Page:A Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana.djvu/201

189 but it is about one hundred yards wide. We encamped in a large interval, at the mouth of a small stream, and continued here until the 12th, The fur animals had now just done shedding, so that we only hunted the buffaloe, cabree, and mountain sheep. A party was sent to gain the summit of a ridge, so as to pass over to the other side, while the rest of us crawled up, surrounding them on every side, excepting towards the river. As soon as the signal was given, by those who had ascended and gained the opposite side, we all raised a sudden yell, and sprang out of the grass, and the affrighted animals instantly fled from us, pitched over the precipice, and were dashed against the stones, at the bottom, where we killed sixty-one. Some of them fell nearly two hundred feet; but some of them, which were near the bottom, made their escape. It took us several days to dress and cure the meat. The method in which these people cure their meat is to cut it into thin slices, and dry it by the heat of the sun, or a slow fire. They use no salt to preserve it. Meat will continue in this state, if well dried, for a longtime. We killed a wildcat, which resembled the domestic cat, and was of about the same size. It was of a sallow colour, and had a tail nearly of the length of the body. This little animal is very fierce, and often kills cabree and sheep, by jumping on their necks, and eating away the sinews and arteries until they fall, and then sucks the blood. On the 25th, we proceeded up,