At ten o'clock the Skyuse assembled for worship in the open air. The exercises were according to the Presbyterian form; the invocation, the hymn, the prayer, the hymn, the sermon, a prayer, a hymn, and the blessing; all in the Nez Percés tongue. The principal peculiarity about the services was the mode of delivering the discourse. When Dr. Whitman arose and announced the text, the Indian who had been instructed on the previous night, rose and repeated it; and as the address proceeded, repeated it also by sentence or paragraph, till it was finished. This is the custom of {149} the Skyuse in all their public speaking. The benefit resulting from it in this case, apparently, was the giving the doctrines which the Doctor desired to inculcate, a clearer expression in the proper idiom of the language.
During the recess, the children were assembled in sabbath school. In the afternoon, the service was similar to that of the morning. Every thing was conducted with much solemnity. After worship, the Indians gathered in their lodges, and conversed together concerning what they had heard. If doubt arose as to any point, it was solved by the instructed Indian. Thus passed the sabbath among the Skyuse.
On the 29th, I hired Crickie to take me to the Dalles; and, Mrs. Whitman having filled my sacks with bread, corn-meal, and other edibles, I lashed my packs once more for the lower Columbia.
FOOTNOTES:
[183] The river was named by Captain William Clark in honor of his fellow explorer, Captain Meriwether Lewis, the latter being the first white man to visit its banks. Later, the term Snake was more frequently applied, because that tribe of Indians ranged within the basin of this river. The word Saptin (Shahaptin) is derived from a stock of Indians, of whom the Nez Percés are the most prominent branch.—Ed.
[184] By Long's range, Farnham intends what is now known as Front range, with Long's Peak, James's (now Pike's) Peak, and Pike's (now the Spanish Peaks) as its outposts. For his use of these terms see ante, pp. [111], [184], [283], notes 50, 111, 166. The Great Gap is South Pass, for which see our volume xxi, p. 58, note 37.—Ed.
[185] These spurs are the boundaries of South and Middle Parks, for which see ante, pp. [199], [221], notes 123, 132.—Ed.
[186] The range described by Farnham as the Snowy Mountains, refers to the Sierra Nevada; but is an incorrect description. The mountains he saw north-east and north-west of Fort Hall, covered with perpetual snow, were part of the main Rocky Mountains trending westward from Yellowstone Park. The President's range is that now known as Cascade Mountains, in which Mounts Jefferson and Adams perpetuate the memory of those early executives.—Ed.
[187] For a brief description of this range see Townsend's Narrative in our volume xxi, p. 184, note 35.—Ed.
[188] For these three streams, which rise farther west than here indicated, see De Smet's Letters in our volume xxvii, p. 224, note 92.—Ed.