96 ATTACHMENT TO THEIR HORSES. 



war-horse, which is the fleetest that can be obtained, and he prizes him 

 more highly than anything else in his possession, and it is seldom that 

 he can be induced to part with him at any price. He never mounts 

 him except when going into battle, the buffalo chase, or upon state 

 occasions. On his return from an excursion he is met at the door of his 

 lodge by one of his wives, who takes his horse and attends to its wants 

 with the utmost care. The prairie warrior performs no menial labor ,; 

 his only occupation is in war and the chase. His wives, who are but 

 little dearer to him than his horse, perform all the drudgery. He fol- 

 lows the chase, he smokes his pipe, he eats and sleeps ; and thus he 

 passes his time, and in his own estimation he, is the most lordly and 

 independent sovereign in the universe. Such are some of the charac- 

 teristics of the prairie Indians ; and I cannot dismiss the subject without 

 remarking that, in addition to the physical similitude between the deserts 

 of Arabia, the steppes of Central Asia, and the prairie mesas of our own 

 country, a very striking resemblance is also observed in the habits and 

 customs of the respective inhabitants. The Arabs of the desert, the 

 Tartar tribes, and the aboriginal occupants of the prairies, are alike 

 wanderers, having no permanent abiding-places, transporting their lodges 

 wherever they go ; and where these are pitched, there are their homes. 

 They permit no authorities to control them but such as receive the 

 unanimous sanction- of the masses, and the rule of their leaders is 

 guided by the counsels of their old men, who, in many cases allay dis 

 sensions and curb the impetuosity of ambitious young warriors, whose 

 thirst for fame would often involve the nation in protracted wars. 

 Thus their government is patriarchal, guided by matured and fraternal 

 counsels. They are insensible to the wants and comforts of civilization; 

 they know neither poverty nor riches, vice nor virtue, and are alike 

 exempt from the deplorable vicissitudes of fortune. Theirs is a happy 

 state of equality, which knows not the perplexities of ambition 

 nor the crimes of avarice. They never cultivate the soil, but subsist 

 altogether upon game and what they can steal. They are alike the 

 most expert horsemen in the world, and possess the same fond attach- 

 ment for the animal. I once made an effort to purchase a favorite 

 horse from a chief of one of the bands of the Southern Comanches, 

 (Se-na-co,) and offered him a large price, but he could not be persuaded 

 to part with him. He said the animal was one of the fleetest in their 

 possession ; and if he were to sell him, it would prove a calamity to his 

 whole band, as it often required all the speed of this animal to insure 

 success in the buffalo chase ; that his loss would be felt by all his 



