A NOVEL HORSE-FAIR. 87 



like maddened fiends. Hoping to attract my 

 attention, they ride much closer than seems quite 

 consistent with my personal safety. So I en- 

 sconce myself in a 'Coral,' and contemplate the 

 fair over the strong railings quite as agreeably 

 and very much more safely than outside. 



Half-naked savages, one after another (often 

 two or three together), dash up to the rails, and 

 lling themselves from off the panting horses ; run 

 their hands down the length of the horse's back, 

 to show it has no galls or sores ; tickle its flanks 

 and creep under its belly, to demonstrate its 

 docility ; drag open the lips, to show the teeth ; 

 invariably ask four times the sum they intend to 

 take ; give a frantic yell on being offered less ; 

 spring again upon the horses' backs, to gallop 

 furiously about, until, tired of further exhibition, 

 and hopeless of exacting a larger sum, they ride 

 quietly to the ' Coral,' turn in the horses, and re- 

 ceive payment. The detail of all my bargainings 

 would afford the reader but little interest ; suffice 

 it to say, I made many purchases, and afterwards 

 adjourned to the American garrison. 



It is difficult to say when horses were intro- 

 duced into the Indian country west of the Rocky 

 Mountains, but most probably about the com- 

 mencement of this century. They are clearly 



