12th. February Tuesday
1805.
The morning was fair tho' could, thermometer at 14°. below
naught wind S.E. ordered the Blacksmith to shoe the horses
and some
others to prepare some gears in order to send them
down with three slays
to join the hunting party and transport
the meat which they may have
procured to this place the
men whom I had sent for the meat left by
Charbono did not
return untill 4 OClock this evening. Drewyer arrived with
the horses about the same time, the horses appeared much
fatieged I
directed some meal brands [bran] given them
moisened with a little water
but to my astonishment found
that they would not eat it but prefered the
bark of the cotton
wood which forms the principall article of food usually
given
them by their Indian masters in the winter season; for this
purpose they cause the tree to be felled by their women and
the
horses feed on the boughs and bark of their tender
branches. the Indians
in our neighbourhood are freequently
pilfered of their horses by the
Recares, Souixs and Assinniboins
and
therefore make it an invariable rule to put their
horses in their lodges
at night. in this situation the only food
of the horse consists of a few
sticks of the cottonwood from
the size of a man's finger to that of his
arm. the Indians are
invariably severe riders, and frequently have
occasion for many
days together through the whole course of the day to
employ
their horses in pursueing the Buffaloe or transporting meat to
their vilages during which time they are seldom suffered to
tast
food; at night the Horse returned to his stall where his
food is what seems to me a scanty
allowance of wood. under
these circumstances it would seem that their
horses could not
long exist or at least could not retain their flesh and
strength,
but the contrary is the fact, this valuable anamall under all
those disadvantages is seldom seen meager or unfit for service.
A
little after dark this evening Cap
t. Clark arrived with the
hunting party since they set out they have killed forty Deer,
three
buffaloe bulls, & sixteen Elk, most of them were so
meager that they
were unfit for uce, particularly the Buffaloe
and male Elk the wolves also
which are here extreemly
numerous helped themselves to a considerable
proportion of
the hunt. if an anamal is killed and lyes only one night
exposed to the wolves it is almost invariably devoured by
them.
