*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1372 ***

THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE

Digested from his journal

by Washington Irving


Originally published in 1837




Introductory Notice


WHILE ENGAGED in writing an account of the grand enterprise of Astoria,
it was my practice to seek all kinds of oral information connected with
the subject. Nowhere did I pick up more interesting particulars than at
the table of Mr. John Jacob Astor; who, being the patriarch of the fur
trade in the United States, was accustomed to have at his board various
persons of adventurous turn, some of whom had been engaged in his own
great undertaking; others, on their own account, had made expeditions to
the Rocky Mountains and the waters of the Columbia.

Among these personages, one who peculiarly took my fancy was Captain
Bonneville, of the United States army; who, in a rambling kind of
enterprise, had strangely ingrafted the trapper and hunter upon the
soldier. As his expeditions and adventures will form the leading theme
of the following pages, a few biographical particulars concerning him
may not be unacceptable.

Captain Bonneville is of French parentage. His father was a worthy old
emigrant, who came to this country many years since, and took up his
abode in New York. He is represented as a man not much calculated for
the sordid struggle of a money-making world, but possessed of a happy
temperament, a festivity of imagination, and a simplicity of heart, that
made him proof against its rubs and trials. He was an excellent scholar;
well acquainted with Latin and Greek, and fond of the modern classics.
His book was his elysium; once immersed in the pages of Voltaire,
Corneille, or Racine, or of his favorite English author, Shakespeare, he
forgot the world and all its concerns. Often would he be seen in summer
weather, seated under one of the trees on the Battery, or the portico of
St. Paul’s church in Broadway, his bald head uncovered, his hat lying by
his side, his eyes riveted to the page of his book, and his whole soul
so engaged, as to lose all consciousness of the passing throng or the
passing hour.

Captain Bonneville, it will be found, inherited something of his
father’s bonhommie, and his excitable imagination; though the latter
was somewhat disciplined in early years, by mathematical studies. He
was educated at our national Military Academy at West Point, where he
acquitted himself very creditably; thence, he entered the army, in which
he has ever since continued.

The nature of our military service took him to the frontier, where, for
a number of years, he was stationed at various posts in the Far West.
Here he was brought into frequent intercourse with Indian traders,
mountain trappers, and other pioneers of the wilderness; and became so
excited by their tales of wild scenes and wild adventures, and their
accounts of vast and magnificent regions as yet unexplored, that an
expedition to the Rocky Mountains became the ardent desire of his heart,
and an enterprise to explore untrodden tracts, the leading object of his
ambition.

By degrees he shaped his vague day-dream into a practical reality.
Having made himself acquainted with all the requisites for a trading
enterprise beyond the mountains, he determined to undertake it. A leave
of absence, and a sanction of his expedition, was obtained from the
major general in chief, on his offering to combine public utility with
his private projects, and to collect statistical information for the War
Department concerning the wild countries and wild tribes he might visit
in the course of his journeyings.

Nothing now was wanting to the darling project of the captain, but the
ways and means. The expedition would require an outfit of many thousand
dollars; a staggering obstacle to a soldier, whose capital is seldom
any thing more than his sword. Full of that buoyant hope, however, which
belongs to the sanguine temperament, he repaired to New-York, the great
focus of American enterprise, where there are always funds ready for any
scheme, however chimerical or romantic. Here he had the good fortune to
meet with a gentleman of high respectability and influence, who had been
his associate in boyhood, and who cherished a schoolfellow friendship
for him. He took a general interest in the scheme of the captain;
introduced him to commercial men of his acquaintance, and in a little
while an association was formed, and the necessary funds were raised
to carry the proposed measure into effect. One of the most efficient
persons in this association was Mr. Alfred Seton, who, when quite a
youth, had accompanied one of the expeditions sent out by Mr. Astor to
his commercial establishments on the Columbia, and had distinguished
himself by his activity and courage at one of the interior posts. Mr.
Seton was one of the American youths who were at Astoria at the time
of its surrender to the British, and who manifested such grief and
indignation at seeing the flag of their country hauled down. The hope
of seeing that flag once more planted on the shores of the Columbia, may
have entered into his motives for engaging in the present enterprise.

Thus backed and provided, Captain Bonneville undertook his expedition
into the Far West, and was soon beyond the Rocky Mountains. Year after
year elapsed without his return. The term of his leave of absence
expired, yet no report was made of him at head quarters at Washington.
He was considered virtually dead or lost and his name was stricken from
the army list.

It was in the autumn of 1835 at the country seat of Mr. John Jacob
Astor, at Hellgate, that I first met with Captain Bonneville He was
then just returned from a residence of upwards of three years among the
mountains, and was on his way to report himself at head quarters, in the
hopes of being reinstated in the service. From all that I could learn,
his wanderings in the wilderness though they had gratified his curiosity
and his love of adventure had not much benefited his fortunes. Like
Corporal Trim in his campaigns, he had “satisfied the sentiment,”
 and that was all. In fact, he was too much of the frank, freehearted
soldier, and had inherited too much of his father’s temperament, to make
a scheming trapper, or a thrifty bargainer.

There was something in the whole appearance of the captain that
prepossessed me in his favor. He was of the middle size, well made and
well set; and a military frock of foreign cut, that had seen service,
gave him a look of compactness. His countenance was frank, open,
and engaging; well browned by the sun, and had something of a French
expression. He had a pleasant black eye, a high forehead, and, while he
kept his hat on, the look of a man in the jocund prime of his days; but
the moment his head was uncovered, a bald crown gained him credit for a
few more years than he was really entitled to.

Being extremely curious, at the time, about every thing connected with
the Far West, I addressed numerous questions to him. They drew from him
a number of extremely striking details, which were given with mingled
modesty and frankness; and in a gentleness of manner, and a soft tone of
voice, contrasting singularly with the wild and often startling nature
of his themes. It was difficult to conceive the mild, quiet-looking
personage before you, the actual hero of the stirring scenes related.

In the course of three or four months, happening to be at the city of
Washington, I again came upon the captain, who was attending the slow
adjustment of his affairs with the War Department. I found him quartered
with a worthy brother in arms, a major in the army. Here he was writing
at a table, covered with maps and papers, in the centre of a large
barrack room, fancifully decorated with Indian arms, and trophies, and
war dresses, and the skins of various wild animals, and hung round with
pictures of Indian games and ceremonies, and scenes of war and hunting.
In a word, the captain was beguiling the tediousness of attendance at
court, by an attempt at authorship; and was rewriting and extending his
travelling notes, and making maps of the regions he had explored. As he
sat at the table, in this curious apartment, with his high bald head of
somewhat foreign cast, he reminded me of some of those antique pictures
of authors that I have seen in old Spanish volumes.

The result of his labors was a mass of manuscript, which he subsequently
put at my disposal, to fit it for publication and bring it before
the world. I found it full of interesting details of life among the
mountains, and of the singular castes and races, both white men and red
men, among whom he had sojourned. It bore, too, throughout, the impress
of his character, his bonhommie, his kindliness of spirit, and his
susceptibility to the grand and beautiful.

That manuscript has formed the staple of the following work. I have
occasionally interwoven facts and details, gathered from various
sources, especially from the conversations and journals of some of the
captain’s contemporaries, who were actors in the scenes he describes.
I have also given it a tone and coloring drawn from my own observation,
during an excursion into the Indian country beyond the bounds of
civilization; as I before observed, however, the work is substantially
the narrative of the worthy captain, and many of its most graphic
passages are but little varied from his own language.

I shall conclude this notice by a dedication which he had made of his
manuscript to his hospitable brother in arms, in whose quarters I
found him occupied in his literary labors; it is a dedication which,
I believe, possesses the qualities, not always found in complimentary
documents of the kind, of being sincere, and being merited.

To JAMES HARVEY HOOK, Major, U. S. A., whose jealousy of its honor,
whose anxiety for its interests, and whose sensibility for its wants,
have endeared him to the service as The Soldier’s Friend; and whose
general amenity, constant cheerfulness, disinterested hospitality, and
unwearied benevolence, entitle him to the still loftier title of The
Friend of Man, this work is inscribed, etc.


WASHINGTON IRVING




1.

     State of the fur trade of the--Rocky Mountains--American
     enterprises--General--Ashley and his associates--Sublette, a
     famous leader--Yearly rendezvous among the mountains--
     Stratagems and dangers of the trade--Bands of trappers--
     Indian banditti--Crows and Blackfeet Mountaineers--Traders
     of the--Far West--Character and habits of the trapper

IN A RECENT WORK we have given an account of the grand enterprise of Mr.
John Jacob Astor to establish an American emporium for the fur trade
at the mouth of the Columbia, or Oregon River; of the failure of that
enterprise through the capture of Astoria by the British, in 1814; and
of the way in which the control of the trade of the Columbia and its
dependencies fell into the hands of the Northwest Company. We have
stated, likewise, the unfortunate supineness of the American government
in neglecting the application of Mr. Astor for the protection of the
American flag, and a small military force, to enable him to reinstate
himself in the possession of Astoria at the return of peace; when the
post was formally given up by the British government, though still
occupied by the Northwest Company. By that supineness the sovereignty
in the country has been virtually lost to the United States; and it will
cost both governments much trouble and difficulty to settle matters on
that just and rightful footing on which they would readily have been
placed had the proposition of Mr. Astor been attended to. We shall now
state a few particulars of subsequent events, so as to lead the reader
up to the period of which we are about to treat, and to prepare him for
the circumstances of our narrative.

In consequence of the apathy and neglect of the American government, Mr.
Astor abandoned all thoughts of regaining Astoria, and made no further
attempt to extend his enterprises beyond the Rocky Mountains; and the
Northwest Company considered themselves the lords of the country.
They did not long enjoy unmolested the sway which they had somewhat
surreptitiously attained. A fierce competition ensued between them and
their old rivals, the Hudson’s Bay Company; which was carried on at
great cost and sacrifice, and occasionally with the loss of life. It
ended in the ruin of most of the partners of the Northwest Company; and
the merging of the relics of that establishment, in 1821, in the rival
association. From that time, the Hudson’s Bay Company enjoyed a
monopoly of the Indian trade from the coast of the Pacific to the Rocky
Mountains, and for a considerable extent north and south. They removed
their emporium from Astoria to Fort Vancouver, a strong post on the left
bank of the Columbia River, about sixty miles from its mouth; whence
they furnished their interior posts, and sent forth their brigades of
trappers.

The Rocky Mountains formed a vast barrier between them and the United
States, and their stern and awful defiles, their rugged valleys, and the
great western plains watered by their rivers, remained almost a terra
incognita to the American trapper. The difficulties experienced in 1808,
by Mr. Henry of the Missouri Company, the first American who trapped
upon the head-waters of the Columbia; and the frightful hardships
sustained by Wilson P. Hunt, Ramsay Crooks, Robert Stuart, and other
intrepid Astorians, in their ill-fated expeditions across the mountains,
appeared for a time to check all further enterprise in that direction.
The American traders contented themselves with following up the head
branches of the Missouri, the Yellowstone, and other rivers and streams
on the Atlantic side of the mountains, but forbore to attempt those
great snow-crowned sierras.

One of the first to revive these tramontane expeditions was General
Ashley, of Missouri, a man whose courage and achievements in the
prosecution of his enterprises have rendered him famous in the Far West.
In conjunction with Mr. Henry, already mentioned, he established a post
on the banks of the Yellowstone River in 1822, and in the following year
pushed a resolute band of trappers across the mountains to the banks of
the Green River or Colorado of the West, often known by the Indian name
of the Seeds-ke-dee Agie. This attempt was followed up and sustained by
others, until in 1825 a footing was secured, and a complete system of
trapping organized beyond the mountains.

It is difficult to do justice to the courage, fortitude, and
perseverance of the pioneers of the fur trade, who conducted these
early expeditions, and first broke their way through a wilderness where
everything was calculated to deter and dismay them. They had to traverse
the most dreary and desolate mountains, and barren and trackless wastes,
uninhabited by man, or occasionally infested by predatory and cruel
savages. They knew nothing of the country beyond the verge of their
horizon, and had to gather information as they wandered. They beheld
volcanic plains stretching around them, and ranges of mountains piled
up to the clouds, and glistening with eternal frost: but knew nothing
of their defiles, nor how they were to be penetrated or traversed. They
launched themselves in frail canoes on rivers, without knowing whither
their swift currents would carry them, or what rocks and shoals and
rapids they might encounter in their course. They had to be continually
on the alert, too, against the mountain tribes, who beset every
defile, laid ambuscades in their path, or attacked them in their night
encampments; so that, of the hardy bands of trappers that first entered
into these regions, three-fifths are said to have fallen by the hands of
savage foes.

In this wild and warlike school a number of leaders have sprung up,
originally in the employ, subsequently partners of Ashley; among these
we may mention Smith, Fitzpatrick, Bridger, Robert Campbell, and William
Sublette; whose adventures and exploits partake of the wildest spirit of
romance. The association commenced by General Ashley underwent various
modifications. That gentleman having acquired sufficient fortune, sold
out his interest and retired; and the leading spirit that succeeded
him was Captain William Sublette; a man worthy of note, as his name has
become renowned in frontier story. He is a native of Kentucky, and of
game descent; his maternal grandfather, Colonel Wheatley, a companion of
Boon, having been one of the pioneers of the West, celebrated in Indian
warfare, and killed in one of the contests of the “Bloody Ground.” We
shall frequently have occasion to speak of this Sublette, and always to
the credit of his game qualities. In 1830, the association took the name
of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, of which Captain Sublette and Robert
Campbell were prominent members.

In the meantime, the success of this company attracted the attention and
excited the emulation of the American Fur Company, and brought them once
more into the field of their ancient enterprise. Mr. Astor, the founder
of the association, had retired from busy life, and the concerns of the
company were ably managed by Mr. Ramsay Crooks, of Snake River renown,
who still officiates as its president. A competition immediately ensued
between the two companies for the trade with the mountain tribes and
the trapping of the head-waters of the Columbia and the other great
tributaries of the Pacific. Beside the regular operations of these
formidable rivals, there have been from time to time desultory
enterprises, or rather experiments, of minor associations, or of
adventurous individuals beside roving bands of independent trappers,
who either hunt for themselves, or engage for a single season, in the
service of one or other of the main companies.

The consequence is that the Rocky Mountains and the ulterior regions,
from the Russian possessions in the north down to the Spanish
settlements of California, have been traversed and ransacked in every
direction by bands of hunters and Indian traders; so that there is
scarcely a mountain pass, or defile, that is not known and threaded in
their restless migrations, nor a nameless stream that is not haunted by
the lonely trapper.

The American fur companies keep no established posts beyond the
mountains. Everything there is regulated by resident partners; that
is to say, partners who reside in the tramontane country, but who move
about from place to place, either with Indian tribes, whose traffic
they wish to monopolize, or with main bodies of their own men, whom they
employ in trading and trapping. In the meantime, they detach bands,
or “brigades” as they are termed, of trappers in various directions,
assigning to each a portion of country as a hunting or trapping ground.
In the months of June and July, when there is an interval between the
hunting seasons, a general rendezvous is held, at some designated place
in the mountains, where the affairs of the past year are settled by the
resident partners, and the plans for the following year arranged.

To this rendezvous repair the various brigades of trappers from their
widely separated hunting grounds, bringing in the products of their
year’s campaign. Hither also repair the Indian tribes accustomed to
traffic their peltries with the company. Bands of free trappers resort
hither also, to sell the furs they have collected; or to engage their
services for the next hunting season.

To this rendezvous the company sends annually a convoy of supplies from
its establishment on the Atlantic frontier, under the guidance of some
experienced partner or officer. On the arrival of this convoy, the
resident partner at the rendezvous depends to set all his next year’s
machinery in motion.

Now as the rival companies keep a vigilant eye upon each other, and are
anxious to discover each other’s plans and movements, they generally
contrive to hold their annual assemblages at no great distance apart.
An eager competition exists also between their respective convoys of
supplies, which shall first reach its place of rendezvous. For this
purpose, they set off with the first appearance of grass on the Atlantic
frontier and push with all diligence for the mountains. The company that
can first open its tempting supplies of coffee, tobacco, ammunition,
scarlet cloth, blankets, bright shawls, and glittering trinkets has the
greatest chance to get all the peltries and furs of the Indians and free
trappers, and to engage their services for the next season. It is able,
also, to fit out and dispatch its own trappers the soonest, so as to
get the start of its competitors, and to have the first dash into the
hunting and trapping grounds.

A new species of strategy has sprung out of this hunting and trapping
competition. The constant study of the rival bands is to forestall and
outwit each other; to supplant each other in the good will and custom of
the Indian tribes; to cross each other’s plans; to mislead each other as
to routes; in a word, next to his own advantage, the study of the Indian
trader is the disadvantage of his competitor.

The influx of this wandering trade has had its effects on the habits of
the mountain tribes. They have found the trapping of the beaver their
most profitable species of hunting; and the traffic with the white man
has opened to them sources of luxury of which they previously had no
idea. The introduction of firearms has rendered them more successful
hunters, but at the same time, more formidable foes; some of them,
incorrigibly savage and warlike in their nature, have found the
expeditions of the fur traders grand objects of profitable adventure.
To waylay and harass a band of trappers with their pack-horses, when
embarrassed in the rugged defiles of the mountains, has become as
favorite an exploit with these Indians as the plunder of a caravan to
the Arab of the desert. The Crows and Blackfeet, who were such terrors
in the path of the early adventurers to Astoria, still continue their
predatory habits, but seem to have brought them to greater system. They
know the routes and resorts of the trappers; where to waylay them on
their journeys; where to find them in the hunting seasons, and where to
hover about them in winter quarters. The life of a trapper, therefore,
is a perpetual state militant, and he must sleep with his weapons in his
hands.

A new order of trappers and traders, also, has grown out of this system
of things. In the old times of the great Northwest Company, when the
trade in furs was pursued chiefly about the lakes and rivers, the
expeditions were carried on in batteaux and canoes. The voyageurs or
boatmen were the rank and file in the service of the trader, and even
the hardy “men of the north,” those great rufflers and game birds, were
fain to be paddled from point to point of their migrations.

A totally different class has now sprung up:--“the Mountaineers,” the
traders and trappers that scale the vast mountain chains, and pursue
their hazardous vocations amidst their wild recesses. They move from
place to place on horseback. The equestrian exercises, therefore, in
which they are engaged, the nature of the countries they traverse, vast
plains and mountains, pure and exhilarating in atmospheric qualities,
seem to make them physically and mentally a more lively and mercurial
race than the fur traders and trappers of former days, the self-vaunting
“men of the north.” A man who bestrides a horse must be essentially
different from a man who cowers in a canoe. We find them, accordingly,
hardy, lithe, vigorous, and active; extravagant in word, and thought,
and deed; heedless of hardship; daring of danger; prodigal of the
present, and thoughtless of the future.

A difference is to be perceived even between these mountain hunters and
those of the lower regions along the waters of the Missouri. The latter,
generally French creoles, live comfortably in cabins and log-huts, well
sheltered from the inclemencies of the seasons. They are within
the reach of frequent supplies from the settlements; their life is
comparatively free from danger, and from most of the vicissitudes of
the upper wilderness. The consequence is that they are less hardy,
self-dependent and game-spirited than the mountaineer. If the latter by
chance comes among them on his way to and from the settlements, he
is like a game-cock among the common roosters of the poultry-yard.
Accustomed to live in tents, or to bivouac in the open air, he despises
the comforts and is impatient of the confinement of the log-house. If
his meal is not ready in season, he takes his rifle, hies to the forest
or prairie, shoots his own game, lights his fire, and cooks his repast.
With his horse and his rifle, he is independent of the world, and spurns
at all its restraints. The very superintendents at the lower posts
will not put him to mess with the common men, the hirelings of the
establishment, but treat him as something superior.

There is, perhaps, no class of men on the face of the earth, says
Captain Bonneville, who lead a life of more continued exertion, peril,
and excitement, and who are more enamored of their occupations, than the
free trappers of the West. No toil, no danger, no privation can turn the
trapper from his pursuit. His passionate excitement at times resembles
a mania. In vain may the most vigilant and cruel savages beset his
path; in vain may rocks and precipices and wintry torrents oppose
his progress; let but a single track of a beaver meet his eye, and he
forgets all dangers and defies all difficulties. At times, he may be
seen with his traps on his shoulder, buffeting his way across rapid
streams, amidst floating blocks of ice: at other times, he is to be
found with his traps swung on his back clambering the most rugged
mountains, scaling or descending the most frightful precipices,
searching, by routes inaccessible to the horse, and never before trodden
by white man, for springs and lakes unknown to his comrades, and where
he may meet with his favorite game. Such is the mountaineer, the hardy
trapper of the West; and such, as we have slightly sketched it, is the
wild, Robin Hood kind of life, with all its strange and motley populace,
now existing in full vigor among the Rocky Mountains.

Having thus given the reader some idea of the actual state of the fur
trade in the interior of our vast continent, and made him acquainted
with the wild chivalry of the mountains, we will no longer delay the
introduction of Captain Bonneville and his band into this field of their
enterprise, but launch them at once upon the perilous plains of the Far
West.




2.

     Departure from--Fort Osage--Modes of transportation--Pack-
     horses--Wagons--Walker and Cerre; their characters--Buoyant
     feelings on launching upon the prairies--Wild equipments of
     the trappers--Their gambols and antics--Difference of
     character between the American and French trappers--Agency
     of the Kansas--General--Clarke--White Plume, the Kansas
     chief--Night scene in a trader’s camp--Colloquy between--
     White Plume and the captain--Bee-hunters--Their
     expeditions--Their feuds with the Indians--Bargaining talent
     of White Plume


IT WAS ON THE FIRST of May, 1832, that Captain Bonneville took his
departure from the frontier post of Fort Osage, on the Missouri. He had
enlisted a party of one hundred and ten men, most of whom had been
in the Indian country, and some of whom were experienced hunters and
trappers. Fort Osage, and other places on the borders of the western
wilderness, abound with characters of the kind, ready for any
expedition.

The ordinary mode of transportation in these great inland expeditions
of the fur traders is on mules and pack-horses; but Captain Bonneville
substituted wagons. Though he was to travel through a trackless
wilderness, yet the greater part of his route would lie across open
plains, destitute of forests, and where wheel carriages can pass in
every direction. The chief difficulty occurs in passing the deep ravines
cut through the prairies by streams and winter torrents. Here it is
often necessary to dig a road down the banks, and to make bridges for
the wagons.

In transporting his baggage in vehicles of this kind, Captain Bonneville
thought he would save the great delay caused every morning by packing
the horses, and the labor of unpacking in the evening. Fewer horses also
would be required, and less risk incurred of their wandering away, or
being frightened or carried off by the Indians. The wagons, also, would
be more easily defended, and might form a kind of fortification in case
of attack in the open prairies. A train of twenty wagons, drawn by oxen,
or by four mules or horses each, and laden with merchandise, ammunition,
and provisions, were disposed in two columns in the center of the party,
which was equally divided into a van and a rear-guard. As sub-leaders or
lieutenants in his expedition, Captain Bonneville had made choice of Mr.
J. R. Walker and Mr. M. S. Cerre. The former was a native of Tennessee,
about six feet high, strong built, dark complexioned, brave in spirit,
though mild in manners. He had resided for many years in Missouri, on
the frontier; had been among the earliest adventurers to Santa Fe, where
he went to trap beaver, and was taken by the Spaniards. Being liberated,
he engaged with the Spaniards and Sioux Indians in a war against the
Pawnees; then returned to Missouri, and had acted by turns as
sheriff, trader, trapper, until he was enlisted as a leader by Captain
Bonneville.

Cerre, his other leader, had likewise been in expeditions to Santa Fe,
in which he had endured much hardship. He was of the middle size,
light complexioned, and though but about twenty-five years of age, was
considered an experienced Indian trader. It was a great object with
Captain Bonneville to get to the mountains before the summer heats
and summer flies should render the travelling across the prairies
distressing; and before the annual assemblages of people connected
with the fur trade should have broken up, and dispersed to the hunting
grounds.

The two rival associations already mentioned, the American Fur Company
and the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, had their several places of
rendezvous for the present year at no great distance apart, in Pierre’s
Hole, a deep valley in the heart of the mountains, and thither Captain
Bonneville intended to shape his course.

It is not easy to do justice to the exulting feelings of the worthy
captain at finding himself at the head of a stout band of hunters,
trappers, and woodmen; fairly launched on the broad prairies, with his
face to the boundless West. The tamest inhabitant of cities, the veriest
spoiled child of civilization, feels his heart dilate and his pulse beat
high on finding himself on horseback in the glorious wilderness; what
then must be the excitement of one whose imagination had been stimulated
by a residence on the frontier, and to whom the wilderness was a region
of romance!

His hardy followers partook of his excitement. Most of them had already
experienced the wild freedom of savage life, and looked forward to a
renewal of past scenes of adventure and exploit. Their very appearance
and equipment exhibited a piebald mixture, half civilized and half
savage. Many of them looked more like Indians than white men in their
garbs and accoutrements, and their very horses were caparisoned in
barbaric style, with fantastic trappings. The outset of a band of
adventurers on one of these expeditions is always animated and joyous.
The welkin rang with their shouts and yelps, after the manner of the
savages; and with boisterous jokes and light-hearted laughter. As they
passed the straggling hamlets and solitary cabins that fringe the skirts
of the frontier, they would startle their inmates by Indian yells and
war-whoops, or regale them with grotesque feats of horsemanship,
well suited to their half-savage appearance. Most of these abodes were
inhabited by men who had themselves been in similar expeditions; they
welcomed the travellers, therefore, as brother trappers, treated them
with a hunter’s hospitality, and cheered them with an honest God speed
at parting.

And here we would remark a great difference, in point of character
and quality, between the two classes of trappers, the “American” and
“French,” as they are called in contradistinction. The latter is meant
to designate the French creole of Canada or Louisiana; the former, the
trapper of the old American stock, from Kentucky, Tennessee, and others
of the western States. The French trapper is represented as a lighter,
softer, more self-indulgent kind of man. He must have his Indian wife,
his lodge, and his petty conveniences. He is gay and thoughtless, takes
little heed of landmarks, depends upon his leaders and companions to
think for the common weal, and, if left to himself, is easily perplexed
and lost.

The American trapper stands by himself, and is peerless for the service
of the wilderness. Drop him in the midst of a prairie, or in the heart
of the mountains, and he is never at a loss. He notices every landmark;
can retrace his route through the most monotonous plains, or the most
perplexed labyrinths of the mountains; no danger nor difficulty can
appal him, and he scorns to complain under any privation. In equipping
the two kinds of trappers, the Creole and Canadian are apt to prefer the
light fusee; the American always grasps his rifle; he despises what
he calls the “shot-gun.” We give these estimates on the authority of
a trader of long experience, and a foreigner by birth. “I consider one
American,” said he, “equal to three Canadians in point of sagacity,
aptness at resources, self-dependence, and fearlessness of spirit. In
fact, no one can cope with him as a stark tramper of the wilderness.”

Beside the two classes of trappers just mentioned, Captain Bonneville
had enlisted several Delaware Indians in his employ, on whose hunting
qualifications he placed great reliance.

On the 6th of May the travellers passed the last border habitation,
and bade a long farewell to the ease and security of civilization. The
buoyant and clamorous spirits with which they had commenced their march
gradually subsided as they entered upon its difficulties. They found
the prairies saturated with the heavy cold rains, prevalent in certain
seasons of the year in this part of the country, the wagon wheels sank
deep in the mire, the horses were often to the fetlock, and both steed
and rider were completely jaded by the evening of the 12th, when they
reached the Kansas River; a fine stream about three hundred yards wide,
entering the Missouri from the south. Though fordable in almost every
part at the end of summer and during the autumn, yet it was necessary to
construct a raft for the transportation of the wagons and effects. All
this was done in the course of the following day, and by evening, the
whole party arrived at the agency of the Kansas tribe. This was under
the superintendence of General Clarke, brother of the celebrated
traveller of the same name, who, with Lewis, made the first expedition
down the waters of the Columbia. He was living like a patriarch,
surrounded by laborers and interpreters, all snugly housed, and provided
with excellent farms. The functionary next in consequence to the
agent was the blacksmith, a most important, and, indeed, indispensable
personage in a frontier community. The Kansas resemble the Osages in
features, dress, and language; they raise corn and hunt the buffalo,
ranging the Kansas River, and its tributary streams; at the time of the
captain’s visit, they were at war with the Pawnees of the Nebraska, or
Platte River.

The unusual sight of a train of wagons caused quite a sensation among
these savages; who thronged about the caravan, examining everything
minutely, and asking a thousand questions: exhibiting a degree of
excitability, and a lively curiosity totally opposite to that apathy
with which their race is so often reproached.

The personage who most attracted the captain’s attention at this place
was “White Plume,” the Kansas chief, and they soon became good friends.
White Plume (we are pleased with his chivalrous soubriquet) inhabited
a large stone house, built for him by order of the American government:
but the establishment had not been carried out in corresponding style.
It might be palace without, but it was wigwam within; so that, between
the stateliness of his mansion and the squalidness of his furniture, the
gallant White Plume presented some such whimsical incongruity as we see
in the gala equipments of an Indian chief on a treaty-making embassy
at Washington, who has been generously decked out in cocked hat and
military coat, in contrast to his breech-clout and leathern legging;
being grand officer at top, and ragged Indian at bottom.

White Plume was so taken with the courtesy of the captain, and pleased
with one or two presents received from him, that he accompanied him
a day’s journey on his march, and passed a night in his camp, on the
margin of a small stream. The method of encamping generally observed by
the captain was as follows: The twenty wagons were disposed in a square,
at the distance of thirty-three feet from each other. In every interval
there was a mess stationed; and each mess had its fire, where the men
cooked, ate, gossiped, and slept. The horses were placed in the centre
of the square, with a guard stationed over them at night.

The horses were “side lined,” as it is termed: that is to say, the fore
and hind foot on the same side of the animal were tied together, so as
to be within eighteen inches of each other. A horse thus fettered is for
a time sadly embarrassed, but soon becomes sufficiently accustomed to
the restraint to move about slowly. It prevents his wandering; and his
being easily carried off at night by lurking Indians. When a horse that
is “foot free” is tied to one thus secured, the latter forms, as it
were, a pivot, round which the other runs and curvets, in case of alarm.
The encampment of which we are speaking presented a striking scene.
The various mess-fires were surrounded by picturesque groups, standing,
sitting, and reclining; some busied in cooking, others in cleaning their
weapons: while the frequent laugh told that the rough joke or merry
story was going on. In the middle of the camp, before the principal
lodge, sat the two chieftains, Captain Bonneville and White Plume, in
soldier-like communion, the captain delighted with the opportunity of
meeting on social terms with one of the red warriors of the wilderness,
the unsophisticated children of nature. The latter was squatted on his
buffalo robe, his strong features and red skin glaring in the broad
light of a blazing fire, while he recounted astounding tales of the
bloody exploits of his tribe and himself in their wars with the Pawnees;
for there are no old soldiers more given to long campaigning stories
than Indian “braves.”

The feuds of White Plume, however, had not been confined to the red men;
he had much to say of brushes with bee hunters, a class of offenders
for whom he seemed to cherish a particular abhorrence. As the species
of hunting prosecuted by these worthies is not laid down in any of
the ancient books of venerie, and is, in fact, peculiar to our western
frontier, a word or two on the subject may not be unacceptable to the
reader.

The bee hunter is generally some settler on the verge of the prairies; a
long, lank fellow, of fever and ague complexion, acquired from living
on new soil, and in a hut built of green logs. In the autumn, when the
harvest is over, these; frontier settlers form parties of two or three,
and prepare for a bee hunt. Having provided themselves with a wagon, and
a number of empty casks, they sally off, armed with their rifles, into
the wilderness, directing their course east, west, north, or south,
without any regard to the ordinance of the American government, which
strictly forbids all trespass upon the lands belonging to the Indian
tribes.

The belts of woodland that traverse the lower prairies and border the
rivers are peopled by innumerable swarms of wild bees, which make their
hives in hollow trees and fill them with honey tolled from the rich
flowers of the prairies. The bees, according to popular assertion,
are migrating like the settlers, to the west. An Indian trader, well
experienced in the country, informs us that within ten years that he has
passed in the Far West, the bee has advanced westward above a hundred
miles. It is said on the Missouri, that the wild turkey and the wild bee
go up the river together: neither is found in the upper regions. It is
but recently that the wild turkey has been killed on the Nebraska, or
Platte; and his travelling competitor, the wild bee, appeared there
about the same time.

Be all this as it may: the course of our party of bee hunters is to
make a wide circuit through the woody river bottoms, and the patches
of forest on the prairies, marking, as they go out, every tree in which
they have detected a hive. These marks are generally respected by any
other bee hunter that should come upon their track. When they have
marked sufficient to fill all their casks, they turn their faces
homeward, cut down the trees as they proceed, and having loaded their
wagon with honey and wax, return well pleased to the settlements.

Now it so happens that the Indians relish wild honey as highly as do the
white men, and are the more delighted with this natural luxury from its
having, in many instances, but recently made its appearance in their
lands. The consequence is numberless disputes and conflicts between them
and the bee hunters: and often a party of the latter, returning, laden
with rich spoil, from one of their forays, are apt to be waylaid by the
native lords of the soil; their honey to be seized, their harness cut
to pieces, and themselves left to find their way home the best way
they can, happy to escape with no greater personal harm than a sound
rib-roasting.

Such were the marauders of whose offences the gallant White Plume made
the most bitter complaint. They were chiefly the settlers of the western
part of Missouri, who are the most famous bee hunters on the frontier,
and whose favorite hunting ground lies within the lands of the Kansas
tribe. According to the account of White Plume, however, matters were
pretty fairly balanced between him and the offenders; he having as often
treated them to a taste of the bitter, as they had robbed him of the
sweets.

It is but justice to this gallant chief to say that he gave proofs of
having acquired some of the lights of civilization from his proximity
to the whites, as was evinced in his knowledge of driving a bargain. He
required hard cash in return for some corn with which he supplied the
worthy captain, and left the latter at a loss which most to admire, his
native chivalry as a brave, or his acquired adroitness as a trader.




3.

     Wide prairies Vegetable productions Tabular hills--Slabs of
     sandstone Nebraska or Platte River--Scanty fare--Buffalo
     skulls--Wagons turned into boats--Herds of buffalo--Cliffs
     resembling castles--The chimney--Scott’s Bluffs Story
     connected with them--The bighorn or ahsahta--Its nature and
     habits--Difference between that and the “woolly sheep,” or
     goat of the mountains

FROM THE MIDDLE to the end of May, Captain Bonneville pursued a western
course over vast undulating plains, destitute of tree or shrub, rendered
miry by occasional rain, and cut up by deep water-courses where they had
to dig roads for their wagons down the soft crumbling banks and to throw
bridges across the streams. The weather had attained the summer heat;
the thermometer standing about fifty-seven degrees in the morning,
early, but rising to about ninety degrees at noon. The incessant
breezes, however, which sweep these vast plains render the heats
endurable. Game was scanty, and they had to eke out their scanty fare
with wild roots and vegetables, such as the Indian potato, the wild
onion, and the prairie tomato, and they met with quantities of “red
root,” from which the hunters make a very palatable beverage. The only
human being that crossed their path was a Kansas warrior, returning from
some solitary expedition of bravado or revenge, bearing a Pawnee scalp
as a trophy.

The country gradually rose as they proceeded westward, and their route
took them over high ridges, commanding wide and beautiful prospects.
The vast plain was studded on the west with innumerable hills of conical
shape, such as are seen north of the Arkansas River. These hills have
their summits apparently cut off about the same elevation, so as to
leave flat surfaces at top. It is conjectured by some that the whole
country may originally have been of the altitude of these tabular hills;
but through some process of nature may have sunk to its present level;
these insulated eminences being protected by broad foundations of solid
rock.

Captain Bonneville mentions another geological phenomenon north of
Red River, where the surface of the earth, in considerable tracts of
country, is covered with broad slabs of sandstone, having the form and
position of grave-stones, and looking as if they had been forced up by
some subterranean agitation. “The resemblance,” says he, “which these
very remarkable spots have in many places to old church-yards is curious
in the extreme. One might almost fancy himself among the tombs of the
pre-Adamites.”

On the 2d of June, they arrived on the main stream of the Nebraska or
Platte River; twenty-five miles below the head of the Great Island. The
low banks of this river give it an appearance of great width. Captain
Bonneville measured it in one place, and found it twenty-two hundred
yards from bank to bank. Its depth was from three to six feet, the
bottom full of quicksands. The Nebraska is studded with islands covered
with that species of poplar called the cotton-wood tree. Keeping up
along the course of this river for several days, they were obliged,
from the scarcity of game, to put themselves upon short allowance,
and, occasionally, to kill a steer. They bore their daily labors and
privations, however, with great good humor, taking their tone, in all
probability, from the buoyant spirit of their leader. “If the weather
was inclement,” said the captain, “we watched the clouds, and hoped
for a sight of the blue sky and the merry sun. If food was scanty,
we regaled ourselves with the hope of soon falling in with herds of
buffalo, and having nothing to do but slay and eat.” We doubt whether
the genial captain is not describing the cheeriness of his own breast,
which gave a cheery aspect to everything around him.

There certainly were evidences, however, that the country was not always
equally destitute of game. At one place, they observed a field decorated
with buffalo skulls, arranged in circles, curves, and other mathematical
figures, as if for some mystic rite or ceremony. They were almost
innumerable, and seemed to have been a vast hecatomb offered up in
thanksgiving to the Great Spirit for some signal success in the chase.

On the 11th of June, they came to the fork of the Nebraska, where
it divides itself into two equal and beautiful streams. One of these
branches rises in the west-southwest, near the headwaters of the
Arkansas. Up the course of this branch, as Captain Bonneville was well
aware, lay the route to the Camanche and Kioway Indians, and to the
northern Mexican settlements; of the other branch he knew nothing. Its
sources might lie among wild and inaccessible cliffs, and tumble and
foam down rugged defiles and over craggy precipices; but its direction
was in the true course, and up this stream he determined to prosecute
his route to the Rocky Mountains. Finding it impossible, from
quicksands and other dangerous impediments, to cross the river in this
neighborhood, he kept up along the south fork for two days, merely
seeking a safe fording place. At length he encamped, caused the bodies
of the wagons to be dislodged from the wheels, covered with buffalo
hide, and besmeared with a compound of tallow and ashes; thus forming
rude boats. In these, they ferried their effects across the stream,
which was six hundred yards wide, with a swift and strong current. Three
men were in each boat, to manage it; others waded across pushing the
barks before them. Thus all crossed in safety. A march of nine miles
took them over high rolling prairies to the north fork; their eyes being
regaled with the welcome sight of herds of buffalo at a distance, some
careering the plain, others grazing and reposing in the natural meadows.

Skirting along the north fork for a day or two, excessively annoyed by
musquitoes and buffalo gnats, they reached, in the evening of the 17th,
a small but beautiful grove, from which issued the confused notes of
singing birds, the first they had heard since crossing the boundary
of Missouri. After so many days of weary travelling through a naked,
monotonous and silent country, it was delightful once more to hear
the song of the bird, and to behold the verdure of the grove. It was
a beautiful sunset, and a sight of the glowing rays, mantling the
tree-tops and rustling branches, gladdened every heart. They pitched
their camp in the grove, kindled their fires, partook merrily of their
rude fare, and resigned themselves to the sweetest sleep they had
enjoyed since their outset upon the prairies.

The country now became rugged and broken. High bluffs advanced upon the
river, and forced the travellers occasionally to leave its banks and
wind their course into the interior. In one of the wild and solitary
passes they were startled by the trail of four or five pedestrians, whom
they supposed to be spies from some predatory camp of either Arickara
or Crow Indians. This obliged them to redouble their vigilance at
night, and to keep especial watch upon their horses. In these rugged
and elevated regions they began to see the black-tailed deer, a
species larger than the ordinary kind, and chiefly found in rocky and
mountainous countries. They had reached also a great buffalo range;
Captain Bonneville ascended a high bluff, commanding an extensive view
of the surrounding plains. As far as his eye could reach, the country
seemed absolutely blackened by innumerable herds. No language, he says,
could convey an adequate idea of the vast living mass thus presented to
his eye. He remarked that the bulls and cows generally congregated in
separate herds.

Opposite to the camp at this place was a singular phenomenon, which
is among the curiosities of the country. It is called the chimney. The
lower part is a conical mound, rising out of the naked plain; from the
summit shoots up a shaft or column, about one hundred and twenty feet
in height, from which it derives its name. The height of the whole,
according to Captain Bonneville, is a hundred and seventy-five yards.
It is composed of indurated clay, with alternate layers of red and white
sandstone, and may be seen at the distance of upward of thirty miles.

On the 21st, they encamped amidst high and beetling cliffs of indurated
clay and sandstone, bearing the semblance of towers, castles, churches,
and fortified cities. At a distance, it was scarcely possible to
persuade one’s self that the works of art were not mingled with these
fantastic freaks of nature. They have received the name of Scott’s
Bluffs, from a melancholy circumstance. A number of years since, a party
were descending the upper part of the river in canoes, when their frail
barks were overturned and all their powder spoiled. Their rifles being
thus rendered useless, they were unable to procure food by hunting
and had to depend upon roots and wild fruits for subsistence. After
suffering extremely from hunger, they arrived at Laramie’s Fork, a small
tributary of the north branch of the Nebraska, about sixty miles above
the cliffs just mentioned. Here one of the party, by the name of Scott,
was taken ill; and his companions came to a halt, until he should
recover health and strength sufficient to proceed. While they were
searching round in quest of edible roots, they discovered a fresh trail
of white men, who had evidently but recently preceded them. What was to
be done? By a forced march they might overtake this party, and thus be
able to reach the settlements in safety. Should they linger, they might
all perish of famine and exhaustion. Scott, however, was incapable of
moving; they were too feeble to aid him forward, and dreaded that such
a clog would prevent their coming up with the advance party. They
determined, therefore, to abandon him to his fate. Accordingly, under
presence of seeking food, and such simples as might be efficacious in
his malady, they deserted him and hastened forward upon the trail.
They succeeded in overtaking the party of which they were in quest, but
concealed their faithless desertion of Scott; alleging that he had died
of disease.

On the ensuing summer, these very individuals visiting these parts in
company with others, came suddenly upon the bleached bones and grinning
skull of a human skeleton, which, by certain signs they recognized for
the remains of Scott. This was sixty long miles from the place where
they had abandoned him; and it appeared that the wretched man had
crawled that immense distance before death put an end to his miseries.
The wild and picturesque bluffs in the neighborhood of his lonely grave
have ever since borne his name.

Amidst this wild and striking scenery, Captain Bonneville, for the first
time, beheld flocks of the ahsahta or bighorn, an animal which frequents
these cliffs in great numbers. They accord with the nature of such
scenery, and add much to its romantic effect; bounding like goats from
crag to crag, often trooping along the lofty shelves of the mountains,
under the guidance of some venerable patriarch with horns twisted lower
than his muzzle, and sometimes peering over the edge of a precipice,
so high that they appear scarce bigger than crows; indeed, it seems
a pleasure to them to seek the most rugged and frightful situations,
doubtless from a feeling of security.

This animal is commonly called the mountain sheep, and is often
confounded with another animal, the “woolly sheep,” found more to the
northward, about the country of the Flatheads. The latter likewise
inhabits cliffs in summer, but descends into the valleys in the winter.
It has white wool, like a sheep, mingled with a thin growth of long
hair; but it has short legs, a deep belly, and a beard like a goat. Its
horns are about five inches long, slightly curved backwards, black as
jet, and beautifully polished. Its hoofs are of the same color. This
animal is by no means so active as the bighorn; it does not bound much,
but sits a good deal upon its haunches. It is not so plentiful either;
rarely more than two or three are seen at a time. Its wool alone gives
a resemblance to the sheep; it is more properly of the flesh is said to
have a musty flavor; some have thought the fleece might be valuable, as
it is said to be as fine as that of the goat Cashmere, but it is not to
be procured in sufficient quantities.

The ahsahta, argali, or bighorn, on the contrary, has short hair like a
deer, and resembles it in shape, but has the head and horns of a sheep,
and its flesh is said to be delicious mutton. The Indians consider it
more sweet and delicate than any other kind of venison. It abounds in
the Rocky Mountains, from the fiftieth degree of north latitude,
quite down to California; generally in the highest regions capable of
vegetation; sometimes it ventures into the valleys, but on the least
alarm, regains its favorite cliffs and precipices, where it is perilous,
if not impossible for the hunter to follow.




4.

     An alarm--Crow--Indians--Their appearance--Mode of approach
     --Their vengeful errand--Their curiosity--Hostility between
     the Crows and Blackfeet--Loving conduct of the Crows--
     Laramie’s Fork--First navigation of the--Nebraska--Great
     elevation of the country--Rarity of the atmosphere--Its
     effect on the wood-work of wagons--Black Hills--Their wild
     and broken scenery--Indian dogs--Crow trophies--Sterile and
     dreary country--Banks of the Sweet Water--Buffalo hunting--
     Adventure of Tom Cain the Irish cook

WHEN ON THE MARCH, Captain Bonneville always sent some of his best
hunters in the advance to reconnoitre the country, as well as to look
out for game. On the 24th of May, as the caravan was slowly journeying
up the banks of the Nebraska, the hunters came galloping back, waving
their caps, and giving the alarm cry, Indians! Indians!

The captain immediately ordered a halt: the hunters now came up and
announced that a large war-party of Crow Indians were just above, on the
river. The captain knew the character of these savages; one of the
most roving, warlike, crafty, and predatory tribes of the mountains;
horse-stealers of the first order, and easily provoked to acts of
sanguinary violence. Orders were accordingly given to prepare for
action, and every one promptly took the post that had been assigned him
in the general order of the march, in all cases of warlike emergency.

Everything being put in battle array, the captain took the lead of his
little band, and moved on slowly and warily. In a little while he beheld
the Crow warriors emerging from among the bluffs. There were about sixty
of them; fine martial-looking fellows, painted and arrayed for war, and
mounted on horses decked out with all kinds of wild trappings. They
came prancing along in gallant style, with many wild and dexterous
evolutions, for none can surpass them in horsemanship; and their
bright colors, and flaunting and fantastic embellishments, glaring
and sparkling in the morning sunshine, gave them really a striking
appearance.

Their mode of approach, to one not acquainted with the tactics and
ceremonies of this rude chivalry of the wilderness, had an air of direct
hostility. They came galloping forward in a body, as if about to make a
furious charge, but, when close at hand, opened to the right and left,
and wheeled in wide circles round the travellers, whooping and yelling
like maniacs.

This done, their mock fury sank into a calm, and the chief, approaching
the captain, who had remained warily drawn up, though informed of the
pacific nature of the maneuver, extended to him the hand of friendship.
The pipe of peace was smoked, and now all was good fellowship.

The Crows were in pursuit of a band of Cheyennes, who had attacked their
village in the night and killed one of their people. They had already
been five and twenty days on the track of the marauders, and were
determined not to return home until they had sated their revenge.

A few days previously, some of their scouts, who were ranging the
country at a distance from the main body, had discovered the party of
Captain Bonneville. They had dogged it for a time in secret, astonished
at the long train of wagons and oxen, and especially struck with the
sight of a cow and calf, quietly following the caravan; supposing them
to be some kind of tame buffalo. Having satisfied their curiosity, they
carried back to their chief intelligence of all that they had seen. He
had, in consequence, diverged from his pursuit of vengeance to behold
the wonders described to him. “Now that we have met you,” said he to
Captain Bonneville, “and have seen these marvels with our own eyes, our
hearts are glad.” In fact, nothing could exceed the curiosity evinced by
these people as to the objects before them. Wagons had never been seen
by them before, and they examined them with the greatest minuteness; but
the calf was the peculiar object of their admiration. They watched it
with intense interest as it licked the hands accustomed to feed it, and
were struck with the mild expression of its countenance, and its perfect
docility.

After much sage consultation, they at length determined that it must
be the “great medicine” of the white party; an appellation given by the
Indians to anything of supernatural and mysterious power that is guarded
as a talisman. They were completely thrown out in their conjecture,
however, by an offer of the white men to exchange the calf for a horse;
their estimation of the great medicine sank in an instant, and they
declined the bargain.

At the request of the Crow chieftain the two parties encamped together,
and passed the residue of the day in company. The captain was
well pleased with every opportunity to gain a knowledge of the
“unsophisticated sons of nature,” who had so long been objects of his
poetic speculations; and indeed this wild, horse-stealing tribe is one
of the most notorious of the mountains. The chief, of course, had
his scalps to show and his battles to recount. The Blackfoot is the
hereditary enemy of the Crow, toward whom hostility is like a cherished
principle of religion; for every tribe, besides its casual
antagonists, has some enduring foe with whom there can be no permanent
reconciliation. The Crows and Blackfeet, upon the whole, are enemies
worthy of each other, being rogues and ruffians of the first water. As
their predatory excursions extend over the same regions, they often come
in contact with each other, and these casual conflicts serve to keep
their wits awake and their passions alive.

The present party of Crows, however, evinced nothing of the invidious
character for which they are renowned. During the day and night that
they were encamped in company with the travellers, their conduct was
friendly in the extreme. They were, in fact, quite irksome in their
attentions, and had a caressing manner at times quite importunate. It
was not until after separation on the following morning that the captain
and his men ascertained the secret of all this loving-kindness. In the
course of their fraternal caresses, the Crows had contrived to empty the
pockets of their white brothers; to abstract the very buttons from their
coats, and, above all, to make free with their hunting knives.

By equal altitudes of the sun, taken at this last encampment, Captain
Bonneville ascertained his latitude to be 41 47’ north. The thermometer,
at six o’clock in the morning, stood at fifty-nine degrees; at two
o’clock, P. M., at ninety-two degrees; and at six o’clock in the
evening, at seventy degrees.

The Black Hills, or Mountains, now began to be seen at a distance,
printing the horizon with their rugged and broken outlines; and
threatening to oppose a difficult barrier in the way of the travellers.

On the 26th of May, the travellers encamped at Laramie’s Fork, a clear
and beautiful stream, rising in the west-southwest, maintaining an
average width of twenty yards, and winding through broad meadows
abounding in currants and gooseberries, and adorned with groves and
clumps of trees.

By an observation of Jupiter’s satellites, with a Dolland reflecting
telescope, Captain Bonneville ascertained the longitude to be 102 57’
west of Greenwich.

We will here step ahead of our narrative to observe that about three
years after the time of which we are treating, Mr. Robert Campbell,
formerly of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, descended the Platte
from this fork, in skin canoes, thus proving, what had always been
discredited, that the river was navigable. About the same time, he built
a fort or trading post at Laramie’s Fork, which he named Fort William,
after his friend and partner, Mr. William Sublette. Since that time, the
Platte has become a highway for the fur traders.

For some days past, Captain Bonneville had been made sensible of the
great elevation of country into which he was gradually ascending by the
effect of the dryness and rarefaction of the atmosphere upon his wagons.
The wood-work shrunk; the paint boxes of the wheels were continually
working out, and it was necessary to support the spokes by stout props
to prevent their falling asunder. The travellers were now entering one
of those great steppes of the Far West, where the prevalent aridity
of the atmosphere renders the country unfit for cultivation. In these
regions there is a fresh sweet growth of grass in the spring, but it is
scanty and short, and parches up in the course of the summer, so that
there is none for the hunters to set fire to in the autumn. It is a
common observation that “above the forks of the Platte the grass does
not burn.” All attempts at agriculture and gardening in the neighborhood
of Fort William have been attended with very little success. The grain
and vegetables raised there have been scanty in quantity and poor in
quality. The great elevation of these plains, and the dryness of the
atmosphere, will tend to retain these immense regions in a state of
pristine wildness.

In the course of a day or two more, the travellers entered that wild and
broken tract of the Crow country called the Black Hills, and here their
journey became toilsome in the extreme. Rugged steeps and deep ravines
incessantly obstructed their progress, so that a great part of the
day was spent in the painful toil of digging through banks, filling up
ravines, forcing the wagons up the most forbidding ascents, or swinging
them with ropes down the face of dangerous precipices. The shoes of
their horses were worn out, and their feet injured by the rugged and
stony roads. The travellers were annoyed also by frequent but brief
storms, which would come hurrying over the hills, or through the
mountain defiles, rage with great fury for a short time, and then pass
off, leaving everything calm and serene again.

For several nights the camp had been infested by vagabond Indian dogs,
prowling about in quest of food. They were about the size of a large
pointer; with ears short and erect, and a long bushy tail--altogether,
they bore a striking resemblance to a wolf. These skulking visitors
would keep about the purlieus of the camp until daylight; when, on the
first stir of life among the sleepers, they would scamper off until they
reached some rising ground, where they would take their seats, and keep
a sharp and hungry watch upon every movement. The moment the travellers
were fairly on the march, and the camp was abandoned, these starving
hangers-on would hasten to the deserted fires, to seize upon the
half-picked bones, the offal and garbage that lay about; and, having
made a hasty meal, with many a snap and snarl and growl, would follow
leisurely on the trail of the caravan. Many attempts were made to coax
or catch them, but in vain. Their quick and suspicious eyes caught
the slightest sinister movement, and they turned and scampered off. At
length one was taken. He was terribly alarmed, and crouched and trembled
as if expecting instant death. Soothed, however, by caresses, he began
after a time to gather confidence and wag his tail, and at length was
brought to follow close at the heels of his captors, still, however,
darting around furtive and suspicious glances, and evincing a
disposition to scamper off upon the least alarm.

On the first of July the band of Crow warriors again crossed their path.
They came in vaunting and vainglorious style; displaying five Cheyenne
scalps, the trophies of their vengeance. They were now bound homewards,
to appease the manes of their comrade by these proofs that his death had
been revenged, and intended to have scalp-dances and other triumphant
rejoicings. Captain Bonneville and his men, however, were by no means
disposed to renew their confiding intimacy with these crafty savages,
and above all, took care to avoid their pilfering caresses. They
remarked one precaution of the Crows with respect to their horses; to
protect their hoofs from the sharp and jagged rocks among which they had
to pass, they had covered them with shoes of buffalo hide.

The route of the travellers lay generally along the course of the
Nebraska or Platte, but occasionally, where steep promontories advanced
to the margin of the stream, they were obliged to make inland circuits.
One of these took them through a bold and stern country, bordered by a
range of low mountains, running east and west. Everything around bore
traces of some fearful convulsion of nature in times long past. Hitherto
the various strata of rock had exhibited a gentle elevation toward the
southwest, but here everything appeared to have been subverted, and
thrown out of place. In many places there were heavy beds of white
sandstone resting upon red. Immense strata of rocks jutted up into crags
and cliffs; and sometimes formed perpendicular walls and overhanging
precipices. An air of sterility prevailed over these savage wastes. The
valleys were destitute of herbage, and scantily clothed with a stunted
species of wormwood, generally known among traders and trappers by the
name of sage. From an elevated point of their march through this region,
the travellers caught a beautiful view of the Powder River Mountains
away to the north, stretching along the very verge of the horizon, and
seeming, from the snow with which they were mantled, to be a chain of
small white clouds, connecting sky and earth.

Though the thermometer at mid-day ranged from eighty to ninety, and even
sometimes rose to ninety-three degrees, yet occasional spots of snow
were to be seen on the tops of the low mountains, among which the
travellers were journeying; proofs of the great elevation of the whole
region.

The Nebraska, in its passage through the Black Hills, is confined to
a much narrower channel than that through which it flows in the plains
below; but it is deeper and clearer, and rushes with a stronger current.
The scenery, also, is more varied and beautiful. Sometimes it glides
rapidly but smoothly through a picturesque valley, between wooded banks;
then, forcing its way into the bosom of rugged mountains, it rushes
impetuously through narrow defiles, roaring and foaming down rocks and
rapids, until it is again soothed to rest in some peaceful valley.

On the 12th of July, Captain Bonneville abandoned the main stream of the
Nebraska, which was continually shouldered by rugged promontories, and
making a bend to the southwest, for a couple of days, part of the time
over plains of loose sand, encamped on the 14th on the banks of the
Sweet Water, a stream about twenty yards in breadth, and four or five
feet deep, flowing between low banks over a sandy soil, and forming one
of the forks or upper branches of the Nebraska. Up this stream they now
shaped their course for several successive days, tending, generally, to
the west. The soil was light and sandy; the country much diversified.
Frequently the plains were studded with isolated blocks of rock,
sometimes in the shape of a half globe, and from three to four hundred
feet high. These singular masses had occasionally a very imposing, and
even sublime appearance, rising from the midst of a savage and lonely
landscape.

As the travellers continued to advance, they became more and more
sensible of the elevation of the country. The hills around were more
generally capped with snow. The men complained of cramps and colics,
sore lips and mouths, and violent headaches. The wood-work of the wagons
also shrank so much that it was with difficulty the wheels were kept
from falling to pieces. The country bordering upon the river was
frequently gashed with deep ravines, or traversed by high bluffs, to
avoid which, the travellers were obliged to make wide circuits through
the plains. In the course of these, they came upon immense herds of
buffalo, which kept scouring off in the van, like a retreating army.

Among the motley retainers of the camp was Tom Cain, a raw Irishman, who
officiated as cook, whose various blunders and expedients in his novel
situation, and in the wild scenes and wild kind of life into which he
had suddenly been thrown, had made him a kind of butt or droll of
the camp. Tom, however, began to discover an ambition superior to his
station; and the conversation of the hunters, and their stories of their
exploits, inspired him with a desire to elevate himself to the dignity
of their order. The buffalo in such immense droves presented a tempting
opportunity for making his first essay. He rode, in the line of march,
all prepared for action: his powder-flask and shot-pouch knowingly slung
at the pommel of his saddle, to be at hand; his rifle balanced on his
shoulder. While in this plight, a troop of Buffalo came trotting by in
great alarm. In an instant, Tom sprang from his horse and gave chase on
foot. Finding they were leaving him behind, he levelled his rifle and
pulled [the] trigger. His shot produced no other effect than to increase
the speed of the buffalo, and to frighten his own horse, who took to his
heels, and scampered off with all the ammunition. Tom scampered after
him, hallooing with might and main, and the wild horse and wild Irishman
soon disappeared among the ravines of the prairie. Captain Bonneville,
who was at the head of the line, and had seen the transaction at a
distance, detached a party in pursuit of Tom. After a long interval they
returned, leading the frightened horse; but though they had scoured the
country, and looked out and shouted from every height, they had seen
nothing of his rider.

As Captain Bonneville knew Tom’s utter awkwardness and inexperience,
and the dangers of a bewildered Irishman in the midst of a prairie, he
halted and encamped at an early hour, that there might be a regular hunt
for him in the morning.

At early dawn on the following day scouts were sent off in every
direction, while the main body, after breakfast, proceeded slowly on its
course. It was not until the middle of the afternoon that the hunters
returned, with honest Tom mounted behind one of them. They had found him
in a complete state of perplexity and amazement. His appearance caused
shouts of merriment in the camp,--but Tom for once could not join in
the mirth raised at his expense: he was completely chapfallen, and
apparently cured of the hunting mania for the rest of his life.




5.

     Magnificent scenery--Wind River--Mountains--Treasury of
     waters--A stray horse--An Indian trail--Trout streams--The
     Great Green River Valley--An alarm--A band of trappers--
     Fontenelle, his information--Sufferings of thirst--
     Encampment on the Seedskedee--Strategy of rival traders--
     Fortification of the camp--The--Blackfeet--Banditti of the
     mountains--Their character and habits

IT WAS ON THE 20TH of July that Captain Bonneville first came in sight
of the grand region of his hopes and anticipations, the Rocky Mountains.
He had been making a bend to the south, to avoid some obstacles along
the river, and had attained a high, rocky ridge, when a magnificent
prospect burst upon his sight. To the west rose the Wind River
Mountains, with their bleached and snowy summits towering into the
clouds. These stretched far to the north-northwest, until they melted
away into what appeared to be faint clouds, but which the experienced
eyes of the veteran hunters of the party recognized for the rugged
mountains of the Yellowstone; at the feet of which extended the wild
Crow country: a perilous, though profitable region for the trapper.

To the southwest, the eye ranged over an immense extent of wilderness,
with what appeared to be a snowy vapor resting upon its horizon. This,
however, was pointed out as another branch of the Great Chippewyan, or
Rocky chain; being the Eutaw Mountains, at whose basis the wandering
tribe of hunters of the same name pitch their tents. We can imagine the
enthusiasm of the worthy captain when he beheld the vast and mountainous
scene of his adventurous enterprise thus suddenly unveiled before him.
We can imagine with what feelings of awe and admiration he must have
contemplated the Wind River Sierra, or bed of mountains; that great
fountainhead from whose springs, and lakes, and melted snows some of
those mighty rivers take their rise, which wander over hundreds of miles
of varied country and clime, and find their way to the opposite waves of
the Atlantic and the Pacific.

The Wind River Mountains are, in fact, among the most remarkable of the
whole Rocky chain; and would appear to be among the loftiest. They form,
as it were, a great bed of mountains, about eighty miles in length,
and from twenty to thirty in breadth; with rugged peaks, covered with
eternal snows, and deep, narrow valleys full of springs, and brooks, and
rock-bound lakes. From this great treasury of waters issue forth limpid
streams, which, augmenting as they descend, become main tributaries of
the Missouri on the one side, and the Columbia on the other; and give
rise to the Seeds-ke-dee Agie, or Green River, the great Colorado of the
West, that empties its current into the Gulf of California.

The Wind River Mountains are notorious in hunters’ and trappers’
stories: their rugged defiles, and the rough tracts about their
neighborhood, having been lurking places for the predatory hordes of the
mountains, and scenes of rough encounter with Crows and Blackfeet. It
was to the west of these mountains, in the valley of the Seeds-ke-dee
Agie, or Green River, that Captain Bonneville intended to make a halt
for the purpose of giving repose to his people and his horses after
their weary journeying; and of collecting information as to his future
course. This Green River valley, and its immediate neighborhood, as
we have already observed, formed the main point of rendezvous, for
the present year, of the rival fur companies, and the motley populace,
civilized and savage, connected with them. Several days of rugged
travel, however, yet remained for the captain and his men before they
should encamp in this desired resting-place.

On the 21st of July, as they were pursuing their course through one of
the meadows of the Sweet Water, they beheld a horse grazing at a little
distance. He showed no alarm at their approach, but suffered himself
quietly to be taken, evincing a perfect state of tameness. The scouts of
the party were instantly on the look-out for the owners of this animal;
lest some dangerous band of savages might be lurking in the vicinity.
After a narrow search, they discovered the trail of an Indian party,
which had evidently passed through that neighborhood but recently. The
horse was accordingly taken possession of, as an estray; but a more
vigilant watch than usual was kept round the camp at nights, lest his
former owners should be upon the prowl.

The travellers had now attained so high an elevation that on the 23d of
July, at daybreak, there was considerable ice in the waterbuckets,
and the thermometer stood at twenty-two degrees. The rarefy of the
atmosphere continued to affect the wood-work of the wagons, and the
wheels were incessantly falling to pieces. A remedy was at length
devised. The tire of each wheel was taken off; a band of wood was nailed
round the exterior of the felloes, the tire was then made red hot,
replaced round the wheel, and suddenly cooled with water. By this means,
the whole was bound together with great compactness.

The extreme elevation of these great steppes, which range along the
feet of the Rocky Mountains, takes away from the seeming height of their
peaks, which yield to few in the known world in point of altitude above
the level of the sea.

On the 24th, the travellers took final leave of the Sweet Water, and
keeping westwardly, over a low and very rocky ridge, one of the most
southern spurs of the Wind River Mountains, they encamped, after a march
of seven hours and a half, on the banks of a small clear stream, running
to the south, in which they caught a number of fine trout.

The sight of these fish was hailed with pleasure, as a sign that they
had reached the waters which flow into the Pacific; for it is only on
the western streams of the Rocky Mountains that trout are to be taken.
The stream on which they had thus encamped proved, in effect, to be
tributary to the Seeds-ke-dee Agie, or Green River, into which it flowed
at some distance to the south.

Captain Bonneville now considered himself as having fairly passed the
crest of the Rocky Mountains; and felt some degree of exultation in
being the first individual that had crossed, north of the settled
provinces of Mexico, from the waters of the Atlantic to those of the
Pacific, with wagons. Mr. William Sublette, the enterprising leader
of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, had, two or three years previously,
reached the valley of the Wind River, which lies on the northeast of the
mountains; but had proceeded with them no further.

A vast valley now spread itself before the travellers, bounded on one
side by the Wind River Mountains, and to the west, by a long range of
high hills. This, Captain Bonneville was assured by a veteran hunter
in his company, was the great valley of the Seedske-dee; and the same
informant would have fain persuaded him that a small stream, three feet
deep, which he came to on the 25th, was that river. The captain was
convinced, however, that the stream was too insignificant to drain so
wide a valley and the adjacent mountains: he encamped, therefore, at an
early hour, on its borders, that he might take the whole of the next day
to reach the main river; which he presumed to flow between him and the
distant range of western hills.

On the 26th of July, he commenced his march at an early hour, making
directly across the valley, toward the hills in the west; proceeding at
as brisk a rate as the jaded condition of his horses would permit. About
eleven o’clock in the morning, a great cloud of dust was descried in the
rear, advancing directly on the trail of the party. The alarm was given;
they all came to a halt, and held a council of war. Some conjectured
that the band of Indians, whose trail they had discovered in the
neighborhood of the stray horse, had been lying in wait for them in some
secret fastness of the mountains; and were about to attack them on
the open plain, where they would have no shelter. Preparations
were immediately made for defence; and a scouting party sent off to
reconnoitre. They soon came galloping back, making signals that all was
well. The cloud of dust was made by a band of fifty or sixty mounted
trappers, belonging to the American Fur Company, who soon came up,
leading their pack-horses. They were headed by Mr. Fontenelle, an
experienced leader, or “partisan,” as a chief of a party is called in
the technical language of the trappers.

Mr. Fontenelle informed Captain Bonneville that he was on his way from
the company’s trading post on the Yellowstone to the yearly rendezvous,
with reinforcements and supplies for their hunting and trading parties
beyond the mountains; and that he expected to meet, by appointment, with
a band of free trappers in that very neighborhood. He had fallen
upon the trail of Captain Bonneville’s party, just after leaving the
Nebraska; and, finding that they had frightened off all the game, had
been obliged to push on, by forced marches, to avoid famine: both men
and horses were, therefore, much travel-worn; but this was no place to
halt; the plain before them he said was destitute of grass and water,
neither of which would be met with short of the Green River, which was
yet at a considerable distance. He hoped, he added, as his party
were all on horseback, to reach the river, with hard travelling, by
nightfall: but he doubted the possibility of Captain Bonneville’s
arrival there with his wagons before the day following. Having imparted
this information, he pushed forward with all speed.

Captain Bonneville followed on as fast as circumstances would permit.
The ground was firm and gravelly; but the horses were too much fatigued
to move rapidly. After a long and harassing day’s march, without pausing
for a noontide meal, they were compelled, at nine o’clock at night,
to encamp in an open plain, destitute of water or pasturage. On the
following morning, the horses were turned loose at the peep of day; to
slake their thirst, if possible, from the dew collected on the sparse
grass, here and there springing up among dry sand-banks. The soil of a
great part of this Green River valley is a whitish clay, into which the
rain cannot penetrate, but which dries and cracks with the sun. In
some places it produces a salt weed, and grass along the margins of the
streams; but the wider expanses of it are desolate and barren. It
was not until noon that Captain Bonneville reached the banks of the
Seeds-ke-dee, or Colorado of the West; in the meantime, the sufferings
of both men and horses had been excessive, and it was with almost
frantic eagerness that they hurried to allay their burning thirst in the
limpid current of the river.

Fontenelle and his party had not fared much better; the chief part had
managed to reach the river by nightfall, but were nearly knocked up
by the exertion; the horses of others sank under them, and they were
obliged to pass the night upon the road.

On the following morning, July 27th, Fontenelle moved his camp across
the river; while Captain Bonneville proceeded some little distance
below, where there was a small but fresh meadow yielding abundant
pasturage. Here the poor jaded horses were turned out to graze, and take
their rest: the weary journey up the mountains had worn them down in
flesh and spirit; but this last march across the thirsty plain had
nearly finished them.

The captain had here the first taste of the boasted strategy of the
fur trade. During his brief, but social encampment, in company with
Fontenelle, that experienced trapper had managed to win over a number of
Delaware Indians whom the captain had brought with him, by offering them
four hundred dollars each for the ensuing autumnal hunt. The captain was
somewhat astonished when he saw these hunters, on whose services he had
calculated securely, suddenly pack up their traps, and go over to the
rival camp. That he might in some measure, however, be even with his
competitor, he dispatched two scouts to look out for the band of free
trappers who were to meet Fontenelle in this neighborhood, and to
endeavor to bring them to his camp.

As it would be necessary to remain some time in this neighborhood, that
both men and horses might repose, and recruit their strength; and as it
was a region full of danger, Captain Bonneville proceeded to fortify his
camp with breastworks of logs and pickets.

