Five weeks had passed since I left our camp to accompany the Indians, and thus far I had enjoyed myself.
The Indians were very kind to me, and all were anxious that I should learn their language. While traveling, the young men would walk with me, show me the "cut off," or nearest way to a certain point we would have to pass, and every day I would learn a new word or two.
I started with one pair of old shoes, which lasted me but two weeks, when one of the chiefs presented me with a new pair of buckskin moccasins. For this kind act I blessed him in the name of the Lord. I found them very easy to my feet, and could walk much better with them than with shoes. After a time, though, they began to show signs of wear, and one day when walking with the son of a chief, he looked at my feet and saw my toe sticking through my moccasin. He immediately said, pashee (which means "no good,") pulled off his own moccasins and handed them to me, telling me to put them on, which I did, and he put on mine. His were new, but he appeared quite pleased that he had them to give to me.
Footnotes
1.—Morie-tongar, is the name they give to all Americans. Morie is knife, and Tongar is large knife. The first Americans they ever saw all had swords, which they called large knives; hence their name.
CHAPTER V.
A BUFFALO HUNT—A THRILLING SIGHT—CONVERSATIONS WITH THE INDIANS—SCURVY—ANSWER TO PRAYER.
At this time we had an abundance of buffalo, deer and elk meat, killing from five to forty buffaloes in one day, and as I have witnessed several of these buffalo hunts, I will tell my young readers how the Indians proceed in hunting and killing them.
In the first place, there is a chief or president over every company starting out to hunt, so that good order may be kept; otherwise the buffaloes would be frightened away, and perhaps only one or two of a large herd be killed.