appetite.'

[Illustration: An Assiniboine Indian. From a pastel by Edmund Morris.]

The following day La Verendrye sent for the principal chiefs of the
tribe, and gave to each of them a present of powder and ball, or knives
and tobacco. He told them that if the Assiniboines would hunt beaver
diligently and would bring the skins to Fort La Reine, they should
receive in return everything that they needed. One of the chiefs made
a speech in reply. 'We thank you,' he said, 'for the trouble you have
taken to come to visit us. We are going to accompany you to the
Mandans, and then to see you safely back to your fort. We have already
sent word to the Mandans that you are on your way to visit them, and
the Mandans are delighted. We shall travel {53} by easy marches, so
that we may hunt by the way and have plenty of provisions.' The
explorer was not wholly pleased to find that the entire village was to
accompany him, for this involved still further delays on the journey.
It was necessary, however, to give no cause of offence; so he thanked
them for their good-will, and merely urged that they should be ready to
leave as soon as possible and travel with all speed by the shortest
road, as the season was growing late.

On the next morning they all set out together, a motley company, the
French with their Indian guides and hunters accompanied by the entire
village of Assiniboines. La Verendrye was astonished at the orderly
way in which these savages, about six hundred in number, travelled
across the prairies. Everything was done in perfect order, as if they
were a regiment of trained soldiers. The warriors divided themselves
into parties; they sent out scouts in advance to both the right and the
left, in order to keep watch for enemies and also to look out for
buffalo and other game; the old men marched in the centre with the
women and the children; and in the rear was a strong guard of warriors.
If the scouts saw buffalo ahead, they signalled to the rear-guard, {54}
who crept round the herd on both sides until it was surrounded. They
killed as many buffaloes as were needed to provision the camp, and this
completed the men's part of the work. It was the women who cut up the
meat and carried it to the place where the company encamped for the
night. The women, indeed, were the burden-bearers and had to carry
most of the baggage. There were, of course, dogs in great numbers on
such excursions, and these bore a part of t