These precautions were, at that time, peculiarly necessary, from the
bands of Blackfeet Indians which were roving about the neighborhood.
These savages are the most dangerous banditti of the mountains, and the
inveterate foe of the trappers. They are Ishmaelites of the first order,
always with weapon in hand, ready for action. The young braves of the
tribe, who are destitute of property, go to war for booty; to gain
horses, and acquire the means of setting up a lodge, supporting a
family, and entitling themselves to a seat in the public councils.
The veteran warriors fight merely for the love of the thing, and the
consequence which success gives them among their people.

They are capital horsemen, and are generally well mounted on short,
stout horses, similar to the prairie ponies to be met with at St. Louis.
When on a war party, however, they go on foot, to enable them to skulk
through the country with greater secrecy; to keep in thickets and
ravines, and use more adroit subterfuges and stratagems. Their mode
of warfare is entirely by ambush, surprise, and sudden assaults in the
night time. If they succeed in causing a panic, they dash forward with
headlong fury: if the enemy is on the alert, and shows no signs of fear,
they become wary and deliberate in their movements.

Some of them are armed in the primitive style, with bows and arrows; the
greater part have American fusees, made after the fashion of those of
the Hudson’s Bay Company. These they procure at the trading post of the
American Fur Company, on Marias River, where they traffic their peltries
for arms, ammunition, clothing, and trinkets. They are extremely fond
of spirituous liquors and tobacco; for which nuisances they are ready
to exchange not merely their guns and horses, but even their wives and
daughters. As they are a treacherous race, and have cherished a lurking
hostility to the whites ever since one of their tribe was killed by
Mr. Lewis, the associate of General Clarke, in his exploring expedition
across the Rocky Mountains, the American Fur Company is obliged
constantly to keep at that post a garrison of sixty or seventy men.

Under the general name of Blackfeet are comprehended several tribes:
such as the Surcies, the Peagans, the Blood Indians, and the Gros
Ventres of the Prairies: who roam about the southern branches of the
Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, together with some other tribes further
north.

The bands infesting the Wind River Mountains and the country adjacent
at the time of which we are treating, were Gros Ventres of the Prairies,
which are not to be confounded with Gros Ventres of the Missouri, who
keep about the lower part of that river, and are friendly to the white
men.

This hostile band keeps about the headwaters of the Missouri, and
numbers about nine hundred fighting men. Once in the course of two or
three years they abandon their usual abodes, and make a visit to the
Arapahoes of the Arkansas. Their route lies either through the Crow
country, and the Black Hills, or through the lands of the Nez Perces,
Flatheads, Bannacks, and Shoshonies. As they enjoy their favorite state
of hostility with all these tribes, their expeditions are prone to be
conducted in the most lawless and predatory style; nor do they hesitate
to extend their maraudings to any party of white men they meet with;
following their trails; hovering about their camps; waylaying and
dogging the caravans of the free traders, and murdering the solitary
trapper. The consequences are frequent and desperate fights between them
and the “mountaineers,” in the wild defiles and fastnesses of the Rocky
Mountains.

The band in question was, at this time, on their way homeward from one
of their customary visits to the Arapahoes; and in the ensuing chapter
we shall treat of some bloody encounters between them and the trappers,
which had taken place just before the arrival of Captain Bonneville
among the mountains.




6.

     Sublette and his band--Robert--Campbell--Mr. Wyeth and a
     band of “down-easters”--Yankee enterprise--Fitzpatrick--His
     adventure with the Blackfeet--A rendezvous of mountaineers--
     The battle of--Pierre’s Hole--An Indian ambuscade--
     Sublette’s return

LEAVING CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE and his band ensconced within their fortified
camp in the Green River valley, we shall step back and accompany a party
of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company in its progress, with supplies
from St. Louis, to the annual rendezvous at Pierre’s Hole. This
party consisted of sixty men, well mounted, and conducting a line of
packhorses. They were commanded by Captain William Sublette, a partner
in the company, and one of the most active, intrepid, and renowned
leaders in this half military kind of service. He was accompanied by
his associate in business, and tried companion in danger, Mr. Robert
Campbell, one of the pioneers of the trade beyond the mountains, who had
commanded trapping parties there in times of the greatest peril.

As these worthy compeers were on their route to the frontier, they fell
in with another expedition, likewise on its way to the mountains. This
was a party of regular “down-easters,” that is to say, people of New
England, who, with the all-penetrating and all-pervading spirit of their
race, were now pushing their way into a new field of enterprise with
which they were totally unacquainted. The party had been fitted out and
was maintained and commanded by Mr. Nathaniel J. Wyeth, of Boston. This
gentleman had conceived an idea that a profitable fishery for salmon
might be established on the Columbia River, and connected with the fur
trade. He had, accordingly, invested capital in goods, calculated, as he
supposed, for the Indian trade, and had enlisted a number of eastern men
in his employ, who had never been in the Far West, nor knew anything of
the wilderness. With these, he was bravely steering his way across the
continent, undismayed by danger, difficulty, or distance, in the same
way that a New England coaster and his neighbors will coolly launch
forth on a voyage to the Black Sea, or a whaling cruise to the Pacific.

With all their national aptitude at expedient and resource, Wyeth and
his men felt themselves completely at a loss when they reached the
frontier, and found that the wilderness required experience and
habitudes of which they were totally deficient. Not one of the party,
excepting the leader, had ever seen an Indian or handled a rifle; they
were without guide or interpreter, and totally unacquainted with “wood
craft” and the modes of making their way among savage hordes, and
subsisting themselves during long marches over wild mountains and barren
plains.

In this predicament, Captain Sublette found them, in a manner becalmed,
or rather run aground, at the little frontier town of Independence,
in Missouri, and kindly took them in tow. The two parties travelled
amicably together; the frontier men of Sublette’s party gave their
Yankee comrades some lessons in hunting, and some insight into the art
and mystery of dealing with the Indians, and they all arrived without
accident at the upper branches of the Nebraska or Platte River.

In the course of their march, Mr. Fitzpatrick, the partner of the
company who was resident at that time beyond the mountains, came
down from the rendezvous at Pierre’s Hole to meet them and hurry them
forward. He travelled in company with them until they reached the Sweet
Water; then taking a couple of horses, one for the saddle, and the
other as a pack-horse, he started off express for Pierre’s Hole, to make
arrangements against their arrival, that he might commence his hunting
campaign before the rival company.

Fitzpatrick was a hardy and experienced mountaineer, and knew all the
passes and defiles. As he was pursuing his lonely course up the Green
River valley, he described several horsemen at a distance, and came to
a halt to reconnoitre. He supposed them to be some detachment from the
rendezvous, or a party of friendly Indians. They perceived him, and
setting up the war-whoop, dashed forward at full speed: he saw at once
his mistake and his peril--they were Blackfeet. Springing upon his
fleetest horse, and abandoning the other to the enemy, he made for
the mountains, and succeeded in escaping up one of the most dangerous
defiles. Here he concealed himself until he thought the Indians had gone
off, when he returned into the valley. He was again pursued, lost his
remaining horse, and only escaped by scrambling up among the cliffs. For
several days he remained lurking among rocks and precipices, and almost
famished, having but one remaining charge in his rifle, which he kept
for self-defence.

In the meantime, Sublette and Campbell, with their fellow traveller,
Wyeth, had pursued their march unmolested, and arrived in the Green
River valley, totally unconscious that there was any lurking enemy at
hand. They had encamped one night on the banks of a small stream, which
came down from the Wind River Mountains, when about midnight, a band
of Indians burst upon their camp, with horrible yells and whoops, and
a discharge of guns and arrows. Happily no other harm was done than
wounding one mule, and causing several horses to break loose from their
pickets. The camp was instantly in arms; but the Indians retreated with
yells of exultation, carrying off several of the horses under cover of
the night.

This was somewhat of a disagreeable foretaste of mountain life to some
of Wyeth’s band, accustomed only to the regular and peaceful life of New
England; nor was it altogether to the taste of Captain Sublette’s men,
who were chiefly creoles and townsmen from St. Louis. They continued
their march the next morning, keeping scouts ahead and upon their
flanks, and arrived without further molestation at Pierre’s Hole.

The first inquiry of Captain Sublette, on reaching the rendezvous,
was for Fitzpatrick. He had not arrived, nor had any intelligence been
received concerning him. Great uneasiness was now entertained, lest
he should have fallen into the hands of the Blackfeet who had made
the midnight attack upon the camp. It was a matter of general joy,
therefore, when he made his appearance, conducted by two half-breed
Iroquois hunters. He had lurked for several days among the mountains,
until almost starved; at length he escaped the vigilance of his enemies
in the night, and was so fortunate as to meet the two Iroquois hunters,
who, being on horseback, conveyed him without further difficulty to
the rendezvous. He arrived there so emaciated that he could scarcely be
recognized.

The valley called Pierre’s Hole is about thirty miles in length and
fifteen in width, bounded to the west and south by low and broken
ridges, and overlooked to the east by three lofty mountains, called the
three Tetons, which domineer as landmarks over a vast extent of country.

A fine stream, fed by rivulets and mountain springs, pours through
the valley toward the north, dividing it into nearly equal parts. The
meadows on its borders are broad and extensive, covered with willow and
cotton-wood trees, so closely interlocked and matted together as to be
nearly impassable.

In this valley was congregated the motley populace connected with the
fur trade. Here the two rival companies had their encampments,
with their retainers of all kinds: traders, trappers, hunters, and
half-breeds, assembled from all quarters, awaiting their yearly
supplies, and their orders to start off in new directions. Here, also,
the savage tribes connected with the trade, the Nez Perces or Chopunnish
Indians, and Flatheads, had pitched their lodges beside the streams, and
with their squaws, awaited the distribution of goods and finery. There
was, moreover, a band of fifteen free trappers, commanded by a gallant
leader from Arkansas, named Sinclair, who held their encampment a little
apart from the rest. Such was the wild and heterogeneous assemblage,
amounting to several hundred men, civilized and savage, distributed in
tents and lodges in the several camps.

The arrival of Captain Sublette with supplies put the Rocky Mountain Fur
Company in full activity. The wares and merchandise were quickly opened,
and as quickly disposed of to trappers and Indians; the usual excitement
and revelry took place, after which all hands began to disperse to their
several destinations.

On the 17th of July, a small brigade of fourteen trappers, led by
Milton Sublette, brother of the captain, set out with the intention of
proceeding to the southwest. They were accompanied by Sinclair and his
fifteen free trappers; Wyeth, also, and his New England band of beaver
hunters and salmon fishers, now dwindled down to eleven, took this
opportunity to prosecute their cruise in the wilderness, accompanied
with such experienced pilots. On the first day, they proceeded about
eight miles to the southeast, and encamped for the night, still in the
valley of Pierre’s Hole. On the following morning, just as they were
raising their camp, they observed a long line of people pouring down a
defile of the mountains. They at first supposed them to be Fontenelle
and his party, whose arrival had been daily expected. Wyeth, however,
reconnoitred them with a spy-glass, and soon perceived they were
Indians. They were divided into two parties, forming, in the whole,
about one hundred and fifty persons, men, women, and children. Some were
on horseback, fantastically painted and arrayed, with scarlet blankets
fluttering in the wind. The greater part, however, were on foot. They
had perceived the trappers before they were themselves discovered, and
came down yelling and whooping into the plain. On nearer approach, they
were ascertained to be Blackfeet.

One of the trappers of Sublette’s brigade, a half-breed named Antoine
Godin, now mounted his horse, and rode forth as if to hold a conference.
He was the son of an Iroquois hunter, who had been cruelly murdered by
the Blackfeet at a small stream below the mountains, which still bears
his name. In company with Antoine rode forth a Flathead Indian, whose
once powerful tribe had been completely broken down in their wars with
the Blackfeet. Both of them, therefore, cherished the most vengeful
hostility against these marauders of the mountains. The Blackfeet came
to a halt. One of the chiefs advanced singly and unarmed, bearing the
pipe of peace. This overture was certainly pacific; but Antoine and the
Flathead were predisposed to hostility, and pretended to consider it a
treacherous movement.

“Is your piece charged?” said Antoine to his red companion.

“It is.”

“Then cock it, and follow me.”

They met the Blackfoot chief half way, who extended his hand in
friendship. Antoine grasped it.

“Fire!” cried he.

The Flathead levelled his piece, and brought the Blackfoot to the
ground. Antoine snatched off his scarlet blanket, which was richly
ornamented, and galloped off with it as a trophy to the camp, the
bullets of the enemy whistling after him. The Indians immediately threw
themselves into the edge of a swamp, among willows and cotton-wood
trees, interwoven with vines. Here they began to fortify themselves;
the women digging a trench, and throwing up a breastwork of logs
and branches, deep hid in the bosom of the wood, while the warriors
skirmished at the edge to keep the trappers at bay.

The latter took their station in a ravine in front, whence they kept up
a scattering fire. As to Wyeth, and his little band of “downeasters,”
 they were perfectly astounded by this second specimen of life in the
wilderness; the men, being especially unused to bushfighting and the use
of the rifle, were at a loss how to proceed. Wyeth, however, acted as
a skilful commander. He got all his horses into camp and secured them;
then, making a breastwork of his packs of goods, he charged his men to
remain in garrison, and not to stir out of their fort. For himself,
he mingled with the other leaders, determined to take his share in the
conflict.

In the meantime, an express had been sent off to the rendezvous for
reinforcements. Captain Sublette, and his associate, Campbell, were at
their camp when the express came galloping across the plain, waving his
cap, and giving the alarm; “Blackfeet! Blackfeet! a fight in the upper
part of the valley!--to arms! to arms!”

The alarm was passed from camp to camp. It was a common cause. Every one
turned out with horse and rifle. The Nez Perces and Flatheads joined.
As fast as horseman could arm and mount he galloped off; the valley was
soon alive with white men and red men scouring at full speed.

Sublette ordered his men to keep to the camp, being recruits from St.
Louis, and unused to Indian warfare. He and his friend Campbell prepared
for action. Throwing off their coats, rolling up their sleeves, and
arming themselves with pistols and rifles, they mounted their horses
and dashed forward among the first. As they rode along, they made their
wills in soldier-like style; each stating how his effects should be
disposed of in case of his death, and appointing the other his executor.

The Blackfeet warriors had supposed the brigade of Milton Sublette all
the foes they had to deal with, and were astonished to behold the
whole valley suddenly swarming with horsemen, galloping to the field
of action. They withdrew into their fort, which was completely hid from
sight in the dark and tangled wood. Most of their women and children
had retreated to the mountains. The trappers now sallied forth and
approached the swamp, firing into the thickets at random; the Blackfeet
had a better sight at their adversaries, who were in the open field, and
a half-breed was wounded in the shoulder.

When Captain Sublette arrived, he urged to penetrate the swamp and storm
the fort, but all hung back in awe of the dismal horrors of the place,
and the danger of attacking such desperadoes in their savage den. The
very Indian allies, though accustomed to bushfighting, regarded it as
almost impenetrable, and full of frightful danger. Sublette was not to
be turned from his purpose, but offered to lead the way into the swamp.
Campbell stepped forward to accompany him. Before entering the perilous
wood, Sublette took his brothers aside, and told them that in case he
fell, Campbell, who knew his will, was to be his executor. This done,
he grasped his rifle and pushed into the thickets, followed by Campbell.
Sinclair, the partisan from Arkansas, was at the edge of the wood with
his brother and a few of his men. Excited by the gallant example of the
two friends, he pressed forward to share their dangers.

The swamp was produced by the labors of the beaver, which, by damming
up a stream, had inundated a portion of the valley. The place was all
overgrown with woods and thickets, so closely matted and entangled that
it was impossible to see ten paces ahead, and the three associates in
peril had to crawl along, one after another, making their way by putting
the branches and vines aside; but doing it with caution, lest they
should attract the eye of some lurking marksman. They took the lead by
turns, each advancing about twenty yards at a time, and now and then
hallooing to their men to follow. Some of the latter gradually entered
the swamp, and followed a little distance in their rear.

They had now reached a more open part of the wood, and had glimpses of
the rude fortress from between the trees. It was a mere breastwork, as
we have said, of logs and branches, with blankets, buffalo robes, and
the leathern covers of lodges, extended round the top as a screen. The
movements of the leaders, as they groped their way, had been descried
by the sharp-sighted enemy. As Sinclair, who was in the advance, was
putting some branches aside, he was shot through the body. He fell on
the spot. “Take me to my brother,” said he to Campbell. The latter gave
him in charge to some of the men, who conveyed him out of the swamp.

Sublette now took the advance. As he was reconnoitring the fort, he
perceived an Indian peeping through an aperture. In an instant his rifle
was levelled and discharged, and the ball struck the savage in the eye.
While he was reloading, he called to Campbell, and pointed out to him
the hole; “Watch that place,” said he, “and you will soon have a fair
chance for a shot.” Scarce had he uttered the words, when a ball struck
him in the shoulder, and almost wheeled him around. His first thought
was to take hold of his arm with his other hand, and move it up and
down. He ascertained, to his satisfaction, that the bone was not broken.
The next moment he was so faint that he could not stand. Campbell took
him in his arms and carried him out of the thicket. The same shot that
struck Sublette wounded another man in the head.

A brisk fire was now opened by the mountaineers from the wood, answered
occasionally from the fort. Unluckily, the trappers and their allies, in
searching for the fort, had got scattered, so that Wyeth, and a number
of Nez Perces, approached the fort on the northwest side, while others
did the same on the opposite quarter. A cross-fire thus took place,
which occasionally did mischief to friends as well as foes. An Indian
was shot down, close to Wyeth, by a ball which, he was convinced, had
been sped from the rifle of a trapper on the other side of the fort.

The number of whites and their Indian allies had by this time so much
increased by arrivals from the rendezvous, that the Blackfeet were
completely overmatched. They kept doggedly in their fort, however,
making no offer of surrender. An occasional firing into the breastwork
was kept up during the day. Now and then, one of the Indian allies, in
bravado, would rush up to the fort, fire over the ramparts, tear off a
buffalo robe or a scarlet blanket, and return with it in triumph to his
comrades. Most of the savage garrison that fell, however, were killed in
the first part of the attack.

At one time it was resolved to set fire to the fort; and the squaws
belonging to the allies were employed to collect combustibles. This
however, was abandoned; the Nez Perces being unwilling to destroy the
robes and blankets, and other spoils of the enemy, which they felt sure
would fall into their hands.

The Indians, when fighting, are prone to taunt and revile each other.
During one of the pauses of the battle, the voice of the Blackfeet chief
was heard.

“So long,” said he, “as we had powder and ball, we fought you in the
open field: when those were spent, we retreated here to die with our
women and children. You may burn us in our fort; but, stay by our ashes,
and you who are so hungry for fighting will soon have enough. There
are four hundred lodges of our brethren at hand. They will soon be
here--their arms are strong--their hearts are big--they will avenge us!”

This speech was translated two or three times by Nez Perce and creole
interpreters. By the time it was rendered into English, the chief was
made to say that four hundred lodges of his tribe were attacking
the encampment at the other end of the valley. Every one now was for
hurrying to the defence of the rendezvous. A party was left to keep
watch upon the fort; the rest galloped off to the camp. As night came
on, the trappers drew out of the swamp, and remained about the skirts of
the wood. By morning, their companions returned from the rendezvous with
the report that all was safe. As the day opened, they ventured within
the swamp and approached the fort. All was silent. They advanced up to
it without opposition. They entered: it had been abandoned in the night,
and the Blackfeet had effected their retreat, carrying off their wounded
on litters made of branches, leaving bloody traces on the herbage. The
bodies of ten Indians were found within the fort; among them the one
shot in the eye by Sublette. The Blackfeet afterward reported that they
had lost twenty-six warriors in this battle. Thirty-two horses were
likewise found killed; among them were some of those recently carried
off from Sublette’s party, in the night; which showed that these were
the very savages that had attacked him. They proved to be an advance
party of the main body of Blackfeet, which had been upon the trail of
Sublette’s party. Five white men and one halfbreed were killed, and
several wounded. Seven of the Nez Perces were also killed, and six
wounded. They had an old chief, who was reputed as invulnerable. In the
course of the action he was hit by a spent ball, and threw up blood; but
his skin was unbroken. His people were now fully convinced that he was
proof against powder and ball.

A striking circumstance is related as having occurred the morning
after the battle. As some of the trappers and their Indian allies were
approaching the fort through the woods, they beheld an Indian woman, of
noble form and features, leaning against a tree. Their surprise at
her lingering here alone, to fall into the hands of her enemies, was
dispelled, when they saw the corpse of a warrior at her feet. Either
she was so lost in grief as not to perceive their approach; or a proud
spirit kept her silent and motionless. The Indians set up a yell, on
discovering her, and before the trappers could interfere, her mangled
body fell upon the corpse which she had refused to abandon. We have
heard this anecdote discredited by one of the leaders who had been in
the battle: but the fact may have taken place without his seeing it, and
been concealed from him. It is an instance of female devotion, even to
the death, which we are well disposed to believe and to record.

After the battle, the brigade of Milton Sublette, together with the
free trappers, and Wyeth’s New England band, remained some days at the
rendezvous, to see if the main body of Blackfeet intended to make an
attack; nothing of the kind occurring, they once more put themselves
in motion, and proceeded on their route toward the southwest. Captain
Sublette having distributed his supplies, had intended to set off on
his return to St. Louis, taking with him the peltries collected from
the trappers and Indians. His wound, however obliged him to postpone his
departure. Several who were to have accompanied him became impatient of
this delay. Among these was a young Bostonian, Mr. Joseph More, one of
the followers of Mr. Wyeth, who had seen enough of mountain life and
savage warfare, and was eager to return to the abodes of civilization.
He and six others, among whom were a Mr. Foy, of Mississippi, Mr. Alfred
K. Stephens, of St. Louis, and two grandsons of the celebrated Daniel
Boon, set out together, in advance of Sublette’s party, thinking they
would make their way through the mountains.

It was just five days after the battle of the swamp that these seven
companions were making their way through Jackson’s Hole, a valley not
far from the three Tetons, when, as they were descending a hill, a party
of Blackfeet that lay in ambush started up with terrific yells. The
horse of the young Bostonian, who was in front, wheeled round with
affright, and threw his unskilled rider. The young man scrambled up
the side of the hill, but, unaccustomed to such wild scenes, lost his
presence of mind, and stood, as if paralyzed, on the edge of a bank,
until the Blackfeet came up and slew him on the spot. His comrades had
fled on the first alarm; but two of them, Foy and Stephens, seeing
his danger, paused when they got half way up the hill, turned back,
dismounted, and hastened to his assistance. Foy was instantly killed.
Stephens was severely wounded, but escaped, to die five days afterward.
The survivors returned to the camp of Captain Sublette, bringing tidings
of this new disaster. That hardy leader, as soon as he could bear the
journey, set out on his return to St. Louis, accompanied by Campbell. As
they had a number of pack-horses richly laden with peltries to convoy,
they chose a different route through the mountains, out of the way, as
they hoped, of the lurking bands of Blackfeet. They succeeded in making
the frontier in safety. We remember to have seen them with their band,
about two or three months afterward, passing through a skirt of woodland
in the upper part of Missouri. Their long cavalcade stretched in single
file for nearly half a mile. Sublette still wore his arm in a sling.
The mountaineers in their rude hunting dresses, armed with rifles
and roughly mounted, and leading their pack-horses down a hill of the
forest, looked like banditti returning with plunder. On the top of some
of the packs were perched several half-breed children, perfect little
imps, with wild black eyes glaring from among elf locks. These, I was
told, were children of the trappers; pledges of love from their squaw
spouses in the wilderness.




7.

     Retreat of the Blackfeet--Fontenelle’s camp in danger--
     Captain Bonneville and the Blackfeet--Free trappers--Their
     character, habits, dress, equipments, horses--Game fellows
     of the mountains--Their visit to the camp--Good fellowship
     and good cheer--A carouse--A swagger, a brawl, and a
     reconciliation

THE BLACKFEET WARRIORS, when they effected their midnight retreat from
their wild fastness in Pierre’s Hole, fell back into the valley of the
Seeds-ke-dee, or Green River where they joined the main body of their
band. The whole force amounted to several hundred fighting men, gloomy
and exasperated by their late disaster. They had with them their wives
and children, which incapacitated them from any bold and extensive
enterprise of a warlike nature; but when, in the course of their
wanderings they came in sight of the encampment of Fontenelle, who
had moved some distance up Green River valley in search of the free
trappers, they put up tremendous war-cries, and advanced fiercely as if
to attack it. Second thoughts caused them to moderate their fury. They
recollected the severe lesson just received, and could not but remark
the strength of Fontenelle’s position; which had been chosen with great
judgment.

A formal talk ensued. The Blackfeet said nothing of the late battle, of
which Fontenelle had as yet received no accounts; the latter, however,
knew the hostile and perfidious nature of these savages, and took care
to inform them of the encampment of Captain Bonneville, that they might
know there were more white men in the neighborhood. The conference
ended, Fontenelle sent a Delaware Indian of his party to conduct fifteen
of the Blackfeet to the camp of Captain Bonneville. There was [sic]
at that time two Crow Indians in the captain’s camp, who had recently
arrived there. They looked with dismay at this deputation from their
implacable enemies, and gave the captain a terrible character of them,
assuring him that the best thing he could possibly do, was to put those
Blackfeet deputies to death on the spot. The captain, however, who had
heard nothing of the conflict at Pierre’s Hole, declined all compliance
with this sage counsel. He treated the grim warriors with his usual
urbanity. They passed some little time at the camp; saw, no doubt, that
everything was conducted with military skill and vigilance; and that
such an enemy was not to be easily surprised, nor to be molested with
impunity, and then departed, to report all that they had seen to their
comrades.

The two scouts which Captain Bonneville had sent out to seek for the
band of free trappers, expected by Fontenelle, and to invite them to
his camp, had been successful in their search, and on the 12th of August
those worthies made their appearance.

To explain the meaning of the appellation, free trapper, it is necessary
to state the terms on which the men enlist in the service of the fur
companies. Some have regular wages, and are furnished with weapons,
horses, traps, and other requisites. These are under command, and bound
to do every duty required of them connected with the service; such as
hunting, trapping, loading and unloading the horses, mounting guard;
and, in short, all the drudgery of the camp. These are the hired
trappers.

The free trappers are a more independent class; and in describing them,
we shall do little more than transcribe the graphic description of them
by Captain Bonneville. “They come and go,” says he, “when and where they
please; provide their own horses, arms, and other equipments; trap and
trade on their own account, and dispose of their skins and peltries
to the highest bidder. Sometimes, in a dangerous hunting ground, they
attach themselves to the camp of some trader for protection. Here they
come under some restrictions; they have to conform to the ordinary rules
for trapping, and to submit to such restraints, and to take part in such
general duties, as are established for the good order and safety of the
camp. In return for this protection, and for their camp keeping, they
are bound to dispose of all the beaver they take, to the trader who
commands the camp, at a certain rate per skin; or, should they prefer
seeking a market elsewhere, they are to make him an allowance, of from
thirty to forty dollars for the whole hunt.”

There is an inferior order, who, either from prudence or poverty, come
to these dangerous hunting grounds without horses or accoutrements, and
are furnished by the traders. These, like the hired trappers, are bound
to exert themselves to the utmost in taking beaver, which, without
skinning, they render in at the trader’s lodge, where a stipulated price
for each is placed to their credit. These though generally included in
the generic name of free trappers, have the more specific title of skin
trappers.

The wandering whites who mingle for any length of time with the savages
have invariably a proneness to adopt savage habitudes; but none more so
than the free trappers. It is a matter of vanity and ambition with them
to discard everything that may bear the stamp of civilized life, and to
adopt the manners, habits, dress, gesture, and even walk of the Indian.
You cannot pay a free trapper a greater compliment, than to persuade
him you have mistaken him for an Indian brave; and, in truth, the
counterfeit is complete. His hair suffered to attain to a great length,
is carefully combed out, and either left to fall carelessly over
his shoulders, or plaited neatly and tied up in otter skins, or
parti-colored ribands. A hunting-shirt of ruffled calico of bright dyes,
or of ornamented leather, falls to his knee; below which, curiously
fashioned legging, ornamented with strings, fringes, and a profusion of
hawks’ bells, reach to a costly pair of moccasons of the finest Indian
fabric, richly embroidered with beads. A blanket of scarlet, or some
other bright color, hangs from his shoulders, and is girt around his
waist with a red sash, in which he bestows his pistols, knife, and the
stem of his Indian pipe; preparations either for peace or war. His gun
is lavishly decorated with brass tacks and vermilion, and provided with
a fringed cover, occasionally of buckskin, ornamented here and there
with a feather. His horse, the noble minister to the pride, pleasure,
and profit of the mountaineer, is selected for his speed and spirit,
and prancing gait, and holds a place in his estimation second only to
himself. He shares largely of his bounty, and of his pride and pomp of
trapping. He is caparisoned in the most dashing and fantastic style; the
bridles and crupper are weightily embossed with beads and cockades; and
head, mane, and tail, are interwoven with abundance of eagles’ plumes,
which flutter in the wind. To complete this grotesque equipment, the
proud animal is bestreaked and bespotted with vermilion, or with white
clay, whichever presents the most glaring contrast to his real color.

Such is the account given by Captain Bonneville of these rangers of
the wilderness, and their appearance at the camp was strikingly
characteristic. They came dashing forward at full speed, firing their
fusees, and yelling in Indian style. Their dark sunburned faces, and
long flowing hair, their legging, flaps, moccasons, and richly-dyed
blankets, and their painted horses gaudily caparisoned, gave them
so much the air and appearance of Indians, that it was difficult to
persuade one’s self that they were white men, and had been brought up in
civilized life.

Captain Bonneville, who was delighted with the game look of these
cavaliers of the mountains, welcomed them heartily to his camp, and
ordered a free allowance of grog to regale them, which soon put them in
the most braggart spirits. They pronounced the captain the finest fellow
in the world, and his men all bons garcons, jovial lads, and swore they
would pass the day with them. They did so; and a day it was, of boast,
and swagger, and rodomontade. The prime bullies and braves among the
free trappers had each his circle of novices, from among the captain’s
band; mere greenhorns, men unused to Indian life; mangeurs de lard,
or pork-eaters; as such new-comers are superciliously called by the
veterans of the wilderness. These he would astonish and delight by the
hour, with prodigious tales of his doings among the Indians; and of
the wonders he had seen, and the wonders he had performed, in his
adventurous peregrinations among the mountains.

In the evening, the free trappers drew off, and returned to the camp
of Fontenelle, highly delighted with their visit and with their new
acquaintances, and promising to return the following day. They kept
their word: day after day their visits were repeated; they became
“hail fellow well met” with Captain Bonneville’s men; treat after treat
succeeded, until both parties got most potently convinced, or rather
confounded, by liquor. Now came on confusion and uproar. The free
trappers were no longer suffered to have all the swagger to themselves.
The camp bullies and prime trappers of the party began to ruffle up, and
to brag, in turn, of their perils and achievements. Each now tried
to out-boast and out-talk the other; a quarrel ensued as a matter
of course, and a general fight, according to frontier usage. The two
factions drew out their forces for a pitched battle. They fell to work
and belabored each other with might and main; kicks and cuffs and dry
blows were as well bestowed as they were well merited, until, having
fought to their hearts’ content, and been drubbed into a familiar
acquaintance with each other’s prowess and good qualities, they ended
the fight by becoming firmer friends than they could have been rendered
by a year’s peaceable companionship.

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
the neighborhood. The upper part of Salmon River was represented as far
more eligible, besides being in an excellent beaver country; and thither
the captain resolved to bend his course.

The Salmon River is one of the upper branches of the Oregon or Columbia;
and takes its rise from various sources, among a group of mountains to
the northwest of the Wind River chain. It owes its name to the immense
shoals of salmon which ascend it in the months of September and October.
The salmon on the west side of the Rocky Mountains are, like the buffalo
on the eastern plains, vast migratory supplies for the wants of man,
that come and go with the seasons. As the buffalo in countless throngs
find their certain way in the transient pasturage on the prairies, along
the fresh banks of the rivers, and up every valley and green defile of
the mountains, so the salmon, at their allotted seasons, regulated by a
sublime and all-seeing Providence, swarm in myriads up the great
rivers, and find their way up their main branches, and into the minutest
tributory streams; so as to pervade the great arid plains, and to
penetrate even among barren mountains. Thus wandering tribes are fed in
the desert places of the wilderness, where there is no herbage for the
animals of the chase, and where, but for these periodical supplies, it
would be impossible for man to subsist.

The rapid currents of the rivers which run into the Pacific render the
ascent of them very exhausting to the salmon. When the fish first run
up the rivers, they are fat and in fine order. The struggle against
impetuous streams and frequent rapids gradually renders them thin and
weak, and great numbers are seen floating down the rivers on their
backs. As the season advances and the water becomes chilled, they are
flung in myriads on the shores, where the wolves and bears assemble to
banquet on them. Often they rot in such quantities along the river banks
as to taint the atmosphere. They are commonly from two to three feet
long.

Captain Bonneville now made his arrangements for the autumn and the
winter. The nature of the country through which he was about to travel
rendered it impossible to proceed with wagons. He had more goods
and supplies of various kinds, also, than were required for present
purposes, or than could be conveniently transported on horseback; aided,
therefore, by a few confidential men, he made caches, or secret pits,
during the night, when all the rest of the camp were asleep, and in
these deposited the superfluous effects, together with the wagons. All
traces of the caches were then carefully obliterated. This is a common
expedient with the traders and trappers of the mountains. Having no
established posts and magazines, they make these caches or deposits at
certain points, whither they repair, occasionally, for supplies. It is
an expedient derived from the wandering tribes of Indians.

Many of the horses were still so weak and lame, as to be unfit for
a long scramble through the mountains. These were collected into one
cavalcade, and given in charge to an experienced trapper, of the name
of Matthieu. He was to proceed westward, with a brigade of trappers, to
Bear River; a stream to the west of the Green River or Colorado, where
there was good pasturage for the horses. In this neighborhood it was
expected he would meet the Shoshonie villages or bands, on their yearly
migrations, with whom he was to trade for peltries and provisions. After
he had traded with these people, finished his trapping, and recruited
the strength of the horses, he was to proceed to Salmon River and rejoin
Captain Bonneville, who intended to fix his quarters there for the
winter.

While these arrangements were in progress in the camp of Captain
Bonneville, there was a sudden bustle and stir in the camp of
Fontenelle. One of the partners of the American Fur Company had arrived,
in all haste, from the rendezvous at Pierre’s Hole, in quest of the
supplies. The competition between the two rival companies was just now
at its height, and prosecuted with unusual zeal. The tramontane concerns
of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company were managed by two resident
partners, Fitzpatrick and Bridger; those of the American Fur Company,
by Vanderburgh and Dripps. The latter were ignorant of the mountain
regions, but trusted to make up by vigilance and activity for their want
of knowledge of the country.

Fitzpatrick, an experienced trader and trapper, knew the evils of
competition in the same hunting grounds, and had proposed that the
two companies should divide the country, so as to hunt in different
directions: this proposition being rejected, he had exerted himself to
get first into the field. His exertions, as have already been shown,
were effectual. The early arrival of Sublette, with supplies, had
enabled the various brigades of the Rocky Mountain Company to start
off to their respective hunting grounds. Fitzpatrick himself, with his
associate, Bridger, had pushed off with a strong party of trappers, for
a prime beaver country to the north-northwest.

This had put Vanderburgh upon his mettle. He had hastened on to
meet Fontenelle. Finding him at his camp in Green River valley, he
immediately furnished himself with the supplies; put himself at the
head of the free trappers and Delawares, and set off with all speed,
determined to follow hard upon the heels of Fitzpatrick and Bridger. Of
the adventures of these parties among the mountains, and the disastrous
effects of their competition, we shall have occasion to treat in a
future chapter.

Fontenelle having now delivered his supplies and accomplished his
errand, struck his tents and set off on his return to the Yellowstone.
Captain Bonneville and his band, therefore, remained alone in the Green
River valley; and their situation might have been perilous, had the
Blackfeet band still lingered in the vicinity. Those marauders, however,
had been dismayed at finding so many resolute and well-appointed parties
of white men in the neighborhood. They had, therefore, abandoned this
part of the country, passing over the headwaters of the Green River, and
bending their course towards the Yellowstone. Misfortune pursued them.
Their route lay through the country of their deadly enemies, the Crows.
In the Wind River valley, which lies east of the mountains, they were
encountered by a powerful war party of that tribe, and completely put
to rout. Forty of them were killed, many of their women and children
captured, and the scattered fugitives hunted like wild beasts until they
were completely chased out of the Crow country.

On the 22d of August Captain Bonneville broke up his camp, and set out
on his route for Salmon River. His baggage was arranged in packs, three
to a mule, or pack-horse; one being disposed on each side of the animal
and one on the top; the three forming a load of from one hundred and
eighty to two hundred and twenty pounds. This is the trappers’ style of
loading pack-horses; his men, however, were inexpert at adjusting
the packs, which were prone to get loose and slip off, so that it was
necessary to keep a rear-guard to assist in reloading. A few days’
experience, however, brought them into proper training.

Their march lay up the valley of the Seeds-ke-dee, overlooked to the
right by the lofty peaks of the Wind River Mountains. From bright little
lakes and fountain-heads of this remarkable bed of mountains poured
forth the tributary streams of the Seeds-ke-dee. Some came rushing
down gullies and ravines; others tumbled in crystal cascades from
inaccessible clefts and rocks, and others winding their way in rapid and
pellucid currents across the valley, to throw themselves into the main
river. So transparent were these waters that the trout with which they
abounded could be seen gliding about as if in the air; and their pebbly
beds were distinctly visible at the depth of many feet. This beautiful
and diaphanous quality of the Rocky Mountain streams prevails for a long
time after they have mingled their waters and swollen into important
rivers.

Issuing from the upper part of the valley, Captain Bonneville continued
to the east-northeast, across rough and lofty ridges, and deep rocky
defiles, extremely fatiguing both to man and horse. Among his hunters
was a Delaware Indian who had remained faithful to him. His name was
Buckeye. He had often prided himself on his skill and success in coping
with the grizzly bear, that terror of the hunters. Though crippled in
the left arm, he declared he had no hesitation to close with a wounded
bear, and attack him with a sword. If armed with a rifle, he was
willing to brave the animal when in full force and fury. He had twice
an opportunity of proving his prowess, in the course of this mountain
journey, and was each time successful. His mode was to seat himself
upon the ground, with his rifle cocked and resting on his lame arm. Thus
prepared, he would await the approach of the bear with perfect coolness,
nor pull trigger until he was close at hand. In each instance, he laid
the monster dead upon the spot.

A march of three or four days, through savage and lonely scenes, brought
Captain Bonneville to the fatal defile of Jackson’s Hole, where poor
More and Foy had been surprised and murdered by the Blackfeet. The
feelings of the captain were shocked at beholding the bones of these
unfortunate young men bleaching among the rocks; and he caused them to
be decently interred.

On the 3d of September he arrived on the summit of a mountain which
commanded a full view of the eventful valley of Pierre’s Hole; whence he
could trace the winding of its stream through green meadows, and
forests of willow and cotton-wood, and have a prospect, between distant
mountains, of the lava plains of Snake River, dimly spread forth like a
sleeping ocean below.

After enjoying this magnificent prospect, he descended into the valley,
and visited the scenes of the late desperate conflict. There were the
remains of the rude fortress in the swamp, shattered by rifle shot, and
strewed with the mingled bones of savages and horses. There was the late
populous and noisy rendezvous, with the traces of trappers’ camps and
Indian lodges; but their fires were extinguished, the motley assemblage
of trappers and hunters, white traders and Indian braves, had all
dispersed to different points of the wilderness, and the valley had
relapsed into its pristine solitude and silence.

That night the captain encamped upon the battle ground; the next day he
resumed his toilsome peregrinations through the mountains. For upwards
of two weeks he continued his painful march; both men and horses
suffering excessively at times from hunger and thirst. At length, on the
19th of September, he reached the upper waters of Salmon River.

The weather was cold, and there were symptoms of an impending storm. The
night set in, but Buckeye, the Delaware Indian, was missing. He had left
the party early in the morning, to hunt by himself, according to his
custom. Fears were entertained lest he should lose his way and become
bewildered in tempestuous weather. These fears increased on the
following morning, when a violent snow-storm came on, which soon covered
the earth to the depth of several inches. Captain Bonneville immediately
encamped, and sent out scouts in every direction. After some search
Buckeye was discovered, quietly seated at a considerable distance in the
rear, waiting the expected approach of the party, not knowing that they
had passed, the snow having covered their trail.

On the ensuing morning they resumed their march at an early hour, but
had not proceeded far when the hunters, who were beating up the country
in the advance, came galloping back, making signals to encamp, and
crying Indians! Indians!

Captain Bonneville immediately struck into a skirt of wood and prepared
for action. The savages were now seen trooping over the hills in great
numbers. One of them left the main body and came forward singly,
making signals of peace. He announced them as a band of Nez Perces or
Pierced-nose Indians, friendly to the whites, whereupon an invitation
was returned by Captain Bonneville for them to come and encamp with him.
They halted for a short time to make their toilette, an operation as
important with an Indian warrior as with a fashionable beauty. This
done, they arranged themselves in martial style, the chiefs leading the
van, the braves following in a long line, painted and decorated, and
topped off with fluttering plumes. In this way they advanced, shouting
and singing, firing off their fusees, and clashing their shields.
The two parties encamped hard by each other. The Nez Perces were on a
hunting expedition, but had been almost famished on their march. They
had no provisions left but a few dried salmon, yet finding the white
men equally in want, they generously offered to share even this meager
pittance, and frequently repeated the offer, with an earnestness that
left no doubt of their sincerity. Their generosity won the heart of
Captain Bonneville, and produced the most cordial good will on the part
of his men. For two days that the parties remained in company, the most
amicable intercourse prevailed, and they parted the best of friends.
Captain Bonneville detached a few men, under Mr. Cerre, an able leader,
to accompany the Nez Perces on their hunting expedition, and to trade
with them for meat for the winter’s supply. After this, he proceeded
down the river, about five miles below the forks, when he came to a halt
on the 26th of September, to establish his winter quarters.




9.

     Horses turned loose--Preparations for winter quarters--
     Hungry times--Nez-Perces, their honesty, piety, pacific
     habits, religious ceremonies--Captain Bonneville’s
     conversations with them--Their love of gambling

IT WAS GRATIFYING to Captain Bonneville, after so long and toilsome a
course of travel, to relieve his poor jaded horses of the burden under
which they were almost ready to give out, and to behold them rolling
upon the grass, and taking a long repose after all their sufferings.
Indeed, so exhausted were they, that those employed under the saddle
were no longer capable of hunting for the daily subsistence of the camp.

All hands now set to work to prepare a winter cantonment. A temporary
fortification was thrown up for the protection of the party; a secure
and comfortable pen, into which the horses could be driven at night; and
huts were built for the reception of the merchandise.

This done, Captain Bonneville made a distribution of his forces: twenty
men were to remain with him in garrison to protect the property; the
rest were organized into three brigades, and sent off in different
directions, to subsist themselves by hunting the buffalo, until the snow
should become too deep.

Indeed, it would have been impossible to provide for the whole party in
this neighborhood. It was at the extreme western limit of the buffalo
range, and these animals had recently been completely hunted out of the
neighborhood by the Nez Perces, so that, although the hunters of the
garrison were continually on the alert, ranging the country round, they
brought in scarce game sufficient to keep famine from the door. Now
and then there was a scanty meal of fish or wild-fowl, occasionally an
antelope; but frequently the cravings of hunger had to be appeased with
roots, or the flesh of wolves and muskrats. Rarely could the inmates
of the cantonment boast of having made a full meal, and never of having
wherewithal for the morrow. In this way they starved along until the
8th of October, when they were joined by a party of five families of Nez
Perces, who in some measure reconciled them to the hardships of their
situation by exhibiting a lot still more destitute. A more forlorn set
they had never encountered: they had not a morsel of meat or fish; nor
anything to subsist on, excepting roots, wild rosebuds, the barks of
certain plants, and other vegetable production; neither had they any
weapon for hunting or defence, excepting an old spear: yet the poor
fellows made no murmur nor complaint; but seemed accustomed to their
hard fare. If they could not teach the white men their practical
stoicism, they at least made them acquainted with the edible properties
of roots and wild rosebuds, and furnished them a supply from their
own store. The necessities of the camp at length became so urgent that
Captain Bonneville determined to dispatch a party to the Horse
Prairie, a plain to the north of his cantonment, to procure a supply of
provisions. When the men were about to depart, he proposed to the Nez
Perces that they, or some of them, should join the hunting-party. To
his surprise, they promptly declined. He inquired the reason for their
refusal, seeing that they were in nearly as starving a situation as his
own people. They replied that it was a sacred day with them, and the
Great Spirit would be angry should they devote it to hunting. They
offered, however, to accompany the party if it would delay its departure
until the following day; but this the pinching demands of hunger would
not permit, and the detachment proceeded.

A few days afterward, four of them signified to Captain Bonneville that
they were about to hunt. “What!” exclaimed he, “without guns or arrows;
and with only one old spear? What do you expect to kill?” They smiled
among themselves, but made no answer. Preparatory to the chase, they
performed some religious rites, and offered up to the Great Spirit a
few short prayers for safety and success; then, having received the
blessings of their wives, they leaped upon their horses and departed,
leaving the whole party of Christian spectators amazed and rebuked by
this lesson of faith and dependence on a supreme and benevolent Being.
“Accustomed,” adds Captain Bonneville, “as I had heretofore been, to
find the wretched Indian revelling in blood, and stained by every vice
which can degrade human nature, I could scarcely realize the scene which
I had witnessed. Wonder at such unaffected tenderness and piety, where
it was least to have been sought, contended in all our bosoms with shame
and confusion, at receiving such pure and wholesome instructions from
creatures so far below us in the arts and comforts of life.” The simple
prayers of the poor Indians were not unheard. In the course of four or
five days they returned, laden with meat. Captain Bonneville was curious
to know how they had attained such success with such scanty means. They
gave him to understand that they had chased the buffalo at full speed,
until they tired them down, when they easily dispatched them with the
spear, and made use of the same weapon to flay the carcasses. To carry
through their lessons to their Christian friends, the poor savages were
as charitable as they had been pious, and generously shared with them
the spoils of their hunting, giving them food enough to last for several
days.

A further and more intimate intercourse with this tribe gave Captain
Bonneville still greater cause to admire their strong devotional
feeling. “Simply to call these people religious,” says he, “would convey
but a faint idea of the deep hue of piety and devotion which pervades
their whole conduct. Their honesty is immaculate, and their purity of
purpose, and their observance of the rites of their religion, are most
uniform and remarkable. They are, certainly, more like a nation of
saints than a horde of savages.”

In fact, the antibelligerent policy of this tribe may have sprung from
the doctrines of Christian charity, for it would appear that they had
imbibed some notions of the Christian faith from Catholic missionaries
and traders who had been among them. They even had a rude calendar of
the fasts and festivals of the Romish Church, and some traces of its
ceremonials. These have become blended with their own wild rites, and
present a strange medley; civilized and barbarous. On the Sabbath, men,
women, and children array themselves in their best style, and assemble
round a pole erected at the head of the camp. Here they go through a
wild fantastic ceremonial; strongly resembling the religious dance of
the Shaking Quakers; but from its enthusiasm, much more striking and
impressive. During the intervals of the ceremony, the principal chiefs,
who officiate as priests, instruct them in their duties, and exhort them
to virtue and good deeds.

“There is something antique and patriarchal,” observes Captain
Bonneville, “in this union of the offices of leader and priest; as there
is in many of their customs and manners, which are all strongly imbued
with religion.”

The worthy captain, indeed, appears to have been strongly interested by
this gleam of unlooked for light amidst the darkness of the wilderness.
He exerted himself, during his sojourn among this simple and
well-disposed people, to inculcate, as far as he was able, the gentle
and humanizing precepts of the Christian faith, and to make them
acquainted with the leading points of its history; and it speaks highly
for the purity and benignity of his heart, that he derived unmixed
happiness from the task.

“Many a time,” says he, “was my little lodge thronged, or rather piled
with hearers, for they lay on the ground, one leaning over the other,
until there was no further room, all listening with greedy ears to the
wonders which the Great Spirit had revealed to the white man. No
other subject gave them half the satisfaction, or commanded half the
attention; and but few scenes in my life remain so freshly on my memory,
or are so pleasurably recalled to my contemplation, as these hours
of intercourse with a distant and benighted race in the midst of the
desert.”

The only excesses indulged in by this temperate and exemplary people,
appear to be gambling and horseracing. In these they engage with an
eagerness that amounts to infatuation. Knots of gamblers will assemble
before one of their lodge fires, early in the evening, and remain
absorbed in the chances and changes of the game until long after dawn
of the following day. As the night advances, they wax warmer and warmer.
Bets increase in amount, one loss only serves to lead to a greater,
until in the course of a single night’s gambling, the richest chief may
become the poorest varlet in the camp.




10.

     Black feet in the Horse Prairie--Search after the hunters--
     Difficulties and dangers--A card party in the wilderness--
     The card party interrupted--“Old Sledge” a losing game--
     Visitors to the camp--Iroquois hunters--Hanging-eared
     Indians

ON the 12th of October, two young Indians of the Nez Perce tribe arrived
at Captain Bonneville’s encampment. They were on their way homeward,
but had been obliged to swerve from their ordinary route through the
mountains, by deep snows. Their new route took them though the Horse
Prairie. In traversing it, they had been attracted by the distant smoke
of a camp fire, and on stealing near to reconnoitre, had discovered a
war party of Blackfeet. They had several horses with them; and, as they
generally go on foot on warlike excursions, it was concluded that these
horses had been captured in the course of their maraudings.

This intelligence awakened solicitude on the mind of Captain Bonneville
for the party of hunters whom he had sent to that neighborhood; and the
Nez Perces, when informed of the circumstances, shook their heads, and
declared their belief that the horses they had seen had been stolen
from that very party. Anxious for information on the subject, Captain
Bonneville dispatched two hunters to beat up the country in that
direction. They searched in vain; not a trace of the men could be found;
but they got into a region destitute of game, where they were well-nigh
famished. At one time they were three entire days with-out a mouthful
of food; at length they beheld a buffalo grazing at the foot of the
mountain. After manoeuvring so as to get within shot, they fired, but
merely wounded him. He took to flight, and they followed him over hill
and dale, with the eagerness and per-severance of starving men. A more
lucky shot brought him to the ground. Stanfield sprang upon him, plunged
his knife into his throat, and allayed his raging hunger by drinking
his blood: A fire was instantly kindled beside the carcass, when the two
hunters cooked, and ate again and again, until, perfectly gorged, they
sank to sleep before their hunting fire. On the following morning they
rose early, made another hearty meal, then loading themselves with
buffalo meat, set out on their return to the camp, to report the
fruitlessness of their mission.

At length, after six weeks’ absence, the hunters made their appearance,
and were received with joy proportioned to the anxiety that had been
felt on their account. They had hunted with success on the prairie,
but, while busy drying buffalo meat, were joined by a few panic-stricken
Flatheads, who informed them that a powerful band of Blackfeet was at
hand. The hunters immediately abandoned the dangerous hunting ground,
and accompanied the Flatheads to their village. Here they found Mr.
Cerre, and the detachment of hunters sent with him to accompany the
hunting party of the Nez Perces.

After remaining some time at the village, until they supposed the
Blackfeet to have left the neighborhood, they set off with some of
Mr. Cerre’s men for the cantonment at Salmon River, where they arrived
without accident. They informed Captain Bonneville, however, that not
far from his quarters they had found a wallet of fresh meat and a cord,
which they supposed had been left by some prowling Blackfeet. A few days
afterward Mr. Cerre, with the remainder of his men, likewise arrived at
the cantonment.

Mr. Walker, one of his subleaders, who had gone with a band of twenty
hunters to range the country just beyond the Horse Prairie, had likewise
his share of adventures with the all-pervading Blackfeet. At one of his
encampments the guard stationed to keep watch round the camp grew weary
of their duty, and feeling a little too secure, and too much at home on
these prairies, retired to a small grove of willows to amuse themselves
with a social game of cards called “old sledge,” which is as popular
among these trampers of the prairies as whist or ecarte among the polite
circles of the cities. From the midst of their sport they were suddenly
roused by a discharge of firearms and a shrill war-whoop. Starting on
their feet, and snatching up their rifles, they beheld in dismay their
horses and mules already in possession of the enemy, who had stolen upon
the camp unperceived, while they were spell-bound by the magic of old
sledge. The Indians sprang upon the animals barebacked, and endeavored
to urge them off under a galling fire that did some execution. The
mules, however, confounded by the hurly-burly and disliking their new
riders kicked up their heels and dismounted half of them, in spite of
their horsemanship. This threw the rest into confusion; they endeavored
to protect their unhorsed comrades from the furious assaults of the
whites; but, after a scene of “confusion worse confounded,” horses and
mules were abandoned, and the Indians betook themselves to the bushes.
Here they quickly scratched holes in the earth about two feet deep, in
which they prostrated themselves, and while thus screened from the shots
of the white men, were enabled to make such use of their bows and arrows
and fusees, as to repulse their assailants and to effect their retreat.
This adventure threw a temporary stigma upon the game of “old sledge.”

In the course of the autumn, four Iroquois hunters, driven by the snow
from their hunting grounds, made their appearance at the cantonment.
They were kindly welcomed, and during their sojourn made themselves
useful in a variety of ways, being excellent trappers and first-rate
woodsmen. They were of the remnants of a party of Iroquois hunters that
came from Canada into these mountain regions many years previously,
in the employ of the Hudson’s Bay Company. They were led by a brave
chieftain, named Pierre, who fell by the hands of the Blackfeet, and
gave his name to the fated valley of Pierre’s Hole. This branch of the
Iroquois tribe has ever since remained among these mountains, at mortal
enmity with the Blackfeet, and have lost many of their prime hunters in
their feuds with that ferocious race. Some of them fell in with
General Ashley, in the course of one of his gallant excursions into the
wilderness, and have continued ever since in the employ of the company.

Among the motley Visitors to the winter quarters of Captain Bonneville
was a party of Pends Oreilles (or Hanging-ears) and their chief. These
Indians have a strong resemblance, in character and customs, to the Nez
Perces. They amount to about three hundred lodges, are well armed, and
possess great numbers of horses. During the spring, summer, and autumn,
they hunt the buffalo about the head-waters of the Missouri, Henry’s
Fork of the Snake River, and the northern branches of Salmon River.
Their winter quarters are upon the Racine Amere, where they subsist upon
roots and dried buffalo meat. Upon this river the Hudson’s Bay Company
have established a trading post, where the Pends Oreilles and the
Flatheads bring their peltries to exchange for arms, clothing and
trinkets.

This tribe, like the Nez Perces, evince strong and peculiar feelings
of natural piety. Their religion is not a mere superstitious fear, like
that of most savages; they evince abstract notions of morality; a deep
reverence for an overruling spirit, and a respect for the rights of
their fellow men. In one respect their religion partakes of the pacific
doctrines of the Quakers. They hold that the Great Spirit is displeased
with all nations who wantonly engage in war; they abstain, therefore,
from all aggressive hostilities. But though thus unoffending in their
policy, they are called upon continually to wage defensive warfare;
especially with the Blackfeet; with whom, in the course of their hunting
expeditions, they come in frequent collision and have desperate battles.
Their conduct as warriors is without fear or reproach, and they can
never be driven to abandon their hunting grounds.

Like most savages they are firm believers in dreams, and in the power
and efficacy of charms and amulets, or medicines as they term them. Some
of their braves, also, who have had numerous hairbreadth ‘scapes, like
the old Nez Perce chief in the battle of Pierre’s Hole, are believed
to wear a charmed life, and to be bullet-proof. Of these gifted beings
marvelous anecdotes are related, which are most potently believed
by their fellow savages, and sometimes almost credited by the white
hunters.




11.

     Rival trapping parties--Manoeuvring--A desperate game--
     Vanderburgh and the Blackfeet--Deserted camp fire--A dark
     defile--An Indian ambush--A fierce melee--Fatal
     consequences--Fitzpatrick and Bridger--Trappers precautions
     --Meeting with the Blackfeet--More fighting--Anecdote of a
     young--Mexican and an Indian girl.

WHILE Captain Bonneville and his men are sojourning among the Nez
Perces, on Salmon River, we will inquire after the fortunes of those
doughty rivals of the Rocky Mountains and American Fur Companies, who
started off for the trapping grounds to the north-northwest.

Fitzpatrick and Bridger, of the former company, as we have already
shown, having received their supplies, had taken the lead, and hoped
to have the first sweep of the hunting grounds. Vanderburgh and
Dripps, however, the two resident partners of the opposite company, by
extraordinary exertions were enabled soon to put themselves upon their
traces, and pressed forward with such speed as to overtake them just
as they had reached the heart of the beaver country. In fact, being
ignorant of the best trapping grounds, it was their object to follow on,
and profit by the superior knowledge of the other party.

Nothing could equal the chagrin of Fitzpatrick and Bridger at being
dogged by their inexperienced rivals, especially after their offer
to divide the country with them. They tried in every way to blind and
baffle them; to steal a march upon them, or lead them on a wrong scent;
but all in vain. Vanderburgh made up by activity and intelligence for
his ignorance of the country; was always wary, always on the alert;
discovered every movement of his rivals, however secret and was not to
be eluded or misled.

Fitzpatrick and his colleague now lost all patience; since the
others persisted in following them, they determined to give them an
unprofitable chase, and to sacrifice the hunting season rather than
share the products with their rivals. They accordingly took up their
line of march down the course of the Missouri, keeping the main
Blackfoot trail, and tramping doggedly forward, without stopping to set
a single trap. The others beat the hoof after them for some time, but
by degrees began to perceive that they were on a wild-goose chase, and
getting into a country perfectly barren to the trapper. They now came
to a halt, and be-thought themselves how to make up for lost time, and
improve the remainder of the season. It was thought best to divide their
forces and try different trapping grounds. While Dripps went in one
direction, Vanderburgh, with about fifty men, proceeded in another.
The latter, in his headlong march had got into the very heart of the
Blackfoot country, yet seems to have been unconscious of his danger. As
his scouts were out one day, they came upon the traces of a recent band
of savages. There were the deserted fires still smoking, surrounded
by the carcasses of buffaloes just killed. It was evident a party
of Blackfeet had been frightened from their hunting camp, and had
retreated, probably to seek reinforcements. The scouts hastened back to
the camp, and told Vanderburgh what they had seen. He made light of the
alarm, and, taking nine men with him, galloped off to reconnoitre for
himself. He found the deserted hunting camp just as they had represented
it; there lay the carcasses of buffaloes, partly dismembered; there
were the smouldering fires, still sending up their wreaths of smoke;
everything bore traces of recent and hasty retreat; and gave reason to
believe that the savages were still lurking in the neighborhood. With
heedless daring, Vanderburgh put himself upon their trail, to trace them
to their place of concealment: It led him over prairies, and through
skirts of woodland, until it entered a dark and dangerous ravine.
Vanderburgh pushed in, without hesitation, followed by his little
band. They soon found themselves in a gloomy dell, between steep banks
overhung with trees, where the profound silence was only broken by the
tramp of their own horses.

Suddenly the horrid war-whoop burst on their ears, mingled with the
sharp report of rifles, and a legion of savages sprang from their
concealments, yelling, and shaking their buffalo robes to frighten
the horses. Vanderburgh’s horse fell, mortally wounded by the first
discharge. In his fall he pinned his rider to the ground, who called
in vain upon his men to assist in extricating him. One was shot down
scalped a few paces distant; most of the others were severely wounded,
and sought their safety in flight. The savages approached to dispatch
the unfortunate leader, as he lay struggling beneath his horse.. He
had still his rifle in his hand and his pistols in his belt. The first
savage that advanced received the contents of the rifle in his breast,
and fell dead upon the spot; but before Vanderburgh could draw a pistol,
a blow from a tomahawk laid him prostrate, and he was dispatched by
repeated wounds.

Such was the fate of Major Henry Vanderburgh, one of the best and
worthiest leaders of the American Fur Company, who by his manly bearing
and dauntless courage is said to have made himself universally popular
among the bold-hearted rovers of the wilderness.

Those of the little band who escaped fled in consternation to the camp,
and spread direful reports of the force and ferocity of the enemy. The
party, being without a head, were in complete confusion and dismay, and
made a precipitate retreat, without attempting to recover the remains
of their butchered leader. They made no halt until they reached the
encampment of the Pends Oreilles, or Hanging-ears, where they offered a
reward for the recovery of the body, but without success; it never could
be found.

In the meantime Fitzpatrick and Bridger, of the Rocky Mountain Company,
fared but little better than their rivals. In their eagerness to
mislead them they betrayed themselves into danger, and got into a region
infested with the Blackfeet. They soon found that foes were on the watch
for them; but they were experienced in Indian warfare, and not to be
surprised at night, nor drawn into an ambush in the daytime. As the
evening advanced, the horses were all brought in and picketed, and a
guard was stationed round the camp. At the earliest streak of day one of
the leaders would mount his horse, and gallop off full speed for about
half a mile; then look round for Indian trails, to ascertain whether
there had been any lurkers round the camp; returning slowly, he would
reconnoitre every ravine and thicket where there might be an ambush.
This done, he would gallop off in an opposite direction and repeat the
same scrutiny. Finding all things safe, the horses would be turned loose
to graze, but always under the eye of a guard.

A caution equally vigilant was observed in the march, on approaching any
defile or place where an enemy might lie in wait; and scouts were always
kept in the advance, or along the ridges and rising grounds on the
flanks.

At length, one day, a large band of Blackfeet appeared in the open
field, but in the vicinity of rocks and cliffs. They kept at a wary
distance, but made friendly signs. The trappers replied in the same way,
but likewise kept aloof. A small party of Indians now advanced, bearing
the pipe of peace; they were met by an equal number of white men, and
they formed a group midway between the two bands, where the pipe was
circulated from hand to hand, and smoked with all due ceremony. An
instance of natural affection took place at this pacific meeting.
Among the free trappers in the Rocky Mountain band was a spirited
young Mexican named Loretto, who, in the course of his wanderings, had
ransomed a beautiful Blackfoot girl from a band of Crows by whom she had
been captured. He made her his wife, after the Indian style, and she had
followed his fortunes ever since, with the most devoted affection.

Among the Blackfeet warriors who advanced with the calumet of peace she
recognized a brother. Leaving her infant with Loretto she rushed forward
and threw herself upon her brother’s neck, who clasped his long-lost
sister to his heart with a warmth of affection but little compatible
with the reputed stoicism of the savage.

While this scene was taking place, Bridger left the main body of
trappers and rode slowly toward the group of smokers, with his rifle
resting across the pommel of his saddle. The chief of the Blackfeet
stepped forward to meet him. From some unfortunate feeling of distrust
Bridger cocked his rifle just as the chief was extending his hand in
friendship. The quick ear of the savage caught the click of the lock; in
a twinkling he grasped the barrel, forced the muzzle downward, and the
contents were discharged into the earth at his feet. His next movement
was to wrest the weapon from the hand of Bridger and fell him with it to
the earth. He might have found this no easy task had not the unfortunate
leader received two arrows in his back during the struggle.

The chief now sprang into the vacant saddle and galloped off to his
band. A wild hurry-skurry scene ensued; each party took to the banks,
the rocks and trees, to gain favorable positions, and an irregular
firing was kept up on either side, without much effect. The Indian girl
had been hurried off by her people at the outbreak of the affray. She
would have returned, through the dangers of the fight, to her husband
and her child, but was prevented by her brother. The young Mexican
saw her struggles and her agony, and heard her piercing cries. With a
generous impulse he caught up the child in his arms, rushed forward,
regardless of Indian shaft or rifle, and placed it in safety upon her
bosom. Even the savage heart of the Blackfoot chief was reached by this
noble deed. He pronounced Loretto a madman for his temerity, but bade
him depart in peace. The young Mexican hesitated; he urged to have his
wife restored to him, but her brother interfered, and the countenance of
the chief grew dark. The girl, he said, belonged to his tribe-she must
remain with her people. Loretto would still have lingered, but his wife
implored him to depart, lest his life should be endangered. It was with
the greatest reluctance that he returned to his companions.

The approach of night put an end to the skirmishing fire of the adverse
parties, and the savages drew off without renewing their hostilities. We
cannot but remark that both in this affair and that of Pierre’s Hole the
affray commenced by a hostile act on the part of white men at the moment
when the Indian warrior was extending the hand of amity. In neither
instance, as far as circumstances have been stated to us by different
persons, do we see any reason to suspect the savage chiefs of perfidy in
their overtures of friendship. They advanced in the confiding way usual
among Indians when they bear the pipe of peace, and consider themselves
sacred from attack. If we violate the sanctity of this ceremonial,
by any hostile movement on our part, it is we who incur the charge of
faithlessness; and we doubt not that in both these instances the white
men have been considered by the Blackfeet as the aggressors, and have,
in consequence, been held up as men not to be trusted.

A word to conclude the romantic incident of Loretto and his Indian
bride. A few months subsequent to the event just related, the young
Mexican settled his accounts with the Rocky Mountain Company, and
obtained his discharge. He then left his comrades and set off to rejoin
his wife and child among her people; and we understand that, at the time
we are writing these pages, he resides at a trading-house established of
late by the American Fur Company in the Blackfoot country, where he acts
as an interpreter, and has his Indian girl with him.




12.

     A winter camp in the wilderness--Medley of trappers,
     hunters, and Indians--Scarcity of game--New arrangements in
     the camp--Detachments sent to a distance--Carelessness of
     the Indians when encamped--Sickness among the Indians--
     Excellent character of the Nez-Perces--The Captain’s effort
     as a pacificator--A Nez-Perce’s argument in favor of war--
     Robberies, by the Black feet--Long suffering of the Nez-
     Perces--A hunter’s Elysium among the mountains--More
     robberies--The Captain preaches up a crusade--The effect
     upon his hearers.

FOR the greater part of the month of November Captain Bonneville
remained in his temporary post on Salmon River. He was now in the full
enjoyment of his wishes; leading a hunter’s life in the heart of the
wilderness, with all its wild populace around him. Beside his own
people, motley in character and costume--creole, Kentuckian, Indian,
half-breed, hired trapper, and free trapper--he was surrounded by
encampments of Nez Perces and Flatheads, with their droves of horses
covering the hills and plains. It was, he declares, a wild and bustling
scene. The hunting parties of white men and red men, continually
sallying forth and returning; the groups at the various encampments,
some cooking, some working, some amusing themselves at different games;
the neighing of horses, the braying of asses, the resounding strokes of
the axe, the sharp report of the rifle, the whoop, the halloo, and the
frequent burst of laughter, all in the midst of a region suddenly roused
from perfect silence and loneliness by this transient hunters’ sojourn,
realized, he says, the idea of a “populous solitude.”

The kind and genial character of the captain had, evidently, its
influence on the opposite races thus fortuitously congregated together.
The most perfect harmony prevailed between them. The Indians, he says,
were friendly in their dispositions, and honest to the most scrupulous
degree in their intercourse with the white men. It is true they were
somewhat importunate in their curiosity, and apt to be continually in
the way, examining everything with keen and prying eye, and watching
every movement of the white men. All this, however, was borne with great
good-humor by the captain, and through his example by his men. Indeed,
throughout all his transactions he shows himself the friend of the poor
Indians, and his conduct toward them is above all praise.

The Nez Perces, the Flatheads, and the Hanging-ears pride themselves
upon the number of their horses, of which they possess more in
proportion than any other of the mountain tribes within the buffalo
range. Many of the Indian warriors and hunters encamped around Captain
Bonneville possess from thirty to forty horses each. Their horses are
stout, well-built ponies, of great wind, and capable of enduring the
severest hardship and fatigue. The swiftest of them, however, are those
obtained from the whites while sufficiently young to become acclimated
and inured to the rough service of the mountains.

By degrees the populousness of this encampment began to produce its
inconveniences. The immense droves of horses owned by the Indians
consumed the herbage of the surrounding hills; while to drive them to
any distant pasturage, in a neighborhood abounding with lurking and
deadly enemies, would be to endanger the loss both of man and beast.
Game, too, began to grow scarce. It was soon hunted and frightened out
of the vicinity, and though the Indians made a wide circuit through
the mountains in the hope of driving the buffalo toward the cantonment,
their expedition was unsuccessful. It was plain that so large a party
could not subsist themselves there, nor in any one place throughout the
winter. Captain Bonneville, therefore, altered his whole arrangements.
He detached fifty men toward the south to winter upon Snake River, and
to trap about its waters in the spring, with orders to rejoin him in the
month of July at Horse Creek, in Green River Valley, which he had fixed
upon as the general rendezvous of his company for the ensuing year.

