After breakfast her younger boys wanted to see the Walla-Wallas, and
took me along. A cold breath from the Sierra Nevadas made me look up
and shiver. Soon Captains Sutter and Kern passed us, the former on his
favorite white horse, and the latter on a dark bay. I was delighted to
catch a glimpse of those two good friends, but they did not know it.
They had been to see the Indian ponies, and before we got to the big
gate, they had gone in and the Walla-Wallas were forming in line on
both sides of the road between the gate and the front of the store.
Only two Indians at a time were allowed to enter the building, and as
they were slow in making their trades, we had a good chance to see them
all. The men, the boys, and most of the women were dressed in fringed
buckskin suits and their hands and faces were painted red, as the Sioux
warriors of Fort Laramie painted their cheeks.
The Lennox boys took greatest interest in the little fellows with the
bows and arrows, but I could not keep my eyes from the young princess,
who stood beside her father, the chief. She was all shimmering with
beads. They formed flowers on her moccasins; fringed the outer seams of
her doeskin trousers and the hem of her tunic; formed a stripe around
her arm holes and her belt; glittered on a band which held in place the
eagle plume in her hair; dangled from her ears; and encircled her neck
and arms.
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