A TRADE now commenced with the Arickaras under the regulation and
supervision of their two chieftains. Lisa sent a part of his goods to
the lodge of the left-handed dignitary, and Mr. Hunt established
his mart in the lodge of the Big Man. The village soon presented the
appearance of a busy fair; and as horses were in demand, the purlieus
and the adjacent plain were like the vicinity of a Tartar encampment;
horses were put through all their paces, and horsemen were careering
about with that dexterity and grace for which the Arickaras are noted.
As soon as a horse was purchased, his tail was cropped, a sure mode of
distinguishing him from the horses of the tribe; for the Indians disdain
to practice this absurd, barbarous, and indecent mutilation, invented
by some mean and vulgar mind, insensible to the merit and perfections of
the animal. On the contrary, the Indian horses are suffered to remain in
every respect the superb and beautiful animals which nature formed them.
The wealth of an Indian of the far west consists principally in his
horses, of which each chief and warrior possesses a great number, so
that the plains about an Indian village or encampment are covered with
them. These form objects of traffic, or objects of depredation, and
in this way pass from tribe to tribe over great tracts of country.
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