discouraged, charged the musk-rat with the commission which the castor was unable to perform. The new messenger having remained a long while under water, and with as little success as the castor, returned almost drowned. The rat expected that he should not be required a second time, as he had already nearly lost his life. But Wiskain, who was not discouraged by obstacles, directed the rat to dive again, promising him, that if he should happen to be drowned, he (Wiskain) would restore him to life. The rat dived a second time, and made the greatest efforts to comply with Wiskain's orders. After remaining a considerable while under the water, he arose to the surface, but so exhausted by fatigue that he was insensible. Wiskain, upon a careful and minute examination, finds at length in the claws of the poor animal a little earth, upon which he breathes with such effect, that it begins to augment rapidly. When he had thus blown for a long time, feeling anxious to know if the earth was large enough, he ordered the crow, which at that period was as white as the swan, to fly round it, and take its dimensions. The crow did accordingly, and returned, saying that the work was too small. Wiskain set about blowing upon the earth with renewed ardour, and directed the crow to make a second tour round it, cautioning him, at the same time, not to feed upon any carcass that he might see on the way. The crow set off again without complaint, and found, at the place which had been pointed out, the carcass which he was forbidden to touch. But, having grown hungry on the way, and being also, perhaps, excited by gluttony, he filled himself with the infected meat, and on his return to Wiskain, informed him that the earth was large enough, and that he need not, therefore, resume his work. But the unfaithful messenger, at his return, found himself as black as he had been white at his setting out, and was thus punished for his disobedience, and the black colour communicated to his descendants." The above tradition, which bears some striking vestiges of the tradition respecting original sin, and several circumstances of the deluge, makes no mention whatever of the creation of man and woman; and, however illogical it may be, it is, perhaps, not more ridiculous than the systems of certain pretended philosophers of the last century, who, in hatred of revelation, have endeavoured to explain the formation of the earth, by substituting their extravagant reveries for the Mosaic account.—De Smet.
[122] For Pierre's Hole (Peter's Valley) see Wyeth's Oregon, in our volume xxi, p. 63, note 41. Concerning the hostile and implacable character of the Blackfeet tribes consult Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, p. 220, note 120; also Maximilian's Travels, in our volume xxiii, pp. 90-92.—Ed.
[123] For a description of these hats, woven chiefly by the Pacific coast Indians, and an article of traffic with the interior, see Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, iii, pp. 294, 296, 359-361.—Ed.
[124] Compare with this the description of the Flatheads given in 1814 by Ross Cox, Adventures on the Columbia River (New York, 1832), pp. 121-127.—Ed.
[125] Probably our author here refers to the sage-brush of the Western plains, Artemisia tridentata.—Ed.
[126] De Smet had accompanied the Indians in their journey from Pierre's Hole westward and then northward along the Teton River to its junction with the Henry; thence they proceeded up that stream to its source in Henry Lake, the northeastern corner of Idaho. As the source of a chief fork of the Snake, this is one of the mountain origins of the Columbia. It was named for Andrew Henry, an adventurous trader, for whom see our volume xv, p. 246, note 107.—Ed.
[127] Probably the stream that runs into Red Rock Lake, in southwestern Montana, the source of Jefferson River, the main branch of the Missouri.—Ed.
[128] This was the main chain of the Rockies, on the boundary between Idaho and Montana, just above the present Reynolds Pass.—Ed.