rill'. IIOCKY MOUNTAINS 95 



and said he had found two miners going that way. to 

 whom lir h;i(l ('iitrust('(l liis chMrQ-c. lie li;i<l ;i liedrao-..],.,! 

 aspect aiiil wore the expression of a dog who h.is paid 

 a suiTeptitious visit to the hirder. 1 am inclined to think 

 lie found the weather too much for him. At any rate tlie 

 letter was never delivered. 



We had arranged with Chirke, wlio had left us to 

 return home, to meet us on a certain dav at the head 

 waters of the (Jros Ventre, another tril)utary of the Snake 

 River, which we believed would be good game (juarters, 

 so we could now aflbrd to take it easy. The delay was 

 not with(»ut its compensations. Buffalo Fork is a lovely 

 vallev and had at that time been little visited by whites. 

 We drew this inference from the entire absence of the 

 remains of slaughtered animals. Indeed, at the time of 

 our visit this was true of the whole of this part of the 

 basin of the Snake River, sometimes known as " Jackson's 

 Hole," and is due to the dilliculty of the passes leading 

 into it, and the enormous quantity of snow precipitated 

 here by the lofty range of the Tetons, conditions whidi 

 were said to make it impossible of residenee in the winter. 

 The tameness of the smaller animals told the same re- 

 freshing tale. T remember a ])ine martin — surelv one 

 of the shyest of animals — wliidi remained at a distance of 

 fiur or five yards to gaze at me with an expression of 

 amused curiosity, yawning the wliih' in my face, as much 

 as to say — " Wall, stranger, what do you think ot" our 

 country ( \ hnil it a dull place." Great hawks would sit 

 on the buuirhs oveilianL:,inLi' our heads, sereaniin"' (h'lianet', 

 liut not deigning to offci- to the power of man the homage 

 of lear. 



