To take the beaver requires practice and
skill. The trap is set, and then sunk in
the scream to a certain depth, (when the
water is too deep for it to rest on the bot
tom,) by means of floats attached, and a
chain confines it to something fixed, or
very heavy nt the bottom. This depth
must be such that the animal, in swimming
over it, is caught, by the leg. The buii
consists of some strong scent, proceeding
from a substance placed directly opposite
upon the shore ; an oil taken from' the
body of the animal is generally used. The
greatest care is necessary to destroy all
traces of the presence of the trapper when
making his arrangement, which, if dis
covcied by the most sensible instinct of
the animal, it carefully avoids the place,
they therefore wade or use a canoe in set
ting the trap.
The solitary hunter is found occasional
ly thus employed, for the sake of the iraJe
wim ihoso who visit the country solely
for that purpose : getting for his skins the
few necessaries of his situation, blankets,
powder, lead, &e.
In the summer of 182S, immediately
after iho destruction and conflagration of
the Arickara village, consequent upon i s
attack by the Sixth Regiment United
States Infantry, a party of eighty men,
under the direction of Major Henry, (that
had volunteered in that engagement) left
this point of the Missouri River, intending
to gain thcjiead waters of the Yellow
Stone, to niakc a fall hunt for beaver.
