IN THE OLD WEST 183 



vote himself to the feminine labor of packing huge 

 piles of firewood on his back, felling trees, butch- 

 ering unwieldy buffalo — all which are included 

 in the Indian category of female duties. Thus 

 he was esteemed an excellent parti by all the mar- 

 riageable young squaws of Blackfoot, Crow, and 

 Shoshone, of Yutah, Shian, and Arapaho ; but 

 after his last connubial catastrophe, he steeled his 

 heart against all the charms and coquetry of In- 

 dian belles, and persevered in unblessed widow- 

 hood for many a long day. 



From the point where we left him on his way 

 to the waters of the Columbia, we must jump with 

 him over a space of nearly two years, during which 

 time he had a most uninterrupted run of good 

 luck; trapping with great success on the head- 

 streams of the Columbia and Yellow Stone — the 

 most dangerous of trapping-ground — and find- 

 ing good market for his peltries at the North- 

 West posts — beaver fetching as high a price as 

 five and six dollars a " plew " — the " golden age " 

 of trappers, now, alas ! never to return, and exist- 

 ing only in the fond memory of the mountaineers. 

 This glorious time, however, was too good to last. 

 In mountain language, " such heap of fat meat 

 was not going to shine much longer." 



La Bonte was at this time one of a band of 

 eight trappers, whose hunting-ground was about 

 the head-waters of the Yellow Stone, which we 

 have before said is in the country of the Black- 



