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Show 164 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF er, and we soon came upon the remains of the massacred party, which yet bore the marks of the weapons tha~ had laid them low. There were also many fresh Indian tracks about the place, which led us to the inference that there were enemies near. We made immediate search for them, and had only marched about six. miles ":hen we came upon a village of nine lodges, winch we Instantly assaulted, killing every man but two. rr:hese were on a hill near by, and as they made o~ we did not follow them. My personal trophies in tlns encounter were one scalp and the equipments of its ':earer ; one young girl of about fourteen years, and a httle ~oy. We k~lled forty-eight of the enemy, and took six women pnsoners, together with a large drove of horses, and a valuable stock of beaver, otter, and other skins, with ':~i~h we 1:eturned to the village. There was great reJOICing again (not one of our party was scratched), and the beaver-skins, to the number of one hundred and sixty-three, were bestowed upon me for my skill in command. Before we made the assault we felt convinced that this was the ~ai:ty who had killed our missing friends, and our c~n~ICtwns were substantiated subsequently by. recogmzmg several. weapons in their possession whiCh had formerly belonged to our braves; indeed, some of our women prisoners acknowledged that our departed brethren had killed many of their people. The Crows treat the ~omen whom they take pris~ ners much better than other tribes do. They do not Impose upon them a harder lot than their own women endure, and they allow them to marry into the tr·b after w~ich they are in equal fellowship with th~~: On findmg themselves captives, they generally mourn a day or two, but their grief quickly subsides, and they ... I JAMES P. BECKWO UR'rH. 165 seem to care no farther for their violent removal from their own people. At this time the Crows were incessantly at war with all the tribes within their reach, with the exception of the Snakes and the Fl~t Heads ; and they did not es .. cape frequent ruptures with them, brought about by the Indians' universal obtuseness as to all law relating to the right of property in horses. The Crows could raise an army of sixteen thousand warriors~ and, ~!though there were tribes much more numerous, there were none could match them in an open fight. The Camanches and Apaches have tilted lances with them repeatedly, and invariably to their discomfiture. If the Crows ever suffered defeat, it was when overwhelmed by numbers. One principal cause of their marked superiority was their plentiful supply of guns and ammunition, which the whites always more readily exchanged to them on account of their well-proved fidelity to the white man. When other tribes were constrained to leave their fire-arms in their lodges for want of ammunition, the Crows would have plenty, and could use their arms with great effect against an enemy which had only bow and arrows to shoot with. Farther, they were the most expert horsemen of any Indian tribe, notwithstanding the great name bestowed upon the Camanches and Apaches-those two great terrors of Northern Mexico. I have seen them all, and consider myself in a position to judge, although some, perhaps, will say that I am prejudiced in favor of the Crows, seeing that I am one myself. Previous to my going among the Crows, the smallpox had bee_n ravaging their camp, caiTying them away in thousands_, until, as I was informed by themselves, - , |