On the Sabbath, men, women, and children
array themselves in their best style, and assemble round a pole
erected at the head of the camp. Here they go through a wild
fantastic ceremonial; strongly resembling the religious dance of
the Shaking Quakers; but from its enthusiasm, much more striking
and impressive. During the intervals of the ceremony, the
principal chiefs, who officiate as priests, instruct them in
their duties, and exhort them to virtue and good deeds.
"There is something antique and patriarchal," observes Captain
Bonneville, "in this union of the offices of leader and priest;
as there is in many of their customs and manners, which are all
strongly imbued with religion."
The worthy captain, indeed, appears to have been strongly
interested by this gleam of unlooked for light amidst the
darkness of the wilderness. He exerted himself, during his
sojourn among this simple and well-disposed people, to inculcate,
as far as he was able, the gentle and humanizing precepts of the
Christian faith, and to make them acquainted with the leading
points of its history; and it speaks highly for the purity and
benignity of his heart, that he derived unmixed happiness from
the task.
"Many a time," says he, "was my little lodge thronged, or rather
piled with hearers, for they lay on the ground, one leaning over
the other, until there was no further room, all listening with
greedy ears to the wonders which the Great Spirit had revealed to
the white man.
