Hunting at High Altitudes 



a hunt with the French half-breeds, 14 who, as 

 Major Mitchell was informed, would soon reach 

 Fort Peck to deliver a quantity of pemmican, 

 which they had contracted to supply to the agency. 

 These people were the descendants of the Indians 

 and the original French population of western 

 Canada. They were civilized, Christianized and 

 Catholics, and certain bands of them came across 

 the border each season and followed the herds of 

 buffalo which roamed over the plains between the 

 Missouri River and the Canada line. In winter 

 these vast herds tended to drift southward before 

 the northerly winter winds, as far as the valley 

 of the Yellowstone. The French half-breeds 

 earned their living by following these buffalo 1 , kill- 

 ing them as they needed them, saving and dressing 

 the skins, and making pemmican. 15 



Pemmican consists of meat that has been thor- 

 oughly dried, beaten and ground between stones 

 until it is very flimsy and loose. It is then packed 

 into a mold of green buffalo hide from which the 

 hair has been removed. The interstices are then 

 thoroughly filled by pouring in hot melted tallow. 

 The dried meat must not be packed so tight as to 

 prevent the melted tallow from thoroughly mixing 

 with the lean dried meat. The package is then 

 sewed up, and when thoroughly cold is easily 



26 



