The Omawhaws consider themselves superior, in the scale of beings, to all other animals, and appear to regard them as having been formed for their benefit. They will sometimes say, when speaking of a bad person, "he is no better than a brute." It is true that a magician tells his auditors that "a grizzly bear whispered in my ear, and gave me this medicine:" but his meaning is that the Wahconda, in the shape of that animal, had communicated with him. Neither do they seem to suppose that the inferior animals accompany them to the other world, though they expect to pursue their occupation of hunting there. In their opinion, the Wahconda has been more profuse in his distribution of gifts to the white people, than to the red-skins; particularly in imparting to us the knowledge of letters, whereby the result of experience is so readily transmitted from one person to another, so as to seem like the operation of some great mystic medicine. But they claim a superiority in natural intelligence, and readily perceive that they are more {43} active, have a greater capacity for undergoing, with fortitude, the many evils to which they are subject in every situation and season, such as exposure to great heat and cold, hunger, thirst, and pain. They appear to esteem themselves more brave, more generous and hospitable to strangers than the white people; and these beneficent virtues with them, like the mental operations of faith, hope, and charity of the Christians, mark the perfect man. They regard the white people, as very deficient in one of these cardinal virtues. They have been told by Indians, who have visited our settlements, that on entering the lodge of a white man, they will be informed that he has eaten his dinner, he will not, at least, set any food before them, and if they remain in the house, nothing is offered them until night, and even then, probably, but a stinted portion. The meanness of such demeanour they despise. If a white man, or any stranger, enters the habitation of an Indian, he is not asked if he has dined, or if he is hungry, but independently of the time of the day or night, the pot is put upon the fire, and if there is but a single pound of meat in the possession of the family, that pound is cooked and set before him, and even if he has but just arisen from a feast, he must taste of the food, or offence is given. History has recorded, with high commendation, the name of a dethroned Christian monarch, who shared his last loaf of bread with a suppliant stranger; and surely a similar act in the Indian, although it be influenced by education and custom, is entitled to respect and applause.