14 CROSSING THE HOSTILE INDIAN COUNTRY. 



So little indeed was then known about this great 

 region, that it was generally supposed that it would 

 never become habitable, by anything but the buffalo 

 and wandering bands of wild Indians, who were 

 continually roaming over this mighty wilderness, and 

 warring with each other, and with everyone not a 

 recognised member of their own tribe. 



The Whites clearly saw that this unsettled state of 

 things would necessarily continue to exist as long as 

 the Indians themselves existed, because as these wild 

 tribes lived entirely upon the proceeds of the chase, they 

 naturally resented the intrusion of strangers into their 

 hunting grounds, or even their passage by beaten trails 

 across the plains. Everyone who ventured to explore, 

 or hunt over their lands, therefore, did so at the peril 

 of his "scalp," and if a small party was overpowered 

 by a sudden attack of a superior force of Indians, to 

 be killed in battle was the very best and happiest 

 thing that could happen ; for all who fell alive into the 

 hands of these ruthless warriors were usually put to death 

 after undergoing an ordeal of torture frightful to con- 

 template. Neither age nor sex was of any avail to 

 mitigate the fate of the unfortunate white who unhap- 

 pily fell into their power. Women, it is true, formed 

 occasional exceptions; but only after submitting to a 

 course of nameless outrages, after which they were at 

 length occasionally received as members of the tribe, 

 as the wives of their red captors ; but generally in the 

 end, as soon as the Indians were tired of them, they 

 too were put to death. 



The pitiless warfare that this state of things produced 

 between the Indians and the Whites may be better 

 imagined than described. As a rule no quarter was 



