isting among the savages, that when they have receives baptism they can conquer any enemy whatsoever. The courage and the happiness of the Flatheads have inspired them with this belief. This explains why some wretches, who seek only to kill their neighbors, were the first to petition for baptism.
"All say that they would be glad to have black-gowns; but why do the greater part desire them? Because they think that all other imaginable blessings will come with them; not only courage to fight, but also every species of remedy to enable them to enjoy corporeal health. The Grosventres conducted to me a hump-backed person and a near-sighted person that I might heal them. I said that this kind of cures surpassed my abilities; which did not, however, hinder them from making other similar requests. But at last, by continually repeating to them, that the Black-robes can heal souls, but not always the body, some at last believe me. They believe also that we can excite diseases and cause the thunder to roll when we are not satisfied. Quite recently, there was an earthquake in the land of the Grosventres, and directly the report was spread abroad that I was the cause of the earth's trembling; and that this shock was an indication that the smallpox was about to return into the country, etc., and all this happened because the Indians did not give attention sufficient to the discourse of the Black-robe. There is at present a malady raging among the Piegans, said to be mortal, and which indeed has proved fatal to a few persons. As this disease begins in the ear, they consider themselves more justified than the Grosventres, in saying `that this punishment arrived to them on account of their hardness of heart,' in listening to
the words of the Great Spirit. For myself, what appeared most striking was the sudden death of a dozen of persons, stricken down either in their lodges or in war, but at the moment that they were straying most widely from the right
path. One of these, belonging to the Blackfeet, had robbed me of three mules; he died on the morrow after his arrival