in cooking, dressing
their skins, repairing garments, making moccasins, and in keeping their
guns and knives in order. Some of these valleys were found sheltered and
sunny. Even in mid-winter there were days of genial warmth. They
occasionally changed their camp and trapped along the banks of the Green,
the Bear and the Salmon rivers.

During the winter one sad incident occurred. Four of the trappers who were
out in pursuit of game, were surrounded and overpowered by a numerous
party of Blackfeet Indians, and all were killed. There were buffaloes in
abundance in that region, and these animals found ample forage, as they
had the range of hundreds of miles, and instinct guided them to sheltered
and verdant glens. But in some of the narrow, wind-swept valleys the
animals of the trappers suffered from exposure and want of food. They were
kept alive by cutting down cottonwood trees and gathering the bark and
branches for fodder. But the trappers themselves, having abundance of
game, fared sumptuously.

The beaver is so intelligent that he is one of the most difficult animals
in the world to entrap. Marvellous stories are told by the hunters of his
sagacity. Many of the Indians believe that the beavers have human
intelligence. They say that the only difference between the beaver and the
Indian, is that the latter has been endowed by the Great Spirit with
capabilities to catch the former.

Among these bleak, barren, gigantic ridges there are many lovely valleys
to be found, scores of miles in length and width. Here are found two
extensive natural parks, of extraordinary beauty. Apparently no landscape
gardener could have laid them out more tastefully. There are wide-spread
lawns, sometimes level as a floor, sometimes gently undulating, smooth,
green and at times decorated with an almost inconceivable brilliance of
flowers. Here and there groves are sprinkled, entirely free from
underbrush. There are running streams and crystal lakelets. Birds of
brilliant plumage sport upon the waters. Buffaloes, often in immense
numbers, crop the luxuriant herbage. Deer, elks and antelopes bound over
these fields, reminding one of his childish visions of Paradise. In the
streams otter and beaver find favorite haunts.

During the winter, as business was a little dull, Kit Carson and four of
his companions set off on a private hunting expedition. They were gone
about six weeks. Soon after their return, in the latter part of January,
a part