IN THE FAR WEST. 245 



left the savage scene, with its ghastly accessories, and 

 hastened at once to the house of the agent or sub-agent, 

 and told him of the incident, and asked him to see that the 

 murderers were punished. 



He, however, treated the matter rather indifferently, say- 

 ing that it would be difficult to bring those engaged in the 

 brutal deed to justice, as none of their own people would testify 

 against them, and a scalp could not be identified or produced 

 in evidence to prove their guilt. When I told him that those 

 present had told the tale themselves, he said that was nothing, 

 as they would deny it all in a body if questioned about it ; 

 and he thought it was better to let the matter rest, as the 

 dead could not be called to life, and any attempt at punishing 

 his murderers would only create a useless disturbance, and, 

 probably, send a portion of the tribe on the war-path. 



Seeing that nothing could be done, I relinquished my efforts 

 at having them punished, and the next week I went to see 

 another dance of the braves. This was like the preceding, except 

 that the scalps were not held up by the women ; but I noticed 

 that several were employed to fringe the garments of the 

 warriors, and that they pointed to their dress instead of to 

 wands when they were relating their great deeds and the 

 number of scalps they had taken. I tried to buy some of these 

 garments, but found they were deemed invaluable, and that 

 neither money nor ammunition could induce their owners to 

 part with them. I have been in that country since I was so 

 unceremoniously hunted out of it, but I never think of it 

 without recalling the horrible fate of Evans, and feeling 

 thankful for my own escape from an ignominious death. 



The abundance of the elk in some of the unpopulated 

 regions beyond the Rocky Mountains is almost incredible. 

 I have seen in a valley in Colorado, near the Ute reserva- 

 tion, at least four thousand in one herd, and I have fre- 

 quently seen them in throngs numbering from fifty to five 

 hundred in various sections extending from Oregon to British 

 America. I once formed one of a party in Colorado who were 

 exploring a region that contained few settlers, and they were 

 often far apart ; hence game was as plentiful as if the entire 



