g enough to protect the arrows from the
weather, and is worn on the back by means of a strap passing over the
right shoulder and under the left arm. The shield is a circular piece of
buffaloe hide about two feet four or five inches in diameter, ornamented
with feathers, and a fringe round it of dressed leather, and adorned or
deformed with paintings of strange figures. The buffaloe hide is
perfectly proof against any arrow, but in the minds of the Shoshonees,
its power to protect them is chiefly derived from the virtues which are
communicated to it by the old men and jugglers. To make a shield is
indeed one of their most important ceremonies: it begins by a feast to
which all the warriors, old men and jugglers are invited. After the
repast a hole is dug in the ground about eighteen inches in depth and of
the same diameter as the intended shield: into this hole red hot stones
are thrown and water poured over them, till they emit a very strong* hot
steam. The buffaloe skin, which must be the entire hide of a male two
years old, and never suffered to dry since it was taken from the animal,
is now laid across the hole, with the fleshy side to the ground, and
stretched in every direction by as many as can take hold of it. As the
skin becomes heated, the hair separates and is taken off by the hand;
till at last the skin is contracted into the compass designed for
the shield. It is then taken off and placed on a hide prepared into
parchment, and then pounded during the rest of the festival by the bare
heels of those who are invited to it. This operation sometimes continues
for several days, after which it is delivered to the proprietor, and
declared by the old men and jugglers to be a security against arrows;
and provided the feast has been satisfactory, against even the bullets
of their enemies. Such is the delusion, that many of the Indians
implicitly believe that this ceremony has given to the shield
supernatural powers, and that they have no longer to fear any weapons of
their enemies.

The paggamoggon is an instrument, consisting of a handle twenty-two
inches long, made of wood, covered with dressed leather about the size
of a whip-handle: at one end is a thong of two inches in length, which
is tied to a round stone weighing two pounds and held in a cover of
leather: at the other end is a loop of the same material, which is
passed round the wrist so as to secure the hold of the instrument, with
which they strike a very se