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CHAPTER XV.

Lavatory in the Prairie.-Picturesque Scene.-A « Brave.”— Quarrel with him.-Desolate Prairie.-Prairie Dogs. -Owls and Rattlesnakes.-First View of Buffalo.-Chase of Buffalo. -Indian Butchery. - Horses stolen by the Ricaras. — Indian Method of Horse-stealing. Discussion as to the expediency of making Reprisals. Present of a Buffalo Robe.Indian Character. A Feast.-Indian Curiosity.

NOT being yet thoroughly drilled to a prairie life, I had not learned to consider cleanliness as a useless and supererogatory luxury; and, accordingly, after sleeping in my clothes, in the midst of a scene too dirty to depict, where we were as closely packed as the horses in a stage-coach stable, I was weak enough to imagine that it was desirable to wash my hands and face, and change my linen. Such notions being quite exploded among experienced travellers, I am almost ashamed to own them; but candour demands the sacrifice, and I trust my brother prairie-men will remember, that a prejudice once acknowledged, is more than half overcome. Accordingly, I armed myself with a towel, some soap, a tooth-brush, and a clean shirt, and sallied forth in search of the creek, the banks

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of which were to be my dressing-room on the occasion.

I found it to be a muddy streamlet, from four to eight inches deep, having neither brushwood nor timber to mark its course. It was completely alive with animal industry, which seemed all exercised in endeavouring to make it more and more turbid and muddy. Women washing their children and their blankets; boys and girls splashing; dogs swimming, and horses tramping in every direction.

As this did not seem a favourable spot for the bath and toilet of one who can boast of having, in his day, made a respectable appearance in Bond Street, I walked above a mile up the little stream, in hopes of finding a place less pre-occupied by my biped and quadruped competitors in ablution. Finding this attempt fruitless, and seeing that the "ladies" were not at all afraid of me, I determined not to evince less courage; and putting my watch, my knife, my mauvaise honte, and other trifles in my pocket, I proceeded quietly to undress; and having bathed for a few minutes, proceeded with my toilet. I ought to mention that I effected this bath by lying down and rolling where the water was about nine inches deep. I was about half dressed before I experienced any positive interruption, when two or three Indians came up, and began to examine every article of my toilet with the greatest curiosity. They could not make out

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the use of the tooth-brush; and when I explained to them that it was to "sharpen the teeth," they expressed their wonder by the well-known "Ugh!" They were equally at a loss to make out the use of the soap and other things, which they took out of my pocket. At length I got so tired of their handling my clothes, that I forbid them to do so any more, and they desisted.

On my return to the camp I found all the lodges struck, the horses packed, and everything ready for marching. My worthy host had desired his women to pack the greater part of my baggage; I had obtained the loan of a horse, and thus I was enabled to give a day's rest to my jaded steeds. I watched this great moving body of savages as they left the rising ground on which we had been camped, and deployed on the plain into the three irregular straggling columns which formed their line of march. The scene was picturesque in the extreme, and was every minute diversified by amus

*This word reminds me of a mischievous trick played by our young American lad, who was one day washing with some strong coarse soap, when an Indian came up, complaining of very sore eyes, and asked him if the soap was good for them. He said it was very good, and showed him by signs that he should rub it well in below the lids, which the Indian accordingly did; of course the pain and smarting were extreme, and he jumped about, apparently not at all pleased with the remedy. However, it made his eyes water very much for ten minutes, and afterwards relieved the inflammation; and he returned to his friends to praise the great skill of the Salickstâ-kâ (white man).

ing or interesting incidents. In the spaces between the columns rode the chiefs and the younger warriors, decked out in all their gayest habiliments, with white, blue, or scarlet blankets, and making their fidgety little horses prance and curvet to show the riders' horsemanship.

Near them was a dignified-looking "Brave," ambling slowly along; his only ornament the muchenvied collar made from the claws of the formidable grisly bear. Here and there were scattered groups of boys, shooting at birds, or any trifling object within their reach; and sometimes a refractory mule or untamed colt would gallop out from the line, plunge and kick till he had eased himself of his burthen, nor return to a sense of his duty till two or three mounted Indians had given him proof with their laryettes, of the superior power and address of man.

I had a little quarrel with the "Brave" abovementioned, which is worth recording, as illustrative of Indian character. I mentioned, a few pages back, that on the journey I had sold a tired horse for the loan of a fresh one till we reached the Pawnee village. This "Brave" was the man with whom I had made the bargain, and I told the interpreter to make him distinctly understand that he was to have my broken-down nag, and might do as he pleased, either in leaving him to rest and recover, or endeavouring to make him travel; but that I had nothing more to do with

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it than to put a certain portion of my baggage on his fresh horse till we reached the village.

This bargain having been made, he chose to force on the tired horse, and a day or two afterwards, the interpreter came and told me that it had stopped altogether, and that the "Brave" would not let me have his any more, as he wanted it himself. This piece of impudent roguery was too glaring to be allowed, and I determined to resist it, having heard and learned that if Indians perceive any weakness or simplicity in a white man, they will take every opportunity of cheating and insulting him. Accordingly, I told the interpreter that "he had been himself the medium through which the bargain had been struck, and that if the jaded horse stopped, or even died on the road, I was entitled to, and would keep the fresh one till we reached the village." He reconsulted the "Brave," who was sitting only a few yards off, and returned to tell me that the Indian did not understand the terms of the bargain; "he wanted the horse, and was determined to have him."

This was not a pleasant predicament to be in among these wild fellows; but I knew they would not dare to kill me openly, under the circumstances of my having been placed under the protection of their chiefs, and I determined accordingly to carry my point. The horse was among the rest, not more than twenty yards from where we sat. I