the buffalo to every other kind, and also much appre- Journey | 
ciated by our animals. It grows only in sandy soil. Scum Fo the 
We ascended the right bank of the river for six days. 
On the second day a lot of Indians encamped oppo- 
site us across the river. We thought them Pawnees, 
and expected a nocturnal visit from them, as they are 
notorious horse thieves, but were spared the infliction, 
probably because they thought the river too danger- 
ous, or else because we were too watchful. The 
next morning they had disappeared. We now saw 
game daily, especially antelope, of which our hunt- 
ers shot one. Many water birds were also about. 
The birds we had seen hitherto consisted chiefly of 
prairie chicken, lark, snipe, and a small kind of star- 
ling that was continuously swarming around us, and 
was so tame that it would at times sit on our pack 
animals while on the march. Here we got sight chief- 
ly of water birds, such as ducks, geese, cranes, peli- 
cans, gulls, and some very large kinds of snipe. We 
saw daily more marks of buffalo. Especially we saw 
many buffalo skulls, whose horns are always carefully 
turned by the Indians toward the west. The Indians 
believe that they thereby secure good luck on the buf- 
falo hunt, and call it “Medicine,” with which they 
designate everything great or wonderful to which they 
attribute secret influences. Dried buffalo dung, which 
we now find quite frequently, we now use occasionally 
for fuel, when absolutely no wood can be found. It 
burns tolerably well, but makes rather a glowing than 
flaming fire, adequate for cooking, but small comfort 
