keep about the lower part of that river, and are friendly to the white
men.

This hostile band keeps about the headwaters of the Missouri, and
numbers about nine hundred fighting men. Once in the course of two or
three years they abandon their usual abodes, and make a visit to the
Arapahoes of the Arkansas. Their route lies either through the Crow
country, and the Black Hills, or through the lands of the Nez Perces,
Flatheads, Bannacks, and Shoshonies. As they enjoy their favorite state
of hostility with all these tribes, their expeditions are prone to be
conducted in the most lawless and predatory style; nor do they hesitate
to extend their maraudings to any party of white men they meet with;
following their trails; hovering about their camps; waylaying and
dogging the caravans of the free traders, and murdering the solitary
trapper. The consequences are frequent and desperate fights between them
and the "mountaineers," in the wild defiles and fastnesses of the Rocky
Mountains.

The band in question was, at this time, on their way homeward from one
of their customary visits to the Arapahoes; and in the ensuing chapter
we shall treat of some bloody encounters between them and the trappers,
which had taken place just before the arrival of Captain Bonneville
among the mountains.




6.

Sublette and his band--Robert--Campbell--Mr. Wyeth and a