Volume 1

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EN ROUTE DE RETOUR. 405
our backs to the Missourie, and directed our course N.,
intending thus to shorten our journey, although this route
was more dangerous than the way we came. At five
o'clock we camped on the upper part of Riviere Bourbeuse
[Miry, now Snake, creek], which at this place is nothing
more than a rivulet, with a very good crossing on a fine
sandy bottom. Here we found an immense quantity of
poires ;
the branches were too heavily loaded to support
their burdens, and many were lying upon the ground.
collected a good stock of buffalo dung to make a fire
We
it was very damp, and only emitted a hot smoke, but
answered our purpose, as we had a kettle and thus cooked
our victuals easily. We tied our horses close and kept
watch during the night, as we dreaded the Assiniboines,
who passed this morning and knew very well when we
intended to set off. Early in the evening a pleasant cool
breeze sprang up, which kept down the mosquitoes and
gave us the most comfortable night since we left
Riviere la
Souris. The only cause for anxiety was that the Assiniboines
might steal our horses,
July ^oth. We had so many horses to load it took a
long time before we could get ready to depart. We held
the same N. course as yesterday. We found much water
in the plains ; in every low spot our horses were up to their
bellies. We could go no faster than a walk ; the heavy
burdens of our horses prevented our pushing on as fast as
we could have wished ; each carried upward of two hundred
weight, excepting those we rode, which had each about 50
pounds. The country is hilly, but not so stony as on the
route we came ; and toward the E. we saw no stones at all.
The hills and their declivities appeared quite naked, with
here and there a bull, grazing unmolested.
At five o'clock we came to a small lake on which grew
brushwood and poiriers [pear trees literally, but here meaning
the service-berry tree, Amelanchier canadensis, or its
western form, A. alnifolia, whose fruit the voyageurs called
poires, and] whose branches were loaded with fruit ; the