to go myself and confer with the principal Mormon
leaders; resolving in my own mind that if our interview was not
satisfactory, I would continue on to Europe, and endeavour either to
engage a company of merchants to enter into direct communication with
the Shoshones or to obtain the support of the English government, in
furtherance of the objects I had in view for the advantage of the tribe.

As a large portion of the Comanches were making preparations for their
annual migration to the east of Texas, Roche, Gabriel, and I joined this
party, and having exchanged an affectionate farewell with the remainder
of the tribe, and received many valuable presents, we started, taking
the direction of the Saline Lake, which forms the head-waters of the
southern branch or fork of the river Brazos. There we met again with our
old friends the Wakoes, and learned that there was a party of sixty or
seventy Yankees or Texans roaming about the upper forks of the Trinity,
committing all sorts of depredations, and painting their bodies like the
Indians, that their enormities might be laid to the account of the
savages. This may appear strange to the reader, but it has been a
common practice for some time. There have always been in the United
States a numerous body of individuals, who, having by their crimes been
compelled to quit the settlements of the east, have sought shelter out
of the reach of civilization. These individuals are all desperate
characters, and, uniting themselves in small bands, come fearlessly
among the savages, taking squaws, and living among them till a
sufficient period has elapsed to enable them to venture, under an
assumed name and in a distant state, to return with impunity and enjoy
the wealth acquired by plunder and assassination.

This is the history of the major portion of the western pioneers, whose
courage and virtues have been so much celebrated by American writers. As
they increased in numbers, these pioneers conceived a plan by which they
acquired great wealth. They united together, forming a society of land
privateers or buccaneers, and made incursions into the very heart of the
French and Spanish settlements of the west, where, not being expected,
they surprised the people and carried off great booty. When, however,
these Spanish and French possessions were incorporated into the United
States, they altered their system of plunder; and under the name of
Border's Buggles, they infested the states of the Mi