32 THE ADVENTURES OF 



We were camped on what is called Sappy 

 river, and were twenty miles from timber. 

 While here the snow fell about twelve inches 

 deep, and we were compelled to remain in our 

 tent three days without fuel, the snow storm 

 coming so suddenly as to prevent our laying 

 in a supply. We onh' had a small amount 

 gathered, and it consisted mostly of buffalo 

 chips, which is simply the sun-dried excrement 

 of the buffalo. It will probably seem to many 

 of my readers in the East, that it would make 

 very poor fuel, but in this section of the coun- 

 trv it is preferred over wood or coal for many 

 purposes. I have seen hotter fires made from 

 it than I ever saw from wood. Some of my 

 readers mio-ht have a little delicacv about 

 using such fuel, but here it is nothing to see 

 ladies gathering it in their aprons. In nearly 

 every house you can hnd a sack full of it 

 standing in the corner, and when the fire gets 

 low, the lady of the house takes a few chips 

 from the sack and puts them in the stove, and 

 nothing- more is thousfht of it than when vou 

 put a stick of wood on the fire, or a lump of 



