History of Texas, Together with a Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bastrop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties. Page: 238

288 HSOY0'TX .

end hanging down. A very handsome and
expensive Mexican blanket was thrown
around his body; in his ears were little stuffed
birds. His hair was done with the feathers
of bright plumaged birds. He was handsomer
by far than any Ingomar the writer has
ever seen, but there was no squaw fair enough
to personate his Parthenia. His general aspect,
manner, bearing, education, natural intelligence,
show plainly that white blood
trickles through his veins. When traveling
lie assumes a complete civilian's outfit-dude
collar, watch and chain, and takes out his ear
rings. He, of course, cannot cut off his long
hair, saying that he would no longer be 'big
chief.' He has a handsome carriage, drives a
pair of matched grays, always traveling with
one of his squaws (to do the chores). Minnaa-ton-cha
is with him now. She knows no
English, but while her lord is conversing
gazes dumb with admiration at ' my lord,'
ready to obey his slightest wish or command."
A COMANCHE PRINCESS.
The following beautiful story is from the
pen of General H. P. Bee:
In the spring of 1843, the Republic of
Texas, Sam Houston being president, dispatched
Colonel J. C. Eldridge, Commissioner
of Indian affairs, and Tom Torrey,
Indian agent, to visit the several wild tribes
on the frontier of Texas and induce them to
make peace and conclude treaties with the
Republic. General H. P. Bee accompanied
the expedition, but in no official capacity.
At the house of a frontier settler, near where
the town of Marlin stands, the commissioners
received two Comanche children wh b had
been captured by Colonel Moore, a famous
and gallant soldier of the old Republic, in

one of his forays on the upper waters of the
Colorado in 1840. These children had been
ordered to be returned to their people. One
of them was a boy fourteen years old, named
Bill Hockley, in honor of teL veteran Colonel
Hockley, then high in command of the.
army of the Republic, who had adopted the
boy and taken care of him: the other was a
girl eleven years old, named Maria. The
parting of the little girl from the good people
who had evidently been kind to her was very
affecting; she cried bitterly and begged that
she would not be carried away. She had
forgotten her native tongue, spoke only one
language, and had the same dread of an Indian
that any other white children had. Her
little nature had been cultivated by the hand
of civilization until it drooped at the thought
of a rough Indian life as a delicately nurtured
flower will droop in the strong winds of the
prairies. There being no excuse, however,
for retaining her among the white people, a
pretty gentle Indian pony, with a little sidesaddle,
was procured for her, and she was
taken from her friends.
On arriving at a camp in Tanaconi, above
where Waco is now located, the party met
the first Indians, a mixture of Delawares,
Wacoes, etc. The appearance of the little
girl on horseback created great amusement
among the Indians. She was so shy and
timid, and the very manner in which she was
seated on the side-saddle was different from
that of the brown-skinned women of her
race. The next morning after the arrival at
the camp, Ben Hockley came out in full Indian
costume, having exchanged his citizen
clothes for buck-skin jacket, pants, etc. He
at once resumed his Indian habits, and from
that day, during the long trip of months, Bill
was noticed as the keenest eye of the party.
He could tell an object at a greater distance,

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HISTOR-r OP TEXAS.~i~