The Comanches are a noble and most powerful nation. They have hundreds
of villages, between which they are wandering all the year round. They
are well armed, and always move in bodies of some hundreds, and even
thousands; all active and skilful horsemen, living principally by the
chase, and feeding occasionally, during their distant excursions, upon
the flesh of the mustang, which, after all, is a delightful food,
especially when fat and young. A great council of the whole tribe is
held once a year, besides which there are quarterly assemblies, where
all important matters are discussed. They have long been hostile to the
Mexicans, but are less so now; their hatred having been concentrated
upon the Yankees and Texans whom they consider as brigands. They do not
apply themselves to the culture of the ground as the Wakoes, yet they
own innumerable herds of horses, cattle, and sheep, which graze in the
northern prairies, and they are indubitably one of the wealthiest people
in the world. They have a great profusion of gold, which they obtain
from the neighbourhood of the San Seba hills, and work it themselves
into bracelets, armlets, diadems, as well as bits for their horses, and
ornaments to their saddles. Like all the Shoshones' tribe, they are most
elegant horsemen, and by dint of caresses and good treatment render the
animals so familiar and attached to them, that I have often seen some of
them following their masters like dogs, licking their hands and
shoulders.
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