Their dress is both tasteful and chaste.  It is composed of a loose shirt, with tight sleeves, made of soft and well-prepared doe-skin, almost always dyed blue or red; this shirt is covered from the waist by the toga, which falls four or six inches below the knee, and is made either of swan-down, silk, or woollen stuff; they wear leggings of the same material as the shirt, and cover their pretty little feet with beautifully-worked moccasins; they have also a scarf, of a fine rich texture, and allow their soft and long raven hair to fall luxuriantly over their shoulder, usually ornamented with flowers, but sometimes with jewels of great value; their ankles and wrists are also encircled by bracelets; and indeed to see one of these young and graceful creatures, with her eyes sparkling and her face animated with the exercise of the chase, often recalled to the mind a nymph of Diana, as described by Ovid[10].

[Footnote 10:  The Comanches women very much resemble the common squaws, being short and broad in figure.  This arises from the Comanches secluding the women and not permitting them air and exercise.]

Though women participate not in the deeper mysteries of religion, some of them are permitted to consecrate themselves to the divinity, and to make vows of chastity, as the vestals of Paganism or the nuns of the Catholic convents.  But there is no seclusion.  They dress as men, covered with leather from head to foot, a painting of the sun on their breasts.  These women are warriors, but never go out with the parties, remaining always behind to protect the villages.  They also live alone, are dreaded, but not loved.  The Indian hates anything or any body that usurps power, or oversteps those bounds which appear to him as natural and proper, or who does not fulfil what he considers as their intended destiny.

The fine evenings of summer are devoted, by the young Indian, to courtship.  When he has made his choice, he communicates it to his parents, who take the business into their hands.  Presents are carried to the door of the fair one’s lodge; if they are not accepted, there is an end to the matter, and the swain must look somewhere else; if they are taken in, other presents are returned, as a token of agreement.  These generally consist of objects of women’s workmanship, such as garters, belts, moccasins, &c.; then follows a meeting of the parents, which terminates by a speech from the girl’s father, who mentions his daughter as the “dove,” or “lily,” or “whisper of the breeze,” or any other pretty Indian name which may appertain to her.  She has been a good daughter, she will be a dutiful wife, her blood is that of a warrior’s; she will bear noble children to her husband, and sing to them his great deeds, &c.  The marriage day arrives at last; a meal of roots and fruits is prepared; all are present except the bridegroom, whose arms, saddles, and property are placed behind the fair one.  The door of the lodge is open, its threshold lined with