102 DAILY HUNTING EXPEDITIONS. 



canoes to descend the Ohio as far as the Mississippi, in- 

 tending to traverse the " Father of Waters " on their 

 way back to their own prairies. 



We had nothing more to do at Creek River, so my 

 friend and I resolved to continue our excursion. 



At daybreak we unmoored our boat, and in the even- 

 ing reached the confluence of the Mississippi and the 

 Ohio, below Cape Girardeau, and about ten miles from 

 Fort Jefferson. The cold had increased to an almost 

 unexampled degree ; so we resolved to run up a log- 

 cabin, and to shelter ourselves under its roof until the 

 weather was a little milder. The day after its completion 

 I went out Imnting, and at the end of a week knew all the 

 territory around our camp. I had met with some of the 

 natives, who came and pitched their tents in the vicinity 

 of our hut, and joined in our expeditions. Most of these 

 Redskins belonged to the tribe of the Osages, but a few 

 to that of the loways. They lived entirely on the pro- 

 ducts of their skill in hunting the eland and the bison, 

 which abounded in these parts. Sometimes, too, the 

 loways directed their arrows at the opossums and wild 

 turkeys ; and the address with which they shot a bird in 

 its flight, or a hare while running, was really wonderful. 



Our days glided by very swiftly. From morning to 

 night we hunted the larger game, and the birds which 

 covered the small fresh-water lakes so numerous along 

 the Mississippi. In the evening we pursued the bands 

 of cayeutes which prowled around our camp in quest of 

 the bones and fragments we threw out as bait. By the 

 light of our fire we could perceive their glaring eyes, 

 which seemed to us like two flaming brands in the black- 



