dexterous than I should have been in such a perilous situation; he aimed his blows so promptly and well, that of the three who were thrown, only two arose. On another occasion, a hunter who had been also dismounted, had no other means to avoid being torn to pieces than to seize the animal by the horns just at the time he was about to trample him to death. A third hunter, fleeing at all speed, felt himself stopped by thg plaited tail of his horse hooked on the buffalo's horn; but both, fearing a trap, made every effort to disengage themselves."
The buffalo hunt is attended with dangers, but the greatest of these does not consist in the mere pursuit of the animal, but proceeds rather from the bands of Blackfeet who constantly lurk in these regions, especially when there is some prospect of meeting with the larger game, or stealing a number of horses. Of all the mountain savages the Blackfeet are the most numerous and wicked and the great
est thieves. Happily, however, from having been often beaten by the smaller tribes, they have become so dastardlv, that unless they are twenty to one they confine their attacks to the horses, which, thanks to the carelessness of their courageous enemies, they go about with so much dexterity and success, that this year, while our good Flatheads were asleep, they discovered their animals as often as twenty times, and carried off more than loo of them.
During the winter, about twenty of these gentlemen visited the Flatheads in the daytime, and without stealing anything, but in this manner. There resided in the camp an old chief of the Blackfeet tribe, who had been baptized on Christmas day, and named Nicholas; this good swage, knowing that the missionary would willingly hold an interview with his brethren, undertook himself to harangue them during the night, and so well did he acquit himself, that upon the calumet's being planted on the limits of the camp, and the messenger being admitted to an audience, singing was heard in the neighboring mountains, and soon after a band of these brigands issued, armed as warriors,