126 



AUDUBON 



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are going after them to-morrow morning. Just after dinner 

 Provost and La Fleur returned with two male Antelopes, 

 skinned, one of them a remarkably large buck, the other 

 less in size, both skins in capital order. We have taken 

 the measurements of the head of the larger. The timber 

 for our boat has been hauling across the sand-bar ever 

 since daylight, and of course the work will proceed pretty 

 fast. The weather is delightful, and at night, indeed, quite 

 cool enough. I spoke to Sprague last night about remain- 

 ing here next winter, as he had mentioned his wish to do 

 so to Bell some time ago, but he was very undecided. 

 My regrets that I promised you all so faithfully that I 

 would return this fall are beyond description. I am, as 

 years go, an old man, but I do not feel old, and there is 

 so much of interest here that I forget oftentimes that I am 

 not as young as Owen. 



August 2, Wednesday. Bell and Owen started on their 

 tour up the Yellowstone^ after Cocks of the Plain [Sage 

 Grouse, Centroccrcus urophasianus\. Provost and Mon- 

 cr6vier went in the timber below after Deer, but saw none. 

 We had an arrival of six Chippeway Indians, and afterwards 

 about a dozen Assiniboins. Both these parties were better 

 dressed, and looked better off than any previous groups that 

 v/e have seen at this fort. They brought some few robes to 

 barter, and the traffic was carried on by Mr. Larpenteur in 

 his little shop, through a wicket. On the arrival of the 

 Assiniboins, who were headed by an old man, one of the 

 Chippeways discovered a horse, which he at once not only 

 claimed, but tied ; he threw down his new blanket on the 

 ground, and was leading off the horse, when the other Indian 

 caught hold of it, and said that he had fairly bought it, etc. 

 The Chippeway now gave him his gun, powder, and ball, as 

 well as his looking-glass, the most prized of all his posses- 

 sions, and the Assiniboin, now apparently satisfied, gave 

 up the horse, which was led away by the new (or old) 

 1 See Bell's account of the trip, page 176. 



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