THE MISSOURI RIVER JOURNALS II3 



inquired for him. I feel somewhat uneasy about Provost 

 and La Fleur, who have now been gone four full days. 

 The prairie is wet and damp, so I must sleep indoors. 

 The bull we cut up was not a fat one ; I think in good 

 condition it would have weighed 2000 lbs. 



July 23, Tuesday. We were all rather lazy this morn- 

 ing, but about dinner-time Owen and his man arrived, 

 and told us they had reached Mr. Kipp and his boat at 

 the crossings within about half a mile of Fort Alexander ; 

 that his men were all broken down with drawing the 

 cordelle through mud and water, and that they had lost a 

 white horse, which, however, Owen saw on his way, and 

 on the morning of his start from this fort. About the 

 same time he shot a lafge Porcupine, and killed four bulls 

 and one cow to feed upon, as well as three rattlesnakes. 

 They saw a large number of Buffalo cows, and we are 

 going after them to-morrow morning bright and early. 

 About two hours later Provost and La Fleur, about whom 

 I had felt some uneasiness, came to the landing, and 

 brought the heads and skins attached to two female Ante- 

 lopes. Both had been killed by one shot from La Fleur, 

 and his ball broke the leg of a third. Provost was made 

 quite sick by the salt water he had drunk; he killed 

 one doe, on which they fed as well as on the flesh of 

 the "Cabris. " Whilst following the Mauvaises Terres 

 (broken lands), they saw about twenty Bighorns, and 

 had not the horse on which Provost rode been frightened 

 at the sight of a monstrous buck of these animals, he 

 would have shot it down within twenty yards. They saw 

 from fifteen to twenty Buffalo cows, and we hope some of 

 the hunters will come up with them to-morrow. I have 

 been drawing the head of one of these beautiful female 

 Antelopes ; but their horns puzzle me, and all of us ; they 

 seem to me as if they were new horns, soft and short; 

 time, however, will prove whether they shed them or not. 

 Our preparations are already made for preserving the 



VOL. II. — 8 



