manches, except that the great skill
of the Shoshones turns the balance in their favour. A Shoshone is always
on horseback, firmly sitting upon a small and light saddle of his own
manufacture, without any stirrups, which indeed they prefer not to have,
the only Indians using them being chiefs and celebrated warriors, who
have them as a mark of distinction, the more so that a saddle and
stirrups are generally trophies obtained in battle from a
conquered enemy.

They have too good a taste to ornament their horses as the Mexicans, the
Crows, or the Eastern Indians do; they think that the natural grace and
beauty of the animal are such that anything gaudy would break its
harmony; the only mark of distinction they put upon their steeds (and
the chiefs only can do so) is a rich feather or two, or three quills of
the eagle, fixed to the rosette of the bridle, below the left ear; and
as a Shoshone treats his horse as a friend, always petting him, cleaning
him, never forcing or abusing him, the animal is always in excellent
condition, and his proud eyes and majestic bearing present to the
beholder the beau ideal of the graceful and the beautiful. The elegant
dress and graceful form of the Shoshone cavalier, harmonizes admirably
with the wild and haughty appearance of the animal.

The Shoshone allows his well-combed locks to undulate with the wind,
only pressed to his head by a small metal coronet, to which he fixes
feathers or quills, similar to those put to his horse's rosette. This
coronet is made either of gold or silver, and those who cannot afford to
use these metals make it with swan-down or deer-skin, well-prepared and
elegantly embroidered with porcupine quills; his arms are bare and his
wrists encircled with bracelets of the same material as the coronet; his
body, from the neck to the waist, is covered with a small, soft
deer-skin shirt, fitting him closely without a single wrinkle; from the
waist to the knee he wears a many-folded toga, of black, brown, red, or
white woollen or silk stuff, which he procures at Monterey or St.
Francisco, from the Valparaiso and China traders; his leg from the ankle
to the hip is covered by a pair of leggings of deer-skin, dyed red or
black with some vegetable acids, and sewed with human hair, which hangs
flowing, or in tresses, on the outward side; these leggings are
fastened a little above the foot by other metal bracelets, while the
foot is encased in an elegantly finished mocassin,