The Spartans of the West 27
I have seen scores of them. Clark says they were " conmion
to all tribes," (p. 365). Every old-timer knows that they
were in daily use by the Indians and scoffed at by the white
settlers who, indeed, were Uttle given to bathing of any kind.
CHASTITY
About one hundred years ago the notorious whiskey-
trader, Alexander Henry, already mentioned, went into
the Missouri region. He was a man of strange character,
of heroic frame and mind, but unscrupulous and sordid.
His only interest and business among the Indians was
beating them out of their furs with potations of cheap
alcohol. This fearless ruffian penetrated the far North-
west, was the first trader to meet certain Western tribes,
and strange to tell he wrote a full, straightforward and
shocking account of his wanderings and methods among the
red folk he despised for not being white. In spite of arro-
gance and assimied superiority, his narrative contains
much like the following:
"TheFlatheads on the Buffalo Plains, generally encounter the
Piegans and fight desperately when attacked. They never
attempt war themselves, and have the character of a brave and
virtuous people, not in the least addicted to those vices so
common among savages who have had long intercourse with
Eiuropeans. Chastity is particularly esteemed, and no woman
will barter her favors, even with the whites, upon any mer-
cenary consideration. She may be easily prevailed upon
to reside with a white man as his wife, according to the custom
of the country, but prostitution is out of the question — she wUl
listen to no proposals of that nature. Their morals have not
yet been sufficiently debauched and corrupted by an intercourse
with people who call themselves Christians, but whose licentious
and lecherous manners are far worse than those of savages. A
striking example is to be seen throughout the N. W. country, of
the depravity and wretchedness of the natives; but as one
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