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CHAPTER XL. 



TRAVELLING. 



THERE is nothing about the Indian more remarkable than 

 the ease and certainty with which he makes his way over 

 the ' trackless wastes ' of plains on journeys of sometimes 

 hundreds of miles. He has, of course, no knowledge 

 of the compass ; nor have I ever seen a ' wild ' Indian, 

 who, even with the most careful and repeated explana- 

 tion, could get the faintest glimmer of an idea of the use 

 of the ' little box.' The reason is obvious. There is no 

 ' north ' and no ' south ' to him. In all the wide circle of his 

 horizon there are no definite points, no points of refer- 

 ence. He speaks of ' sunrise ' to designate that broad 

 side of the horizon on which the sun rises, and of sunset 

 of the other side ; but he makes no use of either for pur- 

 pose of direction in travelling. The sun does not rise on 

 consecutive mornings in the same place, and would be to 

 him anything but a safe guide. 



The same thing obtains of night travel ; and, brilliant 

 as are the stars of the plains, it seems never to have 

 occurred to his mind that use might be made of them in 

 assuring his journey in any particular direction. His re- 

 liance on short journeys, for hunts of a week or more 

 from his camp, is on instinct the same incomprehensible 

 something that takes a pigeon to its nest, or a bee to its 

 home in the hollow tree. This rarely fails him, and I 

 have heard of but one instance where an Indian got 

 4 turned round,' lost, and wandered for several weeks alone 

 before he recovered himself. 



