136 NARKATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



around the camp, I observed one of my men squatted on the 

 ground, intently surveying some object which appeared to be 

 moving among the horses. At his request, I stooped also, 

 and could distinctly perceive something near us which was cer- 

 tainly not a horse, and yet was as certainly a living object. I 

 supposed it to be either a bear or a wolf, and at the earnest solici- 

 tation of the man, I gave the word " fire." The trigger was in- 

 stantly pulled, the sparks flew from the flint, but the rifle was not 

 exploded. At the sound, an Indian sprang from the grass 

 where he had been crouching, and darted away towards the 

 Snake camp. His object certainly was to appropriate one of 

 our horses, and very fortunate for him was it that the gun 

 missed fire, for the man was an unerring marksman. This 

 little warning will probably check other similar attempts by these 

 people. 



Early in the morning I strolled into the Snake camp. It con- 

 sists of about thirty lodges or wigwams, formed generally of 

 branches of trees tied together in a conic summit, and covered 

 with buflalo, deer, or elk skins. Men and little children 

 were lolling about the ground all around the wigwams, together 

 with a heterogeneous assemblance of dogs, cats, some tamed 

 prairie wolves, and other "tjarmnits." The dogs growled and 

 snapped when I approached, the wolves cowered and looked 

 cross, and the cats ran away and hid themselves in dark corners. 

 They had not been accustomed to the face of a white man, and 

 all the quadrupeds seemed to regard me as some monstrous produc- 

 tion, more to be feared than loved or courted. This dislike, 

 however, did not appear to extend to the bipeds, for many of 

 every age and sex gathered around me, and seemed to be exam- 

 ining me critically in all directions. The men looked compla- 

 cently at me, the women, the dear creatures, smiled upon me, 

 and the little naked, pot-bellied children crawled around my feet, 

 examining the fashion of my hard shoes, and playing with the 



