[ 487 ] 



MANNERS, CUSTOMS, &c. 



OF 



NATIONS AND CLASSES of PEOPLE. 



x^S^*" 



THE IHOSHONEE INDIANS. 



(From Lewis and Clark's Travels J 



THE Shoshonees are a small 

 tribe of the nation called 

 Snake Indians, a vague denomi- 

 nation, which embraces at once 

 the inhabitants of the southern 

 parts of the rocky mountains and 

 of the plains on each side. The 

 Shoshonees with whom we now 

 are, amount to aboutone hundred 

 warriors, aiid three times that 

 number of women and children. 

 U'ithin their own recollection they 

 forme: ly lived in the plains, but 

 they have been driven into the 

 mountains by the Pawkees, or the 

 roving Indians; of the Sascatcha- 

 wain, and are now obliged to visit 

 occasionally, and by stealth, the 

 country of their ancestors. '1 heir 

 lives are indeed migratory. From 

 the middle of May to the begin- 

 ning of September, tliey reside on 

 the waters of the Columbia, where 

 they consider themselves perfectly 

 secure from the Pawkees, who 

 have never yet found tlieir way 

 to that retreat. Duiing this time 

 they subsist chieHy on salmon; 



and as that fish disappears on the 

 approach of autumn, they are 

 obhged to seek subsistence else- 

 where. They then cross the ridge 

 to the waters of the Missouri, 

 down which they proceed slowly 

 and cautiously, till they are joined 

 near the three forks by other 

 bands, either of their own nation 

 or of the Flatheads, with wdiom 

 they associate against the com- 

 mon enemy. Being now strong 

 in numbers, they venture to imnt 

 buffaloe in the plains eastward of 

 the mountains, near which they 

 spend the winter, till the return 

 of the salmon in\ites them to the 

 Columbia. But such is their ter- 

 ror of the Pawkees, that as long 

 as they can ol)tain the scantiest 

 subsistsnce, they do not leave the 

 interior of the mountains ; and a."! 

 soon as they collect a large stock 

 of dried meat, they again re- 

 treat, thus alternately olitaining 

 their food at the hazard of their 

 lives, and hiding themselves to 

 consume it. In tliis loose and 

 wandering existence they suffer 

 the extremes of want : for two- 

 thirds of tlie year they are forced 

 to live in the mountains, passing 



whole 



