of war-eagle quills. His bow, beautifully white, was formed of bone,
strengthened with the sinews of deer, drawn tight over the back of it;
the bow-string was a three-fold twist of sinews. Seldom had its twang
been heard, without an enemy or a buffalo falling to the earth; and
rarely had that lance been urged home, without finding its way to some
victim's heart.

_Austin._ Yes; I thought he was a bold fellow.

_Hunter._ He had a costly shield of the hide of a buffalo, stiffened
with glue and fringed round with eagle quills and antelope hoofs; and
a quiver of panther skin, well filled with deadly shafts. Some of
their points were flint, and some were steel, and most of them were
stained with blood. He carried a pipe, a tobacco sack, a belt, and a
medicine bag; and in his right hand he held a war club like a sling,
being made of a round stone wrapped up in a raw hide and fastened to a
tough stick handle.

_Austin._ What sort of a pipe was it?

_Basil._ What was in his tobacco sack?

_Brian._ You did not say what his belt was made of.

_Hunter._ His pipe was made of red pipe-stone, and it had a stem of
young ash, full three feet long, braided with porcupine quills in the
shape of animals and men. It was also ornamented with the beaks of
woodpeckers, and hairs from the tail of the white buffalo. One thing I
ought not to omit; on the lower half of the pipe, which was painted
red, were notched the snows, or years of his life. By this simple
record of their lives, the red men of the forest and the prairie may
be led to something like reflection.

_Basil._ What was in his tobacco sack?

_Hunter._ His flint and steel, for striking a light, and his tobacco,
which was nothing more than the bark of the red willow. His medicine
bag was beaver skin, adorned with ermine and hawks' bills; and his
belt, in which he carried his tomahawk and scalping-knife, was formed
of tough buckskin, firmly fastened round his loins.

_Austin._ Please to tell us about the scalping knife. It must be a
fearful instrument.

_Hunter._ All instruments of cruelty, vengeance and destruction are
fearful, whether in savage or civilized life. What are we, that wrath
and revenge and covetousness should be fostered in our hearts! What is
man, that he should shed the blood of his brother! Before the Indians
had dealing with the whites, they made their own weapons: their bows
were strung with the sinews of deer; their arrows were headed with
flint; thei