116 LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 



mediately under the aperture in the roof, and a flap of the upper 

 skins is closed or extended at pleasure, serving as a cowl or chim- 

 ney-top to regulate the draught, and permit the smoke to escape 

 freely. Round the fire, with their feet toward it, the inmates 

 sleep on skins and buffalo rugs, which are rolled up during the 

 day, and stowed at the back of the lodge. 



In traveling, the lodge-poles are secured half on each side a 

 horse, and the skins placed on transversal bars near the ends, 

 which trail along the ground — two or three squaws or children 

 mounted on the same horse, or the smallest of the latter borne in 

 the dog travees. A set of lodge-poles will last from three to 

 seven years, unless the village is constantly on the move, when 

 they are soon worn out in trailing over the gravelly prairie. They 

 are usually of ash, which grows on many of the mountain creeks, 

 and regular expeditions are undertaken when a supply is required, 

 either for their own lodges, or for trading with those tribes who 

 inhabit the prairies at a great distance from the locality where 

 the poles are procured. 



There are also certain creeks where the Indians resort to lay in 

 a store of kinnik-kinnik (the inner bark of the red willow), which 

 they use as a substitute for tobacco, and which has an aromatic 

 and very pungent flavor. It is prepared for smoking by being 

 scraped in thin curly flakes from the slender saplings, and crisped 

 before the fire, after which it is rubbed between the hands into a 

 form resembling leaf-tobacco, and stored in skin bags for use. It 

 has a highly narcotic effect on those not habituated to its use, and 

 produces a heaviness sometimes approaching stupefaction, alto- 

 gether different from the soothing effects •f tobacco. 



Every year, owing to the disappearance of the buffalo from their 

 former haunts, the Indians are compelled to encroach upon each 

 other's hunting-grounds, which is a fruitful cause of war between 

 the different tribes. It is a curious fact, that the buffalo retire 

 before the whites, while the presence of Indians in their pastures 



