arely fail to fix it on his neck; and such is the docility of the
animal, that however unruly he may seem, he surrenders as soon as he
feels the rope on him. This cord is so useful in this way that it is
never dispensed with, even when they use the Spanish bridle, which they
prefer, and always procure when they have it in their power. The horse
becomes almost an object of attachment: a favourite is frequently
painted and his ears cut into various shapes: the mane and tail, which
are never drawn nor trimmed, are decorated with feathers of birds, and
sometimes a warrior suspends at the breast of his horse the finest
ornaments he possesses.

Thus armed and mounted the Shoshonee is a formidable enemy, even with
the feeble weapons which he is still obliged to use. When they attack at
full speed they bend forward and cover their bodies with the shield,
while with the right hand they shoot under the horses neck.

The only articles of metal which the Shoshonees possess are a few bad
knives, some brass kettles, some bracelets or armbands of iron and
brass, a few buttons worn as ornaments in their hair, one or two spears
about a foot in length, and some heads for arrows made of iron and
brass. All these they had obtained in trading with the Crow or Rocky
mountain Indians, who live on the Yellowstone. The few bridle-bits and
stirrups they procured from the Spanish colonies.

The instrument which supplies the place of a knife among them, is a
piece of flint with no regular form, and the sharp part of it not more
than one or two inches long: the edge of this is renewed, and the flint
itself is formed into heads for arrows, by means of the point of a deer
or elk horn, an instrument which they use with great art and ingenuity.
There are no axes or hatchets; all the wood being cut with flint or
elk-horn, the latter of which is always used as a wedge in splitting
wood. Their utensils consist, besides the brass kettles, of pots in the
form of a jar, made either of earth, or of a stone found in the hills
between Madison and Jefferson rivers, which, though soft and white in
its natural state, becomes very hard and black after exposure to the
fire. The horns of the buffaloe and the bighorn supply them with spoons.

The fire is always kindled by means of a blunt arrow, and a piece of
well-seasoned wood of a soft spongy kind, such as the willow or
cottonwood.

The Shoshonees are of a diminutive stature, with thick flat feet and
ankles, c