94 SALUBRITY OF THE PLAINS. 



that they were no less distinguished as warriors than hunters, and that 

 they were the first nation that succeeded in conquering the warlike and 

 numerous Chickasaws. It is related that upon one occasion they en- 

 countered the Chickasaws, who, in consequence of having no powder, 

 considered it most prudent to make a precipitate retreat ; whereupon 

 the Quapaw chief, understanding the cause, determined they should be 

 placed on an equality, and ordered all his warriors to empty their powder- 

 horns into a blanket, and making an equal division of the powder, he 

 gave one-half to his enemies. The battle then commenced, and in a short 

 time terminated with a signal defeat of the Chickasaws, who retreated 

 with a loss of ten killed and five prisoners, while the Quapaws only lost 

 one man. They were also distinguished for their friendship to the early 

 settlers along the Arkansas river, and it is much to be deplored that 

 this once numerous and valorous nation is so fast approaching annihila- 

 tion. The two most numerous and powerful tribes of Indians frequent- 

 ing the country upon Upper Red river are the Comanches and Kioways; 

 the former range from the Witchita mountains to the sources of the 

 river, while the latter occasionally visit the headwaters, but seldom come 

 as far down as the mountains. These tribes have similar habits, but 

 speak different languages. The most numerous and warlike nation is 

 that of the Comanches, who are separated into three distinct local grand 

 divisions, namely : the Northern, Middle, and Southern ; each of these 

 is subdivided into several bands, commanded by separate chiefs. 



The Northern and Middle Comanches subsist almost entirely upon 

 the flesh of the buffalo; they are known among the other Indians as 

 " buffalo-eaters," and are generally found at their heels, migrating with 

 them from place to place upon those vast and inhospitable plains of the 

 West, the greater portion of which are incapable of cultivation, and 

 seem destined in the future, as in the past, to be the abode of the 

 wandering savage, possessing as they do, so few attractions to civilized 

 man. This vast district, however, exhibits one characteristic which 

 compensates for many of its asperities: perhaps no part of the habitable 

 globe is more favorable to human existence, so far as the atmosphere is 

 concerned, than this. Free from marshes, stagnant water, great bodies 

 of timber, and all other sources of poisonous malaria, and open to every 

 wind that blows, this immense grassy expanse is purged from impurities 

 of every kind, and the air imparts a force and vigor to the body and 

 mind which repays the occupant in a great measure for his deprivations. 

 Nature, which almost everywhere exhibits some compensation to man 

 for great hardships, has here conferred upon him health, the first and 

 best of her gifts. It is a fact worthy of remark, that man, in whatever 



