Throughout the whole night I was in a state of agitation and
alarm. Among other things which they said to me, one of them told me to
look at the top of the little hill which stood near. I did so, and saw a
horse fettered, and standing looking at me. 'There, my brother,' said
the ghost, 'is a horse which I give you to ride on your journey
to-morrow; and as you pass here on your way home, you can call and leave
the horse, and spend another night with us.'
At last came the morning, and I was in no small degree pleased to find
that with the darkness of the night these terrifying visions vanished.
But my long residence among the Indians, and the frequent instances in
which I had known the intimations of dreams verified, occasioned me to
think seriously of the horse the ghost had given me. Accordingly I went
to the top of the hill, where I discovered tracks and other signs, and,
following a little distance, found a horse, which I knew belonged to the
trader I was going to see. As several miles travel might be saved by
crossing from this point on the Little Saskawjewun to the Assinneboin, I
left the canoe, and, having caught the horse, and put my load upon him,
led him towards the trading-house, where I arrived next day. In all
subsequent journeys through this country, I carefully shunned 'the place
of the two dead'; and the account I gave of what I had seen and suffered
there confirmed the superstitious terrors of the Indians.
I was standing by our lodge one evening, when I saw a good-looking young
woman walking about and smoking. She noticed me from time to time, and
at last came up and asked me to smoke with her. I answered that I never
smoked. 'You do not wish to touch my pipe; for that reason you will not
smoke with me.' I took her pipe and smoked a little, though I had not
been in the habit of smoking before. She remained some time, and talked
with me, and I began to be pleased with her. After this we saw each
other often, and I became gradually attached to her.
I mention this because it was to this woman that I was afterwards
married, and because the commencement of our acquaintance was not after
the usual manner of the Indians. Among them it most commonly happens,
even when a young man marries a woman of his own band, he has previously
had no personal acquaintance with her. They have seen each other in the
village; he has perhaps looked at her in passing, but it is probable
they have never spoken together. The match is agreed on by the old
people, and when their intention is made known to the young couple, they
commonly find, in themselves, no objection to the arrangement, as they
know, should it prove disagreeable mutually, or to either party, it can
at any time be broken off.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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