ate among all three,
but among the Indians of the plains there is a marked difference; there,
their food consist of fish, indeed, and dried for winter, but not
entirely, being more varied by venison than on the coast, and in the
winter by roots, which they dig up and lay by in store. They live more
in moveable tents, and to the south their great wealth is their horses.
They are not, like the coast Indians, of small stature and inelegantly
made, but remarkable for comeliness of person and elegance of carriage.
They are equestrian in their habits, and shew to great advantage on
horseback. The principal tribes are the Shoshones and Walla-walla,
between whom, as between the former and the Blackfeet, there has been
continual war. The Shoshones dwell between the Rocky and Blue Mountain
ranges, the Walla-walla about the river of that fame; the Blackfeet at
the foot of the Rocky Mountains, principally, but not entirely, on the
eastern side. Warlike and independent, the Blackfeet had for a long
time the advantage, having been earlier introduced to the use of
fire-arms; but by the instrumentality of the Hudson's Bay Company, they
have been of late years more on an equality: they are friendly to the
Whites, but the Blackfeet, their mortal enemies, and their hill-forts
overhanging the passes of the Rocky Mountains, make the future safety of
the journey to the United States depend on the temper of this fickle and
bloodthirsty nation, who have been well termed the Arabs of the West,
for truly their hand is against every man, and every man's hand against
them; and though seriously lessened in number by war and disease, they
still dwell in the presence of all their brethren. The Shoshones feed
frequently on horse-flesh, and have also large quantities of edible
roots, which stand them in great stead during the winter. When the men
are fishing for salmon, the women are employed in digging and preserving
the roots. There is, indeed, one tribe inhabiting the country of the
salt lakes and springs to the south of the head-waters of the Snake or
Saptin River, who have no wish, beyond these roots, living in the most
bestial manner possible: these, from their single occupation, have been
named Diggers. Above the Walla-walla, also, there is a tribe called the
Basket people, from their using a basket in fishing for salmon. The
apparatus consists of a large wicker basket, supported by long poles
inserted into it, and fixed in the rocks; to