206 SPOKT IN NORTH A3IEEICA. 



tribe of these children of the prairie has its heroes, 

 who have given proofs of their merits in every way : 

 one, by the unerring instinct with which he can 

 track his enemy down ; another, by the number of 

 wild animals he has killed. To be a great hunter 

 is to achieve a high position, an elevated rank 

 among the Red Skins. In the eyes of these people 

 it confers a title equal to that of a prince in Europe, 

 and the exploits which have gained for him this 

 position are to the copper-coloured hero exactly 

 what medals and decorations are to the civilized 

 soldier. 



In the wilds where the Osages live (at about the 

 38tli degree of latitude), the hunter will often have 

 a chance of meeting the grizzly bear {Ursus ferox), 

 the most formidable animal in the North American 

 forests, — the creature insensible to wounds, whose 

 habits are very uncertain, and whose strength 

 enables him to crush into a mummy the victim who 

 falls within his grasp. The Indian warriors of every 

 tribe esteem no ornament more highly than the 

 claws of the grizzly bear, strung together so as to 

 form a collar for their muscular necks. This orna- 

 ment, with that of an eagle's feather — the plumage 

 of an eagle shot flying — which the Red Skin fixes in 

 the middle of the tuft of hair which he wears on the 

 top of his head, gives him an air of audacity and 

 conscious prowess worthy of the first rank in a nation 

 of warriors. 



