IY 



WE have from all sources accurate and consistent ac- 

 counts of the extraordinary riding of the old savage. 

 Catlin and Parkman and Dodge depict him fully. A 

 piece of buffalo-robe girthed with a rope over the pony's 

 back stood in lieu of saddle, if even so much was used ; a 

 cord of twisted hair lashed round its lower jaw served 

 both for bit and bridle. When hunting, in fact as a rule, 

 the Indian wore naught but a breech-cloth and moccasins 

 not to lay stress on paint and feathers and carried a 

 buffalo-skin, which he threw around his shoulders or let 

 fall from about his waist. He was often a splendid speci- 

 men of manly strength and activity this old-time Indian. 



"By G , a Mohawk !" exclaimed Benjamin West, when 



he first beheld the Apollo Belvedere. A heavy whip with 

 elk-horn handle and knotted bull's -hide lash hung by a 

 loop to the Indian's wrist. His bow and arrows gave full 

 occupation to his hands ; he was forced to guide his pony 

 with legs and word alone, and to rely on its intelligence 

 and the training he had given it to do the right thing at 

 the right moment. Thus slenderly equipped, this superb 

 rider dashed into the midst of a herd of buffaloes a seeth- 

 ing, tearing, volcanic mass of motion, of which no one 

 who has not seen it can conceive an idea ; but so quick 

 was the pony and so strong the seat of his master, that, 

 despite the stampede of the terror-stricken herd and the 

 charges of the enraged and wounded bulls, few accidents 

 ever occurred. The Indian on horseback has ninety lives, 



