100 BUFFALO LAND. 



stone whicli he had set up as guides for emigrant 

 trains, looking wonderfully like sentinels standing 

 ffuard over the vallevs beneath. Indeed we did at 

 first take them for solitary herders, watching their 

 cattle in some choice pasture out of sight. 



Most of our party had expected to find Indians 

 in promiscuous abundance over the entire State, 

 and we were therefore surprised to see the country, 

 after passing St. Mary's Mission, entirely free of 

 them. Muggs asked Gripe if the American Indian 

 was hostile to all nationalities alike, or simply to 

 those who robbed him of his hunting-grounds. The 

 orator replied as follows: 



" Sir, the aborigine of the western plains cares 

 not what color or flavor the fruit possesses which 

 hano-s from his roof tree. The cue of the Chinaman 

 is equally as acceptable as hairs from the mane of 

 the Eno-lish lion. A red lock is as welcome as a 

 black one, and disputes as to ownership usually 

 result in a dead-lock. His abhorrence is a wig, which 

 he considers a contrivance of the devil to cheat honest 

 Indian industry. I would advise geologists on the 

 plains to carry, along with their picks for breaking- 

 stones, a bottle of patent hair restorative. It is 

 handy to have in one's pocket when his scalp is far 

 on its way towards some Cheyenne war-pole. The 

 scalping process, gentlemen, is the way in which 

 savages levy and collect their poll-tax. An}^ person 

 in search of romantic wigwams can have his wig- 

 warmed very thoroughly on the Arkansas or Texas 

 borders. On the plains along the western border of 

 Kansas, however, geologists can find a rich and com- 



