122 ON SNOW-SHOES TO THE BARREN GROUNDS 



to his chin, a turban whose original color had long since 

 been lost to view encircled his head, and crowning all was 

 a very small cap he had got from some trader many years 

 before, and which sat rakishly on one side or the other of 

 his head, and consistently fell off every time he departed 

 from the perpendicular. His preparations for sleeping 

 always afforded me a great deal of quiet amusement. He 

 would squat Indian fashion (and Indian fashion differs from 

 tailor fashion only in that the feet are crossed behind and 

 are sat on) before the fire, warming his back and stomach 

 alternately ; then he would heap up a pile of frozen rabbits 

 for a pillow, roll up in his robe, and lie down to snore. 



Very high pillows, by-the-way, are common to all these 

 Indians; they gather everything loose about camp and 

 stow it under their heads, until they are raised a couple 

 of feet. It was always a wonder to me how they slept at 

 all, though I found in the Barren Grounds, where there is 

 no brush to soften your bed, and you lie on rock chiefly, 

 and always on your side, that a moderately high pillow is 

 desirable, as it relieves the shoulder from bearing the en- 

 tire weight of your body. 



It was rather late in the afternoon of February 2d when 

 we left the Landing on a southwest course, which took us 

 to and up Salt River, and finally to a treeless twelve-mile 

 stretch, on the edge of which we made a wretched camp 

 in the increasing cold and with insufficient firewood. 

 There " Susie," who had also decided to make a try for 

 bison, joined us that night. This made us, all told, a com- 

 pany of seven, which was not to Munn's liking, and cer- 

 tainly not to mine, for, of all things, I have ever shunned 

 none so studiously as a large hunting-party. However, 

 there was no way of mending matters. The wind grew 

 stronger, and the mercury fell to 40 degrees below, which 

 not only froze the noses, ears, and chins of all of us the 



