nd shall be
theirs; they will fish the salmon of our rivers; they will be Arrapahoes
Shoshones; we will become Shoshones Arrapahoes. I have already sent to
the settlement of the Watchinangoes my ancient Pale-face friend of the
stout heart and keen eye; shortly we will see at the Post a vessel with
arms, ammunition, and presents for the nation. I will go myself with a
party of warriors to the prairies of the Apaches, and among the
Comanches.

"Yet I hear within me a stout voice, which I must obey. My grandfather,
the old chief, has said he should be no more a chief. I was wrong, very
wrong; the Manitou is angry. Is the buffalo less a buffalo when he
grows old, or the eagle less an eagle when a hundred winters have
whitened his wings? No! their nature cannot change, not more than that
of a chief, and that chief, a chief of the Shoshones!

"Owato Wanisha will remain what he is; he is too young to be the great
chief of the whole of a great nation. His wish is good, but his wisdom
is of yesterday; he cannot rule. To rule belongs to those who have
deserved, doing so, by long experience. No! Owato Wanisha will lead
his warriors to the war-path, or upon the trail of the buffalo; he will
go and talk to the grandchildren of the Shoshones; more he cannot do!

"Let now the squaws prepare the farewell meal, and make ready the green
paint; to-morrow I shall depart, with fifty of my young men. I have
spoken."

The council being broken up, I had to pass through the ceremony of
smoking the pipe and shaking hands with those who could call themselves
warriors. On the following morning, fifty magnificent horses, richly
caparisoned, were led to the lawn before the council lodge. Fifty
warriors soon appeared, in their gaudiest dresses, all armed with the
lance, bow, and lasso, and rifle suspended across the shoulder. Then
there was a procession of all the tribe, divided into two bands, the
first headed by the chiefs and holy men; the other, by the young
virgins. Then the dances commenced; the elders sang their exploits of
former days, as an example to their children; the young men exercised
themselves at the war-post; and the matrons, wives, mothers, or sisters
of the travellers, painted their faces with green and red, as a token of
the nature of their mission. When this task was performed, the whole of
the procession again formed their ranks, and joined in a chorus, asking
the Manitou for success, and bidding us farewell