288 INDIANS. 



for sure recognition, a universal cry of despair ascends 

 to heaven, for the bad god has them in his power, in 

 his most terrible and dreaded form. Camp and lodges 

 are abandoned ; the dead and dying left alone and uneared 

 for ; and those not yet afflicted, breaking up into families, 

 fly in every direction from the scene of suffering. They 

 hope by the rapidity and secrecy of their movements to 

 baffle the pursuit of the bad god. An unfortunate 

 seized with the disease en route , is forced to leave the 

 party, to live or die, solitary and alone in the wilderness. 

 Husbands abandon their wives, children their aged parents, 

 mothers their nursing infants ; and this terrible race for life 

 continues until the disease has worn itself out, either from 

 want of contact or lack of victims. The places at which 

 these visitations have overtaken the Indians are for ever 

 regarded with superstitious terror, and no persuasion or 

 bribe could induce an Indian knowingly to visit them. 



More than twenty-five years ago the writer, with a 

 small force, was scouting in the Guadalupe Mountains in 

 Texas, then a favourite hunting ground of the Indians. In 

 going from one mountain pass to another, an old Indian 

 trail was discovered. It was deep and wide, showed 

 plain evidence of much and frequent usage, but no sign 

 of recent travel. It evidently led to some spot which 

 had been a favourite place of resort, but which, for some 

 reasons, had for several years been abandoned. Curious 

 to know more, the trail was followed. After winding 

 along ridges for three or four miles, it led by a long and 

 steep descent to a most charming valley, nestled and 

 hidden in the very bosom of the mountains. This valley 

 was about twelve miles long by an average of three-fourths 

 of a mile in width. A beautiful stream wound in graceful 

 curves from mountain to mountain as if seeking to leave 

 no spot of the valley untouched by its invigorating 

 influence. Tall, shapely trees clustered along the margins 

 of the stream ; smooth lawns of the greenest grass, dotted 

 with clumps of shrubbery, and covered with lovely 



