97 



CHAPTER XL 



Food for horses. — Squaws and their performances. — Dogs and dog-meat. — Return to 

 Fort. — Starvation. — Travel by guess. — Death from drinking. — Medicine-making.— 

 A burial. — Little Lodge and the French trader. — A speech in council. — Journey to 

 Wliite river. — tligh winds and deep snow. — Intense sufierings and painful results. 



A LARGE grove of Cottonwood near us, day after day was graced by groups 

 of village squaws, armed with axes, for the procurement of lior.'je food. 



The bark of this tree is eaten freely by both horses and mules, and 

 answers well as a substitute for corn or oats. Animals will thrive upon it 

 in a remarkable manner, and even in the summer months they prefer it to 

 grass. The bark of red elm is also used for the same purpose. 



The operations of the squaws at such times contributed greatly to our 

 amusement. Climbing fearlessly to the topmost branch of the highest 

 tree, they would there lop off the surrounding boughs, with as much appa- 

 rent ease as though footed upon terra jirma. 



And then, the enormous loads they would carry, lashed together with 

 cords and slung to their backs, were enough to make a giant stagger. 

 Dogs, harnessed to travees, had their part to perform, and ofttimes were 

 they a source of vexation to their mistresses. 



A squaw, trudging along under a full donkey-load of cottonwood, and 

 followed by a squad of half-naked children, presented a spectacle quite in- 

 teresting ; but this was rendered rather comical, withal, when two or three 

 draught-dogs with their heavy-laden travees reluctantly brought up the 

 rear — every now and then lying down for weariness, or squatting to loll 

 and gaze at their companions. 



Now, she coaxes and caresses to urge them forward — they still delay. 

 Then she turns briskly towards them with a stick, — get out, dogs ! — 

 " Yierh ! Warktashne ceicha," cries the squaw, accompanying her denun- 

 ciation with blows, and away go the yelping troop as fast as legs can carry 

 tliem. 



Dogs are the necessary appendage of every Indian lodge, and generally 

 form an equal portion of the village population. They present almost all 

 the different varieties of the canine species, from the wolf to the spaniel, 

 and from the spaniel to the hairless dog of Africa. The wolf, however, is 

 predominant, and, taken together, they more assimilate a gang of wolves 

 than anything else. Indeed, the different varieties of prairie wolves hold 

 familiar intercourse with the village dogs, and associate with them on 

 friendly terms. 



The species used for draught, is a large, stout-built, wolfish-looking 

 creature, of the Exquimaux breed. Trained to his duties in early life, he 

 is generally both submissive and tractable. The drudgery of a squaw, 

 which is at all times onerous, without his ready aid would prove past 

 endurance. 



