394 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



the Touchwood Hills, to be afterwards described, are the 

 haunts of vast numbers of aquatic birds and of the larger 

 four-footed animals which now form the small remnant 

 of the earlier representatives of animal life in these wilds, 

 before the fur trade led to their destruction, either for 

 the sake of their flesh or skins. 



With the exception of the Cree encampments passed 

 during the first and second days of our voyage, we did 

 not meet with a single Indian or half-breed. Once or 

 twice " smokes," which, from their being soon answered 

 in another quarter, we presumed to be signals, and might 

 be raised by Blackfeet in the distant prairies, appeared 

 on the west side of the river. 



Once only were we disturbed in camp, and this may 

 have been a false alarm. Both of our half-breeds came 

 into the tent some time after we had retired to rest, and 

 in a low tone whispered " a grizzly bear," at the same 

 time seizing a rifle and a double-barrelled gun which 

 were purposely placed at the foot of the tent ready for 

 any unwelcome intruder upon our repose. The night 

 was dark and the fire nearly out. Our men declared 

 they had seen a large animal within ten yards of us, and 

 pronounced it to be a grizzly bear ; the alarm they 

 testified was the only proof of the presence of that ter- 

 rible animal, for the patient watching of the whole party 

 during the greater part of the night, and a careful search 

 for tracks next morning failed to satisfy me that we had 

 been disturbed by this deservedly dreaded monster of the 

 western plains. 



That the grizzly bear is sometimes found far down the 

 South Branch is a well known fact, and he is such a 

 daring and formidable antagonist, that proper precautions 

 are always advisable. A large camp fire often fails to 

 deter this animal from making an attack, and when a 



