204 SPORTING AD VENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



thousands of Indians, half-breeds, trappers, and voyageurs 

 for many years ; and considering their thoughtlessness and 

 their wanton destruction of all game at times, a person 

 might wonder how it happens that the buffalo is so numer- 

 ous as it is. 



What these people do not eat fresh they dry, or make 

 into pemmican. The drying process is simple enough. A 

 number of poles, about four feet high, and having a crotch 

 at the top, is inserted in the ground, and on these are 

 placed light boughs, to make a platform. Under this plat- 

 form, and about the middle, a shallow trench is dug, which 

 is filled with green wood, so as to make as much smoke as 

 possible. The flesh is next sliced off the carcass in long 

 strips about two inches wide, and from half an inch to an 

 inch in thickness, and is placed on the frame, after being 

 immersed for a few seconds in boiling brine; but if salt 

 is scarce the meat is dried without it. When the staging 

 is carefully and evenly covered with the strips, the fire is 

 lighted, and kept burning for two or three days, but never 

 so brightly as to do more than make a dense smoke, as it is 

 the dry air and sun that really cures the meat, and not the 

 fire ; for the sole purpose of the latter is to keep flies away, 

 and to lessen the effect of the night dew. If ants appear, 

 the upright poles are greased, and this causes them to re- 

 treat in a short time. The meat is often cured by merely 

 hanging it on the boughs of trees, or on frames in long 

 strips, and turning it around occasionally for two or three 

 days. These platforms are frequently met with in the 

 hunting regions frequented by Indians and half-breeds; 

 and if they contain any pabulum, the wayfarer is permit- 

 ted to take all he wants for present necessities but to 

 pocket none for future use, for such is the recognized cus- 

 tom of the land. 



The stages are frequented at all times by wolves, and 

 sometimes by wild -cats, but they seldom get any of the 

 contents. There is one creature, however, which is fortu- 

 nate enough to feast off the stores, and that is the wolver- 

 ene, one of the most daring, courageous, and cunning ani- 



