To the two excellent
missionaries I owe much, and with them I passed many happy hours.
We had brought a very extensive and very well selected library with us,
and under their care I soon became acquainted with the arts and sciences
of civilization; I studied history generally, and they also taught me
Latin and Greek, and I was soon master of many of the modern languages.
And as my studies were particularly devoted to the history of the
ancient people of Asia, to enable me to understand their theories and
follow up their favourite researches upon the origin of the great ruins
in Western and Central America, the slight knowledge which I had gained
at the Propaganda of Arabic and Sanscrit was now daily increased.
Such were my studies with the good fathers; the other portion of my
education was wholly Indian. I was put under the charge of a celebrated
old warrior of the tribe, and from him I learned the use of the bow, the
tomahawk, and the rifle; to throw the lasso, to manage the wildest
horse, to break in the untamed colt; and occasionally I was permitted
to accompany them in their hunting and fishing excursions.
Thus for more than three years did I continue to acquire knowledge of
various kinds, while the colony gradually extended its fields, and there
appeared to be every chance of gradually reclaiming the wild Shoshones
to a more civilized state of existence.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25