The number of killed and wounded seldom exceed half a dozen.
Should the damage be equal on each side, the war is considered as
honorably concluded; should one party lose more than the other, it
is entitled to a compensation in slaves or other property, otherwise
hostilities are liable to be renewed at a future day. They are also
given to predatory inroads into the territories of their enemies, and
sometimes of their friendly neighbors. Should they fall upon a band of
inferior force, or upon a village, weakly defended, they act with the
ferocity of true poltroons, slaying all the men, and carrying off the
women and children as slaves. As to the property, it is packed upon
horses which they bring with them for the purpose. They are mean and
paltry as warriors, and altogether inferior in heroic qualities to the
savages of the buffalo plains on the east side of the mountains.
A great portion of their time is passed in revelry, music, dancing, and
gambling. Their music scarcely deserves the name; the instruments being
of the rudest kind. Their singing is harsh and discordant; the songs
are chiefly extempore, relating to passing circumstances, the persons
present, or any trifling object that strikes the attention of the
singer. They have several kinds of dances, some of them lively and
pleasing.
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