_Hunter._ "He told them about wigwams, in which a thousand people could at one time pray to the Great Spirit; of other wigwams, five stories high, built in lines, facing each other, and extending over an enormous space: he told them of war canoes that would hold twelve hundred warriors." _Austin._ They would be sure never to believe him. _Hunter._ "Such tales, to the Indian mind, seemed an insult to common sense. For some time he was treated merely with ridicule and contempt; but, when, resolutely continuing to recount his adventures, he told them about a balloon, and that he had seen white people, who, by attaching a great ball to a canoe, as he described it, could rise in it up to the clouds, and travel through the heavens, the medicine, or mystery men of his tribe pronounced him to be an impostor; and the multitude vociferously declaring that he was too great a liar to live, a young warrior, in a paroxysm of anger, levelled a rifle and shot him dead!" _Austin._ Well, I am very sorry! It was very silly to be dressed up in that way; but they ought not to have killed him, for he told them the truth, after all. _Brian._ I could never have thought that an Indian chief would have dressed himself in a blue coat and gilt buttons. _Basil._ And, then, the fan and green umbrella! _Austin._ Ay, and the whiskey bottles sticking out of his tail-pockets. He would look a little different from Mah-to-toh-pa. _Hunter._ I have frequently spoken of the splendid head-dress of the chiefs of some tribes. Among the Mandans, (and you know Mah-to-toh-pa was a Mandan,) they would not part with one of their head-dresses of war-eagle plumes at a less price than two horses. The Konzas, Osages, Pawnees, Sacs, Foxes and Iowas shave their heads; but all the rest, or at least as far as I know of the Indian tribes, wear long hair. _Brian._ Yes; we remember the Crows, with their hair sweeping the ground. _Hunter._ Did I tell you, that some of the tribes glue other hair to their own to make it long, as it is considered so ornamental? _Basil._ I do not remember that you told us that. _Hunter._ There are a few other things respecting the Indians that I wish to mention, before I tell you what the missionaries have done among them. In civilized countries, people turn out their toes in walking; but this is not the case among the Indians. When the toes are turned out, either in walking or running, the whole weight of the body falls too much on the great toe of the foot that is behind, and it is mainly owing to this circumstance, that so many have a deformity at the joint of the great toe. When the foot is turned in, the weight of the body is thrown equally on all the toes, and the deformity of the great toe joint is avoided. _Austin._ What! do the Indians know better how to walk than we do? If theirs is the best way to walk, why do not we all walk so?