wing day. On the next morning we again resumed our journey. It
was the 17th of July, unless my notebook misleads me. At noon we stopped
by some pools of rain-water, and in the afternoon again set forward.
This double movement was contrary to the usual practice of the Indians,
but all were very anxious to reach the hunting ground, kill the
necessary number of buffalo, and retreat as soon as possible from the
dangerous neighborhood. I pass by for the present some curious incidents
that occurred during these marches and encampments. Late in the
afternoon of the last-mentioned day we came upon the banks of a little
sandy stream, of which the Indians could not tell the name; for they
were very ill acquainted with that part of the country. So parched and
arid were the prairies around that they could not supply grass enough
for the horses to feed upon, and we were compelled to move farther and
farther up the stream in search of ground for encampment. The country
was much wilder than before. The plains were gashed with ravines and
broken into hollows and steep declivities, which flanked our course, as,
in long-scattered array, the Indians advanced up the side of the stream.
Mene-Seela consulted an extraordinary oracle to instruct him where the
buffalo were to be found. When he with the other chiefs sat down on the
grass to smoke and converse, as they often did during the march, the old
man picked up one of those enormous black-and-green crickets, which the
Dakota call by a name that signifies "They who point out the buffalo."
The Root-Diggers, a wretched tribe beyond the mountains, turn them to
good account by making them into a sort of soup, pronounced by certain
unscrupulous trappers to be extremely rich. Holding the bloated insect
respectfully between his fingers and thumb, the old Indian looked
attentively at him and inquired, "Tell me, my father, where must we go
to-morrow to find the buffalo?" The cricket twisted about his long horns
in evident embarrassment. At last he pointed, or seemed to point, them
westward. Mene-Seela, dropping him gently on the grass, laughed with
great glee, and said that if we went that way in the morning we should
be sure to kill plenty of game.

Toward evening we came upon a fresh green meadow, traversed by the
stream, and deep-set among tall sterile bluffs. The Indians descended
its steep bank; and as I was at the rear, I was one of the last to reach
this point. Lances were glittering, feathers