ess well? Perhaps this qualifies them as being civilized. This is a very different view from the one expressed about the women slaughtering the pig. Even before reaching California, it seems Megquier experiences some internal struggle when she begins to challenge her preconceived ideas. For women traveling overland, it was inevitable that they would encounter the native Americans. Convention taught them to fear the natives, and sadly, for most women this was the case. In her diary of the journey from Iowa, Catherine Haun wrote of her wagon trains dread of Indian attacks. Even after first finding the Indians harmless,14 after an incident of theft which was most likely done by someone in the train she writes, The next night when we retired I had a nervous attack was really so timid that I saw that the canvas of our wagon was snugly together... for I just couldnt go to sleep knowing that some bold, prying savage eye might look in on me during the night.15 Many things can be learned from this passage. Ms. Haun had not yet adjusted to sleeping practically out in the open, so she endeavored to protect herself from the elements. And it seems, that in her eyes, the Indians are one of the elements. It is quite in keeping with Victorian ideology that she should see the natives as part of nature. For Ms. Haun, the Indians were some thing wild, like a tornado, to be protected against. Harriet Ward had quite a different impression of the Indians, and she wrote in a letter,You would be surprised to see me writing so quietly in the wagon alone... with a great, wild looking Indian leaning his elbow on the wagon beside me, but I have not a single fear except that they may frighten the horses.16 This quote indicates that some women observed the Indians before making judgments. Despite their savage looks and the ideology of the time, Ward does not fear them. After arriving in California, Mary Jane Megquier continued to write conflictin...
