UTE INDIANS. 109 



tains to settle on a reseryation witliin Lis grant. These 

 tribes were, until lately, most troublesome^ and kept np con- 

 stant hostilities ■v\'ith the settlers^ especially the Mexicans ; but 

 gradually Mr. Maxwell has completely gained their confidence, 

 and treats them more as children than dependants. At my first 

 visit to his house, I found him sitting on the steps of his door 

 lin his shirt-sleeves, surrounded by a motley group of squaws, 

 apooses, and warriors, painted up and decorated in their 

 usual style. They all seemed on the most familiar terms 

 with him — talking and laughing^ while the children played 

 around. These people were paying him a visit : they had 

 [just ridden in from the mountains, and had left their ironies 

 tied under the trees. 



In the coralle at the back of the house, I afterwards 

 discovered the old hags of this party hard at work cutting 

 up two sheep, which had been given to them as a present ; 

 and I can assure my readers that no manager of Drury Lane 

 ever produced three more hideous or unearthly witches than 

 were these half-naked, withered old creatures, their faces 

 jStriped with red and white paint, their matted grey hair 

 anging from their huge heads over their sunken shoulders, 

 their pendent shrivelled breasts, and their scraggy arms; 

 while their eyes brightened and their huge mouths grinned 

 with excitement as they plunged their claws amongst the 

 entrails of the sheep, and scrambled for the tit-bits. 



When the buffalo on the plains have got their winter coats, 

 these Indians of the moimtains are wont to imite their 

 strength and make a raid into the lands of their more 

 powerful neighbours, the Kiowas and the Arapahoes, in order 

 to obtain flesh for the winter, and skins ; and many a fierce 

 struggle they have with these tribes. Often they are driven 

 ibaek with thinned ranks and empty hands, and with no 



J ■ b mr 



