Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-02-27
THE SSAKEJNDJAN,
Bill Nye's Opinions of sh"sh"nes. thei
Manners and Customs.

Bitl Nyes Opinions nf sh"sh"nes' heh
Manners and Customs.
There are about $500 Snake or
Shoshone Indians now eXtant, the
greater part being in Utah and Nevada,
though there Is a reservation in Idaho
and another in Wyoming.
The Shoshone Indian is reluctant to
accept of civilization on the European
plan. He prefers the rudcr customs
which have been handed down from
father to son along with other hair
looms. | use the word hairlooms in its
broadest sense.
There are the Shoshones proper and
the Utes and Utahs, to which have
been added by some authorities the
Comanches, and Moquis of New
Mexico and Arizona. the Nctelas and
other tribes of California. The Sho-
shone, wherever found, is clothed in
buckskin and blanket in winter, but
dressed more lightly in summer, wear
ing nothing but an air of intense gloom
in August. To this he adds on holi-
days a necklace made from the store
teeth of the hardy pioneer.
The Snake or Shoshone Indian is
passionately fond of the game known
as poker among US. and which, learn,
is played with cards. 1t is a game of
chance, though skill and a thorough
knowledge of firearms are of great use.
The Indians enter into this game with
great zeal and lend to it the wonderful
energy which they have preserved
from year to year by abstaining from
the delibitating effects of manual labor.
All day long the red warrior sits in his
skin boudoir. nursing the sickly and
| reluctant flush" patient, silent and
hopeful. Through the cold of winter,
in the desolate mountains, he continues
| 20
Hope on, hope ever,'
| That he will draw to fill. Far away
| mp the canyon he hears the sturdy
| blows of his wife's tomahawk as she
| slaughters the grease wood and the
sage brush for the fire in his gilded
| hell where he sits and woos the lazy
| Goddess of Fortune.
| With the Shoshone. poker is not
alone a relaxation, the game wherewith
| to wear out a long and listless evening,
but it is passion, a duty and devo-
ton. He has face designed especial
| ly for poker. 1t never shows a sigc of
good or evil fortune. You might as
well try to win smile from a railroad
right of way The full hand, the fours.
threes. pairs and bobtail tlushes are all
the same to him, if you judge by his
face.
When he gets hungry he cinchcs
himself little tighter and continues to
..rastle'' with fate. You look at his
smoky, old copper cent of face and
YOU see no change. You watch him as
he coins the'last buckshot of his tribe
and later on when ne goes forth pau
per, and the corners of his famine
breeding mouth have never moved.
His little black, smoke-infiamed eyes
have never lighted with triumph or
joy. He is the great aboriginal stole
and sylvan dude. He does not smile.
He does not weep. 1t certainly must
be intensely pleasant to be wild, free,
lawless, Irresponsible, natural born
fool.
The Shoshones proper include the
Bannocks, which are again subdivided
into the Koolstakara. or Buffalo Eaters,
on Wind River, the Tookarika OF
Mountain Sheep Eaters, on Salmon
and Suabe Rivers, the Shoshocas OF
White Knives. sometimes called Dig
gers, of the Humboldt River and the
Great Salt Lake basin. Probably the
Hokandikahs, Yahooskins and the
Wahlpapes are subdivisions of the Dig,
ger tribe. | am not sure OF this, but
Shall not suspend my business till
can find out about it. If | cannot get
at a great truth right off | wait patient
ly and 90 right on drawing my salary.
The Shoshones live on the govern
eat anything when hungry, from {
buffalo down TO a woOdtick. The
Shoshone does not despise small things
He loves insects in any form. He love:
to make pets of them and to study
their habits in his home life.
Formerly. when a great Shoshone
warrior died, they killed his favorite
wife over his grave so that she could
60 to the happy hunting grounds with
him. but it is not so customary now. i
tried to impress on an old Shoshone
brave once that they ought not to do
that. | tried to show him that it would
encourage celibacy and destroy domes-
tic ties in his tribe. Snce that there
has been quite stride toward reform
among them. Instead of killing the
widow on the death of her husband,
the husband takes such good care Of
his health and avoids all kinds of in
tellectual strain or physical fatigue,
that late years there are no widows,
but widowers just seem to swarm in
the Shoshone tribe. The woods are full
of them.
Now, if they would only kill the
widower over the grave of the wife, the
Indians future would assume more
definite shape.