we killed, to supply our wants, as we journeyed on, three fine buffalo cows and two large bulls (only to obtain the tongue and marrow bones) ; two large deer, as fat as we could have wished; three goats, two black-tail deer, a bighorn or mountain sheep, two fine grey bears, and a swan - to say nothing of the pheasants, fowls, snipe, ducks and geese. In the midst of so much game, we scarcely felt the
want of bread, sugar or coffee. Humps, tongues and ribs replaced these. And the bed? It is soon arranged. We were in a country where you waste no time in taking off your shoes; you wrap your buffalo robe around you, the saddle serves as a pillow, ar_d thanks to the fatigues of a long journey of about forty miles under a burning sun, you have scarcely laid your head upon it before you are asleep.
The American gentlemen who carry on the Assiniboin fur trade at Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, received me with great politeness and kindness. I rested there during three days. A journey so long and continuous, through regions where the drought had been so great that every sign of vegetation had disappeared, had very much exhausted our poor horses. The I,8oo miles that we had yet to travel were not to be undertaken lightly. After having well considered everything, I resolved to leave my horses at the fort, and to trust myself to the impetuous waters of the Missouri in a skiff, accompanied by Ignatius and Gabriel. The result was most fortunate, for on the third day of our descent, to our great surprise and joy, we heard the puffing of a steamboat. It was a real God-send to us; accordingly, our first thought was to thank God, in all the sincerity of our hearts. We soon beheld her majestically ascending the stream. It was the first boat that had ever attempted to ascend the river in that season of the year, laden with merchandise for the Fur Company. Four gentlemen from New York, proprietors of the boat, invited me to enter and remain on board. I accepted with unfeigned gratitude their kind offer of hospitality; the more so, as they assured me that several war-parties were lying in am26