Yes, the Indian prays!

Why say that?  Who said anything about Indians not praying?  This exclamatory affirmation of Indian piety occurs in the fourth and final revision of a passage from the romantic tale of chief Sha-wah-now and his kidnapped lover, a blue-eyed maiden named Ayeta.

And now, to those faded snows, the new moon and evening star began to beam, like an answering sign; and now, too, a sound of praise was heard in a gentle breeze, which stirred the mountain firs, as with a spirit anthem. Sha-wah-now was softened into prayer. 

Yes, the Indian prays! — prays in these sublime solitudes, where he feels the Great Spirit very near!

Sha-wah-now thanked aloud the great Wah-con-dah, that he was there, firm in soul, and strong in arm, and asked but guidance in his desperate purpose. (Scenes and Adventures in the Army)

To see and compare all four published versions of the passage on the chief's daydream, see
Revising the Reverie of Sha-wah-now at Juxta Commons. 

After revision for the 1857 book (probably completed in 1854), the passage emphasizes the reverent prayer of the Indian chief. Gone, however, is a quotation adapted from Byron's Don Juan which had appeared in this 1842 version from the July 1842 Southern Literary Messenger:

... for the sun had long gone, and the glories of his path, gently fading, had yielded to the crescent moon and her companion star; and now arose the evening's holy anthem, that lulls the lovely sleep of nature; the sighing breeze that crept from leaf to leaf, and gently whispered to the grass; the spirit-wailings of the pines; the deep-toned chorus of the insect song; and its harmony with

"that hour
Of love, and night, and mountain solitude,
O'erflowed his soul with their united power."

Sha-wah-now's mood was softened into prayer. He thanked aloud the great Wah-con-dah that he was there; that his soul was free; that his right arm was strong; and he invoked his blessing upon his desperate purpose.

The tale of Sha-wa-now or Sha-wah-now actually exists in four versions:

1. A Tale of the Rocky Mountains, signed "Borderer." St Louis Beacon, January 13, 1831.  See below for the 1831 text, transcribed by me from the St Louis Beacon.  For research assistance and copies I am much obliged to Nancy Oliver and the fine staff of the St Louis Public Library.

2.  A Tale of the Rocky Mountains. Revised and significantly expanded version, now signed
"P. S. G. C." for Philip St George Cooke.  The Military and Naval Magazine of the United States 6 (September 1835): 32-39.  Appended "by request" (pp 39-42) is a poem titled "The Last Indian" by Larry Lyle from the April 1835 Southern Literary Messenger.  Larry Lyle is a pseudonym of Philip Pendleton Cooke.

3. SHA-WAH-NOW in "Scenes and Adventures in the Army" by A Captain of U. States Dragoons. Southern Literary Messenger 8 (July 1842): 458-62.

4.  Scenes and Adventures in the Army, Part I, 62-75.

Again, to see and compare more fascinating revisions, see Revising the Reverie of Sha-wah-now at Juxta Commons.