f 



BUFFALO TRACKS AND INDIAN TEAILS. 25 



difficulty in escaping from tlie roof of their log-Kut on an 

 improyised raft. 



The gronnd was so heavy, and the brooks were so swollen, 

 that our daily travel was slow, and we had considerable 

 difficulty in fording many of the gullies. Curious things are 

 these meandering streams of the plains. The banks are low, 

 and formed of dark, rich clay ; the water is muddy, alkaline, 

 and often reddish; there is scarcely a tree, except on the 

 larger streams, to mark their course, and yet their length is 

 almost interminable. A little stream you can jump across 

 has its source, probably, 300, 400, or even 500 miles away 

 in the West. 



Before we reached Salina, trees had become very scarce 

 the cotton- wood and willow on the margin of the streams 

 alone being visible; but as we moved farther, even these 

 ceased to grow, except in favoured spots, which were often 

 miles apart. The short, tender buffalo -grass gradually 

 appeared — at fii-st only here and there, but at last it 

 abounded everywhere ; and ever and anon we crossed the 

 well-beaten trail of the monarch of the plains. Buffalo- 

 wallows — round flat basins about three yards in diameter — 

 often covered an acre or two, showing how the animal loves 

 to bathe his irritated hide and scratch his winter coat off by 



in the mud. With great curiosity we examined an 

 Indian trail, and learned to tell one from that of the buffalo. 



The trail of the Plain Indian consists usually of three 

 paths, close together, yet at fixed distances apart. They are 

 produced as follows: — The framework of their lodges or 

 tents are made of long poles which, on a journey, are tied to 

 each side of a pony, and allowed to trail upon the ground. 

 The result is that a long string of ponies, thus laden and 



& 



following each other, will wear a triple path — the central 



