The missionary found that through their love of beauty and heroism the Indians had a peculiar understanding and appreciation of Bible history. There was much in their simple, wandering life that made them feel a close kinship with those shepherds, hunters, and warriors of the ancient East. They had passed through the same great human experiences, and they shared many of the same beliefs. In their crude and faltering way they, too, looked up to a Great Spirit who made all things and upon whose bounty all men depend. As they told Brother Van their tribal legends, he was struck by the remarkable resemblance which many of these bore to some of the stories of the Bible. The Blackfeet story of the forming of the world is peculiarly interesting because it shows the belief which they have in a Creator. “In the beginning there was water everywhere. A raft was floating on which Old Man (the Sun) and all the animals were gathered. Old Man wished to make land. He sent the beaver to the bottom of the water to bring up mud. The beaver never reached the bottom. The loon was tried and he failed. The otter made the perilous journey and failed. At last the muskrat was sent down. He was gone so long that Old Man thought he was drowned. Finally he came up and floated almost dead. He was pulled on top of the raft, and as they looked at his paws, they found a little mud on them. Old Man dried this mud and scattered it over the water, and land was formed. “Old Man then began to make the earth to suit him. He marked places for rivers to run. Sometimes the rivers ran smoothly and sometimes with falls. He made mountains, prairies, and timber. He carried a lot of rocks around with him, and of these he made mountains. He caused grass to grow on the plains for the animals to feed upon. He marked certain pieces of land where berries should grow; others where camas should grow; others for wild carrots and turnips, and others for service-berries, bull-berries, and rosebuds. “He made the Big Horn sheep and put it on the prairie, but it was awkward and slow; so he put it on the rough hills, and it skipped about. While Old Man was in the mountains he made the antelope. It ran so fast that it hurt itself; so he put it on the plains and said, ‘This is the place that will suit you.’ “At last he decided to make a woman and a child. He modeled clay in human shape and laid the forms on the ground and said, ‘You shall be people.’ After four days they were changed and he said, ‘Stand up and walk.’ They walked to the river and the woman said, ‘Shall we live forever?’ Old Man said, ‘I had not thought of that. We must decide. I’ll throw this buffalo chip in the water. If it floats, people shall live after being dead for four days. If it sinks, that shall be the end of them.’