Not a word was spoken. The chief sat on a white
buffalo skin. Pipes were passed round and each person was
presented with boiled buffalo flesh. When talk began, Hendry told
the chief that his great leader had sent him to invite them to
come to trade at Hudson Bay where his people would get powder,
shot, guns, cloth, beads, and other things. The chief said it was
faraway, and his people knew nothing of paddling. Such strangers
to great waters were they that they would not even eat fish. They
despised Hendry's tobacco. What they smoked was dried horse dung.
In the end Hendry was dismissed and ordered to make his camp a
quarter of a mile away from that of the Blackfeet.
It was close by the present site of Calgary and apparently in
full view, on clear days, of the white peaks of the Rocky
Mountains that Hendry visited the Blackfeet. He lingered in the
far western country through the greater part of the winter. On a
portion of his return journey he used a horse. When the spring
thaw came, once more he took to the water in canoes. He complains
of the idleness of his Indian companions who would remain in
their huts all day and never stir to lay up a store of food even
when game was abundant.
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