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Show 176 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. ges, beneath the vast splinte:ring precipices, and emerging at last upon the 'Parks,' those beautiful but most perilous hunting. grounds. The buffalo supplies them with almost all the neces. saries of life ; with habitations, food, clothing, and fuel; with strings for their bows, with thread, cordage, and trailropes fm· their horses, with coverings for their saddles, with vessels to hold water, with boat" to cross streams, with glue, and with the means of purchasing all that they desire from the traders. When the buffalo are extinct, they too must dwindle away. War is the breath of their nostrils. Against most of the neighboring tribes they cherish a deadly, rancorous hatred, transmitted from father to son, and inflamed by constant aggres. sion and retaliation. Many times a year, in every village, the Great Spirit is called upon, fasts are made, the wa1·-parade is celebrated, and the warriors go out by handfuls at a time against the enemy. This fierce and evil spirit a wakens their most eager aspirations, and calls forth their greatest energies. It is <.... chiefly this that saves them from lethargy and utter abasement. Without its powerful stimulus they would be like the unwarlike tribes beyond the mountains, who are scattered among the caves and rocks like beasts, living on roots and reptiles. These latter have little of humanity except the form; but the proud and ambitious Dahcotah warrior can sometimes boast of heroic virtues. It is very seldom that distinction and influence are attained among them by any other course than that of arms. Their superstition ' }1ow ever, somet·i mes gi.V es great power. to those among them wl1 o preten d to the cha1·acter of magw..ra ns. Their wild hearts' t oo, can 1i'e e 1 t h e power of oratory, and yr·e ld deference to the masters of it. But to return. Look into our tent, or enter, if you can bear SCENES AT THE CAMP. 177 the stifling l::lmoke and the close atmosphere. There, wedged close together, you will sec a circle of stout warriors, passing the pipe around, joking, telling stories, and making themselves merry, after their fashion. · 'iV e were also infested by little copper-colored naked boys and snake-eyed girls. ·They would come up to us, muttering certain words, which being interpreted conveyed the concise invitation, 'Come and cat. ' Then we would rise, cursing the pertinacity of Dahcotah hospitality, which allowed scarcely an hour of rest between sun and sun, and to which we were bound to do honor, unless we would offend our entertainers. This necessity was particularly burdensome to me, as I was scarcely able to walk, from the cifccts of illness, and was of course poorly qualified to dispose of twenty meals a day. Of these sumptuous banquets, I gave a specimen in a former chapter, where the tragical fate of the little dog was chronicl ed . So bounteous an entcrtaiument looks like an outgushing of good-will ; but doubtless one half at least of our kind hosts, had they met us alone and unarmed on the prairie, would have robbed us of our horses, and perchance have bestowed an arrow upon us beside. Trust not an Indian. Let your rifle be ever in your hand. Wear next your heart the old chivalric motto, ' Sempe'r Paratus.' One morning we were summoned to the lodge of an old man, in good truth the Nestor of his tribe. vV e found him half sitting, half reclining on a pile of buffalo-robes ; his long hair, jet-black even now, though he had seen some eighty winters, hnng on either side of his thin features. Those most conversant with Indians in their homes will scarcely believe me when I affirm that there was dignity in his countenance and mien. I-Iis gaunt but symmetrical frame did not more clearly exhibit the |