Letter IV.
TO THE DIRECTORS OF THE ASSOCIATION.
University of St. Louis, June 4, 1849.
GENTLEMEN:
It remains for me to give some details concerning the Indian tribes that I was able to visit. In none of my preceding voyages had I met the Ponkahs; this time I found the whole of this nation assembled at the mouth of the Niobrarah-their favorite haunt during the fruit season and the gathering of the corn harvest. The manner in which they accosted my travelling companions augured little good, and was near being attended with disastrous consequences. It appears, indeed, that they meditated an attack upon the little troop of white men *]to, numbering but fifteen, escorted a wagon filled with merchandise for the Fur Company. They intended, at least, to pillage the convoy and kill one of the travellers, under pretext that he came from the country of the Pawnees, where one of their warriors bad lost his life. I will present you here the laconic formula of reasoning of one of these barbarians, while in the act of taking aim at his victim. My brother was killed by a Pawnee; thou art a notorious friend of the Pawnees! I must avenge his death, or recover the debt (value of his body in horses or in blankets! To this degree, unfortunately, has the idea of justice stink in the Indian mind. Has an Indian fallen by the hand of a white man, every brave of that tribe considers himself justified in retaliating upon the first white man he chances to meet, without regard to his country or the part of the world from which he may come. I was in advance, but at the first signal of alarm I faced the point of danger. At once the air resounded with reiterated cries of “The Black-gown has come! The Black-gown has come!" Surprise and curiosity arrest the work of pillage. The chiefs ask an explanation, and order the spoilers to keep respectfully off, and restore what they had already stolen; then they press around me to shake bands (a ceremony somewhat lengthy, for they were about 600 in number, and conduct us in triumph to our encampment on the shore of the Niobrarah. In my turn I made a little distribution of tobacco, which they appeared to appreciate more than any thing else. The calumet is smoked in token of fraternal good feeling, and passed from mouth to mouth: they lavish upon me as well as upon my companions the most touching marks of kindness and respect. Such was the happy conclusion of a meeting which at first inspired us with such just fears. But the merciful views of Providence extended further.
They besought me to visit their village, four miles from our camp, in order to pass the night with them. I accepted the invitation the more willingly, as it would afford me an opportunity of announcing the truths of Faith. In fact I lost no time, and shortly after my arrival the whole tribe, numbering more than a thousand persons, surrounded the "Black-gown." This was the first time that the Ponkahs had heard Jesus Christ preached by the mouth of his minister. The holy eagerness and attention which they lent to my words induced me to prolong my instructions until late in the night. The next day I baptized their little ones, and when the time of separation arrived, they besought me with the greatest earnestness to renew my visit, and to fix my residence among them. We will cheerfully listen to the Words of the Great Spirit, said they, and submit to all His commands that you manifest to its. Until their wishes can be gratified, I considered myself happy to find among them a Catholic half-breed, tolerably well instructed in his religion, who promised me to serve as catechist.
This extraordinary attention on the part of the Indians, and their avidity to hear the Word of God, must appear surprising, in a people which seems to unite all intellectual and moral miseries. But the Spirit of the Lord breathes where it will. His graces and his light prompt and aid men whom ignorance, rather than a perverse and disordered will, renders vicious. Moreover, that same Spirit which obliged the most rebellions to cry with St. Paul, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" can also soften the most obdurate hearts, warm the coldest, and produce peace, justice, and joy, where before reigned iniquity, trouble, and disorder. The great respect, and the marked attention which the poor Indians testify on all occasions to the missionary who appears among them to announce the Gospel, are a source of much consolation and encouragement to him. lie discovers the finger of God in the spontaneous manifestations of good-will offered by these poor creatures.
The language of the Ponkahs differs little from that of the Ottos, the Kanzas, and the Osages. Of intrepid and tried courage, they have, notwithstanding the paucity of their numbers, made themselves feared by their more numerous neighbors. They may with justice be styled the Plat-Heads of the Plains, on account of their bravery. Although attached by taste to the wandering life, they have began to cultivate some fields of corn, of pumpkins, and potatoes.
Here, then, is a portion of the vineyard as yet untitled, but which only waits for a generous, charitable hand to cause it to yield fruits worthy of the dews of heaven. Can the Lord refuse his grace and his assistance to the apostolic man, who abandons all the advantages of civilized life in order to teach, in the midst of every species of privation, the salutary and consoling words of the Gospel? When I reflect upon the hopes that maybe justly entertained of the Indian tribes of the North and West of the United States, I cannot refrain from blessing the bounty and mercy of God, and trembling at the consideration of the terrible judgments of . his justice. While Europe, shaken to the centre by the incessant efforts of learned impiety, appears to have strength or vigor only to shake off the divine yoke which the blood of Jesus Christ has rendered "sweet and easy," the forlorn inhabitant of the far-distant wilderness lift; Iris suppliant hands to heaven, and in all the sincerity of his heart asks to know the true Faith, and to be directed in the path of true happiness. While in the, heart of Catholicity the priests of the Mast High sink under oppression, Providence, impenetrable in its views, is secretly preparing for them the vast solitudes of another hemisphere. There, perhaps, the Divine Master will fix his sanctuary, and choose to himself new worshippers whose simple hearts will offer him only an oblation of gratitude and love.
With the greatest respect, and commending myself to your kind prayers,
I am, Gentlemen,
Your most humble and obedient servant,
P. J. DE SMET S. J