It was
plain now that every energy must be taxed to prevent the entire
expedition from perishing. Further emigration for the time was out of
the question, and the whole people prepared themselves for encountering
another winter on the prairie.
Happily for the main body, they found themselves at this juncture among
Indians who were amicably disposed. The lands on both sides of the
Missouri in particular were owned by the Pottawottomis and Omahas, two
tribes whom unjust treatment by our United States Government had the
effect of rendering most hospitable to strangers whom they regarded as
persecuted like themselves.
They were pleased with the Mormons. They would have been pleased with
any whites who would not cheat them, nor sell them whiskey, nor whip
them for their poor gypsy habits, nor conduct themselves indecently
toward their women, many of whom among the Pottawottomis--especially
those of nearly unmixed French descent--are singularly comely, and some
of them educated. But all Indians have something like a sentiment of
reverence for the insane, and admire those who sacrifice, without
apparent motive, their worldly welfare to the triumph of an idea.
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