Rocky Mountains, 201 



plants, amongst which the zizania and nelumbium, are par- 

 ticularly worthy of note, both for their beauty and im- 

 portance for economical purposes. A fertile prairie, of the 

 length of four miles, by one mile and three quarters wide, 

 is outspread in front of the village, and is bounded near the 

 river by a narrow line of timber. 



The inhabitants occupy their village not longer than five 

 months in the year. In April they arrive from their hunt- 

 ing excursions, and in the month of May, they attend to 

 their horticultural interests, and plant maize, beans, pump- 

 kins and watermelons, besides which they cultivate no other 

 vegetable. They also, at this season, dress the bison skins, 

 which have been procured during the winter hunt, for the 

 traders, who generally appear for the purpose of obtaining 

 them. The young men, in the mean time, are employed in 

 hunting within the distance of seventy or eighty miles 

 around, for beaver, otter, deer, muskrat, elk, &c. 



When the trading and planting occupations of the people 

 are terminated, and provisions begin to fail them, which oc- 

 curs generally in June, the chiefs assemble a council for the 

 purpose of deliberating upon the further arrangements ne- 

 cessary to be made. This assembly decrees a feast to be 

 prepared on a certain day, to which all the distinguished 

 men of the nation are to be invited, and one of their number 

 is appointed to have it prepared in his own lodge. On the 

 return of this individual to his dwelling, he petitions his 

 squaws to have pity on him, and proceed to clean, and ad- 

 just the apartment, to spread, the mats and skins for seats, 

 and to collect wood and bring water for cooking. He re- 

 quests them to provide three or four large kettles, to prepare 

 the maize, and to kill their fattest dog for a feast. The 

 squaws generally murmur at this last proposition, being re- 

 luctant to sacrifice these animals, which are so serviceable to 

 them in carrying burdens, like the dogs of the oberating 

 Tartars ; but when they are informed of the honour that 

 vol. l. 26 