Of all his late party, he now retained with him merely a small number of
free trappers, with whom he intended to sojourn among the Nez Perces and
Flatheads, and adopt the Indian mode of moving with the game and grass.
Those bands, in effect, shortly afterward broke up their encampments
and set off for a less beaten neighborhood. Captain Bonneville remained
behind for a few days, that he might secretly prepare caches, in which
to deposit everything not required for current use. Thus lightened
of all superfluous encumbrance, he set off on the 20th of November to
rejoin his Indian allies. He found them encamped in a secluded part of
the country, at the head of a small stream. Considering themselves
out of all danger in this sequestered spot from their old enemies, the
Blackfeet, their encampment manifested the most negligent security.
Their lodges were scattered in every direction, and their horses covered
every hill for a great distance round, grazing upon the upland bunch
grass which grew in great abundance, and though dry, retained its
nutritious properties instead of losing them like other grasses in the
autumn.

When the Nez Perces, Flatheads, and Pends Oreilles are encamped in a
dangerous neighborhood, says Captain Bonneville, the greatest care
is taken of their horses, those prime articles of Indian wealth, and
objects of Indian depredation. Each warrior has his horse tied by one
foot at night to a stake planted before his lodge. Here they remain
until broad daylight; by that time the young men of the camp are already
ranging over the surrounding hills. Each family then drives its horses
to some eligible spot, where they are left to graze unattended. A young
Indian repairs occasionally to the pasture to give them water, and to
see that all is well. So accustomed are the horses to this management,
that they keep together in the pasture where they have been left. As
the sun sinks behind the hills, they may be seen moving from all points
toward the camp, where they surrender themselves to be tied up for the
night. Even in situations of danger, the Indians rarely set guards over
their camp at night, intrusting that office entirely to their vigilant
and well-trained dogs.

In an encampment, however, of such fancied security as that in which
Captain Bonneville found his Indian friends, much of these precautions
with respect to their horses are omitted. They merely drive them, at
nightfall, to some sequestered little dell, and leave them there, at
perfect liberty, until the morning.

One object of Captain Bonneville in wintering among these Indians was
to procure a supply of horses against the spring. They were, however,
extremely unwilling to part with any, and it was with great difficulty
that he purchased, at the rate of twenty dollars each, a few for the use
of some of his free trappers who were on foot and dependent on him for
their equipment.

In this encampment Captain Bonneville remained from the 21st of November
to the 9th of December. During this period the thermometer ranged from
thirteen to forty-two degrees. There were occasional falls of snow; but
it generally melted away almost immediately, and the tender blades
of new grass began to shoot up among the old. On the 7th of December,
however, the thermometer fell to seven degrees.

The reader will recollect that, on distributing his forces when in
Green River Valley, Captain Bonneville had detached a party, headed by
a leader of the name of Matthieu, with all the weak and disabled horses,
to sojourn about Bear River, meet the Shoshonie bands, and afterward to
rejoin him at his winter camp on Salmon River.

More than sufficient time had elapsed, yet Matthieu failed to make his
appearance, and uneasiness began to be felt on his account. Captain
Bonneville sent out four men, to range the country through which he
would have to pass, and endeavor to get some information concerning
him; for his route lay across the great Snake River plain, which spreads
itself out like an Arabian desert, and on which a cavalcade could be
descried at a great distance. The scouts soon returned, having proceeded
no further than the edge of the plain, pretending that their horses were
lame; but it was evident they had feared to venture, with so small a
force, into these exposed and dangerous regions.

A disease, which Captain Bonneville supposed to be pneumonia, now
appeared among the Indians, carrying off numbers of them after an
illness of three or four days. The worthy captain acted as physician,
prescribing profuse sweatings and copious bleedings, and uniformly with
success, if the patient were subsequently treated with proper care. In
extraordinary cases, the poor savages called in the aid of their own
doctors or conjurors, who officiated with great noise and mummery, but
with little benefit. Those who died during this epidemic were buried in
graves, after the manner of the whites, but without any regard to the
direction of the head. It is a fact worthy of notice that, while this
malady made such ravages among the natives, not a single white man had
the slightest symptom of it.

A familiar intercourse of some standing with the Pierced-nose and
Flathead Indians had now convinced Captain Bonneville of their amicable
and inoffensive character; he began to take a strong interest in them,
and conceived the idea of becoming a pacificator, and healing the deadly
feud between them and the Blackfeet, in which they were so deplorably
the sufferers. He proposed the matter to some of the leaders, and
urged that they should meet the Blackfeet chiefs in a grand pacific
conference, offering to send two of his men to the enemy’s camp with
pipe, tobacco and flag of truce, to negotiate the proposed meeting.

The Nez Perces and Flathead sages upon this held a council of war of two
days’ duration, in which there was abundance of hard smoking and long
talking, and both eloquence and tobacco were nearly exhausted. At length
they came to a decision to reject the worthy captain’s proposition, and
upon pretty substantial grounds, as the reader may judge.

“War,” said the chiefs, “is a bloody business, and full of evil; but
it keeps the eyes of the chiefs always open, and makes the limbs of the
young men strong and supple. In war, every one is on the alert. If we
see a trail we know it must be an enemy; if the Blackfeet come to us, we
know it is for war, and we are ready. Peace, on the other hand, sounds
no alarm; the eyes of the chiefs are closed in sleep, and the young men
are sleek and lazy. The horses stray into the mountains; the women and
their little babes go about alone. But the heart of a Blackfoot is a
lie, and his tongue is a trap. If he says peace it is to deceive; he
comes to us as a brother; he smokes his pipe with us; but when he sees
us weak, and off our guard, he will slay and steal. We will have no such
peace; let there be war!”

With this reasoning Captain Bonneville was fain to acquiesce; but, since
the sagacious Flatheads and their allies were content to remain in
a state of warfare, he wished them at least to exercise the boasted
vigilance which war was to produce, and to keep their eyes open. He
represented to them the impossibility that two such considerable clans
could move about the country without leaving trails by which they might
be traced. Besides, among the Blackfeet braves were several Nez Perces,
who had been taken prisoners in early youth, adopted by their captors,
and trained up and imbued with warlike and predatory notions; these had
lost all sympathies with their native tribe, and would be prone to lead
the enemy to their secret haunts. He exhorted them, therefore, to keep
upon the alert, and never to remit their vigilance while within the
range of so crafty and cruel a foe. All these counsels were lost upon
his easy and simple-minded hearers. A careless indifference reigned
throughout their encampments, and their horses were permitted to range
the hills at night in perfect freedom. Captain Bonneville had his own
horses brought in at night, and properly picketed and guarded. The
evil he apprehended soon took place. In a single night a swoop was made
through the neighboring pastures by the Blackfeet, and eighty-six of the
finest horses carried off. A whip and a rope were left in a conspicuous
situation by the robbers, as a taunt to the simpletons they had
unhorsed.

Long before sunrise the news of this calamity spread like wildfire
through the different encampments. Captain Bonneville, whose own horses
remained safe at their pickets, watched in momentary expectation of an
outbreak of warriors, Pierced-nose and Flathead, in furious pursuit
of the marauders; but no such thing--they contented themselves with
searching diligently over hill and dale, to glean up such horses as
had escaped the hands of the marauders, and then resigned themselves to
their loss with the most exemplary quiescence.

Some, it is true, who were entirely unhorsed, set out on a begging visit
to their cousins, as they called them, the Lower Nez Perces, who inhabit
the lower country about the Columbia, and possess horses in abundance.
To these they repair when in difficulty, and seldom fail, by dint of
begging and bartering, to get themselves once more mounted on horseback.

Game had now become scarce in the neighborhood of the camp, and it was
necessary, according to Indian custom, to move off to a less beaten
ground. Captain Bonneville proposed the Horse Prairie; but his Indian
friends objected that many of the Nez Perces had gone to visit their
cousins, and that the whites were few in number, so that their united
force was not sufficient to Venture upon the buffalo grounds, which were
infested by bands of Blackfeet.

They now spoke of a place at no great distance, which they represented
as a perfect hunter’s elysium. It was on the right branch, or head
stream of the river, locked up among cliffs and precipices where there
was no danger from roving bands, and where the Blackfeet dare not enter.
Here, they said, the elk abounded, and the mountain sheep were to be
seen trooping upon the rocks and hills. A little distance beyond it,
also, herds of buffalo were to be met with, Out of range of danger.
Thither they proposed to move their camp.

The proposition pleased the captain, who was desirous, through the
Indians, of becoming acquainted with all the secret places of the land.
Accordingly, on the 9th of December, they struck their tents, and moved
forward by short stages, as many of the Indians were yet feeble from the
late malady.

Following up the right fork of the river they came to where it entered
a deep gorge of the mountains, up which lay the secluded region so much
valued by the Indians. Captain Bonneville halted and encamped for three
days before entering the gorge. In the meantime he detached five of
his free trappers to scour the hills, and kill as many elk as possible,
before the main body should enter, as they would then be soon frightened
away by the various Indian hunting parties.

While thus encamped, they were still liable to the marauds of the
Blackfeet, and Captain Bonneville admonished his Indian friends to be
upon their guard. The Nez Perces, however, notwithstanding their recent
loss, were still careless of their horses; merely driving them to some
secluded spot, and leaving them there for the night, without setting any
guard upon them. The consequence was a second swoop, in which forty-one
were carried off. This was borne with equal philosophy with the
first, and no effort was made either to recover the horses, or to take
vengeance on the thieves.

The Nez Perces, however, grew more cautious with respect to their
remaining horses, driving them regularly to the camp every evening, and
fastening them to pickets. Captain Bonneville, however, told them that
this was not enough. It was evident they were dogged by a daring and
persevering enemy, who was encouraged by past impunity; they should,
therefore, take more than usual precautions, and post a guard at night
over their cavalry. They could not, however, be persuaded to depart from
their usual custom. The horse once picketed, the care of the owner was
over for the night, and he slept profoundly. None waked in the camp but
the gamblers, who, absorbed in their play, were more difficult to be
roused to external circumstances than even the sleepers.

The Blackfeet are bold enemies, and fond of hazardous exploits. The band
that were hovering about the neighborhood, finding that they had such
pacific people to deal with, redoubled their daring. The horses being
now picketed before the lodges, a number of Blackfeet scouts penetrated
in the early part of the night into the very centre of the camp. Here
they went about among the lodges as calmly and deliberately as if at
home, quietly cutting loose the horses that stood picketed by the lodges
of their sleeping owners. One of these prowlers, more adventurous than
the rest, approached a fire round which a group of Nez Perces were
gambling with the most intense eagerness. Here he stood for some time,
muffled up in his robe, peering over the shoulders of the players,
watching the changes of their countenances and the fluctuations of
the game. So completely engrossed were they, that the presence of this
muffled eaves-dropper was unnoticed and, having executed his bravado, he
retired undiscovered.

Having cut loose as many horses as they could conveniently carry off,
the Blackfeet scouts rejoined their comrades, and all remained patiently
round the camp. By degrees the horses, finding themselves at liberty,
took their route toward their customary grazing ground. As they emerged
from the camp they were silently taken possession of, until, having
secured about thirty, the Blackfeet sprang on their backs and scampered
off. The clatter of hoofs startled the gamblers from their game. They
gave the alarm, which soon roused the sleepers from every lodge. Still
all was quiescent; no marshalling of forces, no saddling of steeds
and dashing off in pursuit, no talk of retribution for their repeated
outrages. The patience of Captain Bonneville was at length exhausted. He
had played the part of a pacificator without success; he now altered his
tone, and resolved, if possible, to rouse their war spirit.

Accordingly, convoking their chiefs, he inveighed against their craven
policy, and urged the necessity of vigorous and retributive measures
that would check the confidence and presumption of their enemies, if
not inspire them with awe. For this purpose, he advised that a war party
should be immediately sent off on the trail of the marauders, to follow
them, if necessary, into the very heart of the Blackfoot country, and
not to leave them until they had taken signal vengeance. Beside this, he
recommended the organization of minor war parties, to make reprisals to
the extent of the losses sustained. “Unless you rouse yourselves from
your apathy,” said he, “and strike some bold and decisive blow, you will
cease to be considered men, or objects of manly warfare. The very squaws
and children of the Blackfeet will be set against you, while their
warriors reserve themselves for nobler antagonists.”

This harangue had evidently a momentary effect upon the pride of the
hearers. After a short pause, however, one of the orators arose. It was
bad, he said, to go to war for mere revenge. The Great Spirit had given
them a heart for peace, not for war. They had lost horses, it was true,
but they could easily get others from their cousins, the Lower Nez
Perces, without incurring any risk; whereas, in war they should lose
men, who were not so readily replaced. As to their late losses, an
increased watchfulness would prevent any more misfortunes of the kind.
He disapproved, therefore, of all hostile measures; and all the other
chiefs concurred in his opinion.

Captain Bonneville again took up the point. “It is true,” said he, “the
Great Spirit has given you a heart to love your friends; but he has
also given you an arm to strike your enemies. Unless you do something
speedily to put an end to this continual plundering, I must say
farewell. As yet I have sustained no loss; thanks to the precautions
which you have slighted; but my property is too unsafe here; my turn
will come next; I and my people will share the contempt you are bringing
upon yourselves, and will be thought, like you, poor-spirited beings,
who may at any time be plundered with impunity.”

The conference broke up with some signs of excitement on the part of
the Indians. Early the next morning, a party of thirty men set off in
pursuit of the foe, and Captain Bonneville hoped to hear a good account
of the Blackfeet marauders. To his disappointment, the war party came
lagging back on the following day, leading a few old, sorry, broken-down
horses, which the free-booters had not been able to urge to sufficient
speed. This effort exhausted the martial spirit, and satisfied the
wounded pride of the Nez Perces, and they relapsed into their usual
state of passive indifference.




13.

     Story of Kosato, the Renegade Blackfoot.

IF the meekness and long-suffering of the Pierced-noses grieved the
spirit of Captain Bonneville, there was another individual in the camp
to whom they were still more annoying. This was a Blackfoot renegado,
named Kosato, a fiery hot-blooded youth who, with a beautiful girl of
the same tribe, had taken refuge among the Nez Perces. Though adopted
into the tribe, he still retained the warlike spirit of his race,
and loathed the peaceful, inoffensive habits of those around him. The
hunting of the deer, the elk, and the buffalo, which was the height of
their ambition, was too tame to satisfy his wild and restless nature.
His heart burned for the foray, the ambush, the skirmish, the scamper,
and all the haps and hazards of roving and predatory warfare.

The recent hoverings of the Blackfeet about the camp, their nightly
prowls and daring and successful marauds, had kept him in a fever and
a flutter, like a hawk in a cage who hears his late companions swooping
and screaming in wild liberty above him. The attempt of Captain
Bonneville to rouse the war spirit of the Nez Perces, and prompt them
to retaliation, was ardently seconded by Kosato. For several days he
was incessantly devising schemes of vengeance, and endeavoring to set
on foot an expedition that should carry dismay and desolation into the
Blackfeet town. All his art was exerted to touch upon those springs
of human action with which he was most familiar. He drew the listening
savages round him by his nervous eloquence; taunted them with recitals
of past wrongs and insults; drew glowing pictures of triumphs and
trophies within their reach; recounted tales of daring and romantic
enterprise, of secret marchings, covert lurkings, midnight surprisals,
sackings, burnings, plunderings, scalpings; together with the triumphant
return, and the feasting and rejoicing of the victors. These wild tales
were intermingled with the beating of the drum, the yell, the war-whoop
and the war-dance, so inspiring to Indian valor. All, however, were
lost upon the peaceful spirits of his hearers; not a Nez Perce was to be
roused to vengeance, or stimulated to glorious war. In the bitterness
of his heart, the Blackfoot renegade repined at the mishap which had
severed him from a race of congenial spirits, and driven him to take
refuge among beings so destitute of martial fire.

The character and conduct of this man attracted the attention of Captain
Bonneville, and he was anxious to hear the reason why he had deserted
his tribe, and why he looked back upon them with such deadly hostility.
Kosato told him his own story briefly: it gives a picture of the deep,
strong passions that work in the bosoms of these miscalled stoics.

“You see my wife,” said he, “she is good; she is beautiful--I love her.
Yet she has been the cause of all my troubles. She was the wife of
my chief. I loved her more than he did; and she knew it. We talked
together; we laughed together; we were always seeking each other’s
society; but we were as innocent as children. The chief grew jealous,
and commanded her to speak with me no more. His heart became hard toward
her; his jealousy grew more furious. He beat her without cause and
without mercy; and threatened to kill her outright if she even looked at
me. Do you want traces of his fury? Look at that scar! His rage against
me was no less persecuting. War parties of the Crows were hovering
round us; our young men had seen their trail. All hearts were roused for
action; my horses were before my lodge. Suddenly the chief came, took
them to his own pickets, and called them his own. What could I do? he
was a chief. I durst not speak, but my heart was burning. I joined no
longer in the council, the hunt, or the war-feast. What had I to do
there? an unhorsed, degraded warrior. I kept by myself, and thought of
nothing but these wrongs and outrages.

“I was sitting one evening upon a knoll that overlooked the meadow where
the horses were pastured. I saw the horses that were once mine grazing
among those of the chief. This maddened me, and I sat brooding for a
time over the injuries I had suffered, and the cruelties which she I
loved had endured for my sake, until my heart swelled and grew sore, and
my teeth were clinched. As I looked down upon the meadow I saw the chief
walking among his horses. I fastened my eyes upon him as a hawk’s; my
blood boiled; I drew my breath hard. He went among the willows. In an
instant I was on my feet; my hand was on my knife--I flew rather than
ran--before he was aware I sprang upon him, and with two blows laid him
dead at my feet. I covered his body with earth, and strewed bushes over
the place; then I hastened to her I loved, told her what I had done, and
urged her to fly with me. She only answered me with tears. I reminded
her of the wrongs I had suffered, and of the blows and stripes she had
endured from the deceased; I had done nothing but an act of justice. I
again urged her to fly; but she only wept the more, and bade me go. My
heart was heavy, but my eyes were dry. I folded my arms. ‘’Tis well,’
said I; ‘Kosato will go alone to the desert. None will be with him but
the wild beasts of the desert. The seekers of blood may follow on his
trail. They may come upon him when he sleeps and glut their revenge; but
you will be safe. Kosato will go alone.’

“I turned away. She sprang after me, and strained me in her arms. ‘No,’
she cried, ‘Kosato shall not go alone! Wherever he goes I will go--he
shall never part from me.’

“We hastily took in our hands such things as we most needed, and
stealing quietly from the village, mounted the first horses we
encountered. Speeding day and night, we soon reached this tribe. They
received us with welcome, and we have dwelt with them in peace. They
are good and kind; they are honest; but their hearts are the hearts of
women.”

Such was the story of Kosato, as related by him to Captain Bonneville.
It is of a kind that often occurs in Indian life; where love elopements
from tribe to tribe are as frequent as among the novel-read heroes and
heroines of sentimental civilization, and often give rise to bloods and
lasting feuds.




14.

     The party enters the mountain gorge--A wild fastness among
     hills--Mountain mutton--Peace and plenty--The amorous
     trapper-A piebald wedding--A free trapper’s wife--Her gala
     equipments--Christmas in the wilderness.

ON the 19th of December Captain Bonneville and his confederate Indians
raised their camp, and entered the narrow gorge made by the north fork
of Salmon River. Up this lay the secure and plenteous hunting region so
temptingly described by the Indians.

Since leaving Green River the plains had invariably been of loose sand
or coarse gravel, and the rocky formation of the mountains of primitive
limestone. The rivers, in general, were skirted with willows and bitter
cottonwood trees, and the prairies covered with wormwood. In the hollow
breast of the mountains which they were now penetrating, the surrounding
heights were clothed with pine; while the declivities of the lower hills
afforded abundance of bunch grass for the horses.

As the Indians had represented, they were now in a natural fastness of
the mountains, the ingress and egress of which was by a deep gorge, so
narrow, rugged, and difficult as to prevent secret approach or rapid
retreat, and to admit of easy defence. The Blackfeet, therefore,
refrained from venturing in after the Nez Perces, awaiting a better
chance, when they should once more emerge into the open country.

Captain Bonneville soon found that the Indians had not exaggerated the
advantages of this region. Besides the numerous gangs of elk, large
flocks of the ahsahta or bighorn, the mountain sheep, were to be
seen bounding among the precipices. These simple animals were easily
circumvented and destroyed. A few hunters may surround a flock and kill
as many as they please. Numbers were daily brought into camp, and the
flesh of those which were young and fat was extolled as superior to the
finest mutton.

Here, then, there was a cessation from toil, from hunger, and alarm.
Past ills and dangers were forgotten. The hunt, the game, the song, the
story, the rough though good-humored joke, made time pass joyously away,
and plenty and security reigned throughout the camp.

Idleness and ease, it is said, lead to love, and love to matrimony,
in civilized life, and the same process takes place in the wilderness.
Filled with good cheer and mountain mutton, one of the free trappers
began to repine at the solitude of his lodge, and to experience the
force of that great law of nature, “it is not meet for man to live
alone.”

After a night of grave cogitation he repaired to Kowsoter, the
Pierced-nose chief, and unfolded to him the secret workings of his
bosom.

“I want,” said he, “a wife. Give me one from among your tribe. Not a
young, giddy-pated girl, that will think of nothing but flaunting and
finery, but a sober, discreet, hard-working squaw; one that will share
my lot without flinching, however hard it may be; that can take care of
my lodge, and be a companion and a helpmate to me in the wilderness.”
 Kowsoter promised to look round among the females of his tribe, and
procure such a one as he desired. Two days were requisite for the
search. At the expiration of these, Kowsoter, called at his lodge, and
informed him that he would bring his bride to him in the course of
the afternoon. He kept his word. At the appointed time he approached,
leading the bride, a comely copper-colored dame attired in her Indian
finery. Her father, mother, brothers by the half dozen and cousins by
the score, all followed on to grace the ceremony and greet the new and
important relative.

The trapper received his new and numerous family connection with proper
solemnity; he placed his bride beside him, and, filling the pipe, the
great symbol of peace, with his best tobacco, took two or three whiffs,
then handed it to the chief who transferred it to the father of the
bride, from whom it was passed on from hand to hand and mouth to mouth
of the whole circle of kinsmen round the fire, all maintaining the most
profound and becoming silence.

After several pipes had been filled and emptied in this solemn
ceremonial, the chief addressed the bride, detailing at considerable
length the duties of a wife which, among Indians, are little less
onerous than those of the pack-horse; this done, he turned to her
friends and congratulated them upon the great alliance she had made.
They showed a due sense of their good fortune, especially when the
nuptial presents came to be distributed among the chiefs and relatives,
amounting to about one hundred and eighty dollars. The company soon
retired, and now the worthy trapper found indeed that he had no green
girl to deal with; for the knowing dame at once assumed the style and
dignity of a trapper’s wife: taking possession of the lodge as her
undisputed empire, arranging everything according to her own taste and
habitudes, and appearing as much at home and on as easy terms with the
trapper as if they had been man and wife for years.

We have already given a picture of a free trapper and his horse, as
furnished by Captain Bonneville: we shall here subjoin, as a companion
picture, his description of a free trapper’s wife, that the reader
may have a correct idea of the kind of blessing the worthy hunter in
question had invoked to solace him in the wilderness.

“The free trapper, while a bachelor, has no greater pet than his horse;
but the moment he takes a wife (a sort of brevet rank in matrimony
occasionally bestowed upon some Indian fair one, like the heroes of
ancient chivalry in the open field), he discovers that he has a still
more fanciful and capricious animal on which to lavish his expenses.

“No sooner does an Indian belle experience this promotion, than all her
notions at once rise and expand to the dignity of her situation, and the
purse of her lover, and his credit into the bargain, are taxed to the
utmost to fit her out in becoming style. The wife of a free trapper to
be equipped and arrayed like any ordinary and undistinguished squaw?
Perish the grovelling thought! In the first place, she must have a horse
for her own riding; but no jaded, sorry, earth-spirited hack, such as
is sometimes assigned by an Indian husband for the transportation of his
squaw and her pappooses: the wife of a free trader must have the
most beautiful animal she can lay her eyes on. And then, as to his
decoration: headstall, breast-bands, saddle and crupper are lavishly
embroidered with beads, and hung with thimbles, hawks’ bells, and
bunches of ribbons. From each side of the saddle hangs an esquimoot,
a sort of pocket, in which she bestows the residue of her trinkets and
nick-nacks, which cannot be crowded on the decoration of her horse or
herself. Over this she folds, with great care, a drapery of scarlet and
bright-colored calicoes, and now considers the caparison of her steed
complete.

“As to her own person, she is even still more extravagant. Her hair,
esteemed beautiful in proportion to its length, is carefully plaited,
and made to fall with seeming negligence over either breast. Her
riding hat is stuck full of parti-colored feathers; her robe, fashioned
somewhat after that of the whites, is of red, green, and sometimes
gray cloth, but always of the finest texture that can be procured.
Her leggings and moccasins are of the most beautiful and expensive
workman-ship, and fitted neatly to the foot and ankle, which with the
Indian woman are generally well formed and delicate. Then as to jewelry:
in the way of finger-rings, ear-rings, necklaces, and other female
glories, nothing within reach of the trapper’s means is omitted that can
tend to impress the beholder with an idea of the lady’s high estate. To
finish the whole, she selects from among her blankets of various dyes
one of some glowing color, and throwing it over her shoulders with a
native grace, vaults into the saddle of her gay, prancing steed, and
is ready to follow her mountaineer ‘to the last gasp with love and
loyalty.’”

Such is the general picture of the free trapper’s wife, given by Captain
Bonneville; how far it applied in its details to the one in question
does not altogether appear, though it would seem from the outset of her
connubial career, that she was ready to avail herself of all the pomp
and circumstance of her new condition. It is worthy of mention that
wherever there are several wives of free trappers in a camp, the keenest
rivalry exists between them, to the sore detriment of their husbands’
purses. Their whole time is expended and their ingenuity tasked by
endeavors to eclipse each other in dress and decoration. The jealousies
and heart-burnings thus occasioned among these so-styled children of
nature are equally intense with those of the rival leaders of style and
fashion in the luxurious abodes of civilized life.

The genial festival of Christmas, which throughout all Christendom
lights up the fireside of home with mirth and jollity, followed hard
upon the wedding just described. Though far from kindred and friends,
Captain Bonneville and his handful of free trappers were not disposed
to suffer the festival to pass unenjoyed; they were in a region of good
cheer, and were disposed to be joyous; so it was determined to “light
up the yule clog,” and celebrate a merry Christmas in the heart of the
wilderness.

On Christmas eve, accordingly, they began their rude fetes and
rejoicings. In the course of the night the free trappers surrounded the
lodge of the Pierced-nose chief and in lieu of Christmas carols, saluted
him with a feude joie.

Kowsoter received it in a truly Christian spirit, and after a speech, in
which he expressed his high gratification at the honor done him, invited
the whole company to a feast on the following day. His invitation was
gladly accepted. A Christmas dinner in the wigwam of an Indian chief!
There was novelty in the idea. Not one failed to be present. The banquet
was served up in primitive style: skins of various kinds, nicely dressed
for the occasion, were spread upon the ground; upon these were heaped up
abundance of venison, elk meat, and mountain mutton, with various bitter
roots which the Indians use as condiments.

After a short prayer, the company all seated themselves cross-legged, in
Turkish fashion, to the banquet, which passed off with great hilarity.
After which various games of strength and agility by both white men and
Indians closed the Christmas festivities.




15.

     A hunt after hunters--Hungry times--A voracious repast--
     Wintry weather--Godin’s River--Splendid winter scene on the
     great--Lava Plain of Snake River--Severe travelling and
     tramping in the snow--Manoeuvres of a solitary Indian
     horseman--Encampment on Snake River--Banneck Indians--The
     horse chief--His charmed life.

THE continued absence of Matthieu and his party had, by this time,
caused great uneasiness in the mind of Captain Bonneville; and, finding
there was no dependence to be placed upon the perseverance and courage
of scouting parties in so perilous a quest, he determined to set
out himself on the search, and to keep on until he should ascertain
something of the object of his solicitude.

Accordingly on the 20th December he left the camp, accompanied by
thirteen stark trappers and hunters, all well mounted and armed for
dangerous enterprise. On the following morning they passed out at the
head of the mountain gorge and sallied forth into the open plain. As
they confidently expected a brush with the Blackfeet, or some other
predatory horde, they moved with great circumspection, and kept vigilant
watch in their encampments.

In the course of another day they left the main branch of Salmon River,
and proceeded south toward a pass called John Day’s defile. It was
severe and arduous travelling. The plains were swept by keen and bitter
blasts of wintry wind; the ground was generally covered with snow, game
was scarce, so that hunger generally prevailed in the camp, while the
want of pasturage soon began to manifest itself in the declining vigor
of the horses.

The party had scarcely encamped on the afternoon of the 28th, when two
of the hunters who had sallied forth in quest of game came galloping
back in great alarm. While hunting they had perceived a party of
savages, evidently manoeuvring to cut them off from the camp; and
nothing had saved them from being entrapped but the speed of their
horses.

These tidings struck dismay into the camp. Captain Bonneville endeavored
to reassure his men by representing the position of their encampment,
and its capability of defence. He then ordered the horses to be driven
in and picketed, and threw up a rough breastwork of fallen trunks of
trees and the vegetable rubbish of the wilderness. Within this barrier
was maintained a vigilant watch throughout the night, which passed away
without alarm. At early dawn they scrutinized the surrounding plain, to
discover whether any enemies had been lurking about during the night;
not a foot-print, however, was to be discovered in the coarse gravel
with which the plain was covered.

Hunger now began to cause more uneasiness than the apprehensions of
surrounding enemies. After marching a few miles they encamped at the
foot of a mountain, in hopes of finding buffalo. It was not until the
next day that they discovered a pair of fine bulls on the edge of the
plain, among rocks and ravines. Having now been two days and a half
without a mouthful of food, they took especial care that these animals
should not escape them. While some of the surest marksmen advanced
cautiously with their rifles into the rough ground, four of the best
mounted horsemen took their stations in the plain, to run the bulls down
should they only be maimed.

The buffalo were wounded and set off in headlong flight. The
half-famished horses were too weak to overtake them on the frozen
ground, but succeeded in driving them on the ice, where they slipped
and fell, and were easily dispatched. The hunters loaded themselves with
beef for present and future supply, and then returned and encamped
at the last nights’s fire. Here they passed the remainder of the day,
cooking and eating with a voracity proportioned to previous starvation,
forgetting in the hearty revel of the moment the certain dangers with
which they were environed.

The cravings of hunger being satisfied, they now began to debate about
their further progress. The men were much disheartened by the hardships
they had already endured. Indeed, two who had been in the rear guard,
taking advantage of their position, had deserted and returned to the
lodges of the Nez Perces. The prospect ahead was enough to stagger the
stoutest heart. They were in the dead of winter. As far as the eye
could reach the wild landscape was wrapped in snow, which was evidently
deepening as they advanced. Over this they would have to toil, with the
icy wind blowing in their faces: their horses might give out through
want of pasturage, and they themselves must expect intervals of horrible
famine like that they had already experienced.

With Captain Bonneville, however, perseverance was a matter of pride;
and, having undertaken this enterprise, nothing could turn him back
until it was accomplished: though he declares that, had he anticipated
the difficulties and sufferings which attended it, he should have
flinched from the undertaking.

Onward, therefore, the little band urged their way, keeping along the
course of a stream called John Day’s Creek. The cold was so intense that
they had frequently to dismount and travel on foot, lest they should
freeze in their saddles. The days which at this season are short enough
even in the open prairies, were narrowed to a few hours by the high
mountains, which allowed the travellers but a brief enjoyment of the
cheering rays of the sun. The snow was generally at least twenty inches
in depth, and in many places much more: those who dismounted had to beat
their way with toilsome steps. Eight miles were considered a good day’s
journey. The horses were almost famished; for the herbage was covered by
the deep snow, so that they had nothing to subsist upon but scanty wisps
of the dry bunch grass which peered above the surface, and the small
branches and twigs of frozen willows and wormwood.

In this way they urged their slow and painful course to the south down
John Day’s Creek, until it lost itself in a swamp. Here they encamped
upon the ice among stiffened willows, where they were obliged to beat
down and clear away the snow to procure pasturage for their horses.

Hence they toiled on to Godin River; so called after an Iroquois hunter
in the service of Sublette, who was murdered there by the Blackfeet.
Many of the features of this remote wilderness are thus named after
scenes of violence and bloodshed that occurred to the early pioneers. It
was an act of filial vengeance on the part of Godin’s son Antoine that,
as the reader may recollect, brought on the recent battle at Pierre’s
Hole.

From Godin’s River, Captain Bonneville and his followers came out upon
the plain of the Three Butes, so called from three singular and isolated
hills that rise from the midst. It is a part of the great desert of
Snake River, one of the most remarkable tracts beyond the mountains.
Could they have experienced a respite from their sufferings and
anxieties, the immense landscape spread out before them was calculated
to inspire admiration. Winter has its beauties and glories as well as
summer; and Captain Bonneville had the soul to appreciate them.

Far away, says he, over the vast plains, and up the steep sides of the
lofty mountains, the snow lay spread in dazzling whiteness: and whenever
the sun emerged in the morning above the giant peaks, or burst forth
from among clouds in his midday course, mountain and dell, glazed rock
and frosted tree, glowed and sparkled with surpassing lustre. The tall
pines seemed sprinkled with a silver dust, and the willows, studded with
minute icicles reflecting the prismatic rays, brought to mind the fairy
trees conjured up by the caliph’s story-teller to adorn his vale of
diamonds.

The poor wanderers, however, nearly starved with hunger and cold, were
in no mood to enjoy the glories of these brilliant scenes; though they
stamped pictures on their memory which have been recalled with delight
in more genial situations.

Encamping at the west Bute, they found a place swept by the winds, so
that it was bare of snow, and there was abundance of bunch grass. Here
the horses were turned loose to graze throughout the night. Though for
once they had ample pasturage, yet the keen winds were so intense that,
in the morning, a mule was found frozen to death. The trappers gathered
round and mourned over him as over a cherished friend. They feared their
half-famished horses would soon share his fate, for there seemed scarce
blood enough left in their veins to withstand the freezing cold. To beat
the way further through the snow with these enfeebled animals seemed
next to impossible; and despondency began to creep over their hearts,
when, fortunately, they discovered a trail made by some hunting party.
Into this they immediately entered, and proceeded with less difficulty.
Shortly afterward, a fine buffalo bull came bounding across the snow and
was instantly brought down by the hunters. A fire was soon blazing and
crackling, and an ample repast soon cooked, and sooner dispatched; after
which they made some further progress and then encamped. One of the men
reached the camp nearly frozen to death; but good cheer and a blazing
fire gradually restored life, and put his blood in circulation.

Having now a beaten path, they proceeded the next morning with more
facility; indeed, the snow decreased in depth as they receded from the
mountains, and the temperature became more mild. In the course of the
day they discovered a solitary horseman hovering at a distance before
them on the plain. They spurred on to overtake him; but he was better
mounted on a fresher steed, and kept at a wary distance, reconnoitring
them with evident distrust; for the wild dress of the free trappers,
their leggings, blankets, and cloth caps garnished with fur and topped
off with feathers, even their very elf-locks and weather-bronzed
complexions, gave them the look of Indians rather than white men, and
made him mistake them for a war party of some hostile tribe.

After much manoeuvring, the wild horseman was at length brought to a
parley; but even then he conducted himself with the caution of a knowing
prowler of the prairies. Dismounting from his horse, and using him as a
breastwork, he levelled his gun across his back, and, thus prepared for
defence like a wary cruiser upon the high seas, he permitted himself to
be approached within speaking distance.

He proved to be an Indian of the Banneck tribe, belonging to a band at
no great distance. It was some time before he could be persuaded that
he was conversing with a party of white men and induced to lay aside his
reserve and join them. He then gave them the interesting intelligence
that there were two companies of white men encamped in the neighborhood.
This was cheering news to Captain Bonneville; who hoped to find in one
of them the long-sought party of Matthieu. Pushing forward, therefore,
with renovated spirits, he reached Snake River by nightfall, and there
fixed his encampment.

Early the next morning (13th January, 1833), diligent search was made
about the neighborhood for traces of the reported parties of white men.
An encampment was soon discovered about four miles farther up the river,
in which Captain Bonneville to his great joy found two of Matthieu’s
men, from whom he learned that the rest of his party would be there
in the course of a few days. It was a matter of great pride and
self-gratulation to Captain Bonneville that he had thus accomplished his
dreary and doubtful enterprise; and he determined to pass some time
in this encampment, both to await the return of Matthieu, and to give
needful repose to men and horses.

It was, in fact, one of the most eligible and delightful wintering
grounds in that whole range of country. The Snake River here wound
its devious way between low banks through the great plain of the Three
Butes; and was bordered by wide and fertile meadows. It was studded with
islands which, like the alluvial bottoms, were covered with groves
of cotton-wood, thickets of willow, tracts of good lowland grass, and
abundance of green rushes. The adjacent plains were so vast in extent
that no single band of Indians could drive the buffalo out of them;
nor was the snow of sufficient depth to give any serious inconvenience.
Indeed, during the sojourn of Captain Bonneville in this neighborhood,
which was in the heart of winter, he found the weather, with the
exception of a few cold and stormy days, generally mild and pleasant,
freezing a little at night but invariably thawing with the morning’s
sun-resembling the spring weather in the middle parts of the United
States.

The lofty range of the Three Tetons, those great landmarks of the Rocky
Mountains rising in the east and circling away to the north and west
of the great plain of Snake River, and the mountains of Salt River and
Portneuf toward the south, catch the earliest falls of snow. Their white
robes lengthen as the winter advances, and spread themselves far into
the plain, driving the buffalo in herds to the banks of the river in
quest of food; where they are easily slain in great numbers.

Such were the palpable advantages of this winter encampment; added to
which, it was secure from the prowlings and plunderings of any petty
band of roving Blackfeet, the difficulties of retreat rendering it
unwise for those crafty depredators to venture an attack unless with an
overpowering force.

About ten miles below the encampment lay the Banneck Indians; numbering
about one hundred and twenty lodges. They are brave and cunning warriors
and deadly foes of the Blackfeet, whom they easily overcome in battles
where their forces are equal. They are not vengeful and enterprising
in warfare, however; seldom sending war parties to attack the Blackfeet
towns, but contenting themselves with defending their own territories
and house. About one third of their warriors are armed with fusees, the
rest with bows and arrows.

As soon as the spring opens they move down the right bank of Snake River
and encamp at the heads of the Boisee and Payette. Here their horses wax
fat on good pasturage, while the tribe revels in plenty upon the flesh
of deer, elk, bear, and beaver. They then descend a little further, and
are met by the Lower Nez Perces, with whom they trade for horses; giving
in exchange beaver, buffalo, and buffalo robes. Hence they strike upon
the tributary streams on the left bank of Snake River, and encamp at the
rise of the Portneuf and Blackfoot streams, in the buffalo range. Their
horses, although of the Nez Perce breed, are inferior to the parent
stock from being ridden at too early an age, being often bought when but
two years old and immediately put to hard work. They have fewer horses,
also, than most of these migratory tribes.

At the time that Captain Bonneville came into the neighborhood of these
Indians, they were all in mourning for their chief, surnamed The
Horse. This chief was said to possess a charmed life, or rather, to be
invulnerable to lead; no bullet having ever hit him, though he had been
in repeated battles, and often shot at by the surest marksmen. He had
shown great magnanimity in his intercourse with the white men. One of
the great men of his family had been slain in an attack upon a band of
trappers passing through the territories of his tribe. Vengeance had
been sworn by the Bannecks; but The Horse interfered, declaring himself
the friend of white men and, having great influence and authority among
his people, he compelled them to forego all vindictive plans and to
conduct themselves amicably whenever they came in contact with the
traders.

This chief had bravely fallen in resisting an attack made by the
Blackfeet upon his tribe, while encamped at the head of Godin River. His
fall in nowise lessened the faith of his people in his charmed life; for
they declared that it was not a bullet which laid him low, but a bit of
horn which had been shot into him by some Blackfoot marksman aware, no
doubt, of the inefficacy of lead. Since his death there was no one with
sufficient influence over the tribe to restrain the wild and predatory
propensities of the young men. The consequence was they had become
troublesome and dangerous neighbors, openly friendly for the sake of
traffic, but disposed to commit secret depredations and to molest any
small party that might fall within their reach.




16.

     Misadventures of Matthieu and his party--Return to the
     caches at Salmon River--Battle between Nez Perces and Black
     feet--Heroism of a Nez Perce woman--Enrolled among the
     braves.

ON the 3d of February, Matthieu, with the residue of his band, arrived
in camp. He had a disastrous story to relate. After parting with Captain
Bonneville in Green River Valley he had proceeded to the westward,
keeping to the north of the Eutaw Mountains, a spur of the great Rocky
chain. Here he experienced the most rugged travelling for his horses,
and soon discovered that there was but little chance of meeting the
Shoshonie bands. He now proceeded along Bear River, a stream much
frequented by trappers, intending to shape his course to Salmon River to
rejoin Captain Bonneville.

He was misled, however, either through the ignorance or treachery of
an Indian guide, and conducted into a wild valley where he lay encamped
during the autumn and the early part of the winter, nearly buried in
snow and almost starved. Early in the season he detached five men, with
nine horses, to proceed to the neighborhood of the Sheep Rock, on Bear
River, where game was plenty, and there to procure a supply for the
camp.

They had not proceeded far on their expedition when their trail was
discovered by a party of nine or ten Indians, who immediately commenced
a lurking pursuit, dogging them secretly for five or six days. So long
as their encampments were well chosen and a proper watch maintained
the wary savages kept aloof; at length, observing that they were badly
encamped, in a situation where they might be approached with secrecy,
the enemy crept stealthily along under cover of the river bank,
preparing to burst suddenly upon their prey.

They had not advanced within striking distance, however, before they
were discovered by one of the trappers. He immediately but silently
gave the alarm to his companions. They all sprang upon their horses and
prepared to retreat to a safe position. One of the party, however, named
Jennings, doubted the correctness of the alarm, and before he mounted
his horse wanted to ascertain the fact. His companions urged him to
mount, but in vain; he was incredulous and obstinate. A volley of
firearms by the savages dispelled his doubts, but so overpowered his
nerves that he was unable to get into his saddle. His comrades, seeing
his peril and confusion, generously leaped from their horses to protect
him. A shot from a rifle brought him to the earth; in his agony he
called upon the others not to desert him. Two of them, Le Roy and Ross,
after fighting desperately, were captured by the savages; the remaining
two vaulted into their saddles and saved themselves by headlong flight,
being pursued for nearly thirty miles. They got safe back to Matthieu’s
camp, where their story inspired such dread of lurking Indians that the
hunters could not be prevailed upon to undertake another foray in quest
of provisions. They remained, therefore, almost starving in their camp;
now and then killing an old or disabled horse for food, while the
elk and the mountain sheep roamed unmolested among the surrounding
mountains.

The disastrous surprisal of this hunting party is cited by Captain
Bonneville to show the importance of vigilant watching and judicious
encampments in the Indian country. Most of this kind of disasters to
traders and trappers arise from some careless inattention to the state
of their arms and ammunition, the placing of their horses at night,
the position of their camping ground, and the posting of their night
watches. The Indian is a vigilant and crafty foe, by no means given
to hair-brained assaults; he seldom attacks when he finds his foe
well prepared and on the alert. Caution is at least as efficacious a
protection against him as courage.

The Indians who made this attack were at first supposed to be Blackfeet;
until Captain Bonneville found subsequently, in the camp of the
Bannecks, a horse, saddle, and bridle, which he recognized as having
belonged to one of the hunters. The Bannecks, however, stoutly denied
having taken these spoils in fight, and persisted in affirming that the
outrage had been perpetrated by a Blackfoot band.

Captain Bonneville remained on Snake River nearly three weeks after the
arrival of Matthieu and his party. At length his horses having recovered
strength sufficient for a journey, he prepared to return to the Nez
Perces, or rather to visit his caches on Salmon River; that he might
take thence goods and equipments for the opening season. Accordingly,
leaving sixteen men at Snake River, he set out on the 19th of February
with sixteen others on his journey to the caches.

Fording the river, he proceeded to the borders of the deep snow, when he
encamped under the lee of immense piles of burned rock. On the 21st he
was again floundering through the snow, on the great Snake River
plain, where it lay to the depth of thirty inches. It was sufficiently
incrusted to bear a pedestrian, but the poor horses broke through the
crust, and plunged and strained at every step. So lacerated were they by
the ice that it was necessary to change the front every hundred yards,
and put a different one in advance to break the way. The open prairies
were swept by a piercing and biting wind from the northwest. At night,
they had to task their ingenuity to provide shelter and keep from
freezing. In the first place, they dug deep holes in the snow, piling
it up in ramparts to windward as a protection against the blast. Beneath
these they spread buffalo skins, upon which they stretched themselves
in full dress, with caps, cloaks, and moccasins, and covered themselves
with numerous blankets; notwithstanding all which they were often
severely pinched with the cold.

On the 28th of February they arrived on the banks of Godin River. This
stream emerges from the mountains opposite an eastern branch of the
Malade River, running southeast, forms a deep and swift current about
twenty yards wide, passing rapidly through a defile to which it gives
its name, and then enters the great plain where, after meandering about
forty miles, it is finally lost in the region of the Burned Rocks.

On the banks of this river Captain Bonneville was so fortunate as to
come upon a buffalo trail. Following it up, he entered the defile, where
he remained encamped for two days to allow the hunters time to kill and
dry a supply of buffalo beef. In this sheltered defile the weather was
moderate and grass was already sprouting more than an inch in height.
There was abundance, too, of the salt weed which grows most plentiful
in clayey and gravelly barrens. It resembles pennyroyal, and derives its
name from a partial saltness. It is a nourishing food for the horses
in the winter, but they reject it the moment the young grass affords
sufficient pasturage.

On the 6th of March, having cured sufficient meat, the party resumed
their march, and moved on with comparative ease, excepting where they
had to make their way through snow-drifts which had been piled up by the
wind.

On the 11th, a small cloud of smoke was observed rising in a deep part
of the defile. An encampment was instantly formed and scouts were
sent out to reconnoitre. They returned with intelligence that it was a
hunting party of Flatheads, returning from the buffalo range laden with
meat. Captain Bonneville joined them the next day, and persuaded them
to proceed with his party a few miles below to the caches, whither he
proposed also to invite the Nez Perces, whom he hoped to find somewhere
in this neighborhood. In fact, on the 13th, he was rejoined by that
friendly tribe who, since he separated from them on Salmon River, had
likewise been out to hunt the buffalo, but had continued to be haunted
and harassed by their old enemies the Blackfeet, who, as usual, had
contrived to carry off many of their horses.

In the course of this hunting expedition, a small band of ten lodges
separated from the main body in search of better pasturage for their
horses. About the 1st of March, the scattered parties of Blackfoot
banditti united to the number of three hundred fighting men, and
determined upon some signal blow. Proceeding to the former camping
ground of the Nez Perces, they found the lodges deserted; upon which
they hid themselves among the willows and thickets, watching for some
straggler who might guide them to the present “whereabout” of their
intended victims. As fortune would have it Kosato, the Blackfoot
renegade, was the first to pass along, accompanied by his blood-bought
bride. He was on his way from the main body of hunters to the little
band of ten lodges. The Blackfeet knew and marked him as he passed; he
was within bowshot of their ambuscade; yet, much as they thirsted for
his blood, they forbore to launch a shaft; sparing him for the moment
that he might lead them to their prey. Secretly following his trail,
they discovered the lodges of the unfortunate Nez Perces, and assailed
them with shouts and yellings. The Nez Perces numbered only twenty men,
and but nine were armed with fusees. They showed themselves, however,
as brave and skilful in war as they had been mild and long-suffering in
peace. Their first care was to dig holes inside of their lodges; thus
ensconced they fought desperately, laying several of the enemy dead upon
the ground; while they, though Some of them were wounded, lost not a
single warrior.

During the heat of the battle, a woman of the Nez Perces, seeing her
warrior badly wounded and unable to fight, seized his bow and arrows,
and bravely and successfully defended his person, contributing to the
safety of the whole party.

In another part of the field of action, a Nez Perce had crouched behind
the trunk of a fallen tree, and kept up a galling fire from his covert.
A Blackfoot seeing this, procured a round log, and placing it before
him as he lay prostrate, rolled it forward toward the trunk of the
tree behind which his enemy lay crouched. It was a moment of breathless
interest; whoever first showed himself would be in danger of a shot.
The Nez Perce put an end to the suspense. The moment the logs touched he
Sprang upon his feet and discharged the contents of his fusee into the
back of his antagonist. By this time the Blackfeet had got possession of
the horses, several of their warriors lay dead on the field, and the Nez
Perces, ensconced in their lodges, seemed resolved to defend themselves
to the last gasp. It so happened that the chief of the Blackfeet party
was a renegade from the Nez Perces; unlike Kosato, however, he had no
vindictive rage against his native tribe, but was rather disposed, now
he had got the booty, to spare all unnecessary effusion of blood. He
held a long parley, therefore, with the besieged, and finally drew off
his warriors, taking with him seventy horses. It appeared, afterward,
that the bullets of the Blackfeet had been entirely expended in the
course of the battle, so that they were obliged to make use of stones as
substitute.

At the outset of the fight Kosato, the renegade, fought with fury rather
than valor, animating the others by word as well as deed. A wound in the
head from a rifle ball laid him senseless on the earth. There his body
remained when the battle was over, and the victors were leading off the
horses. His wife hung over him with frantic lamentations. The conquerors
paused and urged her to leave the lifeless renegade, and return with
them to her kindred. She refused to listen to their solicitations, and
they passed on. As she sat watching the features of Kosato, and giving
way to passionate grief, she thought she perceived him to breathe. She
was not mistaken. The ball, which had been nearly spent before it struck
him, had stunned instead of killing him. By the ministry of his faithful
wife he gradually recovered, reviving to a redoubled love for her, and
hatred of his tribe.

As to the female who had so bravely defended her husband, she was
elevated by the tribe to a rank far above her sex, and beside other
honorable distinctions, was thenceforward permitted to take a part in
the war dances of the braves!




17.

     Opening of the caches--Detachments of Cerre and Hodgkiss
     Salmon River Mountains--Superstition of an Indian trapper--
     Godin’s River--Preparations for trapping--An alarm--An
     interruption--A rival band--Phenomena of Snake River Plain
     Vast clefts and chasms--Ingulfed streams--Sublime scenery--A
     grand buffalo hunt.

CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE found his caches perfectly secure, and having
secretly opened them he selected such articles as were necessary to
equip the free trappers and to supply the inconsiderable trade with
the Indians, after which he closed them again. The free trappers, being
newly rigged out and supplied, were in high spirits, and swaggered gayly
about the camp. To compensate all hands for past sufferings, and to give
a cheerful spur to further operations, Captain Bonneville now gave the
men what, in frontier phrase, is termed “a regular blow-out.” It was a
day of uncouth gambols and frolics and rude feasting. The Indians joined
in the sports and games, and all was mirth and good-fellowship.

It was now the middle of March, and Captain Bonneville made preparations
to open the spring campaign. He had pitched upon Malade River for his
main trapping ground for the season. This is a stream which rises among
the great bed of mountains north of the Lava Plain, and after a winding
course falls into Snake River. Previous to his departure the captain
dispatched Mr. Cerre, with a few men, to visit the Indian villages and
purchase horses; he furnished his clerk, Mr. Hodgkiss, also, with a
small stock of goods, to keep up a trade with the Indians during the
spring, for such peltries as they might collect, appointing the caches
on Salmon River as the point of rendezvous, where they were to rejoin
him on the 15th of June following.

This done he set out for Malade River, with a band of twenty-eight men
composed of hired and free trappers and Indian hunters, together with
eight squaws. Their route lay up along the right fork of Salmon River,
as it passes through the deep defile of the mountains. They travelled
very slowly, not above five miles a day, for many of the horses were
so weak that they faltered and staggered as they walked. Pasturage,
however, was now growing plentiful. There was abundance of fresh grass,
which in some places had attained such height as to wave in the wind.
The native flocks of the wilderness, the mountain sheep, as they are
called by the trappers, were continually to be seen upon the hills
between which they passed, and a good supply of mutton was provided by
the hunters, as they were advancing toward a region of scarcity.

In the course of his journey Captain Bonneville had occasion to remark
an instance of the many notions, and almost superstitions, which prevail
among the Indians, and among some of the white men, with respect to
the sagacity of the beaver. The Indian hunters of his party were in the
habit of exploring all the streams along which they passed, in search of
“beaver lodges,” and occasionally set their traps with some success.
One of them, however, though an experienced and skilful trapper, was
invariably unsuccessful. Astonished and mortified at such unusual bad
luck, he at length conceived the idea that there was some odor about his
person of which the beaver got scent and retreated at his approach.
He immediately set about a thorough purification. Making a rude
sweating-house on the banks of the river, he would shut himself up until
in a reeking perspiration, and then suddenly emerging, would plunge
into the river. A number of these sweatings and plungings having, as
he supposed, rendered his person perfectly “inodorous,” he resumed his
trapping with renovated hope.

About the beginning of April they encamped upon Godin’s River, where
they found the swamp full of “musk-rat houses.” Here, therefore, Captain
Bonneville determined to remain a few days and make his first regular
attempt at trapping. That his maiden campaign might open with spirit, he
promised the Indians and free trappers an extra price for every musk-rat
they should take. All now set to work for the next day’s sport. The
utmost animation and gayety prevailed throughout the camp. Everything
looked auspicious for their spring campaign. The abundance of musk-rats
in the swamp was but an earnest of the nobler game they were to find
when they should reach the Malade River, and have a capital beaver
country all to themselves, where they might trap at their leisure
without molestation.

In the midst of their gayety a hunter came galloping into the camp,
shouting, or rather yelling, “A trail! a trail!--lodge poles! lodge
poles!”

These were words full of meaning to a trapper’s ear. They intimated that
there was some band in the neighborhood, and probably a hunting party,
as they had lodge poles for an encampment. The hunter came up and told
his story. He had discovered a fresh trail, in which the traces made by
the dragging of lodge poles were distinctly visible. The buffalo, too,
had just been driven out of the neighborhood, which showed that the
hunters had already been on the range.

The gayety of the camp was at an end; all preparations for musk-rat
trapping were suspended, and all hands sallied forth to examine the
trail. Their worst fears were soon confirmed. Infallible signs showed
the unknown party in the advance to be white men; doubtless, some rival
band of trappers! Here was competition when least expected; and that
too by a party already in the advance, who were driving the game before
them. Captain Bonneville had now a taste of the sudden transitions
to which a trapper’s life is subject. The buoyant confidence in an
uninterrupted hunt was at an end; every countenance lowered with gloom
and disappointment.

Captain Bonneville immediately dispatched two spies to overtake the
rival party, and endeavor to learn their plans; in the meantime, he
turned his back upon the swamp and its musk-rat houses and followed
on at “long camps”, which in trapper’s language is equivalent to long
stages. On the 6th of April he met his spies returning. They had kept on
the trail like hounds until they overtook the party at the south end of
Godin’s defile. Here they found them comfortably encamped: twenty-two
prime trappers, all well appointed, with excellent horses in capital
condition led by Milton Sublette, and an able coadjutor named Jarvie,
and in full march for the Malade hunting ground. This was stunning news.
The Malade River was the only trapping ground within reach; but to have
to compete there with veteran trappers, perfectly at home among the
mountains, and admirably mounted, while they were so poorly provided
with horses and trappers, and had but one man in their party acquainted
with the country-it was out of the question.

The only hope that now remained was that the snow, which still lay deep
among the mountains of Godin’s River and blocked up the usual pass
to the Malade country, might detain the other party until Captain
Bonneville’s horses should get once more into good condition in their
present ample pasturage.

The rival parties now encamped together, not out of companionship, but
to keep an eye upon each other. Day after day passed by without any
possibility of getting to the Malade country. Sublette and Jarvie
endeavored to force their way across the mountain; but the snows lay
so deep as to oblige them to turn back. In the meantime the captain’s
horses were daily gaining strength, and their hoofs improving, which
had been worn and battered by mountain service. The captain, also was
increasing his stock of provisions; so that the delay was all in his
favor.

To any one who merely contemplates a map of the country this difficulty
of getting from Godin to Malade River will appear inexplicable, as the
intervening mountains terminate in the great Snake River plain, so that,
apparently, it would be perfectly easy to proceed round their bases.

Here, however, occur some of the striking phenomena of this wild and
sublime region. The great lower plain which extends to the feet of
these mountains is broken up near their bases into crests, and ridges
resembling the surges of the ocean breaking on a rocky shore.

In a line with the mountains the plain is gashed with numerous and
dangerous chasms, from four to ten feet wide, and of great depth.
Captain Bonneville attempted to sound some of these openings, but
without any satisfactory result. A stone dropped into one of them
reverberated against the sides for apparently a very great depth, and,
by its sound, indicated the same kind of substance with the surface, as
long as the strokes could be heard. The horse, instinctively sagacious
in avoiding danger, shrinks back in alarm from the least of these
chasms, pricking up his ears, snorting and pawing, until permitted to
turn away.

We have been told by a person well acquainted with the country that it
is sometimes necessary to travel fifty and sixty miles to get round one
of these tremendous ravines. Considerable streams, like that of Godin’s
River, that run with a bold, free current, lose themselves in this
plain; some of them end in swamps, others suddenly disappear, finding,
no doubt, subterranean outlets.

Opposite to these chasms Snake River makes two desperate leaps over
precipices, at a short distance from each other; one twenty, the other
forty feet in height.

The volcanic plain in question forms an area of about sixty miles in
diameter, where nothing meets the eye but a desolate and awful waste;
where no grass grows nor water runs, and where nothing is to be seen but
lava. Ranges of mountains skirt this plain, and, in Captain Bonneville’s
opinion, were formerly connected, until rent asunder by some convulsion
of nature. Far to the east the Three Tetons lift their heads sublimely,
and dominate this wide sea of lava--one of the most striking features
of a wilderness where everything seems on a scale of stern and simple
grandeur.

We look forward with impatience for some able geologist to explore this
sublime but almost unknown region.

It was not until the 25th of April that the two parties of trappers
broke up their encampments, and undertook to cross over the southwest
end of the mountain by a pass explored by their scouts. From various
points of the mountain they commanded boundless prospects of the lava
plain, stretching away in cold and gloomy barrenness as far as the eye
could reach. On the evening of the 26th they reached the plain west
of the mountain, watered by the Malade, the Boisee, and other streams,
which comprised the contemplated trapping-ground.

The country about the Boisee (or Woody) River is extolled by Captain
Bonneville as the most enchanting he had seen in the Far West,
presenting the mingled grandeur and beauty of mountain and plain, of
bright running streams and vast grassy meadows waving to the breeze.

We shall not follow the captain throughout his trapping campaign, which
lasted until the beginning of June, nor detail all the manoeuvres of the
rival trapping parties and their various schemes to outwit and out-trap
each other. Suffice it to say that, after having visited and camped
about various streams with varying success, Captain Bonneville set
forward early in June for the appointed rendezvous at the caches. On
the way, he treated his party to a grand buffalo hunt. The scouts had re
ported numerous herds in a plain beyond an intervening height. There was
an immediate halt; the fleetest horses were forthwith mounted and the
party advanced to the summit of the hill. Hence they beheld the great
plain below; absolutely swarming with buffalo. Captain Bonneville now
appointed the place where he would encamp; and toward which the hunters
were to drive the game. He cautioned the latter to advance slowly,
reserving the strength and speed of the horses until within a moderate
distance of the herds. Twenty-two horsemen descended cautiously into
the plain, conformably to these directions. “It was a beautiful sight,”
 says the captain, “to see the runners, as they are called, advancing in
column, at a slow trot, until within two hundred and fifty yards of the
outskirts of the herd, then dashing on at full speed until lost in the
immense multitude of buffaloes scouring the plain in every direction.”
 All was now tumult and wild confusion. In the meantime Captain
Bonneville and the residue of the party moved on to the appointed
camping ground; thither the most expert runners succeeded in driving
numbers of buffalo, which were killed hard by the camp, and the flesh
transported thither without difficulty. In a little while the whole camp
looked like one great slaughter-house; the carcasses were skilfully
cut up, great fires were made, scaffolds erected for drying and jerking
beef, and an ample provision was made for future subsistence. On the
15th of June, the precise day appointed for the rendezvous, Captain
Bonneville and his party arrived safely at the caches.

Here he was joined by the other detachments of his main party, all
in good health and spirits. The caches were again opened, supplies
of various kinds taken out, and a liberal allowance of aqua vitae
distributed throughout the camp, to celebrate with proper conviviality
this merry meeting.




18.

     Meeting with Hodgkiss--Misfortunes of the Nez Perces--
     Schemes of Kosato, the renegado--His foray into the Horse
     Prairie--Invasion of Black feet--Blue John and his forlorn
     hope--Their generous enterprise--Their fate--Consternation
     and despair of the village--Solemn obsequies--Attempt at
     Indian trade--Hudson’s Bay Company’s monopoly--Arrangements
     for autumn--Breaking up of an encampment.

HAVING now a pretty strong party, well armed and equipped, Captain
Bonneville no longer felt the necessity of fortifying himself in the
secret places and fastnesses of the mountains; but sallied forth boldly
into the Snake River plain, in search of his clerk, Hodgkiss, who had
remained with the Nez Perces. He found him on the 24th of June, and
learned from him another chapter of misfortunes which had recently
befallen that ill-fated race.

After the departure of Captain Bonneville in March, Kosato, the renegade
Blackfoot, had recovered from the wound received in battle; and with his
strength revived all his deadly hostility to his native tribe. He now
resumed his efforts to stir up the Nez Perces to reprisals upon
their old enemies; reminding them incessantly of all the outrages and
robberies they had recently experienced, and assuring them that such
would continue to be their lot until they proved themselves men by some
signal retaliation.

The impassioned eloquence of the desperado at length produced an effect;
and a band of braves enlisted under his guidance, to penetrate into the
Blackfoot country, harass their Villages, carry off their horses, and
commit all kinds of depredations.

Kosato pushed forward on his foray as far as the Horse Prairie, where he
came upon a strong party of Blackfeet. Without waiting to estimate
their force, he attacked them with characteristic fury, and was bravely
seconded by his followers. The contest, for a time, was hot and bloody;
at length, as is customary with these two tribes, they paused, and held
a long parley, or rather a war of words.

“What need,” said the Blackfoot chief, tauntingly, “have the Nez Perces
to leave their homes, and sally forth on war parties, when they have
danger enough at their own doors? If you want fighting, return to your
villages; you will have plenty of it there. The Blackfeet warriors have
hitherto made war upon you as children. They are now coming as men. A
great force is at hand; they are on their way to your towns, and
are determined to rub out the very name of the Nez Perces from the
mountains. Return, I say, to your towns, and fight there, if you wish to
live any longer as a people.”

Kosato took him at his word; for he knew the character of his native
tribe. Hastening back with his band to the Nez Perces village, he told
all that he had seen and heard, and urged the most prompt and strenuous
measures for defence. The Nez Perces, however, heard him with their
accustomed phlegm; the threat of the Blackfeet had been often made, and
as often had proved a mere bravado; such they pronounced it to be at
present, and, of course, took no precautions.

They were soon convinced that it was no empty menace. In a few days a
band of three hundred Blackfeet warriors appeared upon the hills. All
now was consternation in the village. The force of the Nez Perces was
too small to cope with the enemy in open fight; many of the young men
having gone to their relatives on the Columbia to procure horses. The
sages met in hurried council. What was to be done to ward off a blow
which threatened annihilation? In this moment of imminent peril, a
Pierced-nose chief, named Blue John by the whites, offered to approach
secretly with a small, but chosen band, through a defile which led to
the encampment of the enemy, and, by a sudden onset, to drive off the
horses. Should this blow be successful, the spirit and strength of the
invaders would be broken, and the Nez Perces, having horses, would be
more than a match for them. Should it fail, the village would not be
worse off than at present, when destruction appeared inevitable.

Twenty-nine of the choicest warriors instantly volunteered to follow
Blue John in this hazardous enterprise. They prepared for it with the
solemnity and devotion peculiar to the tribe. Blue John consulted his
medicine, or talismanic charm, such as every chief keeps in his lodge
as a supernatural protection. The oracle assured him that his enterprise
would be completely successful, provided no rain should fall before he
had passed through the defile; but should it rain, his band would be
utterly cut off.

The day was clear and bright; and Blue John anticipated that the skies
would be propitious. He departed in high spirits with his forlorn hope;
and never did band of braves make a more gallant display-horsemen and
horses being decorated and equipped in the fiercest and most glaring
style-glittering with arms and ornaments, and fluttering with feathers.

The weather continued serene until they reached the defile; but just as
they were entering it a black cloud rose over the mountain crest, and
there was a sudden shower. The warriors turned to their leader, as if to
read his opinion of this unlucky omen; but the countenance of Blue John
remained unchanged, and they continued to press forward. It was
their hope to make their way undiscovered to the very vicinity of the
Blackfoot camp; but they had not proceeded far in the defile, when they
met a scouting party of the enemy. They attacked and drove them among
the hills, and were pursuing them with great eagerness when they heard
shouts and yells behind them, and beheld the main body of the Blackfeet
advancing.

The second chief wavered a little at the sight and proposed an instant
retreat. “We came to fight!” replied Blue John, sternly. Then giving his
war-whoop, he sprang forward to the conflict. His braves followed
him. They made a headlong charge upon the enemy; not with the hope of
victory, but the determination to sell their lives dearly. A frightful
carnage, rather than a regular battle, succeeded. The forlorn band laid
heaps of their enemies dead at their feet, but were overwhelmed with
numbers and pressed into a gorge of the mountain; where they continued
to fight until they were cut to pieces. One only, of the thirty,
survived. He sprang on the horse of a Blackfoot warrior whom he had
slain, and escaping at full speed, brought home the baleful tidings to
his village.

Who can paint the horror and desolation of the inhabitants? The flower
of their warriors laid low, and a ferocious enemy at their doors. The
air was rent by the shrieks and lamentations of the women, who, casting
off their ornaments and tearing their hair, wandered about, frantically
bewailing the dead and predicting destruction to the living. The
remaining warriors armed themselves for obstinate defence; but showed
by their gloomy looks and sullen silence that they considered defence
hopeless. To their surprise the Blackfeet refrained from pursuing
their advantage; perhaps satisfied with the blood already shed, or
disheartened by the loss they had themselves sustained. At any rate,
they disappeared from the hills, and it was soon ascertained that they
had returned to the Horse Prairie.

The unfortunate Nez Perces now began once more to breathe. A few of
their warriors, taking pack-horses, repaired to the defile to bring away
the bodies of their slaughtered brethren. They found them mere headless
trunks; and the wounds with which they were covered showed how bravely
they had fought. Their hearts, too, had been torn out and carried off;
a proof of their signal valor; for in devouring the heart of a foe
renowned for bravery, or who has distinguished himself in battle, the
Indian victor thinks he appropriates to himself the courage of the
deceased.

Gathering the mangled bodies of the slain, and strapping them across
their pack-horses, the warriors returned, in dismal procession, to the
village. The tribe came forth to meet them; the women with piercing
cries and wailings; the men with downcast countenances, in which gloom
and sorrow seemed fixed as if in marble. The mutilated and almost
undistinguishable bodies were placed in rows upon the ground, in the
midst of the assemblage; and the scene of heart-rending anguish and
lamentation that ensued would have confounded those who insist on Indian
stoicism.

Such was the disastrous event that had overwhelmed the Nez Perces tribe
during the absence of Captain Bonneville; and he was informed that
Kosato, the renegade, who, being stationed in the village, had been
prevented from going on the forlorn hope, was again striving to rouse
the vindictive feelings of his adopted brethren, and to prompt them to
revenge the slaughter of their devoted braves.

During his sojourn on the Snake River plain, Captain Bonneville made one
of his first essays at the strategy of the fur trade. There was at
this time an assemblage of Nez Perces, Flatheads, and Cottonois Indians
encamped together upon the plain; well provided with beaver, which they
had collected during the spring. These they were waiting to traffic with
a resident trader of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who was stationed among
them, and with whom they were accustomed to deal. As it happened, the
trader was almost entirely destitute of Indian goods; his spring supply
not having yet reached him. Captain Bonneville had secret intelligence
that the supplies were on their way, and would soon arrive; he hoped,
how-ever, by a prompt move, to anticipate their arrival, and secure the
market to himself. Throwing himself, therefore, among the Indians, he
opened his packs of merchandise and displayed the most tempting wares:
bright cloths, and scarlet blankets, and glittering ornaments, and
everything gay and glorious in the eyes of warrior or squaw; all,
however, was in vain. The Hudson’s Bay trader was a perfect master of
his business, thoroughly acquainted with the Indians he had to deal
with, and held such control over them that none dared to act openly in
opposition to his wishes; nay, more--he came nigh turning the tables
upon the captain, and shaking the allegiance of some of his free
trappers, by distributing liquors among them. The latter, therefore, was
glad to give up a competition, where the war was likely to be carried
into his own camp.

