The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-06-18

qualities them for the light subsistence Of
grass, which is all the mountain-horse has
ever known or required. You had as well
put John Bull with his portly frame and ru-
bcund visage, upon regimen Of frogs, and
expect him to pitch into battle as usual,
shouting "Rule Britannia as that our hea-
vy-boned American horses can bekept up to
their metal on prairie fare. After the first
eight weeks on the grass they lose their elias
ITCHY. You must take along ponderous trains
Of grain provender for their subsistence, and
you had about as well send regiment Of
tortoises in pursuit OF flock Of swallows, as
Dragons with such appliances after the
swift and light-moving plunderers OF the
plains. We have terrible times yet in per-
spective before these formidable and untame-
able races are erterminated, as must be done
before peace to our settlements can be Sc
cured. Depend upon it, gentlemen, the pow
! er, character, and numbers Of these tribes,
has not been yet apprecatively considered
in our overt legislation, at least. Before we
are done with them, the legends OF the
ozark and Bloody Ground'' will have be-
come only the comparatives Of terror. The
mounted tribes inclusive, from the Columbia,
to the Rio Grande, amount to fifty thousand
warriors, whose trade is plumber. The bufa-
10 is becoming every day more scarce, and
scorning utterly and incarrigibly, as they
do all the arts OF civilization, their next most
necessary and immediate resource must be,
plumber upon our settlements. They are al
ready not only becoming alarmed for the
integrity Of their wild domain, but have had
their cupidity aroused by the sight Of the
prodigious and helpless emigration which has
started across the plains toward California.
The scenes in the neghborhood Of Corpus
Christi, Brownsville, Laredo, Sc, are but
the preludes to the fierce and bloody drama,
upon which we are rapidly entering with
these races.
The news, think, is probably now
on its way from the distant plains Of the
north west Of the opening Of ferocious hostll-
tiles upon the emigrants. That scattered,
struggling and disorganized mob, which is
thronging the Santa Fe trail will suffer fear
fully this summer. These Indians have more
sagacity than many give them credit for pos
sessing, and they cannot, with their warlike
instincts, fail to see and take advantage Of this
total want Reorganization. They have already
commenced to plumber ON this route, and the
next step will be to massacre. But enough
of foreboding.
i We have, as yet, with the exception
Of few struggling companies Of ran
gers, no force in the field competent,
from the character of equipments, animals,
&C., to deal with these savages, to meet,
effectively, the exigencies Of this peculiar
warfare. Irepeat, mean no disrespect to
our Dragon service, when | say that their
arms, equipments, horses, munitions and
forage, are all too cumbersome. Along with
my lamented friend Capt. SAM'L WALKER,
| urged this consideration upon the last adj
ministration, but with little or no effect.
The heads Of departments dislike the respon-
sibility Of deviation from fixed formulas.
But something must be done sooner or
later.
Icertainly regard the shrewd suggestion of
the correspondent Of the IntelHgencer, as
furnishing the great desideratum so much
needed BY the introduction of camelsupon
the praries, we insure the prompt reduction,
and, if necessary, determination Of these
wild tribes. These hardy and extraordinary
animals can go from two to four days, and
with no great inconvenience, without water.
They can travel further in day than the
best horses in the world. They defy, in a
great measure, the influences Of climate.
They can carry nearly three times the load
Of mule They can pass, stepping with
their long legs over great boulders, along
the rocky beds Of torrents which neither
mules nor horses could traverse. Their tough,
and, as Lieutenant LYNCH says, their
great, pulpy, india-rubber splay feet are
equally useful upon the yielding sands and
Anty stones" The impression that they
cannot pass over rocky countries, is not cor
rect All intelligent travellers fully sustain
the statements Of the correspondent upon this
point as well as upon that Of their almost
incredible speed upon long journies.
! Now, what is to prevent small force,
mounted upon "running camels," and armed
with two Of CoLT' srevolvers, from overtaking
and exterminating these Indianss They can
not only go wherever Indians can, and with
much greater rapidity, but they can as well
60 where Indians cannot, and traverse dis
tances and regions impracticable to them.
Upon the deserts, they are content with
browsing upon few stunted and bitter
shrubs, with handful Of oil-cake and beans
for the day. Here, they will find the cac-
tus everywhere, the leaves Of which, when
the thorns have been scorched off over the
camp-fres, as is done by the Mexican cart
drivers for their oxen, will constitute an I'M
I failing provender for them. As to their
being unfit for the climate, whoever heard
Of camel in our menageries dying' Yet,
the mustang, as we remarked, (and the wild
ass, which is equally an oriental,) was an
Arab, and it has continued for hundreds Of
years to multiply and replenish upon our
plains with no real depreciation. The APP
pearance Of the horse filed the children Of
Montezuma with terror, and was the prog
nostigation Of conquest; the appearance Of
the camel upon our plains will likewise