Travel
When they travel at night and have no moon to afford light they take their direction by the north star with which they are all acquainted, but when stars also are invisible they observe at dark the point from which the wind blows, and shape their course accordingly. By these means they will be able to pursue a right direction until they come to some hill or river with which they are acquainted, and regulate their travel from that point until the sun makes its appearance, and then they are at no loss. Traveling on the plains is much more difficult than in forests. In the terrible snowstorms that sweep over these prairies, darkening the atmosphere and rendering the sun, moon, and stars invisible, or indeed any object a short distance ahead, they are as much at fault to proceed as any other person, and at these times lie down, let the snow drift over and cover them, and remain thus until the storm passes, which is frequently two or three days and nights.
There are many ways of determining within a few hours of the time when an encampment has been deserted and the number of persons composing the party. The camp fires will show how many persons have slept there, the dung of the horses or dogs denotes the time, if the fires have become cool. The tracks of the men and animals and the remains of the meal are also means of judging. If scraps of meat or bone seen around are untouched by wolves or ravens they must conclude that the party has recently left.
In the summer the bending of the grass under their feet, tracks in crossing a stream or any marshy place, and in winter, tracks in the snow, will show to a tolerable certainty how many persons and what time they have passed. A slight rain would determine whether the tracks were before or since it fell. Snow would prove the same; the dew of the morning in summer or fall would reveal the time to within 24 hours. The grass nibbled by the horses by its appearance would denote whether the party had passed within a few days and the hardness of the dung of the animals brings the time to a still greater degree of certainty. A correct judgment is not, however, formed by any one of the above criterions, but by a comparison of the whole, and by following the trail, and observing also the carcasses of the animals killed by the party, their number, state of decay, etc. These with other smaller indications, particularly if an arrow or moccasin be lost or thrown away, will determine the number and nation that have passed and the time. The passage of war parties is distinguished from hunting parties of their own people by the absence of boys’ tracks or traces of dog travailles in the former, and by the precautions they take in their encampment.