Nay, So Alien To Himself Do They Appear
That, Having Breathed For A Few Months Or A Few Weeks The
Air of this
region, he begins to look upon them as a troublesome and dangerous
species of wild beast, and,
If expedient, he could shoot them with as
little compunction as they themselves would experience after
performing the same office upon him. Yet, in the countenance of the
Panther, I gladly read that there were at least some points of
sympathy between him and me. We were excellent friends, and as we
rode forward together through rocky passages, deep dells, and little
barren plains, he occupied himself very zealously in teaching me the
Dakota language. After a while, we came to a little grassy recess,
where some gooseberry bushes were growing at the foot of a rock; and
these offered such temptation to my companion, that he gave over his
instruction, and stopped so long to gather the fruit that before we
were in motion again the van of the village came in view. An old
woman appeared, leading down her pack horse among the rocks above.
Savage after savage followed, and the little dell was soon crowded
with the throng.
That morning's march was one not easily to be forgotten. It led us
through a sublime waste, a wilderness of mountains and pine forests,
over which the spirit of loneliness and silence seemed brooding.
Above and below little could be seen but the same dark green foliage.
It overspread the valleys, and the mountains were clothed with it
from the black rocks that crowned their summits to the impetuous
streams that circled round their base.
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