ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, ETC. 235 



his foot. Unlike tlie lupus, (which is cowardly and cringing 

 when made prisoner,) he showed fight, and seizing the pole in 

 his teeth, with which the man attempted to despatch him, with 

 one backward jerk, threw his assailant to the ground, and darted 

 at him, until checked by the trap chain. He was' finally shot, 

 and I obtained his skin, which I have preserved. 



I have just had a visit from an old and intelligent Indian chief, 

 who lives near. It is now almost midnight, but for the last hour 

 I have heard the old man wandering about like an unquiet spirit, 

 in the neighborhood of my little mansion, and singing snatches 

 of the wild, but sweetly musical songs of his tribe. It is a bitter 

 night, and supposing the old man might be cold, I invited him to 

 a seat by my comfortable fire. 



He says, ," eighty snows have chilled the earth since Mani- 

 quon was born." Maniquon has been a great warrior ; he has 

 himself taken twenty scalps between the rising and setting of the 

 sun. Like most old people, he is garrulous, and, like all Indians, 

 fond of boasting of his warlike deeds. I can sit for hours and 

 hear old Maniquon relate the particulars of his numerous cam- 

 paigns, his ambushes, and his " scrimmages," as old Hawk-eye 

 would say. When he once gets into the spirit of it, he springs 

 upon his feet, his old, sunken eyes sparkle like diamonds set in 

 bronze, and he whirls his shrunken and naked arm around his 

 head, as though it still held the deadly tomahawk. But in the 

 midst of his excitement, seeming suddenly to recollect his fallen 

 state, he sinks into his chair. 



" Maniquon is not a warrior now — he will never raise his axe 

 again — his young men have deserted his lodge — his sons will go 

 down to their graves, and the squaws will not sing of their great 

 deeds." 



I have several times heard him speak the substance of these 

 words in his own language, and in one instance he concluded 

 thus: 



