woman; with the guide went an Indian.
Encamping for the first night on a bluff above
the Beaver River they, for the first time, saw
a thunderstorm over the prairie. The peculiar
grandeur of a thunderstorm on the prairie
lies in the fact, that the beholder sees a wide
expanse of sky in tumult, and nothing else.
There is nothing on the level ground to claim
a share of his attention, unless, indeed, some
lodge—perhaps his own—be struck by the
lightning, which finds nowhere a more eligible
object to descend upon. During the next
night, the stealing of one of their horses by
the Indians provided a new incident for the
party. Travelling on over a ground covered
with buffalo paths and bestrewn with the
bones of buffaloes, but seeing no herds at all;
running down wolves; seeing innumerable
ducks, geese and swans; swan-stalking, and
wishing sometimes for a shot at distant
antelopes; crossing a rocky elevation, the
Coteau des Prairies, the only high ground
between the Atlantic and the Rocky Mountains,
the party came at last to the head
water of James's River, a tributary of the
Missouri. They began now to be troubled
with frost, snow, and bitter wind. They had
finished their pork, and the ducks and geese
had all gone south, so that they came now to
be reduced to flour and bad pool-water, in the
way of diet. In the next place, growing a
little tired of their first prairie expedition,
they were pushing on to a few sticks of
timber that would yield a fire, when there
came tidings of ten lodges of Ogillilah Sioux
in that direction, expert horse-stealers and
hungry seekers after scalps. The cattle were
therefore tethered in the frost, and the
travellers went to bed in their buffalo skins
upon the open prairie. In the morning, the
hair of the horses was frosted and raised up.
in the manner of bristles. By mid-day three
horses were quite knocked up, and the riders,
who had enjoyed nothing for thirty-six hours
but a spare allowance of sour flour and pool-
water for breakfast, dinner, or supper, left
the horses to be brought on by the Indians,
and hurried back to Lac-qui-Parle. They
had gone out relying upon buffalo, but, as
they found only buffalo bones upon the
prairie, the return was absolutely necessary.
Every year, Indians and trappers perish on
the prairie through the migration of game, as
well as through the sudden snowstorms.

At Lac-qui-Parle, roast ducks and potatoes,
with a comfortable fire, soon warmed the
travellers again to starting point; and for the
next trip they determined to march out due
north into the prairie, against the advice of
the trader, who admonished them concerning
cold and hunger. Their old guide, who
professed to fear the Indians, claimed the
company and support of a son and cousin. Before
they started, they received a deputation of old
Sioux chiefs, who had claimed reparation for
the injury white men would do in firing about
their hunting grounds; and, after satisfying
them with forty yards of calico and some bad
tobacco, they had been invited to dine with
them and eat dog.

Dogs being scarce, however, duck was
substituted at the feast in question, which
was given at the mansion of The Beaver's
Tail. Entering the dwelling of the host
through a small hole, as one might go into
a larger sort of beehive, the travellers found
in a close smoky dining-room ten chiefs,
squatted tailor-fashion round a fire. Over
the fire hung a pot containing twenty or
thirty canvass-back ducks, each of them
being equal in size to about three of the kind
eaten in England. The cooking of the ducks
was superintended by the favourite squaw of
Beaver's Tail, a lady named Dohumneh, or
the Prolific Pumpkin. The gentlemen Indians
ate much duck, daubing, at the same time,
large handfuls of duck-grease over their faces
and their persons, and swelling visibly as
time went on. It is a point of honour with
these Indians to eat largely. We must
decline, however, to accept quite literally Mr.
Sullivan's record, that " A young warrior,
eating for reputation, will consume as much
as twenty pounds of fresh meat at a sitting,"
the size of the human stomach being limited.
As for The Old Racoon, who " ate one
hundred and twenty potatoes, and would have
eaten as many more if his friends had not
stopped him: " that may be credible or not,
in proportion to the supposed size of the
potatoes eaten.

The feast being over, the old chief
produced a medicine pipe, which, having been
filled by the youngest and duly turned
towards the four corners of heaven, was
returned to him, and then sent round the
circle, with the sun, as the wine is ordinarily
sent round in this country. After dinner,
speeches followed, much affection, and
exchanging of shirts and other articles of clothing
from the persons of the European guests,
for pipes and other matters.

The Sioux are cruel in war, torturing and
hacking the few prisoners they condescend to
make. They scalp in a bloodthirsty way,
taking in with the scalp nose, ears, and lips
when possible. The Elk-that-stands-at-Bay,
one of the most distinguished warriors of the
tribe, was bound to friendship with the
travellers by the present of some paint and
bad tobacco. He was entitled to wear thirty-
six eagle plumes, for thirty-six coups struck
in battle. Striking a coup means being the
first to strike with a tomahawk or to stick a
knife into the body of an enemy fallen in
battle. The Elk obliged Mr. Sullivan with
an account of an Ojibbeway whom he had
scalped shortly before. He had found him
in the prairie with a broken leg. deserted by
his friends. He did not flinch at the approach
of his enemy, but, when he felt the knife
round his top-knot he did shrink, which, said
the Elk, was a pity, as otherwise he had shown
himself a brave man.