During two or three days we
followed the edge of the wood, every attempt to penetrate into the
interior proving quite useless, so thick were the bushes and thorny
briers. Twice or thrice we perceived on some hills, at a great distance,
smoke and fires, but we could not tell what Indians might be
there encamped.
We had left the Timbers, and had scarcely advanced ten miles in a
westerly direction, when a dog of a most miserable appearance joined our
company. He was soon followed by two others as lean and as weak as
himself. They were evidently Indian dogs of the wolf breed, and
miserable, starved animals they looked, with the ribs almost bare, while
their tongues, parched and hanging downwards, showed clearly the want of
water in these horrible regions. We had ourselves been twenty-four hours
without having tasted any, and our horses were quite exhausted.
We were slowly descending the side of a swell in the prairie, when a
buffalo passed at full speed, ten yards before us, closely pursued by a
Tonquewa Indian (a ferocious tribe), mounted upon a small horse, whose
graceful form excited our admiration. This savage was armed with a long
lance, and covered with a cloak of deer-skin, richly ornamented, his
long black hair undulating with the breeze.
A second Indian soon followed the first, and they were evidently so much
excited with the chase as not to perceive us, although I addressed the
last one, who passed not ten yards from me.
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