As to the Indian, he is a game animal, not to be degraded by useful or menial toil.  It is enough that he exposes himself to the hardships of the chase and the perils of war; that he brings home food for his family, and watches and fights for its protection.  Everything else is beneath his attention.  When at home, he attends only to his weapons and his horses, preparing the means of future exploit.  Or he engages with his comrades in games of dexterity, agility and strength; or in gambling games in which everything is put at hazard with a recklessness seldom witnessed in civilized life.

A great part of the idle leisure of the Indians when at home is passed in groups, squatted together on the bank of a river, on the top of a mound on the prairie, or on the roof of one of their earth-covered lodges, talking over the news of the day, the affairs of the tribe, the events and exploits of their last hunting or fighting expedition; or listening to the stories of old times told by some veteran chronicler; resembling a group of our village quidnuncs and politicians, listening to the prosings of some superannuated oracle, or discussing the contents of an ancient newspaper.

As to the Indian women, they are far from complaining of their lot.  On the contrary, they would despise their husbands could they stoop to any menial office, and would think it conveyed an imputation upon their own conduct.  It is the worst insult one virago can cast upon another in a moment of altercation.  “Infamous woman!” will she cry, “I have seen your husband carrying wood into his lodge to make the fire.  Where was his squaw, that he should be obliged to make a woman of himself!”

Mr. Hunt and his fellow-travellers had not been many days at the Arickara village, when rumors began to circulate that the Sioux had followed them up, and that a war party, four or five hundred in number, were lurking somewhere in the neighborhood.  These rumors produced much embarrassment in the camp.  The white hunters were deterred from venturing forth in quest of game, neither did the leaders think it proper to expose them to such a risk.  The Arickaras, too, who had suffered greatly in their wars with this cruel and ferocious tribe, were roused to increased vigilance, and stationed mounted scouts upon the neighboring hills.  This, however, is a general precaution among the tribes of the prairies.  Those immense plains present a horizon like the ocean, so that any object of importance can be descried afar, and information communicated to a great distance.  The scouts are stationed on the hills, therefore, to look out both for game and for enemies, and are, in a manner, living telegraphs conveying their intelligence by concerted signs.  If they wish to give notice of a herd of buffalo in the plain beyond, they gallop backwards and forwards abreast, on the summit of the hill.  If they perceive an enemy at hand, they gallop to and fro, crossing each other; at sight of which the whole village flies to arms.