DEN1G] THE ASSINIBOIK 411 



easily and often lost than made at the business. Beaver were for- 

 merly numerous and valuable, therefore much hunted by whites and 

 Indians, but of late years the price of that fur being greatly reduced, 

 and the danger of hunting considerable, does not induce either whites 

 or Indians to hunt them. This animal has been trapped and killed 

 to such an extent as to threaten their entire extinction, though for 

 the last 10 or 12 years, since beaver trapping by large bodies of men 

 has been abandoned, they have greatly increased, and are now to be 

 found tolerably plentiful in all the small streams and in the Missouri 

 and Yellowstone. These Indians do not and never did trap them 

 much ; though the Crow and the Cree still make good beaver hunts, 

 they do not rely much on this either as a source of profit or food. 



Elk, deer, bighorn, and antelope are numerous and afford a means 

 of living and profit to the Indians although they are not hunted to 

 any extent except in a great scarcity of buffalo. From this circum- 

 stance they do not diminish and are found now in much the same 

 numbers as 20 years back. 



Wolves are very plentiful and of three kinds, the large white wolf, 

 the large grayback wolf, and the small prairie wolf, all a good deal 

 hunted and many killed, though they continue to increase. They fol- 

 low the buffalo in large bands, waiting an opportunity to pounce upon 

 one that has been wounded or mired. They also destroy a great many 

 small calves in the month of May when they are brought forth. The 

 skins of the larger kind are worth 70 cents to $1 each; the smaller 

 about 50 cents each. 



Red and gray foxes, hares, badgers, skunks, wild cats, otters, er- 

 mines, and muskrats are found and killed when opportunity offers. 

 Of all these the red fox appears to be the only one that has diminished 

 in numbers. We are not aware that any animals have disappeared 

 altogether, nor of any perceptible decrease of any except the beaver 

 and red fox. The Indians kill only as man} 7 buffalo as are wanted 

 for meat and hides. Taking only as many hides as their women can 

 dress, they do not destroy them wantonly to any extent ; consequently 

 the destruction is limited, and that not being equivalent to the in- 

 crease, but little diminution, if any, is perceptible, and the trade as 

 long as this is the case can not have the effect of exterminating them. 

 It is different as regards the beaver and fox. Their skins require no 

 labor except drying, and being slower to increase must of course be 

 the first to disappear if hunted. Grizzly bears are tolerably numer- 

 ous on the Missouri and Yellowstone and are not hunted often, al- 

 though killed occasionally. The animal being ferocious is not much 

 sought after by the Indians. 



Ancient Bones and Traditions of the Monster Era. — The In- 

 dians know from bones found that such animals existed and were of 



