408 GENERAL FACTS. 
Lut they do all this purely for the physical enjoyment and the satisfaction 
of the animal spirits, not for the joy of conquest at all, so far as anybody 
can perceive. They never brag, never exult. 
An Indian will gamble twenty hours at a sitting, losing piece after 
piece of his property, to his last shirt, which he takes off, hands to the win- 
ner, and emerges naked as he was born; yet he exhibits no concern; he 
passes through it all, and comes out with the same gay and reckless stoi- 
cism. There is not a tremor in his voice, not a muscle quivers, his face 
never blanches; when he takes off the shirt, his laugh is just as vacuously 
cheerful and untainted with bitterness as it was when he commenced. He 
borrows another, throws himself on his face, and in five minutes he sleeps 
the untroubled, dreamless sleep of an infant. It is difficult for a white man 
to comprehend how one can be so absorbed in the process and so indiffer- 
ent to the result. . 
There is another notable defect in their character, that is their lack cf 
poetry, of romance. Though a very joyous and blithe-hearted race, they 
are patient, plodding, and prosaic to a degree. This is shown in their 
names, personal and geographical, the great majority of which mean 
nothing at all, and when they do have a signification it is of the plainest 
kind. The burden of their whole traditional literature consists of petty 
fables about animals, though some of these display a quaint humor and an 
aptness that would not do discredit to sop. And it must always be borne 
in mind that they are forbidden by their religious ideas to speak of the dead, 
which fact may account for the almost total lack of human legends. 
There is not even enough poetry in them to make them tawdry in dress. 
There is hope of gaudy savages who are thoroughly wasteful and 
thoroughly devoted to beauty, as they understand it. But these are not 
wasteful enough even to have feasts, that is, downright, gluttonous ‘‘feeds”. 
Their feasts, such as they are, are not held for the purpose of eating, pure 
and simple; they merely carry to a common rendezvous a store of pro- 
visions a little better than the every-day allowance, which they endeavor to 
make hold out as long as possible, in order that they may enjoy the dance 
for many days, which is the one great object of desire, while the feast is 
secondary. Food is gambled away recklessly, but not thrown away, 
