Round his waist, and to sustain the toga, he wears a sash, generally
made by the squaws out of the slender filaments of the silk-tree, a
species of the cotton-wood, which is always covered with long threads,
impalpable, though very strong. These are wove together, and richly
dyed. I am sure that in Paris or in London, these scarfs, which are from
twelve to fifteen feet long, would fetch a large sum among the ladies of
the haut ton. I have often had one of them shut up in my hand so that it
was scarcely to be perceived that I had anything enclosed in my fist.
Suspended to this scarf, they have the knife on the left side and the
tomahawk on the right. The bow and quiver are suspended across their
shoulders by bands of swan-down three inches broad, while their long
lance, richly carved, and with a bright copper or iron point, is carried
horizontally at the side of the horse. Those who possess a carbine have
it fixed on the left side by a ring and a hook, the butt nearly close to
the sash, and the muzzle protruding a little before the knee.
The younger warriors, who do not possess the carbine, carry in its stead
a small bundle of javelins (the jerrid of the Persians), with which they
are very expert, for I have often seen them, at a distance of ten feet,
bury one more than two feet deep in the flanks of a buffalo.
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