with the use of
the rifle, and, in my judgment, would make as formidable partisan
warriors as can be found in the universe.

THE WILD TRIBES OF THE WEST.

These are very different in their habits from the natives that formerly
occupied the country bordering upon the Atlantic coast. The latter
lived permanently in villages, where they cultivated the soil, and
never wandered very far from them. They did not use horses, but always
made their war expeditions on foot, and never came into action unless
they could screen themselves behind the cover of trees. They inflicted
the most inhuman tortures upon their prisoners, but did not, that I am
aware, violate the chastity of women.

The prairie tribes have no permanent abiding places; they never plant a
seed, but roam for hundreds of miles in every direction over the
Plains. They are perfect horsemen, and seldom go to war on foot. Their
attacks are made in the open prairies, and when unhorsed they are
powerless. They do not, like the eastern Indians, inflict upon their
prisoners prolonged tortures, but invariably subject all females that
have the misfortune to fall into their merciless clutches to an ordeal
worse than death.

It is highly important to every man passing through a country
frequented by Indians to know some of their habits, customs, and
propensities, as this will facilitate his intercourse with friendly
tribes, and enable him, when he wishes to avoid a conflict, to take
precautions against coming in collision with those who are hostile.

Almost every tribe has its own way of constructing its lodges,
encamping, making fires, its own style of dress, by some of which
peculiarities the experienced frontiersman can generally distinguish
them.

The Osages, for example, make their lodges in the shape of a wagon-top,
of bent rods or willows covered with skins, blankets, or the bark of
trees.

The Kickapoo lodges are made in an oval form, something like a rounded
hay-stack, of poles set in the ground, bent over, and united at top;
this is covered with cloths or bark.

The Witchetaws, Wacos, Towackanies, and Tonkowas erect their hunting
lodges of sticks put up in the form of the frustum of a cone and
covered with brush.

All these tribes leave the frame-work of their lodges standing when
they move from camp to camp, and this, of course, indicates the
particular tribe that erected them.

The Delawares and Shawnees plant two upright forked poles, place a
stick