360 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



thick as trees in the forest." The half-breeds thought he 

 was more than 100 years old. 



When Mis-tick-oos was ready to receive me, I pro- 

 ceeded to the spot where he was sitting surrounded by 

 the elders of his tribe, and as a preliminary, rarely known 

 to fail in its good effect upon Indians, I instructed one of 

 my men to hand him a basin of tea and a dish of pre- 

 served vegetables, biscuit, and fresh buffalo steaks. He 

 had not eaten since an early hour in the morning, and 

 evidently enjoyed his dinner. Hunger, that great enemy 

 to charity and comfort, being appeased, I presented him 

 with a pipe and a canister of tobacco, begging him to help 

 himself and hand the remainder to the Indians around us. 

 The presents were then brought and laid at his feet. They 

 consisted of tea, tobacco, bullets, powder, and blankets, 

 all which he examined and accepted with marked satis- 

 faction. After a while he expressed a wish to know the 

 object of our visit ; and having at my request adjourned 

 the meeting to my tent in order to avoid sitting in the hot 

 sun, we held a " talk," during which Mis-tick-oos expressed 

 himself freely on various subjects, and listened with the 

 utmost attention and apparent respect to the speeches 

 of the Indians he had summoned to attend the " Council." 



All speakers objected strongly to the half-breeds' hunt- 

 ing buffalo during the winter in the Plain Cree country. 

 They had no objection to trade with them or with white 

 people, but they insisted that all strangers should purchase 

 dried meat or pemmican, and not hunt for themselves. 



They urged strong objections against the Hudson's Bay 

 Company encroaching upon the prairies and driving away 

 the buffalo. They would be glad to see them establish as 

 many posts as they chose on the edge of the prairie 

 country, but they did not like to see the prairies and 

 plains invaded. During the existence of the two corn- 



