SOURCE OP ST. Peter's river. 11 



formed their encampment at an early hour, owing to a 

 very heavy and continued rain ; at this place, they were 

 overtaken by the gentlemen who had gone out with Wa- 

 notan, and were much interested by the recital of his ad- 

 dress and success in hunting. These gentlemen had like- 

 wise killed a couple of calves, which gave us an opportu- 

 nity of tasting the buffalo veal ; we found it good, but not 

 to be compared to the beef of that animal. The Indians, 

 we believe, never kill the calves when they can help it. 

 We saw one of these little creatures that had been brought 

 to Lake Travers, and which they intended to domesticate ; 

 it was a male calf, about two or three months old, of a uni- 

 form dun colour ; the hump had not yet begun to form ; it 

 almost continually made a grunting noise, not unlike that 

 of a hog. A domestic cow nourished it without discover- 

 ing any thing more than occasional uneasiness at its hard 

 sucking, though at first she submitted only through force. 

 The squaws at Wanotan's lodge were engaged in jerk- 

 ing the meat and dressing the skins which he had obtain- 

 ed. We had some curiosity to observe their mode of ope- 

 rating. The meat was cut up in thin and broad slices and 

 exposed on poles, all round the lodge. Two days of ex- 

 posure to a hot sun are sufficient to dry the meat so that it 

 will keep. The skins are dressed in a very simple man- 

 ner ; the green skin is stretched on the ground by means 

 of stakes driven through its edges ; then with a piece of 

 bone, sharpened to a cutting edge, about an inch wide, and 

 similar to a chisel, tlie softer portions on the flesh side are 

 scraped off, and with an instrument of iron similar to the 

 bit of a carpenter's plane, the hair is removed from the 

 outside. If the operation be interrupted here, the product 

 is a sort of parchment ; but if the skin be intended for 

 moccassins or clothing, it is then worked with the hands 



