CHAPTER XVI.

Contest between Drewyer and a Shoshonee—­The fidelity and honour of that tribe—­The party set out on their journey—­The conduct of Cameahwait reproved, and himself reconciled—­The easy parturition of the Shoshonee women—­History of this nation—­Their terror of the Pawkees—­Their government and family economy in their treatment of their women—­Their complaints of Spanish treachery—­Description of their weapons of warfare—­Their curious mode of making a shield—­The caparison of their horses—­The dress of the men and of the women particularly described—­Their mode of acquiring new names.

Wednesday, August 21.  The weather was very cold; the water which stood in the vessels exposed to the air being covered with ice a quarter of an inch thick:  the ink freezes in the pen, and the low grounds are perfectly whitened with frost:  after this the day proved excessively warm.  The party were engaged in their usual occupations, and completed twenty saddles with the necessary harness, all prepared to set off as soon as the Indians should arrive.  Our two hunters who were despatched early in the morning have not returned, so that we were obliged to encroach on our pork and corn, which we consider as the last resource when our casual supplies of game fail.  After dark we carried our baggage to the cache, and deposited what we thought too cumbrous to carry with us:  a small assortment of medicines, and all the specimens of plants, seeds, and minerals, collected since leaving the falls of the Missouri.  Late at night Drewyer, one of the hunters, returned with a fawn and a considerable quantity of Indian plunder, which he had taken by way of reprisal.  While hunting this morning in the Shoshonee cove, he came suddenly upon an Indian camp, at which were an old man, a young one, three women, and a boy:  they showed no surprise at the sight of him and he therefore rode up to them, and after turning his horse loose to graze sat down and began to converse with them by signs.  They had just finished a repast on some roots, and in about twenty minutes one of the women spoke to the rest of the party, who immediately went out, collected their horses and began to saddle them.  Having rested himself, Drewyer thought that he would continue his hunt, and rising went to catch his horse who was at a short distance, forgetting at the moment to take up his rifle.  He had scarcely gone more than fifty paces when the Indians mounted their horses, the young man snatched up the rifle, and leaving all their baggage, whipt their horses, and set off at full speed towards the passes of the mountains:  Drewyer instantly jumped on his horse and pursued them.  After running about ten miles the horses of the women nearly gave out, and the women finding Drewyer gain on them raised dreadful cries, which induced the young man to slacken his pace, and being mounted on a very fleet horse rode round them