This is work fit only for
squaws and slaves. The Shoshones are warriors and free; if they were to
dig in the ground, their sight would become weak, and their enemies
would say they were moles and badgers.
"Does the just Nanawa wish the Shoshones to be despised by the Crows or
the horsemen of the south? No! he had fought for them before he went to
see if the bones of his fathers were safe; and since his return, has he
not given to them rifles and powder, and long nets to catch the salmon,
and plenty of iron to render their arrows feared alike by the buffaloes
and the Umbiquas?
"Nanawa speaks well, for he loves his children: but the spirit that
whispers to him is a pale-face spirit, that cannot see under the skin of
a red warrior; it is too tough: nor in his blood; it is too dark.
"Yet tobacco is good, and corn too. The hunters of the Flat Heads and
Pierced Noses would come in winter to beg for it; their furs would make
warm the lodges of the Shoshones. And my people would become rich and
powerful; they would be masters of all the country, from the salt waters
to the big mountains; the deer would come and lick their hands, and the
wild horses would graze around their wigwams. 'Tis so that the pale
faces grow rich and strong; they plant corn, tobacco, and sweet melons;
they have trees that bear figs and peaches; they feed swine and goats,
and tame buffaloes.
Pages:
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27