as a couch by night and a covering by day, had, with one
single exception, been dispensed with, apparently with
a view to avoid any thing like encumbrance in their
approaching sport. Each individual was provided with a
stout sapling of about three feet in length, curved, and
flattened at the root extremity, like that used at the
Irish hurdle; which game, in fact, the manner of
ball-playing among the Indians in every way resembled.

Interspersed among these warriors were a nearly equal
number of squaws. These were to be seen lounging carelessly
about in small groups, and were of all ages; from the
hoary-headed, shrivelled-up hag, whose eyes still sparkled
with a fire that her lank and attenuated frame denied,
to the young girl of twelve, whose dark and glowing cheek,
rounded bust, and penetrating glance, bore striking
evidence of the precociousness of Indian beauty. These
latter looked with evident interest on the sports of the
younger warriors, who, throwing down their hurdles, either
vied with each other in the short but incredibly swift
foot-race, or indulged themselves in wrestling and leaping;
while their companions, abandoned to the full security
they felt to be attached to the white flag waving on the
fort, lay at their lazy length upon the sward, ostensibly
following the movements of the several competitors in
these sports, but in reality with heart and eye directed
solely to the fortification that lay beyond. Each of
these females, in addition to the machecoti, or petticoat,
which in one solid square of broad-cloth was tightly
wrapped around the loins, also carried a blanket loosely