238 tHE LIFE Of 



carneftncfs of intreaty, defired me by no mejJns 

 to think of taking Mr. Black or the boy Richards 

 with mc. 



Though Mr. Black was not an expert horfe- 

 man, and the boy had never been in the faddle ; 

 the former treated the fatigue and danger with 

 contempt, and I was moreover, befides the vvifn 

 I had for fuch a companion, bound to him by a 

 promife ; as for the boy, his artlcfs intreaties 

 "were irrefiftible ; and he had fo long been ufed 

 to look up to me as his only proteclor, that he 

 v/ould not be dilTuadcd ; I was therefore obliged 

 to permit him to join in the expedition. 



The mode of travelling in that country is 

 truly fingular. There are no inns or any place 

 "where frefh horfes may be regularly procured, 

 the traveller therefore takes with him hom fifty 

 to a hundred horfes y by far the greater part of which 

 have never been mounted; thefe are driven be- 

 fore him quite ioofe, by one or two Indians, and 

 "vvhen the horfe on which he rides is fatigued, the 

 Indian catches him another. This would to an 

 European be no eafy tafk, but here it is far 

 otherv/ife ; for you have only to point out the 

 horfe you wiili, and the Indian makes diredlly 

 at him, throws his thong or lace, before de- 

 -fcribed, over the animal's head, and, in fpite of 

 all his efforts, leads him to you. 



His Excellency had given me an old dragoon, 



who 



