191 



Buffaloe were plenty, but as we had secured as 

 much meat as we could carry, we seldom troubled 

 them. On the 16th, we proceeded about ten 

 miles further, and continued here until the 24th, 

 when having loaded our horses, we crossed over 

 a mountain, and encamped on a branch of Big- 

 horn river. The weather was cold, and frequent 

 showers of snow made the travelling difficult. 

 Here the stream was rapid, about thirty yards 

 wide, and winding its way amongst the steep 

 mountains. We were however obliged frequently 

 to cross it ourselves, with our horses loaded with 

 «s much as they could carry. On the 28th, we 

 came to a camp of the Crow Indians, where we 

 rested until the 30th, when we continued our 

 course down the river. 



The Crow Indians speak either the Mandan or 

 Gross- Ventres tongue, or both of those languages. 

 They left the camp and accompanied us. Here 

 we found the travelling less difficult than it had 

 been. On the 3d of October, we passed two 

 camps, and on the 5th, several more camps, on 

 our way to Big-horn river, where we arrived at 

 night. On the south side is a winter camp of 

 the. Crow Indians, consisting of forty-three huts. 

 These huts were sunk three feet below the surface 

 of the ground, but otherwise are built nearly sim- 

 ilar to those of the Gross- Ventres. In the centre 

 a post is erected, with notches cut in it for steps-, 

 and a hole is left open at the top of it, sufficiently 

 targe for a man to crawl out, which is their 



