1^ 



72 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



away from the neiglibourhood by our constant firing, 

 the Indians prepared to shift their quarters. On 

 the morning of the ninth day they packed up, struclv 

 their tents, and embarked to go down the Ohio to 

 the Mississippi, on their way home to their native 

 prairies. 



As I and my friend had nothing more to do on 

 the Creek Eiver, we resolved to continue our excur- 

 sion. Casting our boat loose at break of day, we 

 reached the confluence of the Mississippi and the 

 Ohio before night, a little below Cape Girardeau, 

 and about ten miles from Fort Jefferson. The cold 

 was now intense, so we resolved to build a log cabin 

 and to take shelter in it until the weather became 

 more favourable. Next day, I began to shoot over 

 the neighbourhood, and by the end of the week had 

 ransacked it thoroughly. In the course of my ex- 

 peditions I met with some Eed Skins, who joined 

 us in our encampment. Some of these belonged to 

 the tribe of Osages, and some to the lowas. They 

 subsisted mainly upon the produce of their hunting 

 after the elk and the bison, of which there were 

 large numbers in the vicinity. Sometimes, also, the 

 lowas directed their arms with great address upon 

 the opossums and Avild turkeys, and the skill with 

 which they can shoot a bird on the wing through 

 and through, or a small animal runnmg at full speed, 

 is really marvellous. 



Our days were full of occupation. From morning 



