KINNI-KINNIK. 



315 



lightning struck the earth so close to us that there was no 

 perceptible interval between the flash and the shock. It 

 was distinctly heard to hiss through the air, and, instead 

 of penetrating the ground at once, it seemed to leap from 

 bush to bush for a distance of 60 or 70. yards. So close 

 did one flash approach that when we had recovered from 

 the shock, and our eyes had regained their power, several 

 of us met each other, groping from cart to cart, to see if 

 any of the party had been struck. It is remarkable that 

 although the wind was blowing violently before and after 

 the two flashes just described occurred, yet, between them, 

 an interval of about three-quarters of a minute, there was 

 a dead calm, and a calm of short duration succeeded each 

 flash in our immediate vicinity. 



The trail on the 14th continued through good land for 

 nine miles, with aspen groves on the crown of each undu- 

 lation, and willow bushes in the hollows, it was succeeded 

 by a prairie three miles across, but of much greater extent 

 longitudinally. Ponds were numerous, abounding with 

 ducks and ducklings. Another rain and thunderstorm 

 on the evening of this day lasted for about an hour. On 

 the following morning we entered a treeless prairie marked 

 at its western extremity by a sandy ridge running N.W. 

 by S.E., known among the Indians as the Weed Ridge. 

 It was covered with the bear-berry from which kinni- 

 kinnik is made. This was the first time we saw this 

 weed since leaving the Sandy Hills of the Assinniboine. 

 The Indians of the prairies generally use the inner bark 

 of the Cornus sericea, the red-barked willow as they term 

 it. We also saw them smoke the inner bark of the dog- 

 wood, Cornus alternifolia. 



The mode in which these barks are prepared is very 

 simple. A few branches about three-quarters of an inch 

 thick and four or five feet long are procured, and the 



