deniq] THE ASSINIBOIX 527 



and regulate their travel from that point until the sun makes its 

 appearance, and then they are at no loss. Traveling on the plains is 

 much more difficult than in forests. In the terrible snowstorms that 

 sweep over these prairies, darkening the atmosphere and rendering 

 the sun, moon, and stars invisible, or indeed any object a short dis- 

 tance ahead, they are as much at fault to proceed as any other per- 

 son, and at these times lie down, let the snow drift over and cover 

 them, and remain thus until the storm passes, which is frequently 

 two or three da3's and nights. 



There are many ways of determining within a few hours of the 

 time when an encampment has been deserted and the number of 

 persons composing the party. The camp fires will show how many 

 persons have slept there, the dung of the horses or dogs denotes the 

 time, if the fires have become cool. The tracks of the men and 

 animals and the remains of the meal are also means of judging. If 

 scraps of meat or bone seen around are untouched by wolves or 

 ravens they must conclude that the party has recently left. 



In the summer the bending of the grass under their feet, tracks 

 in crossing a stream or any marshy place, and in winter, tracks in 

 the snow, will show to a tolerable certainty how many persons and 

 what time they have passed. A slight rain would determine whether 

 the tracks were before or since it fell. Snow would prove the same; 

 the dew of the morning in summer or fall would reveal the time to 

 within 24 hours. The grass nibbled by the horses by ift appearance 

 would denote whether the party had passed within a few days and 

 the hardness of the dung of the animals brings the time to a still 

 greater degree of certainty. A correct judgment is not, however, 

 formed by any one of the above criterions, but by a comparison of 

 the whole, and by following the trail, and observing also the car- 

 casses of the animals killed by the party, their number, state of 

 decay, etc. These with other smaller indications, particularly if an 

 arrow or moccasin be lost or thrown away, will determine the number 

 and nation that have passed and the time. The passage of war par- 

 ties is distinguished from hunting parties of their own people by 

 the absence of boys' tracks or traces of dog travailles in the former, 

 and by the precautions they take in their encampment. 



Senses 



There is an extreme acuteness in their sense of sight — that is, to 

 see at a glance, over a wide extent of country, sometimes dotted by 

 bushes, ravines, or hills, and distinguish the living objects when at 

 rest from others. There is a great difference in the faculty of seeing 

 far and what is called "picking up an object" — that is, distinguish- 

 ing it from the inanimate bodies intervening. The Indians possess 



