110 Expedition to the 



ing to those we had lost. This timely measure produc- 

 ed the desired effect. Their \yhole camp had l:)een some 

 time in motion : the women and children, with all their 

 baggage, except what we had detained, had moved to a con- 

 siderable distance, and we found ourselves, at this unplea- 

 sant state of the dispute, surrounded by their whole armed 

 force. We observed greater numbers of arrows in their 

 hands than on the preceding day, and were not without our 

 fears that they intended to carry the dispute, respecting our 

 horses and kettles, to greater lengths than we could wish. 

 We were, however, agreeably disappointed to learn that all 

 our lost property had been found. It was accordingly restor- 

 ed to us and we parted from the Kaskaias as friends. 



The time we spent with this band of savages was so short, 

 as to afford little opportunity of becoming acquainted with 

 their manners. Their dress is nearly similar to that of the 

 Pawnees, but consists more exclusively of leather. The 

 women, instead of the robe, wear a loose frock without 

 sleeves. It has an opening for the neck, large enough to ad- 

 mit the head, and descends from the shoulders, hanging like 

 a bag about the body, and reaching below the knees. When 

 eagerly engaged in their employments this inconvenient ar- 

 ticle of dress is thrown aside, and the squabbish person 

 of the female savage is exposed to view, disfigured only by 

 a small apron of leather worn round the waist. The young 

 females appear in some measure, exempted from the la- 

 borious services performed by the married women, and 

 consequently, possess a degree of lightness and elasticity in 

 their persons, which they soon lose after they begin to bear 

 children, and subject themselves to the severe drudgeries of a 

 married life. Their breasts become so flaccid and pendulous 

 that we have seen them give suck to their children, the mo- 

 ther and the child at the same time standing erect upon the 

 ground. This fact is sufficient to prove that they do not, at 

 least in some instances, wean their children at a very early 

 age. 



