8Z PRAIRIE STORMS. 



for a couple of days longer ; they at last en- 

 tirely disappeared. 



It was generally supposed at the time that 

 there was a great number of Comanches and 

 Arrapahoes among this troop of savages ; but 

 they were principally if not altogether Blackfeet 

 and Gros Ventres. We afterward learned that 

 on their return to the northern mountains, they 

 met with a terrible defeat from the Sioux and 

 other neighboring tribes, ui which they were 

 said to have lost more than half then number. 



We now encountered a great deal of wet 

 weather ; in fact this region is famous for cold 

 protracted rams of two or three days' dura- 

 tion. Storms of hail-stones larger than hen's 

 eggs are not uncommon, frequently accom- 

 panied by the most tremendous hurricanes. 

 The violence of the wind is sometimes so 

 great that, as I have heard, two road- wagons 

 were once capsized by one of these terrible 

 thunder-gusts; the rain, at the same time, 

 floating the plain to the depth of several inch- 

 es. In short, I doubt if tliere is any known 

 region out of the tropics, that can ' head' the 

 great prairies in ' getting up' tlmnder-storms, 

 combining so many of the elements of the 

 awful and subhme. 



Duiuig these storms the guards were often 

 very careless. This was emphatically the 

 case with us, notwithstanding our knowledge 

 of the proximity of a horde of savages. In 

 fact, the caravan was subject to so Uttle con- 

 trol that the patience of Capt Stanley under- 

 went some very severe trials : so much so 



