Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/493

Rh Here is Father De Smet's description “of the deplorable condition of the poor petty tribes, in 1846, scattered along the banks of the Columbia, of which the numbers visibly diminish from year to year:” —

“Imagine their dwellings, a few poor huts, constructed of rush, bark, bushes, or of pine branches, sometimes covered with skins or rags. Around these miserable habitations lie scattered in profusion the bones of animals and the offal of fishes of every tribe, amidst accumulated filth of every description. In the interior you find roots piled up in a corner, skins hanging from cross-poles, and fish boiling over the fire, — a few dying embers, an axe to cut wood being seldom found among them. The whole stock of kitchen utensils, drinking-vessels, dishes, etc., are comprised in something like a fish-kettle, made of osier and besmeared with gum. To boil this kettle stones are heated red-hot and thrown into it. But the mess cooked in this way, can you guess what it is? No, not in twenty trials; it is impossible to divine what the ingredients are that compose this outlandish soup!

“But to pass from the material to the personal: what strange figures! Faces thickly covered with grease and dirt; heads that have never felt a comb; hands — but such hands! a veritable pair of Jack-at-all-trades, fulfilling in rapid succession the varied functions of the comb, the pocket-handkerchief, the knife, fork, and spoon. While eating, the process is loudly indicated by the crackling and discordant sounds that issue from the nose, mouth, throat, etc., — a sight the bare recollection of which is enough to sicken any person. Thus you can form some idea of their personal miseries, — miseries, alas! that faintly image another species infinitely more saddening; for what shall I say in attempting to describe their moral condition?”

Upon this unpromising field of labor, and others like it in a wide neighborhood, Father De Smet with several of his brethren planted themselves. Never was there a more serene, hopeful, and joyous spirit than is manifested on the pages of his book. His eye and skill, in observing and