I
will send the vermilion[5] to my young warriors, they will paint their
faces and follow me on the war-path. I have spoken!"
[Footnote 5: When a chief wishes to go to war, he sends to his warriors
some leaves of tobacco covered with vermilion. It is a sign that they
must soon be prepared.]
Thus ended the hopes of making agriculturists of the wild people among
whom we lived; nor did I wonder; such as they were, they felt happy.
What could they want besides their neat conical skin lodges, their
dresses, which were good, comfortable, and elegant, and their women, who
were virtuous, faithful, and pretty? Had they not the unlimited range of
the prairies? were they not lords over millions of elks and
buffaloes?--they wanted nothing, except tobacco. And yet it was a pity
we could not succeed in giving them a taste for civilization. They were
gentlemen by nature; as indeed almost all the Indians are, when not
given to drinking. They are extremely well bred, and stamped with the
indubitable seal of nobility on their brow.
The council was broken up, as both Christianity and his own peculiar
sentiments would not permit the Prince Seravalle to entertain the
thought of extending slavery. He bowed meekly to the will of Providence,
and endeavoured by other means to effect his object of enlightening the
minds of this pure and noble, yet savage race of men.
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