In fact, the traders of the Hudson’s Bay Company have advantages over
all competitors in the trade beyond the Rocky Mountains. That huge
monopoly centers within itself not merely its own hereditary and
long-established power and influence; but also those of its ancient
rival, but now integral part, the famous Northwest Company. It has thus
its races of traders, trappers, hunters, and voyageurs, born and brought
up in its service, and inheriting from preceding generations a knowledge
and aptitude in everything connected with Indian life, and Indian
traffic. In the process of years, this company has been enabled to
spread its ramifications in every direction; its system of intercourse
is founded upon a long and intimate knowledge of the character and
necessities of the various tribes; and of all the fastnesses, defiles,
and favorable hunting grounds of the country. Their capital, also, and
the manner in which their supplies are distributed at various posts,
or forwarded by regular caravans, keep their traders well supplied, and
enable them to furnish their goods to the Indians at a cheap rate. Their
men, too, being chiefly drawn from the Canadas, where they enjoy great
influence and control, are engaged at the most trifling wages, and
supported at little cost; the provisions which they take with them being
little more than Indian corn and grease. They are brought also into the
most perfect discipline and subordination, especially when their
leaders have once got them to their scene of action in the heart of the
wilderness.

These circumstances combine to give the leaders of the Hudson’s Bay
Company a decided advantage over all the American companies that come
within their range, so that any close competition with them is almost
hopeless.

Shortly after Captain Bonneville’s ineffectual attempt to participate
in the trade of the associated camp, the supplies of the Hudson’s Bay
Company arrived; and the resident trader was enabled to monopolize the
market.

It was now the beginning of July; in the latter part of which month
Captain Bonneville had appointed a rendezvous at Horse Creek in Green
River Valley, with some of the parties which he had detached in the
preceding year. He now turned his thoughts in that direction, and
prepared for the journey.

The Cottonois were anxious for him to proceed at once to their country;
which, they assured him, abounded in beaver. The lands of this tribe lie
immediately north of those of the Flatheads and are open to the inroads
of the Blackfeet. It is true, the latter professed to be their allies;
but they had been guilty of so many acts of perfidy, that the Cottonois
had, latterly, renounced their hollow friendship and attached themselves
to the Flatheads and Nez Perces. These they had accompanied in their
migrations rather than remain alone at home, exposed to the outrages
of the Blackfeet. They were now apprehensive that these marauders would
range their country during their absence and destroy the beaver; this
was their reason for urging Captain Bonneville to make it his autumnal
hunting ground. The latter, however, was not to be tempted; his
engagements required his presence at the rendezvous in Green River
Valley; and he had already formed his ulterior plans.

An unexpected difficulty now arose. The free trappers suddenly made a
stand, and declined to accompany him. It was a long and weary journey;
the route lay through Pierre’s Hole, and other mountain passes infested
by the Blackfeet, and recently the scenes of sanguinary conflicts. They
were not disposed to undertake such unnecessary toils and dangers,
when they had good and secure trapping grounds nearer at hand, on the
head-waters of Salmon River.

As these were free and independent fellows, whose will and whim were apt
to be law--who had the whole wilderness before them, “where to choose,”
 and the trader of a rival company at hand, ready to pay for their
services--it was necessary to bend to their wishes. Captain Bonneville
fitted them out, therefore, for the hunting ground in question;
appointing Mr. Hodgkiss to act as their partisan, or leader, and fixing
a rendezvous where he should meet them in the course of the ensuing
winter. The brigade consisted of twenty-one free trappers and four or
five hired men as camp-keepers. This was not the exact arrangement of
a trapping party; which when accurately organized is composed of two
thirds trappers whose duty leads them continually abroad in pursuit of
game; and one third camp-keepers who cook, pack, and unpack; set up the
tents, take care of the horses and do all other duties usually assigned
by the Indians to their women. This part of the service is apt to
be fulfilled by French creoles from Canada and the valley of the
Mississippi.

In the meantime the associated Indians having completed their trade
and received their supplies, were all ready to disperse in various
directions. As there was a formidable band of Blackfeet just over a
mountain to the northeast, by which Hodgkiss and his free trappers would
have to pass; and as it was known that those sharp-sighted marauders had
their scouts out watching every movement of the encampments, so as to
cut off stragglers or weak detachments, Captain Bonneville prevailed
upon the Nez Perces to accompany Hodgkiss and his party until they
should be beyond the range of the enemy.

The Cottonois and the Pends Oreilles determined to move together at
the same time, and to pass close under the mountain infested by the
Blackfeet; while Captain Bonneville, with his party, was to strike in
an opposite direction to the southeast, bending his course for Pierre’s
Hole, on his way to Green River.

Accordingly, on the 6th of July, all the camps were raised at the same
moment; each party taking its separate route. The scene was wild and
picturesque; the long line of traders, trappers, and Indians, with their
rugged and fantastic dresses and accoutrements; their varied weapons,
their innumerable horses, some under the saddle, some burdened with
packages, others following in droves; all stretching in lengthening
cavalcades across the vast landscape, making for different points of the
plains and mountains.




19.

     Precautions in dangerous defiles--Trappers’ mode of defence
     on a prairie--A mysterious visitor--Arrival in Green River
     Valley--Adventures of the detachments--The forlorn partisan
     --His tale of disasters.

AS the route of Captain Bonneville lay through what was considered the
most perilous part of this region of dangers, he took all his measures
with military skill, and observed the strictest circumspection. When
on the march, a small scouting party was thrown in the advance to
reconnoitre the country through which they were to pass. The encampments
were selected with great care, and a watch was kept up night and day.
The horses were brought in and picketed at night, and at daybreak a
party was sent out to scour the neighborhood for half a mile round,
beating up every grove and thicket that could give shelter to a lurking
foe. When all was reported safe, the horses were cast loose and turned
out to graze. Were such precautions generally observed by traders and
hunters, we should not so often hear of parties being surprised by the
Indians.

Having stated the military arrangements of the captain, we may here
mention a mode of defence on the open prairie, which we have heard from
a veteran in the Indian trade. When a party of trappers is on a journey
with a convoy of goods or peltries, every man has three pack-horses
under his care; each horse laden with three packs. Every man is provided
with a picket with an iron head, a mallet, and hobbles, or leathern
fetters for the horses. The trappers proceed across the prairie in a
long line; or sometimes three parallel lines, sufficiently distant from
each other to prevent the packs from interfering. At an alarm, when
there is no covert at hand, the line wheels so as to bring the front to
the rear and form a circle. All then dismount, drive their pickets into
the ground in the centre, fasten the horses to them, and hobble their
forelegs, so that, in case of alarm, they cannot break away. Then they
unload them, and dispose of their packs as breastworks on the periphery
of the circle; each man having nine packs behind which to shelter
himself. In this promptly-formed fortress, they await the assault of the
enemy, and are enabled to set large bands of Indians at defiance.

The first night of his march, Captain Bonneville encamped upon Henry’s
Fork; an upper branch of Snake River, called after the first American
trader that erected a fort beyond the mountains. About an hour after all
hands had come to a halt the clatter of hoofs was heard, and a solitary
female, of the Nez Perce tribe, came galloping up. She was mounted on
a mustang or half wild horse, which she managed by a long rope hitched
round the under jaw by way of bridle. Dismounting, she walked silently
into the midst of the camp, and there seated herself on the ground,
still holding her horse by the long halter.

The sudden and lonely apparition of this woman, and her calm yet
resolute demeanor, awakened universal curiosity. The hunters and
trappers gathered round, and gazed on her as something mysterious. She
remained silent, but maintained her air of calmness and self-possession.
Captain Bonneville approached and interrogated her as to the object
of her mysterious visit. Her answer was brief but earnest--“I love the
whites--I will go with them.” She was forthwith invited to a lodge,
of which she readily took possession, and from that time forward was
considered one of the camp.

In consequence, very probably, of the military precautions of Captain
Bonneville, he conducted his party in safety through this hazardous
region. No accident of a disastrous kind occurred, excepting the loss of
a horse, which, in passing along the giddy edge of a precipice, called
the Cornice, a dangerous pass between Jackson’s and Pierre’s Hole, fell
over the brink, and was dashed to pieces.

On the 13th of July (1833), Captain Bonneville arrived at Green River.
As he entered the valley, he beheld it strewed in every direction with
the carcasses of buffaloes. It was evident that Indians had recently
been there, and in great numbers. Alarmed at this sight, he came to
a halt, and as soon as it was dark, sent out spies to his place of
rendezvous on Horse Creek, where he had expected to meet with his
detached parties of trappers on the following day. Early in the morning
the spies made their appearance in the camp, and with them came three
trappers of one of his bands, from the rendezvous, who told him his
people were all there expecting him. As to the slaughter among the
buffaloes, it had been made by a friendly band of Shoshonies, who had
fallen in with one of his trapping parties, and accompanied them to the
rendezvous. Having imparted this intelligence, the three worthies from
the rendezvous broached a small keg of “alcohol,” which they had brought
with them to enliven this merry meeting. The liquor went briskly round;
all absent friends were toasted, and the party moved forward to the
rendezvous in high spirits.

The meeting of associated bands, who have been separated from each other
on these hazardous enterprises, is always interesting; each having its
tales of perils and adventures to relate. Such was the case with the
various detachments of Captain Bonneville’s company, thus brought
together on Horse Creek. Here was the detachment of fifty men which
he had sent from Salmon River, in the preceding month of November, to
winter on Snake River. They had met with many crosses and losses in the
course of their spring hunt, not so much from Indians as from white men.
They had come in competition with rival trapping parties, particularly
one belonging to the Rocky Mountain Fur Company; and they had long
stories to relate of their manoeuvres to forestall or distress each
other. In fact, in these virulent and sordid competitions, the trappers
of each party were more intent upon injuring their rivals, than
benefitting themselves; breaking each other’s traps, trampling and
tearing to pieces the beaver lodges, and doing every thing in their
power to mar the success of the hunt. We forbear to detail these pitiful
contentions.

The most lamentable tale of disasters, however, that Captain Bonneville
had to hear, was from a partisan, whom he had detached in the preceding
year, with twenty men, to hunt through the outskirts of the Crow
country, and on the tributary streams of the Yellowstone; whence he was
to proceed and join him in his winter quarters on Salmon River. This
partisan appeared at the rendezvous without his party, and a sorrowful
tale of disasters had he to relate. In hunting the Crow country, he fell
in with a village of that tribe; notorious rogues, jockeys, and horse
stealers, and errant scamperers of the mountains. These decoyed most of
his men to desert, and carry off horses, traps, and accoutrements. When
he attempted to retake the deserters, the Crow warriors ruffled up to
him and declared the deserters were their good friends, had determined
to remain among them, and should not be molested. The poor partisan,
therefore, was fain to leave his vagabonds among these birds of their
own feather, and being too weak in numbers to attempt the dangerous
pass across the mountains to meet Captain Bonneville on Salmon River, he
made, with the few that remained faithful to him, for the neighborhood
of Tullock’s Fort, on the Yellowstone, under the protection of which he
went into winter quarters.

He soon found out that the neighborhood of the fort was nearly as bad
as the neighborhood of the Crows. His men were continually stealing
away thither, with whatever beaver skins they could secrete or lay their
hands on. These they would exchange with the hangers-on of the fort for
whiskey, and then revel in drunkeness and debauchery.

The unlucky partisan made another move. Associating with his party a
few free trappers, whom he met with in this neighborhood, he started off
early in the spring to trap on the head waters of Powder River. In the
course of the journey, his horses were so much jaded in traversing a
steep mountain, that he was induced to turn them loose to graze during
the night. The place was lonely; the path was rugged; there was not the
sign of an Indian in the neighborhood; not a blade of grass that had
been turned by a footstep. But who can calculate on security in the
midst of the Indian country, where the foe lurks in silence and secrecy,
and seems to come and go on the wings of the wind? The horses had scarce
been turned loose, when a couple of Arickara (or Rickaree) warriors
entered the camp. They affected a frank and friendly demeanor; but their
appearance and movements awakened the suspicions of some of the veteran
trappers, well versed in Indian wiles. Convinced that they were spies
sent on some sinister errand, they took them in custody, and set to work
to drive in the horses. It was too late--the horses were already gone.
In fact, a war party of Arickaras had been hovering on their trail for
several days, watching with the patience and perseverance of Indians,
for some moment of negligence and fancied security, to make a successful
swoop. The two spies had evidently been sent into the camp to create a
diversion, while their confederates carried off the spoil.

The unlucky partisan, thus robbed of his horses, turned furiously on his
prisoners, ordered them to be bound hand and foot, and swore to put them
to death unless his property were restored. The robbers, who soon
found that their spies were in captivity, now made their appearance on
horseback, and held a parley. The sight of them, mounted on the very
horses they had stolen, set the blood of the mountaineers in a ferment;
but it was useless to attack them, as they would have but to turn their
steeds and scamper out of the reach of pedestrians. A negotiation was
now attempted. The Arickaras offered what they considered fair terms; to
barter one horse, or even two horses, for a prisoner. The mountaineers
spurned at their offer, and declared that, unless all the horses were
relinquished, the prisoners should be burnt to death. To give force to
their threat, a pyre of logs and fagots was heaped up and kindled into a
blaze.

The parley continued; the Arickaras released one horse and then another,
in earnest of their proposition; finding, however, that nothing short of
the relinquishment of all their spoils would purchase the lives of
the captives, they abandoned them to their fate, moving off with many
parting words and lamentable howlings. The prisoners seeing them depart,
and knowing the horrible fate that awaited them, made a desperate effort
to escape. They partially succeeded, but were severely wounded and
retaken; then dragged to the blazing pyre, and burnt to death in the
sight of their retreating comrades.

Such are the savage cruelties that white men learn to practise, who
mingle in savage life; and such are the acts that lead to terrible
recrimination on the part of the Indians. Should we hear of any
atrocities committed by the Arickaras upon captive white men, let this
signal and recent provocation be borne in mind. Individual cases of the
kind dwell in the recollections of whole tribes; and it is a point of
honor and conscience to revenge them.

The loss of his horses completed the ruin of the unlucky partisan. It
was out of his power to prosecute his hunting, or to maintain his party;
the only thought now was how to get back to civilized life. At the first
water-course, his men built canoes, and committed themselves to the
stream. Some engaged themselves at various trading establishments
at which they touched, others got back to the settlements. As to the
partisan, he found an opportunity to make his way to the rendezvous
at Green River Valley; which he reached in time to render to Captain
Bonneville this forlorn account of his misadventures.




20.

     Gathering in Green River valley--Visitings and feastings of
     leaders--Rough wassailing among the trappers--Wild blades of
     the mountains--Indian belles--Potency of bright beads and
     red blankets--Arrival of supplies--Revelry and extravagance
     --Mad wolves--The lost Indian

THE GREEN RIVER VALLEY was at this time the scene of one of those
general gatherings of traders, trappers, and Indians, that we have
already mentioned. The three rival companies, which, for a year past
had been endeavoring to out-trade, out-trap and out-wit each other, were
here encamped in close proximity, awaiting their annual supplies. About
four miles from the rendezvous of Captain Bonneville was that of the
American Fur Company, hard by which, was that also of the Rocky Mountain
Fur Company.

After the eager rivalry and almost hostility displayed by these
companies in their late campaigns, it might be expected that, when thus
brought in juxtaposition, they would hold themselves warily and sternly
aloof from each other, and, should they happen to come in contact, brawl
and bloodshed would ensue.

No such thing! Never did rival lawyers, after a wrangle at the bar,
meet with more social good humor at a circuit dinner. The hunting
season over, all past tricks and maneuvres are forgotten, all feuds and
bickerings buried in oblivion. From the middle of June to the middle of
September, all trapping is suspended; for the beavers are then shedding
their furs and their skins are of little value. This, then, is the
trapper’s holiday, when he is all for fun and frolic, and ready for a
saturnalia among the mountains.

At the present season, too, all parties were in good humor. The year had
been productive. Competition, by threatening to lessen their profits,
had quickened their wits, roused their energies, and made them turn
every favorable chance to the best advantage; so that, on assembling
at their respective places of rendezvous, each company found itself in
possession of a rich stock of peltries.

The leaders of the different companies, therefore, mingled on terms of
perfect good fellowship; interchanging visits, and regaling each other
in the best style their respective camps afforded. But the rich
treat for the worthy captain was to see the “chivalry” of the various
encampments, engaged in contests of skill at running, jumping,
wrestling, shooting with the rifle, and running horses. And then their
rough hunters’ feastings and carousels. They drank together, they sang,
they laughed, they whooped; they tried to out-brag and out-lie each
other in stories of their adventures and achievements. Here the free
trappers were in all their glory; they considered themselves the “cocks
of the walk,” and always carried the highest crests. Now and then
familiarity was pushed too far, and would effervesce into a brawl, and a
“rough and tumble” fight; but it all ended in cordial reconciliation and
maudlin endearment.

The presence of the Shoshonie tribe contributed occasionally to cause
temporary jealousies and feuds. The Shoshonie beauties became objects
of rivalry among some of the amorous mountaineers. Happy was the trapper
who could muster up a red blanket, a string of gay beads, or a paper
of precious vermilion, with which to win the smiles of a Shoshonie fair
one.

The caravans of supplies arrived at the valley just at this period
of gallantry and good fellowship. Now commenced a scene of eager
competition and wild prodigality at the different encampments. Bales
were hastily ripped open, and their motley contents poured forth.
A mania for purchasing spread itself throughout the several
bands--munitions for war, for hunting, for gallantry, were seized upon
with equal avidity--rifles, hunting knives, traps, scarlet cloth, red
blankets, garish beads, and glittering trinkets, were bought at any
price, and scores run up without any thought how they were ever to be
rubbed off. The free trappers, especially, were extravagant in their
purchases. For a free mountaineer to pause at a paltry consideration of
dollars and cents, in the attainment of any object that might strike his
fancy, would stamp him with the mark of the beast in the estimation of
his comrades. For a trader to refuse one of these free and flourishing
blades a credit, whatever unpaid scores might stare him in the face,
would be a flagrant affront scarcely to be forgiven.

Now succeeded another outbreak of revelry and extravagance. The trappers
were newly fitted out and arrayed, and dashed about with their horses
caparisoned in Indian style. The Shoshonie beauties also flaunted
about in all the colors of the rainbow. Every freak of prodigality
was indulged to its fullest extent, and in a little while most of
the trappers, having squandered away all their wages, and perhaps
run knee-deep in debt, were ready for another hard campaign in the
wilderness.

During this season of folly and frolic, there was an alarm of mad wolves
in the two lower camps. One or more of these animals entered the camps
for three nights successively, and bit several of the people.

Captain Bonneville relates the case of an Indian, who was a universal
favorite in the lower camp. He had been bitten by one of these animals.
Being out with a party shortly afterwards, he grew silent and gloomy,
and lagged behind the rest as if he wished to leave them. They halted
and urged him to move faster, but he entreated them not to approach him,
and, leaping from his horse, began to roll frantically on the earth,
gnashing his teeth and foaming at the mouth. Still he retained his
senses, and warned his companions not to come near him, as he should not
be able to restrain himself from biting them. They hurried off to obtain
relief; but on their return he was nowhere to be found. His horse and
his accoutrements remained upon the spot. Three or four days afterwards
a solitary Indian, believed to be the same, was observed crossing a
valley, and pursued; but he darted away into the fastnesses of the
mountains, and was seen no more.

Another instance we have from a different person who was present in the
encampment. One of the men of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company had been
bitten. He set out shortly afterwards in company with two white men on
his return to the settlements. In the course of a few days he showed
symptoms of hydrophobia, and became raving toward night. At length,
breaking away from his companions, he rushed into a thicket of willows,
where they left him to his fate!




21.

     Schemes of Captain Bonneville--The Great Salt Lake
     Expedition to explore it--Preparations for a journey to the
     Bighorn

CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE now found himself at the head of a hardy,
well-seasoned and well-appointed company of trappers, all benefited
by at least one year’s experience among the mountains, and capable of
protecting themselves from Indian wiles and stratagems, and of providing
for their subsistence wherever game was to be found. He had, also, an
excellent troop of horses, in prime condition, and fit for hard service.
He determined, therefore, to strike out into some of the bolder parts of
his scheme. One of these was to carry his expeditions into some of the
unknown tracts of the Far West, beyond what is generally termed the
buffalo range. This would have something of the merit and charm of
discovery, so dear to every brave and adventurous spirit. Another
favorite project was to establish a trading post on the lower part
of the Columbia River, near the Multnomah valley, and to endeavor to
retrieve for his country some of the lost trade of Astoria.

The first of the above mentioned views was, at present, uppermost in his
mind--the exploring of unknown regions. Among the grand features of the
wilderness about which he was roaming, one had made a vivid impression
on his mind, and been clothed by his imagination with vague and ideal
charms. This is a great lake of salt water, laving the feet of the
mountains, but extending far to the west-southwest, into one of those
vast and elevated plateaus of land, which range high above the level of
the Pacific.

Captain Bonneville gives a striking account of the lake when seen from
the land. As you ascend the mountains about its shores, says he, you
behold this immense body of water spreading itself before you, and
stretching further and further, in one wide and far-reaching expanse,
until the eye, wearied with continued and strained attention, rests
in the blue dimness of distance, upon lofty ranges of mountains,
confidently asserted to rise from the bosom of the waters. Nearer to
you, the smooth and unruffled surface is studded with little islands,
where the mountain sheep roam in considerable numbers. What extent of
lowland may be encompassed by the high peaks beyond, must remain for the
present matter of mere conjecture though from the form of the summits,
and the breaks which may be discovered among them, there can be little
doubt that they are the sources of streams calculated to water large
tracts, which are probably concealed from view by the rotundity of the
lake’s surface. At some future day, in all probability, the rich harvest
of beaver fur, which may be reasonably anticipated in such a spot, will
tempt adventurers to reduce all this doubtful region to the palpable
certainty of a beaten track. At present, however, destitute of the means
of making boats, the trapper stands upon the shore, and gazes upon a
promised land which his feet are never to tread.

Such is the somewhat fanciful view which Captain Bonneville gives to
this great body of water. He has evidently taken part of his ideas
concerning it from the representations of others, who have somewhat
exaggerated its features. It is reported to be about one hundred and
fifty miles long, and fifty miles broad. The ranges of mountain peaks
which Captain Bonneville speaks of, as rising from its bosom, are
probably the summits of mountains beyond it, which may be visible at
a vast distance, when viewed from an eminence, in the transparent
atmosphere of these lofty regions. Several large islands certainly exist
in the lake; one of which is said to be mountainous, but not by any
means to the extent required to furnish the series of peaks above
mentioned.

Captain Sublette, in one of his early expeditions across the mountains,
is said to have sent four men in a skin canoe, to explore the lake,
who professed to have navigated all round it; but to have suffered
excessively from thirst, the water of the lake being extremely salt, and
there being no fresh streams running into it.

Captain Bonneville doubts this report, or that the men accomplished
the circumnavigation, because, he says, the lake receives several large
streams from the mountains which bound it to the east. In the spring,
when the streams are swollen by rain and by the melting of the snows,
the lake rises several feet above its ordinary level during the summer,
it gradually subsides again, leaving a sparkling zone of the finest salt
upon its shores.

The elevation of the vast plateau on which this lake is situated, is
estimated by Captain Bonneville at one and three-fourths of a mile above
the level of the ocean. The admirable purity and transparency of the
atmosphere in this region, allowing objects to be seen, and the report
of firearms to be heard, at an astonishing distance; and its extreme
dryness, causing the wheels of wagons to fall in pieces, as instanced
in former passages of this work, are proofs of the great altitude of the
Rocky Mountain plains. That a body of salt water should exist at such a
height is cited as a singular phenomenon by Captain Bonneville, though
the salt lake of Mexico is not much inferior in elevation.

To have this lake properly explored, and all its secrets revealed, was
the grand scheme of the captain for the present year; and while it was
one in which his imagination evidently took a leading part, he believed
it would be attended with great profit, from the numerous beaver streams
with which the lake must be fringed.

This momentous undertaking he confided to his lieutenant, Mr. Walker, in
whose experience and ability he had great confidence. He instructed him
to keep along the shores of the lake, and trap in all the streams on his
route; also to keep a journal, and minutely to record the events of his
journey, and everything curious or interesting, making maps or charts of
his route, and of the surrounding country.

No pains nor expense were spared in fitting out the party, of forty men,
which he was to command. They had complete supplies for a year, and were
to meet Captain Bonneville in the ensuing summer, in the valley of Bear
River, the largest tributary of the Salt Lake, which was to be his point
of general rendezvous.

The next care of Captain Bonneville was to arrange for the safe
transportation of the peltries which he had collected to the Atlantic
States. Mr. Robert Campbell, the partner of Sublette, was at this time
in the rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, having brought up
their supplies. He was about to set off on his return, with the peltries
collected during the year, and intended to proceed through the Crow
country, to the head of navigation on the Bighorn River, and to descend
in boats down that river, the Missouri, and the Yellowstone, to St.
Louis.

Captain Bonneville determined to forward his peltries by the same
route, under the especial care of Mr. Cerre. By way of escort, he would
accompany Cerre to the point of embarkation, and then make an autumnal
hunt in the Crow country.




22.

     The Crow country--A Crow paradise Habits of the Crows--
     Anecdotes of Rose, the renegade white man--His fights with
     the Blackfeet--His elevation--His death--Arapooish, the Crow
     chief--His eagle Adventure of Robert Campbell--Honor among
     Crows

BEFORE WE ACCOMPANY Captain Bonneville into the Crow country, we will
impart a few facts about this wild region, and the wild people who
inhabit it. We are not aware of the precise boundaries, if there are
any, of the country claimed by the Crows; it appears to extend from
the Black Hills to the Rocky Mountains, including a part of their lofty
ranges, and embracing many of the plains and valleys watered by the Wind
River, the Yellowstone, the Powder River, the Little Missouri, and the
Nebraska. The country varies in soil and climate; there are vast plains
of sand and clay, studded with large red sand-hills; other parts are
mountainous and picturesque; it possesses warm springs, and coal mines,
and abounds with game.

But let us give the account of the country as rendered by Arapooish, a
Crow chief, to Mr. Robert Campbell, of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company.

“The Crow country,” said he, “is a good country. The Great Spirit has
put it exactly in the right place; while you-are in it you fare well;
whenever you go out of it, whichever way you travel, you fare worse.

“If you go to the south, you have to wander over great barren plains;
the water is warm and bad, and you meet the fever and ague.

“To the north it is cold; the winters are long and bitter, with no
grass; you cannot keep horses there, but must travel with dogs. What is
a country without horses?

“On the Columbia they are poor and dirty, paddle about in canoes, and
eat fish. Their teeth are worn out; they are always taking fish-bones
out of their mouths. Fish is poor food.

“To the east, they dwell in villages; they live well; but they drink the
muddy water of the Missouri--that is bad. A Crow’s dog would not drink
such water.

“About the forks of the Missouri is a fine country; good water; good
grass; plenty of buffalo. In summer, it is almost as good as the Crow
country; but in winter it is cold; the grass is gone; and there is no
salt weed for the horses.

“The Crow country is exactly in the right place. It has snowy mountains
and sunny plains; all kinds of climates and good things for every
season. When the summer heats scorch the prairies, you can draw up under
the mountains, where the air is sweet and cool, the grass fresh, and the
bright streams come tumbling out of the snow-banks. There you can
hunt the elk, the deer, and the antelope, when their skins are fit for
dressing; there you will find plenty of white bears and mountain sheep.

“In the autumn, when your horses are fat and strong from the mountain
pastures, you can go down into the plains and hunt the buffalo, or trap
beaver on the streams. And when winter comes on, you can take shelter in
the woody bottoms along the rivers; there you will find buffalo meat for
yourselves, and cotton-wood bark for your horses: or you may winter in
the Wind River valley, where there is salt weed in abundance.

“The Crow country is exactly in the right place. Everything good is to
be found there. There is no country like the Crow country.”

Such is the eulogium on his country by Arapooish.

We have had repeated occasions to speak of the restless and predatory
habits of the Crows. They can muster fifteen hundred fighting men, but
their incessant wars with the Blackfeet, and their vagabond, predatory
habits, are gradually wearing them out.

In a recent work, we related the circumstance of a white man named Rose,
an outlaw, and a designing vagabond, who acted as guide and interpreter
to Mr. Hunt and his party, on their journey across the mountains to
Astoria, who came near betraying them into the hands of the Crows, and
who remained among the tribe, marrying one of their women, and adopting
their congenial habits. A few anecdotes of the subsequent fortunes of
that renegade may not be uninteresting, especially as they are connected
with the fortunes of the tribe.

Rose was powerful in frame and fearless in spirit; and soon by his
daring deeds took his rank among the first braves of the tribe. He
aspired to command, and knew it was only to be attained by desperate
exploits. He distinguished himself in repeated actions with Blackfeet.
On one occasion, a band of those savages had fortified themselves within
a breastwork, and could not be harmed. Rose proposed to storm the work.
“Who will take the lead?” was the demand. “I!” cried he; and putting
himself at their head, rushed forward. The first Blackfoot that opposed
him he shot down with his rifle, and, snatching up the war-club of his
victim, killed four others within the fort. The victory was complete,
and Rose returned to the Crow village covered with glory, and bearing
five Blackfoot scalps, to be erected as a trophy before his lodge. From
this time, he was known among the Crows by the name of Che-ku-kaats,
or “the man who killed five.” He became chief of the village, or rather
band, and for a time was the popular idol. His popularity soon awakened
envy among the native braves; he was a stranger, an intruder, a white
man. A party seceded from his command. Feuds and civil wars succeeded
that lasted for two or three years, until Rose, having contrived to set
his adopted brethren by the ears, left them, and went down the Missouri
in 1823. Here he fell in with one of the earliest trapping expeditions
sent by General Ashley across the mountains. It was conducted by
Smith, Fitzpatrick, and Sublette. Rose enlisted with them as guide
and interpreter. When he got them among the Crows, he was exceedingly
generous with their goods; making presents to the braves of his adopted
tribe, as became a high-minded chief.

This, doubtless, helped to revive his popularity. In that expedition,
Smith and Fitzpatrick were robbed of their horses in Green River valley;
the place where the robbery took place still bears the name of Horse
Creek. We are not informed whether the horses were stolen through the
instigation and management of Rose; it is not improbable, for such was
the perfidy he had intended to practice on a former occasion toward Mr.
Hunt and his party.

The last anecdote we have of Rose is from an Indian trader. When General
Atkinson made his military expedition up the Missouri, in 1825, to
protect the fur trade, he held a conference with the Crow nation,
at which Rose figured as Indian dignitary and Crow interpreter. The
military were stationed at some little distance from the scene of the
“big talk”; while the general and the chiefs were smoking pipes and
making speeches, the officers, supposing all was friendly, left the
troops, and drew near the scene of ceremonial. Some of the more knowing
Crows, perceiving this, stole quietly to the camp, and, unobserved,
contrived to stop the touch-holes of the field-pieces with dirt. Shortly
after, a misunderstanding occurred in the conference: some of the
Indians, knowing the cannon to be useless, became insolent. A tumult
arose. In the confusion, Colonel O’Fallan snapped a pistol in the face
of a brave, and knocked him down with the butt end. The Crows were all
in a fury. A chance-medley fight was on the point of taking place, when
Rose, his natural sympathies as a white man suddenly recurring, broke
the stock of his fusee over the head of a Crow warrior, and laid so
vigorously about him with the barrel, that he soon put the whole throng
to flight. Luckily, as no lives had been lost, this sturdy rib roasting
calmed the fury of the Crows, and the tumult ended without serious
consequences.

What was the ultimate fate of this vagabond hero is not distinctly
known. Some report him to have fallen a victim to disease, brought on by
his licentious life; others assert that he was murdered in a feud
among the Crows. After all, his residence among these savages, and
the influence he acquired over them, had, for a time, some beneficial
effects. He is said, not merely to have rendered them more formidable
to the Blackfeet, but to have opened their eyes to the policy of
cultivating the friendship of the white men.

After Rose’s death, his policy continued to be cultivated, with
indifferent success, by Arapooish, the chief already mentioned, who
had been his great friend, and whose character he had contributed
to develope. This sagacious chief endeavored, on every occasion, to
restrain the predatory propensities of his tribe when directed against
the white men. “If we keep friends with them,” said he, “we have nothing
to fear from the Blackfeet, and can rule the mountains.” Arapooish
pretended to be a great “medicine man”, a character among the Indians
which is a compound of priest, doctor, prophet, and conjurer. He carried
about with him a tame eagle, as his “medicine” or familiar. With the
white men, he acknowledged that this was all charlatanism, but said it
was necessary, to give him weight and influence among his people.

Mr. Robert Campbell, from whom we have most of these facts, in the
course of one of his trapping expeditions, was quartered in the
village of Arapooish, and a guest in the lodge of the chieftain. He had
collected a large quantity of furs, and, fearful of being plundered,
deposited but a part in the lodge of the chief; the rest he buried in a
cache. One night, Arapooish came into the lodge with a cloudy brow, and
seated himself for a time without saying a word. At length, turning to
Campbell, “You have more furs with you,” said he, “than you have brought
into my lodge?”

“I have,” replied Campbell.

“Where are they?”

Campbell knew the uselessness of any prevarication with an Indian; and
the importance of complete frankness. He described the exact place where
he had concealed his peltries.

“‘Tis well,” replied Arapooish; “you speak straight. It is just as you
say. But your cache has been robbed. Go and see how many skins have been
taken from it.”

Campbell examined the cache, and estimated his loss to be about one
hundred and fifty beaver skins.

Arapooish now summoned a meeting of the village. He bitterly reproached
his people for robbing a stranger who had confided to their honor; and
commanded that whoever had taken the skins, should bring them back:
declaring that, as Campbell was his guest and inmate of his lodge, he
would not eat nor drink until every skin was restored to him.

The meeting broke up, and every one dispersed. Arapooish now charged
Campbell to give neither reward nor thanks to any one who should bring
in the beaver skins, but to keep count as they were delivered.

In a little while, the skins began to make their appearance, a few at
a time; they were laid down in the lodge, and those who brought them
departed without saying a word. The day passed away. Arapooish sat
in one corner of his lodge, wrapped up in his robe, scarcely moving a
muscle of his countenance. When night arrived, he demanded if all
the skins had been brought in. Above a hundred had been given up, and
Campbell expressed himself contented. Not so the Crow chieftain. He
fasted all that night, nor tasted a drop of water. In the morning, some
more skins were brought in, and continued to come, one and two at a
time, throughout the day, until but a few were wanting to make the
number complete. Campbell was now anxious to put an end to this fasting
of the old chief, and again declared that he was perfectly satisfied.
Arapooish demanded what number of skins were yet wanting. On being told,
he whispered to some of his people, who disappeared. After a time the
number were brought in, though it was evident they were not any of the
skins that had been stolen, but others gleaned in the village.

“Is all right now?” demanded Arapooish.

“All is right,” replied Campbell.

“Good! Now bring me meat and drink!”

When they were alone together, Arapooish had a conversation with his
guest.

“When you come another time among the Crows,” said he, “don’t hide your
goods: trust to them and they will not wrong you. Put your goods in the
lodge of a chief, and they are sacred; hide them in a cache, and any one
who finds will steal them. My people have now given up your goods for
my sake; but there are some foolish young men in the village, who may
be disposed to be troublesome. Don’t linger, therefore, but pack your
horses and be off.”

Campbell took his advice, and made his way safely out of the Crow
country. He has ever since maintained that the Crows are not so black
as they are painted. “Trust to their honor,” says he, “and you are safe:
trust to their honesty, and they will steal the hair off your head.”

Having given these few preliminary particulars, we will resume the
course of our narrative.




23.

     Departure from--Green River valley--Popo-Agie--Its course--
     The rivers into which it runs--Scenery of the Bluffs the
     great Tar Spring--Volcanic tracts in the Crow country--
     Burning Mountain of Powder River--Sulphur springs--Hidden
     fires--Colter’s Hell-Wind River--Campbell’s party--
     Fitzpatrick and his trappers--Captain Stewart, an amateur
     traveller--Nathaniel Wyeth--Anecdotes of his expedition to
     the Far West--Disaster of Campbell’s party--A union of
     bands--The Bad Pass--The rapids--Departure of Fitzpatrick--
     Embarkation of peltries--Wyeth and his bull boat--Adventures
     of Captain--Bonneville in the Bighorn Mountains--Adventures
     in the plain--Traces of Indians--Travelling precautions--
     Dangers of making a smoke--The rendezvous

ON THE 25TH of July, Captain Bonneville struck his tents, and set out
on his route for the Bighorn, at the head of a party of fifty-six men,
including those who were to embark with Cerre. Crossing the Green River
valley, he proceeded along the south point of the Wind River range of
mountains, and soon fell upon the track of Mr. Robert Campbell’s party,
which had preceded him by a day. This he pursued, until he perceived
that it led down the banks of the Sweet Water to the southeast. As this
was different from his proposed direction, he left it; and turning to
the northeast, soon came upon the waters of the Popo Agie. This stream
takes its rise in the Wind River Mountains. Its name, like most Indian
names, is characteristic. Popo, in the Crow language, signifies head;
and Agie, river. It is the head of a long river, extending from the
south end of the Wind River Mountains in a northeast direction, until it
falls into the Yellowstone. Its course is generally through plains,
but is twice crossed by chains of mountains; the first called the
Littlehorn; the second, the Bighorn. After it has forced its way through
the first chain, it is called the Horn River; after the second chain,
it is called the Bighorn River. Its passage through this last chain
is rough and violent; making repeated falls, and rushing down long and
furious rapids, which threaten destruction to the navigator; though a
hardy trapper is said to have shot down them in a canoe. At the foot of
these rapids, is the head of navigation; where it was the intention of
the parties to construct boats, and embark.

Proceeding down along the Popo Agie, Captain Bonneville came again in
full view of the “Bluffs,” as they are called, extending from the base
of the Wind River Mountains far away to the east, and presenting to the
eye a confusion of hills and cliffs of red sandstone, some peaked and
angular, some round, some broken into crags and precipices, and piled up
in fantastic masses; but all naked and sterile. There appeared to be no
soil favorable to vegetation, nothing but coarse gravel; yet, over all
this isolated, barren landscape, were diffused such atmospherical tints
and hues, as to blend the whole into harmony and beauty.

In this neighborhood, the captain made search for “the great Tar
Spring,” one of the wonders of the mountains; the medicinal properties
of which, he had heard extravagantly lauded by the trappers. After a
toilsome search, he found it at the foot of a sand-bluff, a little east
of the Wind River Mountains; where it exuded in a small stream of the
color and consistency of tar. The men immediately hastened to collect
a quantity of it, to use as an ointment for the galled backs of
their horses, and as a balsam for their own pains and aches. From the
description given of it, it is evidently the bituminous oil, called
petrolium or naphtha, which forms a principal ingredient in the potent
medicine called British Oil. It is found in various parts of Europe and
Asia, in several of the West India islands, and in some places of the
United States. In the state of New York, it is called Seneca Oil, from
being found near the Seneca lake.

The Crow country has other natural curiosities, which are held in
superstitious awe by the Indians, and considered great marvels by the
trappers. Such is the Burning Mountain, on Powder River, abounding
with anthracite coal. Here the earth is hot and cracked; in many places
emitting smoke and sulphurous vapors, as if covering concealed fires. A
volcanic tract of similar character is found on Stinking River, one of
the tributaries of the Bighorn, which takes its unhappy name from the
odor derived from sulphurous springs and streams. This last mentioned
place was first discovered by Colter, a hunter belonging to Lewis and
Clarke’s exploring party, who came upon it in the course of his lonely
wanderings, and gave such an account of its gloomy terrors, its hidden
fires, smoking pits, noxious streams, and the all-pervading “smell
of brimstone,” that it received, and has ever since retained among
trappers, the name of “Colter’s Hell!”

Resuming his descent along the left bank of the Popo Agie, Captain
Bonneville soon reached the plains; where he found several large streams
entering from the west. Among these was Wind River, which gives its name
to the mountains among which it takes its rise. This is one of the most
important streams of the Crow country. The river being much swollen,
Captain Bonneville halted at its mouth, and sent out scouts to look for
a fording place. While thus encamped, he beheld in the course of the
afternoon a long line of horsemen descending the slope of the hills on
the opposite side of the Popo Agie. His first idea was that they were
Indians; he soon discovered, however, that they were white men, and,
by the long line of pack-horses, ascertained them to be the convoy of
Campbell, which, having descended the Sweet Water, was now on its way to
the Horn River.

The two parties came together two or three days afterwards, on the
4th of August, after having passed through the gap of the Littlehorn
Mountain. In company with Campbell’s convoy was a trapping party of the
Rocky Mountain Company, headed by Fitzpatrick; who, after Campbell’s
embarkation on the Bighorn, was to take charge of all the horses,
and proceed on a trapping campaign. There were, moreover, two chance
companions in the rival camp. One was Captain Stewart, of the British
army, a gentleman of noble connections, who was amusing himself by a
wandering tour in the Far West; in the course of which, he had lived
in hunter’s style; accompanying various bands of traders, trappers, and
Indians; and manifesting that relish for the wilderness that belongs to
men of game spirit.

The other casual inmate of Mr. Campbell’s camp was Mr. Nathaniel Wyeth;
the self-same leader of the band of New England salmon fishers, with
whom we parted company in the valley of Pierre’s Hole, after the battle
with the Blackfeet. A few days after that affair, he again set out
from the rendezvous in company with Milton Sublette and his brigade of
trappers. On his march, he visited the battle ground, and penetrated to
the deserted fort of the Blackfeet in the midst of the wood. It was a
dismal scene. The fort was strewed with the mouldering bodies of the
slain; while vultures soared aloft, or sat brooding on the trees around;
and Indian dogs howled about the place, as if bewailing the death
of their masters. Wyeth travelled for a considerable distance to the
southwest, in company with Milton Sublette, when they separated; and the
former, with eleven men, the remnant of his band, pushed on for Snake
River; kept down the course of that eventful stream; traversed the Blue
Mountains, trapping beaver occasionally by the way, and finally, after
hardships of all kinds, arrived, on the 29th of October, at Vancouver,
on the Columbia, the main factory of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

He experienced hospitable treatment at the hands of the agents of that
company; but his men, heartily tired of wandering in the wilderness, or
tempted by other prospects, refused, for the most part, to continue
any longer in his service. Some set off for the Sandwich Islands; some
entered into other employ. Wyeth found, too, that a great part of the
goods he had brought with him were unfitted for the Indian trade; in a
word, his expedition, undertaken entirely on his own resources, proved a
failure. He lost everything invested in it, but his hopes. These were as
strong as ever. He took note of every thing, therefore, that could be of
service to him in the further prosecution of his project; collected
all the information within his reach, and then set off, accompanied by
merely two men, on his return journey across the continent. He had got
thus far “by hook and by crook,” a mode in which a New England man can
make his way all over the world, and through all kinds of difficulties,
and was now bound for Boston; in full confidence of being able to form a
company for the salmon fishery and fur trade of the Columbia.

The party of Mr. Campbell had met with a disaster in the course of
their route from the Sweet Water. Three or four of the men, who were
reconnoitering the country in advance of the main body, were visited one
night in their camp, by fifteen or twenty Shoshonies. Considering this
tribe as perfectly friendly, they received them in the most cordial and
confiding manner. In the course of the night, the man on guard near the
horses fell sound asleep; upon which a Shoshonie shot him in the head,
and nearly killed him. The savages then made off with the horses,
leaving the rest of the party to find their way to the main body on
foot.

The rival companies of Captain Bonneville and Mr. Campbell, thus
fortuitously brought together, now prosecuted their journey in great
good fellowship; forming a joint camp of about a hundred men. The
captain, however, began to entertain doubts that Fitzpatrick and his
trappers, who kept profound silence as to their future movements,
intended to hunt the same grounds which he had selected for his autumnal
campaign; which lay to the west of the Horn River, on its tributary
streams. In the course of his march, therefore, he secretly detached
a small party of trappers, to make their way to those hunting grounds,
while he continued on with the main body; appointing a rendezvous, at
the next full moon, about the 28th of August, at a place called the
Medicine Lodge.

On reaching the second chain, called the Bighorn Mountains, where
the river forced its impetuous way through a precipitous defile, with
cascades and rapids, the travellers were obliged to leave its banks,
and traverse the mountains by a rugged and frightful route, emphatically
called the “Bad Pass.” Descending the opposite side, they again made for
the river banks; and about the middle of August, reached the point below
the rapids where the river becomes navigable for boats. Here Captain
Bonneville detached a second party of trappers, consisting of ten
men, to seek and join those whom he had detached while on the route;
appointing for them the same rendezvous, (at the Medicine Lodge,) on the
28th of August.

All hands now set to work to construct “bull boats,” as they are
technically called; a light, fragile kind of bark, characteristic of
the expedients and inventions of the wilderness; being formed of buffalo
skins, stretched on frames. They are sometimes, also, called skin boats.
Wyeth was the first ready; and, with his usual promptness and hardihood,
launched his frail bark, singly, on this wild and hazardous voyage, down
an almost interminable succession of rivers, winding through countries
teeming with savage hordes. Milton Sublette, his former fellow
traveller, and his companion in the battle scenes of Pierre’s Hole,
took passage in his boat. His crew consisted of two white men, and two
Indians. We shall hear further of Wyeth, and his wild voyage, in the
course of our wanderings about the Far West.

The remaining parties soon completed their several armaments. That
of Captain Bonneville was composed of three bull boats, in which he
embarked all his peltries, giving them in charge of Mr. Cerre, with a
party of thirty-six men. Mr. Campbell took command of his own boats, and
the little squadrons were soon gliding down the bright current of the
Bighorn.

The secret precautions which Captain Bonneville had taken to throw his
men first into the trapping ground west of the Bighorn, were, probably,
superfluous. It did not appear that Fitzpatrick had intended to hunt in
that direction. The moment Mr. Campbell and his men embarked with the
peltries, Fitzpatrick took charge of all the horses, amounting to above
a hundred, and struck off to the east, to trap upon Littlehorn, Powder,
and Tongue rivers. He was accompanied by Captain Stewart, who was
desirous of having a range about the Crow country. Of the adventures
they met with in that region of vagabonds and horse stealers, we shall
have something to relate hereafter.

Captain Bonneville being now left to prosecute his trapping campaign
without rivalry, set out, on the 17th of August, for the rendezvous at
Medicine Lodge. He had but four men remaining with him, and forty-six
horses to take care of; with these he had to make his way over mountain
and plain, through a marauding, horse-stealing region, full of peril
for a numerous cavalcade so slightly manned. He addressed himself to his
difficult journey, however, with his usual alacrity of spirit.

In the afternoon of his first day’s journey, on drawing near to the
Bighorn Mountain, on the summit of which he intended to encamp for the
night, he observed, to his disquiet, a cloud of smoke rising from
its base. He came to a halt, and watched it anxiously. It was very
irregular; sometimes it would almost die away; and then would mount up
in heavy volumes. There was, apparently, a large party encamped there;
probably, some ruffian horde of Blackfeet. At any rate, it would not do
for so small a number of men, with so numerous a cavalcade, to venture
within sight of any wandering tribe. Captain Bonneville and his
companions, therefore, avoided this dangerous neighborhood; and,
proceeding with extreme caution, reached the summit of the mountain,
apparently without being discovered. Here they found a deserted
Blackfoot fort, in which they ensconced themselves; disposed of every
thing as securely as possible, and passed the night without molestation.
Early the next morning they descended the south side of the mountain
into the great plain extending between it and the Littlehorn range. Here
they soon came upon numerous footprints, and the carcasses of buffaloes;
by which they knew there must be Indians not far off. Captain Bonneville
now began to feel solicitude about the two small parties of trappers
which he had detached, lest the Indians should have come upon them
before they had united their forces. But he felt still more solicitude
about his own party; for it was hardly to be expected he could traverse
these naked plains undiscovered, when Indians were abroad; and should
he be discovered, his chance would be a desperate one. Everything now
depended upon the greatest circumspection. It was dangerous to discharge
a gun, or light a fire, or make the least noise, where such quick-eared
and quick-sighted enemies were at hand. In the course of the day they
saw indubitable signs that the buffalo had been roaming there in great
numbers, and had recently been frightened away. That night they encamped
with the greatest care; and threw up a strong breastwork for their
protection.

For the two succeeding days they pressed forward rapidly, but
cautiously, across the great plain; fording the tributary streams of the
Horn River; encamping one night among thickets; the next, on an island;
meeting, repeatedly, with traces of Indians; and now and then, in
passing through a defile, experiencing alarms that induced them to cock
their rifles.

On the last day of their march hunger got the better of their caution,
and they shot a fine buffalo bull at the risk of being betrayed by the
report. They did not halt to make a meal, but carried the meat on with
them to the place of rendezvous, the Medicine Lodge, where they arrived
safely, in the evening, and celebrated their arrival by a hearty supper.

The next morning they erected a strong pen for the horses, and a
fortress of logs for themselves; and continued to observe the greatest
caution. Their cooking was all done at mid-day, when the fire makes no
glare, and a moderate smoke cannot be perceived at any great distance.
In the morning and the evening, when the wind is lulled, the smoke rises
perpendicularly in a blue column, or floats in light clouds above the
tree-tops, and can be discovered from afar.

In this way the little party remained for several days, cautiously
encamped, until, on the 29th of August, the two detachments they had
been expecting, arrived together at the rendezvous. They, as usual, had
their several tales of adventures to relate to the captain, which we
will furnish to the reader in the next chapter.




24.

     Adventures of the party of ten--The--Balaamite mule--A dead
     point--The mysterious elks--A night attack--A retreat--
     Travelling under an alarm--A joyful meeting--Adventures of
     the other party--A decoy elk--Retreat to an island--A savage
     dance of triumph--Arrival at Wind River

THE ADVENTURES of the detachment of ten are the first in order. These
trappers, when they separated from Captain Bonneville at the place where
the furs were embarked, proceeded to the foot of the Bighorn Mountain,
and having encamped, one of them mounted his mule and went out to set
his trap in a neighboring stream. He had not proceeded far when his
steed came to a full stop. The trapper kicked and cudgelled, but to
every blow and kick the mule snorted and kicked up, but still refused
to budge an inch. The rider now cast his eyes warily around in search of
some cause for this demur, when, to his dismay, he discovered an Indian
fort within gunshot distance, lowering through the twilight. In a
twinkling he wheeled about; his mule now seemed as eager to get on as
himself, and in a few moments brought him, clattering with his traps,
among his comrades. He was jeered at for his alacrity in retreating;
his report was treated as a false alarm; his brother trappers contented
themselves with reconnoitring the fort at a distance, and pronounced
that it was deserted.

As night set in, the usual precaution, enjoined by Captain Bonneville on
his men, was observed. The horses were brought in and tied, and a guard
stationed over them. This done, the men wrapped themselves in their
blankets, stretched themselves before the fire, and being fatigued with
a long day’s march, and gorged with a hearty supper, were soon in a
profound sleep.

The camp fires gradually died away; all was dark and silent; the
sentinel stationed to watch the horses had marched as far, and supped
as heartily as any of his companions, and while they snored, he began to
nod at his post. After a time, a low trampling noise reached his ear. He
half opened his closing eyes, and beheld two or three elks moving about
the lodges, picking, and smelling, and grazing here and there. The sight
of elk within the purlieus of the camp caused some little surprise; but
having had his supper, he cared not for elk meat, and, suffering them to
graze about unmolested, soon relapsed into a doze.

Suddenly, before daybreak, a discharge of firearms, and a struggle and
tramp of horses, made every one start to his feet. The first move was to
secure the horses. Some were gone; others were struggling, and kicking,
and trembling, for there was a horrible uproar of whoops, and yells, and
firearms. Several trappers stole quietly from the camp, and succeeded
in driving in the horses which had broken away; the rest were tethered
still more strongly. A breastwork was thrown up of saddles, baggage,
and camp furniture, and all hands waited anxiously for daylight. The
Indians, in the meantime, collected on a neighboring height, kept up
the most horrible clamor, in hopes of striking a panic into the camp, or
frightening off the horses. When the day dawned, the trappers attacked
them briskly and drove them to some distance. A desultory fire was kept
up for an hour, when the Indians, seeing nothing was to be gained, gave
up the contest and retired. They proved to be a war party of Blackfeet,
who, while in search of the Crow tribe, had fallen upon the trail of
Captain Bonneville on the Popo Agie, and dogged him to the Bighorn; but
had been completely baffled by his vigilance. They had then waylaid the
present detachment, and were actually housed in perfect silence within
their fort, when the mule of the trapper made such a dead point.

The savages went off uttering the wildest denunciations of hostility,
mingled with opprobrious terms in broken English, and gesticulations of
the most insulting kind.

In this melee, one white man was wounded, and two horses were killed.
On preparing the morning’s meal, however, a number of cups, knives, and
other articles were missing, which had, doubtless, been carried off by
the fictitious elk, during the slumber of the very sagacious sentinel.
As the Indians had gone off in the direction which the trappers had
intended to travel, the latter changed their route, and pushed forward
rapidly through the “Bad Pass,” nor halted until night; when, supposing
themselves out of the reach of the enemy, they contented themselves with
tying up their horses and posting a guard. They had scarce laid down to
sleep, when a dog strayed into the camp with a small pack of moccasons
tied upon his back; for dogs are made to carry burdens among the
Indians. The sentinel, more knowing than he of the preceding night,
awoke his companions and reported the circumstance. It was evident that
Indians were at hand. All were instantly at work; a strong pen was soon
constructed for the horses, after completing which, they resumed their
slumbers with the composure of men long inured to dangers.

In the next night, the prowling of dogs about the camp, and various
suspicious noises, showed that Indians were still hovering about them.
Hurrying on by long marches, they at length fell upon a trail, which,
with the experienced eye of veteran woodmen, they soon discovered to be
that of the party of trappers detached by Captain Bonneville when on his
march, and which they were sent to join. They likewise ascertained from
various signs, that this party had suffered some maltreatment from the
Indians. They now pursued the trail with intense anxiety; it carried
them to the banks of the stream called the Gray Bull, and down along its
course, until they came to where it empties into the Horn River. Here,
to their great joy, they discovered the comrades of whom they were in
search, all strongly fortified, and in a state of great watchfulness and
anxiety.

We now take up the adventures of this first detachment of trappers.
These men, after parting with the main body under Captain Bonneville,
had proceeded slowly for several days up the course of the river,
trapping beaver as they went. One morning, as they were about to visit
their traps, one of the camp-keepers pointed to a fine elk, grazing at a
distance, and requested them to shoot it. Three of the trappers started
off for the purpose. In passing a thicket, they were fired upon by some
savages in ambush, and at the same time, the pretended elk, throwing off
his hide and his horn, started forth an Indian warrior.

One of the three trappers had been brought down by the volley; the
others fled to the camp, and all hands, seizing up whatever they could
carry off, retreated to a small island in the river, and took refuge
among the willows. Here they were soon joined by their comrade who had
fallen, but who had merely been wounded in the neck.

In the meantime the Indians took possession of the deserted camp, with
all the traps, accoutrements, and horses. While they were busy among
the spoils, a solitary trapper, who had been absent at his work, came
sauntering to the camp with his traps on his back. He had approached
near by, when an Indian came forward and motioned him to keep away; at
the same moment, he was perceived by his comrades on the island, and
warned of his danger with loud cries. The poor fellow stood for a
moment, bewildered and aghast, then dropping his traps, wheeled and
made off at full speed, quickened by a sportive volley which the Indians
rattled after him.

In high good humor with their easy triumph, the savages now formed
a circle round the fire and performed a war dance, with the unlucky
trappers for rueful spectators. This done, emboldened by what they
considered cowardice on the part of the white men, they neglected their
usual mode of bush-fighting, and advanced openly within twenty paces of
the willows. A sharp volley from the trappers brought them to a sudden
halt, and laid three of them breathless. The chief, who had stationed
himself on an eminence to direct all the movements of his people,
seeing three of his warriors laid low, ordered the rest to retire. They
immediately did so, and the whole band soon disappeared behind a point
of woods, carrying off with them the horses, traps, and the greater part
of the baggage.

It was just after this misfortune that the party of ten men discovered
this forlorn band of trappers in a fortress, which they had thrown up
after their disaster. They were so perfectly dismayed, that they could
not be induced even to go in quest of their traps, which they had set in
a neighboring stream. The two parties now joined their forces, and made
their way, without further misfortune, to the rendezvous.

Captain Bonneville perceived from the reports of these parties, as well
as from what he had observed himself in his recent march, that he was in
a neighborhood teeming with danger. Two wandering Snake Indians, also,
who visited the camp, assured him that there were two large bands of
Crows marching rapidly upon him. He broke up his encampment, therefore,
on the 1st of September, made his way to the south, across the
Littlehorn Mountain, until he reached Wind River, and then turning
westward, moved slowly up the banks of that stream, giving time for his
men to trap as he proceeded. As it was not in the plan of the present
hunting campaigns to go near the caches on Green River, and as the
trappers were in want of traps to replace those they had lost, Captain
Bonneville undertook to visit the caches, and procure a supply. To
accompany him in this hazardous expedition, which would take him through
the defiles of the Wind River Mountains, and up the Green River valley,
he took but three men; the main party were to continue on trapping up
toward the head of Wind River, near which he was to rejoin them, just
about the place where that stream issues from the mountains. We shall
accompany the captain on his adventurous errand.




25.

     Captain Bonneville sets out for Green River valley--Journey
     up the Popo Agie--Buffaloes--The staring white bears--The
     smok--The warm springs--Attempt to traverse the Wind River
     Mountains--The Great Slope Mountain dells and chasms--
     Crystal lakes--Ascent of a snowy peak--Sublime prospect--A
     panorama “Les dignes de pitie,” or wild men of the mountains

HAVING FORDED WIND RIVER a little above its mouth, Captain Bonneville
and his three companions proceeded across a gravelly plain, until they
fell upon the Popo Agie, up the left bank of which they held their
course, nearly in a southerly direction. Here they came upon numerous
droves of buffalo, and halted for the purpose of procuring a supply of
beef. As the hunters were stealing cautiously to get within shot of the
game, two small white bears suddenly presented themselves in their path,
and, rising upon their hind legs, contemplated them for some time with a
whimsically solemn gaze. The hunters remained motionless; whereupon the
bears, having apparently satisfied their curiosity, lowered themselves
upon all fours, and began to withdraw. The hunters now advanced, upon
which the bears turned, rose again upon their haunches, and repeated
their serio-comic examination. This was repeated several times, until
the hunters, piqued at their unmannerly staring, rebuked it with a
discharge of their rifles. The bears made an awkward bound or two, as
if wounded, and then walked off with great gravity, seeming to commune
together, and every now and then turning to take another look at the
hunters. It was well for the latter that the bears were but half grown,
and had not yet acquired the ferocity of their kind.

The buffalo were somewhat startled at the report of the firearms; but
the hunters succeeded in killing a couple of fine cows, and, having
secured the best of the meat, continued forward until some time after
dark, when, encamping in a large thicket of willows, they made a great
fire, roasted buffalo beef enough for half a score, disposed of the
whole of it with keen relish and high glee, and then “turned in” for the
night and slept soundly, like weary and well fed hunters.

At daylight they were in the saddle again, and skirted along the river,
passing through fresh grassy meadows, and a succession of beautiful
groves of willows and cotton-wood. Toward evening, Captain Bonneville
observed a smoke at a distance rising from among hills, directly in the
route he was pursuing. Apprehensive of some hostile band, he concealed
the horses in a thicket, and, accompanied by one of his men, crawled
cautiously up a height, from which he could overlook the scene of
danger. Here, with a spy-glass, he reconnoitred the surrounding
country, but not a lodge nor fire, not a man, horse, nor dog, was to be
discovered; in short, the smoke which had caused such alarm proved to
be the vapor from several warm, or rather hot springs of considerable
magnitude, pouring forth streams in every direction over a bottom of
white clay. One of the springs was about twenty-five yards in diameter,
and so deep that the water was of a bright green color.

They were now advancing diagonally upon the chain of Wind River
Mountains, which lay between them and Green River valley. To coast round
their southern points would be a wide circuit; whereas, could they
force their way through them, they might proceed in a straight line. The
mountains were lofty, with snowy peaks and cragged sides; it was hoped,
however, that some practicable defile might be found. They attempted,
accordingly, to penetrate the mountains by following up one of the
branches of the Popo Agie, but soon found themselves in the midst of
stupendous crags and precipices that barred all progress. Retracing
their steps, and falling back upon the river, they consulted where to
make another attempt. They were too close beneath the mountains to scan
them generally, but they now recollected having noticed, from the plain,
a beautiful slope rising, at an angle of about thirty degrees, and
apparently without any break, until it reached the snowy region. Seeking
this gentle acclivity, they began to ascend it with alacrity, trusting
to find at the top one of those elevated plains which prevail among the
Rocky Mountains. The slope was covered with coarse gravel, interspersed
with plates of freestone. They attained the summit with some toil, but
found, instead of a level, or rather undulating plain, that they were
on the brink of a deep and precipitous ravine, from the bottom of which
rose a second slope, similar to the one they had just ascended. Down
into this profound ravine they made their way by a rugged path, or
rather fissure of the rocks, and then labored up the second slope. They
gained the summit only to find themselves on another ravine, and now
perceived that this vast mountain, which had presented such a sloping
and even side to the distant beholder on the plain, was shagged by
frightful precipices, and seamed with longitudinal chasms, deep and
dangerous.

In one of these wild dells they passed the night, and slept soundly
and sweetly after their fatigues. Two days more of arduous climbing and
scrambling only served to admit them into the heart of this mountainous
and awful solitude; where difficulties increased as they proceeded.
Sometimes they scrambled from rock to rock, up the bed of some mountain
stream, dashing its bright way down to the plains; sometimes they
availed themselves of the paths made by the deer and the mountain sheep,
which, however, often took them to the brinks of fearful precipices, or
led to rugged defiles, impassable for their horses. At one place, they
were obliged to slide their horses down the face of a rock, in which
attempt some of the poor animals lost their footing, rolled to the
bottom, and came near being dashed to pieces.

In the afternoon of the second day, the travellers attained one of the
elevated valleys locked up in this singular bed of mountains. Here were
two bright and beautiful little lakes, set like mirrors in the midst of
stern and rocky heights, and surrounded by grassy meadows, inexpressibly
refreshing to the eye. These probably were among the sources of those
mighty streams which take their rise among these mountains, and wander
hundreds of miles through the plains.

In the green pastures bordering upon these lakes, the travellers halted
to repose, and to give their weary horses time to crop the sweet and
tender herbage. They had now ascended to a great height above the level
of the plains, yet they beheld huge crags of granite piled one upon
another, and beetling like battlements far above them. While two of
the men remained in the camp with the horses, Captain Bonneville,
accompanied by the other men [man], set out to climb a neighboring
height, hoping to gain a commanding prospect, and discern some
practicable route through this stupendous labyrinth. After much toil, he
reached the summit of a lofty cliff, but it was only to behold gigantic
peaks rising all around, and towering far into the snowy regions of the
atmosphere. Selecting one which appeared to be the highest, he crossed a
narrow intervening valley, and began to scale it. He soon found that
he had undertaken a tremendous task; but the pride of man is never more
obstinate than when climbing mountains. The ascent was so steep and
rugged that he and his companion were frequently obliged to clamber on
hands and knees, with their guns slung upon their backs. Frequently,
exhausted with fatigue, and dripping with perspiration, they threw
themselves upon the snow, and took handfuls of it to allay their
parching thirst. At one place, they even stripped off their coats and
hung them upon the bushes, and thus lightly clad, proceeded to scramble
over these eternal snows. As they ascended still higher, there were cool
breezes that refreshed and braced them, and springing with new ardor to
their task, they at length attained the summit.

Here a scene burst upon the view of Captain Bonneville, that for a time
astonished and overwhelmed him with its immensity. He stood, in fact,
upon that dividing ridge which Indians regard as the crest of the world;
and on each side of which, the landscape may be said to decline to the
two cardinal oceans of the globe. Whichever way he turned his eye, it
was confounded by the vastness and variety of objects. Beneath him, the
Rocky Mountains seemed to open all their secret recesses: deep, solemn
valleys; treasured lakes; dreary passes; rugged defiles, and foaming
torrents; while beyond their savage precincts, the eye was lost in an
almost immeasurable landscape; stretching on every side into dim and
hazy distance, like the expanse of a summer’s sea. Whichever way he
looked, he beheld vast plains glimmering with reflected sunshine; mighty
streams wandering on their shining course toward either ocean, and snowy
mountains, chain beyond chain, and peak beyond peak, till they melted
like clouds into the horizon. For a time, the Indian fable seemed
realized: he had attained that height from which the Blackfoot warrior,
after death, first catches a view of the land of souls, and beholds the
happy hunting grounds spread out below him, brightening with the abodes
of the free and generous spirits. The captain stood for a long while
gazing upon this scene, lost in a crowd of vague and indefinite ideas
and sensations. A long-drawn inspiration at length relieved him from
this enthralment of the mind, and he began to analyze the parts of this
vast panorama. A simple enumeration of a few of its features may give
some idea of its collective grandeur and magnificence.

The peak on which the captain had taken his stand commanded the whole
Wind River chain; which, in fact, may rather be considered one immense
mountain, broken into snowy peaks and lateral spurs, and seamed with
narrow valleys. Some of these valleys glittered with silver lakes
and gushing streams; the fountain heads, as it were, of the mighty
tributaries to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Beyond the snowy peaks,
to the south, and far, far below the mountain range, the gentle river,
called the Sweet Water, was seen pursuing its tranquil way through the
rugged regions of the Black Hills. In the east, the head waters of Wind
River wandered through a plain, until, mingling in one powerful current,
they forced their way through the range of Horn Mountains, and were lost
to view. To the north were caught glimpses of the upper streams of the
Yellowstone, that great tributary of the Missouri. In another direction
were to be seen some of the sources of the Oregon, or Columbia, flowing
to the northwest, past those towering landmarks the Three Tetons, and
pouring down into the great lava plain; while, almost at the captain’s
feet, the Green River, or Colorado of the West, set forth on its
wandering pilgrimage to the Gulf of California; at first a mere mountain
torrent, dashing northward over a crag and precipice, in a succession
of cascades, and tumbling into the plain where, expanding into an ample
river, it circled away to the south, and after alternately shining out
and disappearing in the mazes of the vast landscape, was finally lost
in a horizon of mountains. The day was calm and cloudless, and the
atmosphere so pure that objects were discernible at an astonishing
distance. The whole of this immense area was inclosed by an outer range
of shadowy peaks, some of them faintly marked on the horizon, which
seemed to wall it in from the rest of the earth.

It is to be regretted that Captain Bonneville had no instruments with
him with which to ascertain the altitude of this peak. He gives it
as his opinion that it is the loftiest point of the North American
continent; but of this we have no satisfactory proof. It is certain
that the Rocky Mountains are of an altitude vastly superior to what was
formerly supposed. We rather incline to the opinion that the highest
peak is further to the northward, and is the same measured by Mr.
Thompson, surveyor to the Northwest Company; who, by the joint means
of the barometer and trigonometric measurement, ascertained it to be
twenty-five thousand feet above the level of the sea; an elevation only
inferior to that of the Himalayas.

For a long time, Captain Bonneville remained gazing around him with
wonder and enthusiasm; at length the chill and wintry winds, whirling
about the snow-clad height, admonished him to descend. He soon regained
the spot where he and his companions [companion] had thrown off their
coats, which were now gladly resumed, and, retracing their course down
the peak, they safely rejoined their companions on the border of the
lake.

Notwithstanding the savage and almost inaccessible nature of these
mountains, they have their inhabitants. As one of the party was out
hunting, he came upon the solitary track of a man in a lonely valley.
Following it up, he reached the brow of a cliff, whence he beheld three
savages running across the valley below him. He fired his gun to call
their attention, hoping to induce them to turn back. They only fled
the faster, and disappeared among the rocks. The hunter returned and
reported what he had seen. Captain Bonneville at once concluded that
these belonged to a kind of hermit race, scanty in number, that inhabit
the highest and most inaccessible fastnesses. They speak the Shoshonie
language, and probably are offsets from that tribe, though they have
peculiarities of their own, which distinguish them from all other
Indians. They are miserably poor; own no horses, and are destitute of
every convenience to be derived from an intercourse with the whites.
Their weapons are bows and stone-pointed arrows, with which they
hunt the deer, the elk, and the mountain sheep. They are to be found
scattered about the countries of the Shoshonie, Flathead, Crow, and
Blackfeet tribes; but their residences are always in lonely places, and
the clefts of the rocks.

Their footsteps are often seen by the trappers in the high and solitary
valleys among the mountains, and the smokes of their fires descried
among the precipices, but they themselves are rarely met with, and still
more rarely brought to a parley, so great is their shyness, and their
dread of strangers.

