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React demands sight of everything that may be offered by 
the other party to the trade. If there is something 
there that attracts him, he, too, will produce his 
wares, but discovers very quickly how much or how 
little they are coveted. If he himself is not willed 
to dispose of some particular thing, he obstinately 
adheres to his refusal, though ten times the value 
be offered him. The peltry bought from the Indians 
must be carefully beaten and aired, at peril of having 
objectionable troops billeted on you. The Indians, 
accustomed to every kind of uncleanliness, seem to 
have a special predilection for a certain kind of do- 
mestic animal, and even to consider it a delicacy. So, 
for instance, I have repeatedly seen an old granddam 
summering before the tent with her gray-haired 
spouse, and busily picking the “heavy cavalry” from 
his head. But the fingers that deftly caught the pris- 
oner with equal deftness carried him to the mouth, 
where the uphappy creature was buried alive. Cha- 
cun a son gout! 
The rendezvous usually lasts a week. Then the 
different parties move off to their destinations and 
the plain that today resounded with barbarous mu- 
sic, that was thronged with people of both races, with 
horses and dogs, returns to its old quiet, interrupted 
only now and then by the muffled roar of the buffalo 
and the howl of the wolf. As yet I had had indefi- 
nite plans as to how far I should extend my trip. The 
fur company which we had joined intended resting 
in the vicinity for some weeks, and then returning 
