peace expedition sent by the Crows to the Blackfeet. I collected the facts on the spot, in my mission of 1851; for in the superstitious and religious ideas and practices of the savages, in their expeditions of war and hunting, their character and manners are best described. I will give you these curious details with as much fidelity as I can.
Reverend and Dear Father:1o
In my last I spoke of the Indian hunting in the Great Desert. I will give you to-day some general observations on their wars, and especially what I could learn of an unhappy peace expedition, during my last visit to the Crows.
It may be said that war is the ne plus ultra of an Indian's glory. The ambition of becoming a great warrior absorbs all his attention, all his talents, all his bravery; it is often the object of all his voluntary sufferings. His prolonged fasts, his long war-paths, penances and macerations, and his religious observances, have %principally this sole end. To wear an eagle's plume, the emblem of an Indian warrior, is in his eyes supreme honor, and the most magnificent of ornaments; for it betokens that he has already distinguished himself in battle. Generally at the age of seventeen or eighteen years, after the first fast, and after having selected his wah-kon, manitou, or tutelary spirit, the youthful savage joins the war-parties, which are composed solely of volunteers.
A chief or partisan who wishes to form a war-party, presents himself in the midst of the camp, tomahawk in hand, and painted with vermilion, the symbol of blood. He intones his war-song: this kind of song is short. The war chief proclaims with emphasis his lofty deeds, his patriotic and martial ardor - the sentiments and motives which
10 Addressed to the editor of the Preeis Historiques, Brussels. Dated Llniversity of St. Louis, August, 1854.