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had in reality taken all his wealth, consisting of his horses, into the plain, and, turning them loose, committed them to the care of his medicine, and abandoned them for ever. The horses, less religious, took care of themselves, and the pious votary travelled home on foot.

Captain Lewis, with fifteen men, went out to hunt the buffalo, great numbers of which darkened the prairies for a considerable distance: they did not return till after dark, having killed eight buffaloes and one deer. The hunt was, however, very fatiguing, as they were obliged to make a circuit at the distance of more than seven miles: the cold, too, was so excessive, that the air was filled with icy particles, resembling a fog, and the snow generally six or eight inches deep, and sometimes eighteen, in consequence of which two of the party were hurt by falls, and several had their feet frost-bitten.

Notwithstanding the extreme cold, the Indians were observed at the village, engaged out in the open air, at a game which resembled billiards more than any thing, and which it is suspected may have been acquired by ancient intercourse with the French of Canada. From the first to the second chief's lodge, a distance of about fifty yards, a covering was made with timber, smoothed and joined so as to be level as the floor of a house, with a battery at the end to stop the rings; these rings were of clay-stone, and flat like the chequers for draughts, and the sticks were about four feet long, with two short pieces at one end in the form of a mace, so fixed that the whole will slide along the board. Two men fix themselves at one end, each provided with a stick, and one of them with a ring; they then run along the board, and about half-way slide the sticks after the ring.

Almost the whole of that vast tract of country, comprised between the Mississippi, the Red river of

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Lake Winnipeg, the Sakaskawan, and the Missouri, is loosely occupied by a great nation, whose primitive name is Darcota, but who are called Sioux by the French, and Sues by the English. Their original seats were on the Mississippi; but they have gradually spread themselves abroad, and become subdivided into numerous tribes. Of these, what may be considered as the Darcotas, are the Mindawarcarton, known to the French by the name of the Gens du Lac, or people of the lake. Their residence is on both sides of the Mississippi, near the falls of St. Anthony.

The Sioux are stated to be the vilest miscreants of the savage race, and must ever remain the pirates of the Missouri, until such measures are pursued as will make them feel a dependence on the government for their supply of merchandise.

Although the squaws are very ill treated by all Indians, it is said they are treated much worse by the Sioux than by any other tribe, whence it follows that mothers frequently destroy their female children, alleging as a reason, that it is better they should die, than continue a life so miserable as that to which they are doomed. Amongst the Sioux women, it is also said, suicide is not unfrequent, and the mode which they adopt to put an end to their existence, is by hanging themselves. They are of opinion, that suicide is displeasing to the Father of life, and believe it will be punished in the land of spirits, by their ghosts being doomed for ever to drag the tree on which they hung themselves; for this reason they always suspend themselves to as small a tree as can possibly sustain their weight.

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CHAP. VIII.

The White Bear-The Antelope-A species of Goose Wolves Battle between BuffaloesLarge Brown Bear - Singular Escape-The Source of the Missouri-View of the Pacific Ocean-An Alarm-A Festival-The PlateThe Nadawa The Agoway Village Council Bluffs-Domestic Economy-Male and Female Employments-The Shoshonees-The Chopunnish--The Sokulks-Old Age respected-Sore Eyes-The Columbia-The Chinnooks of the Pacific-Four Neighbouring Nations-The Aricaras- The Indians of the Missouri-Honey Bees - Indian Trade-Vegetables — Trees — Quadrupeds Birds-Wappatoo Island-The Yellow Stone River-Nature and Habits of Animals—Colter, an American Hunter-The Skunk Blackbird's Tomb-Indian Game-SaddleSalt, &c.

Of the strength and ferocity of the white bear, the Indians give dreadful accounts; they never attack him but in parties of six or eight persons, and even then are often defeated with the loss of one or more of their number. Having no weapons but bows and arrows, and the bad guns with which the traders supply them, they are obliged to approach very near to the bear; and as no wound, except through the head or heart, is mortal, they frequently fall a sacrifice, if they miss their aim. He rather attacks than avoids a man, and such is the terror which he inspires, that the Indians who go in quest of him paint themselves, and perform all the superstitious rites customary when they make war on a neighbouring nation. The antelope, peculiar to this country, is generally the victim of its curiosity: when they first see the hunter, they run with great velocity; if he

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