76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL, 77 
broad reddish-brown border below, and on each of its sides a large 
black bear was painted (something of a caricature it must be con- 
fessed), to the head of which, just above the nose, a piece of red 
cloth, that fluttered in the wind, was fastened, doubtless a medicine.” 
Continuing, the narrative recorded the arrival of others. “Another 
band of Assiniboins appeared at a distance. To the west, along the 
wood by the river-side, the prairie was suddenly covered with red 
men, most of whom went singly, with their dogs drawing the loaded 
sledges. The warriors, about sixty in number, formed a close 
column. ... The whole column entered the fort, where they smoked, 
ate, and drank: and, meantime, forty-two tents were set up. The new 
camp had a very pretty appearance; the tents stood in a semicircle, 
and all the fires were smoking, while all around was life and activity.” 
(Maximilian, (1), pp. 202-204.) 
A painting of the dwelling of the chief, with a broad border at the 
bottom, “and on each of its sides a large black bear,” was made by 
Bodmer and reproduced by Maximilian. It is here shown in plate 
24, ¢. Several interesting details are represented in this graphic 
sketch. The dog travois is well shown, both the manner in which a 
dog appeared when the frame was attached, and the several pairs of 
poles with the small net-covered frames, standing together to the left 
of the principal tipi. 
The preceding quotation from Maximilian is suggestive of an 
entry in the journal of the Swiss artist Friedrich Kurz, made some 
years later. Kurz wrote while at Fort Union: “ October 13, 1851. 
As we were weighing and hanging up dried meat, a lot of Assiniboins 
came to the fort with squaws and many horse and dog travois. As 
a whole these trading parties do not show much of interest, but there 
are always many details to be picked up, of great value to a painter.” 
(Bushnell, (3), p. 15.) Kurz remained at Fort Union until April 
19, 1852, when he descended the Missouri to St. Louis, and thence 
returned to his native city of Bern. While still at Fort Union on 
March 21, 1852, he made the sketch now reproduced in plate 25, 6, 
which bears the legend, “ Horse camp of the Assiniboins.” It shows 
a group of skin-covered lodges in the midst of a grove of cotton- 
woods, and evidently the Missouri is in the distance on the right. 
At that time (1851-52), according to Kurz, the Assiniboin then 
living in the vicinity of Fort Union numbered 420 lodges, with 1,050 
men, but “from 2-3000 Assiniboins live far above, near lake Win- 
nibeg.” 
The Assiniboin living in the far northwest had another and sim- 
pler form of temporary structure, as mentioned by Kane. He wrote, 
when arriving at Rocky Mountain Fort, a post of the Hudson’s 
Bay Company, April 21, 1848: “ This fort is beautifully situated on 
