The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1869-06-11

A gentleman who has been among the
Indians of Dacotah writes as follows:
have ridden several hundred miles with
an experienced guide and trailer, Hack,
whom Intercepted upon many points in
the practice of this art. Nearly all tracks
| saw, either old or new, as q novice in the
art, questioned him about. In going to
the Niobrara river.we crossed the track O.
an Indian pony. My guide followed thu
track few miles and then said, ut is &
stray, black horse, with long, bushy tail
nearly starved to death, has split hoof or,
the left fore foot, and goes very lame, and
he passed here early this morning" AS
tonished and incredulons, asked him tn :
reason for knowing these particulars by tb
tracks of the animal, when he replied, ~
was stray horse, because it. did not go o
in direct line; his tail .was long, for b
dragged it over the snow; In brushin !
against a-bush he left some of his hai,,
which shows its color. He was very hun
CRY, for in going along, he n;pped at thos
high, dry weeds, which horses seldom ea'
The fssure of the left fore foot left also,
its track, and the depth of the indentation
shows the degree of his lameness; and his
tracks show he was here this morning,
when the snow was hard with frost"
At another place we came across an In
dian track, and he said, "It is an old Yanck-
ton, who came across the Missouri last
evening to look at his traps. In coming
over he carried in his right hand trap,
and in his left lasso to catch pony,
which he had lost. He returned without
finding the horse, but had caught in a
trap he had out q prairie wolf, which he
carried home on his back and bundle OF
kinikinic wood in his right hand" Then
he gave his reasons. II know he is old by
the impression his gait has made, and a
Yankton by that of his mocassin. He is'
from the other side. The trap he carried
struck the snow now and then, in the same
manner as when he came, shows that he
did not find his pony, A drop of blood in
the centre of his tracks shows that he car
ried the wolf on his back, and the bundle
of kmikinic wood he used for staff for,
support, and catching a wolf, shows that
he had traps out" But" asked, show
do you know tits q wolf why not a fox or
a coyote, or even deere" Said he, "If it
had been fox, or coyote or any other
small game, he would have slipped the.
head of the animal in his waist belt, and 81,
ders Deer are not caught by traps,i but
lift had been deer, he would not have
crossed this high hill, but would have
gone back by way of the ravine, and the
load would have made his steps still moro
tottering."
Another Indian track we saw twenty
miles west of this he put this serious
construction upon: "He is an up
per Indiana prowling horse thief-car-
ried double shotgun, and is a rascal that
killed some white men lately, and passes!
Indian in these parts is on mischief, and
generally on the lookout for horses He
had on the shoes of white man whom he
had in all probability killed, but his steps
are those of an Indian Going through
the ravine, the end of his gun hit into the
deep snow. A week ago we had very
warm day, and the snow being soft he made
these deep tracks; ever since it has been
intensely cold weather, which made very
shallow tracks" I suggested that per-
haps he bought those shoes. "Indians
don't buy shoes, and if they did they
would not buy them as large as these were,
for Indians have very small feet"
The most noted trader of this country
was Paul Daloria, half breed, who died
under my hands, of Indian consumption,
last summer. AT one time rode with him,
and trailing was naturally the subject of
our conversation. begged to trail with
him an old track over the prairie, in order
to learn its history. I had hardly made
the proposition when he drew up his horse,
which was at u rayinc, and said, "Well,
here is an old elk track. Let us get On
our horses and follow it." We followed
but few rods, when he said, ii was exact
ly month old, and made at2 o'clock in
the afternoon. This he knew, as then we
had our last rain, and at the hour he named
the ground was softer than at any other
time. The track before us was then made.
He broke up here and there clusters of
grass that lay in the path of the track, and
showed me the dry ends of some, the
stumps of Others, and by numerous other
similar items accounted for many circum-
stances that astonished me. We followed
the trail over mile. Now and then we
saw that wolf, fox, and other amin ais
had practiced their trailing instincts on
the elk's tracks. Here and there he would
show me where snake, rat, and a prai-
RE dog had crossed the track. Nothing
huo ioiioWctt VI CrOSSeQ Une track tEit the
quick eye of Daloria did not detect. He
gave an account of the habits of all the
animals that had left their footprints on
the track, also of the state of the weather
since the elk passed, and the effect of sun
shine, winds, aridity, and storms, and
other influences that had bearing Oh these
tracks.
The old man, like all trailers, was reti-
cent, but on this occasion, seeing was in
terested, became specially communicative.
JOSH Billings On STRAWBERRIES
The strawberry IL one NV natur's sweet
pets. She makes them worth fifty cents,
the furst she makes, and never allows them
tew be sold at q mean price.
The cutler Nv the strawberry IL, like the
setting sun under thin cloud, with q del
icate dash Nv the rainbn in it: its fragrance