the death; for to surrender in such an encounter would be to expose one's self to perish in the most frightful torments. We resolved to follow the trail, determined to know who were ahead of us; it led us to a heap of stones piled up on a little eminence. Here more signs were manifest; these stones were colored with freshly shed blood; my savages surrounding them, examined them with serious attention. The head chief, a than with much sense, presently said to me, " Father, I think I can explain to you what we see before us. The Crows are not far away; we shall see them in two hours. If I am not mistaken, we are upon one of their battlefields; their nation will have met with some great loss here. This heap of stones has been raised to the memory of the warriors who have fallen under the blows of their enemies. Here the mothers, wives, sisters, daughters of the dead (you see their traces) have come to weep over their graves. It is their custom to tear their faces, cut their arms and legs and shed their blood upon these stones, rending the air at the same tithe with their cries and lamentations."
He was not mistaken; presently we Percéived a considerable troop of savages some three miles off. They Were in fact Crows returning to their camp, after having paid the tribute of blood to forty of their warriors, massacred two years before by the Blackfeet. Since they are just at present allies of the Flatheads, they received us with the greatest transports of joy. Soon we met groups of women covered with dried blood, and so disfigured that they aroused at once compassion and horror. They repeat this scene of mourning for several years, whenever they pass near the tombs of their relations and so long as the slightest spot of blood remains on their bodies they may not wash themselves.
The Crow chiefs received us with cordiality and gave us a great feast. The conversation was really pleasing ; the languages of the two nations being different, it was carried on by signs. All the tribes of this part of America know the system and understand one another perfectly. Presently the Crows desired to buy the Flathead's handsome horses.