with what truth,
that a wronged husband, or a supplanted lover, sometimes avails
himself of the opportunity presented by the _melee_ to miss the
buffalo, and hit a friend--by _accident_.

A priest generally accompanies the camp, and mass is celebrated with
becoming solemnity on Sundays. The "brules" attend, looking very
serious and grave until a herd of buffaloes appear; when the cry of
"La vache! la vache!" scatters the congregation in an instant; away
they scamper, old and young, leaving the priest to preach to the
winds, or perhaps to a few women and children. Two trips in the year
are generally made to the prairie; the latter in August. The buffalo
hunter's life assimilates more to that of the savage than of the
civilized man; it is a life of alternate plenty and want--a life
also of danger and inquietude. The Indians of the plain view the
encroachment of the strange race on their hunting grounds, with
feelings of jealousy and enmity. They are, accordingly, continually on
the alert; they attack detached parties and stragglers; they also set
fire to the prairies about the time the "brules" set out for the hunt,
and by this means drive the game beyond their reach. Owing to this
circumstance, the "brules" have returned with empty carts for these
two years past; and their only resource has been to betake themselves
to the woods, and live after the manner of the Indians. Could they
find a sure market for the produce of the soil, so as to remunerate
their labour, there can be little doubt but that they might be
gradually detached from the half-savage life they lead, and become as
steady and industrious as their neighbours.

The English half-breeds, as the mixed progeny of the British are
designated, possess many of the characteristics of their fathers; they
generally prefer the more certain pursuit of husbandry to the chase,
and follow close on the heels of the Scotch in the path of industry
and moral rectitude. Very few of them resort to the plains, unless for
the purpose of trafficking the produce of their farms for the produce
of the chase; and it is said that they frequently return home better
supplied with meat than the hunters themselves.

The Indians who have been converted to the Protestant religion, are
settled around their respected pastor at the lower extremity of
the settlement, within twenty miles of the mouth of the river. The
Sauteux, of all other tribes, are the most tenacious of their own
superstitio