CHAPTER XX.
Features of the Wilderness--Herds of Buffalo.--Antelopes--
Their Varieties and Habits.--John Day.--His Hunting
Strategy--Interview with Three Arickaras--Negotiations
Between the Rival Parties--The Left-Handed and the Big Man,
two Arickara Chiefs.--Arickara Village--Its Inhabitants--
Ceremonials on Landing--A Council Lodge.--Grand Conference--
Speech of Lisa.--Negotiation for Horses.--Shrewd Suggestion
of Gray Eyes, an Arickara Chief--Encampment of the Trading
Parties.
THE rival parties now coasted along the opposite sides of the river,
within sight of each other; the barges of Mr. Hunt always keeping some
distance in the advance, lest Lisa should push on and get first to
the Arickara village. The scenery and objects, as they proceeded, gave
evidence that they were advancing deeper and deeper into the domains of
savage nature. Boundless wastes kept extending to the eye, more and more
animated by herds of buffalo. Sometimes these unwieldy animals were seen
moving in long procession across the silent landscape; at other times
they were scattered about, singly or in groups, on the broad, enameled
prairies and green acclivities, some cropping the rich pasturage, others
reclining amidst the flowery herbage; the whole scene realizing in a
manner the old Scriptural descriptions of the vast pastoral countries of
the Orient, with "cattle upon a thousand hills.
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