226 ON THE FKONTIEK. 



hanging up, a drove of about two hundred horses, and 

 all well armed. 



The women were dressed as follows. Firstly, braided 

 buckskin moccasins, with raw hide soles. Then, buckskin 

 leggings, mostly very handsome ; being fringed, stained 

 with a variety of colours in different devices, beaded, and 

 embroidered. Evidently they were considered the most 

 killing portion of the costume. And, finally, long buckskin 

 garments, which ought, I suppose, to be called chemises, 

 because that is what they really looked like. These last- 

 mentioned articles of apparel were very narrow, cut straight 

 all the way down, reached to the calf of the leg, were very 

 low in the neck and large in the arm-holes, and without 

 sleeves ; and they were all, more or less, covered with 

 extraordinary designs, executed with different coloured 

 dyes ; some very pretty and tasteful, others verging on 

 the grotesque and hideous. This was the fashionable way 

 of wearing the hair : parted down the centre of the head 

 and across ; front hair, hanging in two long straight locks, 

 one on each side of the face ; back hair hanging down 

 behind like a massive black mane. The side locks reached, 

 generally, to a little below the women's waists, and were 

 bound round for six inches from their ends upwards with 

 strips of fur. Their back hair was also bound with fur in 

 the same manner, and in most cases reached down to 

 below their knees, in some almost to the ground; and 

 was still further ornamented with stained and dyed feathers 

 attached to it at intervals. These belles were painted, of 

 course ; and the prevailing mode was the following : the 

 partings of the hair were coloured bright red; the edges 



