20 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL, 77 
the pack-saddles, besides the load which they carry on top, and the 
load may be, according to the dog, from 35 to 50 pounds.” (Winship, 
(1), pp. 570-571.) This description could easily refer to conditions 
and customs among the tribes three centuries and more later. 
A very graphic sketch of a dog travois was made at Fort Union, 
October 10, 1851, by the Swiss artist, Friedrich Kurz, and is now re- 
produced in plate 26, 6, showing the method of attaching the poles, 
and how the load was rolled and placed upon the latter. The use 
of the horse for a similar purpose in later years followed as a 
natural sequence. 
Among the many paintings by Paul Kane, now preserved in the 
Royal Ontario Museum of Archeology, at Toronto, is one bearing 
the legend: “ Cree Indians Travelling.” It represents a small party 
of Indians, some walking, others mounted on horses, with several 
horse and dog travois. The latter show long poles attached to the 
sides of the dogs, one end of the poles dragging on the ground, while 
about midway of their length is a small pack upon which a child 
is seated. The broken, rolling land of the north is represented with 
a few clumps of small trees. The picture is‘one of much beauty 
and interest, depicting as it does some of the primitive customs of 
the Cree. 
During the summer of 1858 the Hind expedition into the region 
far west of the Red River encountered many small groups of Cree 
hunters and also observed the ancient camp sites of the same tribe. 
They wrote in part: “Immediately on the banks of the Qu’appelle 
Valley near the ‘Round Hill’ opposite Moose Jaws Forks, are the 
remains of ancient encampments, where the Plain Crees, in the 
day of their power and pride, had erected large skin tents, and 
strengthened them with rings of stones placed round the base. These 
circular remains were twenty-five feet in diameter, the stones or 
boulders being about one foot in circumference. They wore the 
aspect of great antiquity, being partially covered with soil and grass. 
When this camp ground was occupied by the Crees, timber no doubt 
grew in the valley below, or on the prairie and ravines in detached 
groves, for their permanent camping grounds are always placed near 
a supply of fuel. 
“Making an early start in search of wood, we came suddenly upon 
four Cree tents, whose inmates were still fast asleep; about three 
hundred yards west of them we found ten more tents, with over 
fifty or sixty Indians in all. They were preparing to cross the 
valley in the direction of the Grand Coteau, following the buffalo. 
Their provisions for trade, such as dried meat and pemmican, were 
drawn by dogs, each bag of pemmican being supported upon two 
long poles, which are shaft, body, and wheels in one, Buffalo Pound 
