Upon the day agreed upon, we were all once more assembled at the
council-ground on the shores of the Buona Ventura, The chiefs and elders
of the tribe had assumed a solemn demeanour, and even the men of dark
deeds (the Medecins) and the keepers of the sacred lodges had made their
appearance, in their professional dresses, so as to impress upon the
beholders the importance of the present transaction. One of the sacred
lodge first arose, and making a signal with his hand, prepared
to speak:--
"Shoshones," said he, "now has come the time in which out nation must
either rise above all others, as the eagle of the mountains rises above
the small birds, or sink down and disappear from the surface of the
earth. Had we been left such as we were before the Pale-faces crossed
the mountains, we would have needed no other help but a Shoshone heart
and our keen arrows to crush our enemies; but the Pale-faces have double
hearts as well as a double tongue; they are friends or enemies as their
thirst for wealth guides them. They trade with the Shoshones, but they
also trade with the Crows and the Umbiquas. The young chief, Owato
Wanisha, hath proposed a new path to our tribe; he is young, but he has
received his wisdom from the Black-gowns, who, of all men, are the most
wise.
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