HIS FIRST JOURNEY ACROSS THE PRAIRIES 59 



and adornment of one kind or another. A handsome brave came 

 first with a painted tin horse hanging down from his neck to his 

 naked bronze breast, skunk fur around his ankles, hawk's feathers 

 on his head, and a great bunch of sweet-smelling mint Monarda 

 fistulosa on one arm to set him off the more. I went up to the 

 leader and made signs to him that he was a fine fellow and slap- 

 ped him on his bronze thigh, as he sat like a king on his horse. 

 They were the first wild Indians I had ever seen and, when I look- 

 ed at those magnificent fellows, I felt that their day was about 

 ended and was sorry to think of it. They were dressed, just as I 

 had read in books, with breech cloths around their loins and a 

 few beads and ornaments about their bodies and all the rest was 

 naked and the color of bronze on account of the sun shining broad- 

 ly on their naked bodies. This was the first and last time I have 

 ever looked on such splendid looking Indians. 



The prairies, we had been passing through in Manitoba, were 

 then called weedy prairies on account of the number of tall flower- 

 ing plants that grew upon them. Before us, while we stayed at 

 Rat Creek, extended a flat plain, twelve miles wide without a 

 house, and one unbroken mass of tall flowering plants ; sun-flowers 

 penstemons, asters, golden-rods, and many other compositae. 

 This prairie that we now entered upon was the last of the Mani- 

 toba plain and, in rainy weather, was a very difficult region on 

 account of the richness of the soil and wet ground. 



For the next few days we were travelling from Rat Creek to 

 Fort Ellice, a distance of 150 miles. During that time, we passed 

 through a beautiful country and to us Easterners it looked as if 

 it were a perfect garden with the rich soil and great numbers of 

 autumn flowers. When we reached the Assiniboine, at Fort 

 Ellice, the ford was only three feet deep but the bottom was a 

 shifting sand so it did not do to let the horses stand while crossing. 

 I waded in and led the company across as the Chief of the party 

 had gone to the Fort. Curiously enough, I led my party across 

 the same place in 1906 and close to the crossing of the Grand 

 Trunk Pacific. 



After crossing the river, we moved west for the first few miles 

 along the north bank of the Qu'Appelle and I went down into the 



