Rocky Mountains, 199 



and not Sauks, that stole our horses, and you know it was 

 very hard to be obliged, after all our difficulties and starva- 

 tions, to return to our people without either scalps or horses. 

 We wished to obtain some trophy that should repay us for 

 our toils." In the evening they sang for our amusement a 

 number of tunes, whilst two or three danced as well as they 

 could in our small chamber. A negro belonging to the Fur 

 Company coming in on an errand, they spoke of him as the 

 black whiteman, and one of them jokingly said, he was a 

 Wasabajinga, or little black bear. 



The Indians departed early on the 7th, with many thanks 

 for the attention they had received. Before they went, they 

 presented to us a wild cat, which they had shot, but we ad- 

 vised them to keep it to eat on the way home, upon which 

 they thanked us for it, as if they had never owned it. 



11th. We learn that a third war party of Omawhaws, who 

 departed in pursuit of the Sauks before either of the others, 

 were met by a strong party of that nation, who were on their 

 way to the Omawhaw village ; they however escaped from 

 them with the loss of one man killed and several wounded ; 

 the loss of the Sauks is not known. The party speak highly of 

 one of their number, a boy of twelve years, who, at a critical 

 juncture of the engagement, ran up to several of the enemy 

 and flashed his gun three times at them ; he escaped unhurt. 



