They encamped on the margin of the river, in a grove where there were trees large enough for canoes.  Here they put up a shed for immediate shelter, and at once proceeded to erect a cabin.  New Year’s Day dawned when but one wall of their cabin was completed; the genial and jovial day, however, was not permitted to pass uncelebrated, even by this weather-beaten crew of wanderers.  All work was suspended, except that of roasting and boiling.  The choicest of the buffalo meat, with tongues, humps, and marrow-bones, were devoured in quantities that would have astonished any one who has not lived among hunters and Indians.  As an extra regale, having nothing to smoke, they cut up an old tobacco pouch, still redolent with the potent herb, and smoked it in honour of the day.  Thus for a time, in present revelry, however uncouth, they forgot all past troubles and anxieties about the future, and their forlorn shelter echoed with the sound of gayety.

The next day they resumed their labours, and by the sixth of the month the cabin was complete.  They soon killed abundance of buffalo, and again laid in a stock of winter provisions.

The party was more fortunate in this its second cantonment.  The winter passed away without any Indian visitors; and the game continued to be plentiful in the neighbourhood.  They felled two large trees, and shaped them into canoes, and, as the spring opened, and a thaw of several days melted the ice in the river, they made every preparation for embarking.  On the 8th of March they launched forth in their canoes, but soon found that the river had not depth sufficient even for such slender barks.  It expanded into a wide, but extremely shallow stream, with many sandbars, and occasionally various channels.  They got one of their canoes a few miles down it, with extreme difficulty, sometimes wading, and dragging it over the shoals.  At last they had to abandon the attempt, and to resume their journey on foot, aided by their faithful old packhorse, which had recruited strength during the winter.

The weather delayed them for several days, having suddenly become more rigorous than it had been at any time during the winter; but on the 20th of March they were again on their journey.

In two days they arrived at the vast naked prairie, the wintry aspect of which had caused them in December to pause and turn back.  It was now clothed with the early verdure of spring, and plentifully stocked with game.  Still, when obliged to bivouac on its bare surface, without any covering, by a scanty fire of buffalo-chips, they found the night-blasts piercingly cold.  On one occasion a herd of buffalo having strayed near their evening camp, they killed three of them merely for their hides, wherewith to make a shelter for the night.