Note 771 — Chapter V · NEW MEXICANS.
Reading edition
Jones, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 223; Emory's Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 108; Domenech, Jour., p. 137; Turner, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. 135, p. 307; Backus, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv., p. 212; García Conde, in Album Mex., 1849, tom. i., p. 165; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 277; Shepard's Land of the Aztecs, p. 182; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 114-6; Emory's Reconnoissance, p. 61; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 399. The Apache women, 'Son tan buenas ginetas, que brincan en un potro, y sin mas riendas que un cabrestillo, saben arrendarlo.' Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 564; Pattie's Pers. Nar., p. 298; Marcy's Army Life, p. 28; Figuier's Hum. Race, p. 480. 'A short hair halter was passed around under the neck of the horse, and both ends tightly braided into the mane, on the withers, leaving a loop to hang under the neck, and against the breast, which, being caught up in the hand, makes a sling into which the elbow falls, taking the weight of the body on the middle of the upper arm. Into this loop the rider drops suddenly and fearlessly, leaving his heel to hang over the back of the horse, to steady him, and also to restore him when he wishes to regain his upright position on the horse's back.' Brownell's Ind. Races, p. 540; Davis' El Gringo, p. 412. Les Comanches 'regardent comme un déshonneur d'aller à pied.' Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192; Cremony's Apaches, p. 282. The Comanches, for hardening the hoofs of horses and mules, have a custom of making a fire of the wild rosemary—artemisia—and exposing their hoofs to the vapor and smoke by leading them slowly through it. Parker's Notes on Tex., p. 203.