Page:Route Across the Rocky Mountains with a Description of Oregon and California.djvu/103



no white settlement. The character of these Indians will readily be inferred from their name, which is most appropriate. They have long been hostile to the Spaniards, and a short time previous, had killed a white man; and it was therefore necessary for us to be very cautious, while we were passing through their country. They have their Villages in the small valleys, and nooks, deep in the mountains; where they keep their women and children; and to which they fly, as soon as they have committed any depredation. Among these fastnesses, they enjoy their booty in quiet: the Spaniards not daring to follow them among the mountains. They subsist, principally, upon horse-flesh; some of which they procure from the wild bands, which cover the Valley of the St. Wakine, but principally, from the Spanish bands; from which they frequently drive off hundreds, and sometimes thousands of horses. Many of these Horse Thieves have been educated in the Catholic Missions; where