home, and after finding himself divested of his capture, which were conducted back to me. This death was certain to provoke the saying: `Woe to him who robs the Black
robes 1 ' Thus in one way or another Almighty God is preparing the way for the conversion of these poor idolaters. " To return to the Piegans, with whom I have lived about six weeks, I will observe that those who, among the savages, call themselves `Great Men,' would be disposed to listen wholly to us, could we but make terms with them on the article of plurality of wives; that the youth, in their turn, would as cheerfully, if we could immediately make ` Great Men' of them; but this being scarcely possible, all the reasonings of the wise can with difficulty induce them to refrain from robbery. If they can rob adroitly and in large value from the enemies of their nation, they never fail to do it; but if the theatre of their legitimate thefts is too remote, it is not rare to find them seeking among friendly tribes (for example, the Pend d'Oreilles or the Flatheads) what would prove too troublesome to seek else where. A few days since, the three brothers of Big Lake, to one of whom the Flatheads have three times granted life, came with two good and handsome horses taken from the Pend d'Oreilles, who had just spared the lives of two of their youth. Already twice before, after similar misdeeds, Big Lake, notwithstanding my strong remonstrances, had not the courage to blame them. Among the Blackfeet, the rich people, who undertake to rebuke the wicked who possess nothing, have naught to gain and all to lose. As there is neither lawful authority on one side nor conscience on the other, a second theft, or a musket-shot, is not rare.
" In these thefts, however, there is one thing which excuses, to a certain degree, the silence of the chief of whom I have just spoken; it is the robbery of two horses to his detriment committed by a young Flathead; but this precedent cannot certainly justify the reprisals; for, besides restitution having been promised to him, he knew well that the thief in question was an outcast from his tribe; that he