8 AUDUBON 



vessel was set on fire, and that a man and a woman who 

 alone had been left on board, walked off to the island, 

 where they remained some days unable to reach shore. 



June 6, Tuesday. This morning was quite cold, and we 

 had a thick white frost on our upper deck. It was also 

 extremely cloudy, the wind from the east, and all about 

 us looked dismal enough. The hands on board seemed to 

 have been busy the whole of the night, for I scarcely slept 

 for the noise they made. We soon came to a very difficult 

 part of the river, and had to stop full three hours. Mean- 

 while the yawl went off to seek and sound for a channel, 

 whilst the wood-cutters and the carriers — who, by the way, 

 are called " charrettes " ^ — followed their work, and we 

 gathered a good quantity of drift-wood, which burns like 

 straw. Our hopes of reaching the Mandan Village were 

 abandoned, but we at last proceeded on our way and passed 

 the bar ; it was nearly dinner-time. Harris and Bell had 

 their guns, and brought two Arctic Towhee Buntings 

 and a Black-billed Cuckoo. They saw two large flocks of 

 Geese making their way westward. The place where we 

 landed showed many signs of Deer, Elk, and Buffaloes. 

 I saw trees where the latter had rubbed their heavy bodies 

 against the bark, till they had completely robbed the tree 

 of its garment. We saw several Red-shafted Woodpeckers, 

 and other birds named before. The Buffalo, when hunted on 

 horseback, does not carry its tail erect, as has been repre- 

 sented in books, but close between the legs ; but when you 

 see a Buffalo bull work its tail sideways in a twisted rolling 

 fashion, t]ie)i take care of him, as it is a sure sign of his in- 

 tention to rush against his pursuer's horse, which is very 

 dangerous, both to hunter and steed. As we proceeded I 

 saw two fine White-headed Eagles alighting on their nest, 



1 This is an interesting note of the early French name on the Missouri 

 , of the persons about a boat whom we should call "stevedores," or " roust- 

 abouts." The French word charctte, or charrette, occurs also as a personal 

 name, and it will be remembered that there was a town of La Charette on 

 the Lower Missouri. — E. C. 



