Canadians, who were prone to intermarry and domesticate themselves among
the Indians.

And here a word or two concerning the Crows may be of service to the
reader, as they will figure occasionally in the succeeding narration.

The tribe consists of four bands, which have their nestling-places
in fertile, well-wooded valleys, lying among the Rocky Mountains, and
watered by the Big Horse River and its tributary streams; but, though
these are properly their homes, where they shelter their old people,
their wives, and their children, the men of the tribe are almost
continually on the foray and the scamper. They are, in fact, notorious
marauders and horse-stealers; crossing and re-crossing the mountains,
robbing on the one side, and conveying their spoils to the other. Hence,
we are told, is derived their name, given to them on account of their
unsettled and predatory habits; winging their flight, like the crows,
from one side of the mountains to the other, and making free booty of
everything that lies in their way. Horses, however, are the especial
objects of their depredations, and their skill and audacity in stealing
them are said to be astonishing. This is their glory and delight; an
accomplished horse-stealer fills up their idea of a hero. Many horses
are obtained by them, also, in barter from tribes in and beyond the
mountains. They have an absolute passion for this noble animal; besides
which he is with them an important object of traffic. Once a year
they make a visit to the Mandans, Minatarees, and other tribes of the
Missouri, taking with them droves of horses which they exchange for
guns, ammunition, trinkets, vermilion, cloths of bright colors, and
various other articles of European manufacture. With these they supply
their own wants and caprices, and carry on the internal trade for horses
already mentioned.

The plot of Rose to rob and abandon his countrymen when in the heart
of the wilderness, and to throw himself into the hands of savages, may
appear strange and improbable to those unacquainted with the singular
and anomalous characters that are to be found about the borders. This
fellow, it appears, was one of those desperadoes of the frontiers,
outlawed by their crimes, who combine the vices of civilized and savage
life, and are ten times more barbarous than the Indians with whom they
consort. Rose had formerly belonged to one of the gangs of pirates who
infested the islands of the Mississippi, plundering