132 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



commenced eating, that the dish was formed of more than one 

 item, and yet in less than five minutes he discovered one of the 

 very least of its component parts. 



It would seem from this circumstance that the Indians, or it 

 may be the particular tribe to which this man belongs, are 

 opposed to the eating of horse flesh, and yet, the natural supposi- 

 tion would be, that in the gameless country inhabited by them they 

 would often be reduced to such shifts, and thus readily conquer 

 any natural reluctance which they might feel to partake of such 

 food. I did not think until after he left us, that if the chief knew 

 how the horse meat he so much detested was procured, and 

 where, he might probably have expressed even more indignation, 

 for it is not at all unlikely that the colt had strayed from his 

 own band. 



21st. — The timber along the river banks is plentiful, and often 

 attains a large size. It is chiefly of the species called balsam 

 poplar, (^Populus balsamifera.) 



Towards noon to-day, we observed ahead several groups of 

 Indians, perhaps twenty in each, and on the appearance of our 

 cavalcade, they manifested their joy at seeing us, by the most 

 extravagant and grotesque gestures, dancing and capering most 

 ludicrously. Every individual of them was perfectly naked, with 

 the exception of a small thong around the waist, to which was 

 attached a square piece of flannel, skin, or canvass, depending 

 half way to the knees. Their stature was rather below the 

 middle height, but they were strongly built and very muscular. 

 Each man carried his salmon spear, and these, with the knives 

 stuck in their girdles, appeared to be their only weapons, not one 

 of them having a gun. As we neared them, the fiftt group ran 

 towards us, crying "Shoshone, Shoshone," anjd" caused some 

 delay by their eagerness to grasp our hands and examine our 

 garments. After one group had become satisfied with fingering 



