Francis Parkman 239 



life may at any moment depend on the strength 

 of his arm, or it may be on the activity of his legs, 

 it is more particularly inconvenient. Nor is sleep- 

 ing on damp ground, with an occasional drenching 

 from a shower, very beneficial in such cases. 1 

 sometimes suffered the extremity of exhaustion, 

 and was in a tolerably fair way of atoning for my 

 love of the prairie by resting there forever. I 

 tried repose and a very sparing diet. For a long 

 time, with exemplary patience, I lounged about 

 the camp, or at the utmost staggered over to the 

 Indian village, and walked faint and dizzy among 

 the lodges. It would not do, and I bethought me 

 of starvation. During five days I sustained life on 

 one small biscuit a day. At the end of that time 

 I was weaker than before, but the disorder seemed 

 shaken in its stronghold, and very gradually I be- 

 gan to resume a less rigid diet." It did not seem 

 prudent to Parkman to let the signs of physical 

 ailment become conspicuous, " since in that case 

 a horse, a rifle, a pair of pistols, and a red shirt 

 might have offered temptations too strong for 

 aboriginal virtue." Therefore, in order that his 

 prestige with the red men might not suffer diminu- 

 tion, he would "hunt buffalo on horseback over 

 a broken country, when without the tonic of the 

 chase he could scarcely sit upright in the saddle." 



