THE SHOSHOMS OR SNAKE INDIANS. 329 



along the courses of the streams, and had but little idea of laying up 

 stores for winter. Their bread was made of sunflower (Helianthus an- 

 nuus) and lambs-quarter (Chenopodium album) seeds, mixed with service 

 berries (Amelanchier canadensis). They had a few horses, which they 

 valued highly, that had been brought from the south by the Comanches, 

 who speak the same language as the Shoshonis, and may, therefore, 

 be considered as belonging to the same stock. The Shoshonis traveled 

 far to the south, the greater portion of the tribe living, in fact, at that 

 time, in the territory belonging to Mexico, or ISTew Spain. 



The tribal relationship between the Comanches, Shoshonis, and Ban- 

 nacks is very close; and any one speaking the Shoshoni language may 

 travel without difficulty among the wild tribes from Durango, in Mexico, 

 to the banks of the Columbia River. Of course, each band has its pecu- 

 liarities, but in the main they are much alike, and, if they could be com- 

 bined, would form one of the most powerful Indian confederations in 

 America. Some are richer in Indian property than others — having all 

 that is desirable in an aboriginal point of view — while others are very 

 poor indeed, living in the fastnesses of the mountains, and afraid to be 

 seen by any one. A more utterly forlorn and friendless race of people 

 than those last mentioned cannot be conceived. 



The Shoshonis love to fish in the spring time, in the streams which 

 flow into the Colorado of the West; in the summer and fall they wander 

 oif to the buffalo-grounds to the east of the Wind River Mountains. 

 They are a contented race, and are on friendly terms with all the Indian 

 tribes except the Sioux, Arapahoes, and Cheyennes. 



Their lodges are made of dressed buffalo-skins ; that is, skins that have 

 had the hair taken off, and which have been rendered pliable by pound- 

 ing and rubbing. Some of them are very elaborately made, painted on 

 the outside, and divided into different compartments, answering the pur- 

 pose of rooms in more pretentious dwellings. In each compartment 

 there is a good bed made of buffalo, beaver, or bear skins, and blankets. 

 In the center of the lodge is a fire, the smoke from which makes its way 

 through a hole in the top. Each family has several brass kettles and 

 drinking cups, &c. In the evenings the fires give a ruddy light, making 

 everything look cheerful inside, and the children play about in as good 

 spirits as any on earth. They have their little plays and games, and 

 laugh and chatter away as merrily as crickets. There is a great degree 

 of freedom in nil of their movements, and I cannot see but that they enjoy 

 themselves as well as any people I have ever met. 



At present the Shoshonis occupy several reservations. One band, in 

 company with the Bannaeks, is on the Lemhi farm in Montana, where 

 they have some land under cultivation, and a good fishing place in the 

 Lemhi Fork of Salmon River, a tributary of Snake River. The Eastern 

 Shoshonis have a reservation in Wyoming Territory, which embraces 

 the Wind River country from its source to Owl Creek, a large tributary 

 of the river itself. These Indians are under the leadership of Washakce, 



