270 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER 



the neiglibourhood. In cases where there is a pro- 

 bability of such an attempt, it is better both to tie 

 and hobble them. 



' The following day the chiefs assembled and sat 

 in council many hours, discussing the expediency of 

 reprisals. The subject afforded a wide field for dis- 

 cussion, as the United States, in the stipulation for 

 paying the annuities for ceded lands, exacted from 

 the Pawnees that they should not send out parties 

 to steal horses, as had been their practice. In the 

 meantime the more distant tribes came in to hunt in 

 the buffalo prairies and steal the Pawnees' horses, 

 while the latter are forbidden to make reprisals. 

 These stipulations would be very hard if adhered to ; 

 but I have good reason to believe that during my 

 residence with the Pawnees they sent out several 

 horse-stealing parties, one of which was supposed to 

 have met with considerable success among the Kanzas 

 Indians, a tribe settled on the river of the same 

 name. The Indian notions of reprisals are very 

 cosmopolitan ; if thirty horses are stolen from them 

 and they cannot discover the thieves, they consider 

 themselves perfectly justified in stealing thirty from 

 the first party or tribe that may offer them the 

 opportunity.' ^ 



At the present time in England the crime of 

 horse stealing is comparatively rare, though occasion - 



' Hon. C. A. Murray — Travels in North America. 



