his party to
stop, put down his knapsack and rifle, and unfurling the flag advanced
alone towards the Indians. The females soon retreated behind the hill,
but the man remained till captain Lewis came within a hundred yards from
him, when he too went off, though captain Lewis called out tabba bone!
loud enough to be heard distinctly. He hastened to the top of the hill,
but they had all disappeared. The dogs however were less shy, and came
close to him; he therefore thought of tying a handkerchief with some
beads round their necks, and then let them loose to convince the
fugitives of his friendly disposition, but they would not suffer him to
take hold of them, and soon left him. He now made a signal to the men,
who joined him, and then all followed the track of the Indians, which
led along a continuation of the same road they had been already
travelling. It was dusty and seemed to have been much used lately both
by foot passengers and horsemen. They had not gone along it more than a
mile when on a sudden they saw three female Indians, from whom they had
been concealed by the deep ravines which intersected the road, till they
were now within thirty paces of each other; one of them a young woman
immediately took to flight, the other two, an elderly woman and a
little girl, seeing we were too near for them to escape, sat on the
ground, and holding down their heads seemed as if reconciled to the
death which they supposed awaited them. The same habit of holding down
the head and inviting the enemy to strike, when all chance of escape is
gone, is preserved in Egypt to this day. Captain Lewis instantly put
down his rifle, and advancing towards them, took the woman by the hand,
raised her up, and repeated the word tabba bone! at the sane time
stripping up his shirt sleeve to prove that he was a white man, for his
hands and face had become by constant exposure quite as dark as their
own. She appeared immediately relieved from her alarm, and Drewyer and
Shields now coming up, captain Lewis gave them some beads, a few awls,
pewter mirrors, and a little paint, and told Drewyer to request the
woman to recall her companion who had escaped to some distance, and by
alarming the Indians might cause them to attack him without any time for
explanation. She did as she was desired, and the young woman returned
almost out of breath: captain Lewis gave her an equal portion of
trinkets, and painted the tawny cheeks of all three of them with
verm