CRUELTY. 419 



sides. Eigid and immovable, the man was then planted 

 upright like a post in the hole, the dirt filled in and 

 tightly rammed down around him. When all was com- 

 pleted nothing but his head was visible. They then 

 scalped his head, cut off his lips, eyelids, nose, and ears, 

 danced around, mocked, taunted, and left him. On their 

 arrival at the camp the party described in detail their 

 punishment of the Mexican, and in all the tribe it was 

 regarded as an exquisite piece of pleasantry. The man 

 would live, they said, for at least eight days, revived at 

 night by the cool of the hi^h plains, to be driven mad 

 next day by the hot sun beating on his scalped head and 

 defenceless eyeballs, while myriads of flies would fill his 

 wounds with maggots. This 'joke ' gained great celebrity 

 among the southern plains tribes, and the warrior who 

 proposed it was regarded as an inventive genius of the 

 first order. 



The Tonkaways cannot properly be called a plains 

 tribe Very few are now left; but when Espinosa was 

 with the Comanches, they were a powerful tribe occu- 

 pying all the low country between the Brazos and Sabine 

 Eivers (now comprising the south-east portion of Texas). 

 Incessant warfare existed between the Comanches and 

 Tonkaways, and for many years Espinosa went once or 

 twice or more times each year with parties of Comanches 

 on forays into the Tonkaway country. One of these 

 parties was surprised in camp one morning by a superior 

 force of the enemy, several killed, two captured, and the 

 others dispersed. Espinosa escaped and returned to his 

 camp. Some time after, one of the warriors who had 

 been captured arrived on foot at the camp, and gave 

 the following account of his adventures. His com- 

 panion in misfortune was wounded. They were bound, 

 placed on horses, and marched rapidly to the eastward. 

 On the second day the wounded Comanche evinced 

 signs of weakness. That night the Tonkaways were 

 sitting chatting about the camp fire, the two captives, 



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