ren of Pierre Dorion. There was no game to be met with in the
neighborhood; but beavers were occasionally trapped about the river
banks, which afforded a scanty supply of food; in the meantime they
comforted themselves that some one or other of the foraging detachments
would be successful, and return with relief.

Mr. Hunt now set to work with all diligence, to prepare caches, in which
to deposit the baggage and merchandise, of which it would be necessary
to disburden themselves, preparatory to their weary march by land: and
here we shall give a brief description of those contrivances, so noted
in the wilderness.

A cache is a term common among traders and hunters, to designate a
hiding-place for provisions and effects. It is derived from the French
word "cacher", to conceal, and originated among the early colonists of
Canada and Louisiana; but the secret depository which it designates was
in use among the aboriginals long before the intrusion of the white men.
It is, in fact, the only mode that migratory hordes have of preserving
their valuables from robbery, during their long absences from their
villages or accustomed haunts, on hunting expeditions, or during the
vicissitudes of war. The utmost skill and caution are required to render
these places of concealment invisible to the lynx eye of an Indian. The
first care is to seek out a proper situation, which is generally some
dry, low, bank of clay, on the margin of a water-course. As soon as
the precise spot is pitched upon, blankets, saddle-cloths, and other
coverings are spread over the surrounding grass and bushes, to prevent
foot-tracks, or any other derangement; and as few hands as possible are
employed. A circle of about two feet in diameter is then nicely cut in
the sod, which is carefully removed, with the loose soil immediately
beneath it, and laid aside in a place where it will be safe from
anything that may change its appearance. The uncovered area is then
digged perpendicularly to the depth of about three feet, and is then
gradually widened so as to form a conical chamber six or seven feet
deep. The whole of the earth displaced by this process, being of a
different color from that an the surface, is handed up in a vessel, and
heaped into a skin or cloth, in which it is conveyed to the stream and
thrown into the midst of the current, that it may be entirely carried
off. Should the cache not be formed in the vicinity of a stream, the
earth thus thrown up is