s and
bark. They are not vicious, but, though easily tamed, can not be
domesticated.

The natives of the upper Columbia, beginning at the falls, differ
essentially in language, manners, and habits, from those of whom I have
spoken in the preceding chapters. They do not dwell in villages, like
the latter, but are nomads, like the Tartars and the Arabs of the
desert: their women are more industrious, and the young girls more
reserved and chaste than those of the populations lower down. They do
not go naked, but both sexes wear habits made of dressed deer-skin,
which they take care to rub with chalk, to keep them clean and white.
They are almost always seen on horseback, and are in general good
riders; they pursue the deer and penetrate even to Missouri, to kill
buffalo, the flesh of which they dry, and bring it back on their horses,
to make their principal food during the winter. These expeditions are
not free from danger; for they have a great deal to apprehend from the
_Black-feet_, who are their enemies. As this last tribe is powerful and
ferocious, the _Snakes_, the _Pierced-noses_ or _Sha-ap-tins_, the
_Flatheads_, &c., make common cause against them, when the former go to
hunt east of the mountains. They set out with their families, and the
cavalcade often numbers two thousand horses. When they have the good
fortune not to encounter the enemy, they return with the spoils of an
abundant chase; they load a part of their horses with the hides and
beef, and return home to pass the winter in peace. Sometimes, on the
contrary, they are so harassed by the Blackfeet, who surprise them in
the night and carry off their horses, that they are forced to return
light-handed, and then they have nothing to eat but roots, all the
winter.

These Indians are passionately fond of horseraces: by the bets they make
on these occasions they sometimes lose all that they possess. The women
ride, as well as the men. For a bridle they use a cord of horse-hair,
which they attach round the animal's mouth; with that he is easily
checked, and by laying the hand on his neck, is made to wheel to this
side or that. The saddle is a cushion of stuffed deer-skin, very
suitable for the purpose to which it is destined, rarely hurting the
horse, and not fatiguing the rider so much as our European saddles. The
stirrups are pieces of hard wood, ingeniously wrought, and of the same
shape as those which are used in civilized countries. They are covered
with