Chapter 22 - Page 2

snow-banks. There you can hunt the elk, the deer, and the

antelope, when their skins are fit for dressing; there you will

find plenty of white bears and mountain sheep.

"In the autumn, when your horses are fat and strong from the

mountain pastures, you can go down into the plains and hunt the

buffalo, or trap beaver on the streams. And when winter comes on,

you can take shelter in the woody bottoms along the rivers; there

you will find buffalo meat for yourselves, and cotton-wood bark

for your horses: or you may winter in the Wind River valley,

where there is salt weed in abundance.

"The Crow country is exactly in the right place. Everything good

is to be found there. There is no country like the Crow country."

Such is the eulogium on his country by Arapooish.

We have had repeated occasions to speak of the restless and

predatory habits of the Crows. They can muster fifteen hundred

fighting men, but their incessant wars with the Blackfeet, and

their vagabond, predatory habits, are gradually wearing them out.

In a recent work, we related the circumstance of a white man

named Rose, an outlaw, and a designing vagabond, who acted as

guide and interpreter to Mr. Hunt and his party, on their journey

across the mountains to Astoria, who came near betraying them

into the hands of the Crows, and who remained among the tribe,

marrying one of their women, and adopting their congenial habits.

A few anecdotes of the subsequent fortunes of that renegade may

not be uninteresting, especially as they are connected with the

fortunes of the tribe.

Rose was powerful in frame and fearless in spirit; and soon by

his daring deeds took his rank among the first braves of the

tribe. He aspired to command, and knew it was only to be attained

by desperate exploits. He distinguished himself in repeated

actions with Blackfeet. On one occasion, a band of those savages

had fortified themselves within a breastwork, and could not be

harmed. Rose proposed to storm the work. "Who will take the

lead?" was the demand. "I!" cried he; and putting himself at

their head, rushed forward. The first Blackfoot that opposed him

he shot down with his rifle, and, snatching up the war-club of

his victim, killed four others within the fort. The victory was

complete, and Rose returned to the Crow village covered with

glory, and bearing five Blackfoot scalps, to be erected as a

trophy before his lodge. From this time, he was known among the

Crows by the name of Che-ku-kaats, or "the man who killed five."

He became chief of the village, or rather band, and