68 AUDUBON 



as a mile away, and that at such times they are approached 

 with comparative ease; and there is no doubt that it is 

 during such encounters that the horns are broken and 

 twisted as I have seen them, and not by leaping from high 

 places and falling on their horns, as poetical travellers 

 have asserted. The fact is that when these animals leap 

 , from any height they alight firmly on all their four feet. 

 At this season the young are always very difficult to catch, 

 and I have not yet seen one of them. Harris, Bell, and 

 young McKenzie are going Bighorn hunting to-morrow, 

 and I hope they will be successful ; I, alas ! am no longer 

 young and alert enough for the expedition. We find the 

 mosquitoes very troublesome, and very numerous. 



June 30, Friday. The weather was dark, with the wind 

 at the northwest, and looked so like rain that the hunters 

 did not start as they had proposed. Sprague, Harris, and 

 Bell went out, however, after small game. I began draw- 

 ing at five this morning, and worked almost without cessa- 

 tion till after three, when, becoming fatigued for want of 

 practice, I took a short walk, regretting I could no longer 

 draw twelve or fourteen hours without a pause or thought 

 of weariness. It is now raining quite hard. Mr. Larpen- 

 teur went after a large tree to make a ferry-boat, and the 

 new skifif was begun this morning. I sent Provost to Fort 

 Mortimer to see if any one had arrived from below ; he 

 found a man had done so last evening and brought letters 

 to Mr. Collins, requesting him to do all he can for us. 

 He also reported that a party of Sioux had had a battle 

 with the Gros Ventres, and had killed three of the latter 

 and a white man who lived with them as a blacksmith. 

 The Gros Ventres, on the other hand, had killed eight of 

 the Sioux and put them to flight. The blacksmith killed 

 two Sioux, and the enemies cut off one leg and one arm, 

 scalped him, and left the mangled body behind them. It 

 is said there is now no person living who can recollect the 

 manner in which the bitter enmity of these two nations 



