V Indians and Buffalo 127 



a perfect hurricane, and over some of " the divides " 

 or " highlands " separating the ravines, it was a 

 doubtful business whether we should be able to 

 manage it. 



'■November i6th. — The gale has blown itself out 

 and the day is lovely, though intensely cold, but 

 with plenty of blankets we shall do very well, 

 though soldiers' tents are hardly the sort of thing 

 for this climate. I suppose that people would be 

 considered mad at home were they to leave their 

 houses in the coldest mid - winter and betake 

 themselves to tents for a fortnight together ; but 

 here, where every man is a soldier or a hunter, 

 no one thinks anything about it. We have a 

 quaint sort of a stove which keeps us warm as 

 long as it is in, but as we have to turn out of 

 our blankets into the cold half a dozen times a 

 night to keep it going, it is a question whether it 

 is a great advantage. We are up long before 

 daybreak and in bed at seven. One comfort is, 

 that this cold will keep the Indians quiet, but 

 next spring they expect a big war, particularly 

 about the North Pacific Railroad, which runs right 

 through their hunting grounds. After all, one 

 cannot be surprised at the poor wretches fighting ; 

 they depend wholly on the buffalo for food, and 

 the railway and its consequent settlers will soon 

 drive them away for ever. Quite lately these grand 

 rolling plains were black with buffalo, and the Indians 

 lived in abundance, now we are considered lucky 



