evening encampment in the prairies, during the hunting season:--

"It is a long, long while! when the wild horses were unknown in the
country, [Horses were unknown until the arrival of the Spaniards], and
when the buffalo alone ranged the vast prairies; then, huge and horrid
monsters existed. The approaches of the mountains and forests were
guarded by the evil spirits [see note 2], while the seashore, tenanted
by immense lizards [see note 3], was often the scene of awful conflicts
between man, the eldest son of light, and the mighty children of gloom
and darkness. Then, too, the land we now live in had another form;
brilliant stones were found in the streams; the mountains had not yet
vomited their burning bowels, and the great Master of Life was not angry
with his red children.

"One summer, and it was a dreadful one, the moon (i.e. the sun) remained
stationary for a long time; it was of a red blood colour, and gave
neither night nor days. Takwantona, the spirit of evil, had conquered
Nature, and the sages of the Shoshones foresaw many dire calamities.
The great _Medecines_ declared that the country would soon be drowned in
the blood of their nation. They prayed in vain, and offered, without
any success, two hundred of their fairest virgins in sacrifice on the
altars of Takwantona. The evil spirit laughed, and answered to them
with his destructive thunders. The earth was shaken and rent asunder;
the waters ceased to flow in the rivers, and large streams of fire and
burning sulphur rolled down from the mountains, bringing with them
terror and death. How long it lasted none is living to say; and who
could? There stood the bleeding moon; 'twas neither light nor
obscurity; how could man divide the time and the seasons? It may have
been only the life of a worm; it may have been the long age of a snake.

"The struggle was fearful, but at last the good Master of Life broke his
bonds. The sun shone again. It was too late! the Shoshones had been
crushed and their heart had become small; they were poor, and had no
dwellings; they were like the deer of the prairies, hunted by the hungry
panther.

"And a strange and numerous people landed on the shores of the sea; they
were rich and strong; they made the Shoshones their slaves, and built
large cities, where they passed all their time. Ages passed: the
Shoshones were squaws; they hunted for the mighty strangers; they were
beasts, for they dragged wood and water to