2 28 Morris, Letter of Edward Harris. [july 



led to believe would be the case, we stop wherever we can find 

 good wood and never less than twice a day, more frequently 

 three times, and then only from thirty minutes to an hour at a 

 time, and frequently in a bottom that has been overflowed and 

 all the game driven out of it ; the walking too so bad that it is 

 scarcely worth wetting our feet for the poor chance before us. 

 It is only when we are detained by a high wind or an accident 

 to the boat that we can get a regular hunt. 



" We have procured very few quadrupeds, a red squirrel that 

 is rather rare and a black squirrel that may be new are the only 

 ones. Mr. Audubon shot a wild turkey a few days ago, — the 

 only one we have procured, and that would have been lost had 

 it not been for ' Brag.' The bird was only wing broke and soon 

 ran out of sight and hid in a thicket, but ' Brag ' made a beauti- 

 ful point at it and I shot it with number lo shot; it was a 

 female ;' it made us a good dinner and a fine skin. 



"Our last accident, — the burning out of two plates in one of 

 our boilers, which I mentioned in yesterday's letter, — detained 

 us three days, we only got off this morning. 



" In a few days more we shall almost entirely lose the timber, a 

 few straggling trees on the bluffs of the prairies will be all we 

 shall see and we must depend principally on the drift wood we 

 find on the sand bars which is of very inferior quality. We now 

 use green ash whenever we can get it ; when it is not to be had 

 dead cottonwood is the best we can procure. 



" Elks are abundant here and have been for the past week — 

 & hares also, but we have seen neither, the elks and deer are 

 driven before us by the noise of the steamboat, & where the 

 shores are wooded we never see them. The hares are in the high 

 prairies which we have seldom time to get to when we stop. 

 Only one deer has been killed since we started. 



" 2oth. It rains this morning and our prospect for the day 

 is rather dull. Our mode of life is rather tiresome to us who 

 are impatient for something to do, and you may see by the 

 tremor of my hand that it is difficult to write while the boat is 

 in motion," etc. 



Mr. Harris here dwells somewhat upon the monotony of their 

 daily life, enlivened only by the occasional sight of game along 