As their poverty offers no temptation to the marauder, and as they are
inoffensive in their habits, they are never the objects of warfare:
should one of them, however, fall into the hands of a war party, he
is sure to be made a sacrifice, for the sake of that savage trophy, a
scalp, and that barbarous ceremony, a scalp dance. These forlorn beings,
forming a mere link between human nature and the brute, have been looked
down upon with pity and contempt by the creole trappers, who have
given them the appellation of “les dignes de pitie,” or “the objects
of pity.”; They appear more worthy to be called the wild men of the
mountains.




26.

     A retrogade move Channel of a mountain torrent--Alpine
     scenery--Cascades--Beaver valleys--Beavers at work--Their
     architecture--Their modes of felling trees--Mode of trapping
     beaver--Contests of skill--A beaver “up to trap”--Arrival at
     the Green River caches

THE VIEW from the snowy peak of the Wind River Mountains, while it had
excited Captain Bonneville’s enthusiasm, had satisfied him that it would
be useless to force a passage westward, through multiplying barriers
of cliffs and precipices. Turning his face eastward, therefore, he
endeavored to regain the plains, intending to make the circuit round
the southern point of the mountain. To descend, and to extricate himself
from the heart of this rock-piled wilderness, was almost as difficult as
to penetrate it. Taking his course down the ravine of a tumbling stream,
the commencement of some future river, he descended from rock to rock,
and shelf to shelf, between stupendous cliffs and beetling crags that
sprang up to the sky. Often he had to cross and recross the rushing
torrent, as it wound foaming and roaring down its broken channel, or
was walled by perpendicular precipices; and imminent was the hazard of
breaking the legs of the horses in the clefts and fissures of slippery
rocks. The whole scenery of this deep ravine was of Alpine wildness
and sublimity. Sometimes the travellers passed beneath cascades which
pitched from such lofty heights that the water fell into the stream like
heavy rain. In other places, torrents came tumbling from crag to crag,
dashing into foam and spray, and making tremendous din and uproar.

On the second day of their descent, the travellers, having got beyond
the steepest pitch of the mountains, came to where the deep and rugged
ravine began occasionally to expand into small levels or valleys, and
the stream to assume for short intervals a more peaceful character.
Here, not merely the river itself, but every rivulet flowing into it,
was dammed up by communities of industrious beavers, so as to inundate
the neighborhood, and make continual swamps.

During a mid-day halt in one of these beaver valleys, Captain Bonneville
left his companions, and strolled down the course of the stream to
reconnoitre. He had not proceeded far when he came to a beaver pond, and
caught a glimpse of one of its painstaking inhabitants busily at work
upon the dam. The curiosity of the captain was aroused, to behold
the mode of operating of this far-famed architect; he moved forward,
therefore, with the utmost caution, parting the branches of the water
willows without making any noise, until having attained a position
commanding a view of the whole pond, he stretched himself flat on the
ground, and watched the solitary workman. In a little while, three
others appeared at the head of the dam, bringing sticks and bushes. With
these they proceeded directly to the barrier, which Captain Bonneville
perceived was in need of repair. Having deposited their loads upon the
broken part, they dived into the water, and shortly reappeared at the
surface. Each now brought a quantity of mud, with which he would plaster
the sticks and bushes just deposited. This kind of masonry was continued
for some time, repeated supplies of wood and mud being brought, and
treated in the same manner. This done, the industrious beavers indulged
in a little recreation, chasing each other about the pond, dodging and
whisking about on the surface, or diving to the bottom; and in their
frolic, often slapping their tails on the water with a loud clacking
sound. While they were thus amusing themselves, another of the
fraternity made his appearance, and looked gravely on their sports for
some time, without offering to join in them. He then climbed the bank
close to where the captain was concealed, and, rearing himself on his
hind quarters, in a sitting position, put his forepaws against a young
pine tree, and began to cut the bark with his teeth. At times he would
tear off a small piece, and holding it between his paws, and retaining
his sedentary position, would feed himself with it, after the fashion of
a monkey. The object of the beaver, however, was evidently to cut down
the tree; and he was proceeding with his work, when he was alarmed by
the approach of Captain Bonneville’s men, who, feeling anxious at the
protracted absence of their leader, were coming in search of him. At the
sound of their voices, all the beavers, busy as well as idle, dived
at once beneath the surface, and were no more to be seen. Captain
Bonneville regretted this interruption. He had heard much of the
sagacity of the beaver in cutting down trees, in which, it is said,
they manage to make them fall into the water, and in such a position and
direction as may be most favorable for conveyance to the desired point.
In the present instance, the tree was a tall straight pine, and as it
grew perpendicularly, and there was not a breath of air stirring the
beaver could have felled it in any direction he pleased, if really
capable of exercising a discretion in the matter. He was evidently
engaged in “belting” the tree, and his first incision had been on the
side nearest to the water.

Captain Bonneville, however, discredits, on the whole, the alleged
sagacity of the beaver in this particular, and thinks the animal has
no other aim than to get the tree down, without any of the subtle
calculation as to its mode or direction of falling. This attribute, he
thinks, has been ascribed to them from the circumstance that most trees
growing near water-courses, either lean bodily toward the stream, or
stretch their largest limbs in that direction, to benefit by the space,
the light, and the air to be found there. The beaver, of course, attacks
those trees which are nearest at hand, and on the banks of the stream or
pond. He makes incisions round them, or in technical phrase, belts them
with his teeth, and when they fall, they naturally take the direction in
which their trunks or branches preponderate.

“I have often,” says Captain Bonneville, “seen trees measuring eighteen
inches in diameter, at the places where they had been cut through by the
beaver, but they lay in all directions, and often very inconveniently
for the after purposes of the animal. In fact, so little ingenuity do
they at times display in this particular, that at one of our camps on
Snake River, a beaver was found with his head wedged into the cut which
he had made, the tree having fallen upon him and held him prisoner until
he died.”

Great choice, according to the captain, is certainly displayed by
the beaver in selecting the wood which is to furnish bark for winter
provision. The whole beaver household, old and young, set out upon this
business, and will often make long journeys before they are suited.
Sometimes they cut down trees of the largest size and then cull the
branches, the bark of which is most to their taste. These they cut into
lengths of about three feet, convey them to the water, and float them to
their lodges, where they are stored away for winter. They are studious
of cleanliness and comfort in their lodges, and after their repasts,
will carry out the sticks from which they have eaten the bark, and throw
them into the current beyond the barrier. They are jealous, too, of
their territories, and extremely pugnacious, never permitting a strange
beaver to enter their premises, and often fighting with such virulence
as almost to tear each other to pieces. In the spring, which is the
breeding season, the male leaves the female at home, and sets off on a
tour of pleasure, rambling often to a great distance, recreating himself
in every clear and quiet expanse of water on his way, and climbing
the banks occasionally to feast upon the tender sprouts of the young
willows. As summer advances, he gives up his bachelor rambles, and
bethinking himself of housekeeping duties, returns home to his mate and
his new progeny, and marshals them all for the foraging expedition in
quest of winter provisions.

After having shown the public spirit of this praiseworthy little animal
as a member of a community, and his amiable and exemplary conduct as
the father of a family, we grieve to record the perils with which he is
environed, and the snares set for him and his painstaking household.

Practice, says Captain Bonneville, has given such a quickness of eye to
the experienced trapper in all that relates to his pursuit, that he
can detect the slightest sign of beaver, however wild; and although the
lodge may be concealed by close thickets and overhanging willows, he can
generally, at a single glance, make an accurate guess at the number of
its inmates. He now goes to work to set his trap; planting it upon the
shore, in some chosen place, two or three inches below the surface of
the water, and secures it by a chain to a pole set deep in the mud. A
small twig is then stripped of its bark, and one end is dipped in the
“medicine,” as the trappers term the peculiar bait which they employ.
This end of the stick rises about four inches above the surface of
the water, the other end is planted between the jaws of the trap. The
beaver, possessing an acute sense of smell, is soon attracted by the
odor of the bait. As he raises his nose toward it, his foot is caught
in the trap. In his fright he throws a somerset into the deep water. The
trap, being fastened to the pole, resists all his efforts to drag it
to the shore; the chain by which it is fastened defies his teeth; he
struggles for a time, and at length sinks to the bottom and is drowned.

Upon rocky bottoms, where it is not possible to plant the pole, it is
thrown into the stream. The beaver, when entrapped, often gets fastened
by the chain to sunken logs or floating timber; if he gets to shore, he
is entangled in the thickets of brook willows. In such cases, however,
it costs the trapper diligent search, and sometimes a bout at swimming,
before he finds his game.

Occasionally it happens that several members of a beaver family are
trapped in succession. The survivors then become extremely shy, and
can scarcely be “brought to medicine,” to use the trapper’s phrase for
“taking the bait.” In such case, the trapper gives up the use of the
bait, and conceals his traps in the usual paths and crossing places of
the household. The beaver now being completely “up to trap,” approaches
them cautiously, and springs them ingeniously with a stick. At other
times, he turns the traps bottom upwards, by the same means, and
occasionally even drags them to the barrier and conceals them in the
mud. The trapper now gives up the contest of ingenuity, and shouldering
his traps, marches off, admitting that he is not yet “up to beaver.”

On the day following Captain Bonneville’s supervision of the industrious
and frolicsome community of beavers, of which he has given so edifying
an account, he succeeded in extricating himself from the Wind River
Mountains, and regaining the plain to the eastward, made a great bend
to the south, so as to go round the bases of the mountains, and arrived
without further incident of importance, at the old place of rendezvous
in Green River valley, on the 17th of September.

He found the caches, in which he had deposited his superfluous goods
and equipments, all safe, and having opened and taken from them the
necessary supplies, he closed them again; taking care to obliterate all
traces that might betray them to the keen eyes of Indian marauders.




27.

     Route toward--Wind River--Dangerous neighborhood--Alarms and
     precautions--A sham encampment--Apparition of an Indian spy--
     Midnight move--A mountain defile--The Wind River valley--
     Tracking a party--Deserted camps--Symptoms of Crows--Meeting
     of comrades--A trapper entrapped--Crow pleasantry--Crow
     spies--A decampment--Return to Green River valley--Meeting
     with Fitzpatrick’s party--Their adventures among the Crows--
     Orthodox Crows

ON THE 18TH of September, Captain Bonneville and his three companions
set out, bright and early, to rejoin the main party, from which they had
parted on Wind River. Their route lay up the Green River valley, with
that stream on their right hand, and beyond it, the range of Wind River
Mountains. At the head of the valley, they were to pass through a defile
which would bring them out beyond the northern end of these mountains,
to the head of Wind River; where they expected to meet the main party,
according to arrangement.

We have already adverted to the dangerous nature of this neighborhood,
infested by roving bands of Crows and Blackfeet; to whom the numerous
defiles and passes of the country afford capital places for ambush and
surprise. The travellers, therefore, kept a vigilant eye upon everything
that might give intimation of lurking danger.

About two hours after mid-day, as they reached the summit of a hill,
they discovered buffalo on the plain below, running in every direction.
One of the men, too, fancied he heard the report of a gun. It was
concluded, therefore, that there was some party of Indians below,
hunting the buffalo.

The horses were immediately concealed in a narrow ravine; and the
captain, mounting an eminence, but concealing himself from view,
reconnoitred the whole neighborhood with a telescope. Not an Indian was
to be seen; so, after halting about an hour, he resumed his journey.
Convinced, however, that he was in a dangerous neighborhood, he advanced
with the utmost caution; winding his way through hollows and ravines,
and avoiding, as much as possible, any open tract, or rising ground,
that might betray his little party to the watchful eye of an Indian
scout.

Arriving, at length, at the edge of the open meadow-land bordering
on the river, he again observed the buffalo, as far as he could see,
scampering in great alarm. Once more concealing the horses, he and his
companions remained for a long time watching the various groups of the
animals, as each caught the panic and started off; but they sought in
vain to discover the cause.

They were now about to enter the mountain defile, at the head of Green
River valley, where they might be waylaid and attacked; they, therefore,
arranged the packs on their horses, in the manner most secure and
convenient for sudden flight, should such be necessary. This done, they
again set forward, keeping the most anxious look-out in every direction.

It was now drawing toward evening; but they could not think of encamping
for the night, in a place so full of danger. Captain Bonneville,
therefore, determined to halt about sunset, kindle a fire, as if for
encampment, cook and eat supper; but, as soon as it was sufficiently
dark, to make a rapid move for the summit of the mountain, and seek some
secluded spot for their night’s lodgings.

Accordingly, as the sun went down, the little party came to a halt, made
a large fire, spitted their buffalo meat on wooden sticks, and, when
sufficiently roasted, planted the savory viands before them; cutting
off huge slices with their hunting knives, and supping with a hunter’s
appetite. The light of their fire would not fail, as they knew, to
attract the attention of any Indian horde in the neighborhood; but they
trusted to be off and away, before any prowlers could reach the place.
While they were supping thus hastily, however, one of their party
suddenly started up and shouted “Indians!” All were instantly on their
feet, with their rifles in their hands; but could see no enemy. The
man, however, declared that he had seen an Indian advancing, cautiously,
along the trail which they had made in coming to the encampment; who,
the moment he was perceived, had thrown himself on the ground, and
disappeared. He urged Captain Bonneville instantly to decamp. The
captain, however, took the matter more coolly. The single fact, that the
Indian had endeavored to hide himself, convinced him that he was not
one of a party, on the advance to make an attack. He was, probably, some
scout, who had followed up their trail, until he came in sight of their
fire. He would, in such case, return, and report what he had seen to his
companions. These, supposing the white men had encamped for the night,
would keep aloof until very late, when all should be asleep. They would,
then, according to Indian tactics, make their stealthy approaches, and
place themselves in ambush around, preparatory to their attack, at the
usual hour of daylight.

Such was Captain Bonneville’s conclusion; in consequence of which, he
counselled his men to keep perfectly quiet, and act as if free from
all alarm, until the proper time arrived for a move. They, accordingly,
continued their repast with pretended appetite and jollity; and then
trimmed and replenished their fire, as if for a bivouac. As soon,
however, as the night had completely set in, they left their fire
blazing; walked quietly among the willows, and then leaping into their
saddles, made off as noiselessly as possible. In proportion as they left
the point of danger behind them, they relaxed in their rigid and anxious
taciturnity, and began to joke at the expense of their enemy; whom they
pictured to themselves mousing in the neighborhood of their deserted
fire, waiting for the proper time of attack, and preparing for a grand
disappointment.

About midnight, feeling satisfied that they had gained a secure
distance, they posted one of their number to keep watch, in case the
enemy should follow on their trail, and then, turning abruptly into a
dense and matted thicket of willows, halted for the night at the foot of
the mountain, instead of making for the summit, as they had originally
intended.

A trapper in the wilderness, like a sailor on the ocean, snatches
morsels of enjoyment in the midst of trouble, and sleeps soundly when
surrounded by danger. The little party now made their arrangements for
sleep with perfect calmness; they did not venture to make a fire and
cook, it is true, though generally done by hunters whenever they come
to a halt, and have provisions. They comforted themselves, however,
by smoking a tranquil pipe; and then calling in the watch, and turning
loose the horses, stretched themselves on their pallets, agreed that
whoever should first awake, should rouse the rest, and in a little while
were all as sound asleep as though in the midst of a fortress.

A little before day, they were all on the alert; it was the hour for
Indian maraud. A sentinel was immediately detached, to post himself at
a little distance on their trail, and give the alarm, should he see or
hear an enemy.

With the first blink of dawn, the rest sought the horses; brought them
to the camp, and tied them up, until an hour after sunrise; when, the
sentinel having reported that all was well, they sprang once more into
their saddles, and pursued the most covert and secret paths up the
mountain, avoiding the direct route.

At noon, they halted and made a hasty repast; and then bent their course
so as to regain the route from which they had diverged. They were now
made sensible of the danger from which they had just escaped. There were
tracks of Indians, who had evidently been in pursuit of them; but had
recently returned, baffled in their search.

Trusting that they had now got a fair start, and could not be overtaken
before night, even in case the Indians should renew the chase, they
pushed briskly forward, and did not encamp until late; when they
cautiously concealed themselves in a secure nook of the mountains.

Without any further alarm, they made their way to the head waters of
Wind River, and reached the neighborhood in which they had appointed
the rendezvous with their companions. It was within the precincts of the
Crow country; the Wind River valley being one of the favorite haunts of
that restless tribe. After much searching, Captain Bonneville came upon
a trail which had evidently been made by his main party. It was so old,
however, that he feared his people might have left the neighborhood;
driven off, perhaps by some of those war parties which were on the
prowl. He continued his search with great anxiety, and no little
fatigue; for his horses were jaded, and almost crippled, by their forced
marches and scramblings through rocky defiles.

On the following day, about noon, Captain Bonneville came upon a
deserted camp of his people, from which they had, evidently, turned
back; but he could find no signs to indicate why they had done so;
whether they had met with misfortune, or molestation, or in what
direction they had gone. He was now, more than ever, perplexed.

On the following day, he resumed his march with increasing anxiety. The
feet of his horses had by this time become so worn and wounded by the
rocks, that he had to make moccasons for them of buffalo hide. About
noon, he came to another deserted camp of his men; but soon after lost
their trail. After great search, he once more found it, turning in a
southerly direction along the eastern bases of the Wind River Mountains,
which towered to the right. He now pushed forward with all possible
speed, in hopes of overtaking the party. At night, he slept at another
of their camps, from which they had but recently departed. When the day
dawned sufficiently to distinguish objects, he perceived the danger that
must be dogging the heels of his main party. All about the camp were
traces of Indians who must have been prowling about it at the time his
people had passed the night there; and who must still be hovering about
them. Convinced, now, that the main party could not be at any great
distance, he mounted a scout on the best horse, and sent him forward to
overtake them, to warn them of their danger, and to order them to halt,
until he should rejoin them.

In the afternoon, to his great joy, he met the scout returning, with
six comrades from the main party, leading fresh horses for his
accommodation; and on the following day (September 25th), all hands
were once more reunited, after a separation of nearly three weeks. Their
meeting was hearty and joyous; for they had both experienced dangers and
perplexities.

The main party, in pursuing their course up the Wind River valley, had
been dogged the whole way by a war party of Crows. In one place, they
had been fired upon, but without injury; in another place, one of their
horses had been cut loose, and carried off. At length, they were so
closely beset, that they were obliged to make a retrogade move, lest
they should be surprised and overcome. This was the movement which had
caused such perplexity to Captain Bonneville.

The whole party now remained encamped for two or three days, to give
repose to both men and horses. Some of the trappers, however, pursued
their vocations about the neighboring streams. While one of them was
setting his traps, he heard the tramp of horses, and looking up,
beheld a party of Crow braves moving along at no great distance, with a
considerable cavalcade. The trapper hastened to conceal himself, but was
discerned by the quick eye of the savages. With whoops and yells,
they dragged him from his hiding-place, flourished over his head their
tomahawks and scalping-knives, and for a time, the poor trapper gave
himself up for lost. Fortunately, the Crows were in a jocose, rather
than a sanguinary mood. They amused themselves heartily, for a while,
at the expense of his terrors; and after having played off divers Crow
pranks and pleasantries, suffered him to depart unharmed. It is true,
they stripped him completely, one taking his horse, another his gun,
a third his traps, a fourth his blanket, and so on, through all his
accoutrements, and even his clothing, until he was stark naked; but then
they generously made him a present of an old tattered buffalo robe, and
dismissed him, with many complimentary speeches, and much laughter. When
the trapper returned to the camp, in such sorry plight, he was greeted
with peals of laughter from his comrades and seemed more mortified by
the style in which he had been dismissed, than rejoiced at escaping with
his life. A circumstance which he related to Captain Bonneville, gave
some insight into the cause of this extreme jocularity on the part
of the Crows. They had evidently had a run of luck, and, like winning
gamblers, were in high good humor. Among twenty-six fine horses, and
some mules, which composed their cavalcade, the trapper recognized a
number which had belonged to Fitzpatrick’s brigade, when they parted
company on the Bighorn. It was supposed, therefore, that these vagabonds
had been on his trail, and robbed him of part of his cavalry.

On the day following this affair, three Crows came into Captain
Bonneville’s camp, with the most easy, innocent, if not impudent air
imaginable; walking about with the imperturbable coolness and unconcern,
in which the Indian rivals the fine gentleman. As they had not been of
the set which stripped the trapper, though evidently of the same band,
they were not molested. Indeed, Captain Bonneville treated them with his
usual kindness and hospitality; permitting them to remain all day in the
camp, and even to pass the night there. At the same time, however, he
caused a strict watch to be maintained on all their movements; and at
night, stationed an armed sentinel near them. The Crows remonstrated
against the latter being armed. This only made the captain suspect
them to be spies, who meditated treachery; he redoubled, therefore, his
precautions. At the same time, he assured his guests, that while they
were perfectly welcome to the shelter and comfort of his camp, yet,
should any of their tribe venture to approach during the night, they
would certainly be shot; which would be a very unfortunate circumstance,
and much to be deplored. To the latter remark, they fully assented; and
shortly afterward commenced a wild song, or chant, which they kept up
for a long time, and in which they very probably gave their friends, who
might be prowling round the camp, notice that the white men were on the
alert. The night passed away without disturbance. In the morning, the
three Crow guests were very pressing that Captain Bonneville and his
party should accompany them to their camp, which they said was close
by. Instead of accepting their invitation, Captain Bonneville took his
departure with all possible dispatch, eager to be out of the vicinity
of such a piratical horde; nor did he relax the diligence of his march,
until, on the second day, he reached the banks of the Sweet Water,
beyond the limits of the Crow country, and a heavy fall of snow had
obliterated all traces of his course.

He now continued on for some few days, at a slower pace, round the point
of the mountain toward Green River, and arrived once more at the caches,
on the 14th of October.

Here they found traces of the band of Indians who had hunted them in the
defile toward the head waters of Wind River. Having lost all trace of
them on their way over the mountains, they had turned and followed back
their trail down the Green River valley to the caches. One of these they
had discovered and broken open, but it fortunately contained nothing but
fragments of old iron, which they had scattered about in all directions,
and then departed. In examining their deserted camp, Captain Bonneville
discovered that it numbered thirty-nine fires, and had more reason than
ever to congratulate himself on having escaped the clutches of such a
formidable band of freebooters.

He now turned his course southward, under cover of the mountains, and on
the 25th of October reached Liberge’s Ford, a tributary of the Colorado,
where he came suddenly upon the trail of this same war party, which
had crossed the stream so recently that the banks were yet wet with the
water that had been splashed upon them. To judge from their tracks, they
could not be less than three hundred warriors, and apparently of the
Crow nation.

Captain Bonneville was extremely uneasy lest this overpowering force
should come upon him in some place where he would not have the means of
fortifying himself promptly. He now moved toward Hane’s Fork, another
tributary of the Colorado, where he encamped, and remained during the
26th of October. Seeing a large cloud of smoke to the south, he supposed
it to arise from some encampment of Shoshonies, and sent scouts to
procure information, and to purchase a lodge. It was, in fact, a band
of Shoshonies, but with them were encamped Fitzpatrick and his party
of trappers. That active leader had an eventful story to relate of
his fortunes in the country of the Crows. After parting with Captain
Bonneville on the banks of the Bighorn, he made for the west, to trap
upon Powder and Tongue Rivers. He had between twenty and thirty men with
him, and about one hundred horses. So large a cavalcade could not
pass through the Crow country without attracting the attention of its
freebooting hordes. A large band of Crows was soon on their traces,
and came up with them on the 5th of September, just as they had reached
Tongue River. The Crow chief came forward with great appearance
of friendship, and proposed to Fitzpatrick that they should encamp
together. The latter, however, not having any faith in Crows, declined
the invitation, and pitched his camp three miles off. He then rode over
with two or three men, to visit the Crow chief, by whom he was received
with great apparent cordiality. In the meantime, however, a party of
young braves, who considered them absolved by his distrust from all
scruples of honor, made a circuit privately, and dashed into his
encampment. Captain Stewart, who had remained there in the absence of
Fitzpatrick, behaved with great spirit; but the Crows were too numerous
and active. They had got possession of the camp, and soon made booty
of every thing--carrying off all the horses. On their way back they met
Fitzpatrick returning to his camp; and finished their exploit by rifling
and nearly stripping him.

A negotiation now took place between the plundered white men and the
triumphant Crows; what eloquence and management Fitzpatrick made use of,
we do not know, but he succeeded in prevailing upon the Crow chieftain
to return him his horses and many of his traps; together with his rifles
and a few rounds of ammunition for each man. He then set out with all
speed to abandon the Crow country, before he should meet with any fresh
disasters.

After his departure, the consciences of some of the most orthodox Crows
pricked them sorely for having suffered such a cavalcade to escape out
of their hands. Anxious to wipe off so foul a stigma on the reputation
of the Crow nation, they followed on his trial, nor quit hovering about
him on his march until they had stolen a number of his best horses and
mules. It was, doubtless, this same band which came upon the lonely
trapper on the Popo Agie, and generously gave him an old buffalo robe in
exchange for his rifle, his traps, and all his accoutrements. With these
anecdotes, we shall, for present, take our leave of the Crow country and
its vagabond chivalry.




28.

     A region of natural curiosities--The plain of white clay--
     Hot springs--The Beer Spring--Departure to seek the free
     trappers--Plain of Portneuf--Lava--Chasms and gullies--
     Bannack Indians--Their hunt of the buffalo--Hunter’s feast--
     Trencher heroes--Bullying of an absent foe--The damp
     comrade--The Indian spy--Meeting with Hodgkiss--His
     adventures--Poordevil Indians--Triumph of the Bannacks--
     Blackfeet policy in war

CROSSING AN ELEVATED RIDGE, Captain Bonneville now came upon Bear
River, which, from its source to its entrance into the Great Salt Lake,
describes the figure of a horse-shoe. One of the principal head waters
of this river, although supposed to abound with beaver, has never
been visited by the trapper; rising among rugged mountains, and being
barricadoed [sic] by fallen pine trees and tremendous precipices.

Proceeding down this river, the party encamped, on the 6th of November,
at the outlet of a lake about thirty miles long, and from two to three
miles in width, completely imbedded in low ranges of mountains, and
connected with Bear River by an impassable swamp. It is called the
Little Lake, to distinguish it from the great one of salt water.

On the 10th of November, Captain Bonneville visited a place in the
neighborhood which is quite a region of natural curiosities. An area
of about half a mile square presents a level surface of white clay or
fuller’s earth, perfectly spotless, resembling a great slab of Parian
marble, or a sheet of dazzling snow. The effect is strikingly beautiful
at all times: in summer, when it is surrounded with verdure, or in
autumn, when it contrasts its bright immaculate surface with the
withered herbage. Seen from a distant eminence, it then shines like
a mirror, set in the brown landscape. Around this plain are clustered
numerous springs of various sizes and temperatures. One of them, of
scalding heat, boils furiously and incessantly, rising to the height of
two or three feet. In another place, there is an aperture in the earth,
from which rushes a column of steam that forms a perpetual cloud. The
ground for some distance around sounds hollow, and startles the solitary
trapper, as he hears the tramp of his horse giving the sound of a
muffled drum. He pictures to himself a mysterious gulf below, a place of
hidden fires, and gazes round him with awe and uneasiness.

The most noted curiosity, however, of this singular region, is the Beer
Spring, of which trappers give wonderful accounts. They are said to turn
aside from their route through the country to drink of its waters, with
as much eagerness as the Arab seeks some famous well of the desert.
Captain Bonneville describes it as having the taste of beer. His men
drank it with avidity, and in copious draughts. It did not appear to him
to possess any medicinal properties, or to produce any peculiar effects.
The Indians, however, refuse to taste it, and endeavor to persuade the
white men from doing so.

We have heard this also called the Soda Spring, and described as
containing iron and sulphur. It probably possesses some of the
properties of the Ballston water.

The time had now arrived for Captain Bonneville to go in quest of the
party of free trappers, detached in the beginning of July, under the
command of Mr. Hodgkiss, to trap upon the head waters of Salmon River.
His intention was to unite them with the party with which he was at
present travelling, that all might go into quarters together for the
winter. Accordingly, on the 11th of November, he took a temporary leave
of his band, appointing a rendezvous on Snake River, and, accompanied by
three men, set out upon his journey. His route lay across the plain
of the Portneuf, a tributary stream of Snake River, called after an
unfortunate Canadian trapper murdered by the Indians. The whole country
through which he passed bore evidence of volcanic convulsions and
conflagrations in the olden time. Great masses of lava lay scattered
about in every direction; the crags and cliffs had apparently been under
the action of fire; the rocks in some places seemed to have been in
a state of fusion; the plain was rent and split with deep chasms and
gullies, some of which were partly filled with lava.

They had not proceeded far, however, before they saw a party of
horsemen, galloping full tilt toward them. They instantly turned, and
made full speed for the covert of a woody stream, to fortify themselves
among the trees. The Indians came to a halt, and one of them came
forward alone. He reached Captain Bonneville and his men just as they
were dismounting and about to post themselves. A few words dispelled all
uneasiness. It was a party of twenty-five Bannack Indians, friendly to
the whites, and they proposed, through their envoy, that both parties
should encamp together, and hunt the buffalo, of which they had
discovered several large herds hard by. Captain Bonneville cheerfully
assented to their proposition, being curious to see their manner of
hunting.

Both parties accordingly encamped together on a convenient spot, and
prepared for the hunt. The Indians first posted a boy on a small hill
near the camp, to keep a look-out for enemies. The “runners,” then,
as they are called, mounted on fleet horses, and armed with bows and
arrows, moved slowly and cautiously toward the buffalo, keeping as much
as possible out of sight, in hollows and ravines. When within a proper
distance, a signal was given, and they all opened at once like a pack
of hounds, with a full chorus of yells, dashing into the midst of the
herds, and launching their arrows to the right and left. The plain
seemed absolutely to shake under the tramp of the buffalo, as they
scoured off. The cows in headlong panic, the bulls furious with rage,
uttering deep roars, and occasionally turning with a desperate rush upon
their pursuers. Nothing could surpass the spirit, grace, and dexterity,
with which the Indians managed their horses; wheeling and coursing among
the affrighted herd, and launching their arrows with unerring aim. In
the midst of the apparent confusion, they selected their victims with
perfect judgment, generally aiming at the fattest of the cows, the flesh
of the bull being nearly worthless, at this season of the year. In a few
minutes, each of the hunters had crippled three or four cows. A single
shot was sufficient for the purpose, and the animal, once maimed, was
left to be completely dispatched at the end of the chase. Frequently, a
cow was killed on the spot by a single arrow. In one instance, Captain
Bonneville saw an Indian shoot his arrow completely through the body of
a cow, so that it struck in the ground beyond. The bulls, however, are
not so easily killed as the cows, and always cost the hunter several
arrows; sometimes making battle upon the horses, and chasing them
furiously, though severely wounded, with the darts still sticking in
their flesh.

The grand scamper of the hunt being over, the Indians proceeded to
dispatch the animals that had been disabled; then cutting up the
carcasses, they returned with loads of meat to the camp, where the
choicest pieces were soon roasting before large fires, and a hunters’
feast succeeded; at which Captain Bonneville and his men were qualified,
by previous fasting, to perform their parts with great vigor.

Some men are said to wax valorous upon a full stomach, and such seemed
to be the case with the Bannack braves, who, in proportion as they
crammed themselves with buffalo meat, grew stout of heart, until, the
supper at an end, they began to chant war songs, setting forth their
mighty deeds, and the victories they had gained over the Blackfeet.
Warming with the theme, and inflating themselves with their own
eulogies, these magnanimous heroes of the trencher would start up,
advance a short distance beyond the light of the fire, and apostrophize
most vehemently their Blackfeet enemies, as though they had been within
hearing. Ruffling, and swelling, and snorting, and slapping their
breasts, and brandishing their arms, they would vociferate all their
exploits; reminding the Blackfeet how they had drenched their towns in
tears and blood; enumerate the blows they had inflicted, the warriors
they had slain, the scalps they had brought off in triumph. Then, having
said everything that could stir a man’s spleen or pique his valor, they
would dare their imaginary hearers, now that the Bannacks were few
in number, to come and take their revenge--receiving no reply to
this valorous bravado, they would conclude by all kinds of sneers and
insults, deriding the Blackfeet for dastards and poltroons, that
dared not accept their challenge. Such is the kind of swaggering and
rhodomontade in which the “red men” are prone to indulge in their
vainglorious moments; for, with all their vaunted taciturnity, they are
vehemently prone at times to become eloquent about their exploits, and
to sound their own trumpet.

Having vented their valor in this fierce effervescence, the Bannack
braves gradually calmed down, lowered their crests, smoothed their
ruffled feathers, and betook themselves to sleep, without placing a
single guard over their camp; so that, had the Blackfeet taken them at
their word, but few of these braggart heroes might have survived for any
further boasting.

On the following morning, Captain Bonneville purchased a supply of
buffalo meat from his braggadocio friends; who, with all their vaporing,
were in fact a very forlorn horde, destitute of firearms, and of
almost everything that constitutes riches in savage life. The bargain
concluded, the Bannacks set off for their village, which was situated,
they said, at the mouth of the Portneuf, and Captain Bonneville and his
companions shaped their course toward Snake River.

Arrived on the banks of that river, he found it rapid and boisterous,
but not too deep to be forded. In traversing it, however, one of the
horses was swept suddenly from his footing, and his rider was flung from
the saddle into the midst of the stream. Both horse and horseman were
extricated without any damage, excepting that the latter was completely
drenched, so that it was necessary to kindle a fire to dry him. While
they were thus occupied, one of the party looking up, perceived
an Indian scout cautiously reconnoitring them from the summit of a
neighboring hill. The moment he found himself discovered, he disappeared
behind the hill. From his furtive movements, Captain Bonneville
suspected him to be a scout from the Blackfeet camp, and that he had
gone to report what he had seen to his companions. It would not do
to loiter in such a neighborhood, so the kindling of the fire was
abandoned, the drenched horseman mounted in dripping condition, and the
little band pushed forward directly into the plain, going at a smart
pace, until they had gained a considerable distance from the place of
supposed danger. Here encamping for the night, in the midst of abundance
of sage, or wormwood, which afforded fodder for their horses, they
kindled a huge fire for the benefit of their damp comrade, and then
proceeded to prepare a sumptuous supper of buffalo humps and ribs, and
other choice bits, which they had brought with them. After a hearty
repast, relished with an appetite unknown to city epicures, they
stretched themselves upon their couches of skins, and under the starry
canopy of heaven, enjoyed the sound and sweet sleep of hardy and
well-fed mountaineers.

They continued on their journey for several days, without any incident
worthy of notice, and on the 19th of November, came upon traces of the
party of which they were in search; such as burned patches of prairie,
and deserted camping grounds. All these were carefully examined, to
discover by their freshness or antiquity the probable time that
the trappers had left them; at length, after much wandering and
investigating, they came upon the regular trail of the hunting party,
which led into the mountains, and following it up briskly, came about
two o’clock in the afternoon of the 20th, upon the encampment of
Hodgkiss and his band of free trappers, in the bosom of a mountain
valley.

It will be recollected that these free trappers, who were masters
of themselves and their movements, had refused to accompany Captain
Bonneville back to Green River in the preceding month of July,
preferring to trap about the upper waters of the Salmon River,
where they expected to find plenty of beaver, and a less dangerous
neighborhood. Their hunt had not been very successful. They had
penetrated the great range of mountains among which some of the upper
branches of Salmon River take their rise, but had become so entangled
among immense and almost impassable barricades of fallen pines, and so
impeded by tremendous precipices, that a great part of their season had
been wasted among these mountains. At one time, they had made their way
through them, and reached the Boisee River; but meeting with a band of
Bannack Indians, from whom they apprehended hostilities, they had again
taken shelter among the mountains, where they were found by Captain
Bonneville. In the neighborhood of their encampment, the captain had the
good fortune to meet with a family of those wanderers of the mountains,
emphatically called “les dignes de pitie,” or Poordevil Indians. These,
however, appear to have forfeited the title, for they had with them
a fine lot of skins of beaver, elk, deer, and mountain sheep. These,
Captain Bonneville purchased from them at a fair valuation, and sent
them off astonished at their own wealth, and no doubt objects of envy to
all their pitiful tribe.

Being now reinforced by Hodgkiss and his band of free trappers, Captain
Bonneville put himself at the head of the united parties, and set out
to rejoin those he had recently left at the Beer Spring, that they might
all go into winter quarters on Snake River. On his route, he encountered
many heavy falls of snow, which melted almost immediately, so as not to
impede his march, and on the 4th of December, he found his other party,
encamped at the very place where he had partaken in the buffalo hunt
with the Bannacks.

That braggart horde was encamped but about three miles off, and were
just then in high glee and festivity, and more swaggering than ever,
celebrating a prodigious victory. It appeared that a party of their
braves being out on a hunting excursion, discovered a band of Blackfeet
moving, as they thought, to surprise their hunting camp. The Bannacks
immediately posted themselves on each side of a dark ravine, through
which the enemy must pass, and, just as they were entangled in the midst
of it, attacked them with great fury. The Blackfeet, struck with sudden
panic, threw off their buffalo robes and fled, leaving one of their
warriors dead on the spot. The victors eagerly gathered up the spoils;
but their greatest prize was the scalp of the Blackfoot brave. This they
bore off in triumph to their village, where it had ever since been an
object of the greatest exultation and rejoicing. It had been elevated
upon a pole in the centre of the village, where the warriors had
celebrated the scalp dance round it, with war feasts, war songs, and
warlike harangues. It had then been given up to the women and boys; who
had paraded it up and down the village with shouts and chants and antic
dances; occasionally saluting it with all kinds of taunts, invectives,
and revilings.

The Blackfeet, in this affair, do not appear to have acted up to the
character which has rendered them objects of such terror. Indeed,
their conduct in war, to the inexperienced observer, is full of
inconsistencies; at one time they are headlong in courage, and heedless
of danger; at another time cautious almost to cowardice. To understand
these apparent incongruities, one must know their principles of warfare.
A war party, however triumphant, if they lose a warrior in the fight,
bring back a cause of mourning to their people, which casts a shade over
the glory of their achievement. Hence, the Indian is often less fierce
and reckless in general battle, than he is in a private brawl; and
the chiefs are checked in their boldest undertakings by the fear of
sacrificing their warriors.

This peculiarity is not confined to the Blackfeet. Among the Osages,
says Captain Bonneville, when a warrior falls in battle, his comrades,
though they may have fought with consummate valor, and won a glorious
victory, will leave their arms upon the field of battle, and returning
home with dejected countenances, will halt without the encampment, and
wait until the relatives of the slain come forth and invite them to
mingle again with their people.




29.

     Winter camp at the Portneuf--Fine springs--The Bannack
     Indians--Their honesty--Captain--Bonneville prepares for an
     expedition--Christmas--The American--Falls--Wild scenery--
     Fishing Falls--Snake Indians--Scenery on the Bruneau--View
     of volcanic country from a mountain--Powder River--
     Shoshokoes, or Root Diggers--Their character, habits,
     habitations, dogs--Vanity at its last shift

IN ESTABLISHING his winter camp near the Portneuf, Captain Bonneville
had drawn off to some little distance from his Bannack friends, to avoid
all annoyance from their intimacy or intrusions. In so doing, however,
he had been obliged to take up his quarters on the extreme edge of the
flat land, where he was encompassed with ice and snow, and had nothing
better for his horses to subsist on than wormwood. The Bannacks, on the
contrary, were encamped among fine springs of water, where there was
grass in abundance. Some of these springs gush out of the earth in
sufficient quantity to turn a mill; and furnish beautiful streams, clear
as crystal, and full of trout of a large size, which may be seen darting
about the transparent water.

Winter now set in regularly. The snow had fallen frequently, and in
large quantities, and covered the ground to a depth of a foot; and the
continued coldness of the weather prevented any thaw.

By degrees, a distrust which at first subsisted between the Indians and
the trappers, subsided, and gave way to mutual confidence and good
will. A few presents convinced the chiefs that the white men were their
friends; nor were the white men wanting in proofs of the honesty and
good faith of their savage neighbors. Occasionally, the deep snow and
the want of fodder obliged them to turn their weakest horses out to roam
in quest of sustenance. If they at any time strayed to the camp of the
Bannacks, they were immediately brought back. It must be confessed,
however, that if the stray horse happened, by any chance, to be in
vigorous plight and good condition, though he was equally sure to be
returned by the honest Bannacks, yet it was always after the lapse of
several days, and in a very gaunt and jaded state; and always with the
remark that they had found him a long way off. The uncharitable were apt
to surmise that he had, in the interim, been well used up in a
buffalo hunt; but those accustomed to Indian morality in the matter of
horseflesh, considered it a singular evidence of honesty that he should
be brought back at all.

Being convinced, therefore, from these, and other circumstances, that
his people were encamped in the neighborhood of a tribe as honest as
they were valiant, and satisfied that they would pass their winter
unmolested, Captain Bonneville prepared for a reconnoitring expedition
of great extent and peril. This was, to penetrate to the Hudson’s
Bay establishments on the banks of the Columbia, and to make himself
acquainted with the country and the Indian tribes; it being one part of
his scheme to establish a trading post somewhere on the lower part of
the river, so as to participate in the trade lost to the United States
by the capture of Astoria. This expedition would, of course, take him
through the Snake River country, and across the Blue Mountains, the
scenes of so much hardship and disaster to Hunt and Crooks, and their
Astorian bands, who first explored it, and he would have to pass through
it in the same frightful season, the depth of winter.

The idea of risk and hardship, however, only served to stimulate the
adventurous spirit of the captain. He chose three companions for his
journey, put up a small stock of necessaries in the most portable form,
and selected five horses and mules for themselves and their baggage. He
proposed to rejoin his band in the early part of March, at the winter
encampment near the Portneuf. All these arrangements being completed,
he mounted his horse on Christmas morning, and set off with his three
comrades. They halted a little beyond the Bannack camp, and made their
Christmas dinner, which, if not a very merry, was a very hearty one,
after which they resumed their journey.

They were obliged to travel slowly, to spare their horses; for the snow
had increased in depth to eighteen inches; and though somewhat packed
and frozen, was not sufficiently so to yield firm footing. Their route
lay to the west, down along the left side of Snake River; and they were
several days in reaching the first, or American Falls. The banks of the
river, for a considerable distance, both above and below the falls,
have a volcanic character: masses of basaltic rock are piled one upon
another; the water makes its way through their broken chasms, boiling
through narrow channels, or pitching in beautiful cascades over ridges
of basaltic columns.

Beyond these falls, they came to a picturesque, but inconsiderable
stream, called the Cassie. It runs through a level valley, about four
miles wide, where the soil is good; but the prevalent coldness and
dryness of the climate is unfavorable to vegetation. Near to this stream
there is a small mountain of mica slate, including garnets. Granite,
in small blocks, is likewise seen in this neighborhood, and white
sandstone. From this river, the travellers had a prospect of the snowy
heights of the Salmon River Mountains to the north; the nearest, at
least fifty miles distant.

In pursuing his course westward, Captain Bonneville generally kept
several miles from Snake River, crossing the heads of its tributary
streams; though he often found the open country so encumbered by
volcanic rocks, as to render travelling extremely difficult. Whenever he
approached Snake River, he found it running through a broad chasm, with
steep, perpendicular sides of basaltic rock. After several days’ travel
across a level plain, he came to a part of the river which filled him
with astonishment and admiration. As far as the eye could reach, the
river was walled in by perpendicular cliffs two hundred and fifty
feet high, beetling like dark and gloomy battlements, while blocks and
fragments lay in masses at their feet, in the midst of the boiling and
whirling current. Just above, the whole stream pitched in one cascade
above forty feet in height, with a thundering sound, casting up a volume
of spray that hung in the air like a silver mist. These are called
by some the Fishing Falls, as the salmon are taken here in immense
quantities. They cannot get by these falls.

After encamping at this place all night, Captain Bonneville, at sunrise,
descended with his party through a narrow ravine, or rather crevice, in
the vast wall of basaltic rock which bordered the river; this being the
only mode, for many miles, of getting to the margin of the stream.

The snow lay in a thin crust along the banks of the river, so that their
travelling was much more easy than it had been hitherto. There were
foot tracks, also, made by the natives, which greatly facilitated their
progress. Occasionally, they met the inhabitants of this wild region;
a timid race, and but scantily provided with the necessaries of life.
Their dress consisted of a mantle about four feet square, formed
of strips of rabbit skins sewed together; this they hung over their
shoulders, in the ordinary Indian mode of wearing the blanket. Their
weapons were bows and arrows; the latter tipped with obsidian, which
abounds in the neighborhood. Their huts were shaped like haystacks, and
constructed of branches of willow covered with long grass, so as to
be warm and comfortable. Occasionally, they were surrounded by small
inclosures of wormwood, about three feet high, which gave them
a cottage-like appearance. Three or four of these tenements were
occasionally grouped together in some wild and striking situation, and
had a picturesque effect. Sometimes they were in sufficient number
to form a small hamlet. From these people, Captain Bonneville’s party
frequently purchased salmon, dried in an admirable manner, as were
likewise the roes. This seemed to be their prime article of food; but
they were extremely anxious to get buffalo meat in exchange.

The high walls and rocks, within which the travellers had been so long
inclosed, now occasionally presented openings, through which they were
enabled to ascend to the plain, and to cut off considerable bends of the
river.

Throughout the whole extent of this vast and singular chasm, the scenery
of the river is said to be of the most wild and romantic character.
The rocks present every variety of masses and grouping. Numerous small
streams come rushing and boiling through narrow clefts and ravines:
one of a considerable size issued from the face of a precipice, within
twenty-five feet of its summit; and after running in nearly a horizontal
line for about one hundred feet, fell, by numerous small cascades, to
the rocky bank of the river.

In its career through this vast and singular defile, Snake River is
upward of three hundred yards wide, and as clear as spring water.
Sometimes it steals along with a tranquil and noiseless course; at other
times, for miles and miles, it dashes on in a thousand rapids, wild
and beautiful to the eye, and lulling the ear with the soft tumult of
plashing waters.

Many of the tributary streams of Snake River, rival it in the wildness
and picturesqueness of their scenery. That called the Bruneau; is
particularly cited. It runs through a tremendous chasm, rather than a
valley, extending upwards of a hundred and fifty miles. You come upon it
on a sudden, in traversing a level plain. It seems as if you could throw
a stone across from cliff to cliff; yet, the valley is near two thousand
feet deep: so that the river looks like an inconsiderable stream.
Basaltic rocks rise perpendicularly, so that it is impossible to get
from the plain to the water, or from the river margin to the plain. The
current is bright and limpid. Hot springs are found on the borders of
this river. One bursts out of the cliffs forty feet above the river, in
a stream sufficient to turn a mill, and sends up a cloud of vapor.

We find a characteristic picture of this volcanic region of mountains
and streams, furnished by the journal of Mr. Wyeth, which lies before
us; who ascended a peak in the neighborhood we are describing. From this
summit, the country, he says, appears an indescribable chaos; the tops
of the hills exhibit the same strata as far as the eye can reach; and
appear to have once formed the level of the country; and the valleys
to be formed by the sinking of the earth, rather than the rising of the
hills. Through the deep cracks and chasms thus formed, the rivers and
brooks make their way, which renders it difficult to follow them. All
these basaltic channels are called cut rocks by the trappers. Many of
the mountain streams disappear in the plains; either absorbed by their
thirsty soil, and by the porous surface of the lava, or swallowed up in
gulfs and chasms.

On the 12th of January (1834), Captain Bonneville reached Powder River;
much the largest stream that he had seen since leaving the Portneuf. He
struck it about three miles above its entrance into Snake River. Here he
found himself above the lower narrows and defiles of the latter river,
and in an open and level country. The natives now made their appearance
in considerable numbers, and evinced the most insatiable curiosity
respecting the white men; sitting in groups for hours together, exposed
to the bleakest winds, merely for the pleasure of gazing upon the
strangers, and watching every movement. These are of that branch of
the great Snake tribe called Shoshokoes, or Root Diggers, from their
subsisting, in a great measure, on the roots of the earth; though they
likewise take fish in great quantities, and hunt, in a small way. They
are, in general, very poor; destitute of most of the comforts of life,
and extremely indolent: but a mild, inoffensive race. They differ, in
many respects, from the other branch of the Snake tribe, the Shoshonies;
who possess horses, are more roving and adventurous, and hunt the
buffalo.

On the following day, as Captain Bonneville approached the mouth
of Powder River, he discovered at least a hundred families of these
Diggers, as they are familiarly called, assembled in one place. The
women and children kept at a distance, perched among the rocks and
cliffs; their eager curiosity being somewhat dashed with fear. From
their elevated posts, they scrutinized the strangers with the most
intense earnestness; regarding them with almost as much awe as if they
had been beings of a supernatural order.

The men, however, were by no means so shy and reserved; but importuned
Captain Bonneville and his companions excessively by their curiosity.
Nothing escaped their notice; and any thing they could lay their hands
on underwent the most minute examination. To get rid of such inquisitive
neighbors, the travellers kept on for a considerable distance, before
they encamped for the night.

The country, hereabout, was generally level and sandy; producing very
little grass, but a considerable quantity of sage or wormwood. The
plains were diversified by isolated hills, all cut off, as it were,
about the same height, so as to have tabular summits. In this they
resembled the isolated hills of the great prairies, east of the Rocky
Mountains; especially those found on the plains of the Arkansas.

The high precipices which had hitherto walled in the channel of Snake
River had now disappeared; and the banks were of the ordinary height. It
should be observed, that the great valleys or plains, through which the
Snake River wound its course, were generally of great breadth, extending
on each side from thirty to forty miles; where the view was bounded by
unbroken ridges of mountains.

The travellers found but little snow in the neighborhood of Powder
River, though the weather continued intensely cold. They learned a
lesson, however, from their forlorn friends, the Root Diggers, which
they subsequently found of great service in their wintry wanderings.
They frequently observed them to be furnished with long ropes, twisted
from the bark of the wormwood. This they used as a slow match, carrying
it always lighted. Whenever they wished to warm themselves, they would
gather together a little dry wormwood, apply the match, and in an
instant produce a cheering blaze.

Captain Bonneville gives a cheerless account of a village of these
Diggers, which he saw in crossing the plain below Powder River. “They
live,” says he, “without any further protection from the inclemency
of the season, than a sort of break-weather, about three feet high,
composed of sage (or wormwood), and erected around them in the shape
of a half moon.” Whenever he met with them, however, they had always a
large suite of half-starved dogs: for these animals, in savage as well
as in civilized life, seem to be the concomitants of beggary.

These dogs, it must be allowed, were of more use than the beggary curs
of cities. The Indian children used them in hunting the small game of
the neighborhood, such as rabbits and prairie dogs; in which mongrel
kind of chase they acquitted themselves with some credit.

Sometimes the Diggers aspire to nobler game, and succeed in entrapping
the antelope, the fleetest animal of the prairies. The process by which
this is effected is somewhat singular. When the snow has disappeared,
says Captain Bonneville, and the ground become soft, the women go into
the thickest fields of wormwood, and pulling it up in great quantities,
construct with it a hedge, about three feet high, inclosing about a
hundred acres. A single opening is left for the admission of the game.
This done, the women conceal themselves behind the wormwood, and wait
patiently for the coming of the antelopes; which sometimes enter this
spacious trap in considerable numbers. As soon as they are in, the women
give the signal, and the men hasten to play their part. But one of them
enters the pen at a time; and, after chasing the terrified animals round
the inclosure, is relieved by one of his companions. In this way
the hunters take their turns, relieving each other, and keeping up a
continued pursuit by relays, without fatigue to themselves. The poor
antelopes, in the end, are so wearied down, that the whole party of men
enter and dispatch them with clubs; not one escaping that has entered
the inclosure. The most curious circumstance in this chase is, that an
animal so fleet and agile as the antelope, and straining for its life,
should range round and round this fated inclosure, without attempting to
overleap the low barrier which surrounds it. Such, however, is said to
be the fact; and such their only mode of hunting the antelope.

Notwithstanding the absence of all comfort and convenience in their
habitations, and the general squalidness of their appearance, the
Shoshokoes do not appear to be destitute of ingenuity. They manufacture
good ropes, and even a tolerably fine thread, from a sort of weed found
in their neighborhood; and construct bowls and jugs out of a kind of
basket-work formed from small strips of wood plaited: these, by the aid
of a little wax, they render perfectly water tight. Beside the roots on
which they mainly depend for subsistence, they collect great quantities
of seed, of various kinds, beaten with one hand out of the tops of the
plants into wooden bowls held for that purpose. The seed thus collected
is winnowed and parched, and ground between two stones into a kind of
meal or flour; which, when mixed with water, forms a very palatable
paste or gruel.

Some of these people, more provident and industrious than the rest, lay
up a stock of dried salmon, and other fish, for winter: with these, they
were ready to traffic with the travellers for any objects of utility in
Indian life; giving a large quantity in exchange for an awl, a knife,
or a fish-hook. Others were in the most abject state of want and
starvation; and would even gather up the fish-bones which the travellers
threw away after a repast, warm them over again at the fire, and pick
them with the greatest avidity.

The farther Captain Bonneville advanced into the country of these
Root Diggers, the more evidence he perceived of their rude and forlorn
condition. “They were destitute,” says he, “of the necessary covering
to protect them from the weather; and seemed to be in the most
unsophisticated ignorance of any other propriety or advantage in the
use of clothing. One old dame had absolutely nothing on her person but a
thread round her neck, from which was pendant a solitary bead.”

What stage of human destitution, however, is too destitute for vanity!
Though these naked and forlorn-looking beings had neither toilet to
arrange, nor beauty to contemplate, their greatest passion was for a
mirror. It was a “great medicine,” in their eyes. The sight of one was
sufficient, at any time, to throw them into a paroxysm of eagerness and
delight; and they were ready to give anything they had for the smallest
fragment in which they might behold their squalid features. With this
simple instance of vanity, in its primitive but vigorous state, we shall
close our remarks on the Root Diggers.




30.

     Temperature of the climate--Root Diggers on horseback--An
     Indian guide--Mountain prospects--The Grand Rond--
     Difficulties on Snake River--A scramble over the Blue
     Mountains--Sufferings from hunger--Prospect of the Immahah
     Valley--The exhausted traveller

THE TEMPERATURE of the regions west of the Rocky Mountains is much
milder than in the same latitudes on the Atlantic side; the upper
plains, however, which lie at a distance from the sea-coast, are
subject in winter to considerable vicissitude; being traversed by lofty
“sierras,” crowned with perpetual snow, which often produce flaws and
streaks of intense cold This was experienced by Captain Bonneville and
his companions in their progress westward. At the time when they left
the Bannacks Snake River was frozen hard: as they proceeded, the ice
became broken and floating; it gradually disappeared, and the weather
became warm and pleasant, as they approached a tributary stream called
the Little Wyer; and the soil, which was generally of a watery clay,
with occasional intervals of sand, was soft to the tread of the horses.
After a time, however, the mountains approached and flanked the
river; the snow lay deep in the valleys, and the current was once more
icebound.

Here they were visited by a party of Root Diggers, who were apparently
rising in the world, for they had “horse to ride and weapon to wear,”
 and were altogether better clad and equipped than any of the tribe that
Captain Bonneville had met with. They were just from the plain of Boisee
River, where they had left a number of their tribe, all as well provided
as themselves; having guns, horses, and comfortable clothing. All these
they obtained from the Lower Nez Perces, with whom they were in habits
[sic] of frequent traffic. They appeared to have imbibed from that
tribe their non-combative principles, being mild and inoffensive in their
manners. Like them, also, they had something of religious feelings;
for Captain Bonneville observed that, before eating, they washed their
hands, and made a short prayer; which he understood was their invariable
custom. From these Indians, he obtained a considerable supply of fish,
and an excellent and well-conditioned horse, to replace one which had
become too weak for the journey.

The travellers now moved forward with renovated spirits; the snow, it
is true, lay deeper and deeper as they advanced, but they trudged on
merrily, considering themselves well provided for the journey, which
could not be of much longer duration.

They had intended to proceed up the banks of Gun Creek, a stream which
flows into Snake River from the west; but were assured by the natives
that the route in that direction was impracticable. The latter advised
them to keep along Snake River, where they would not be impeded by the
snow. Taking one of the Diggers for a guide, they set off along the
river, and to their joy soon found the country free from snow, as
had been predicted, so that their horses once more had the benefit of
tolerable pasturage. Their Digger proved an excellent guide, trudging
cheerily in the advance. He made an unsuccessful shot or two at a deer
and a beaver; but at night found a rabbit hole, whence he extracted
the occupant, upon which, with the addition of a fish given him by the
travellers, he made a hearty supper, and retired to rest, filled with
good cheer and good humor.

The next day the travellers came to where the hills closed upon the
river, leaving here and there intervals of undulating meadow land. The
river was sheeted with ice, broken into hills at long intervals. The
Digger kept on ahead of the party, crossing and recrossing the river
in pursuit of game, until, unluckily, encountering a brother Digger, he
stole off with him, without the ceremony of leave-taking.

Being now left to themselves, they proceeded until they came to some
Indian huts, the inhabitants of which spoke a language totally different
from any they had yet heard. One, however, understood the Nez Perce
language, and through him they made inquiries as to their route. These
Indians were extremely kind and honest, and furnished them with a small
quantity of meat; but none of them could be induced to act as guides.

Immediately in the route of the travellers lay a high mountain, which
they ascended with some difficulty. The prospect from the summit was
grand but disheartening. Directly before them towered the loftiest peaks
of Immahah, rising far higher than the elevated ground on which they
stood: on the other hand, they were enabled to scan the course of the
river, dashing along through deep chasms, between rocks and precipices,
until lost in a distant wilderness of mountains, which closed the savage
landscape.

They remained for a long time contemplating, with perplexed and anxious
eye, this wild congregation of mountain barriers, and seeking to
discover some practicable passage. The approach of evening obliged them
to give up the task, and to seek some camping ground for the night.
Moving briskly forward, and plunging and tossing through a succession of
deep snow-drifts, they at length reached a valley known among trappers
as the “Grand Rond,” which they found entirely free from snow.

This is a beautiful and very fertile valley, about twenty miles long and
five or six broad; a bright cold stream called the Fourche de Glace,
or Ice River, runs through it. Its sheltered situation, embosomed in
mountains, renders it good pasturaging ground in the winter time; when
the elk come down to it in great numbers, driven out of the mountains by
the snow. The Indians then resort to it to hunt. They likewise come
to it in the summer time to dig the camash root, of which it produces
immense quantities. When this plant is in blossom, the whole valley is
tinted by its blue flowers, and looks like the ocean when overcast by a
cloud.

After passing a night in this valley, the travellers in the morning
scaled the neighboring hills, to look out for a more eligible route
than that upon which they had unluckily fallen; and, after much
reconnoitring, determined to make their way once more to the river, and
to travel upon the ice when the banks should prove impassable.

On the second day after this determination, they were again upon Snake
River, but, contrary to their expectations, it was nearly free from ice.
A narrow riband ran along the shore, and sometimes there was a kind of
bridge across the stream, formed of old ice and snow. For a short time,
they jogged along the bank, with tolerable facility, but at length
came to where the river forced its way into the heart of the
mountains, winding between tremendous walls of basaltic rock, that rose
perpendicularly from the water’s edge, frowning in bleak and gloomy
grandeur. Here difficulties of all kinds beset their path. The snow was
from two to three feet deep, but soft and yielding, so that the horses
had no foothold, but kept plunging forward, straining themselves by
perpetual efforts. Sometimes the crags and promontories forced them upon
the narrow riband of ice that bordered the shore; sometimes they had to
scramble over vast masses of rock which had tumbled from the impending
precipices; sometimes they had to cross the stream upon the hazardous
bridges of ice and snow, sinking to the knee at every step; sometimes
they had to scale slippery acclivities, and to pass along narrow
cornices, glazed with ice and sleet, a shouldering wall of rock on one
side, a yawning precipice on the other, where a single false step would
have been fatal. In a lower and less dangerous pass, two of their horses
actually fell into the river; one was saved with much difficulty, but
the boldness of the shore prevented their rescuing the other, and he was
swept away by the rapid current.

In this way they struggled forward, manfully braving difficulties and
dangers, until they came to where the bed of the river was narrowed to
a mere chasm, with perpendicular walls of rock that defied all further
progress. Turning their faces now to the mountain, they endeavored to
cross directly over it; but, after clambering nearly to the summit,
found their path closed by insurmountable barriers.

Nothing now remained but to retrace their steps. To descend a cragged
mountain, however, was more difficult and dangerous than to ascend it.
They had to lower themselves cautiously and slowly, from steep to steep;
and, while they managed with difficulty to maintain their own footing,
to aid their horses by holding on firmly to the rope halters, as
the poor animals stumbled among slippery rocks, or slid down icy
declivities. Thus, after a day of intense cold, and severe and incessant
toil, amidst the wildest of scenery, they managed, about nightfall, to
reach the camping ground, from which they had started in the morning,
and for the first time in the course of their rugged and perilous
expedition, felt their hearts quailing under their multiplied hardships.

A hearty supper, a tranquillizing pipe, and a sound night’s sleep, put
them all in better mood, and in the morning they held a consultation as
to their future movements. About four miles behind, they had remarked
a small ridge of mountains approaching closely to the river. It was
determined to scale this ridge, and seek a passage into the valley which
must lie beyond. Should they fail in this, but one alternative remained.
To kill their horses, dry the flesh for provisions, make boats of
the hides, and, in these, commit themselves to the stream--a measure
hazardous in the extreme.

A short march brought them to the foot of the mountain, but its steep
and cragged sides almost discouraged hope. The only chance of scaling
it was by broken masses of rock, piled one upon another, which formed
a succession of crags, reaching nearly to the summit. Up these they
wrought their way with indescribable difficulty and peril, in a zigzag
course, climbing from rock to rock, and helping their horses up after
them; which scrambled among the crags like mountain goats; now and then
dislodging some huge stone, which, the moment they had left it, would
roll down the mountain, crashing and rebounding with terrific din. It
was some time after dark before they reached a kind of platform on the
summit of the mountain, where they could venture to encamp. The winds,
which swept this naked height, had whirled all the snow into the valley
beneath, so that the horses found tolerable winter pasturage on the
dry grass which remained exposed. The travellers, though hungry in the
extreme, were fain to make a very frugal supper; for they saw their
journey was likely to be prolonged much beyond the anticipated term.

In fact, on the following day they discerned that, although already at
a great elevation, they were only as yet upon the shoulder of the
mountain. It proved to be a great sierra, or ridge, of immense height,
running parallel to the course of the river, swelling by degrees to
lofty peaks, but the outline gashed by deep and precipitous ravines.
This, in fact, was a part of the chain of Blue Mountains, in which the
first adventurers to Astoria experienced such hardships.

We will not pretend to accompany the travellers step by step in this
tremendous mountain scramble, into which they had unconsciously betrayed
themselves. Day after day did their toil continue; peak after peak had
they to traverse, struggling with difficulties and hardships known only
to the mountain trapper. As their course lay north, they had to ascend
the southern faces of the heights, where the sun had melted the snow,
so as to render the ascent wet and slippery, and to keep both men and
horses continually on the strain; while on the northern sides, the snow
lay in such heavy masses, that it was necessary to beat a track down
which the horses might be led. Every now and then, also, their way was
impeded by tall and numerous pines, some of which had fallen, and lay in
every direction.

In the midst of these toils and hardships, their provisions gave out.
For three days they were without food, and so reduced that they could
scarcely drag themselves along. At length one of the mules, being about
to give out from fatigue and famine, they hastened to dispatch him.
Husbanding this miserable supply, they dried the flesh, and for three
days subsisted upon the nutriment extracted from the bones. As to the
meat, it was packed and preserved as long as they could do without it,
not knowing how long they might remain bewildered in these desolate
regions.

One of the men was now dispatched ahead, to reconnoitre the country, and
to discover, if possible, some more practicable route. In the meantime,
the rest of the party moved on slowly. After a lapse of three days, the
scout rejoined them. He informed them that Snake River ran immediately
below the sierra or mountainous ridge, upon which they were travelling;
that it was free from precipices, and was at no great distance from them
in a direct line; but that it would be impossible for them to reach it
without making a weary circuit. Their only course would be to cross the
mountain ridge to the left.

Up this mountain, therefore, the weary travellers directed their steps;
and the ascent, in their present weak and exhausted state, was one of
the severest parts of this most painful journey. For two days were they
toiling slowly from cliff to cliff, beating at every step a path through
the snow for their faltering horses. At length they reached the summit,
where the snow was blown off; but in descending on the opposite side,
they were often plunging through deep drifts, piled in the hollows and
ravines.

Their provisions were now exhausted, and they and their horses almost
ready to give out with fatigue and hunger; when one afternoon, just as
the sun was sinking behind a blue line of distant mountain, they came
to the brow of a height from which they beheld the smooth valley of the
Immahah stretched out in smiling verdure below them.

The sight inspired almost a frenzy of delight. Roused to new ardor,
they forgot, for a time, their fatigues, and hurried down the mountain,
dragging their jaded horses after them, and sometimes compelling them
to slide a distance of thirty or forty feet at a time. At length they
reached the banks of the Immahah. The young grass was just beginning to
sprout, and the whole valley wore an aspect of softness, verdure, and
repose, heightened by the contrast of the frightful region from which
they had just descended. To add to their joy, they observed Indian
trails along the margin of the stream, and other signs, which gave them
reason to believe that there was an encampment of the Lower Nez Perces
in the neighborhood, as it was within the accustomed range of that
pacific and hospitable tribe.

The prospect of a supply of food stimulated them to new exertion, and
they continued on as fast as the enfeebled state of themselves and their
steeds would permit. At length, one of the men, more exhausted than the
rest, threw himself upon the grass, and declared he could go no further.
It was in vain to attempt to rouse him; his spirit had given out, and
his replies only showed the dogged apathy of despair. His companions,
therefore, encamped on the spot, kindled a blazing fire, and searched
about for roots with which to strengthen and revive him. They all then
made a starveling repast; but gathering round the fire, talked over past
dangers and troubles, soothed themselves with the persuasion that all
were now at an end, and went to sleep with the comforting hope that the
morrow would bring them into plentiful quarters.




31.

     Progress in the valley--An Indian cavalier--The captain
     falls into a lethargy--A Nez-Perce patriarch--Hospitable
     treatment--The bald head--Bargaining--Value of an old plaid
     cloak--The family horse--The cost of an Indian present

A TRANQUIL NIGHT’S REST had sufficiently restored the broken down
traveller to enable him to resume his wayfaring, and all hands set
forward on the Indian trail. With all their eagerness to arrive within
reach of succor, such was their feeble and emaciated condition, that
they advanced but slowly. Nor is it a matter of surprise that they
should almost have lost heart, as well as strength. It was now (the 16th
of February) fifty-three days that they had been travelling in the midst
of winter, exposed to all kinds of privations and hardships: and for
the last twenty days, they had been entangled in the wild and desolate
labyrinths of the snowy mountains; climbing and descending icy
precipices, and nearly starved with cold and hunger.

All the morning they continued following the Indian trail, without
seeing a human being, and were beginning to be discouraged, when, about
noon, they discovered a horseman at a distance. He was coming directly
toward them; but on discovering them, suddenly reined up his steed,
came to a halt, and, after reconnoitring them for a time with great
earnestness, seemed about to make a cautious retreat. They eagerly made
signs of peace, and endeavored, with the utmost anxiety, to induce him
to approach. He remained for some time in doubt; but at length, having
satisfied himself that they were not enemies, came galloping up to them.
He was a fine, haughty-looking savage, fancifully decorated, and mounted
on a high-mettled steed, with gaudy trappings and equipments. It was
evident that he was a warrior of some consequence among his tribe.
His whole deportment had something in it of barbaric dignity; he felt,
perhaps, his temporary superiority in personal array, and in the spirit
of his steed, to the poor, ragged, travel-worn trappers and their
half-starved horses. Approaching them with an air of protection, he gave
them his hand, and, in the Nez Perce language, invited them to his camp,
which was only a few miles distant; where he had plenty to eat, and
plenty of horses, and would cheerfully share his good things with them.

His hospitable invitation was joyfully accepted: he lingered but a
moment, to give directions by which they might find his camp, and then,
wheeling round, and giving the reins to his mettlesome steed, was soon
out of sight. The travellers followed, with gladdened hearts, but at a
snail’s pace; for their poor horses could scarcely drag one leg after
the other. Captain Bonneville, however, experienced a sudden and
singular change of feeling. Hitherto, the necessity of conducting his
party, and of providing against every emergency, had kept his mind upon
the stretch, and his whole system braced and excited. In no one instance
had he flagged in spirit, or felt disposed to succumb. Now, however,
that all danger was over, and the march of a few miles would bring them
to repose and abundance, his energies suddenly deserted him; and every
faculty, mental and physical, was totally relaxed. He had not proceeded
two miles from the point where he had had the interview with the Nez
Perce chief, when he threw himself upon the earth, without the power
or will to move a muscle, or exert a thought, and sank almost instantly
into a profound and dreamless sleep. His companions again came to a
halt, and encamped beside him, and there they passed the night.

