ns after dropping in a little powder,
and instead of ramming it down with a rod, merely hit the butt-end of
the gun on the pommel of their saddles; and in this way fire a great
many shots in quick succession. This, however, is a dangerous mode of
shooting, as the ball sometimes sticks half-way down the barrel and
bursts the gun, carrying away a finger, and occasionally a hand.

In this way they soon killed as many buffaloes as they could carry in
their carts, and one of the hunters set off in chase of a calf. In a
short time he edged one away from the rest, and then, getting between it
and the herd, ran straight against it with his horse and knocked it
down. The frightened little animal jumped up again and set off with
redoubled speed; but another butt from the horse again sent it
sprawling. Again it rose, and was again knocked down, and in this way
was at last fairly tired out; when the hunter, jumping suddenly from his
horse, threw a rope round its neck, and drove it before him to the
encampment, and soon after brought it to the fort. It was as wild as
ever when I saw it at Norway House, and seemed to have as much distaste
to its thraldom as the day it was taken.

As the summer advanced the heat increased, and the mosquitoes became
perfectly insupportable. Nothing could save one from the attacks of
these little torments. Almost all other insects went to rest with the
sun: sand-flies, which bite viciously during the day, went to sleep at
night; the large _bull-dog_, whose bite is terrible, slumbered in the
evening; but the mosquito, the long-legged, determined, vicious,
persevering mosquito, whose ceaseless hum dwells for ever on the ear,
_never_ went to sleep. Day and night the painful, tender little pimples
on our necks and behind our ears were being constantly retouched by
these villainous flies, it was useless killing thousands of them--
millions supplied their place. The only thing, in fact, that can
protect one during the night (_nothing_ can during the day) is a net of
gauze hung over the bed; but as this was looked upon by the young men as
somewhat effeminate, it was seldom resorted to. The best thing for
their destruction, we found, was to fill our rooms with smoke, either by
burning damp moss or by letting off large puffs of gunpowder, and then
throwing the doors and windows open to allow them to fly out. This,
however, did not put them all out; so we generally spent an hour or so
before going to