servation. He says:

"They are the most onsartainest varmints in all creation, and I reckon
tha'r not mor'n half human; for you never seed a human, arter you'd fed
and treated him to the best fixins in your lodge, jist turn round and
steal all your horses, or ary other thing he could lay his hands on.
No, not adzackly. He would feel kinder grateful, and ask you to spread
a blanket in his lodge ef you ever passed that a-way. But the Injun he
don't care shucks for you, and is ready to do you a heap of mischief as
soon as he quits your feed. No, Cap.," he continued, "it's not the
right way to give um presents to buy peace; but ef I war governor of
these yeer United States, I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd invite um all
to a big feast, and make b'lieve I wanted to have a big talk; and as
soon as I got um all together, I'd pitch in and sculp about half of um,
and then t'other half would be mighty glad to make a peace that would
stick. That's the way I'd make a treaty with the dog'ond, red-bellied
varmints; and as sure as you're born, Cap., that's the only way."

I suggested to him the idea that there would be a lack of good faith
and honor in such a proceeding, and that it would be much more in
accordance with my notions of fair dealing to meet them openly in the
field, and there endeavor to punish them if they deserve it. To this he
replied,

"Tain't no use to talk about honor with them, Cap.; they hain't got no
such thing in um; and they won't show fair fight, any way you can fix
it. Don't they kill and sculp a white man when-ar they get the better
on him? The mean varmints, they'll never behave themselves until you
give um a clean out and out licking. They can't onderstand white folks'
ways, and they won't learn um; and ef you treat um decently, they think
you ar afeard. You may depend on't, Cap., the only way to treat Injuns
is to thrash them well at first, then the balance will sorter take to
you and behave themselves."

The wealth of the Prairie Indians consists almost exclusively in their
horses, of which they possess large numbers; and they are in the saddle
from infancy to old age. Horsemanship is with them, as with the Arab of
the Sahara, a necessary part of their education. The country they
occupy is unsuited to cultivation, and their only avocations are war,
rapine, and the chase. They have no fixed habitations, but move from
place to place with the seasons and the game. All their worldly effects
are transporte