They received the hunters in the most
friendly manner; invited them to their lodges, which were more cleanly
than Indian lodges are prone to be, and set food before them with true
uncivilized hospitality. Several of them accompanied the hunters back
to the camp, when a trade was immediately opened. The Cheyennes were
astonished and delighted to find a convoy of goods and trinkets thus
brought into the very heart of the prairie; while Mr. Hunt and his
companions were overjoyed to have an opportunity of obtaining a further
supply of horses from these equestrian savages.
During a fortnight that the travellers lingered at this place, their
encampment was continually thronged by the Cheyennes. They were a civil,
well-behaved people, cleanly in their persons, and decorous in their
habits. The men were tall, straight and vigorous, with aquiline noses,
and high cheek bones. Some were almost as naked as ancient statues,
and might have stood as models for a statuary; others had leggins and
moccasins of deer skin, and buffalo robes, which they threw gracefully
over their shoulders. In a little while, however, they began to appear
in more gorgeous array, tricked out in the finery obtained from the
white men; bright cloths, brass rings, beads of various colors; and
happy was he who could render himself hideous with vermilion.
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