While Captain Bonneville amused himself by observing the habits and
characteristics of this singular class of men, and indulged them, for
the time, in all their vagaries, he profited by the opportunity to
collect from them information concerning the different parts of the
country about which they had been accustomed to range; the characters
of the tribes, and, in short, everything important to his enterprise. He
also succeeded in securing the services of several to guide and aid him
in his peregrinations among the mountains, and to trap for him during
the ensuing season. Having strengthened his party with such valuable
recruits, he felt in some measure consoled for the loss of the Delaware
Indians, decoyed from him by Mr Fontenelle.




8.

Plans for the winter--Salmon River--Abundance of salmon west
of the mountains--New arrangements--Caches--Cerre's
detachment--Movements in--Fontenelle's camp--Departure of
the--Blackfeet--Their fortunes--Wind--Mountain streams--
Buckeye, the Delaware hunter, and the grizzly bear--Bones of
murdered travellers--Visit to Pierre's Hole--Traces of the
battle--Nez--Perce--Indians--Arrival at--Salmon River

THE INFORMATION derived from the free trappers determined Captain
Bonneville as to his further movements. He learned that in the Green
River valley the winters were severe, the snow frequently falling to the
depth of several feet; and that there was no good wintering ground in