Sporting Excursions in the Rocky Mountains; Including a Journey to the Columbia River, and a Visit to the Sandwich Islands, Chili, &C Volume 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1840 edition. Excerpt: ...the meat of one animal. We all commenced work immediately, cutting it in thin slices, and hanging it on the bushes to dry. By sunset, our work was finished, and soon after dark, the remaining hunters came in, bringing the best parts of three more. This will give us abundance of work for to-morrow, when the hunters will go out again. Richardson and Sansbury mention having BLACKFEET INDIANS. 157 seen several Blackfeet Indians to-day, who, on observing them, ran rapidly away, and, as usual, concealed themselves in the bushes. We are now certain that our worst enemies are around us, and that they are only waiting for a favourable time and opportunity to make an attack. They are not here for nothing, and have 9 probably been dogging us, and reconnoitering our outposts, so that the greatest caution and watchfulness will be required to prevent a surprise. We are but a small company, and there may be, at this very moment, hundreds within hearing of our voices. The Blackfoot is a sworn and determined foe to all white men, and he has often been heard to declare that he would rather hang the scalp of a " pale face" to his girdle, than kill a buffalo to prevent his starving. The hostility of this dreaded tribe is, and has for years been, proverbial. They are, perhaps, the only Indians who do not fear the power, and who refuse to acknowledge the superiority, of the white man; and though so often beaten in conflicts with them, even by 158 WHITE HUNTERS AND TRAPPERS. their own mode of warfare, and generally with numbers vastly inferior, their indomitable courage and perseverance still urges them on to renewed attempts; and if a single scalp is taken, it is considered equal to a great victory, and is hailed as a presage of future and more extensive triumphs. It...