some instants to renew their stock of provisions.9 Toward nightfall a faithful scout returned and communicated se cretly with Tchatka. After marching several miles farther, the chief, with the beating of his drum Wah-kon, collected all his warriors, and pointing with his finger to a high hill some miles distant, he informed them that there they would trace the war-party of the Blackfeet, of which he had dreamed before leaving the camp. Several horsemen set out without
delay to reconnoitre the enemy. At the spot indicated they found the path tracked by nearly a hundred horses. All the warriors redoubled their zeal, ardor and confidence in their new chief. The two succeeding days offered nothing very singular. They again stopped in the evening of the fifth day, without discovering the smallest vestige of proximity to the hostile camp they sought. The watchful scouts were gone, during the day, in different directions, without bringing back the least news, except the one who had been in secret communication with Tchatka. Several of the most ancient of the warriors murmured boldly, saying, " that the day predicted by the chief, on which they would surely see the enemy, had passed."
But Tchatka silenced them all, replying to them: " You seem still to doubt my words - the time is not past! Rather say, the time is arrived. You appear still young in experience - and yet a great many winters are beginning to whiten your heads. Where do you think you will find the
91 have often spoken of the bisons, improperly called buffaloes, without mentioning the great use which the Indians make of this interesting animal. They supply almost all the necessaries of life. Their skins form lodges or dwellings, and serve as clothing, litters, bridles, and saddle coverings, vessels to hold water, boats to cross lakes and rivers; with the hair, the Indians make their cordage; with the sinews, howstrings and thread for clothes, as well as glue; the shoulder-blade is spade and pickaxe. The bison is their daily bread, their chief food. The dung of the animal, called bois-de-vache, furnishes abundant fuel. Last year ioo,ooo buffalo skins were sent from the desert to the warehouses of St. Louis. With the proceeds the Indians obtain arms and all they need-Authoes Note,