RELIGIOUS BELIEF. 107 



as to other tribes who have permanent habitations. Some have sup- 

 posed that a large body of these Indians could not obtain a sufficient 

 amount of subsistence to enable them to remain together for any great 

 length of time ; but their numerous horses and mules, which they often 

 make use of for food when game is scarce, would supply them with sub- 

 sistence for a long time. It will be necessary to devise some measures 

 to do away with the inveterate prejudices which the Comanches enter- 

 tain against the habits and customs of the whites, before they will be 

 induced to remain in any fixed abodes or cultivate the soil. 



In common with most oth r Indians, they are very superstitious : 

 they believe in dreams, the wearing of amulets, medicine- bags, &c, and 

 the dedication of offerings to secure the favor of invisible agents ; as also 

 in the efficacy of music and dancing for the cure of diseases. They submit 

 with the most imperturbable stoicism and apathy to misfortunes of the 

 most serious character, and, in the presence of strangers, manifest no 

 surprise or curiosity at the exhibition of novelties ; yet this apparent 

 indifference is assumed, and they are in reality very inquisitive people. 

 In every village may be seen small structures, consisting of a frame- 

 work of slight poles, bent into a semi-spherical form, and covered with 

 buffalo-hides. These are called medicine-lodges, and are used as vapor- 

 baths. The patient is seated within the lodge, beside several heated 

 stones, upon which water is thrown, producing a dense hot vapor, which 

 brings on a profuse perspiration, while, at the same time, the shamans, 

 or medicine-men, who profess to have the power of communicating 

 with the unseen world, and of propitiating the malevolence of evil 

 spirits, are performing various incantations, accompanied by music, on 

 the outside. Such means are resorted to for healing all diseases; and I 

 am also informed that their young men are obliged to undergo a 

 regular course of steam-bathing before they are considered worthy of 

 assuming the responsible duties of warriors. The knowledge they 

 possess of their early history is very vague and limited, and does not 

 extend further back than a few generations. They say that their fore- 

 fathers lived precisely as they do, and followed the buffalo : that they 

 came from a country towards the setting sun, where they expect to 

 return after death. They acknowledge the existence and power of a 

 great supernatural agent, who directs and controls all things; but this 

 power they conceive to be vested in the sun, which they worship and 

 appeal to on all occasions of moment. They also anticipate a future 

 state of existence similar to the present, and invariably bury with the 

 warrior his hunting and w 7 ar equipments. Thus far no efforts have 

 ever been made to improve the moral or physical condition of these 



