240 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST 



buckskin pantaloons, with long fringes down the out- 

 side seam from the hip to the ancle ; with mocassins, 

 ornamented with bright beads and porcupine quills. 

 Each, round his waist, wears his mountain-belt, and 

 scalp-knife, ominous of the company he is in, and some 

 have pistols sticking in their belt. 



The dances save the mark ! are without form or 

 figure, at least those in which the white hunters sport 

 the "fantastic toe." Seizing his partner round the 

 waist with the gripe of a grisly bear, each mountaineer 

 whirls and twirls, jumps and stamps ; introduces 

 Indian steps used in the " scalp " or " buffalo " dances, 

 whooping occasionally with unearthly cry, and then 

 subsiding into the jerking step, raising each foot 

 alternately from the ground, so much in vogue in 

 Indian ballets. The hunters have the floor all to them- 

 selves. The Mexicans have no chance in such physical 

 force dancing ; and if a dancing Pel&do * steps into the 

 ring, a lead-like thump from a galloping mountaineer 

 quickly sends him sprawling, with the considerate re- 

 mark " Quit, you darned Spaniard ! you can't ' shine ' 

 in this crowd." 



During a lull, gauges t filled with whisky go the 

 rounds offered to and seldom refused by the ladies 

 sturdily quaffed by the mountaineers, and freely swal- 

 lowed by the Pel&dos, who drown their jealousy and 

 envious hate of their entertainers in potent aguar- 



* A nickname for the idle fellows hanging about a Mexican 

 town, translated into " Greasers" by the Americans, 

 f Cask-shaped gourds. 



