The Sierra citizen., 1854-03-04
Indian Life.
THE cOMANCHEs.

- y THE COMANCHES. 3ft4sf q4t'
The following is from the pen of DR.. Ford,
editor of the Austin State Times, a gen
tleman well acquainted with the habits 0!
this nation. e.N 'l9
1.-The chief of band of Comanches
usually makes q talk to his people very
early in the morning, impartihg the news
and discussing its purport; this is
succeeded by his orders. a ae
When change Of camp is contemplated,
the women gather the animals, saddle and
pack them. The lodges are taken down
and placed on animals The men and
women ride after the same fashion. Very
young children are Oh horseback at an
age they would not be suffered to manage
horse with us in an enclosure The
point of destination is known to all. The
families leave as they get ready, except on
some extraordinary occasion, or when
danger is apprehended. In any event
they have number of warriors as look
outs on every side. 1t is almost impossi-
bic to approach Comanche camp with
out being discovered.
When moving with their women and
children, a party of Comanches exhibit
scenes Of liveliness-the women talking,
laughing and running pack animals to
keep them in place-childrcn with bows
and arrows in hand, beating thickets for
small game, shooting snakes, shouting for
pastime, running helter slSelter in every
direction-mules going at half speed over
rocky places with long lodge poles trailing
on either side, making aIpoise louder than
SO many. empty wagons young warriors,
with, gaudy trapping, frolicking aud going.
When all these things are jumbled together
into discordant mass, then is it really
exciting to be travelling with the red
children of the forest. Sometimes a
stampede occurs to give additional variety
to the iscene.a. On such an occasion the
dogs of the celebrated chief, Buffalo Hump,
felt called upon to DO somethlng; they
gave chase to the running horses. Buffalo
Hump became furious-with strung bow
and ready arrow he followed the dogs
The race was over ali undulating prairie
kind Of country, and lasted some mile or
so. The cnraged Indian shot his dogs,
and stopped his horses. The cunning
of the animal eluded the impending harm.
The old chief, with all his subtlety, was
for a long time followed by his canine
companions The scenery--the stampede
the chase-the maddened Indian made a
panorama worth seeing, bu. hardly paying
for the trouble of reading. ~ ~
A halt being made, the women arrange
every thing, take care OF the horses, set
u. the lodges, pack the wood and water
aI4 cook. - e
The warriors lounge about, gather in
groups, and talk over matters and things
in general. In things they cannot
properly comprehend and account for, in
some way, they possess considerable in
credulity. They deny the tales they hear
of The speed of a. railway locomotive
When some of them were informed steam
car could run from the Colorado to
| chihuahua, in Mexico, in less than u day,
they declared it impossible 81 horse
could not run that far in day." They
have game which may be called "hide-
the-bullet.'a The players sit down in a
circle and sing curious kind of song. One
takes a bullet, changes it from hand to
hand, throwing his arms in every possible
direction; when he thinks his manipula-
tions have sufficiently inistiiicd the man
appointed for that purpose, he holds out
both hands and lets him guess in which
the bullet is. Every guess counts on one
side or the other. Tie number constitu-
ting a game is, we believe, a matter ol
| agreement; the tatlies are kept with
arrows. In this way a great many articles
change hands. There is one garment, ard
one only. an Indian never parts with. 1t
stands be.wixt him and nudity. ia
They play game with sticks. counted
by the way they i;ail--soi many sticks or
spots falling in a certain way counting so
much. We never could understand the
game.
While all this is going forward, the
women get resting spell. They are
talkatiye, are great laughers, and seem to
enjoy a bit of scandal with as much gusto
as their more civilized neighbors. One
Of their peculiar amasemelts would not
be much relished in circles polite a
Comanclae woman never seems more happy
than when ssverninizilig. The lackess
| little unilnals are devonred by those upon
whom they had feasted; they get the fnll
benefit Of the ler taltonis.
The children are roaming about,
examining every thicket and every hole,
bathing, shooting arrows, and making al
those interesting noises incidental to
promising juvenility.
The Comanches formerly owned large
droyes of horses. They have thinned
them greatly within tie last few years by
being compelled to kin them for food
Being shut out from tie mustang range,
between the Nueces and the iiio fGrande,
was the cause. Horse meat with them
is preferred to any other The neck i'm
mediately beneath the name is considered
a rare delicacy. The meat has . course