The approaches of the mountains and
forests were guarded by the evil spirits[8], while the seashore,
tenanted by immense lizards,[9] was often the scene of awful conflicts
between man, the eldest son of light, and the mighty children of gloom
and darkness. Then, too, the land we now live in had another form;
brilliant stones were found in the streams; the mountains had not yet
vomited their burning bowels, and the great Master of Life was not angry
with his red children.
[Footnote 7: Horses were unknown until the arrival of the Spaniards.]
[Footnote 8: Skeletons of the mammoth are often found whole at the foot
of the Grand Serpent, a long rugged mountain which runs for 360 miles
under the parallel of 40 degrees north latitude. It extends from the
centre of the Shoshone territory to the very country of the Crows, that
is to say, from the 119th to the 113th degree west longitude. It is
possible that this race may not have been yet quite extinct in the
middle of the 17th century; for, indeed, in their family records, aged
warriors will often speak of awful encounters, in which their
great-great-grandfathers had fought against the monster. Some of them
have still in their possession, among other trophies of days gone by,
teeth and bones highly polished, which belong indubitably to this
animal, of which so little is known.
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