Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/375

358 358 SOME KBISN HTDIAN TRAITS. noiselessly got to the ground and then aegsn a re- markable exhibition of Indian subtlety, toi it s'eemed that the slightest point was considered before pro- ceeding. But all at once a gentle breeze brought to his sensitive and acute nostrils a slight odor which at once assured him of his being in the locality where ^ihe party had eaten game, for he could discern the smeU of the offal. Eight here it might be well to comment upon Indian traits, especially the faculty they had of observing things whiieh. others would pass unnoticed. -» You have frequently been entertained by writers relative to the astuteness of the Bed Men in tracking by foot-prints, broken twigs, a thread or fluff left on a bush,' but let it here be remarked that on the open prairie this class of work would not answer, for the shoe or foot prints upon the parched prairies would give no clue, so the plains Indians had to cultivate the eyesight which is admitted were much quicker and could discern objects a greater distance than the whites. But their sense of smell was exceedingly acute; the reason assigned is the fact that nature's pure and unadulterated breezes swept over the face of the country without coming in contact with trees of all description which would emit their aroma, de- naturing God's pure wind. But this is how the plains Indian would trail: By reason of their being constantly outdoors, na- ture transmitted to them certain traits unknown to the dwellers in tenements. It has been said the roamers of the plains knew vrithout seeing that a herd of buffalo were in the neighborhood, provided