"In this loose and wandering life they suffer the extremes of want;
for two thirds of the year they are forced to live in the mountains,
passing whole weeks without meat, and with nothing to eat but a few
fish and roots. Nor can anything be imagined more wretched than their
condition at the present time, when the salmon is fast retiring, when
roots are becoming scarce, and they have not yet acquired strength to
hazard an encounter with their enemies. So insensible are they,
however, to these calamities, that the Shoshonees are not only
cheerful, but even gay; and their character, which is more interesting
than that of any Indians we have seen, has in it much of the dignity
of misfortune. In their intercourse with strangers they are frank and
communicative; in their dealings they are perfectly fair; nor have we,
during our stay with them, had any reason to suspect that the display
of all our new and valuable wealth has tempted them into a single act
of dishonesty. While they have generally shared with us the little
they possess, they have always abstained from begging anything from
us. With their liveliness of temper, they are fond of gaudy dresses
and all sorts of amusements, particularly games of hazard; and, like
most Indians, delight in boasting of their warlike exploits, either
real or fictitious. In their conduct towards us they have been kind
and obliging; and though on one occasion they seemed willing to
neglect us, yet we scarcely knew how to blame the treatment by which
we were to suffer, when we recollected how few civilized chiefs would
have hazarded the comforts or the subsistence of their people for the
sake of a few strangers. . . . . . . . . .
"As war is the chief occupation, bravery is the first virtue among the
Shoshonees. None can hope to be distinguished without having given
proofs of it, nor can there be any preferment or influence among the
nation, without some warlike achievement. Those important events which
give reputation to a warrior, and entitle him to a new name, are:
killing a white [or grizzly] bear, stealing individually the horses of
the enemy, leading a party who happen to be successful either in
plundering horses or destroying the enemy, and lastly, scalping a
warrior. These acts seem of nearly equal dignity, but the last, that
of taking an enemy's scalp, is an honor quite independent of the act
of vanquishing him. To kill your adversary is of no importance unless
the scalp is brought from the field of battle; were a warrior to slay
any number of his enemies in action, and others were to obtain the
scalps or first touch the dead,
they would have all the honors, since they have borne off the trophy.
. . . . . . . . .
"The names of these Indians vary in the course of their life.
Originally given in childhood, from the mere necessity of
distinguishing objects, or from some accidental resemblance to
external objects, the young warrior is impatient to change it by some
achievement of his own. Any important event--the stealing of
horses, the scalping of an enemy, or the killing of a brown
bear--entitles him at once to a new name, which he then selects for
himself, and it is confirmed by the nation. Sometimes the two names
subsist together; thus, the chief Cameahwait, which means `One Who
Never Walks,' has the war-name of Tooettecone, or `Black Gun,' which
he acquired when he first signalized himself. As each new action
gives a warrior a right to change his name, many of them have several
in the course of their lives. To give to a friend one's own name is an
act of high courtesy, and a pledge, like that of pulling off the
moccasin, of sincerity and hospitality. The chief in this way gave his
name to Captain Clark when he first arrived, and he was afterward
known among the Shoshonees by the name of Cameahwait."
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