As to the Indian women, they are far from complaining of their lot. On
the contrary, they would despise their husbands could they stoop to any
menial office, and would think it conveyed an imputation upon their own
conduct. It is the worst insult one virago can cast upon another in a
moment of altercation. "Infamous woman!" will she cry, "I have seen your
husband carrying wood into his lodge to make the fire. Where was his
squaw, that he should be obliged to make a woman of himself!"
Mr. Hunt and his fellow-travellers had not been many days at the
Arickara village, when rumors began to circulate that the Sioux had
followed them up, and that a war party, four or five hundred in number,
were lurking somewhere in the neighborhood. These rumors produced
much embarrassment in the camp. The white hunters were deterred from
venturing forth in quest of game, neither did the leaders think it
proper to expose them to such a risk. The Arickaras, too, who had
suffered greatly in their wars with this cruel and ferocious tribe, were
roused to increased vigilance, and stationed mounted scouts upon the
neighboring hills. This, however, is a general precaution among the
tribes of the prairies. Those immense plains present a horizon like
the ocean, so that any object of importance can be descried afar, and
information communicated to a great distance.
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