" (thunder). He can cure disease
with his spells, and with them he can kill also; his glance is that of
the snake, it withers the grass, fascinates birds and beasts, troubles
the brain of man, and throws in his heart fear and darkness.

The Shoshone women, as well as the Apache and Arrapahoe, all of whom are
of the Shoshone race, are very superior to the squaws of the Eastern
Indians. They are more graceful in their forms, and have more personal
beauty, I cannot better describe them than by saying that they have more
similitude to the Arabian women than any other race. They are very clean
in their persons and in their lodges; and all their tribes having both
male and female slaves, the Shoshone wife is not broken down by hard
labour, as are the squaws of the eastern tribes; to their husbands they
are most faithful, and I really believe that any attempt upon their
chastity would prove unavailing. They ride as bravely as the men, and
are very expert with the bow and arrow, I once saw a very beautiful
little Shoshone girl, about ten years old, the daughter of a chief, when
her horse was at full speed, kill, with her bow and arrow, in the course
of a minute or two, nine out of a flock of wild turkeys which she was
in chase of.

Their dress is both tasteful and chaste. It is composed of a loose
shirt, with tight sleeves, made of soft and well-prepared doe-skin,
almost always dyed blue or red; this shirt is covered from the waist by
the toga, which falls four or six inches below the knee, and is made
either of swan-down, silk, or woollen stuff; they wear leggings of the
same material as the shirt, and cover their pretty little feet with
beautifully-worked moccasins; they have also a scarf, of a fine rich
texture, and allow their soft and long raven hair to fall luxuriantly
over their shoulder, usually ornamented with flowers, but sometimes with
jewels of great value; their ankles and wrists are also encircled by
bracelets; and indeed to see one of these young and graceful creatures,
with her eyes sparkling and her face animated with the exercise of the
chase, often recalled to the mind a nymph of Diana, as described
by Ovid[10].

[Footnote 10: The Comanches women very much resemble the common squaws,
being short and broad in figure. This arises from the Comanches
secluding the women and not permitting them air and exercise.]

Though women participate not in the deeper mysteries of religion, some
of them are permitted to c