Frontier and pioneer life -- New Mexico -- Juvenile fiction; New Mexico -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Juvenile fiction
enemies the whites, or alone, trapping, hunting, fighting the Yuta or
Rapaho, the Crow or Cheyenne, the Navajo and the Apache.
I stood gazing upon the group with feelings of profound interest, upon
their features and their picturesque habiliments. Though no two of them
were dressed exactly alike, there was a similarity about the dress of
all. Most of them wore hunting-shirts, not made of deer-skin like those
of the whites, but of calico, printed in bright patterns. This dress,
handsomely fashioned and fringed, under the accoutrements of the Indian
warrior, presented a striking appearance. But that which chiefly
distinguished the costumes of both the Delaware and Shawano from that of
their white allies was the head-dress. This was, in fact, a turban,
formed by binding the head with a scarf or kerchief of a brilliant
colour, such as may be seen on the dark Creoles of Hayti. In the group
before me no two of these turbans were alike, yet they were all of a
similar character. The finest were those made by the chequered
kerchiefs of Madras. Plumes surmounted them of coloured feathers from
the wing of the war-eagle, or the blue plumage of the gruya.
For the rest of their costume they wore deer-skin leggings and
moccasins, nearly similar to those of the trappers. The leggings of
some were ornamented by scalp-locks along the outer seam, exhibiting a
dark history of the wearer's prowess. I noticed that their moccasins
were peculiar, differing altogether from those worn by the Indians of
the prairies. They were seamed up the fronts, without braiding or
ornament, and gathered into a double row of plaits.
The arms and equipments of these warrior men were like those of the
white hunters. They have long since discarded the bow; and in the
management of the rifle most of them can "draw a bead" and hit "plumb
centre" with any of their mountain associates. In addition to the
firelock and knife, I noticed that they still carried the ancient weapon
of their race, the fearful tomahawk.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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