James Brown's Gift of Tongues Among the Ibim-Pah Indians

“In the month of August, 1857, I was called by President Brigham Young to go on a mission to the Deep Creek Indians, in company with an Indian agent named Armstrong. We left Salt Lake City on the 12th of August, and traveled by way of Tooele and Skull Valley. We had a very hard, dry, and dusty journey. When we arrived at Deep Creek, we found a large band of Indians. I had never heard a word of their language spoken, and knew nothing of it. When we met them, I was surprised to find that I could understand every word they said, and could speak to them as fluently as if it had been my mother tongue. The Indian agent had an interpreter with him, but when he saw that I could talk with the Indians, and that they manifested such wonderful love and confidence in me, he said, 'Mr. Brown, I shall pay you three dollars a day after this as my interpreter.' I accepted the offer, and acted as interpreter for him during the time we were with the Indians. I told no one at the time that I had never heard the language spoken before, but I was surprised at the gift I had received. I preached the gospel to them, and they listened with great interest, and before we left them, they had a considerable knowledge of the gospel and of their own ancestry.”

— James S. Brown, Life of a Pioneer: Being the Autobiography of James S. Brown