o take any one alive. They were as untamable and as
savage as bears and wolves, fighting against any odds to the last
gasp. Both women and men were exceedingly ill-looking, with shapeless
heads, which were said to have been deformed by the compression of
bandages in infancy. The province was called Tula, and the village was
situated, it is supposed, between the waters of the upper Washita and
the little Missouri.

The Spaniards remained in the village four days, when suddenly, in the
darkness of midnight, the war-whoop resounded from three different
directions, and three large bands of native warriors, who had so
stealthily approached as to elude the vigilance of the sentinels,
plunged into the village in a simultaneous attack. Egyptian darkness
enveloped the combatants, and great was the confusion, for it was
almost impossible to distinguish friend from foe. The Spaniards, to
avoid wounding each other, incessantly shouted the name of the Virgin.
The savages were armed with bows and arrows and with javelins, heavy,
sharp-pointed, and nine or ten feet in length, which could be used
either as clubs or pikes. Wielded by their sinewy arms, in a
hand-to-hand fight, the javelin proved a very formidable weapon.

The battle raged with unintermitted fury till the dawn of the morning.
The savages then, at a given signal, fled simultaneously to the woods.
The Spaniards did not pursue them. Thoroughly armored as they were,
but four of their number were killed, but many were severely wounded.
It was nearly twenty days before the wounded were so far convalescent
that the army could resume its march. The following incident
illustrates the almost unexampled ferocity of these barbaric warriors:

The morning after the battle a large number of the Spanish soldiers,
thoroughly armed, were exploring the fields around the village, on
foot and on horseback. Three foot soldiers and two mounted men were in
company. One of them saw in a thicket an Indian raise his head and
immediately conceal it. The foot soldier ran up to kill him. The
savage rose, and with a ponderous battle-axe which he had won from the
Spaniards the day before, struck the shield of the Spaniard with such
force as to cut it in two, at the same time severely wounding his arm.
The blow was so violent and the wound so severe, that the soldier was
rendered helpless. The savage then rushed upon another of the foot
soldiers, and in the same way effectually disabled him.

One of