The next morning, Captain Bonneville awakened from his long and heavy
sleep, much refreshed; and they all resumed their creeping progress.
They had not long been on the march, when eight or ten of the Nez Perce
tribe came galloping to meet them, leading fresh horses to bear them
to their camp. Thus gallantly mounted, they felt new life infused into
their languid frames, and dashing forward, were soon at the lodges of
the Nez Perces. Here they found about twelve families living together,
under the patriarchal sway of an ancient and venerable chief. He
received them with the hospitality of the golden age, and with something
of the same kind of fare; for, while he opened his arms to make them
welcome, the only repast he set before them consisted of roots. They
could have wished for something more hearty and substantial; but, for
want of better, made a voracious meal on these humble viands. The repast
being over, the best pipe was lighted and sent round: and this was a
most welcome luxury, having lost their smoking apparatus twelve days
before, among the mountains.

While they were thus enjoying themselves, their poor horses were led to
the best pastures in the neighborhood, where they were turned loose to
revel on the fresh sprouting grass; so that they had better fare than
their masters.

Captain Bonneville soon felt himself quite at home among these quiet,
inoffensive people. His long residence among their cousins, the Upper
Nez Perces, had made him conversant with their language, modes of
expression, and all their habitudes. He soon found, too, that he
was well known among them, by report, at least, from the constant
interchange of visits and messages between the two branches of the
tribe. They at first addressed him by his name; giving him his title of
captain, with a French accent: but they soon gave him a title of their
own; which, as usual with Indian titles, had a peculiar signification.
In the case of the captain, it had somewhat of a whimsical origin.

As he sat chatting and smoking in the midst of them, he would
occasionally take off his cap. Whenever he did so, there was a sensation
in the surrounding circle. The Indians would half rise from their
recumbent posture, and gaze upon his uncovered head, with their usual
exclamation of astonishment. The worthy captain was completely bald; a
phenomenon very surprising in their eyes. They were at a loss to know
whether he had been scalped in battle, or enjoyed a natural immunity
from that belligerent infliction. In a little while, he became
known among them by an Indian name, signifying “the bald chief.” “A
sobriquet,” observes the captain, “for which I can find no parallel in
history since the days of ‘Charles the Bald.’”

Although the travellers had banqueted on roots, and been regaled
with tobacco smoke, yet their stomachs craved more generous fare. In
approaching the lodges of the Nez Perces, they had indulged in fond
anticipations of venison and dried salmon; and dreams of the kind still
haunted their imaginations, and could not be conjured down. The keen
appetites of mountain trappers, quickened by a fortnight’s fasting, at
length got the better of all scruples of pride, and they fairly begged
some fish or flesh from the hospitable savages. The latter, however,
were slow to break in upon their winter store, which was very limited;
but were ready to furnish roots in abundance, which they pronounced
excellent food. At length, Captain Bonneville thought of a means of
attaining the much-coveted gratification.

He had about him, he says, a trusty plaid; an old and valued travelling
companion and comforter; upon which the rains had descended, and the
snows and winds beaten, without further effect than somewhat to
tarnish its primitive lustre. This coat of many colors had excited the
admiration, and inflamed the covetousness of both warriors and squaws,
to an extravagant degree. An idea now occurred to Captain Bonneville,
to convert this rainbow garment into the savory viands so much desired.
There was a momentary struggle in his mind, between old associations and
projected indulgence; and his decision in favor of the latter was
made, he says, with a greater promptness, perhaps, than true taste and
sentiment might have required. In a few moments, his plaid cloak was
cut into numerous strips. “Of these,” continues he, “with the newly
developed talent of a man-milliner, I speedily constructed turbans a
la Turque, and fanciful head-gears of divers conformations. These,
judiciously distributed among such of the womenkind as seemed of most
consequence and interest in the eyes of the patres conscripti, brought
us, in a little while, abundance of dried salmon and deers’ hearts; on
which we made a sumptuous supper. Another, and a more satisfactory
smoke, succeeded this repast, and sweet slumbers answering the peaceful
invocation of our pipes, wrapped us in that delicious rest, which is
only won by toil and travail.” As to Captain Bonneville, he slept in
the lodge of the venerable patriarch, who had evidently conceived a most
disinterested affection for him; as was shown on the following morning.
The travellers, invigorated by a good supper, and “fresh from the bath
of repose,” were about to resume their journey, when this affectionate
old chief took the captain aside, to let him know how much he loved him.
As a proof of his regard, he had determined to give him a fine horse,
which would go further than words, and put his good will beyond all
question. So saying, he made a signal, and forthwith a beautiful young
horse, of a brown color, was led, prancing and snorting, to the place.
Captain Bonneville was suitably affected by this mark of friendship; but
his experience in what is proverbially called “Indian giving,” made him
aware that a parting pledge was necessary on his own part, to prove that
his friendship was reciprocated. He accordingly placed a handsome
rifle in the hands of the venerable chief, whose benevolent heart was
evidently touched and gratified by this outward and visible sign of
amity.

Having now, as he thought, balanced this little account of friendship,
the captain was about to shift his saddle to this noble gift-horse when
the affectionate patriarch plucked him by the sleeve, and introduced to
him a whimpering, whining, leathern-skinned old squaw, that might have
passed for an Egyptian mummy, without drying. “This,” said he, “is
my wife; she is a good wife--I love her very much.--She loves the
horse--she loves him a great deal--she will cry very much at losing
him.--I do not know how I shall comfort her--and that makes my heart
very sore.”

What could the worthy captain do, to console the tender-hearted old
squaw, and, peradventure, to save the venerable patriarch from a curtain
lecture? He bethought himself of a pair of ear-bobs: it was true, the
patriarch’s better-half was of an age and appearance that seemed to
put personal vanity out of the question, but when is personal vanity
extinct? The moment he produced the glittering earbobs, the whimpering
and whining of the sempiternal beldame was at an end. She eagerly placed
the precious baubles in her ears, and, though as ugly as the Witch of
Endor, went off with a sideling gait and coquettish air, as though she
had been a perfect Semiramis.

The captain had now saddled his newly acquired steed, and his foot was
in the stirrup, when the affectionate patriarch again stepped forward,
and presented to him a young Pierced-nose, who had a peculiarly sulky
look. “This,” said the venerable chief, “is my son: he is very good; a
great horseman--he always took care of this very fine horse--he brought
him up from a colt, and made him what he is.--He is very fond of this
fine horse--he loves him like a brother--his heart will be very heavy
when this fine horse leaves the camp.”

What could the captain do, to reward the youthful hope of this venerable
pair, and comfort him for the loss of his foster-brother, the horse?
He bethought him of a hatchet, which might be spared from his slender
stores. No sooner did he place the implement into the hands of the young
hopeful, than his countenance brightened up, and he went off rejoicing
in his hatchet, to the full as much as did his respectable mother in her
ear-bobs.

The captain was now in the saddle, and about to start, when the
affectionate old patriarch stepped forward, for the third time, and,
while he laid one hand gently on the mane of the horse, held up the
rifle in the other. “This rifle,” said he, “shall be my great medicine.
I will hug it to my heart--I will always love it, for the sake of my
good friend, the bald-headed chief.--But a rifle, by itself, is dumb--I
cannot make it speak. If I had a little powder and ball, I would take it
out with me, and would now and then shoot a deer; and when I brought the
meat home to my hungry family, I would say--This was killed by the
rifle of my friend, the bald-headed chief, to whom I gave that very fine
horse.”

There was no resisting this appeal; the captain, forthwith, furnished
the coveted supply of powder and ball; but at the same time, put spurs
to his very fine gift-horse, and the first trial of his speed was to
get out of all further manifestation of friendship, on the part of the
affectionate old patriarch and his insinuating family.




32.

     Nez-Perce camp--A chief with a hard name--The Big Hearts of
     the East--Hospitable treatment--The Indian guides--
     Mysterious councils--The loquacious chief--Indian tomb--
     Grand Indian reception--An Indian feast--Town-criers--
     Honesty of the Nez-Perces--The captain’s attempt at
     healing.

FOLLOWING THE COURSE of the Immahah, Captain Bonneville and his three
companions soon reached the vicinity of Snake River. Their route now lay
over a succession of steep and isolated hills, with profound valleys. On
the second day, after taking leave of the affectionate old patriarch, as
they were descending into one of those deep and abrupt intervals,
they descried a smoke, and shortly afterward came in sight of a small
encampment of Nez Perces.

The Indians, when they ascertained that it was a party of white men
approaching, greeted them with a salute of firearms, and invited them to
encamp. This band was likewise under the sway of a venerable chief
named Yo-mus-ro-y-e-cut; a name which we shall be careful not to inflict
oftener than is necessary upon the reader This ancient and hard-named
chieftain welcomed Captain Bonneville to his camp with the same
hospitality and loving kindness that he had experienced from his
predecessor. He told the captain he had often heard of the Americans
and their generous deeds, and that his buffalo brethren (the Upper Nez
Perces) had always spoken of them as the Big-hearted whites of the East,
the very good friends of the Nez Perces.

Captain Bonneville felt somewhat uneasy under the responsibility of
this magnanimous but costly appellation; and began to fear he might be
involved in a second interchange of pledges of friendship. He hastened,
therefore, to let the old chief know his poverty-stricken state, and how
little there was to be expected from him.

He informed him that he and his comrades had long resided among the
Upper Nez Perces, and loved them so much, that they had thrown their
arms around them, and now held them close to their hearts. That he had
received such good accounts from the Upper Nez Perces of their cousins,
the Lower Nez Perces, that he had become desirous of knowing them as
friends and brothers. That he and his companions had accordingly loaded
a mule with presents and set off for the country of the Lower Nez
Perces; but, unfortunately, had been entrapped for many days among the
snowy mountains; and that the mule with all the presents had fallen into
Snake River, and been swept away by the rapid current. That instead,
therefore, of arriving among their friends, the Nez Perces, with light
hearts and full hands, they came naked, hungry, and broken down; and
instead of making them presents, must depend upon them even for food.
“But,” concluded he, “we are going to the white men’s fort on the
Wallah-Wallah, and will soon return; and then we will meet our Nez Perce
friends like the true Big Hearts of the East.”

Whether the hint thrown out in the latter part of the speech had any
effect, or whether the old chief acted from the hospitable feelings
which, according to the captain, are really inherent in the Nez Perce
tribe, he certainly showed no disposition to relax his friendship on
learning the destitute circumstances of his guests. On the contrary, he
urged the captain to remain with them until the following day, when he
would accompany him on his journey, and make him acquainted with all
his people. In the meantime, he would have a colt killed, and cut up for
travelling provisions. This, he carefully explained, was intended not
as an article of traffic, but as a gift; for he saw that his guests were
hungry and in need of food.

Captain Bonneville gladly assented to this hospitable arrangement.
The carcass of the colt was forthcoming in due season, but the captain
insisted that one half of it should be set apart for the use of the
chieftain’s family.

At an early hour of the following morning, the little party resumed
their journey, accompanied by the old chief and an Indian guide.
Their route was over a rugged and broken country; where the hills were
slippery with ice and snow. Their horses, too, were so weak and jaded,
that they could scarcely climb the steep ascents, or maintain their
foothold on the frozen declivities. Throughout the whole of the journey,
the old chief and the guide were unremitting in their good offices,
and continually on the alert to select the best roads, and assist them
through all difficulties. Indeed, the captain and his comrades had to be
dependent on their Indian friends for almost every thing, for they had
lost their tobacco and pipes, those great comforts of the trapper, and
had but a few charges of powder left, which it was necessary to husband
for the purpose of lighting their fires.

In the course of the day the old chief had several private consultations
with the guide, and showed evident signs of being occupied with some
mysterious matter of mighty import. What it was, Captain Bonneville
could not fathom, nor did he make much effort to do so. From some casual
sentences that he overheard, he perceived that it was something from
which the old man promised himself much satisfaction, and to which he
attached a little vainglory but which he wished to keep a secret; so he
suffered him to spin out his petty plans unmolested.

In the evening when they encamped, the old chief and his privy
counsellor, the guide, had another mysterious colloquy, after which the
guide mounted his horse and departed on some secret mission, while the
chief resumed his seat at the fire, and sat humming to himself in a
pleasing but mystic reverie.

The next morning, the travellers descended into the valley of the
Way-lee-way, a considerable tributary of Snake River. Here they met the
guide returning from his secret errand. Another private conference
was held between him and the old managing chief, who now seemed more
inflated than ever with mystery and self-importance. Numerous fresh
trails, and various other signs, persuaded Captain Bonneville that there
must be a considerable village of Nez Perces in the neighborhood; but as
his worthy companion, the old chief, said nothing on the subject, and as
it appeared to be in some way connected with his secret operations,
he asked no questions, but patiently awaited the development of his
mystery.

As they journeyed on, they came to where two or three Indians were
bathing in a small stream. The good old chief immediately came to a
halt, and had a long conversation with them, in the course of which he
repeated to them the whole history which Captain Bonneville had related
to him. In fact, he seems to have been a very sociable, communicative
old man; by no means afflicted with that taciturnity generally charged
upon the Indians. On the contrary, he was fond of long talks and long
smokings, and evidently was proud of his new friend, the bald-headed
chief, and took a pleasure in sounding his praises, and setting forth
the power and glory of the Big Hearts of the East.

Having disburdened himself of everything he had to relate to his bathing
friends, he left them to their aquatic disports, and proceeded onward
with the captain and his companions. As they approached the Way-lee-way,
however, the communicative old chief met with another and a very
different occasion to exert his colloquial powers. On the banks of the
river stood an isolated mound covered with grass. He pointed to it with
some emotion. “The big heart and the strong arm,” said he, “lie buried
beneath that sod.”

It was, in fact, the grave of one of his friends; a chosen warrior of
the tribe; who had been slain on this spot when in pursuit of a war
party of Shoshokoes, who had stolen the horses of the village. The enemy
bore off his scalp as a trophy; but his friends found his body in
this lonely place, and committed it to the earth with ceremonials
characteristic of their pious and reverential feelings. They gathered
round the grave and mourned; the warriors were silent in their grief;
but the women and children bewailed their loss with loud lamentations.
“For three days,” said the old man, “we performed the solemn dances for
the dead, and prayed the Great Spirit that our brother might be happy
in the land of brave warriors and hunters. Then we killed at his grave
fifteen of our best and strongest horses, to serve him when he should
arrive at the happy hunting grounds; and having done all this, we
returned sorrowfully to our homes.”

While the chief was still talking, an Indian scout came galloping up,
and, presenting him with a powder-horn, wheeled round, and was speedily
out of sight. The eyes of the old chief now brightened; and all his
self-importance returned. His petty mystery was about to explode.
Turning to Captain Bonneville, he pointed to a hill hard by, and
informed him, that behind it was a village governed by a little chief,
whom he had notified of the approach of the bald-headed chief, and a
party of the Big Hearts of the East, and that he was prepared to receive
them in becoming style. As, among other ceremonials, he intended to
salute them with a discharge of firearms, he had sent the horn of
gunpowder that they might return the salute in a manner correspondent to
his dignity.

They now proceeded on until they doubled the point of the hill, when the
whole population of the village broke upon their view, drawn out in the
most imposing style, and arrayed in all their finery. The effect of the
whole was wild and fantastic, yet singularly striking. In the front rank
were the chiefs and principal warriors, glaringly painted and decorated;
behind them were arranged the rest of the people, men, women, and
children.

Captain Bonneville and his party advanced slowly, exchanging salutes of
firearms. When arrived within a respectful distance, they dismounted.
The chiefs then came forward successively, according to their respective
characters and consequence, to offer the hand of good fellowship; each
filing off when he had shaken hands, to make way for his successor.
Those in the next rank followed in the same order, and so on, until all
had given the pledge of friendship. During all this time, the chief,
according to custom, took his stand beside the guests. If any of his
people advanced whom he judged unworthy of the friendship or confidence
of the white men, he motioned them off by a wave of the hand, and they
would submissively walk away. When Captain Bonneville turned upon him an
inquiring look, he would observe, “he was a bad man,” or something quite
as concise, and there was an end of the matter.

Mats, poles, and other materials were now brought, and a comfortable
lodge was soon erected for the strangers, where they were kept
constantly supplied with wood and water, and other necessaries; and
all their effects were placed in safe keeping. Their horses, too, were
unsaddled, and turned loose to graze, and a guard set to keep watch upon
them.

All this being adjusted, they were conducted to the main building or
council house of the village, where an ample repast, or rather banquet,
was spread, which seemed to realize all the gastronomical dreams that
had tantalized them during their long starvation; for here they beheld
not merely fish and roots in abundance, but the flesh of deer and elk,
and the choicest pieces of buffalo meat. It is needless to say
how vigorously they acquitted themselves on this occasion, and how
unnecessary it was for their hosts to practice the usual cramming
principle of Indian hospitality.

When the repast was over, a long talk ensued. The chief showed the
same curiosity evinced by his tribe generally, to obtain information
concerning the United States, of which they knew little but what they
derived through their cousins, the Upper Nez Perces; as their traffic is
almost exclusively with the British traders of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Captain Bonneville did his best to set forth the merits of his nation,
and the importance of their friendship to the red men, in which he was
ably seconded by his worthy friend, the old chief with the hard name,
who did all that he could to glorify the Big Hearts of the East.

The chief, and all present, listened with profound attention, and
evidently with great interest; nor were the important facts thus
set forth, confined to the audience in the lodge; for sentence after
sentence was loudly repeated by a crier for the benefit of the whole
village.

This custom of promulgating everything by criers, is not confined to the
Nez Perces, but prevails among many other tribes. It has its advantage
where there are no gazettes to publish the news of the day, or to report
the proceedings of important meetings. And in fact, reports of this
kind, viva voce, made in the hearing of all parties, and liable to
be contradicted or corrected on the spot, are more likely to convey
accurate information to the public mind than those circulated through
the press. The office of crier is generally filled by some old man,
who is good for little else. A village has generally several of these
walking newspapers, as they are termed by the whites, who go about
proclaiming the news of the day, giving notice of public councils,
expeditions, dances, feasts, and other ceremonials, and advertising
anything lost. While Captain Bonneville remained among the Nez Perces,
if a glove, handkerchief, or anything of similar value, was lost or
mislaid, it was carried by the finder to the lodge of the chief, and
proclamation was made by one of their criers, for the owner to come and
claim his property.

How difficult it is to get at the true character of these wandering
tribes of the wilderness! In a recent work, we have had to speak of this
tribe of Indians from the experience of other traders who had casually
been among them, and who represented them as selfish, inhospitable,
exorbitant in their dealings, and much addicted to thieving; Captain
Bonneville, on the contrary, who resided much among them, and had
repeated opportunities of ascertaining their real character, invariably
speaks of them as kind and hospitable, scrupulously honest, and
remarkable, above all other Indians that he had met with, for a strong
feeling of religion. In fact, so enthusiastic is he in their praise,
that he pronounces them, all ignorant and barbarous as they are by their
condition, one of the purest hearted people on the face of the earth.

Some cures which Captain Bonneville had effected in simple cases, among
the Upper Nez Perces, had reached the ears of their cousins here, and
gained for him the reputation of a great medicine man. He had not been
long in the village, therefore, before his lodge began to be the resort
of the sick and the infirm. The captain felt the value of the reputation
thus accidentally and cheaply acquired, and endeavored to sustain it. As
he had arrived at that age when every man is, experimentally, something
of a physician, he was enabled to turn to advantage the little knowledge
in the healing art which he had casually picked up; and was sufficiently
successful in two or three cases, to convince the simple Indians that
report had not exaggerated his medical talents. The only patient that
effectually baffled his skill, or rather discouraged any attempt at
relief, was an antiquated squaw with a churchyard cough, and one leg
in the grave; it being shrunk and rendered useless by a rheumatic
affection. This was a case beyond his mark; however, he comforted the
old woman with a promise that he would endeavor to procure something to
relieve her, at the fort on the Wallah-Wallah, and would bring it on his
return; with which assurance her husband was so well satisfied, that he
presented the captain with a colt, to be killed as provisions for the
journey: a medical fee which was thankfully accepted.

While among these Indians, Captain Bonneville unexpectedly found an
owner for the horse which he had purchased from a Root Digger at the Big
Wyer. The Indian satisfactorily proved that the horse had been stolen
from him some time previous, by some unknown thief. “However,” said the
considerate savage, “you got him in fair trade--you are more in want
of horses than I am: keep him; he is yours--he is a good horse; use him
well.”

Thus, in the continued experience of acts of kindness and generosity,
which his destitute condition did not allow him to reciprocate, Captain
Bonneville passed some short time among these good people, more and more
impressed with the general excellence of their character.




33.

     Scenery of the Way-lee-way--A substitute for tobacco--
     Sublime scenery of--Snake River--The garrulous old chief and
     his cousin--A Nez-Perce meeting--A stolen skin--The
     scapegoat dog--Mysterious conferences--The little chief--His
     hospitality--The captain’s account of the United States--His
     healing skill

IN RESUMING HIS JOURNEY, Captain Bonneville was conducted by the
same Nez Perce guide, whose knowledge of the country was important
in choosing the routes and resting places. He also continued to be
accompanied by the worthy old chief with the hard name, who seemed
bent upon doing the honors of the country, and introducing him to every
branch of his tribe. The Way-lee-way, down the banks of which Captain
Bonneville and his companions were now travelling, is a considerable
stream winding through a succession of bold and beautiful scenes.
Sometimes the landscape towered into bold and mountainous heights that
partook of sublimity; at other times, it stretched along the water side
in fresh smiling meadows, and graceful undulating valleys.

Frequently in their route they encountered small parties of the Nez
Perces, with whom they invariably stopped to shake hands; and who,
generally, evinced great curiosity concerning them and their adventures;
a curiosity which never failed to be thoroughly satisfied by the replies
of the worthy Yo-mus-ro-y-e-cut, who kindly took upon himself to be
spokesman of the party.

The incessant smoking of pipes incident to the long talks of this
excellent, but somewhat garrulous old chief, at length exhausted all his
stock of tobacco, so that he had no longer a whiff with which to regale
his white companions. In this emergency, he cut up the stem of his
pipe into fine shavings, which he mixed with certain herbs, and thus
manufactured a temporary succedaneum to enable him to accompany his long
colloquies and harangues with the customary fragrant cloud.

If the scenery of the Way-lee-way had charmed the travellers with its
mingled amenity and grandeur, that which broke upon them on once more
reaching Snake River, filled them with admiration and astonishment. At
times, the river was overhung by dark and stupendous rocks, rising like
gigantic walls and battlements; these would be rent by wide and yawning
chasms, that seemed to speak of past convulsions of nature. Sometimes
the river was of a glassy smoothness and placidity; at other times it
roared along in impetuous rapids and foaming cascades. Here, the rocks
were piled in the most fantastic crags and precipices; and in another
place, they were succeeded by delightful valleys carpeted with
green-award. The whole of this wild and varied scenery was dominated
by immense mountains rearing their distant peaks into the clouds. “The
grandeur and originality of the views, presented on every side,” says
Captain Bonneville, “beggar both the pencil and the pen. Nothing we had
ever gazed upon in any other region could for a moment compare in wild
majesty and impressive sternness, with the series of scenes which
here at every turn astonished our senses, and filled us with awe and
delight.”

Indeed, from all that we can gather from the journal before us, and the
accounts of other travellers, who passed through these regions in the
memorable enterprise of Astoria, we are inclined to think that Snake
River must be one of the most remarkable for varied and striking scenery
of all the rivers of this continent. From its head waters in the Rocky
Mountains, to its junction with the Columbia, its windings are upward
of six hundred miles through every variety of landscape. Rising in a
volcanic region, amid extinguished craters, and mountains awful with the
traces of ancient fires, it makes its way through great plains of lava
and sandy deserts, penetrates vast sierras or mountainous chains, broken
into romantic and often frightful precipices, and crowned with eternal
snows; and at other times, careers through green and smiling meadows,
and wide landscapes of Italian grace and beauty. Wildness and sublimity,
however, appear to be its prevailing characteristics.

Captain Bonneville and his companions had pursued their journey a
considerable distance down the course of Snake River, when the old chief
halted on the bank, and dismounting, recommended that they should turn
their horses loose to graze, while he summoned a cousin of his from
a group of lodges on the opposite side of the stream. His summons was
quickly answered. An Indian, of an active elastic form, leaped into a
light canoe of cotton-wood, and vigorously plying the paddle, soon shot
across the river. Bounding on shore, he advanced with a buoyant air and
frank demeanor, and gave his right hand to each of the party in turn.
The old chief, whose hard name we forbear to repeat, now presented
Captain Bonneville, in form, to his cousin, whose name, we regret to
say, was no less hard being nothing less than Hay-she-in-cow-cow. The
latter evinced the usual curiosity to know all about the strangers,
whence they came whither they were going, the object of their journey,
and the adventures they had experienced. All these, of course, were
ample and eloquently set forth by the communicative old chief. To all
his grandiloquent account of the bald-headed chief and his countrymen,
the Big Hearts of the East, his cousin listened with great attention,
and replied in the customary style of Indian welcome. He then desired
the party to await his return, and, springing into his canoe, darted
across the river. In a little while he returned, bringing a most
welcome supply of tobacco, and a small stock of provisions for the road,
declaring his intention of accompanying the party. Having no horse, he
mounted behind one of the men, observing that he should procure a steed
for himself on the following day.

They all now jogged on very sociably and cheerily together. Not many
miles beyond, they met others of the tribe, among whom was one, whom
Captain Bonneville and his comrades had known during their residence
among the Upper Nez Perces, and who welcomed them with open arms. In
this neighborhood was the home of their guide, who took leave of them
with a profusion of good wishes for their safety and happiness. That
night they put up in the hut of a Nez Perce, where they were visited by
several warriors from the other side of the river, friends of the old
chief and his cousin, who came to have a talk and a smoke with the white
men. The heart of the good old chief was overflowing with good will at
thus being surrounded by his new and old friends, and he talked with
more spirit and vivacity than ever. The evening passed away in perfect
harmony and good-humor, and it was not until a late hour that the
visitors took their leave and recrossed the river.

After this constant picture of worth and virtue on the part of the Nez
Perce tribe, we grieve to have to record a circumstance calculated to
throw a temporary shade upon the name. In the course of the social
and harmonious evening just mentioned, one of the captain’s men,
who happened to be something of a virtuoso in his way, and fond of
collecting curiosities, produced a small skin, a great rarity in the
eyes of men conversant in peltries. It attracted much attention among
the visitors from beyond the river, who passed it from one to the other,
examined it with looks of lively admiration, and pronounced it a great
medicine.

In the morning, when the captain and his party were about to set off,
the precious skin was missing. Search was made for it in the hut, but it
was nowhere to be found; and it was strongly suspected that it had been
purloined by some of the connoisseurs from the other side of the river.

The old chief and his cousin were indignant at the supposed delinquency
of their friends across the water, and called out for them to come over
and answer for their shameful conduct. The others answered to the call
with all the promptitude of perfect innocence, and spurned at the idea
of their being capable of such outrage upon any of the Big-hearted
nation. All were at a loss on whom to fix the crime of abstracting the
invaluable skin, when by chance the eyes of the worthies from beyond the
water fell upon an unhappy cur, belonging to the owner of the hut. He
was a gallows-looking dog, but not more so than most Indian dogs, who,
take them in the mass, are little better than a generation of vipers. Be
that as it may, he was instantly accused of having devoured the skin
in question. A dog accused is generally a dog condemned; and a dog
condemned is generally a dog executed. So was it in the present
instance. The unfortunate cur was arraigned; his thievish looks
substantiated his guilt, and he was condemned by his judges from across
the river to be hanged. In vain the Indians of the hut, with whom he was
a great favorite, interceded in his behalf. In vain Captain Bonneville
and his comrades petitioned that his life might be spared. His judges
were inexorable. He was doubly guilty: first, in having robbed their
good friends, the Big Hearts of the East; secondly, in having brought
a doubt on the honor of the Nez Perce tribe. He was, accordingly,
swung aloft, and pelted with stones to make his death more certain.
The sentence of the judges being thoroughly executed, a post mortem
examination of the body of the dog was held, to establish his
delinquency beyond all doubt, and to leave the Nez Perces without a
shadow of suspicion. Great interest, of course, was manifested by all
present, during this operation. The body of the dog was opened, the
intestines rigorously scrutinized, but, to the horror of all concerned,
not a particle of the skin was to be found--the dog had been unjustly
executed!

A great clamor now ensued, but the most clamorous was the party from
across the river, whose jealousy of their good name now prompted them
to the most vociferous vindications of their innocence. It was with the
utmost difficulty that the captain and his comrades could calm their
lively sensibilities, by accounting for the disappearance of the skin
in a dozen different ways, until all idea of its having been stolen was
entirely out of the question.

The meeting now broke up. The warriors returned across the river, the
captain and his comrades proceeded on their journey; but the spirits
of the communicative old chief, Yo-mus-ro-y-e-cut, were for a time
completely dampened, and he evinced great mortification at what had just
occurred. He rode on in silence, except, that now and then he would give
way to a burst of indignation, and exclaim, with a shake of the head
and a toss of the hand toward the opposite shore--“bad men, very bad
men across the river”; to each of which brief exclamations, his worthy
cousin, Hay-she-in-cow-cow, would respond by a guttural sound of
acquiescence, equivalent to an amen.

After some time, the countenance of the-old chief again cleared up, and
he fell into repeated conferences, in an under tone, with his cousin,
which ended in the departure of the latter, who, applying the lash to
his horse, dashed forward and was soon out of sight. In fact, they were
drawing near to the village of another chief, likewise distinguished by
an appellation of some longitude, O-pushy-e-cut; but commonly known as
the great chief. The cousin had been sent ahead to give notice of their
approach; a herald appeared as before, bearing a powder-horn, to
enable them to respond to the intended salute. A scene ensued, on their
approach to the village, similar to that which had occurred at the
village of the little chief. The whole population appeared in the
field, drawn up in lines, arrayed with the customary regard to rank and
dignity. Then came on the firing of salutes, and the shaking of hands,
in which last ceremonial every individual, man, woman, and child,
participated; for the Indians have an idea that it is as indispensable
an overture of friendship among the whites as smoking of the pipe is
among the red men. The travellers were next ushered to the banquet,
where all the choicest viands that the village could furnish, were
served up in rich profusion. They were afterwards entertained by feats
of agility and horseraces; indeed, their visit to the village seemed the
signal for complete festivity. In the meantime, a skin lodge had been
spread for their accommodation, their horses and baggage were taken care
of, and wood and water supplied in abundance. At night, therefore, they
retired to their quarters, to enjoy, as they supposed, the repose of
which they stood in need. No such thing, however, was in store for them.
A crowd of visitors awaited their appearance, all eager for a smoke and
a talk. The pipe was immediately lighted, and constantly replenished
and kept alive until the night was far advanced. As usual, the utmost
eagerness was evinced by the guests to learn everything within the scope
of their comprehension respecting the Americans, for whom they professed
the most fraternal regard. The captain, in his replies, made use of
familiar illustrations, calculated to strike their minds, and impress
them with such an idea of the might of his nation, as would induce them
to treat with kindness and respect all stragglers that might fall in
their path. To their inquiries as to the numbers of the people of the
United States, he assured them that they were as countless as the blades
of grass in the prairies, and that, great as Snake River was, if they
were all encamped upon its banks, they would drink it dry in a single
day. To these and similar statistics, they listened with profound
attention, and apparently, implicit belief. It was, indeed, a striking
scene: the captain, with his hunter’s dress and bald head in the midst,
holding forth, and his wild auditors seated around like so many statues,
the fire lighting up their painted faces and muscular figures, all
fixed and motionless, excepting when the pipe was passed, a question
propounded, or a startling fact in statistics received with a movement
of surprise and a half-suppressed ejaculation of wonder and delight.

The fame of the captain as a healer of diseases, had accompanied him to
this village, and the great chief, O-push-y-e-cut, now entreated him to
exert his skill on his daughter, who had been for three days racked with
pains, for which the Pierced-nose doctors could devise no alleviation.
The captain found her extended on a pallet of mats in excruciating pain.
Her father manifested the strongest paternal affection for her, and
assured the captain that if he would but cure her, he would place the
Americans near his heart. The worthy captain needed no such inducement.
His kind heart was already touched by the sufferings of the poor girl,
and his sympathies quickened by her appearance; for she was but about
sixteen years of age, and uncommonly beautiful in form and feature.
The only difficulty with the captain was, that he knew nothing of her
malady, and that his medical science was of a most haphazard kind. After
considering and cogitating for some time, as a man is apt to do when
in a maze of vague ideas, he made a desperate dash at a remedy. By his
directions, the girl was placed in a sort of rude vapor bath, much used
by the Nez Perces, where she was kept until near fainting. He then gave
her a dose of gunpowder dissolved in cold water, and ordered her to
be wrapped in buffalo robes and put to sleep under a load of furs and
blankets. The remedy succeeded: the next morning she was free from pain,
though extremely languid; whereupon, the captain prescribed for her a
bowl of colt’s head broth, and that she should be kept for a time on
simple diet.

The great chief was unbounded in his expressions of gratitude for the
recovery of his daughter. He would fain have detained the captain a
long time as his guest, but the time for departure had arrived. When the
captain’s horse was brought for him to mount, the chief declared that
the steed was not worthy of him, and sent for one of his best horses,
which he presented in its stead; declaring that it made his heart glad
to see his friend so well mounted. He then appointed a young Nez Perce
to accompany his guest to the next village, and “to carry his talk”
 concerning them; and the two parties separated with mutual expressions
of good will.

The vapor bath of which we have made mention is in frequent use among
the Nez Perce tribe, chiefly for cleanliness. Their sweating houses, as
they call them, are small and close lodges, and the vapor is produced by
water poured slowly upon red-hot stones.

On passing the limits of O-push-y-e-cut’s domains, the travellers left
the elevated table-lands, and all the wild and romantic scenery which
has just been described. They now traversed a gently undulating country,
of such fertility that it excited the rapturous admiration of two of the
captain’s followers, a Kentuckian and a native of Ohio. They declared
that it surpassed any land that they had ever seen, and often exclaimed
what a delight it would be just to run a plough through such a rich and
teeming soil, and see it open its bountiful promise before the share.

Another halt and sojourn of a night was made at the village of a
chief named He-mim-el-pilp, where similar ceremonies were observed and
hospitality experienced, as at the preceding villages. They now pursued
a west-southwest course through a beautiful and fertile region, better
wooded than most of the tracts through which they had passed. In their
progress, they met with several bands of Nez Perces, by whom they were
invariably treated with the utmost kindness. Within seven days after
leaving the domain of He-mim-el-pilp, they struck the Columbia River at
Fort Wallah-Wallah, where they arrived on the 4th of March, 1834.




34.

     Fort Wallah-Wallah--Its commander--Indians in its
     neighborhood--Exertions of Mr. Pambrune for their
     improvement--Religion--Code of laws--Range of the Lower Nez
     Perces--Camash, and other roots--Nez--Perce horses--
     Preparations for departure--Refusal of supplies--Departure--
     A laggard and glutton

FORT WALLAH-WALLAH is a trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company,
situated just above the mouth of the river by the same name, and on the
left bank of the Columbia. It is built of drift-wood, and calculated
merely for defence against any attack of the natives. At the time of
Captain Bonneville’s arrival, the whole garrison mustered but six or
eight men; and the post was under the superintendence of Mr. Pambrune,
an agent of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

The great post and fort of the company, forming the emporium of its
trade on the Pacific, is Fort Vancouver; situated on the right bank of
the Columbia, about sixty miles from the sea, and just above the mouth
of the Wallamut. To this point, the company removed its establishment
from Astoria, in 1821, after its coalition with the Northwest Company.

Captain Bonneville and his comrades experienced a polite reception from
Mr. Pambrune, the superintendent: for, however hostile the members of
the British Company may be to the enterprises of American traders, they
have always manifested great courtesy and hospitality to the traders
themselves.

Fort Wallah-Wallah is surrounded by the tribe of the same name, as
well as by the Skynses and the Nez Perces; who bring to it the furs and
peltries collected in their hunting expeditions. The Wallah-Wallahs are
a degenerate, worn-out tribe. The Nez Perces are the most numerous and
tractable of the three tribes just mentioned. Mr. Pambrune informed
Captain Bonneville that he had been at some pains to introduce the
Christian religion, in the Roman Catholic form, among them, where it had
evidently taken root; but had become altered and modified, to suit their
peculiar habits of thought, and motives of action; retaining, however,
the principal points of faith, and its entire precepts of morality. The
same gentleman had given them a code of laws, to which they conformed
with scrupulous fidelity. Polygamy, which once prevailed among them to
a great extent, was now rarely indulged. All the crimes denounced by the
Christian faith met with severe punishment among them. Even theft,
so venial a crime among the Indians, had recently been punished with
hanging, by sentence of a chief.

There certainly appears to be a peculiar susceptibility of moral and
religious improvement among this tribe, and they would seem to be one
of the very, very few that have benefited in morals and manners by an
intercourse with white men. The parties which visited them about twenty
years previously, in the expedition fitted out by Mr. Astor, complained
of their selfishness, their extortion, and their thievish propensities.
The very reverse of those qualities prevailed among them during the
prolonged sojourns of Captain Bonneville.

The Lower Nez Perces range upon the Way-lee-way, Immahah, Yenghies, and
other of the streams west of the mountains. They hunt the beaver,
elk, deer, white bear, and mountain sheep. Besides the flesh of these
animals, they use a number of roots for food; some of which would be
well worth transplanting and cultivating in the Atlantic States. Among
these is the camash, a sweet root, about the form and size of an onion,
and said to be really delicious. The cowish, also, or biscuit root,
about the size of a walnut, which they reduce to a very palatable flour;
together with the jackap, aisish, quako, and others; which they cook by
steaming them in the ground.

In August and September, these Indians keep along the rivers, where they
catch and dry great quantities of salmon; which, while they last, are
their principal food. In the winter, they congregate in villages formed
of comfortable huts, or lodges, covered with mats. They are generally
clad in deer skins, or woollens, and extremely well armed. Above all,
they are celebrated for owning great numbers of horses; which they mark,
and then suffer to range in droves in their most fertile plains. These
horses are principally of the pony breed; but remarkably stout and
long-winded. They are brought in great numbers to the establishments of
the Hudson’s Bay Company, and sold for a mere trifle.

Such is the account given by Captain Bonneville of the Nez Perces; who,
if not viewed by him with too partial an eye, are certainly among the
gentlest, and least barbarous people of these remote wildernesses. They
invariably signified to him their earnest wish that an American post
might be established among them; and repeatedly declared that they would
trade with Americans, in preference to any other people.

Captain Bonneville had intended to remain some time in this
neighborhood, to form an acquaintance with the natives, and to collect
information, and establish connections that might be advantageous in
the way of trade. The delays, however, which he had experienced on his
journey, obliged him to shorten his sojourn, and to set off as soon as
possible, so as to reach the rendezvous at the Portneuf at the appointed
time. He had seen enough to convince him that an American trade might
be carried on with advantage in this quarter; and he determined soon to
return with a stronger party, more completely fitted for the purpose.

As he stood in need of some supplies for his journey, he applied to
purchase them of Mr. Pambrune; but soon found the difference
between being treated as a guest, or as a rival trader. The worthy
superintendent, who had extended to him all the genial rites of
hospitality, now suddenly assumed a withered-up aspect and demeanor, and
observed that, however he might feel disposed to serve him, personally,
he felt bound by his duty to the Hudson’s Bay Company, to do nothing
which should facilitate or encourage the visits of other traders among
the Indians in that part of the country. He endeavored to dissuade
Captain Bonneville from returning through the Blue Mountains; assuring
him it would be extremely difficult and dangerous, if not impracticable,
at this season of the year; and advised him to accompany Mr. Payette,
a leader of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who was about to depart with a
number of men, by a more circuitous, but safe route, to carry supplies
to the company’s agent, resident among the Upper Nez Perces. Captain
Bonneville, however, piqued at his having refused to furnish him with
supplies, and doubting the sincerity of his advice, determined to return
by the more direct route through the mountains; though varying his
course, in some respects, from that by which he had come, in consequence
of information gathered among the neighboring Indians.

Accordingly, on the 6th of March, he and his three companions,
accompanied by their Nez Perce guides, set out on their return. In the
early part of their course, they touched again at several of the Nez
Perce villages, where they had experienced such kind treatment on their
way down. They were always welcomed with cordiality; and everything was
done to cheer them on their journey.

On leaving the Way-lee-way village, they were joined by a Nez Perce,
whose society was welcomed on account of the general gratitude and
good will they felt for his tribe. He soon proved a heavy clog upon the
little party, being doltish and taciturn, lazy in the extreme, and a
huge feeder. His only proof of intellect was in shrewdly avoiding all
labor, and availing himself of the toil of others. When on the march,
he always lagged behind the rest, leaving to them the task of breaking
a way through all difficulties and impediments, and leisurely and lazily
jogging along the track, which they had beaten through the snow. At the
evening encampment, when others were busy gathering fuel, providing for
the horses, and cooking the evening repast, this worthy Sancho of the
wilderness would take his seat quietly and cosily by the fire, puffing
away at his pipe, and eyeing in silence, but with wistful intensity of
gaze, the savory morsels roasting for supper.

When meal-time arrived, however, then came his season of activity. He
no longer hung back, and waited for others to take the lead, but
distinguished himself by a brilliancy of onset, and a sustained vigor
and duration of attack, that completely shamed the efforts of his
competitors--albeit, experienced trenchermen of no mean prowess. Never
had they witnessed such power of mastication, and such marvellous
capacity of stomach, as in this native and uncultivated gastronome.
Having, by repeated and prolonged assaults, at length completely
gorged himself, he would wrap himself up and lie with the torpor of an
anaconda; slowly digesting his way on to the next repast.

The gormandizing powers of this worthy were, at first, matters of
surprise and merriment to the travellers; but they soon became too
serious for a joke, threatening devastation to the fleshpots; and he
was regarded askance, at his meals, as a regular kill-crop, destined to
waste the substance of the party. Nothing but a sense of the obligations
they were under to his nation induced them to bear with such a guest;
but he proceeded, speedily, to relieve them from the weight of these
obligations, by eating a receipt in full.




35.

     The uninvited guest--Free and easy manners--Salutary jokes--
     A prodigal son--Exit of the glutton--A sudden change in
     fortune--Danger of a visit to poor relations--Plucking of a
     prosperous man--A vagabond toilet--A substitute for the very
     fine horse--Hard travelling--The uninvited guest and the
     patriarchal colt--A beggar on horseback--A catastrophe--Exit
     of the merry vagabond

As CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE and his men were encamped one evening among the
hills near Snake River, seated before their fire, enjoying a hearty
supper, they were suddenly surprised by the visit of an uninvited guest.
He was a ragged, half-naked Indian hunter, armed with bow and arrows,
and had the carcass of a fine buck thrown across his shoulder. Advancing
with an alert step, and free and easy air, he threw the buck on the
ground, and, without waiting for an invitation, seated himself at their
mess, helped himself without ceremony, and chatted to the right and left
in the liveliest and most unembarrassed manner. No adroit and veteran
dinner hunter of a metropolis could have acquitted himself more
knowingly. The travellers were at first completely taken by surprise,
and could not but admire the facility with which this ragged cosmopolite
made himself at home among them. While they stared he went on, making
the most of the good cheer upon which he had so fortunately alighted;
and was soon elbow deep in “pot luck,” and greased from the tip of his
nose to the back of his ears.

As the company recovered from their surprise, they began to feel annoyed
at this intrusion. Their uninvited guest, unlike the generality of his
tribe, was somewhat dirty as well as ragged and they had no relish
for such a messmate. Heaping up, therefore, an abundant portion of the
“provant” upon a piece of bark, which served for a dish, they invited
him to confine himself thereto, instead of foraging in the general mess.

He complied with the most accommodating spirit imaginable; and went on
eating and chatting, and laughing and smearing himself, until his whole
countenance shone with grease and good-humor. In the course of his
repast, his attention was caught by the figure of the gastronome, who,
as usual, was gorging himself in dogged silence. A droll cut of the
eye showed either that he knew him of old, or perceived at once his
characteristics. He immediately made him the butt of his pleasantries;
and cracked off two or three good hits, that caused the sluggish dolt
to prick up his ears, and delighted all the company. From this time, the
uninvited guest was taken into favor; his jokes began to be relished;
his careless, free and easy air, to be considered singularly amusing;
and in the end, he was pronounced by the travellers one of the merriest
companions and most entertaining vagabonds they had met with in the
wilderness.

Supper being over, the redoubtable Shee-wee-she-ouaiter, for such was
the simple name by which he announced himself, declared his intention
of keeping company with the party for a day or two, if they had no
objection; and by way of backing his self-invitation, presented the
carcass of the buck as an earnest of his hunting abilities. By this
time, he had so completely effaced the unfavorable impression made by
his first appearance, that he was made welcome to the camp, and the
Nez Perce guide undertook to give him lodging for the night. The next
morning, at break of day, he borrowed a gun, and was off among the
hills, nor was anything more seen of him until a few minutes after the
party had encamped for the evening, when he again made his appearance,
in his usual frank, careless manner, and threw down the carcass of
another noble deer, which he had borne on his back for a considerable
distance.

This evening he was the life of the party, and his open communicative
disposition, free from all disguise, soon put them in possession of
his history. He had been a kind of prodigal son in his native village;
living a loose, heedless life, and disregarding the precepts and
imperative commands of the chiefs. He had, in consequence, been expelled
from the village, but, in nowise disheartened at this banishment, had
betaken himself to the society of the border Indians, and had led a
careless, haphazard, vagabond life, perfectly consonant to his humors;
heedless of the future, so long as he had wherewithal for the present;
and fearing no lack of food, so long as he had the implements of the
chase, and a fair hunting ground.

Finding him very expert as a hunter, and being pleased with his
eccentricities, and his strange and merry humor, Captain Bonneville
fitted him out handsomely as the Nimrod of the party, who all soon
became quite attached to him. One of the earliest and most signal
services he performed, was to exorcise the insatiate kill-crop that
hitherto oppressed the party. In fact, the doltish Nez Perce, who had
seemed so perfectly insensible to rough treatment of every kind, by
which the travellers had endeavored to elbow him out of their society,
could not withstand the good-humored bantering, and occasionally sharp
wit of She-wee-she. He evidently quailed under his jokes, and sat
blinking like an owl in daylight, when pestered by the flouts and
peckings of mischievous birds. At length his place was found vacant at
meal-time; no one knew when he went off, or whither he had gone, but he
was seen no more, and the vast surplus that remained when the repast was
over, showed what a mighty gormandizer had departed.

Relieved from this incubus, the little party now went on cheerily.
She-wee-she kept them in fun as well as food. His hunting was always
successful; he was ever ready to render any assistance in the camp or
on the march; while his jokes, his antics, and the very cut of
his countenance, so full of whim and comicality, kept every one in
good-humor.

In this way they journeyed on until they arrived on the banks of the
Immahah, and encamped near to the Nez Perce lodges. Here She-wee-she
took a sudden notion to visit his people, and show off the state of
worldly prosperity to which he had so suddenly attained. He accordingly
departed in the morning, arrayed in hunter’s style, and well appointed
with everything benefitting his vocation. The buoyancy of his gait, the
elasticity of his step, and the hilarity of his countenance, showed that
he anticipated, with chuckling satisfaction, the surprise he was about
to give those who had ejected him from their society in rags. But what
a change was there in his whole appearance when he rejoined the party in
the evening! He came skulking into camp like a beaten cur, with his tail
between his legs. All his finery was gone; he was naked as when he was
born, with the exception of a scanty flap that answered the purpose of a
fig leaf. His fellow-travellers at first did not know him, but supposed
it to be some vagrant Root Digger sneaking into the camp; but when they
recognized in this forlorn object their prime wag, She-wee-she, whom
they had seen depart in the morning in such high glee and high feather,
they could not contain their merriment, but hailed him with loud and
repeated peals of laughter.

She-wee-she was not of a spirit to be easily cast down; he soon joined
in the merriment as heartily as any one, and seemed to consider his
reverse of fortune an excellent joke. Captain Bonneville, however,
thought proper to check his good-humor, and demanded, with some degree
of sternness, the cause of his altered condition. He replied in the most
natural and self-complacent style imaginable, “that he had been among
his cousins, who were very poor; they had been delighted to see him;
still more delighted with his good fortune; they had taken him to their
arms; admired his equipments; one had begged for this; another for
that”--in fine, what with the poor devil’s inherent heedlessness, and
the real generosity of his disposition, his needy cousins had succeeded
in stripping him of all his clothes and accoutrements, excepting the fig
leaf with which he had returned to camp.

Seeing his total want of care and forethought, Captain Bonneville
determined to let him suffer a little, in hopes it might prove a
salutary lesson; and, at any rate, to make him no more presents while in
the neighborhood of his needy cousins. He was left, therefore, to shift
for himself in his naked condition; which, however, did not seem to give
him any concern, or to abate one jot of his good-humor. In the course of
his lounging about the camp, however, he got possession of a deer skin;
whereupon, cutting a slit in the middle, he thrust his head through it,
so that the two ends hung down before and behind, something like a South
American poncho, or the tabard of a herald. These ends he tied together,
under the armpits; and thus arrayed, presented himself once more before
the captain, with an air of perfect self-satisfaction, as though he
thought it impossible for any fault to be found with his toilet.

A little further journeying brought the travellers to the petty village
of Nez Perces, governed by the worthy and affectionate old patriarch who
had made Captain Bonneville the costly present of the very fine horse.
The old man welcomed them once more to his village with his usual
cordiality, and his respectable squaw and hopeful son, cherishing
grateful recollections of the hatchet and ear-bobs, joined in a chorus
of friendly gratulation.

As the much-vaunted steed, once the joy and pride of this interesting
family, was now nearly knocked up by travelling, and totally inadequate
to the mountain scramble that lay ahead, Captain Bonneville restored
him to the venerable patriarch, with renewed acknowledgments for the
invaluable gift. Somewhat to his surprise, he was immediately supplied
with a fine two years’ old colt in his stead, a substitution which he
afterward learnt, according to Indian custom in such cases, he might
have claimed as a matter of right. We do not find that any after claims
were made on account of this colt. This donation may be regarded,
therefore, as a signal punctilio of Indian honor; but it will be found
that the animal soon proved an unlucky acquisition to the party.

While at this village, the Nez Perce guide had held consultations with
some of the inhabitants as to the mountain tract the party were about
to traverse. He now began to wear an anxious aspect, and to indulge in
gloomy forebodings. The snow, he had been told, lay to a great depth
in the passes of the mountains, and difficulties would increase as
he proceeded. He begged Captain Bonneville, therefore, to travel very
slowly, so as to keep the horses in strength and spirit for the
hard times they would have to encounter. The captain surrendered the
regulation of the march entirely to his discretion, and pushed on in the
advance, amusing himself with hunting, so as generally to kill a deer
or two in the course of the day, and arriving, before the rest of the
party, at the spot designated by the guide for the evening’s encampment.

In the meantime, the others plodded on at the heels of the guide,
accompanied by that merry vagabond, She-wee-she. The primitive garb worn
by this droll left all his nether man exposed to the biting blasts of
the mountains. Still his wit was never frozen, nor his sunshiny temper
beclouded; and his innumerable antics and practical jokes, while they
quickened the circulation of his own blood, kept his companions in high
good-humor.

So passed the first day after the departure from the patriarch’s. The
second day commenced in the same manner; the captain in the advance, the
rest of the party following on slowly. She-wee-she, for the greater part
of the time, trudged on foot over the snow, keeping himself warm by hard
exercise, and all kinds of crazy capers. In the height of his foolery,
the patriarchal colt, which, unbroken to the saddle, was suffered to
follow on at large, happened to come within his reach. In a moment, he
was on his back, snapping his fingers, and yelping with delight. The
colt, unused to such a burden, and half wild by nature, fell to prancing
and rearing and snorting and plunging and kicking; and, at length,
set off full speed over the most dangerous ground. As the route led
generally along the steep and craggy sides of the hills, both horse and
horseman were constantly in danger, and more than once had a hairbreadth
escape from deadly peril. Nothing, however, could daunt this madcap
savage. He stuck to the colt like a plaister [sic], up ridges, down
gullies; whooping and yelling with the wildest glee. Never did beggar
on horseback display more headlong horsemanship. His companions followed
him with their eyes, sometimes laughing, sometimes holding in their
breath at his vagaries, until they saw the colt make a sudden plunge or
start, and pitch his unlucky rider headlong over a precipice. There was
a general cry of horror, and all hastened to the spot. They found the
poor fellow lying among the rocks below, sadly bruised and mangled.
It was almost a miracle that he had escaped with life. Even in this
condition, his merry spirit was not entirely quelled, and he summoned up
a feeble laugh at the alarm and anxiety of those who came to his relief.
He was extricated from his rocky bed, and a messenger dispatched to
inform Captain Bonneville of the accident. The latter returned with all
speed, and encamped the party at the first convenient spot. Here the
wounded man was stretched upon buffalo skins, and the captain, who
officiated on all occasions as doctor and surgeon to the party,
proceeded to examine his wounds. The principal one was a long and deep
gash in the thigh, which reached to the bone. Calling for a needle and
thread, the captain now prepared to sew up the wound, admonishing the
patient to submit to the operation with becoming fortitude. His gayety
was at an end; he could no longer summon up even a forced smile; and,
at the first puncture of the needle, flinched so piteously, that the
captain was obliged to pause, and to order him a powerful dose of
alcohol. This somewhat rallied up his spirit and warmed his heart; all
the time of the operation, however, he kept his eyes riveted on the
wound, with his teeth set, and a whimsical wincing of the countenance,
that occasionally gave his nose something of its usual comic curl.

When the wound was fairly closed, the captain washed it with rum, and
administered a second dose of the same to the patient, who was tucked in
for the night, and advised to compose himself to sleep. He was restless
and uneasy, however; repeatedly expressing his fears that his leg would
be so much swollen the next day, as to prevent his proceeding with the
party; nor could he be quieted, until the captain gave a decided opinion
favorable to his wishes.

Early the next morning, a gleam of his merry humor returned, on finding
that his wounded limb retained its natural proportions. On attempting
to use it, however, he found himself unable to stand. He made several
efforts to coax himself into a belief that he might still continue
forward; but at length, shook his head despondingly, and said, that
“as he had but one leg,” it was all in vain to attempt a passage of the
mountain.

Every one grieved to part with so boon a companion, and under such
disastrous circumstances. He was once more clothed and equipped, each
one making him some parting present. He was then helped on a horse,
which Captain Bonneville presented to him; and after many parting
expressions of good will on both sides, set off on his return to his old
haunts; doubtless, to be once more plucked by his affectionate but needy
cousins.




36.

     The difficult mountain--A smoke and consultation--The
     captain’s speech--An icy turnpike--Danger of a false step--
     Arrival on Snake River--Return to--Portneuf--Meeting of
     comrades

CONTINUING THEIR JOURNEY UP the course of the Immahah, the travellers
found, as they approached the headwaters, the snow increased in
quantity, so as to lie two feet deep. They were again obliged,
therefore, to beat down a path for their horses, sometimes travelling
on the icy surface of the stream. At length they reached the place where
they intended to scale the mountains; and, having broken a pathway to
the foot, were agreeably surprised to find that the wind had drifted the
snow from off the side, so that they attained the summit with but little
difficulty. Here they encamped, with the intention of beating a track
through the mountains. A short experiment, however, obliged them to give
up the attempt, the snow lying in vast drifts, often higher than the
horses’ heads.

Captain Bonneville now took the two Indian guides, and set out to
reconnoitre the neighborhood. Observing a high peak which overtopped the
rest, he climbed it, and discovered from the summit a pass about
nine miles long, but so heavily piled with snow, that it seemed
impracticable. He now lit a pipe, and, sitting down with the two guides,
proceeded to hold a consultation after the Indian mode. For a long while
they all smoked vigorously and in silence, pondering over the subject
matter before them. At length a discussion commenced, and the opinion in
which the two guides concurred was, that the horses could not possibly
cross the snows. They advised, therefore, that the party should proceed
on foot, and they should take the horses back to the village, where they
would be well taken care of until Captain Bonneville should send for
them. They urged this advice with great earnestness; declaring that
their chief would be extremely angry, and treat them severely, should
any of the horses of his good friends, the white men, be lost, in
crossing under their guidance; and that, therefore, it was good they
should not attempt it.

Captain Bonneville sat smoking his pipe, and listening to them with
Indian silence and gravity. When they had finished, he replied to them
in their own style of language.

“My friends,” said he, “I have seen the pass, and have listened to your
words; you have little hearts. When troubles and dangers lie in your
way, you turn your backs. That is not the way with my nation. When great
obstacles present, and threaten to keep them back, their hearts swell,
and they push forward. They love to conquer difficulties. But enough for
the present. Night is coming on; let us return to our camp.”

He moved on, and they followed in silence. On reaching the camp, he
found the men extremely discouraged. One of their number had been
surveying the neighborhood, and seriously assured them that the snow was
at least a hundred feet deep. The captain cheered them up, and diffused
fresh spirit in them by his example. Still he was much perplexed how to
proceed. About dark there was a slight drizzling rain. An expedient now
suggested itself. This was to make two light sleds, place the packs on
them, and drag them to the other side of the mountain, thus forming
a road in the wet snow, which, should it afterward freeze, would be
sufficiently hard to bear the horses. This plan was promptly put into
execution; the sleds were constructed, the heavy baggage was drawn
backward and forward until the road was beaten, when they desisted
from their fatiguing labor. The night turned out clear and cold, and by
morning, their road was incrusted with ice sufficiently strong for their
purpose. They now set out on their icy turnpike, and got on well enough,
excepting that now and then a horse would sidle out of the track, and
immediately sink up to the neck. Then came on toil and difficulty, and
they would be obliged to haul up the floundering animal with ropes. One,
more unlucky than the rest, after repeated falls, had to be abandoned in
the snow. Notwithstanding these repeated delays, they succeeded, before
the sun had acquired sufficient power to thaw the snow, in getting all
the rest of their horses safely to the other side of the mountain.

Their difficulties and dangers, however, were not yet at an end. They
had now to descend, and the whole surface of the snow was glazed with
ice. It was necessary; therefore, to wait until the warmth of the sun
should melt the glassy crust of sleet, and give them a foothold in
the yielding snow. They had a frightful warning of the danger of
any movement while the sleet remained. A wild young mare, in her
restlessness, strayed to the edge of a declivity. One slip was fatal
to her; she lost her balance, careered with headlong velocity down the
slippery side of the mountain for more than two thousand feet, and was
dashed to pieces at the bottom. When the travellers afterward sought
the carcass to cut it up for food, they found it torn and mangled in the
most horrible manner.

It was quite late in the evening before the party descended to the
ultimate skirts of the snow. Here they planted large logs below them
to prevent their sliding down, and encamped for the night. The next day
they succeeded in bringing down their baggage to the encampment; then
packing all up regularly, and loading their horses, they once more
set out briskly and cheerfully, and in the course of the following day
succeeded in getting to a grassy region.

Here their Nez Perce guides declared that all the difficulties of the
mountains were at an end, and their course was plain and simple, and
needed no further guidance; they asked leave, therefore, to return
home. This was readily granted, with many thanks and presents for their
faithful services. They took a long farewell smoke with their white
friends, after which they mounted their horses and set off, exchanging
many farewells and kind wishes.

On the following day, Captain Bonneville completed his journey down the
mountain, and encamped on the borders of Snake River, where he found
the grass in great abundance and eight inches in height. In this
neighborhood, he saw on the rocky banks of the river several prismoids
of basaltes, rising to the height of fifty or sixty feet.

Nothing particularly worthy of note occurred during several days as the
party proceeded up along Snake River and across its tributary streams.
After crossing Gun Creek, they met with various signs that white people
were in the neighborhood, and Captain Bonneville made earnest exertions
to discover whether they were any of his own people, that he might join
them. He soon ascertained that they had been starved out of this tract
of country, and had betaken themselves to the buffalo region, whither he
now shaped his course. In proceeding along Snake River, he found small
hordes of Shoshonies lingering upon the minor streams, and living upon
trout and other fish, which they catch in great numbers at this season
in fish-traps. The greater part of the tribe, however, had penetrated
the mountains to hunt the elk, deer, and ahsahta or bighorn.

On the 12th of May, Captain Bonneville reached the Portneuf River, in
the vicinity of which he had left the winter encampment of his company
on the preceding Christmas day. He had then expected to be back by the
beginning of March, but circumstances had detained him upward of two
months beyond the time, and the winter encampment must long ere this
have been broken up. Halting on the banks of the Portneuf, he dispatched
scouts a few miles above, to visit the old camping ground and search for
signals of the party, or of their whereabouts, should they actually
have abandoned the spot. They returned without being able to ascertain
anything.

Being now destitute of provisions, the travellers found it necessary
to make a short hunting excursion after buffalo. They made caches,
therefore, on an island in the river, in which they deposited all their
baggage, and then set out on their expedition. They were so fortunate as
to kill a couple of fine bulls, and cutting up the carcasses, determined
to husband this stock of provisions with the most miserly care, lest
they should again be obliged to venture into the open and dangerous
hunting grounds. Returning to their island on the 18th of May, they
found that the wolves had been at the caches, scratched up the contents,
and scattered them in every direction. They now constructed a more
secure one, in which they deposited their heaviest articles, and then
descended Snake River again, and encamped just above the American Falls.
Here they proceeded to fortify themselves, intending to remain here,
and give their horses an opportunity to recruit their strength with good
pasturage, until it should be time to set out for the annual rendezvous
in Bear River valley.

On the first of June they descried four men on the other side of the
river, opposite to the camp, and, having attracted their attention by
a discharge of rifles, ascertained to their joy that they were some of
their own people. From these men Captain Bonneville learned that the
whole party which he had left in the preceding month of December were
encamped on Blackfoot River, a tributary of Snake River, not very far
above the Portneuf. Thither he proceeded with all possible dispatch,
and in a little while had the pleasure of finding himself once more
surrounded by his people, who greeted his return among them in the
heartiest manner; for his long-protracted absence had convinced them
that he and his three companions had been cut off by some hostile tribe.

The party had suffered much during his absence. They had been pinched by
famine and almost starved, and had been forced to repair to the caches
at Salmon River. Here they fell in with the Blackfeet bands, and
considered themselves fortunate in being able to retreat from the
dangerous neighborhood without sustaining any loss.

Being thus reunited, a general treat from Captain Bonneville to his
men was a matter of course. Two days, therefore, were given up to such
feasting and merriment as their means and situation afforded. What was
wanting in good cheer was made up in good will; the free trappers in
particular, distinguished themselves on the occasion, and the saturnalia
was enjoyed with a hearty holiday spirit, that smacked of the game
flavor of the wilderness.




37.

     Departure for the rendezvous--A war party of Blackfeet--A
     mock bustle--Sham fires at night--Warlike precautions--
     Dangers of a night attack--A panic among horses--Cautious
     march--The Beer Springs--A mock carousel--Skirmishing with
     buffaloes--A buffalo bait--Arrival at the rendezvous--
     Meeting of various bands

AFTER THE TWO DAYS of festive indulgence, Captain Bonneville broke
up the encampment, and set out with his motley crew of hired and free
trappers, half-breeds, Indians, and squaws, for the main rendezvous in
Bear River valley. Directing his course up the Blackfoot River, he soon
reached the hills among which it takes its rise. Here, while on the
march, he descried from the brow of a hill, a war party of about
sixty Blackfeet, on the plain immediately below him. His situation was
perilous; for the greater part of his people were dispersed in various
directions. Still, to betray hesitation or fear would be to discover his
actual weakness, and to invite attack. He assumed, instantly, therefore,
a belligerent tone; ordered the squaws to lead the horses to a small
grove of ashen trees, and unload and tie them; and caused a great bustle
to be made by his scanty handful; the leaders riding hither and thither,
and vociferating with all their might, as if a numerous force was
getting under way for an attack.

To keep up the deception as to his force, he ordered, at night, a number
of extra fires to be made in his camp, and kept up a vigilant watch. His
men were all directed to keep themselves prepared for instant action. In
such cases the experienced trapper sleeps in his clothes, with his rifle
beside him, the shot-belt and powder-flask on the stock: so that, in
case of alarm, he can lay his hand upon the whole of his equipment at
once, and start up, completely armed.

Captain Bonneville was also especially careful to secure the horses,
and set a vigilant guard upon them; for there lies the great object and
principal danger of a night attack. The grand move of the lurking savage
is to cause a panic among the horses. In such cases one horse frightens
another, until all are alarmed, and struggle to break loose. In camps
where there are great numbers of Indians, with their horses, a night
alarm of the kind is tremendous. The running of the horses that have
broken loose; the snorting, stamping, and rearing of those which remain
fast; the howling of dogs; the yelling of Indians; the scampering of
white men, and red men, with their guns; the overturning of lodges, and
trampling of fires by the horses; the flashes of the fires, lighting up
forms of men and steeds dashing through the gloom, altogether make
up one of the wildest scenes of confusion imaginable. In this way,
sometimes, all the horses of a camp amounting to several hundred will be
frightened off in a single night.

The night passed off without any disturbance; but there was no
likelihood that a war party of Blackfeet, once on the track of a camp
where there was a chance for spoils, would fail to hover round it. The
captain, therefore, continued to maintain the most vigilant precautions;
throwing out scouts in the advance, and on every rising ground.

In the course of the day he arrived at the plain of white clay, already
mentioned, surrounded by the mineral springs, called Beer Springs, by
the trappers. Here the men all halted to have a regale. In a few moments
every spring had its jovial knot of hard drinkers, with tin cup in hand,
indulging in a mock carouse; quaffing, pledging, toasting, bandying
jokes, singing drinking songs, and uttering peals of laughter, until it
seemed as if their imaginations had given potency to the beverage, and
cheated them into a fit of intoxication. Indeed, in the excitement of
the moment, they were loud and extravagant in their commendations of
“the mountain tap”; elevating it above every beverage produced from hops
or malt. It was a singular and fantastic scene; suited to a region
where everything is strange and peculiar:--These groups of trappers, and
hunters, and Indians, with their wild costumes, and wilder countenances;
their boisterous gayety, and reckless air; quaffing, and making merry
round these sparkling fountains; while beside them lay their weapons,
ready to be snatched up for instant service. Painters are fond of
representing banditti at their rude and picturesque carousels; but here
were groups, still more rude and picturesque; and it needed but a sudden
onset of Blackfeet, and a quick transition from a fantastic revel to
a furious melee, to have rendered this picture of a trapper’s life
complete.

The beer frolic, however, passed off without any untoward circumstance;
and, unlike most drinking bouts, left neither headache nor heartache
behind. Captain Bonneville now directed his course up along Bear River;
amusing himself, occasionally, with hunting the buffalo, with which
the country was covered. Sometimes, when he saw a huge bull taking his
repose in a prairie, he would steal along a ravine, until close upon
him; then rouse him from his meditations with a pebble, and take a shot
at him as he started up. Such is the quickness with which this animal
springs upon his legs, that it is not easy to discover the muscular
process by which it is effected. The horse rises first upon his fore
legs; and the domestic cow, upon her hinder limbs; but the buffalo
bounds at once from a couchant to an erect position, with a celerity
that baffles the eye. Though from his bulk, and rolling gait, he does
not appear to run with much swiftness; yet, it takes a stanch horse to
overtake him, when at full speed on level ground; and a buffalo cow is
still fleeter in her motion.

Among the Indians and half-breeds of the party, were several admirable
horsemen and bold hunters; who amused themselves with a grotesque kind
of buffalo bait. Whenever they found a huge bull in the plains, they
prepared for their teasing and barbarous sport. Surrounding him on
horseback, they would discharge their arrows at him in quick succession,
goading him to make an attack; which, with a dexterous movement of the
horse, they would easily avoid. In this way, they hovered round him,
feathering him with arrows, as he reared and plunged about, until he was
bristled all over like a porcupine. When they perceived in him signs
of exhaustion, and he could no longer be provoked to make battle, they
would dismount from their horses, approach him in the rear, and seizing
him by the tail, jerk him from side to side, and drag him backward;
until the frantic animal, gathering fresh strength from fury, would
break from them, and rush, with flashing eyes and a hoarse bellowing,
upon any enemy in sight; but in a little while, his transient excitement
at an end, would pitch headlong on the ground, and expire. The arrows
were then plucked forth, the tongue cut out and preserved as a dainty,
and the carcass left a banquet for the wolves.

Pursuing his course up Bear River, Captain Bonneville arrived, on the
13th of June, at the Little Snake Lake; where he encamped for four or
five days, that he might examine its shores and outlets. The latter, he
found extremely muddy, and so surrounded by swamps and quagmires, that
he was obliged to construct canoes of rushes, with which to explore
them. The mouths of all the streams which fall into this lake from the
west, are marshy and inconsiderable; but on the east side, there is
a beautiful beach, broken, occasionally, by high and isolated bluffs,
which advance upon the lake, and heighten the character of the scenery.
The water is very shallow, but abounds with trout, and other small fish.

