[Footnote 12: The Crows, our neighbours, who are of the Dacotah race,
are also excellent horsemen, most admirably dressed and fond of show,
but they cannot be compared to the Shoshones; they have not the same
skill, and, moreover, they abuse and change their horses so often that
the poor brutes are never accustomed to their masters.]
But the most wonderful feat of the Shoshone, and also of the Comanche
and Apache, is the facility with which he will hang himself alongside
his horse in a charge upon an enemy, being perfectly invisible to him,
and quite invulnerable, except through the body of his horse. Yet in
that difficult and dangerous position he will use any of his arms with
precision and skill. The way in which they keep their balance is very
simple; they pass their right arm, to the very shoulder, through the
folds of the lasso, which, as I have said, is suspended to the pommel or
round the neck of the horse; for their feet they find a support in the
numerous loops of deer-skin hanging from the saddle; and thus suspended,
the left arm entirely free to handle the bow, and the right one very
nearly so, to draw the arrow, they watch their opportunity, and unless
previously wounded, seldom miss their aim.
I have said that the Shoshones threw away their bucklers at the
instigation of the Prince Seravalle, who also taught them the European
cavalry tactics.
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