The snow had fallen frequently, and
in large quantities, and covered the ground to a depth of a foot;
and the continued coldness of the weather prevented any thaw.
By degrees, a distrust which at first subsisted between the
Indians and the trappers, subsided, and gave way to mutual
confidence and good will. A few presents convinced the chiefs
that the white men were their friends; nor were the white men
wanting in proofs of the honesty and good faith of their savage
neighbors. Occasionally, the deep snow and the want of fodder
obliged them to turn their weakest horses out to roam in quest of
sustenance. If they at any time strayed to the camp of the
Bannacks, they were immediately brought back. It must be
confessed, however, that if the stray horse happened, by any
chance, to be in vigorous plight and good condition, though he
was equally sure to be returned by the honest Bannacks, yet it
was always after the lapse of several days, and in a very gaunt
and jaded state; and always with the remark that they had found
him a long way off. The uncharitable were apt to surmise that he
had, in the interim, been well used up in a buffalo hunt; but
those accustomed to Indian morality in the matter of horseflesh,
considered it a singular evidence of honesty that he should be
brought back at all.
Being convinced, therefore, from these, and other circumstances,
that his people were encamped in the neighborhood of a tribe as
honest as they were valiant, and satisfied that they would pass
their winter unmolested, Captain Bonneville prepared for a
reconnoitring expedition of great extent and peril.
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