In the course of his hunting excursions he had either accidentally,
or designedly, found his way to the post of Mr. Stuart, and had been
prevailed upon to ascend the Columbia, and "try his luck" at Astoria.
Ignace Shonowane, the Iroquois hunter, was a specimen of a different
class. He was one of those aboriginals of Canada who had partially
conformed to the habits of civilization and the doctrines of
Christianity, under the influence of the French colonists and the
Catholic priests; who seem generally to have been more successful in
conciliating, taming, and converting the savages, than their English
and Protestant rivals. These half-civilized Indians retained some of the
good, and many of the evil qualities of their original stock. They were
first-rate hunters, and dexterous in the management of the canoe. They
could undergo great privations, and were admirable for the service of
the rivers, lakes, and forests, provided they could be kept sober, and
in proper subordination; but once inflamed with liquor, to which they
were madly addicted, all the dormant passions inherent in their nature
were prone to break forth, and to hurry them into the most vindictive
and bloody acts of violence.
Though they generally professed the Roman Catholic religion, yet it was
mixed, occasionally, with some of their ancient superstitions; and they
retained much of the Indian belief in charms and omens.
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