Volume 1

136 LE PENDU— SAGACITY OF BUFFALO.
had gone down Riviere du Lac Rouge to hunt beaver below
Black river ; he supposed they would keep on to Grandes
Fourches, where they would abandon their canoes and
return to Riviere Voleuse by land with their beaver skins on
their backs. He was positive they would not come here,
as they traded with the Opposition, and would carry their
hunt to Leech lake. This information determined me to
go in search of them myself. I wished him to go with me,
but he made many excuses, such as having sore legs, etc.,
though I saw that fear was the real cause of his being so
backward. I applied to Maymiutch to accompany me,
but he was afraid to leave his child, whose burns were very
bad ; otherwise he would go with pleasure. Late in the
evening Charlo arrived on Crow's mare
;
he brought ten
bears' skins and a few depouilles from Hair hills.
Nov. yth. Le Pendu returned early. I sent a fathom
of tobacco to the Indians by him. Mayimutch with his
family embarked and went down river to join those at
Bois Perce. Charlo went out to look for his mare, but did
not find her until
late, and thought proper to remain here
all day. So no Indians were camped here but my hunter.
My men took great numbers of fat raccoons in their traps.
We saw a great herd of cows going at full speed southward,
but on coming to our track, which goes to the salt lake,
they began to smell the ground, and, as suddenly as if they
had been fired at, turned toward the mountain. It is surprising
how sagacious those animals are. When in the
least alarmed they will smell the track of even a single person
in the grass, and run away in a contrary direction. I
have seen large herds, walking very slowly to
pasture, and
feeding as they went, come to a place where some persons
had passed on foot, when they would instantly stop, smell
the ground, draw back a few paces, bellow, and tear up the
earth with their horns. Sometimes the whole herd would
range along the route, keeping up a terrible noise, until one
of them was hardy enough to jump over, when they would
all
follow and run some distance.