were, for a certain period, slaves to that race of people who built the
cities, the ruins of which still attest their magnificence, is a strong
proof of the outline being correct. To the modern Shoshones, and their
manners and customs, I shall refer in a future portion of my narrative.




CHAPTER V.


Every point having been arranged, I received my final instructions, and
letters for the Governor of Monterey, to which was added a heavy bag of
doubloons for my expenses. I bade farewell to the Prince and my father,
and with six well-armed Indians and the Padre Marini, I embarked in a
long canoe on the Buona Ventura river, and carried away by the current,
soon lost sight of our lonesome settlement.

We were to follow the stream to the southern lakes of the Buona Ventura,
where we were to leave our Indians, and join some half-bred
Wachinangoes, returning to Monterey, with the mustangs, or wild horses,
which they had captured in the prairies.

It was a beautiful trip, just at the commencement of the spring; both
shores of the river were lined with evergreens; the grass was luxuriant
and immense herds of buffaloes and wild horses were to be seen grazing
in every direction. Sometimes a noble stallion, his long sweeping mane
and tail waving to the wind, would gallop down to the water's edge, and
watch us as if he would know our intentions. When satisfied, he would
walk slowly back, ever and anon turning round to look at us again, as