by Mr. Catlin, who
mentions them in his work. The Picts are constantly at war with the two
other tribes of Pawnees; and though their villages are nearly one
thousand miles distant from those of their enemy, their war-parties
are continually scouring the country of the "Exiles of the
East"--"_Pa-wah-nejs_."]

One point struck me forcibly during my conversation with that noble
warrior. According to his version, the Comanches were in the beginning
very partial to the Texans, as they were brave, and some of them
generous. But he said that afterwards, as they increased their numbers
and established their power, they became a rascally people, cowards and
murderers. One circumstance above all fire the blood of the Comanches,
and since that time it has been and will be with them a war of
extinction against the Texans.

An old Comanche, with a daughter, had separated himself from their
tribe. He was a chief, but he had been unfortunate, and being sick, he
retired to San Antonio to try the skill of the great pale-face medecin.
His daughter was a noble and handsome girl of eighteen, and she had not
been long in the place before she attracted the attention of a certain
doctor, a young man from Kentucky, who had been tried for murder in the
States. He was the greatest scoundrel in the world, but being a
desperate character, he was feared, and, of course, courted by his
fellow Texans.

Perceiving that he could not succeed in his views so long as the girl
was with her father, he contrived to throw the old man into gaol, and
inducing her to come to his house to see what could be done to release
him, he abused her most shamefully, using blows and violence to
accomplish his purpose, to such a degree, that he left her for dead.
Towards the evening, she regained some strength, and found a shelter in
the dwelling of some humane Mexican.

The old Indian was soon liberated: he found his daughter, but it was on
her death-bed, and then he learned the circumstances of the shameful
transaction, and deeply vowed revenge. A Mexican gentleman, indignant at
such a cowardly deed, in the name of outraged nature and humanity, laid
the cause before a jury of Texans. The doctor was acquitted by the Texan
jury, upon the ground that the laws were not made for the benefit of the
Comanches.

The consequences may be told in a few words. One day Dr. Cobbet was
found in an adjoining field stabbed to the heart and scalped. The Indian
had run away, and meet