SKILL IN HORSEMANSHIP. 95 



situation he may be placed, is influenced in his modes of existence, his 

 physical and moral condition, by the natural resources of climate, soil, 

 and other circumstances around him, over the operations of which he 

 has no control. Fortunately, such is the flexibility of his nature that 

 he soon learns to adapt himself to the hardest and most untoward 

 circumstances, and, indeed, ultimately becomes not only reconciled to 

 his lot, but persuades himself that his condition is far preferable to that 

 of most others. 



The example of our western-border settlers is illustrative of this fact, 

 as they continue to remove farther and farther west as the settlements 

 encroach upon them, preferring a life of dangerous adventure and soli- 

 tude to personal security and the comforts and enjoyments of society ; 

 and what was at first necessity to them, becomes in time a source of 

 excitement and pleasure. 



The nomadic Indian of the prairies demonstrates the position still 

 more forcibly : free as the boundless plains over which he roams, he 

 neither knows nor wants any luxuries beyond what he finds in the 

 buffalo or the deer around him. These serve him with food, clothing, 

 and a covering for his lodge, and he sighs not for the titles and distinc- 

 tion which occupy the thoughts and engage the energies of civilized 

 man. His only ambition consists in being able to cope successfully 

 with his enemy in war, and in managing his steed with unfailing adroit- 

 ness. He is in the saddle from boyhood to old age, and his favorite 

 horse is his constant companion. It is when mounted that the Coman- 

 che exhibits himself to the best advantage : here he is at home, and his 

 skill in various manoeuvres which he makes available in battle — such as 

 throwing himself entirely upon one side of his horse, and discharging 

 his arrows with great rapidity towards the opposite side from beneath 

 the animal's neck while he is at full speed — is truly astonishing. Many 

 of the women are equally expert, as equestrians, with the men. They 

 ride upon the same saddles and in the same manner, with a leg upon 

 each side of the horse. As an example of their skill in horsemanship, 

 two young women of one of the bands of the Northern Comanches, 

 while we were encamped near them, upon seeing some antelopes at a 

 distance from their camp, mounted horses, and with lassos in their 

 hands set oft' at full speed in pursuit of this fleetest inhabitant of the plains. 

 After pursuing them for some distance, and taking all the advantages 

 which their circuitous course permitted, they finally came near them, 

 and, throwing the lasso with unerring precision, secured each an animal 

 and brought it back in triumph to the camp. Every warrior has his 