Having finished his survey of the lake, Captain Bonneville proceeded on
his journey, until on the banks of the Bear River, some distance higher
up, he came upon the party which he had detached a year before, to
circumambulate the Great Salt Lake, and ascertain its extent, and the
nature of its shores. They had been encamped here about twenty days;
and were greatly rejoiced at meeting once more with their comrades,
from whom they had so long been separated. The first inquiry of Captain
Bonneville was about the result of their journey, and the information
they had procured as to the Great Salt Lake; the object of his intense
curiosity and ambition. The substance of their report will be found in
the following chapter.




38.

     Plan of the Salt Lake expedition--Great sandy deserts--
     Sufferings from thirst--Ogden’s--River--Trails and smoke of
     lurking savages--Thefts at night--A trapper’s revenge--
     Alarms of a guilty conscience--A murderous victory--
     Californian mountains--Plains along the--Pacific--Arrival
     at--Monterey--Account of the place and neighborhood--Lower--
     California--Its extent--The Peninsula--Soil--Climate--
     Production--Its settlements by the Jesuits--Their sway over
     the Indians--Their expulsion--Ruins of a missionary
     establishment--Sublime scenery--Upper California Missions--
     Their power and policy--Resources of the country--Designs of
     foreign nations

IT WAS ON THE 24TH of July, in the preceding year (1833), that the
brigade of forty men set out from Green River valley, to explore the
Great Salt Lake. They were to make the complete circuit of it, trapping
on all the streams which should fall in their way, and to keep journals
and make charts, calculated to impart a knowledge of the lake and the
surrounding country. All the resources of Captain Bonneville had been
tasked to fit out this favorite expedition. The country lying to the
southwest of the mountains, and ranging down to California, was as yet
almost unknown; being out of the buffalo range, it was untraversed
by the trapper, who preferred those parts of the wilderness where
the roaming herds of that species of animal gave him comparatively an
abundant and luxurious life. Still it was said the deer, the elk, and
the bighorn were to be found there, so that, with a little diligence and
economy, there was no danger of lacking food. As a precaution, however,
the party halted on Bear River and hunted for a few days, until they had
laid in a supply of dried buffalo meat and venison; they then passed by
the head waters of the Cassie River, and soon found themselves launched
on an immense sandy desert. Southwardly, on their left, they beheld the
Great Salt Lake, spread out like a sea, but they found no stream running
into it. A desert extended around them, and stretched to the southwest,
as far as the eye could reach, rivalling the deserts of Asia and Africa
in sterility. There was neither tree, nor herbage, nor spring, nor pool,
nor running stream, nothing but parched wastes of sand, where horse and
rider were in danger of perishing.

Their sufferings, at length, became so great that they abandoned
their intended course, and made towards a range of snowy mountains,
brightening in the north, where they hoped to find water. After a time,
they came upon a small stream leading directly towards these mountains.
Having quenched their burning thirst, and refreshed themselves and their
weary horses for a time, they kept along this stream, which gradually
increased in size, being fed by numerous brooks. After approaching the
mountains, it took a sweep toward the southwest, and the travellers
still kept along it, trapping beaver as they went, on the flesh of which
they subsisted for the present, husbanding their dried meat for future
necessities.

The stream on which they had thus fallen is called by some, Mary River,
but is more generally known as Ogden’s River, from Mr. Peter Ogden, an
enterprising and intrepid leader of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who
first explored it. The wild and half-desert region through which the
travellers were passing, is wandered over by hordes of Shoshokoes, or
Root Diggers, the forlorn branch of the Snake tribe. They are a shy
people, prone to keep aloof from the stranger. The travellers frequently
met with their trails, and saw the smoke of their fires rising in
various parts of the vast landscape, so that they knew there were great
numbers in the neighborhood, but scarcely ever were any of them to be
met with.

After a time, they began to have vexatious proofs that, if the
Shoshokoes were quiet by day, they were busy at night. The camp was
dogged by these eavesdroppers; scarce a morning, but various articles
were missing, yet nothing could be seen of the marauders. What
particularly exasperated the hunters, was to have their traps stolen
from the streams. One morning, a trapper of a violent and savage
character, discovering that his traps had been carried off in the night,
took a horrid oath to kill the first Indian he should meet, innocent
or guilty. As he was returning with his comrades to camp, he beheld two
unfortunate Diggers, seated on the river bank, fishing. Advancing upon
them, he levelled his rifle, shot one upon the spot, and flung his
bleeding body into the stream. The other Indian fled and was suffered
to escape. Such is the indifference with which acts of violence are
regarded in the wilderness, and such the immunity an armed ruffian
enjoys beyond the barriers of the laws, that the only punishment this
desperado met with, was a rebuke from the leader of the party. The
trappers now left the scene of this infamous tragedy, and kept on
westward, down the course of the river, which wound along with a range
of mountains on the right hand, and a sandy, but somewhat fertile plain,
on the left. As they proceeded, they beheld columns of smoke rising,
as before, in various directions, which their guilty consciences now
converted into alarm signals, to arouse the country and collect the
scattered bands for vengeance.

After a time, the natives began to make their appearance, and sometimes
in considerable numbers, but always pacific; the trappers, however,
suspected them of deep-laid plans to draw them into ambuscades; to crowd
into and get possession of their camp, and various other crafty and
daring conspiracies, which, it is probable, never entered into the heads
of the poor savages. In fact, they are a simple, timid, inoffensive
race, unpractised in warfare, and scarce provided with any weapons,
excepting for the chase. Their lives are passed in the great sand plains
and along the adjacent rivers; they subsist sometimes on fish, at other
times on roots and the seeds of a plant, called the cat’s-tail. They
are of the same kind of people that Captain Bonneville found upon Snake
River, and whom he found so mild and inoffensive.

The trappers, however, had persuaded themselves that they were making
their way through a hostile country, and that implacable foes hung round
their camp or beset their path, watching for an opportunity to surprise
them. At length, one day they came to the banks of a stream emptying
into Ogden’s River, which they were obliged to ford. Here a great number
of Shoshokoes were posted on the opposite bank. Persuaded they were
there with hostile intent, they advanced upon them, levelled their
rifles, and killed twenty five of them upon the spot. The rest fled to
a short distance, then halted and turned about, howling and whining like
wolves, and uttering the most piteous wailings. The trappers chased them
in every direction; the poor wretches made no defence, but fled with
terror; neither does it appear from the accounts of the boasted victors,
that a weapon had been wielded or a weapon launched by the Indians
throughout the affair. We feel perfectly convinced that the poor savages
had no hostile intention, but had merely gathered together through
motives of curiosity, as others of their tribe had done when Captain
Bonneville and his companions passed along Snake River.

The trappers continued down Ogden’s River, until they ascertained that
it lost itself in a great swampy lake, to which there was no apparent
discharge. They then struck directly westward, across the great chain of
California mountains intervening between these interior plains and the
shores of the Pacific.

For three and twenty days they were entangled among these mountains,
the peaks and ridges of which are in many places covered with perpetual
snow. Their passes and defiles present the wildest scenery, partaking
of the sublime rather than the beautiful, and abounding with frightful
precipices. The sufferings of the travellers among these savage
mountains were extreme: for a part of the time they were nearly starved;
at length, they made their way through them, and came down upon the
plains of New California, a fertile region extending along the coast,
with magnificent forests, verdant savannas, and prairies that looked
like stately parks. Here they found deer and other game in abundance,
and indemnified themselves for past famine. They now turned toward the
south, and passing numerous small bands of natives, posted upon various
streams, arrived at the Spanish village and post of Monterey.

This is a small place, containing about two hundred houses, situated in
latitude 37 north. It has a capacious bay, with indifferent anchorage.
The surrounding country is extremely fertile, especially in the valleys;
the soil is richer, the further you penetrate into the interior, and
the climate is described as a perpetual spring. Indeed, all California,
extending along the Pacific Ocean from latitude 19 30’ to 42 north, is
represented as one of the most fertile and beautiful regions in North
America.

Lower California, in length about seven hundred miles, forms a great
peninsula, which crosses the tropics and terminates in the torrid zone.
It is separated from the mainland by the Gulf of California, sometimes
called the Vermilion Sea; into this gulf empties the Colorado of the
West, the Seeds-ke-dee, or Green River, as it is also sometimes called.
The peninsula is traversed by stern and barren mountains, and has many
sandy plains, where the only sign of vegetation is the cylindrical
cactus growing among the clefts of the rocks. Wherever there is water,
however, and vegetable mould, the ardent nature of the climate quickens
everything into astonishing fertility. There are valleys luxuriant with
the rich and beautiful productions of the tropics. There the sugar-cane
and indigo plant attain a perfection unequalled in any other part of
North America. There flourish the olive, the fig, the date, the
orange, the citron, the pomegranate, and other fruits belonging to the
voluptuous climates of the south; with grapes in abundance, that yield a
generous wine. In the interior are salt plains; silver mines and scanty
veins of gold are said, likewise, to exist; and pearls of a beautiful
water are to be fished upon the coast.

The peninsula of California was settled in 1698, by the Jesuits, who,
certainly, as far as the natives were concerned, have generally proved
the most beneficent of colonists. In the present instance, they gained
and maintained a footing in the country without the aid of military
force, but solely by religious influence. They formed a treaty,
and entered into the most amicable relations with the natives, then
numbering from twenty-five to thirty thousand souls, and gained a hold
upon their affections, and a control over their minds, that effected
a complete change in their condition. They built eleven missionary
establishments in the various valleys of the peninsula, which formed
rallying places for the surrounding savages, where they gathered
together as sheep into the fold, and surrendered themselves and their
consciences into the hands of these spiritual pastors. Nothing, we are
told, could exceed the implicit and affectionate devotion of the Indian
converts to the Jesuit fathers, and the Catholic faith was disseminated
widely through the wilderness. The growing power and influence of the
Jesuits in the New World at length excited the jealousy of the Spanish
government, and they were banished from the colonies. The governor, who
arrived at California to expel them, and to take charge of the country,
expected to find a rich and powerful fraternity, with immense treasures
hoarded in their missions, and an army of Indians ready to defend them.
On the contrary, he beheld a few venerable silver-haired priests coming
humbly forward to meet him, followed by a throng of weeping, but
submissive natives. The heart of the governor, it is said, was so
touched by this unexpected sight, that he shed tears; but he had to
execute his orders. The Jesuits were accompanied to the place of their
embarkation by their simple and affectionate parishioners, who took
leave of them with tears and sobs. Many of the latter abandoned their
hereditary abodes, and wandered off to join their southern brethren,
so that but a remnant remained in the peninsula. The Franciscans
immediately succeeded the Jesuits, and subsequently the Dominicans;
but the latter managed their affairs ill. But two of the missionary
establishments are at present occupied by priests; the rest are all in
ruins, excepting one, which remains a monument of the former power and
prosperity of the order. This is a noble edifice, once the seat of the
chief of the resident Jesuits. It is situated in a beautiful valley,
about half way between the Gulf of California and the broad ocean, the
peninsula being here about sixty miles wide. The edifice is of hewn
stone, one story high, two hundred and ten feet in front, and about
fifty-five feet deep. The walls are six feet thick, and sixteen feet
high, with a vaulted roof of stone, about two feet and a half in
thickness. It is now abandoned and desolate; the beautiful valley is
without an inhabitant--not a human being resides within thirty miles of
the place!

In approaching this deserted mission-house from the south, the traveller
passes over the mountain of San Juan, supposed to be the highest peak
in the Californias. From this lofty eminence, a vast and magnificent
prospect unfolds itself; the great Gulf of California, with the dark
blue sea beyond, studded with islands; and in another direction, the
immense lava plain of San Gabriel. The splendor of the climate gives an
Italian effect to the immense prospect. The sky is of a deep blue color,
and the sunsets are often magnificent beyond description. Such is a
slight and imperfect sketch of this remarkable peninsula.

Upper California extends from latitude 31 10’ to 42 on the Pacific, and
inland, to the great chain of snow-capped mountains which divide it from
the sand plains of the interior. There are about twenty-one missions in
this province, most of which were established about fifty years since,
and are generally under the care of the Franciscans. These exert a
protecting sway over about thirty-five thousand Indian converts, who
reside on the lands around the mission houses. Each of these houses has
fifteen miles square of land allotted to it, subdivided into small lots,
proportioned to the number of Indian converts attached to the mission.
Some are enclosed with high walls; but in general they are open hamlets,
composed of rows of huts, built of sunburnt bricks; in some instances
whitewashed and roofed with tiles. Many of them are far in the interior,
beyond the reach of all military protection, and dependent entirely on
the good will of the natives, which never fails them. They have made
considerable progress in teaching the Indians the useful arts. There
are native tanners, shoemakers, weavers, blacksmiths, stonecutters,
and other artificers attached to each establishment. Others are taught
husbandry, and the rearing of cattle and horses; while the females card
and spin wool, weave, and perform the other duties allotted to their
sex in civilized life. No social intercourse is allowed between the
unmarried of the opposite sexes after working hours; and at night they
are locked up in separate apartments, and the keys delivered to the
priests.

The produce of the lands, and all the profits arising from sales, are
entirely at the disposal of the priests; whatever is not required for
the support of the missions, goes to augment a fund which is under
their control. Hides and tallow constitute the principal riches of the
missions, and, indeed, the main commerce of the country. Grain might
be produced to an unlimited extent at the establishments, were there
a sufficient market for it. Olives and grapes are also reared at the
missions.

Horses and horned cattle abound throughout all this region; the former
may be purchased at from three to five dollars, but they are of an
inferior breed. Mules, which are here of a large size and of valuable
qualities, cost from seven to ten dollars.

There are several excellent ports along this coast. San Diego, San
Barbara, Monterey, the bay of San Francisco, and the northern port of
Bondago; all afford anchorage for ships of the largest class. The port
of San Francisco is too well known to require much notice in this place.
The entrance from the sea is sixty-seven fathoms deep, and within, whole
navies might ride with perfect safety. Two large rivers, which take
their rise in mountains two or three hundred miles to the east, and run
through a country unsurpassed for soil and climate, empty themselves
into the harbor. The country around affords admirable timber for
ship-building. In a word, this favored port combines advantages which
not only fit it for a grand naval depot, but almost render it capable of
being made the dominant military post of these seas.

Such is a feeble outline of the Californian coast and country, the value
of which is more and more attracting the attention of naval powers. The
Russians have always a ship of war upon this station, and have already
encroached upon the Californian boundaries, by taking possession of the
port of Bondago, and fortifying it with several guns. Recent surveys
have likewise been made, both by the Russians and the English; and we
have little doubt, that, at no very distant day, this neglected, and,
until recently, almost unknown region, will be found to possess sources
of wealth sufficient to sustain a powerful and prosperous empire. Its
inhabitants, themselves, are but little aware of its real riches;
they have not enterprise sufficient to acquaint themselves with a vast
interior that lies almost a terra incognita; nor have they the skill and
industry to cultivate properly the fertile tracts along the coast; nor
to prosecute that foreign commerce which brings all the resources of a
country into profitable action.




39.

     Gay life at Monterey--Mexican horsemen--A bold dragoon--Use
     of the lasso--Vaqueros--Noosing a bear--Fight between a bull
     and a bear--Departure from Monterey--Indian horse stealers--
     Outrages committed by the travellers--Indignation of Captain
     Bonneville

THE WANDERING BAND of trappers was well received at Monterey, the
inhabitants were desirous of retaining them among them, and offered
extravagant wages to such as were acquainted with any mechanic art. When
they went into the country, too, they were kindly treated by the priests
at the missions; who are always hospitable to strangers, whatever may be
their rank or religion. They had no lack of provisions; being permitted
to kill as many as they pleased of the vast herds of cattle that graze
the country, on condition, merely, of rendering the hides to the owners.
They attended bull-fights and horseraces; forgot all the purposes of
their expedition; squandered away freely the property that did not
belong to them; and, in a word, revelled in a perfect fool’s paradise.

What especially delighted them was the equestrian skill of the
Californians. The vast number and the cheapness of the horses in this
country makes every one a cavalier. The Mexicans and halfbreeds of
California spend the greater part of their time in the saddle. They are
fearless riders; and their daring feats upon unbroken colts and wild
horses, astonished our trappers; though accustomed to the bold riders of
the prairies.

A Mexican horseman has much resemblance, in many points, to the
equestrians of Old Spain; and especially to the vain-glorious caballero
of Andalusia. A Mexican dragoon, for instance, is represented as arrayed
in a round blue jacket, with red cuffs and collar; blue velvet breeches,
unbuttoned at the knees to show his white stockings; bottinas of deer
skin; a round-crowned Andalusian hat, and his hair cued. On the pommel
of his saddle, he carries balanced a long musket, with fox skin round
the lock. He is cased in a cuirass of double-fold deer skin, and carries
a bull’s hide shield; he is forked in a Moorish saddle, high before
and behind; his feet are thrust into wooden box stirrups, of Moorish
fashion, and a tremendous pair of iron spurs, fastened by chains, jingle
at his heels. Thus equipped, and suitably mounted, he considers himself
the glory of California, and the terror of the universe.

The Californian horsemen seldom ride out without the laso [sic]; that
is to say, a long coil of cord, with a slip noose; with which they are
expert, almost to a miracle. The laso, now almost entirely confined to
Spanish America, is said to be of great antiquity; and to have come,
originally, from the East. It was used, we are told, by a pastoral
people of Persian descent; of whom eight thousand accompanied the
army of Xerxes. By the Spanish Americans, it is used for a variety of
purposes; and among others, for hauling wood. Without dismounting,
they cast the noose around a log, and thus drag it to their houses. The
vaqueros, or Indian cattle drivers, have also learned the use of the
laso from the Spaniards; and employ it to catch the half-wild cattle by
throwing it round their horns.

The laso is also of great use in furnishing the public with a favorite,
though barbarous sport; the combat between a bear and a wild bull.
For this purpose, three or four horsemen sally forth to some wood,
frequented by bears, and, depositing the carcass of a bullock, hide
themselves in the vicinity. The bears are soon attracted by the bait. As
soon as one, fit for their purpose, makes his appearance, they run out,
and with the laso, dexterously noose him by either leg. After
dragging him at full speed until he is fatigued, they secure him more
effectually; and tying him on the carcass of the bullock, draw him in
triumph to the scene of action. By this time, he is exasperated to such
frenzy, that they are sometimes obliged to throw cold water on him, to
moderate his fury; and dangerous would it be, for horse and rider, were
he, while in this paroxysm, to break his bonds.

A wild bull, of the fiercest kind, which has been caught and exasperated
in the same manner, is now produced; and both animals are turned loose
in the arena of a small amphitheatre. The mortal fight begins instantly;
and always, at first, to the disadvantage of Bruin; fatigued, as he is,
by his previous rough riding. Roused, at length, by the repeated goring
of the bull, he seizes his muzzle with his sharp claws, and clinging to
this most sensitive part, causes him to bellow with rage and agony.
In his heat and fury, the bull lolls out his tongue; this is instantly
clutched by the bear; with a desperate effort he overturns his huge
antagonist; and then dispatches him without difficulty.

Beside this diversion, the travellers were likewise regaled with
bull-fights, in the genuine style of Old Spain; the Californians being
considered the best bull-fighters in the Mexican dominions.

After a considerable sojourn at Monterey, spent in these very edifying,
but not very profitable amusements, the leader of this vagabond party
set out with his comrades, on his return journey. Instead of retracing
their steps through the mountains, they passed round their southern
extremity, and, crossing a range of low hills, found themselves in the
sandy plains south of Ogden’s River; in traversing which, they again
suffered, grievously, for want of water.

In the course of their journey, they encountered a party of Mexicans in
pursuit of a gang of natives, who had been stealing horses. The savages
of this part of California are represented as extremely poor, and
armed only with stone-pointed arrows; it being the wise policy of the
Spaniards not to furnish them with firearms. As they find it difficult,
with their blunt shafts, to kill the wild game of the mountains, they
occasionally supply themselves with food, by entrapping the Spanish
horses. Driving them stealthily into fastnesses and ravines, they
slaughter them without difficulty, and dry their flesh for provisions.
Some they carry off to trade with distant tribes; and in this way, the
Spanish horses pass from hand to hand among the Indians, until they even
find their way across the Rocky Mountains.

The Mexicans are continually on the alert, to intercept these marauders;
but the Indians are apt to outwit them, and force them to make long and
wild expeditions in pursuit of their stolen horses.

Two of the Mexican party just mentioned joined the band of trappers,
and proved themselves worthy companions. In the course of their journey
through the country frequented by the poor Root Diggers, there seems to
have been an emulation between them, which could inflict the greatest
outrages upon the natives. The trappers still considered them in the
light of dangerous foes; and the Mexicans, very probably, charged them
with the sin of horse-stealing; we have no other mode of accounting for
the infamous barbarities of which, according to their own story, they
were guilty; hunting the poor Indians like wild beasts, and killing them
without mercy. The Mexicans excelled at this savage sport; chasing their
unfortunate victims at full speed; noosing them round the neck with
their lasos, and then dragging them to death!

Such are the scanty details of this most disgraceful expedition; at
least, such are all that Captain Bonneville had the patience to collect;
for he was so deeply grieved by the failure of his plans, and so
indignant at the atrocities related to him, that he turned, with disgust
and horror, from the narrators. Had he exerted a little of the Lynch
law of the wilderness, and hanged those dexterous horsemen in their
own lasos, it would but have been a well-merited and salutary act of
retributive justice. The failure of this expedition was a blow to his
pride, and a still greater blow to his purse. The Great Salt Lake
still remained unexplored; at the same time, the means which had been
furnished so liberally to fit out this favorite expedition, had all been
squandered at Monterey; and the peltries, also, which had been collected
on the way. He would have but scanty returns, therefore, to make this
year, to his associates in the United States; and there was great danger
of their becoming disheartened, and abandoning the enterprise.




40.

     Traveller’s tales--Indian lurkers--Prognostics of Buckeye
     Signs and portents--The medicine wolf--An alarm--An ambush
     The captured provant--Triumph of Buckeye--Arrival of
     supplies Grand carouse--Arrangements for the year--Mr. Wyeth
     and his new-levied band.

THE horror and indignation felt by Captain Bonneville at the excesses
of the Californian adventurers were not participated by his men; on
the contrary, the events of that expedition were favorite themes in the
camp. The heroes of Monterey bore the palm in all the gossipings among
the hunters. Their glowing descriptions of Spanish bear-baits and
bull-fights especially, were listened to with intense delight; and had
another expedition to California been proposed, the difficulty would
have been to restrain a general eagerness to volunteer.

The captain had not long been at the rendezvous when he perceived, by
various signs, that Indians were lurking in the neighborhood. It was
evident that the Blackfoot band, which he had seen when on his march,
had dogged his party, and were intent on mischief. He endeavored to keep
his camp on the alert; but it is as difficult to maintain discipline
among trappers at a rendezvous as among sailors when in port.

Buckeye, the Delaware Indian, was scandalized at this heedlessness of
the hunters when an enemy was at hand, and was continually preaching up
caution. He was a little prone to play the prophet, and to deal in signs
and portents, which occasionally excited the merriment of his white
comrades. He was a great dreamer, and believed in charms and talismans,
or medicines, and could foretell the approach of strangers by the
howling or barking of the small prairie wolf. This animal, being driven
by the larger wolves from the carcasses left on the hunting grounds by
the hunters, follows the trail of the fresh meat carried to the camp.
Here the smell of the roast and broiled, mingling with every breeze,
keeps them hovering about the neighborhood; scenting every blast,
turning up their noses like hungry hounds, and testifying their
pinching hunger by long whining howls and impatient barkings. These are
interpreted by the superstitious Indians into warnings that strangers
are at hand; and one accidental coincidence, like the chance fulfillment
of an almanac prediction, is sufficient to cover a thousand failures.
This little, whining, feast-smelling animal is, therefore, called among
Indians the “medicine wolf;” and such was one of Buckeye’s infallible
oracles.

One morning early, the soothsaying Delaware appeared with a gloomy
countenance. His mind was full of dismal presentiments, whether from
mysterious dreams, or the intimations of the medicine wolf, does not
appear. “Danger,” he said, “was lurking in their path, and there would
be some fighting before sunset.” He was bantered for his prophecy, which
was attributed to his having supped too heartily, and been visited by
bad dreams. In the course of the morning a party of hunters set out in
pursuit of buffaloes, taking with them a mule, to bring home the meat
they should procure. They had been some few hours absent, when they came
clattering at full speed into camp, giving the war cry of Blackfeet!
Blackfeet! Every one seized his weapon and ran to learn the cause of the
alarm. It appeared that the hunters, as they were returning leisurely,
leading their mule well laden with prime pieces of buffalo meat, passed
close by a small stream overhung with trees, about two miles from
the camp. Suddenly a party of Blackfeet, who lay in ambush along the
thickets, sprang up with a fearful yell, and discharged a volley at the
hunters. The latter immediately threw themselves flat on their horses,
put them to their speed, and never paused to look behind, until they
found themselves in camp. Fortunately they had escaped without a wound;
but the mule, with all the “provant,” had fallen into the hands of the
enemy This was a loss, as well as an insult, not to be borne. Every
man sprang to horse, and with rifle in hand, galloped off to punish
the Blackfeet, and rescue the buffalo beef. They came too late; the
marauders were off, and all that they found of their mule was the dents
of his hoofs, as he had been conveyed off at a round trot, bearing his
savory cargo to the hills, to furnish the scampering savages with a
banquet of roast meat at the expense of the white men.

The party returned to camp, balked of their revenge, but still more
grievously balked of their supper. Buckeye, the Delaware, sat smoking by
his fire, perfectly composed. As the hunters related the particulars
of the attack, he listened in silence, with unruffled countenance, then
pointing to the west, “the sun has not yet set,” said he: “Buckeye did
not dream like a fool!”

All present now recollected the prediction of the Indian at daybreak,
and were struck with what appeared to be its fulfilment. They called to
mind, also, a long catalogue of foregone presentiments and predictions
made at various times by the Delaware, and, in their superstitious
credulity, began to consider him a veritable seer; without thinking how
natural it was to predict danger, and how likely to have the prediction
verified in the present instance, when various signs gave evidence of a
lurking foe.

The various bands of Captain Bonneville’s company had now been assembled
for some time at the rendezvous; they had had their fill of feasting,
and frolicking, and all the species of wild and often uncouth
merrymaking, which invariably take place on these occasions. Their
horses, as well as themselves, had recovered from past famine and
fatigue, and were again fit for active service; and an impatience began
to manifest itself among the men once more to take the field, and set
off on some wandering expedition.

At this juncture M. Cerre arrived at the rendezvous at the head of a
supply party, bringing goods and equipments from the States. This active
leader, it will be recollected, had embarked the year previously in
skin-boats on the Bighorn, freighted with the year’s collection of
peltries. He had met with misfortune in the course of his voyage: one of
his frail barks being upset, and part of the furs lost or damaged.

The arrival of the supplies gave the regular finish to the annual
revel. A grand outbreak of wild debauch ensued among the mountaineers;
drinking, dancing, swaggering, gambling, quarrelling, and fighting.
Alcohol, which, from its portable qualities, containing the greatest
quantity of fiery spirit in the smallest compass, is the only liquor
carried across the mountains, is the inflammatory beverage at these
carousals, and is dealt out to the trappers at four dollars a pint. When
inflamed by this fiery beverage, they cut all kinds of mad pranks
and gambols, and sometimes burn all their clothes in their drunken
bravadoes. A camp, recovering from one of these riotous revels, presents
a seriocomic spectacle; black eyes, broken heads, lack-lustre visages.
Many of the trappers have squandered in one drunken frolic the
hard-earned wages of a year; some have run in debt, and must toil on to
pay for past pleasure. All are sated with this deep draught of pleasure,
and eager to commence another trapping campaign; for hardship and hard
work, spiced with the stimulants of wild adventures, and topped off with
an annual frantic carousal, is the lot of the restless trapper.

The captain now made his arrangements for the current year. Cerre and
Walker, with a number of men who had been to California, were to proceed
to St. Louis with the packages of furs collected during the past year.
Another party, headed by a leader named Montero, was to proceed to the
Crow country, trap upon its various streams, and among the Black Hills,
and thence to proceed to the Arkansas, where he was to go into winter
quarters.

The captain marked out for himself a widely different course. He
intended to make another expedition, with twenty-three men to the
lower part of the Columbia River, and to proceed to the valley of the
Multnomah; after wintering in those parts, and establishing a trade with
those tribes, among whom he had sojourned on his first visit, he would
return in the spring, cross the Rocky Mountains, and join Montero and
his party in the month of July, at the rendezvous of the Arkansas; where
he expected to receive his annual supplies from the States.

If the reader will cast his eye upon a map, he may form an idea of the
contempt for distance which a man acquires in this vast wilderness, by
noticing the extent of country comprised in these projected wanderings.
Just as the different parties were about to set out on the 3d of July,
on their opposite routes, Captain Bonneville received intelligence that
Wyeth, the indefatigable leader of the salmon-fishing enterprise, who
had parted with him about a year previously on the banks of the Bighorn,
to descend that wild river in a bull boat, was near at hand, with a new
levied band of hunters and trappers, and was on his way once more to the
banks of the Columbia.

As we take much interest in the novel enterprise of this “eastern man,”
 and are pleased with his pushing and persevering spirit; and as his
movements are characteristic of life in the wilderness, we will, with
the reader’s permission, while Captain Bonneville is breaking up his
camp and saddling his horses, step back a year in time, and a few
hundred miles in distance to the bank of the Bighorn, and launch
ourselves with Wyeth in his bull boat; and though his adventurous voyage
will take us many hundreds of miles further down wild and wandering
rivers; yet such is the magic power of the pen, that we promise to bring
the reader safe to Bear River Valley, by the time the last horse is
saddled.




41.

     A voyage in a bull boat.

IT was about the middle of August (1833) that Mr. Nathaniel J. Wyeth,
as the reader may recollect, launched his bull boat at the foot of
the rapids of the Bighorn, and departed in advance of the parties of
Campbell and Captain Bonneville. His boat was made of three buffalo
skins, stretched on a light frame, stitched together, and the seams paid
with elk tallow and ashes. It was eighteen feet long, and about five
feet six inches wide, sharp at each end, with a round bottom, and drew
about a foot and a half of water-a depth too great for these upper
rivers, which abound with shallows and sand-bars. The crew consisted of
two half-breeds, who claimed to be white men, though a mixture of the
French creole and the Shawnee and Potawattomie. They claimed, moreover,
to be thorough mountaineers, and first-rate hunters--the common boast of
these vagabonds of the wilderness. Besides these, there was a Nez Perce
lad of eighteen years of age, a kind of servant of all work, whose great
aim, like all Indian servants, was to do as little work as possible;
there was, moreover, a half-breed boy, of thirteen, named Baptiste, son
of a Hudson’s Bay trader by a Flathead beauty; who was travelling with
Wyeth to see the world and complete his education. Add to these, Mr.
Milton Sublette, who went as passenger, and we have the crew of the
little bull boat complete.

It certainly was a slight armament with which to run the gauntlet
through countries swarming with hostile hordes, and a slight bark to
navigate these endless rivers, tossing and pitching down rapids, running
on snags and bumping on sand-bars; such, however, are the cockle-shells
with which these hardy rovers of the wilderness will attempt the wildest
streams; and it is surprising what rough shocks and thumps these
boats will endure, and what vicissitudes they will live through. Their
duration, however, is but limited; they require frequently to be
hauled out of the water and dried, to prevent the hides from becoming
water-soaked; and they eventually rot and go to pieces.

The course of the river was a little to the north of east; it ran about
five miles an hour, over a gravelly bottom. The banks were generally
alluvial, and thickly grown with cottonwood trees, intermingled
occasionally with ash and plum trees. Now and then limestone cliffs
and promontories advanced upon the river, making picturesque headlands.
Beyond the woody borders rose ranges of naked hills.

Milton Sublette was the Pelorus of this adventurous bark; being somewhat
experienced in this wild kind of navigation. It required all his
attention and skill, however, to pilot her clear of sand-bars and snags
of sunken trees. There was often, too, a perplexity of choice, where
the river branched into various channels, among clusters of islands; and
occasionally the voyagers found themselves aground and had to turn back.

It was necessary, also, to keep a wary eye upon the land, for they were
passing through the heart of the Crow country, and were continually in
reach of any ambush that might be lurking on shore. The most formidable
foes that they saw, however, were three grizzly bears, quietly
promenading along the bank, who seemed to gaze at them with surprise as
they glided by. Herds of buffalo, also, were moving about, or lying
on the ground, like cattle in a pasture; excepting such inhabitants as
these, a perfect solitude reigned over the land. There was no sign
of human habitation; for the Crows, as we have already shown, are a
wandering people, a race of hunters and warriors, who live in tents and
on horseback, and are continually on the move. At night they landed,
hauled up their boat to dry, pitched their tent, and made a rousing
fire. Then, as it was the first evening of their voyage, they indulged
in a regale, relishing their buffalo beef with inspiring alcohol; after
which, they slept soundly, without dreaming of Crows or Blackfeet. Early
in the morning, they again launched the boat and committed themselves to
the stream.

In this way they voyaged for two days without any material occurrence,
excepting a severe thunder storm, which compelled them to put to shore,
and wait until it was passed. On the third morning they descried
some persons at a distance on the river bank. As they were now, by
calculation, at no great distance from Fort Cass, a trading post of the
American Fur Company, they supposed these might be some of its people. A
nearer approach showed them to be Indians. Descrying a woman apart from
the rest, they landed and accosted her. She informed them that the main
force of the Crow nation, consisting of five bands, under their several
chiefs, were but about two or three miles below, on their way up along
the river. This was unpleasant tidings, but to retreat was impossible,
and the river afforded no hiding place. They continued forward,
therefore, trusting that, as Fort Cass was so near at hand, the Crows
might refrain from any depredations.

Floating down about two miles further, they came in sight of the first
band, scattered along the river bank, all well mounted; some armed with
guns, others with bows and arrows, and a few with lances. They made
a wildly picturesque appearance managing their horses with their
accustomed dexterity and grace. Nothing can be more spirited than a band
of Crow cavaliers. They are a fine race of men averaging six feet in
height, lithe and active, with hawks’ eyes and Roman noses. The
latter feature is common to the Indians on the east side of the Rocky
Mountains; those on the western side have generally straight or flat
noses.

Wyeth would fain have slipped by this cavalcade unnoticed; but the
river, at this place, was not more than ninety yards across; he was
perceived, therefore, and hailed by the vagabond warriors, and,
we presume, in no very choice language; for, among their other
accomplishments, the Crows are famed for possessing a Billingsgate
vocabulary of unrivalled opulence, and for being by no means sparing
of it whenever an occasion offers. Indeed, though Indians are generally
very lofty, rhetorical, and figurative in their language at all great
talks, and high ceremonials, yet, if trappers and traders may be
believed, they are the most unsavory vagabonds in their ordinary
colloquies; they make no hesitation to call a spade a spade; and when
they once undertake to call hard names, the famous pot and kettle, of
vituperating memory, are not to be compared with them for scurrility of
epithet.

To escape the infliction of any compliments of this kind, or the
launching, peradventure, of more dangerous missiles, Wyeth landed with
the best grace in his power and approached the chief of the band. It was
Arapooish, the quondam friend of Rose the outlaw, and one whom we have
already mentioned as being anxious to promote a friendly intercourse
between his tribe and the white men. He was a tall, stout man, of good
presence, and received the voyagers very graciously. His people, too,
thronged around them, and were officiously attentive after the Crow
fashion. One took a great fancy to Baptiste the Flathead boy, and a
still greater fancy to a ring on his finger, which he transposed to his
own with surprising dexterity, and then disappeared with a quick step
among the crowd.

Another was no less pleased with the Nez Perce lad, and nothing would do
but he must exchange knives with him; drawing a new knife out of the Nez
Perce’s scabbard, and putting an old one in its place. Another stepped
up and replaced this old knife with one still older, and a third helped
himself to knife, scabbard and all. It was with much difficulty that
Wyeth and his companions extricated themselves from the clutches of
these officious Crows before they were entirely plucked.

Falling down the river a little further, they came in sight of the
second band, and sheered to the opposite side, with the intention of
passing them. The Crows were not to be evaded. Some pointed their guns
at the boat, and threatened to fire; others stripped, plunged into the
stream, and came swimming across. Making a virtue of necessity, Wyeth
threw a cord to the first that came within reach, as if he wished to be
drawn to the shore.

In this way he was overhauled by every band, and by the time he and his
people came out of the busy hands of the last, they were eased of most
of their superfluities. Nothing, in all probability, but the proximity
of the American trading post, kept these land pirates from making a good
prize of the bull boat and all its contents.

These bands were in full march, equipped for war, and evidently full of
mischief. They were, in fact, the very bands that overran the land in
the autumn of 1833; partly robbed Fitzpatrick of his horses and effects;
hunted and harassed Captain Bonneville and his people; broke up their
trapping campaigns, and, in a word, drove them all out of the Crow
country. It has been suspected that they were set on to these pranks by
some of the American Fur Company, anxious to defeat the plans of
their rivals of the Rocky Mountain Company; for at this time, their
competition was at its height, and the trade of the Crow country was a
great object of rivalry. What makes this the more probable, is, that the
Crows in their depredation seemed by no means bloodthirsty, but intent
chiefly on robbing the parties of their traps and horses, thereby
disabling them from prosecuting their hunting.

We should observe that this year, the Rocky Mountain Company were
pushing their way up the rivers, and establishing rival posts near those
of the American Company; and that, at the very time of which we are
speaking, Captain Sublette was ascending the Yellowstone with a keel
boat, laden with supplies; so that there was every prospect of this
eager rivalship being carried to extremes.

The last band of Crow warriors had scarcely disappeared in the clouds
of dust they had raised, when our voyagers arrived at the mouth of the
river and glided into the current of the Yellowstone. Turning down this
stream, they made for Fort Cass, which is situated on the right bank,
about three miles below the Bighorn. On the opposite side they beheld
a party of thirty-one savages, which they soon ascertained to be
Blackfeet. The width of the river enabled them to keep at a sufficient
distance, and they soon landed at Fort Cass. This was a mere
fortification against Indians; being a stockade of about one hundred and
thirty feet square, with two bastions at the extreme corners. M’Tulloch,
an agent of the American Company, was stationed there with twenty men;
two boats of fifteen tons burden were lying here; but at certain seasons
of the year a steamboat can come up to the fort.

They had scarcely arrived, when the Blackfeet warriors made their
appearance on the opposite bank, displaying two American flags in token
of amity. They plunged into the river, swam across, and were kindly
received at the fort. They were some of the very men who had been
engaged, the year previously, in the battle at Pierre’s Hole, and a
fierce-looking set of fellows they were; tall and hawk-nosed, and very
much resembling the Crows. They professed to be on an amicable errand,
to make peace with the Crows, and set off in all haste, before night, to
overtake them. Wyeth predicted that they would lose their scalps; for he
had heard the Crows denounce vengeance on them, for having murdered two
of their warriors who had ventured among them on the faith of a treaty
of peace. It is probable, however, that this pacific errand was all a
pretence, and that the real object of the Blackfeet braves was to hang
about the skirts of the Crow band, steal their horses, and take the
scalps of stragglers.

At Fort Cass, Mr. Wyeth disposed of some packages of beaver, and a
quantity of buffalo robes. On the following morning (August 18th), he
once more launched his bull boat, and proceeded down the Yellowstone,
which inclined in an east-northeast direction. The river had alluvial
bottoms, fringed with great quantities of the sweet cotton-wood,
and interrupted occasionally by “bluffs” of sandstone. The current
occasionally brings down fragments of granite and porphyry.

In the course of the day, they saw something moving on the bank among
the trees, which they mistook for game of some kind; and, being in want
of provisions, pulled toward shore. They discovered, just in time,
a party of Blackfeet, lurking in the thickets, and sheered, with all
speed, to the opposite side of the river.

After a time, they came in sight of a gang of elk. Wyeth was
immediately for pursuing them, rifle in hand, but saw evident signs
of dissatisfaction in his half-breed hunters; who considered him as
trenching upon their province, and meddling with things quite above
his capacity; for these veterans of the wilderness are exceedingly
pragmatical, on points of venery and woodcraft, and tenacious of their
superiority; looking down with infinite contempt upon all raw beginners.
The two worthies, therefore, sallied forth themselves, but after a time
returned empty-handed. They laid the blame, however, entirely on their
guns; two miserable old pieces with flint locks, which, with all their
picking and hammering, were continually apt to miss fire. These great
boasters of the wilderness, however, are very often exceeding bad shots,
and fortunate it is for them when they have old flint guns to bear the
blame.

The next day they passed where a great herd of buffalo was bellowing on
a prairie. Again the Castor and Pollux of the wilderness sallied forth,
and again their flint guns were at fault, and missed fire, and nothing
went off but the buffalo. Wyeth now found there was danger of losing
his dinner if he depended upon his hunters; he took rifle in hand,
therefore, and went forth himself. In the course of an hour he returned
laden with buffalo meat, to the great mortification of the two regular
hunters, who were annoyed at being eclipsed by a greenhorn.

All hands now set to work to prepare the midday repast. A fire was made
under an immense cotton-wood tree, that overshadowed a beautiful piece
of meadow land; rich morsels of buffalo hump were soon roasting before
it; in a hearty and prolonged repast, the two unsuccessful hunters
gradually recovered from their mortification; threatened to discard
their old flint guns as soon as they should reach the settlements, and
boasted more than ever of the wonderful shots they had made, when they
had guns that never missed fire.

Having hauled up their boat to dry in the sun, previous to making their
repast, the voyagers now set it once more afloat, and proceeded on
their way. They had constructed a sail out of their old tent, which they
hoisted whenever the wind was favorable, and thus skimmed along down the
stream. Their voyage was pleasant, notwithstanding the perils by sea and
land, with which they were environed. Whenever they could they encamped
on islands for the greater security. If on the mainland, and in a
dangerous neighborhood, they would shift their camp after dark, leaving
their fire burning, dropping down the river some distance, and making
no fire at their second encampment. Sometimes they would float all night
with the current; one keeping watch and steering while the rest slept.
in such case, they would haul their boat on shore, at noon of the
following day to dry; for notwithstanding every precaution, she was
gradually getting water-soaked and rotten.

There was something pleasingly solemn and mysterious in thus floating
down these wild rivers at night. The purity of the atmosphere in these
elevated regions gave additional splendor to the stars, and heightened
the magnificence of the firmament. The occasional rush and laving of
the waters; the vague sounds from the surrounding wilderness; the dreary
howl, or rather whine of wolves from the plains; the low grunting and
bellowing of the buffalo, and the shrill neighing of the elk, struck the
ear with an effect unknown in the daytime.

The two knowing hunters had scarcely recovered from one mortification
when they were fated to experience another. As the boat was gliding
swiftly round a low promontory, thinly covered with trees, one of them
gave the alarm of Indians. The boat was instantly shoved from shore and
every one caught up his rifle. “Where are they?” cried Wyeth.

“There--there! riding on horseback!” cried one of the hunters.

“Yes; with white scarfs on!” cried the other.

Wyeth looked in the direction they pointed, but descried nothing but
two bald eagles, perched on a low dry branch beyond the thickets, and
seeming, from the rapid motion of the boat, to be moving swiftly in an
opposite direction. The detection of this blunder in the two veterans,
who prided themselves on the sureness and quickness of their sight,
produced a hearty laugh at their expense, and put an end to their
vauntings.

The Yellowstone, above the confluence of the Bighorn, is a clear stream;
its waters were now gradually growing turbid, and assuming the yellow
clay color of the Missouri. The current was about four miles an hour,
with occasional rapids; some of them dangerous, but the voyagers passed
them all without accident. The banks of the river were in many places
precipitous with strata of bituminous coal. They now entered a region
abounding with buffalo--that ever-journeying animal, which moves in
countless droves from point to point of the vast wilderness; traversing
plains, pouring through the intricate defiles of mountains, swimming
rivers, ever on the move, guided on its boundless migrations by some
traditionary knowledge, like the finny tribes of the ocean, which, at
certain seasons, find their mysterious paths across the deep and revisit
the remotest shores.

These great migratory herds of buffalo have their hereditary paths
and highways, worn deep through the country, and making for the surest
passes of the mountains, and the most practicable fords of the rivers.
When once a great column is in full career, it goes straight forward,
regardless of all obstacles; those in front being impelled by the moving
mass behind. At such times they will break through a camp, trampling
down everything in their course.

It was the lot of the voyagers, one night, to encamp at one of these
buffalo landing places, and exactly on the trail. They had not been long
asleep, when they were awakened by a great bellowing, and tramping, and
the rush, and splash, and snorting of animals in the river. They had
just time to ascertain that a buffalo army was entering the river on the
opposite side, and making toward the landing place. With all haste they
moved their boat and shifted their camp, by which time the head of the
column had reached the shore, and came pressing up the bank.

It was a singular spectacle, by the uncertain moonlight, to behold
this countless throng making their way across the river, blowing,
and bellowing, and splashing. Sometimes they pass in such dense and
continuous column as to form a temporary dam across the river, the
waters of which rise and rush over their backs, or between their
squadrons. The roaring and rushing sound of one of these vast herds
crossing a river, may sometimes in a still night be heard for miles.

The voyagers now had game in profusion. They could kill as many
buffaloes as they pleased, and, occasionally, were wanton in their
havoc; especially among scattered herds, that came swimming near the
boat. On one occasion, an old buffalo bull approached so near that the
half-breeds must fain try to noose him as they would a wild horse. The
noose was successfully thrown around his head, and secured him by the
horns, and they now promised themselves ample sport. The buffalo
made prodigious turmoil in the water, bellowing, and blowing, and
floundering; and they all floated down the stream together. At length he
found foothold on a sandbar, and taking to his heels, whirled the boat
after him like a whale when harpooned; so that the hunters were obliged
to cast off their rope, with which strange head-gear the venerable bull
made off to the prairies.

On the 24th of August, the bull boat emerged, with its adventurous crew,
into the broad bosom of the mighty Missouri. Here, about six miles above
the mouth of the Yellowstone, the voyagers landed at Fort Union, the
distributing post of the American Fur Company in the western country.
It was a stockaded fortress, about two hundred and twenty feet
square, pleasantly situated on a high bank. Here they were hospitably
entertained by Mr. M’Kenzie, the superintendent, and remained with him
three days, enjoying the unusual luxuries of bread, butter, milk, and
cheese, for the fort was well supplied with domestic cattle, though it
had no garden. The atmosphere of these elevated regions is said to be
too dry for the culture of vegetables; yet the voyagers, in coming down
the Yellowstone, had met with plums, grapes, cherries, and currants, and
had observed ash and elm trees. Where these grow the climate cannot be
incompatible with gardening.

At Fort Union, Wyeth met with a melancholy memento of one of his men.
This was a powder-flask, which a clerk had purchased from a Blackfoot
warrior. It bore the initials of poor More, the unfortunate youth
murdered the year previously, at Jackson’s Hole, by the Blackfeet, and
whose bones had been subsequently found by Captain Bonneville. This
flask had either been passed from hand to hand of the youth, or,
perhaps, had been brought to the fort by the very savage who slew him.

As the bull boat was now nearly worn out, and altogether unfit for the
broader and more turbulent stream of the Missouri, it was given up,
and a canoe of cottonwood, about twenty feet long, fabricated by the
Blackfeet, was purchased to supply its place. In this Wyeth hoisted his
sail, and bidding adieu to the hospitable superintendent of Fort Union,
turned his prow to the east, and set off down the Missouri.

He had not proceeded many hours, before, in the evening, he came to a
large keel boat at anchor. It proved to be the boat of Captain William
Sublette, freighted with munitions for carrying on a powerful opposition
to the American Fur Company. The voyagers went on board, where they
were treated with the hearty hospitality of the wilderness, and passed a
social evening, talking over past scenes and adventures, and especially
the memorable fight at Pierre’s Hole.

Here Milton Sublette determined to give up further voyaging in the
canoe, and remain with his brother; accordingly, in the morning, the
fellow-voyagers took kind leave of each other and Wyeth continued on
his course. There was now no one on board of his boat that had ever
voyaged on the Missouri; it was, however, all plain sailing down the
stream, without any chance of missing the way.

All day the voyagers pulled gently along, and landed in the evening and
supped; then re-embarking, they suffered the canoe to float down with
the current; taking turns to watch and sleep. The night was calm and
serene; the elk kept up a continual whinnying or squealing, being the
commencement of the season when they are in heat. In the midst of the
night the canoe struck on a sand-bar, and all hands were roused by the
rush and roar of the wild waters, which broke around her. They were
all obliged to jump overboard, and work hard to get her off, which was
accomplished with much difficulty.

In the course of the following day they saw three grizzly bears at
different times along the bank. The last one was on a point of land, and
was evidently making for the river, to swim across. The two half-breed
hunters were now eager to repeat the manoeuvre of the noose; promising
to entrap Bruin, and have rare sport in strangling and drowning him.
Their only fear was, that he might take fright and return to land before
they could get between him and the shore. Holding back, therefore, until
he was fairly committed in the centre of the stream, they then pulled
forward with might and main, so as to cut off his retreat, and take him
in the rear. One of the worthies stationed himself in the bow, with the
cord and slip-noose, the other, with the Nez Perce, managed the paddles.
There was nothing further from the thoughts of honest Bruin, however,
than to beat a retreat. Just as the canoe was drawing near, he turned
suddenly round and made for it, with a horrible snarl and a tremendous
show of teeth. The affrighted hunter called to his comrades to paddle
off. Scarce had they turned the boat when the bear laid his enormous
claws on the gunwale, and attempted to get on board. The canoe was
nearly overturned, and a deluge of water came pouring over the gunwale.
All was clamor, terror, and confusion. Every one bawled out--the bear
roared and snarled--one caught up a gun; but water had rendered it
useless. Others handled their paddles more effectually, and beating old
Bruin about the head and claws, obliged him to relinquish his hold. They
now plied their paddles with might and main, the bear made the best
of his way to shore, and so ended the second exploit of the noose; the
hunters determined to have no more naval contests with grizzly bears.

The voyagers were now out of range of Crows and Black-feet; but they
were approaching the country of the Rees, or Arickaras; a tribe no less
dangerous; and who were, generally, hostile to small parties.

In passing through their country, Wyeth laid by all day, and drifted
quietly down the river at night. In this way he passed on, until he
supposed himself safely through the region of danger; when he resumed
his voyage in the open day. On the 3d of September he had landed, at
midday, to dine; and while some were making a fire, one of the hunters
mounted a high bank to look out for game. He had scarce glanced his
eye round, when he perceived horses grazing on the opposite side of the
river. Crouching down he slunk back to the camp, and reported what he
had seen. On further reconnoitering, the voyagers counted twenty-one
lodges; and from the number of horses, computed that there must be
nearly a hundred Indians encamped there. They now drew their boat, with
all speed and caution, into a thicket of water willows, and remained
closely concealed all day. As soon as the night closed in they
re-embarked. The moon would rise early; so that they had but about two
hours of darkness to get past the camp. The night, however, was cloudy,
with a blustering wind. Silently, and with muffled oars, they glided
down the river, keeping close under the shore opposite to the camp;
watching its various lodges and fires, and the dark forms passing to
and fro between them. Suddenly, on turning a point of land, they found
themselves close upon a camp on their own side of the river. It appeared
that not more than one half of the band had crossed. They were within a
few yards of the shore; they saw distinctly the savages--some standing,
some lying round the fire. Horses were grazing around. Some lodges were
set up, others had been sent across the river. The red glare of the
fires upon these wild groups and harsh faces, contrasted with the
surrounding darkness, had a startling effect, as the voyagers suddenly
came upon the scene. The dogs of the camp perceived them, and barked;
but the Indians fortunately, took no heed of their clamor. Wyeth
instantly sheered his boat out into the stream; when, unluckily it
struck upon a sand-bar, and stuck fast. It was a perilous and trying
situation; for he was fixed between the two camps, and within rifle
range of both. All hands jumped out into the water, and tried to get
the boat off; but as no one dared to give the word, they could not pull
together, and their labor was in vain. In this way they labored for a
long time; until Wyeth thought of giving a signal for a general heave,
by lifting his hat. The expedient succeeded. They launched their canoe
again into deep water, and getting in, had the delight of seeing the
camp fires of the savages soon fading in the distance.

They continued under way the greater part of the night, until far beyond
all danger from this band, when they pulled to shore, and encamped.

The following day was windy, and they came near upsetting their boat in
carrying sail. Toward evening, the wind subsided and a beautiful calm
night succeeded. They floated along with the current throughout the
night, taking turns to watch and steer. The deep stillness of the night
was occasionally interrupted by the neighing of the elk, the hoarse
lowing of the buffalo, the hooting of large owls, and the screeching
of the small ones, now and then the splash of a beaver, or the gonglike
sound of the swan.

Part of their voyage was extremely tempestuous; with high winds,
tremendous thunder, and soaking rain; and they were repeatedly in
extreme danger from drift-wood and sunken trees. On one occasion, having
continued to float at night, after the moon was down, they ran under
a great snag, or sunken tree, with dry branches above the water. These
caught the mast, while the boat swung round, broadside to the stream,
and began to fill with water. Nothing saved her from total wreck, but
cutting away the mast. She then drove down the stream, but left one of
the unlucky half-breeds clinging to the snag, like a monkey to a pole.
It was necessary to run in shore, toil up, laboriously, along the eddies
and to attain some distance above the snag, when they launched forth
again into the stream and floated down with it to his rescue.

We forbear to detail all the circumstances and adventures of upward of
a months voyage, down the windings and doublings of this vast river; in
the course of which they stopped occasionally at a post of one of the
rival fur companies, or at a government agency for an Indian tribe.
Neither shall we dwell upon the changes of climate and productions, as
the voyagers swept down from north to south, across several degrees of
latitude; arriving at the regions of oaks and sycamores; of mulberry
and basswood trees; of paroquets and wild turkeys. This is one of the
characteristics of the middle and lower part of the Missouri; but still
more so of the Mississippi, whose rapid current traverses a succession
of latitudes so as in a few days to float the voyager almost from the
frozen regions to the tropics.

The voyage of Wyeth shows the regular and unobstructed flow of the
rivers, on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, in contrast to those of
the western side; where rocks and rapids continually menace and obstruct
the voyager. We find him in a frail bark of skins, launching himself
in a stream at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and floating down from
river to river, as they empty themselves into each other; and so he
might have kept on upward of two thousand miles, until his little
bark should drift into the ocean. At present we shall stop with him at
Cantonment Leavenworth, the frontier post of the United States; where he
arrived on the 27th of September.

Here his first care was to have his Nez Perce Indian, and his half-breed
boy, Baptiste, vaccinated. As they approached the fort, they were
hailed by the sentinel. The sight of a soldier in full array, with what
appeared to be a long knife glittering on the end of a musket, struck
Baptiste with such affright that he took to his heels, bawling for mercy
at the top of his voice. The Nez Perce would have followed him, had not
Wyeth assured him of his safety. When they underwent the operation
of the lancet, the doctor’s wife and another lady were present; both
beautiful women. They were the first white women that they had seen, and
they could not keep their eyes off of them. On returning to the boat,
they recounted to their companions all that they had observed at the
fort; but were especially eloquent about the white squaws, who, they
said, were white as snow, and more beautiful than any human being they
had ever beheld.

We shall not accompany the captain any further in his Voyage; but will
simply state that he made his way to Boston, where he succeeded in
organizing an association under the name of “The Columbia River Fishing
and Trading Company,” for his original objects of a salmon fishery and
a trade in furs. A brig, the May Dacres, had been dispatched for the
Columbia with supplies; and he was now on his way to the same point, at
the head of sixty men, whom he had enlisted at St. Louis; some of whom
were experienced hunters, and all more habituated to the life of the
wilderness than his first band of “down-easters.”

We will now return to Captain Bonneville and his party, whom we left,
making up their packs and saddling their horses, in Bear River Valley.




42.

     Departure of Captain Bonneville for the Columbia--Advance of
     Wyeth--Efforts to keep the lead--Hudson’s Bay party--A
     junketing--A delectable beverage--Honey and alcohol--High
     carousing--The Canadian “bon vivant”--A cache--A rapid move
     Wyeth and his plans--His travelling companions--Buffalo
     hunting More conviviality--An interruption.

IT was the 3d of July that Captain Bonneville set out on his second
visit to the banks of the Columbia, at the head of twenty-three men. He
travelled leisurely, to keep his horses fresh, until on the 10th of July
a scout brought word that Wyeth, with his band, was but fifty miles in
the rear, and pushing forward with all speed. This caused some bustle
in the camp; for it was important to get first to the buffalo ground to
secure provisions for the journey. As the horses were too heavily laden
to travel fast, a cache was digged, as promptly as possible, to receive
all superfluous baggage. Just as it was finished, a spring burst out of
the earth at the bottom. Another cache was therefore digged, about two
miles further on; when, as they were about to bury the effects, a line
of horsemen with pack-horses, were seen streaking over the plain, and
encamped close by.

It proved to be a small band in the service of the Hudson’s Bay Company,
under the command of a veteran Canadian; one of those petty leaders,
who, with a small party of men, and a small supply of goods, are
employed to follow up a band of Indians from one hunting ground to
another, and buy up their peltries.

Having received numerous civilities from the Hudson’s Bay Company, the
captain sent an invitation to the officers of the party to an evening
regale; and set to work to make jovial preparations. As the night air in
these elevated regions is apt to be cold, a blazing fire was soon
made, that would have done credit to a Christmas dinner, instead of a
midsummer banquet. The parties met in high good-fellowship. There was
abundance of such hunters’ fare as the neighborhood furnished; and it
was all discussed with mountain appetites. They talked over all the
events of their late campaigns; but the Canadian veteran had been
unlucky in some of his transactions; and his brow began to grow cloudy.
Captain Bonneville remarked his rising spleen, and regretted that he had
no juice of the grape to keep it down.

A man’s wit, however, is quick and inventive in the wilderness; a
thought suggested itself to the captain, how he might brew a delectable
beverage. Among his stores was a keg of honey but half exhausted.
This he filled up with alcohol, and stirred the fiery and mellifluous
ingredients together. The glorious results may readily be imagined;
a happy compound of strength and sweetness, enough to soothe the most
ruffled temper and unsettle the most solid understanding.

The beverage worked to a charm; the can circulated merrily; the first
deep draught washed out every care from the mind of the veteran; the
second elevated his spirit to the clouds. He was, in fact, a boon
companion; as all veteran Canadian traders are apt to be. He now became
glorious; talked over all his exploits, his huntings, his fightings
with Indian braves, his loves with Indian beauties; sang snatches of old
French ditties, and Canadian boat songs; drank deeper and deeper, sang
louder and louder; until, having reached a climax of drunken gayety,
he gradually declined, and at length fell fast asleep upon the ground.
After a long nap he again raised his head, imbibed another potation of
the “sweet and strong,” flashed up with another slight blaze of French
gayety, and again fell asleep.

The morning found him still upon the field of action, but in sad and
sorrowful condition; suffering the penalties of past pleasures, and
calling to mind the captain’s dulcet compound, with many a retch and
spasm. It seemed as if the honey and alcohol, which had passed so glibly
and smoothly over his tongue, were at war within his stomach; and
that he had a swarm of bees within his head. In short, so helpless
and woebegone was his plight, that his party proceeded on their march
without him; the captain promised to bring him on in safety in the after
part of the day.

As soon as this party had moved off, Captain Bonneville’s men proceeded
to construct and fill their cache; and just as it was completed the
party of Wyeth was descried at a distance. In a moment all was activity
to take the road. The horses were prepared and mounted; and being
lightened of a great part of their burdens, were able to move with
celerity. As to the worthy convive of the preceding evening, he was
carefully gathered up from the hunter’s couch on which he lay, repentant
and supine, and, being packed upon one of the horses, was hurried
forward with the convoy, groaning and ejaculating at every jolt.

In the course of the day, Wyeth, being lightly mounted, rode ahead of
his party, and overtook Captain Bonneville. Their meeting was friendly
and courteous; and they discussed, sociably, their respective fortunes
since they separated on the banks of the Bighorn. Wyeth announced his
intention of establishing a small trading post at the mouth of the
Portneuf, and leaving a few men there, with a quantity of goods, to
trade with the neighboring Indians. He was compelled, in fact, to this
measure, in consequence of the refusal of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company
to take a supply of goods which he had brought out for them according
to contract; and which he had no other mode of disposing of. He further
informed Captain Bonneville that the competition between the Rocky
Mountain and American Fur Companies which had led to such nefarious
stratagems and deadly feuds, was at an end; they having divided the
country between them, allotting boundaries within which each was to
trade and hunt, so as not to interfere with the other.

In company with Wyeth were travelling two men of science; Mr. Nuttall,
the botanist; the same who ascended the Missouri at the time of the
expedition to Astoria; and Mr. Townshend, an ornithologist; from these
gentlemen we may look forward to important information concerning these
interesting regions. There were three religious missionaries, also,
bound to the shores of the Columbia, to spread the light of the Gospel
in that far wilderness.

After riding for some time together, in friendly conversation, Wyeth
returned to his party, and Captain Bonneville continued to press
forward, and to gain ground. At night he sent off the sadly sober and
moralizing chief of the Hudson’s Bay Company, under a proper escort, to
rejoin his people; his route branching off in a different direction.
The latter took a cordial leave of his host, hoping, on some future
occasion, to repay his hospitality in kind.

In the morning the captain was early on the march; throwing scouts
out far ahead, to scour hill and dale, in search of buffalo. He had
confidently expected to find game in abundance, on the head-waters of
the Portneuf; but on reaching that region, not a track was to be seen.

At length, one of the scouts, who had made a wide sweep away to the
head-waters of the Blackfoot River, discovered great herds quietly
grazing in the adjacent meadows. He set out on his return, to report
his discoveries; but night overtaking him, he was kindly and hospitably
entertained at the camp of Wyeth. As soon as day dawned he hastened to
his own camp with the welcome intelligence; and about ten o’clock of the
same morning, Captain Bonneville’s party were in the midst of the game.

The packs were scarcely off the backs of the mules, when the runners,
mounted on the fleetest horses, were full tilt after the buffalo. Others
of the men were busied erecting scaffolds, and other contrivances, for
jerking or drying meat; others were lighting great fires for the same
purpose; soon the hunters began to make their appearance, bringing
in the choicest morsels of buffalo meat; these were placed upon the
scaffolds, and the whole camp presented a scene of singular hurry and
activity. At daylight the next morning, the runners again took the
field, with similar success; and, after an interval of repose made their
third and last chase, about twelve o’clock; for by this time, Wyeth’s
party was in sight. The game being now driven into a valley, at some
distance, Wyeth was obliged to fix his camp there; but he came in the
evening to pay Captain Bonneville a visit. He was accompanied by Captain
Stewart, the amateur traveller; who had not yet sated his appetite for
the adventurous life of the wilderness. With him, also, was a Mr. M’Kay,
a half-breed; son of the unfortunate adventurer of the same name who
came out in the first maritime expedition to Astoria and was blown up
in the Tonquin. His son had grown up in the employ of the British fur
companies; and was a prime hunter, and a daring partisan. He held,
moreover, a farm in the valley of the Wallamut.

The three visitors, when they reached Captain Bonneville’s camp, were
surprised to find no one in it but himself and three men; his party
being dispersed in all directions, to make the most of their present
chance for hunting. They remonstrated with him on the imprudence of
remaining with so trifling a guard in a region so full of danger.
Captain Bonneville vindicated the policy of his conduct. He never
hesitated to send out all his hunters, when any important object was to
be attained; and experience had taught him that he was most secure when
his forces were thus distributed over the surrounding country. He then
was sure that no enemy could approach, from any direction, without
being discovered by his hunters; who have a quick eye for detecting the
slightest signs of the proximity of Indians; and who would instantly
convey intelligence to the camp.

The captain now set to work with his men, to prepare a suitable
entertainment for his guests. It was a time of plenty in the camp; of
prime hunters’ dainties; of buffalo humps, and buffalo tongues; and
roasted ribs, and broiled marrow-bones: all these were cooked in
hunters’ style; served up with a profusion known only on a plentiful
hunting ground, and discussed with an appetite that would astonish the
puny gourmands of the cities. But above all, and to give a bacchanalian
grace to this truly masculine repast, the captain produced his
mellifluous keg of home-brewed nectar, which had been so potent over
the senses of the veteran of Hudson’s Bay. Potations, pottle deep, again
went round; never did beverage excite greater glee, or meet with more
rapturous commendation. The parties were fast advancing to that
happy state which would have insured ample cause for the next day’s
repentance; and the bees were already beginning to buzz about their
ears, when a messenger came spurring to the camp with intelligence that
Wyeth’s people had got entangled in one of those deep and frightful
ravines, piled with immense fragments of volcanic rock, which gash the
whole country about the head-waters of the Blackfoot River. The revel
was instantly at an end; the keg of sweet and potent home-brewed was
deserted; and the guests departed with all speed to aid in extricating
their companions from the volcanic ravine.




43.

     A rapid march--A cloud of dust--Wild horsemen--“High Jinks”
      Horseracing and rifle-shooting--The game of hand--The
     fishing season--Mode of fishing--Table lands--Salmon
     fishers--The captain’s visit to an Indian lodge--The Indian
     girl--The pocket mirror--Supper--Troubles of an evil
     conscience.

“UP and away!” is the first thought at daylight of the Indian trader,
when a rival is at hand and distance is to be gained. Early in the
morning, Captain Bonneville ordered the half dried meat to be packed
upon the horses, and leaving Wyeth and his party to hunt the scattered
buffalo, pushed off rapidly to the east, to regain the plain of the
Portneuf. His march was rugged and dangerous; through volcanic hills,
broken into cliffs and precipices; and seamed with tremendous chasms,
where the rocks rose like walls.

On the second day, however, he encamped once more in the plain, and
as it was still early some of the men strolled out to the neighboring
hills. In casting their eyes round the country, they perceived a great
cloud of dust rising in the south, and evidently approaching. Hastening
back to the camp, they gave the alarm. Preparations were instantly made
to receive an enemy; while some of the men, throwing themselves upon
the “running horses” kept for hunting, galloped off to reconnoitre. In
a little while, they made signals from a distance that all was friendly.
By this time the cloud of dust had swept on as if hurried along by a
blast, and a band of wild horsemen came dashing at full leap into the
camp, yelling and whooping like so many maniacs. Their dresses, their
accoutrements, their mode of riding, and their uncouth clamor, made
them seem a party of savages arrayed for war; but they proved to be
principally half-breeds, and white men grown savage in the wilderness,
who were employed as trappers and hunters in the service of the Hudson’s
Bay Company.

Here was again “high jinks” in the camp. Captain Bonneville’s men hailed
these wild scamperers as congenial spirits, or rather as the very game
birds of their class. They entertained them with the hospitality of
mountaineers, feasting them at every fire. At first, there were mutual
details of adventures and exploits, and broad joking mingled with peals
of laughter. Then came on boasting of the comparative merits of horses
and rifles, which soon engrossed every tongue. This naturally led to
racing, and shooting at a mark; one trial of speed and skill succeeded
another, shouts and acclamations rose from the victorious parties,
fierce altercations succeeded, and a general melee was about to take
place, when suddenly the attention of the quarrellers was arrested by a
strange kind of Indian chant or chorus, that seemed to operate upon them
as a charm. Their fury was at an end; a tacit reconciliation succeeded
and the ideas of the whole mongrel crowd whites, half-breeds and squaws
were turned in a new direction. They all formed into groups and taking
their places at the several fires, prepared for one of the most exciting
amusements of the Nez Perces and the other tribes of the Far West.

The choral chant, in fact, which had thus acted as a charm, was a kind
of wild accompaniment to the favorite Indian game of “Hand.” This is
played by two parties drawn out in opposite platoons before a blazing
fire. It is in some respects like the old game of passing the ring or
the button, and detecting the hand which holds it. In the present game,
the object hidden, or the cache as it is called by the trappers, is a
small splint of wood, or other diminutive article that may be concealed
in the closed hand. This is passed backward and forward among the party
“in hand,” while the party “out of hand” guess where it is concealed. To
heighten the excitement and confuse the guessers, a number of dry poles
are laid before each platoon, upon which the members of the party “in
hand” beat furiously with short staves, keeping time to the choral chant
already mentioned, which waxes fast and furious as the game proceeds. As
large bets are staked upon the game, the excitement is prodigious.
Each party in turn bursts out in full chorus, beating, and yelling, and
working themselves up into such a heat that the perspiration rolls down
their naked shoulders, even in the cold of a winter night. The bets
are doubled and trebled as the game advances, the mental excitement
increases almost to madness, and all the worldly effects of the gamblers
are often hazarded upon the position of a straw.

These gambling games were kept up throughout the night; every fire
glared upon a group that looked like a crew of maniacs at their frantic
orgies, and the scene would have been kept up throughout the succeeding
day, had not Captain Bonneville interposed his authority, and, at the
usual hour, issued his marching orders.

