464 INDIAN FORTS AND DWELLINGS. 



place at the west end of the Wichita Mountains where he said his father 

 and grandfather and other Penatechkas obtained stone for arrow and 

 lance heads. At this place, and in fact all through the "Wichita 

 Mountains, there is plenty of white quartz and jasper. Col. A. G. Boone 

 and Jim Bridger have told me that all the Indians in the mountains and 

 the southwestern Indians — that is, Shoshoues, Utes, Apaches, Navajoes, 

 &c. — had nothing but stone-pointed weapons as late as 1830. The Mex- 

 icans had made it a rule not to sell fire-arms to the Indians ; so while 

 the Upper Missouri Indians were well supplied with arms by the traders 

 of the British Northwest Company and the Lower Missouri Indians by 

 the American traders, the southwestern tribes were but poorly supplied 

 with firearms as late as the above-mentioned date. 



In the report of Don Jose" Cortez, of the Spanish Royal Engineers, to 

 the King, made in 1799, he says: "The Comanche nation is doubtless 

 the most numerous of the many people that are known to exist in the 

 vicinity of our most distant provinces of North America. They are 

 commanded by a general and a lieutenant-general, chosen from among 

 themselves, with the consent of the governor of New Mexico and the 

 approval of the commandante of the internal provinces. These Indians 

 are intrepid in war, bold in their enterprises, and impetuous in action. 

 They are at peace with no other people than the Spaniards, and main- 

 tain a constant war with all the other neighboring nations." I once 

 made a statement of these facts to Mah-wey, (Shaking-hand,) chief of 

 the Castcha-techka (Buffalo-eater) band, and asked him how it was that 

 the Comanches were so reduced in numbers. He explained it by saying 

 that their enemies, especially the Osages, Pawnees, and Sioux, all had 

 fire-arms, and cut them down in every encounter, and that when the 

 Shawnees, Delawares, Kickapoos, Chickasaws, &c, all well armed, got 

 into their neighborhood, they worsted them in nearly every encounter. 

 He said the only successes they could gain would be by charging 

 mounted. 



The tribes which followed the buffalo had generally no fixed habitations, 

 and therefore built no mounds for burial purposes or defense. Conse- 

 quently, through all the great buffalo range an absence of mounds and 

 earthworks is noticeable. In conversations with old Indians and old 

 trappers like Boone and Bridger, I have obtained their views regarding 

 the capacity of the Indians of the present century for defense. Boone 

 says they understood making works thoroughly. He cited the fact that 

 where Osages or Kaws are caught in the buffalo range by Cheyennes, 

 Comanches, &c, they always get into the buffalo-wallows for defense. 

 They know that a bank makes a cover and protection; they know the 

 value of cross-firing on an enemy, and from these observations they could 

 easily deduce plans for defensive works. But as in the days of stone- 

 pointed weapons the arrow would carry only about 80 to 100 yards effect- 

 ively, the attacking party would only have a short charge to make, and 

 if of superior numbers, could easily carry ordinary breastworks. For 



