“Not much,” I said, “I have had all the baths I want.”
She said that the water would make my legs tough, and when she saw I wouldn’t go into the stream she brought some cold water and told me to wash them. I wanted to know whether it was salt water. She said it wasn’t, so I bathed my legs, and when I found that the water did not hurt them I waded into the creek. Washakie said it was “tibi tsi djant”—heap good.
Dr. T. M. Bridges
Shoshone wickiup. Lodges of this kind were used in the summer season.
“I begged him to let me go.”
CHAPTER FOUR THE GREAT ENCAMPMENT
It was the custom of the Shoshone chieftains in those early days to gather all of their tribe every three years. As this was the year for the great tribal meeting, we started for the big camp ground. After traveling for three days, we reached a large river, which the Indians called Piupa (Snake River). Here we were joined by another large band of the same tribe.
In order to cross the river, the squaws built boats of bulrushes tied in bundles; these bundles were lashed together until they made a boat big enough to hold up from six to eight hundred pounds. The Indians made the horses swim over, and some of the papoose boys rode their ponies across. I wanted to swim my horse, but my mother would not let me. It took about a week to get across the river; but during that time I had some of the best fun of my life.