Exploration of the Red River of Louisiana, in the year 1852 / by Randolph B. Marcy ; assisted by George B. McClellan. Page: 112 of 368
xv, 286 p., [65] p. of plates (1 fold.) : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this book.
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96
ATTACHMENT TO TMEIR HORSES.
war-horse, which is the fleetest that can be obtained, and he prizes him
more highly than anything else in his possession, and it is seldom that
he can be induced to part with him at any price. He never mounts
him except when going into battle, the buffalo chase, or upon state
occasions. On his return from an excursion he is met at the door of his
lodge by one of his wives, who takes his horse and attends to its wants
with the utmost care. The prairie warrior performs no menial labor;
his only occupation is in war and the chase. His wives, who are but
little dearer to him than his horse, perform all the drudgery. He follows
the chase, he smokes his pipe, he eats and sleeps; and thus he
passes his time, and in his own estimation he is the most lordly and
independent sovereign in the universe. Such are some of the characteristics
of the prairie Indians; and I cannot dismiss the subject without
remarking that, in addition to the physical similitude between the deserts
of Arabia, the steppes of Central Asia, and the prairie mesas of our own
country, a very striking resemblance is also observed in the habits and
customs of the respective inhabitants. The Arabs of the desert, the
TartAr tribes, and the aboriginal occupants of the prairies, are alike
wanderers, having no permanent abiding-places, transporting their lodges
wherever they go; and where these are pitched, there are their homes.
They permit no authorities to control them but such as receive the
unanimous sanction of the masses, and the rule of their leaders is
guided by the counsels of their old men, who, in many cases allay dissensions
and curb the impetuosity of ambitious young warriors, whose
thirst for fame would often involve tte nation in protracted wars.
Thus their government is patriarchal, guided by matured and fraternal
counsels. They are insensible to the wants and comforts of civilization;
they know neither poverty nor riches, vice nor virtue, and are alike
exempt from the deplorable vicissitudes of fortune. Theirs is a happy
state of equality, which knows not the perplexities of ambition
nor the crimes of avarice. They never cultivate the soil, but subsist
altogether upon game and what they can steal. They are alike the
most expert horsemen in the world, and possess the same fond attachment
for the animal. I once made an effort to purchase a favorite
horse from a chief of one of the bands of the Southern Comanches,
(Se na-co,) and offered him a large price, but he could not be persuaded
to part with him. He said the animal was one of the fleetest in their
possession; and if he were to sell him, it would prove a calamity to his
whole band, as it often required all the speed of this animal to insure
success in the buffalo chase; that his loss would be felt by all his
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Marcy, Randolph Barnes. Exploration of the Red River of Louisiana, in the year 1852 / by Randolph B. Marcy ; assisted by George B. McClellan., book, 1854; Washington, DC. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6105/m1/112/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .