358 



ACCOUNT OF THE INDIANS'. 



feast is prepared ; and when that is concluded, 

 the remainder of the night is spent in singing and 

 dancing. — But should the embassy be unsuccessful, 

 the chief, with his attendants, will return, and 

 make report of his proceedings to his own tribe ; 

 and those of them who are able and willing to 

 bear arms, will immediately, though as secretly as 

 possible, commence making preparations for a 

 campaign, the ensuing spring. The points of the 

 arrows, which the Indians use in attacking their 

 enemies, are sometimes dipped in a poisonous liquid 

 which they extract from pertain roots. 



All the Indians spend much of their time in 

 some kind of amusement. The inhabitants of the 

 plains, generally, and of New Caledonia, live in 

 large bands ; and are much more' addicted to 

 amusements, than the inhabitants of woody coun- 

 tries who are more scattered. Every tribe has 

 amusements peculiar to itself; but some plays are 

 common to all, who reside on the east side of the 

 Rocky Mountain. The Assiniboins, as well as all 

 the other Indians in the plains, spend much of 

 their time about their horses, and are fond of 

 trying their speed. Their youth, from the age 

 of four or five to that of eighteen or twenty years, 

 pass nearly half of their time in shooting arrows 

 at a mark; and to render this employment more 

 interesting, they always have something at stake. 