Proceeding down the course of Snake River, the hunters regularly
returned to camp in the evening laden with wild geese, which were yet
scarcely able to fly, and were easily caught in great numbers. It was
now the season of the annual fish-feast, with which the Indians in these
parts celebrate the first appearance of the salmon in this river. These
fish are taken in great numbers at the numerous falls of about four feet
pitch. The Indians flank the shallow water just below, and spear them
as they attempt to pass. In wide parts of the river, also, they place a
sort of chevaux-de-frize, or fence, of poles interwoven with withes, and
forming an angle in the middle of the current, where a small opening
is left for the salmon to pass. Around this opening the Indians station
themselves on small rafts, and ply their spears with great success.

The table lands so common in this region have a sandy soil,
inconsiderable in depth, and covered with sage, or more properly
speaking, wormwood. Below this is a level stratum of rock, riven
occasionally by frightful chasms. The whole plain rises as it approaches
the river, and terminates with high and broken cliffs, difficult to
pass, and in many places so precipitous that it is impossible, for days
together, to get down to the water’s edge, to give drink to the horses.
This obliges the traveller occasionally to abandon the vicinity of the
river, and make a wide sweep into the interior.

It was now far in the month of July, and the party suffered extremely
from sultry weather and dusty travelling. The flies and gnats, too, were
extremely troublesome to the horses; especially when keeping along the
edge of the river where it runs between low sand-banks. Whenever the
travellers encamped in the afternoon, the horses retired to the gravelly
shores and remained there, without attempting to feed until the cool of
the evening. As to the travellers, they plunged into the clear and cool
current, to wash away the dust of the road and refresh themselves after
the heat of the day. The nights were always cool and pleasant.

At one place where they encamped for some time, the river was nearly
five hundred yards wide, and studded with grassy islands, adorned with
groves of willow and cotton-wood. Here the Indians were assembled in
great numbers, and had barricaded the channels between the islands, to
enable them to spear the salmon with greater facility. They were a timid
race, and seemed unaccustomed to the sight of white men. Entering one
of the huts, Captain Bonneville found the inhabitants just proceeding
to cook a fine salmon. It is put into a pot filled with cold water, and
hung over the fire. The moment the water begins to boil, the fish is
considered cooked.

Taking his seat unceremoniously, and lighting his pipe, the captain
awaited the cooking of the fish, intending to invite himself to the
repast. The owner of the hut seemed to take his intrusion in good part.
While conversing with him the captain felt something move behind him,
and turning round and removing a few skins and old buffalo robes,
discovered a young girl, about fourteen years of age, crouched beneath,
who directed her large black eyes full in his face, and continued to
gaze in mute surprise and terror. The captain endeavored to dispel her
fears, and drawing a bright ribbon from his pocket, attempted repeatedly
to tie it round her neck. She jerked back at each attempt, uttering a
sound very much like a snarl; nor could all the blandishments of the
captain, albeit a pleasant, good-looking, and somewhat gallant man,
succeed in conquering the shyness of the savage little beauty. His
attentions were now turned toward the parents, whom he presented with
an awl and a little tobacco, and having thus secured their good-will,
continued to smoke his pipe, and watch the salmon. While thus seated
near the threshold, an urchin of the family approached the door, but
catching a sight of the strange guest, ran off screaming with terror and
ensconced himself behind the long straw at the back of the hut.

Desirous to dispel entirely this timidity, and to open a trade with the
simple inhabitants of the hut, who, he did not doubt, had furs somewhere
concealed, the captain now drew forth that grand lure in the eyes of
a savage, a pocket mirror. The sight of it was irresistible. After
examining it for a long time with wonder and admiration, they produced
a musk-rat skin, and offered it in exchange. The captain shook his head;
but purchased the skin for a couple of buttons--superfluous trinkets! as
the worthy lord of the hovel had neither coat nor breeches on which to
place them.

The mirror still continued the great object of desire, particularly in
the eyes of the old housewife, who produced a pot of parched flour and
a string of biscuit roots. These procured her some trifle in return;
but could not command the purchase of the mirror. The salmon being
now completely cooked, they all joined heartily in supper. A bounteous
portion was deposited before the captain by the old woman, upon some
fresh grass, which served instead of a platter; and never had he tasted
a salmon boiled so completely to his fancy.

Supper being over, the captain lighted his pipe and passed it to
his host, who, inhaling the smoke, puffed it through his nostrils
so assiduously, that in a little while his head manifested signs of
confusion and dizziness. Being satisfied, by this time, of the
kindly and companionable qualities of the captain, he became easy and
communicative; and at length hinted something about exchanging beaver
skins for horses. The captain at once offered to dispose of his steed,
which stood fastened at the door. The bargain was soon concluded,
whereupon the Indian, removing a pile of bushes under which his
valuables were concealed, drew forth the number of skins agreed upon as
the price.

Shortly afterward, some of the captain’s people coming up, he ordered
another horse to be saddled, and, mounting it, took his departure from
the hut, after distributing a few trifling presents among its simple
inhabitants. During all the time of his visit, the little Indian girl
had kept her large black eyes fixed upon him, almost without winking,
watching every movement with awe and wonder; and as he rode off,
remained gazing after him, motionless as a statue. Her father, however,
delighted with his new acquaintance, mounted his newly purchased horse,
and followed in the train of the captain, to whom he continued to be a
faithful and useful adherent during his sojourn in the neighborhood.

The cowardly effects of an evil conscience were evidenced in the conduct
of one of the captain’s men, who had been in the California expedition.
During all their intercourse with the harmless people of this place,
he had manifested uneasiness and anxiety. While his companions mingled
freely and joyously with the natives, he went about with a restless,
suspicious look; scrutinizing every painted form and face and starting
often at the sudden approach of some meek and inoffensive savage, who
regarded him with reverence as a superior being. Yet this was ordinarily
a bold fellow, who never flinched from danger, nor turned pale at the
prospect of a battle. At length he requested permission of Captain
Bonneville to keep out of the way of these people entirely. Their
striking resemblance, he said, to the people of Ogden’s River, made
him continually fear that some among them might have seen him in that
expedition; and might seek an opportunity of revenge. Ever after this,
while they remained in this neighborhood, he would skulk out of the way
and keep aloof when any of the native inhabitants approached. “Such,”
 observed Captain Bonneville, “is the effect of self-reproach, even upon
the roving trapper in the wilderness, who has little else to fear than
the stings of his own guilty conscience.”




44.

     Outfit of a trapper--Risks to which he is subjected--
     Partnership of trappers--Enmity of Indians--Distant smoke--A
     country on fire--Gun Greek--Grand Rond--Fine pastures--
     Perplexities in a smoky country--Conflagration of forests.

IT had been the intention of Captain Bonneville, in descending along
Snake River, to scatter his trappers upon the smaller streams. In this
way a range of country is trapped by small detachments from a main body.
The outfit of a trapper is generally a rifle, a pound of powder,
and four pounds of lead, with a bullet mould, seven traps, an axe,
a hatchet, a knife and awl, a camp kettle, two blankets, and, where
supplies are plenty, seven pounds of flour. He has, generally, two
or three horses, to carry himself and his baggage and peltries. Two
trappers commonly go together, for the purposes of mutual assistance and
support; a larger party could not easily escape the eyes of the Indians.
It is a service of peril, and even more so at present than formerly, for
the Indians, since they have got into the habit of trafficking peltries
with the traders, have learned the value of the beaver, and look
upon the trappers as poachers, who are filching the riches from their
streams, and interfering with their market. They make no hesitation,
therefore, to murder the solitary trapper, and thus destroy a
competitor, while they possess themselves of his spoils. It is
with regret we add, too, that this hostility has in many cases been
instigated by traders, desirous of injuring their rivals, but who have
themselves often reaped the fruits of the mischief they have sown.

When two trappers undertake any considerable stream, their mode of
proceeding is, to hide their horses in some lonely glen, where they can
graze unobserved. They then build a small hut, dig out a canoe from a
cotton-wood tree, and in this poke along shore silently, in the evening,
and set their traps. These they revisit in the same silent way at
daybreak. When they take any beaver they bring it home, skin it, stretch
the skins on sticks to dry, and feast upon the flesh. The body, hung up
before the fire, turns by its own weight, and is roasted in a superior
style; the tail is the trapper’s tidbit; it is cut off, put on the end
of a stick, and toasted, and is considered even a greater dainty than
the tongue or the marrow-bone of a buffalo.

With all their silence and caution, however, the poor trappers cannot
always escape their hawk-eyed enemies. Their trail has been discovered,
perhaps, and followed up for many a mile; or their smoke has been seen
curling up out of the secret glen, or has been scented by the savages,
whose sense of smell is almost as acute as that of sight. Sometimes they
are pounced upon when in the act of setting their traps; at other times,
they are roused from their sleep by the horrid war-whoop; or, perhaps,
have a bullet or an arrow whistling about their ears, in the midst of
one of their beaver banquets. In this way they are picked off, from time
to time, and nothing is known of them, until, perchance, their bones are
found bleaching in some lonely ravine, or on the banks of some nameless
stream, which from that time is called after them. Many of the small
streams beyond the mountains thus perpetuate the names of unfortunate
trappers that have been murdered on their banks.

A knowledge of these dangers deterred Captain Bonneville, in the present
instance, from detaching small parties of trappers as he had intended;
for his scouts brought him word that formidable bands of the Banneck
Indians were lying on the Boisee and Payette Rivers, at no great
distance, so that they would be apt to detect and cut off any
stragglers. It behooved him, also, to keep his party together, to guard
against any predatory attack upon the main body; he continued on his
way, therefore, without dividing his forces. And fortunate it was that
he did so; for in a little while he encountered one of the phenomena of
the western wilds that would effectually have prevented his scattered
people from finding each other again. In a word, it was the season of
setting fire to the prairies. As he advanced he began to perceive great
clouds of smoke at a distance, rising by degrees, and spreading over the
whole face of the country. The atmosphere became dry and surcharged
with murky vapor, parching to the skin, and irritating to the eyes. When
travelling among the hills, they could scarcely discern objects at the
distance of a few paces; indeed, the least exertion of the vision was
painful. There was evidently some vast conflagration in the direction
toward which they were proceeding; it was as yet at a great distance,
and during the day they could only see the smoke rising in larger and
denser volumes, and rolling forth in an immense canopy. At night the
skies were all glowing with the reflection of unseen fires, hanging in
an immense body of lurid light high above the horizon.

Having reached Gun Creek, an important stream coming from the left,
Captain Bonneville turned up its course, to traverse the mountain and
avoid the great bend of Snake River. Being now out of the range of the
Bannecks, he sent out his people in all directions to hunt the antelope
for present supplies; keeping the dried meats for places where game
might be scarce.

During four days that the party were ascending Gun Creek, the smoke
continued to increase so rapidly that it was impossible to distinguish
the face of the country and ascertain landmarks. Fortunately, the
travellers fell upon an Indian trail which led them to the head-waters
of the Fourche de Glace or Ice River, sometimes called the Grand
Rond. Here they found all the plains and valleys wrapped in one vast
conflagration; which swept over the long grass in billows of flame, shot
up every bush and tree, rose in great columns from the groves, and set
up clouds of smoke that darkened the atmosphere. To avoid this sea of
fire, the travellers had to pursue their course close along the foot
of the mountains; but the irritation from the smoke continued to be
tormenting.

The country about the head-waters of the Grand Rond spreads out into
broad and level prairies, extremely fertile, and watered by mountain
springs and rivulets. These prairies are resorted to by small bands of
the Skynses, to pasture their horses, as well as to banquets upon the
salmon which abound in the neighboring waters. They take these fish in
great quantities and without the least difficulty; simply taking them
out of the water with their hands, as they flounder and struggle in
the numerous long shoals of the principal streams. At the time the
travellers passed over these prairies, some of the narrow, deep streams
by which they were intersected were completely choked with salmon, which
they took in great numbers. The wolves and bears frequent these streams
at this season, to avail themselves of these great fisheries.

The travellers continued, for many days, to experience great
difficulties and discomforts from this wide conflagration, which seemed
to embrace the whole wilderness. The sun was for a great part of the
time obscured by the smoke, and the loftiest mountains were hidden from
view. Blundering along in this region of mist and uncertainty, they were
frequently obliged to make long circuits, to avoid obstacles which they
could not perceive until close upon them. The Indian trails were their
safest guides, for though they sometimes appeared to lead them out of
their direct course, they always conducted them to the passes.

On the 26th of August, they reached the head of the Way-lee-way River.
Here, in a valley of the mountains through which this head-water makes
its way, they found a band of the Skynses, who were extremely sociable,
and appeared to be well disposed, and as they spoke the Nez Perce
language, an intercourse was easily kept up with them.

In the pastures on the bank of this stream, Captain Bonneville encamped
for a time, for the purpose of recruiting the strength of his horses.
Scouts were now sent out to explore the surrounding country, and search
for a convenient pass through the mountains toward the Wallamut or
Multnomah. After an absence of twenty days they returned weary and
discouraged. They had been harassed and perplexed in rugged mountain
defiles, where their progress was continually impeded by rocks and
precipices. Often they had been obliged to travel along the edges of
frightful ravines, where a false step would have been fatal. In one of
these passes, a horse fell from the brink of a precipice, and would have
been dashed to pieces had he not lodged among the branches of a tree,
from which he was extricated with great difficulty. These, however, were
not the worst of their difficulties and perils. The great conflagration
of the country, which had harassed the main party in its march, was
still more awful the further this exploring party proceeded. The flames
which swept rapidly over the light vegetation of the prairies assumed
a fiercer character and took a stronger hold amid the wooded glens and
ravines of the mountains. Some of the deep gorges and defiles sent up
sheets of flame, and clouds of lurid smoke, and sparks and cinders that
in the night made them resemble the craters of volcanoes. The groves and
forests, too, which crowned the cliffs, shot up their towering columns
of fire, and added to the furnace glow of the mountains. With these
stupendous sights were combined the rushing blasts caused by the
rarefied air, which roared and howled through the narrow glens, and
whirled forth the smoke and flames in impetuous wreaths. Ever and anon,
too, was heard the crash of falling trees, sometimes tumbling from crags
and precipices, with tremendous sounds.

In the daytime, the mountains were wrapped in smoke so dense and
blinding, that the explorers, if by chance they separated, could only
find each other by shouting. Often, too, they had to grope their way
through the yet burning forests, in constant peril from the limbs and
trunks of trees, which frequently fell across their path. At length
they gave up the attempt to find a pass as hopeless, under actual
circumstances, and made their way back to the camp to report their
failure.




45.

     The Skynses--Their traffic--Hunting--Food--Horses--A horse-
     race--Devotional feeling of the Skynses, Nez Perces and
     Flatheads--Prayers--Exhortations--A preacher on horseback
     Effect of religion on the manners of the tribes--A new
     light.

DURING the absence of this detachment, a sociable intercourse had been
kept up between the main party and the Skynses, who had removed into
the neighborhood of the camp. These people dwell about the waters of
the Way-lee-way and the adjacent country, and trade regularly with
the Hudson’s Bay Company; generally giving horses in exchange for the
articles of which they stand in need. They bring beaver skins, also, to
the trading posts; not procured by trapping, but by a course of internal
traffic with the shy and ignorant Shoshokoes and Too-el-icans, who keep
in distant and unfrequented parts of the country, and will not venture
near the trading houses. The Skynses hunt the deer and elk occasionally;
and depend, for a part of the year, on fishing. Their main subsistence,
however, is upon roots, especially the kamash. This bulbous root is said
to be of a delicious flavor, and highly nutritious. The women dig it
up in great quantities, steam it, and deposit it in caches for winter
provisions. It grows spontaneously, and absolutely covers the plains.

This tribe was comfortably clad and equipped. They had a few rifles
among them, and were extremely desirous of bartering for those of
Captain Bonneville’s men; offering a couple of good running horses for
a light rifle. Their first-rate horses, however, were not to be procured
from them on any terms. They almost invariably use ponies; but of a
breed infinitely superior to any in the United States. They are fond of
trying their speed and bottom, and of betting upon them.

As Captain Bonneville was desirous of judging of the comparative merit
of their horses, he purchased one of their racers, and had a trial of
speed between that, an American, and a Shoshonie, which were supposed to
be well matched. The race-course was for the distance of one mile and a
half out and back. For the first half mile the American took the lead
by a few hands; but, losing his wind, soon fell far behind; leaving the
Shoshonie and Skynse to contend together. For a mile and a half they
went head and head: but at the turn the Skynse took the lead and won the
race with great ease, scarce drawing a quick breath when all was over.

The Skynses, like the Nez Perces and the Flatheads, have a strong
devotional feeling, which has been successfully cultivated by some
of the resident personages of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Sunday is
invariably kept sacred among these tribes. They will not raise their
camp on that day, unless in extreme cases of danger or hunger: neither
will they hunt, nor fish, nor trade, nor perform any kind of labor on
that day. A part of it is passed in prayer and religious ceremonies.
Some chief, who is generally at the same time what is called a “medicine
man,” assembles the community. After invoking blessings from the Deity,
he addresses the assemblage, exhorting them to good conduct; to be
diligent in providing for their families; to abstain from lying and
stealing; to avoid quarrelling or cheating in their play, and to be
just and hospitable to all strangers who may be among them. Prayers
and exhortations are also made, early in the morning, on week days.
Sometimes, all this is done by the chief from horseback; moving slowly
about the camp, with his hat on, and uttering his exhortations with
a loud voice. On all occasions, the bystanders listen with profound
attention; and at the end of every sentence respond one word in unison,
apparently equivalent to an amen. While these prayers and exhortations
are going on, every employment in the camp is suspended. If an Indian
is riding by the place, he dismounts, holds his horse, and attends with
reverence until all is done. When the chief has finished his prayer
or exhortation, he says, “I have done,” upon which there is a general
exclamation in unison. With these religious services, probably derived
from the white men, the tribes above-mentioned mingle some of their old
Indian ceremonials, such as dancing to the cadence of a song or ballad,
which is generally done in a large lodge provided for the purpose.
Besides Sundays, they likewise observe the cardinal holidays of the
Roman Catholic Church.

Whoever has introduced these simple forms of religions among these poor
savages, has evidently understood their characters and capacities, and
effected a great melioration of their manners. Of this we speak not
merely from the testimony of Captain Bonneville, but likewise from
that of Mr. Wyeth, who passed some months in a travelling camp of the
Flatheads. “During the time I have been with them,” says he, “I have
never known an instance of theft among them: the least thing, even to
a bead or pin, is brought to you, if found; and often, things that have
been thrown away. Neither have I known any quarrelling, nor lying. This
absence of all quarrelling the more surprised me, when I came to see the
various occasions that would have given rise to it among the whites: the
crowding together of from twelve to eighteen hundred horses, which have
to be driven into camp at night, to be picketed, to be packed in the
morning; the gathering of fuel in places where it is extremely scanty.
All this, however, is done without confusion or disturbance.

“They have a mild, playful, laughing disposition; and this is portrayed
in their countenances. They are polite, and unobtrusive. When one
speaks, the rest pay strict attention: when he is done, another assents
by ‘yes,’ or dissents by ‘no;’ and then states his reasons, which are
listened to with equal attention. Even the children are more peaceable
than any other children. I never heard an angry word among them, nor
any quarrelling; although there were, at least, five hundred of them
together, and continually at play. With all this quietness of spirit,
they are brave when put to the test; and are an overmatch for an equal
number of Blackfeet.”

The foregoing observations, though gathered from Mr. Wyeth as relative
to the Flatheads, apply, in the main, to the Skynses also. Captain
Bonneville, during his sojourn with the latter, took constant occasion,
in conversing with their principal men, to encourage them in the
cultivation of moral and religious habits; drawing a comparison between
their peaceable and comfortable course of life and that of other tribes,
and attributing it to their superior sense of morality and religion. He
frequently attended their religious services, with his people; always
enjoining on the latter the most reverential deportment; and he observed
that the poor Indians were always pleased to have the white men present.

The disposition of these tribes is evidently favorable to a considerable
degree of civilization. A few farmers settled among them might lead
them, Captain Bonneville thinks, to till the earth and cultivate grain;
the country of the Skynses and Nez Perces is admirably adapted for the
raising of cattle. A Christian missionary or two, and some trifling
assistance from government, to protect them from the predatory and
warlike tribes, might lay the foundation of a Christian people in the
midst of the great western wilderness, who would “wear the Americans
near their hearts.”

We must not omit to observe, however, in qualification of the sanctity
of this Sabbath in the wilderness, that these tribes who are all
ardently addicted to gambling and horseracing, make Sunday a peculiar
day for recreations of the kind, not deeming them in any wise out of
season. After prayers and pious ceremonies are over, there is scarce an
hour in the day, says Captain Bonneville, that you do not see several
horses racing at full speed; and in every corner of the camp are groups
of gamblers, ready to stake everything upon the all-absorbing game of
hand. The Indians, says Wyeth, appear to enjoy their amusements with
more zest than the whites. They are great gamblers; and in proportion to
their means, play bolder and bet higher than white men.

The cultivation of the religious feeling, above noted, among the
savages, has been at times a convenient policy with some of the more
knowing traders; who have derived great credit and influence among them
by being considered “medicine men;” that is, men gifted with mysterious
knowledge. This feeling is also at times played upon by religious
charlatans, who are to be found in savage as well as civilized life. One
of these was noted by Wyeth, during his sojourn among the Flat-heads.
A new great man, says he, is rising in the camp, who aims at power
and sway. He covers his designs under the ample cloak of religion;
inculcating some new doctrines and ceremonials among those who are more
simple than himself. He has already made proselytes of one-fifth of
the camp; beginning by working on the women, the children, and the
weak-minded. His followers are all dancing on the plain, to their own
vocal music. The more knowing ones of the tribe look on and laugh;
thinking it all too foolish to do harm; but they will soon find that
women, children, and fools, form a large majority of every community,
and they will have, eventually, to follow the new light, or be
considered among the profane. As soon as a preacher or pseudo prophet of
the kind gets followers enough, he either takes command of the tribe, or
branches off and sets up an independent chief and “medicine man.”




46.

     Scarcity in the camp--Refusal of supplies by the Hudson’s
     Bay Company--Conduct of the Indians--A hungry retreat--John
     Day’s River--The Blue Mountains--Salmon fishing on Snake
     River Messengers from the Crow country--Bear River Valley--
     immense migration of buffalo--Danger of buffalo hunting--A
     wounded Indian--Eutaw Indians--A “surround” of antelopes.

PROVISIONS were now growing scanty in the camp, and Captain Bonneville
found it necessary to seek a new neighborhood. Taking leave, therefore,
of his friends, the Skynses, he set off to the westward, and, crossing
a low range of mountains, encamped on the head-waters of the Ottolais.
Being now within thirty miles of Fort Wallah-Wallah, the trading post of
the Hudson’s Bay Company, he sent a small detachment of men thither
to purchase corn for the subsistence of his party. The men were well
received at the fort; but all supplies for their camp were peremptorily
refused. Tempting offers were made them, however, if they would leave
their present employ, and enter into the service of the company; but
they were not to be seduced.

When Captain Bonneville saw his messengers return empty-handed, he
ordered an instant move, for there was imminent danger of famine. He
pushed forward down the course of the Ottolais, which runs diagonal
to the Columbia, and falls into it about fifty miles below the
Wallah-Wallah. His route lay through a beautiful undulating country,
covered with horses belonging to the Skynses, who sent them there for
pasturage.

On reaching the Columbia, Captain Bonneville hoped to open a trade with
the natives, for fish and other provisions, but to his surprise they
kept aloof, and even hid themselves on his approach. He soon discovered
that they were under the influence of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who had
forbidden them to trade, or hold any communion with him. He proceeded
along the Columbia, but it was everywhere the same; not an article of
provisions was to be obtained from the natives, and he was at length
obliged to kill a couple of his horses to sustain his famishing people.
He now came to a halt, and consulted what was to be done. The broad and
beautiful Columbia lay before them, smooth and unruffled as a mirror; a
little more journeying would take them to its lower region; to the noble
valley of the Wallamut, their projected winter quarters. To advance
under present circumstances would be to court starvation. The resources
of the country were locked against them, by the influence of a jealous
and powerful monopoly. If they reached the Wallamut, they could scarcely
hope to obtain sufficient supplies for the winter; if they lingered any
longer in the country the snows would gather upon the mountains and
cut off their retreat. By hastening their return, they would be able to
reach the Blue Mountains just in time to find the elk, the deer, and the
bighorn; and after they had supplied themselves with provisions, they
might push through the mountains before they were entirely blocked by
snow. Influenced by these considerations, Captain Bonneville reluctantly
turned his back a second time on the Columbia, and set off for the Blue
Mountains. He took his course up John Day’s River, so called from one
of the hunters in the original Astorian enterprise. As famine was at
his heels, he travelled fast, and reached the mountains by the 1st of
October. He entered by the opening made by John Day’s River; it was a
rugged and difficult defile, but he and his men had become accustomed
to hard scrambles of the kind. Fortunately, the September rains had
extinguished the fires which recently spread over these regions; and the
mountains, no longer wrapped in smoke, now revealed all their grandeur
and sublimity to the eye.

They were disappointed in their expectation of finding abundant game in
the mountains; large bands of the natives had passed through, returning
from their fishing expeditions, and had driven all the game before them.
It was only now and then that the hunters could bring in sufficient to
keep the party from starvation.

To add to their distress, they mistook their route, and wandered for
ten days among high and bald hills of clay. At length, after much
perplexity, they made their way to the banks of Snake River, following
the course of which, they were sure to reach their place of destination.

It was the 20th of October when they found themselves once more upon
this noted stream. The Shoshokoes, whom they had met with in such scanty
numbers on their journey down the river, now absolutely thronged its
banks to profit by the abundance of salmon, and lay up a stock for
winter provisions. Scaffolds were everywhere erected, and immense
quantities of fish drying upon them. At this season of the year,
however, the salmon are extremely poor, and the travellers needed their
keen sauce of hunger to give them a relish.

In some places the shores were completely covered with a stratum of dead
salmon, exhausted in ascending the river, or destroyed at the falls; the
fetid odor of which tainted the air.

It was not until the travellers reached the head-waters of the Portneuf
that they really found themselves in a region of abundance. Here the
buffaloes were in immense herds; and here they remained for three days,
slaying and cooking, and feasting, and indemnifying themselves by an
enormous carnival, for a long and hungry Lent. Their horses, too, found
good pasturage, and enjoyed a little rest after a severe spell of hard
travelling.

During this period, two horsemen arrived at the camp, who proved to be
messengers sent express for supplies from Montero’s party; which had
been sent to beat up the Crow country and the Black Hills, and to winter
on the Arkansas. They reported that all was well with the party, but
that they had not been able to accomplish the whole of their mission,
and were still in the Crow country, where they should remain until
joined by Captain Bonneville in the spring. The captain retained the
messengers with him until the 17th of November, when, having reached the
caches on Bear River, and procured thence the required supplies, he sent
them back to their party; appointing a rendezvous toward the last of
June following, on the forks of Wind River Valley, in the Crow country.

He now remained several days encamped near the caches, and having
discovered a small band of Shoshonies in his neighborhood, purchased
from them lodges, furs, and other articles of winter comfort, and
arranged with them to encamp together during the winter.

The place designed by the captain for the wintering ground was on the
upper part of Bear River, some distance off. He delayed approaching it
as long as possible, in order to avoid driving off the buffaloes, which
would be needed for winter provisions. He accordingly moved forward but
slowly, merely as the want of game and grass obliged him to shift his
position. The weather had already become extremely cold, and the snow
lay to a considerable depth. To enable the horses to carry as much dried
meat as possible, he caused a cache to be made, in which all the baggage
that could be spared was deposited. This done, the party continued to
move slowly toward their winter quarters.

They were not doomed, however, to suffer from scarcity during the
present winter. The people upon Snake River having chased off the
buffaloes before the snow had become deep, immense herds now came
trooping over the mountains; forming dark masses on their sides, from
which their deep-mouthed bellowing sounded like the low peals and
mutterings from a gathering thunder-cloud. In effect, the cloud broke,
and down came the torrent thundering into the valley. It is utterly
impossible, according to Captain Bonneville, to convey an idea of the
effect produced by the sight of such countless throngs of animals of
such bulk and spirit, all rushing forward as if swept on by a whirlwind.

The long privation which the travellers had suffered gave uncommon ardor
to their present hunting. One of the Indians attached to the party,
finding himself on horseback in the midst of the buffaloes, without
either rifle, or bow and arrows, dashed after a fine cow that was
passing close by him, and plunged his knife into her side with such
lucky aim as to bring her to the ground. It was a daring deed; but
hunger had made him almost desperate.

The buffaloes are sometimes tenacious of life, and must be wounded
in particular parts. A ball striking the shagged frontlet of a
bull produces no other effect than a toss of the head and greater
exasperation; on the contrary, a ball striking the forehead of a cow
is fatal. Several instances occurred during this great hunting bout,
of bulls fighting furiously after having received mortal wounds.
Wyeth, also, was witness to an instance of the kind while encamped
with Indians. During a grand hunt of the buffaloes, one of the Indians
pressed a bull so closely that the animal turned suddenly on him. His
horse stopped short, or started back, and threw him. Before he could
rise the bull rushed furiously upon him, and gored him in the chest so
that his breath came out at the aperture. He was conveyed back to the
camp, and his wound was dressed. Giving himself up for slain, he called
round him his friends, and made his will by word of mouth. It was
something like a death chant, and at the end of every sentence those
around responded in concord. He appeared no ways intimidated by the
approach of death. “I think,” adds Wyeth, “the Indians die better than
the white men; perhaps from having less fear about the future.”

The buffaloes may be approached very near, if the hunter keeps to the
leeward; but they are quick of scent, and will take the alarm and
move off from a party of hunters to the windward, even when two miles
distant.

The vast herds which had poured down into the Bear River Valley were now
snow-bound, and remained in the neighborhood of the camp throughout the
winter. This furnished the trappers and their Indian friends a perpetual
carnival; so that, to slay and eat seemed to be the main occupations of
the day. It is astonishing what loads of meat it requires to cope with
the appetite of a hunting camp.

The ravens and wolves soon came in for their share of the good cheer.
These constant attendants of the hunter gathered in vast numbers as
the winter advanced. They might be completely out of sight, but at the
report of a gun, flights of ravens would immediately be seen hovering
in the air, no one knew whence they came; while the sharp visages of
the wolves would peep down from the brow of every hill, waiting for the
hunter’s departure to pounce upon the carcass.

Besides the buffaloes, there were other neighbors snow-bound in the
valley, whose presence did not promise to be so advantageous. This was a
band of Eutaw Indians who were encamped higher up on the river. They
are a poor tribe that, in a scale of the various tribes inhabiting these
regions, would rank between the Shoshonies and the Shoshokoes or Root
Diggers; though more bold and warlike than the latter. They have but few
rifles among them, and are generally armed with bows and arrows.

As this band and the Shoshonies were at deadly feud, on account of
old grievances, and as neither party stood in awe of the other, it was
feared some bloody scenes might ensue. Captain Bonneville, therefore,
undertook the office of pacificator, and sent to the Eutaw chiefs,
inviting them to a friendly smoke, in order to bring about a
reconciliation. His invitation was proudly declined; whereupon he
went to them in person, and succeeded in effecting a suspension of
hostilities until the chiefs of the two tribes could meet in
council. The braves of the two rival camps sullenly acquiesced in the
arrangement. They would take their seats upon the hill tops, and watch
their quondam enemies hunting the buffalo in the plain below, and
evidently repine that their hands were tied up from a skirmish. The
worthy captain, however, succeeded in carrying through his benevolent
mediation. The chiefs met; the amicable pipe was smoked, the hatchet
buried, and peace formally proclaimed. After this, both camps united
and mingled in social intercourse. Private quarrels, however, would
occasionally occur in hunting, about the division of the game, and blows
would sometimes be exchanged over the carcass of a buffalo; but the
chiefs wisely took no notice of these individual brawls.

One day the scouts, who had been ranging the hills, brought news of
several large herds of antelopes in a small valley at no great distance.
This produced a sensation among the Indians, for both tribes were in
ragged condition, and sadly in want of those shirts made of the skin
of the antelope. It was determined to have “a surround,” as the mode of
hunting that animal is called. Everything now assumed an air of mystic
solemnity and importance. The chiefs prepared their medicines or charms
each according to his own method, or fancied inspiration, generally
with the compound of certain simples; others consulted the entrails of
animals which they had sacrificed, and thence drew favorable auguries.
After much grave smoking and deliberating it was at length proclaimed
that all who were able to lift a club, man, woman, or child, should
muster for “the surround.” When all had congregated, they moved in rude
procession to the nearest point of the valley in question, and there
halted. Another course of smoking and deliberating, of which the Indians
are so fond, took place among the chiefs. Directions were then issued
for the horsemen to make a circuit of about seven miles, so as to
encompass the herd. When this was done, the whole mounted force dashed
off simultaneously, at full speed, shouting and yelling at the top of
their voices. In a short space of time the antelopes, started from
their hiding-places, came bounding from all points into the valley. The
riders, now gradually contracting their circle, brought them nearer and
nearer to the spot where the senior chief, surrounded by the elders,
male and female, were seated in supervision of the chase. The antelopes,
nearly exhausted with fatigue and fright, and bewildered by perpetual
whooping, made no effort to break through the ring of the hunters, but
ran round in small circles, until man, woman, and child beat them down
with bludgeons. Such is the nature of that species of antelope hunting,
technically called “a surround.”




47.

     A festive winter--Conversion of the Shoshonies--Visit of two
     free trappers--Gayety in the camp--A touch of the tender
     passion--The reclaimed squaw--An Indian fine lady--An
     elopement--A pursuit--Market value of a bad wife.

GAME continued to abound throughout the winter, and the camp was
overstocked with provisions. Beef and venison, humps and haunches,
buffalo tongues and marrow-bones, were constantly cooking at every fire;
and the whole atmosphere was redolent with the savory fumes of roast
meat. It was, indeed, a continual “feast of fat things,” and though
there might be a lack of “wine upon the lees,” yet we have shown that a
substitute was occasionally to be found in honey and alcohol.

Both the Shoshonies and the Eutaws conducted themselves with great
propriety. It is true, they now and then filched a few trifles from
their good friends, the Big Hearts, when their backs were turned; but
then, they always treated them to their faces with the utmost deference
and respect, and good-humoredly vied with the trappers in all kinds of
feats of activity and mirthful sports. The two tribes maintained toward
each other, also a friendliness of aspect which gave Captain Bonneville
reason to hope that all past animosity was effectually buried.

The two rival bands, however, had not long been mingled in this social
manner before their ancient jealousy began to break out in a new form.
The senior chief of the Shoshonies was a thinking man, and a man of
observation. He had been among the Nez Perces, listened to their new
code of morality and religion received from the white men, and attended
their devotional exercises. He had observed the effect of all this, in
elevating the tribe in the estimation of the white men; and determined,
by the same means, to gain for his own tribe a superiority over their
ignorant rivals, the Eutaws. He accordingly assembled his people, and
promulgated among them the mongrel doctrines and form of worship of the
Nez Perces; recommending the same to their adoption. The Shoshonies were
struck with the novelty, at least, of the measure, and entered into it
with spirit. They began to observe Sundays and holidays, and to have
their devotional dances, and chants, and other ceremonials, about
which the ignorant Eutaws knew nothing; while they exerted their usual
competition in shooting and horseracing, and the renowned game of hand.

Matters were going on thus pleasantly and prosperously, in this motley
community of white and red men, when, one morning, two stark free
trappers, arrayed in the height of savage finery, and mounted on steeds
as fine and as fiery as themselves, and all jingling with hawks’ bells,
came galloping, with whoop and halloo, into the camp.

They were fresh from the winter encampment of the American Fur Company,
in the Green River Valley; and had come to pay their old comrades of
Captain Bonneville’s company a visit. An idea may be formed from the
scenes we have already given of conviviality in the wilderness, of the
manner in which these game birds were received by those of their
feather in the camp; what feasting, what revelling, what boasting,
what bragging, what ranting and roaring, and racing and gambling, and
squabbling and fighting, ensued among these boon companions. Captain
Bonneville, it is true, maintained always a certain degree of law and
order in his camp, and checked each fierce excess; but the trappers, in
their seasons of idleness and relaxation require a degree of license and
indulgence, to repay them for the long privations and almost incredible
hardships of their periods of active service.

In the midst of all this feasting and frolicking, a freak of the tender
passion intervened, and wrought a complete change in the scene. Among
the Indian beauties in the camp of the Eutaws and Shoshonies, the free
trappers discovered two, who had whilom figured as their squaws. These
connections frequently take place for a season, and sometimes continue
for years, if not perpetually; but are apt to be broken when the free
trapper starts off, suddenly, on some distant and rough expedition.

In the present instance, these wild blades were anxious to regain
their belles; nor were the latter loath once more to come under their
protection. The free trapper combines, in the eye of an Indian girl, all
that is dashing and heroic in a warrior of her own race--whose gait, and
garb, and bravery he emulates--with all that is gallant and glorious
in the white man. And then the indulgence with which he treats her, the
finery in which he decks her out, the state in which she moves, the sway
she enjoys over both his purse and person; instead of being the drudge
and slave of an Indian husband, obliged to carry his pack, and build his
lodge, and make his fire, and bear his cross humors and dry blows.
No; there is no comparison in the eyes of an aspiring belle of the
wilderness, between a free trapper and an Indian brave.

With respect to one of the parties the matter was easily arranged. ‘The
beauty in question was a pert little Eutaw wench, that had been taken
prisoner, in some war excursion, by a Shoshonie. She was readily
ransomed for a few articles of trifling value; and forthwith figured
about the camp in fine array, “with rings on her fingers, and bells
on her toes,” and a tossed-up coquettish air that made her the envy,
admiration, and abhorrence of all the leathern-dressed, hard-working
squaws of her acquaintance.

As to the other beauty, it was quite a different matter. She had become
the wife of a Shoshonie brave. It is true, he had another wife, of
older date than the one in question; who, therefore, took command in his
household, and treated his new spouse as a slave; but the latter was
the wife of his last fancy, his latest caprice; and was precious in his
eyes. All attempt to bargain with him, therefore, was useless; the
very proposition was repulsed with anger and disdain. The spirit of
the trapper was roused, his pride was piqued as well as his passion. He
endeavored to prevail upon his quondam mistress to elope with him. His
horses were fleet, the winter nights were long and dark, before daylight
they would be beyond the reach of pursuit; and once at the encampment
in Green River Valley, they might set the whole band of Shoshonies at
defiance.

The Indian girl listened and longed. Her heart yearned after the ease
and splendor of condition of a trapper’s bride, and throbbed to be free
from the capricious control of the premier squaw; but she dreaded the
failure of the plan, and the fury of a Shoshonie husband. They parted;
the Indian girl in tears, and the madcap trapper more than ever, with
his thwarted passion.

Their interviews had, probably, been detected, and the jealousy of
the Shoshonie brave aroused: a clamor of angry voices was heard in his
lodge, with the sound of blows, and of female weeping and lamenting. At
night, as the trapper lay tossing on his pallet, a soft voice whispered
at the door of his lodge. His mistress stood trembling before him. She
was ready to follow whithersoever he should lead.

In an instant he was up and out. He had two prime horses, sure and swift
of foot, and of great wind. With stealthy quiet, they were brought up
and saddled; and in a few moments he and his prize were careering over
the snow, with which the whole country was covered. In the eagerness of
escape, they had made no provision for their journey; days must elapse
before they could reach their haven of safety, and mountains and
prairies be traversed, wrapped in all the desolation of winter. For the
present, however they thought of nothing but flight; urging their horses
forward over the dreary wastes, and fancying, in the howling of every
blast, they heard the yell of the pursuer.

At early dawn, the Shoshonie became aware of his loss. Mounting his
swiftest horse, he set off in hot pursuit. He soon found the trail of
the fugitives, and spurred on in hopes of overtaking them. The winds,
however, which swept the valley, had drifted the light snow into the
prints made by the horses’ hoofs. In a little while he lost all trace of
them, and was completely thrown out of the chase. He knew, however, the
situation of the camp toward which they were bound, and a direct course
through the mountains, by which he might arrive there sooner than the
fugitives. Through the most rugged defiles, therefore, he urged his
course by day and night, scarce pausing until he reached the camp. It
was some time before the fugitives made their appearance. Six days had
they traversed the wintry wilds. They came, haggard with hunger and
fatigue, and their horses faltering under them. The first object that
met their eyes on entering the camp was the Shoshonie brave. He rushed,
knife in hand, to plunge it in the heart that had proved false to him.
The trapper threw himself before the cowering form of his mistress,
and, exhausted as he was, prepared for a deadly struggle. The Shoshonie
paused. His habitual awe of the white man checked his arm; the trapper’s
friends crowded to the spot, and arrested him. A parley ensued. A kind
of crim. con. adjudication took place; such as frequently occurs
in civilized life. A couple of horses were declared to be a fair
compensation for the loss of a woman who had previously lost her heart;
with this, the Shoshonie brave was fain to pacify his passion. He
returned to Captain Bonneville’s camp, somewhat crestfallen, it is true;
but parried the officious condolements of his friends by observing that
two good horses were very good pay for one bad wife.




48.

     Breaking up of winter quarters--Move to Green River--A
     trapper and his rifle--An arrival in camp--A free trapper
     and his squaw in distress--Story of a Blackfoot belle.

THE winter was now breaking up, the snows were melted, from the hills,
and from the lower parts of the mountains, and the time for decamping
had arrived. Captain Bonneville dispatched a party to the caches, who
brought away all the effects concealed there, and on the 1st of April
(1835), the camp was broken up, and every one on the move. The white
men and their allies, the Eutaws and Shoshonies, parted with many
regrets and sincere expressions of good-will; for their intercourse
throughout the winter had been of the most friendly kind.

Captain Bonneville and his party passed by Ham’s Fork, and reached the
Colorado, or Green River, without accident, on the banks of which they
remained during the residue of the spring. During this time, they were
conscious that a band of hostile Indians were hovering about their
vicinity, watching for an opportunity to slay or steal; but the vigilant
precautions of Captain Bonneville baffled all their manoeuvres. In such
dangerous times, the experienced mountaineer is never without his rifle
even in camp. On going from lodge to lodge to visit his comrades, he
takes it with him. On seating himself in a lodge, he lays it beside him,
ready to be snatched up; when he goes out, he takes it up as regularly
as a citizen would his walking-staff. His rifle is his constant friend
and protector.

On the 10th of June, the party was a little to the east of the Wind
River Mountains, where they halted for a time in excellent pasturage, to
give their horses a chance to recruit their strength for a long journey;
for it was Captain Bonneville’s intention to shape his course to the
settlements; having already been detained by the complication of his
duties, and by various losses and impediments, far beyond the time
specified in his leave of absence.

While the party was thus reposing in the neighborhood of the Wind River
Mountains, a solitary free trapper rode one day into the camp, and
accosted Captain Bonneville. He belonged, he said, to a party of thirty
hunters, who had just passed through the neighborhood, but whom he had
abandoned in consequence of their ill treatment of a brother trapper;
whom they had cast off from their party, and left with his bag and
baggage, and an Indian wife into the bargain, in the midst of a desolate
prairie. The horseman gave a piteous account of the situation of this
helpless pair, and solicited the loan of horses to bring them and their
effects to the camp.

The captain was not a man to refuse assistance to any one in distress,
especially when there was a woman in the case; horses were immediately
dispatched, with an escort, to aid the unfortunate couple. The next day
they made their appearance with all their effects; the man, a stalwart
mountaineer, with a peculiarly game look; the woman, a young Blackfoot
beauty, arrayed in the trappings and trinketry of a free trapper’s
bride.

Finding the woman to be quick-witted and communicative, Captain
Bonneville entered into conversation with her, and obtained from
her many particulars concerning the habits and customs of her tribe;
especially their wars and huntings. They pride themselves upon being the
“best legs of the mountains,” and hunt the buffalo on foot. This is done
in spring time, when the frosts have thawed and the ground is soft. The
heavy buffaloes then sink over their hoofs at every step, and are easily
overtaken by the Blackfeet, whose fleet steps press lightly on the
surface. It is said, however, that the buffaloes on the Pacific side
of the Rocky Mountains are fleeter and more active than on the Atlantic
side; those upon the plains of the Columbia can scarcely be overtaken by
a horse that would outstrip the same animal in the neighborhood of the
Platte, the usual hunting ground of the Blackfeet. In the course of
further conversation, Captain Bonneville drew from the Indian woman her
whole story; which gave a picture of savage life, and of the drudgery
and hardships to which an Indian wife is subject.

“I was the wife,” said she, “of a Blackfoot warrior, and I served
him faithfully. Who was so well served as he? Whose lodge was so well
provided, or kept so clean? I brought wood in the morning, and placed
water always at hand. I watched for his coming; and he found his meat
cooked and ready. If he rose to go forth, there was nothing to delay
him. I searched the thought that was in his heart, to save him the
trouble of speaking. When I went abroad on errands for him, the chiefs
and warriors smiled upon me, and the young braves spoke soft things,
in secret; but my feet were in the straight path, and my eyes could see
nothing but him.

“When he went out to hunt, or to war, who aided to equip him, but I?
When he returned, I met him at the door; I took his gun; and he entered
without further thought. While he sat and smoked, I unloaded his horses;
tied them to the stakes, brought in their loads, and was quickly at his
feet. If his moccasins were wet I took them off and put on others which
were dry and warm. I dressed all the skins he had taken in the chase.
He could never say to me, why is it not done? He hunted the deer, the
antelope, and the buffalo, and he watched for the enemy. Everything else
was done by me. When our people moved their camp, he mounted his horse
and rode away; free as though he had fallen from the skies. He had
nothing to do with the labor of the camp; it was I that packed the
horses and led them on the journey. When we halted in the evening,
and he sat with the other braves and smoked, it was I that pitched his
lodge; and when he came to eat and sleep, his supper and his bed were
ready.

“I served him faithfully; and what was my reward? A cloud was always on
his brow, and sharp lightning on his tongue. I was his dog; and not his
wife.

“Who was it that scarred and bruised me? It was he. My brother saw how
I was treated. His heart was big for me. He begged me to leave my tyrant
and fly. Where could I go? If retaken, who would protect me? My brother
was not a chief; he could not save me from blows and wounds, perhaps
death. At length I was persuaded. I followed my brother from the
village. He pointed away to the Nez Perces, and bade me go and live in
peace among them. We parted. On the third day I saw the lodges of the
Nez Perces before me. I paused for a moment, and had no heart to go on;
but my horse neighed, and I took it as a good sign, and suffered him to
gallop forward. In a little while I was in the midst of the lodges. As
I sat silent on my horse, the people gathered round me, and inquired
whence I came. I told my story. A chief now wrapped his blanket close
around him, and bade me dismount. I obeyed. He took my horse to lead him
away. My heart grew small within me. I felt, on parting with my horse,
as if my last friend was gone. I had no words, and my eyes were dry. As
he led off my horse a young brave stepped forward. ‘Are you a chief of
the people?’ cried he. ‘Do we listen to you in council, and follow
you in battle? Behold! a stranger flies to our camp from the dogs of
Blackfeet, and asks protection. Let shame cover your face! The stranger
is a woman, and alone. If she were a warrior, or had a warrior at her
side, your heart would not be big enough to take her horse. But he is
yours. By right of war you may claim him; but look!’--his bow was
drawn, and the arrow ready!--‘you never shall cross his back!’ The arrow
pierced the heart of the horse, and he fell dead.

“An old woman said she would be my mother. She led me to her lodge; my
heart was thawed by her kindness, and my eyes burst forth with tears;
like the frozen fountains in springtime. She never changed; but as the
days passed away, was still a mother to me. The people were loud in
praise of the young brave, and the chief was ashamed. I lived in peace.

“A party of trappers came to the village, and one of them took me for
his wife. This is he. I am very happy; he treats me with kindness, and
I have taught him the language of my people. As we were travelling this
way, some of the Blackfeet warriors beset us, and carried off the horses
of the party. We followed, and my husband held a parley with them. The
guns were laid down, and the pipe was lighted; but some of the white
men attempted to seize the horses by force, and then a battle began.
The snow was deep, the white men sank into it at every step; but the
red men, with their snow-shoes, passed over the surface like birds, and
drove off many of the horses in sight of their owners. With those that
remained we resumed our journey. At length words took place between the
leader of the party and my husband. He took away our horses, which had
escaped in the battle, and turned us from his camp. My husband had one
good friend among the trappers. That is he (pointing to the man who had
asked assistance for them). He is a good man. His heart is big. When he
came in from hunting, and found that we had been driven away, he gave up
all his wages, and followed us, that he might speak good words for us to
the white captain.”




49.

     Rendezvous at Wind River--Campaign of Montero and his
     brigade in the Crow country--Wars between the Crows and
     Blackfeet--Death--of Arapooish--Blackfeet lurkers--Sagacity
     of the horse--Dependence of the hunter on his horse--Return
     to the settlements.

ON the 22d of June Captain Bonneville raised his camp, and moved to the
forks of Wind River; the appointed place of rendezvous. In a few days he
was joined there by the brigade of Montero, which had been sent, in the
preceding year, to beat up the Crow country, and afterward proceed to
the Arkansas. Montero had followed the early part of his instructions;
after trapping upon some of the upper streams, he proceeded to Powder
River. Here he fell in with the Crow villages or bands, who treated
him with unusual kindness, and prevailed upon him to take up his winter
quarters among them.

The Crows at that time were struggling almost for existence with their
old enemies, the Blackfeet; who, in the past year, had picked off the
flower of their warriors in various engagements, and among the rest,
Arapooish, the friend of the white men. That sagacious and magnanimous
chief had beheld, with grief, the ravages which war was making in
his tribe, and that it was declining in force, and must eventually
be destroyed unless some signal blow could be struck to retrieve its
fortunes. In a pitched battle of the two tribes, he made a speech to his
warriors, urging them to set everything at hazard in one furious charge;
which done, he led the way into the thickest of the foe. He was
soon separated from his men, and fell covered with wounds, but his
self-devotion was not in vain. The Blackfeet were defeated; and
from that time the Crows plucked up fresh heart, and were frequently
successful.

Montero had not been long encamped among them, when he discovered that
the Blackfeet were hovering about the neighborhood. One day the hunters
came galloping into the camp, and proclaimed that a band of the enemy
was at hand. The Crows flew to arms, leaped on their horses, and dashed
out in squadrons in pursuit. They overtook the retreating enemy in the
midst of a plain. A desperate fight ensued. The Crows had the advantage
of numbers, and of fighting on horseback. The greater part of the
Blackfeet were slain; the remnant took shelter in a close thicket of
willows, where the horse could not enter; whence they plied their bows
vigorously.

The Crows drew off out of bow-shot, and endeavored, by taunts and
bravadoes, to draw the warriors Out of their retreat. A few of the best
mounted among them rode apart from the rest. One of their number then
advanced alone, with that martial air and equestrian grace for which
the tribe is noted. When within an arrow’s flight of the thicket, he
loosened his rein, urged his horse to full speed, threw his body on the
opposite side, so as to hang by one leg, and present no mark to the foe;
in this way he swept along in front of the thicket, launching his arrows
from under the neck of his steed. Then regaining his seat in the saddle,
he wheeled round and returned whooping and scoffing to his companions,
who received him with yells of applause.

Another and another horseman repeated this exploit; but the Blackfeet
were not to be taunted out of their safe shelter. The victors feared
to drive desperate men to extremities, so they forbore to attempt
the thicket. Toward night they gave over the attack, and returned
all-glorious with the scalps of the slain. Then came on the usual feasts
and triumphs, the scalp-dance of warriors round the ghastly trophies,
and all the other fierce revelry of barbarous warfare. When the braves
had finished with the scalps, they were, as usual, given up to the women
and children, and made the objects of new parades and dances. They were
then treasured up as invaluable trophies and decorations by the braves
who had won them.

It is worthy of note, that the scalp of a white man, either through
policy or fear, is treated with more charity than that of an Indian. The
warrior who won it is entitled to his triumph if he demands it. In such
case, the war party alone dance round the scalp. It is then taken down,
and the shagged frontlet of a buffalo substituted in its place, and
abandoned to the triumph and insults of the million.

To avoid being involved in these guerillas, as well as to escape
from the extremely social intercourse of the Crows, which began to be
oppressive, Montero moved to the distance of several miles from their
camps, and there formed a winter cantonment of huts. He now maintained a
vigilant watch at night. Their horses, which were turned loose to graze
during the day, under heedful eyes, were brought in at night, and shut
up in strong pens, built of large logs of cotton-wood. The snows, during
a portion of the winter, were so deep that the poor animals could find
but little sustenance. Here and there a tuft of grass would peer above
the snow; but they were in general driven to browse the twigs and tender
branches of the trees. When they were turned out in the morning, the
first moments of freedom from the confinement of the pen were spent in
frisking and gambolling. This done, they went soberly and sadly to work,
to glean their scanty subsistence for the day. In the meantime the men
stripped the bark of the cotton-wood tree for the evening fodder. As the
poor horses would return toward night, with sluggish and dispirited air,
the moment they saw their owners approaching them with blankets filled
with cotton-wood bark, their whole demeanor underwent a change. A
universal neighing and capering took place; they would rush forward,
smell to the blankets, paw the earth, snort, whinny and prance round
with head and tail erect, until the blankets were opened, and the
welcome provender spread before them. These evidences of intelligence
and gladness were frequently recounted by the trappers as proving the
sagacity of the animal.

These veteran rovers of the mountains look upon their horses as in some
respects gifted with almost human intellect. An old and experienced
trapper, when mounting guard upon the camp in dark nights and times
of peril, gives heedful attention to all the sounds and signs of the
horses. No enemy enters nor approaches the camp without attracting their
notice, and their movements not only give a vague alarm, but it is said,
will even indicate to the knowing trapper the very quarter whence the
danger threatens.

In the daytime, too, while a hunter is engaged on the prairie, cutting
up the deer or buffalo he has slain, he depends upon his faithful horse
as a sentinel. The sagacious animal sees and smells all round him,
and by his starting and whinnying, gives notice of the approach of
strangers. There seems to be a dumb communion and fellowship, a sort of
fraternal sympathy between the hunter and his horse. They mutually
rely upon each other for company and protection; and nothing is more
difficult, it is said, than to surprise an experienced hunter on the
prairie while his old and favorite steed is at his side.

Montero had not long removed his camp from the vicinity of the Crows,
and fixed himself in his new quarters, when the Blackfeet marauders
discovered his cantonment, and began to haunt the vicinity, He kept up a
vigilant watch, however, and foiled every attempt of the enemy, who,
at length, seemed to have given up in despair, and abandoned the
neighborhood. The trappers relaxed their vigilance, therefore, and one
night, after a day of severe labor, no guards were posted, and the whole
camp was soon asleep. Toward midnight, however, the lightest sleepers
were roused by the trampling of hoofs; and, giving the alarm, the whole
party were immediately on their legs and hastened to the pens. The bars
were down; but no enemy was to be seen or heard, and the horses being
all found hard by, it was supposed the bars had been left down through
negligence. All were once more asleep, when, in about an hour there was
a second alarm, and it was discovered that several horses were missing.
The rest were mounted, and so spirited a pursuit took place, that
eighteen of the number carried off were regained, and but three remained
in possession of the enemy. Traps for wolves, had been set about
the camp the preceding day. In the morning it was discovered that a
Blackfoot was entrapped by one of them, but had succeeded in dragging
it off. His trail was followed for a long distance which he must have
limped alone. At length he appeared to have fallen in with some of his
comrades, who had relieved him from his painful encumbrance.

These were the leading incidents of Montero’s campaign in the Crow
country. The united parties now celebrated the 4th of July, in rough
hunters’ style, with hearty conviviality; after which Captain Bonneville
made his final arrangements. Leaving Montero with a brigade of trappers
to open another campaign, he put himself at the head of the residue
of his men, and set off on his return to civilized life. We shall not
detail his journey along the course of the Nebraska, and so, from point
to point of the wilderness, until he and his band reached the frontier
settlements on the 22d of August.

Here, according to his own account, his cavalcade might have been taken
for a procession of tatterdemalion savages; for the men were ragged
almost to nakedness, and had contracted a wildness of aspect during
three years of wandering in the wilderness. A few hours in a populous
town, however, produced a magical metamorphosis. Hats of the most ample
brim and longest nap; coats with buttons that shone like mirrors, and
pantaloons of the most ample plenitude, took place of the well-worn
trapper’s equipments; and the happy wearers might be seen strolling
about in all directions, scattering their silver like sailors just from
a cruise.

The worthy captain, however, seems by no means to have shared the
excitement of his men, on finding himself once more in the thronged
resorts of civilized life, but, on the contrary, to have looked back
to the wilderness with regret. “Though the prospect,” says he, “of once
more tasting the blessings of peaceful society, and passing days and
nights under the calm guardianship of the laws, was not without its
attractions; yet to those of us whose whole lives had been spent in
the stirring excitement and perpetual watchfulness of adventures in
the wilderness, the change was far from promising an increase of that
contentment and inward satisfaction most conducive to happiness. He who,
like myself, has roved almost from boyhood among the children of the
forest, and over the unfurrowed plains and rugged heights of the western
wastes, will not be startled to learn, that notwithstanding all the
fascinations of the world on this civilized side of the mountains, I
would fain make my bow to the splendors and gayeties of the metropolis,
and plunge again amidst the hardships and perils of the wilderness.”

We have only to add that the affairs of the captain have been
satisfactorily arranged with the War Department, and that he is actually
in service at Fort Gibson, on our western frontier, where we hope he may
meet with further opportunities of indulging his peculiar tastes, and of
collecting graphic and characteristic details of the great western wilds
and their motley inhabitants.

We here close our picturings of the Rocky Mountains and their wild
inhabitants, and of the wild life that prevails there; which we have
been anxious to fix on record, because we are aware that this singular
state of things is full of mutation, and must soon undergo great
changes, if not entirely pass away. The fur trade itself, which has
given life to all this portraiture, is essentially evanescent.
Rival parties of trappers soon exhaust the streams, especially when
competition renders them heedless and wasteful of the beaver. The
furbearing animals extinct, a complete change will come over the scene;
the gay free trapper and his steed, decked out in wild array, and
tinkling with bells and trinketry; the savage war chief, plumed and
painted and ever on the prowl; the traders’ cavalcade, winding through
defiles or over naked plains, with the stealthy war party lurking on its
trail; the buffalo chase, the hunting camp, the mad carouse in the
midst of danger, the night attack, the stampede, the scamper, the fierce
skirmish among rocks and cliffs--all this romance of savage life, which
yet exists among the mountains, will then exist but in frontier story,
and seem like the fictions of chivalry or fairy tale.

Some new system of things, or rather some new modification, will succeed
among the roving people of this vast wilderness; but just as opposite,
perhaps, to the inhabitants of civilization. The great Chippewyan chain
of mountains, and the sandy and volcanic plains which extend on either
side, are represented as incapable of cultivation. The pasturage which
prevails there during a certain portion of the year, soon withers under
the aridity of the atmosphere, and leaves nothing but dreary wastes.
An immense belt of rocky mountains and volcanic plains, several
hundred miles in width, must ever remain an irreclaimable wilderness,
intervening between the abodes of civilization, and affording a last
refuge to the Indian. Here roving tribes of hunters, living in tents
or lodges, and following the migrations of the game, may lead a life of
savage independence, where there is nothing to tempt the cupidity of the
white man. The amalgamation of various tribes, and of white men of every
nation, will in time produce hybrid races like the mountain Tartars of
the Caucasus. Possessed as they are of immense droves of horses should
they continue their present predatory and warlike habits, they may in
time become a scourge to the civilized frontiers on either side of the
mountains, as they are at present a terror to the traveller and trader.

The facts disclosed in the present work clearly manifest the policy of
establishing military posts and a mounted force to protect our traders
in their journeys across the great western wilds, and of pushing the
outposts into the very heart of the singular wilderness we have laid
open, so as to maintain some degree of sway over the country, and to put
an end to the kind of “blackmail,” levied on all occasions by the savage
“chivalry of the mountains.”




Appendix

Nathaniel J. Wyeth, and the Trade of the Far West

WE HAVE BROUGHT Captain Bonneville to the end of his western
campaigning; yet we cannot close this work without subjoining some
particulars concerning the fortunes of his contemporary, Mr. Wyeth;
anecdotes of whose enterprise have, occasionally, been interwoven in
the party-colored web of our narrative. Wyeth effected his intention of
establishing a trading post on the Portneuf, which he named Fort Hall.
Here, for the first time, the American flag was unfurled to the breeze
that sweeps the great naked wastes of the central wilderness. Leaving
twelve men here, with a stock of goods, to trade with the neighboring
tribes, he prosecuted his journey to the Columbia; where he established
another post, called Fort Williams, on Wappatoo Island, at the mouth
of the Wallamut. This was to be the head factory of his company; whence
they were to carry on their fishing and trapping operations, and their
trade with the interior; and where they were to receive and dispatch
their annual ship.

The plan of Mr. Wyeth appears to have been well concerted. He had
observed that the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, the bands of free
trappers, as well as the Indians west of the mountains, depended for
their supplies upon goods brought from St. Louis; which, in consequence
of the expenses and risks of a long land carriage, were furnished them
at an immense advance on first cost. He had an idea that they might be
much more cheaply supplied from the Pacific side. Horses would cost
much less on the borders of the Columbia than at St. Louis: the
transportation by land was much shorter; and through a country much more
safe from the hostility of savage tribes; which, on the route from and
to St. Louis, annually cost the lives of many men. On this idea, he
grounded his plan. He combined the salmon fishery with the fur trade. A
fortified trading post was to be established on the Columbia, to carry
on a trade with the natives for salmon and peltries, and to fish and
trap on their own account. Once a year, a ship was to come from the
United States, to bring out goods for the interior trade, and to take
home the salmon and furs which had been collected. Part of the goods,
thus brought out, were to be dispatched to the mountains, to supply the
trapping companies and the Indian tribes, in exchange for their furs;
which were to be brought down to the Columbia, to be sent home in
the next annual ship: and thus an annual round was to be kept up. The
profits on the salmon, it was expected, would cover all the expenses
of the ship; so that the goods brought out, and the furs carried home,
would cost nothing as to freight.

His enterprise was prosecuted with a spirit, intelligence, and
perseverance, that merited success. All the details that we have met
with, prove him to be no ordinary man. He appears to have the mind to
conceive, and the energy to execute extensive and striking plans. He had
once more reared the American flag in the lost domains of Astoria;
and had he been enabled to maintain the footing he had so gallantly
effected, he might have regained for his country the opulent trade of
the Columbia, of which our statesmen have negligently suffered us to be
dispossessed.

It is needless to go into a detail of the variety of accidents and
cross-purposes, which caused the failure of his scheme. They were such
as all undertakings of the kind, involving combined operations by sea
and land, are liable to. What he most wanted, was sufficient capital
to enable him to endure incipient obstacles and losses; and to hold
on until success had time to spring up from the midst of disastrous
experiments.

It is with extreme regret we learn that he has recently been compelled
to dispose of his establishment at Wappatoo Island, to the Hudson’s
Bay Company; who, it is but justice to say, have, according to his own
account, treated him throughout the whole of his enterprise, with great
fairness, friendship, and liberality. That company, therefore, still
maintains an unrivalled sway over the whole country washed by the
Columbia and its tributaries. It has, in fact, as far as its chartered
powers permit, followed out the splendid scheme contemplated by Mr.
Astor, when he founded his establishment at the mouth of the Columbia.
From their emporium of Vancouver, companies are sent forth in every
direction, to supply the interior posts, to trade with the natives, and
to trap upon the various streams. These thread the rivers, traverse
the plains, penetrate to the heart of the mountains, extend their
enterprises northward, to the Russian possessions, and southward, to the
confines of California. Their yearly supplies are received by sea, at
Vancouver; and thence their furs and peltries are shipped to London.
They likewise maintain a considerable commerce, in wheat and
lumber, with the Pacific islands, and to the north, with the Russian
settlements.

Though the company, by treaty, have a right to a participation only, in
the trade of these regions, and are, in fact, but tenants on sufferance;
yet have they quietly availed themselves of the original oversight,
and subsequent supineness of the American government, to establish
a monopoly of the trade of the river and its dependencies; and are
adroitly proceeding to fortify themselves in their usurpation, by
securing all the strong points of the country.

Fort George, originally Astoria, which was abandoned on the removal of
the main factory to Vancouver, was renewed in 1830; and is now kept
up as a fortified post and trading house. All the places accessible to
shipping have been taken possession of, and posts recently established
at them by the company.

The great capital of this association; their long established system;
their hereditary influence over the Indian tribes; their internal
organization, which makes every thing go on with the regularity of a
machine; and the low wages of their people, who are mostly Canadians,
give them great advantages over the American traders: nor is it likely
the latter will ever be able to maintain any footing in the land, until
the question of territorial right is adjusted between the two countries.
The sooner that takes place, the better. It is a question too serious
to national pride, if not to national interests, to be slurred over; and
every year is adding to the difficulties which environ it.

The fur trade, which is now the main object of enterprise west of the
Rocky Mountains, forms but a part of the real resources of the country.
Beside the salmon fishery of the Columbia, which is capable of being
rendered a considerable source of profit; the great valleys of the lower
country, below the elevated volcanic plateau, are calculated to give
sustenance to countless flocks and herds, and to sustain a great
population of graziers and agriculturists.

Such, for instance, is the beautiful valley of the Wallamut; from which
the establishment at Vancouver draws most of its supplies. Here,
the company holds mills and farms; and has provided for some of its
superannuated officers and servants. This valley, above the falls, is
about fifty miles wide, and extends a great distance to the south. The
climate is mild, being sheltered by lateral ranges of mountains; while
the soil, for richness, has been equalled to the best of the Missouri
lands. The valley of the river Des Chutes, is also admirably calculated
for a great grazing country. All the best horses used by the company for
the mountains are raised there. The valley is of such happy temperature,
that grass grows there throughout the year, and cattle may be left out
to pasture during the winter.

These valleys must form the grand points of commencement of the future
settlement of the country; but there must be many such, en folded in the
embraces of these lower ranges of mountains; which, though at present
they lie waste and uninhabited, and to the eye of the trader and
trapper, present but barren wastes, would, in the hands of skilful
agriculturists and husbandmen, soon assume a different aspect, and teem
with waving crops, or be covered with flocks and herds.

The resources of the country, too, while in the hands of a company
restricted in its trade, can be but partially called forth; but in the
hands of Americans, enjoying a direct trade with the East Indies, would
be brought into quickening activity; and might soon realize the dream of
Mr. Astor, in giving rise to a flourishing commercial empire.




Wreck of a Japanese Junk on the Northwest Coast

THE FOLLOWING EXTRACT of a letter which we received, lately, from Mr.
Wyeth, may be interesting, as throwing some light upon the question as
to the manner in which America has been peopled.

“Are you aware of the fact, that in the winter of 1833, a Japanese
junk was wrecked on the northwest coast, in the neighborhood of Queen
Charlotte’s Island; and that all but two of the crew, then much reduced
by starvation and disease, during a long drift across the Pacific, were
killed by the natives? The two fell into the hands of the Hudson’s
Bay Company, and were sent to England. I saw them, on my arrival at
Vancouver, in 1834.”




Instructions to Captain Bonneville

from the Major-General Commanding the Army of the United States.

Copy

Head Quarters of the Army. Washington 29th July 1831.

Sir,

The leave of absence which you have asked for the purpose of enabling
you to carry into execution your designs of exploring the country to the
Rocky Mountains, and beyond with a view of ascertaining the nature and
character of the various tribes of Indians inhabiting those regions; the
trade which might be profitably carried on with them, the quality of the
soil, the productions, the minerals, the natural history, the climate,
the Geography, and Topography, as well as Geology of the various parts
of the Country within the limits of the Territories belonging to the
United States, between our frontier, and the Pacific; has been duly
considered, and submitted to the War Department, for approval, and has
been sanctioned.

You are therefore authorised to be absent from the Army until October
1833.

It is understood that the Government is to be at no expence, in
reference to your proposed expedition, it having originated with
yourself, and all that you required was the permission from the proper
authority to undertake the enterprise. You will naturally in providing
yourself for the expedition, provide suitable instruments, and
especially the best Maps of the interior to be found. It is desirable
besides what is enumerated as the object of enterprise that you note
particularly the number of Warriors that may belong to each tribe, or
nation that you may meet with: their alliances with other tribes and
their relative position as to a state of peace or war, and whether their
friendly or warlike dispositions towards each other are recent or of
long standing. You will gratify us by describing the manner of their
making War, of the mode of subsisting themselves during a state of war,
and a state of peace, their Arms, and the effect of them, whether they
act on foot or on horse back, detailing the discipline, and manuvers
of the war parties, the power of their horses, size and general
discription; in short any information which you may conceive would be
useful to the Government. You will avail yourself of every opportunity
of informing us of your position and progress, and at the expiration of
your leave of absence will join your proper station.

I have the honor to be Sir, Your Ot St

(Signed) Alexr Macomb Maj Genl Comg

To Cap: B. L E Bonneville 7th Regt Infantry New York





End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, by
Washington Irving

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