500 AUDUBON 



told me that he would be back at Fort Pierre in two 

 months, and would see us on our return. He is a true 

 Scot, and apparently a clean one. We gave them six 

 bottles of whiskey, for which they were very thankful; 

 they gave us dried Buffalo meat, and three pairs of moc- 

 casins. They breakfasted with us, preferring salt meat 

 to fresh venison. They departed soon after six o'clock, 

 and proceeded rapidly down-stream in Indian file. These 

 boats are strong and broad ; the tops, or roofs, are sup- 

 ported by bent branches of trees, and these are covered 

 by water-proof Buffalo hides ; each has four oarsmen and 

 a steersman, who manages the boat standing on a broad 

 board; the helm is about ten feet long, and the rudder 

 itself is five or six feet long. They row constantly for 

 sixteen hours, and stop regularly at sundown; they, un- 

 fortunately for us, spent the night about two miles above 

 us, for had we known of their immediate proximity we 

 should have had the whole of the night granted for writ- 

 ing long, long letters. Our prospect of starting to-day 

 is somewhat doubtful, as the hammering at the boilers 

 still reaches my ears. The day is bright and calm. 

 Mr. Laidlaw told us that on the 5th of May the snow 

 fell two feet on the level, and destroyed thousands 

 of Buffalo calves. We felt the same storm whilst we 

 were fast on the bar above Fort Leavenworth. This has 

 been a day of almost pure idleness ; our tramps of yes- 

 terday and the day previous had tired me, and with 

 the exception of shooting at marks, and Sprague kill- 

 ing one of Bell's Vireo, and a Least Pewee, as well as 

 another female of Harris's Finch, we have done nothing. 

 Bell this evening went off to look for Bats, but saw 

 none. 



May 19, Friday. This has been a beautiful, but a very 

 dull day to us all. We started by moonlight at three this 

 morning, and although we have been running constantly, 

 we took the wrong channel twice, and thereby lost much 



