Volume 1

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MORE BUFFALO THAN EVER. 99
and my own men to look for him since the 15th, but he
cannot be found. Buffaloes continue very numerous ; from
the top of my oak, or ladder, I
counted 15 herds.
My men wefe employed in cutting up and melting bears'
fat, which we pour into red deer skins and wooden troughs
but we have collected such a quantity that we can find no
place to store it, and the weather being sultry great quantities
spoil. The raw fat will not keep many days, particularly
when the weather is sultry, soon turning rancid ;
but
when melted down and properly taken care of, it will keep
good and sweet at any season.
Sept. i8th. I took my usual morning view from the top
of my oak and saw more buffaloes than ever. They formed
one body, commencing about half a mile from camp, whence
the plain was covered on the W. side of the river as far as
the eye could reach. They were moving southward slowly,
and the meadow seemed as if in motion. Desmarais went
below to look for his horse. At ten o'clock part of the
women returned to camp, informing me that their husbands
had altered their minds and intended to go up Red river.
They had taken their bear-traps on their backs and proceeded
S. W. toward the Hair hills, to a place where they
had seen beaver last summer when they went to war.
This
was a dangerous undertaking, of which neither I nor they
approved. They had sent me word to take care of their
families, as they would bring me beaver or lose their
heads.
This afternoon I rode a few miles up Park river. The
few spots of wood along it have been ravaged by buffaloes
none but the large trees are standing, the bark of which is
rubbed perfectly smooth, and heaps of wool and hair lie at
the foot of the trees. The small wood and brush are
entirely destroyed, and even the grass is not permitted to
grow in the points of wood. The bare ground is more
trampled by these cattle than the gate of a farm-yard.
This is a delightful country, and, were it not for perpetual
wars, the natives might be the happiest people upon earth.