Notwithstanding their miseries they were cheerful, and, in many important points of character, were superior to any other tribes whom the travellers had seen. They never begged: they were not tempted to a single act of dishonesty by the sight of the treasures which their visitors displayed; and they were ready to share with their guests, the little which they themselves possessed. They were also a high-spirited people. The Spaniards, the only white men with whom they had hitherto had any intercourse, would not supply them with fire-arms, alleging that, if they were possessed of such weapons, they would only be the more induced to kill one another. The Shoshonees, perhaps, do not perceive that policy is the real motive of the Spaniards; but they clearly see that the plea of humanity is fallacious, and they complain that they are thus left to the mercy of their enemies the Minnetarees, who, having fire-arms, plunder them of their horses, and slay them at pleasure. Though many of their stock had lately been stolen, the Shoshonees possessed, at this time, not fewer than seven hundred horses, of good size, vigorous, and patient of fatigue, as well as of hunger. They had also a few mules, which had been purchased or stolen from the Spaniards, by the frontier Indians. These were the finest animals of the kind, that Captain Clarke had ever seen; even the worst of them was considered worth the price of two horses. The horse is a favourite animal with this people. His main and tail, which are never mutilated, they decorate with feathers, and his ears they cut into various patterns. A favourite horse, also, is sometimes painted; and a warrior will suspend, at the breast of his horse, the finest ornaments which he possesses.