Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 6).djvu/71

 traders and the Sioux was the principal cause of their present inimical temper to the whites. I fully believed, however, that if we could unite our parties, we should present so formidable an appearance, that the Indians would not think of incommoding us. The conduct of the Sioux is governed by the same motives as those of the barbarous tribes of the Nile. They are unwilling to let the traders pass up the river, and carry supplies to the Arikaras, Mandans, and other tribes at war with them; and their country affording few objects for the trader beside the buffaloe robe, they are tempted to pillage, or impose terms upon the trader, which {61} are almost as injurious. Thus much, that the reader may enter into our feelings; at least form an idea of the anxiety we experienced in the pursuit of the party before us.

Now removed beyond the verge of the frontier, not merely out of my country, but almost in another world; for, considered in reality, and not according to that imaginary ownership, which civilization has invented, I was in a foreign land. Thus abstracted, thus removed from my country, I seemed to look back as from an eminence, and fancied that, I contemplated it, with more accuracy than I could, while cherished, and protected in its bosom. I heaved a sigh, when I reflected that I might possibly never see it again. I felt a thousand affections, linked to the cords of the heart, of which I had not been aware. These things are salutary thought I, as they teach a man to know himself. Should I return in safety, the recollection of these little incidents, will afford pleasure to myself and to others: and, should my bones be deposited on some dreary spot, far from my home and the haunts of civilized man, it is yet certain, that there is no place however distant in this quarter, where I may {62} be buried, but will in time, be surrounded by the habitations of Americans; the spot will be