IN THE OLD WEST 139 



cut by axes of extraordinary size, the world would 

 never have known that such a people existed. 

 They were, moreover, white as themselves, and 

 lived upon corn and fruits, and rode on ele- 

 phants, &c. 



Whilst following a small creek at the south- 

 west extremity of the lake, they came upon a band 

 of miserable Indians, who, from the fact of their 

 subsisting chiefly on roots, are called the Dig- 

 gers. At first sight of the whites they immedi- 

 ately fled from their wretched huts, and made 

 towards the mountains ; but one of the trappers, 

 galloping up on his horse, cut off* their retreat, 

 and drove them like sheep before him back to their 

 village. A few of these wretched creatures came 

 into camp at sundown, and were regaled with such 

 meat as the larder afforded. They appeared to 

 have no other food in their village but bags of 

 dried ants and their larvae, and a few roots of the 

 3"ampah. Their huts were constructed of a few 

 bushes of greasewood, piled up as a sort of wind- 

 break, in which they huddled in their filthy skins. 

 During the night they crawled up to the camp 

 and stole two of the horses, and the next morning 

 not a sign of them was visible. Now La Bonte 

 witnessed a case of mountain law, and the practi- 

 cal effects of the lex talionis of the Far West. 



The trail of the runaway Diggers bore to the 

 north-west, or along the skirt of a barren water- 

 less desert, which stretches far away from the 



