AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 89 



but the only venison we fared on was a fawn one of our men 

 shot on the North Platte, and which, among thirty hearty 

 men, was hardly a taste. Indians sometimes brought deer to 

 sell, but as we had no money to buy with, the result was noth- 

 ing to our larder. Sage-hens sometimes whirred away in gun- 

 shot, but our broken down oxen needed so much stimulus 

 that they parted in peace. A species of hare, called, from its 

 long ears, "jack-rabbit," we met in plenitude among the 

 Rocky Mountains, and we shot many of them. These we 

 made into soup, and as a relief from our bacon were welcome 

 fare. But the proportion of fresh meat was so small that one 

 or two cases of scurvy showed themselves from our diet of 

 salt pork and dough fried in its drippings. We were in poor 

 condition to forage for game. The horses, from galloping 

 from one end of the mile-long train to the other, were too 

 tired for side excursions after deer, and we were too much in 

 the same condition ourselves at our halting places to go hunt- 

 ing. On the Sweet Water we improvised a net out of a 

 wagon cover, and caught a mess of fish, and these were 

 indeed a treat. Once, at a trading post, I was a partaker of 

 beaver meat. It was a dark red in color, and fair eating, 

 but it seemed so like cannibalism to eat of animals so indus- 

 trious and half human in their providence that I did not 

 enjoy it. In this connection I will mention that at one of 

 our Rocky mountain camps I came across a clearing which 

 at once arrested my attention. It was alongside of a large 

 stream and several rods in extent. The stumps were from 

 two to four inches in diameter and conical. These had all 

 been neatly cut off by four-footed wood-choppers, and the 

 trees and branches floated down to a dam which was seen 

 some distance below. This was the only sign of beavers I saw 

 on the whole journey. 



Our implements for the conversion of our few articles of 

 diet into ox-propellers were few at the start, and grew fewer 

 6 



