drove of sheep is
so conspicuous an object that he is certain to attract their notice
and bring them to him. Kit Carson, however, was well received by
them and allowed to pass unmolested. They were pleased to find so
formidable an enemy moving boldly into their country and bearing
the olive branch of peace. He however forgot not to pay them toll by
presenting them with a suitable number of the sheep. In this way he
prevented them from being tempted to steal from him. This is a usual
custom, and the Indians expect that this sort of attention will be
shown them. They do not like, at all seasons of the year, to have
these herds pass through their country. Being so large, they eat up
much of their grass, which assists greatly to drive away the game.
We remember on one occasion that an American, in charge of several
thousand sheep, started on a journey from New Mexico to California.
Everything went prosperously with the man until he left the Raton
Mountains and entered the country inhabited by the Arrapahoes and
Cheyennes. At first, he was received in a friendly manner by these
Indians; but was commanded by them to rest where he was until they
went ahead and killed their annual amount of buffalo. This, the man
could not do; for the season was so far advanced that if he delayed,
and then attempted to make California, he would be certainly overtaken
by snow-storms which would bury him and his property in the mountains.
In vain he used his best endeavors to impress this state of affairs on
the minds of the Indians. They would not listen to him or sanction
his going on, and threatened to punish him if he undertook to disobey
them. Bidding defiance to these threats, this man started; but had
only proceeded a few miles, when a band of one hundred squaws, mounted
on horseback, overtook him and dashed into his herd, and with savage
delight put to death one hundred and fifty of the sheep before their
owner's eyes and without his being able to stop them. The carcasses
of the slaughtered animals were left to rot on the ground, thereby
showing that the Indians did not stand in need of food, but that
they wished to teach the intruder a lesson which he would be apt to
remember. These women had been sent out by their husbands, who no
doubt were close by in case their services should be needed, to show
to the white man the contempt they had of his power. The result was
that the American was obliged to return to New Mexico from whence he
ca