RATTLESNAKES.
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hands on with impunity; having, however, received compensation for the insult, there was no fear of anything further being done about it.
July 10th. — Saw great quantities of rattlesnakes to-day, some few of which we killed ; the men, while tracking (that is hauling the boats along the edge of the shore by a line, in places where the river is too rapid to row), were in great dread of them as they had no shoes, but fortunately no one was bitten. It is said by the Indians, that salt applied plentifully and immediately to the wound will effect a cure, also that drinking copiously of ardent spirits as soon as the bite has been inflicted will avert the danger. I have, however, never seen either of them tried, and should much suspect the latter cure to be merely a piece of Indian cunning, to overcome the great difficulty of getting liquor, on any terms, from the Company's servants and officers.
July \lth.—Many Indians followed us for along distance on horseback along the shore. I obtained one of their horses, and, accompanied by an Indian, took a gallop of seven or eight miles into the interior, and found the country equally sterile and unpromising as on the banks of the stream. The bend in the river, which the boats were, of course,