THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS I OS 



and having ascended the opposite bank, saw the bulls 

 grazing as leisurely as usual. The hunters near them, 

 they started down the hill, and the chase immediately be- 

 gan. One broke from the rest and was followed by Mr. 

 C. who shot it, and then abandoned the hunt, his horse 

 being much fatigued. I now counted ten shots, but all 

 was out of my sight, and I seated myself near a Fox hole, 

 longing for him. The hunters returned in time; Bell 

 and Harris had killed one, but Squires had no luck, 

 owing to his being unable to continue the chase on ac- 

 count of the injury he had received from his fall. We 

 had a good supper, having brought abundance of eatables 

 and drinkables. The tent was pitched ; I put up my mos- 

 quito-bar under the wagon, and there slept very soundly 

 till sunrise. Harris and Bell wedged together under an- 

 other bar, Mr. C. went into the tent, and Squires, who is 

 tough and likes to rough it with the hunters, slept on a 

 Buffalo hide somewhere with Moncrevier, one of the most 

 skilful of the hunters. The horses were all hoppled and 

 turned to grass ; they, however, went off too far, and had 

 to be sent after, but I heard nothing of all this. As 

 there is no wood on the prairies proper, our fire was made 

 of Buffalo dung, which is so abundant that one meets 

 these deposits at every few feet and in all directions. 



July 21, Friday. We were up at sunrise, and had our 

 coffee, after which Lafleur a mulatto, Harris, and Bell 

 went off after Antelopes, for we cared no more about 

 bulls; where the cows are, we cannot tell. Cows run 

 faster than bulls, yearlings faster than cows, and calves 

 faster than any of these. Squires felt sore, and his side 

 was very black, so we took our guns and went after Black- 

 breasted Lark Buntings, of which we saw many, but could 

 not near them. I found a nest of them, however, with 

 five eggs. The nest is planted in the ground, deep enough 

 to sink the edges of it. It is formed of dried fine grasses 

 and roots, without any lining of hair or wool. By and by 



