'WAV«W/'4V4V4V.V4 4 jf ^4^4%%% 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4* CW4V4V4V4V.'.' '"''!5tll4!l!4!4!'v. r V IHF THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL BEING SKETCHES OF PRAIRIE AND ROCKY MOUNTAIN LIFE BY FRANCIS PARKMAN, Jr ..r^-'"^^ Let him who crawls enamor'd of decay. Cling to his couch, and Mcken years away ^ Heave his thick breath, and ehake his paleud head ; Ours— the fresh turf, and not the feverish bed. Byron. NEW YORK HURST & COMPANY, Publishers 134 AND 136 Granp Street Mv^ hi* The journey which the following narrative describes was undertaken on the writer's part with a view of studying the manners and character of Indians in their primitive state. Al- tliougli, in the cliapters which relate to them, he has only attempted to sketch those features of their wild and pictur- esque life which fell, in tlie present instance, under his own eye, yet in doing so he has constantly aimed to leave an im- pression of their character correct as far as it goes. In justi- fying his claim to accuracy on this point, it is hardly neces- sary to advert to the representations given by poets and novelists, which, for the most part, are mere creations of fancy. The Indian is certainly entitled to a high rank among savages, but his good qualities are not those of an Uncas or an Outalissi. ill CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. The Frontier, 7 II. Breaking the Ice, 13 III. Fort Leavenworth, 21 IV. "Jumping Off," 24 V. "The Big Blue," 33 VI. The Platte and the Desert, . . _ . 47 VII. The Buffalo, 58 VIII. Taking French Leave, 71 IX. Scenes at Fort Laramie, 83 X. The War Parties, 96 XI. Scenes at the Camp, 113 XII. Ill Luck, 129 XIII. Hunting Indians, 134 XIV. The Ogallalla Village, 154 XV. The Hunting Camp, 171 XVI. The Trappers, 189 XVII. The Black Hills, 197 XVIII. A Mountain Hunt, 200 XIX. Passage of the Mountains, 210 XX. The Lonely Journey, 223 XXI. The Pueblo and Bent's Fori 239 XXII. TtTE Rouge, the Volunteer, .... 245 XXIII. Indian Alarms, 249 XXIV. The Chase, 258 XXV. The Buffalo Camp, 265 XXVI. Down the Arkansas, 277 XXVII. The Settlements, 291 T THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL CHAPTER I. THE FRONTIER. Away, away from men and towns To the silent wilderness, Shelley. Last spring, 1846, was a busy season in the city of St. Louis. Not only were emigrants from every part of the country preparing for the journey to Oregon and California, but an unusual number of traders were making ready their wagons and outfits for Santa Fe. Many cf the emigrants, especially of those bound for California, were persons of wealth and standing. The hotels were crowded, and the gunsmiths and saddlers were kept constantly at work in providing arms and equipments for the different parties of travelers. Almost every day steamboats were leaving the levee and passing up the Missouri, crowded with passengers on their way to the frontier. In one of these, the Radnor, since snagged and lost, my friend and relative, Quincy A. Shaw, and myself, left St. Louis on the 28th of April, on a tour of curiosity and amusement to the Rocky Mountains. The boat was loaded until the water broke alternately over her guards. Her upper deck was covered with large wagons of a peculiar form, for the Santa Fe trade, and her hold was crammed with goods for the same destination. There were also the equipments and provisions of a party of Oregon emigrants, a band of mules and horses, piles of saddles and harness, and a multitude of nondescript articles, indispensable on the prairies. Almost hidden in this medley one might have seen a small French cart, of the sort very appropriately called a " mule-killer " 8 THE CALIFOUMIA AND OREQOK TRAIL. beyond the frontiers, and not far distant a tent, together with a miscellaneous assortment of boxes and barrels. The whole equipage was far from prepossessing in its appearance ; j^et, such as it was, it was destined to a long and arduous journey, on which the persevering reader will accompany it. The passengers on board the Hadnor corresponded with her freight. In her cabin were Santa Fe traders, gamblers, specu- lators, and adventurers of various descrijJtions, and her steer- age was crowded wdth Oregon emigrants, "mountain men," negroes, and a party of Kansas Indians, who had been on a visit to St. Louis. Tlius laden, the boat struggled upward for seven or eight days against the rapid current of the Missouri, grating upon snags, and hanging for two or three hours at a time upon sand- bars. We entered the mouth of the Missouri in a drizzling rain, but the weather soon became clear, and showed distinctly tlie broad and turbid river, with its eddies, iis sand-bars, its ragged islands, and forest-covered shores. The Missouri is con- stantly changing its course ; wearing aw^iy its banks on one side, while it forms new ones on the other. Its channel is shifting continuallj^ Islands are formed, and then Avashcd away ; and while the old forests on one side are undermined and sw^ept off, a young growth springs up from the new soil upon the other. With all these changes, the water is so charged with mud and sand that it is perfectly opaque, and in a few minutes deposits a sediment an inch thick in the bottom of a tumbler. The river was now high ; but w^hen we descended in tlie autumn it was fallen very low, and all the secrets of its treacherous shallows were exposed to view. It was frightful to see the dead and broken trees, thick-set as a military abatis, firmly imbedded in the sand, and all pointing down stream, read}^ to impale any unhappy steamboat that at high water should pass over that dangerous ground. In five or six days we began to see signs of the great west- ern movement that was then taking place. Parties of emi- grants, \vith their tents and wagons, would be encamped on open spots near the bank, on tlieir way to the common rendez- vous at Independence. On a rainy daj^, near sunset, we reached the landing of this place, which is situated some miles from the river, on the extreme frontier of Missouri. The scene was characteristic, for here were represented at one view the most remarkable features of this wild and enterprising region. On the muddy shore stood some thirty or forty dark slavish- looking Spaniards, gazing stupidly out from beneath their THE CALIFOHNlA AJSU OliEGON TUAIL. d broad hats. They were attaclied to one of the Santa Fe com- panies, whose wagons were crowded together on the banks above. In the midst of these, crouching over a smoldering lire, was a group of Indians, belonging to a remote Mexican tribe. One or two French hunters from the mountains, with their long hair and buckskin dresses, were looking at the boat ; and seated on a log close at hand were tliree men, with rifles lying across their knees. The foremost of these, a tall, strong figure, with a clear blue eye and an open, intelligent face, might very well represent that race of restless and intrepid pioneers whose axes and rifles have opened a path from the Alleghenies to the western prairies. He was on his way to Oregon, probably a more congenial field to him than any that now remained on this side the great plains. Early on the next morning we reached Kansas, about five hundred miles from the mouth of the Missouri. Here we landed, and leaving our equipments in charge of my good friend Colonel Chick, whose log-house was the substitute for a tavern, we set out in a wagon for Westport, where we hoped to procure mules and horses for the journey. It was a remarkably fresh and beautiful May morning. The rich and luxuriant woods through which the miserable road conducted us were lighted by the bright sunshine and enlivened by a multitude of birds. We overtook on the way our late fellow-travelers, the Kansas Indians, who, adorned with all their finery, were proceeding homeward at a round pace ; and whatever t\\Qj might have seemed on board the boat, they made a very striking and picturesque feature in the forest landscape. Westport was full of Indians, whose little shaggy ponies were tied hy dozens along the houses and fences. Sacs and Foxes, with shaved hearls and painted faces, Shawanoes and Delawares, fluttering in calico frocks and turbans, Wyandottes dressed like white men, and a few wretched Kansas wrapped in old blankets, were strolling about the streets, or lounging in and out of the shops and houses. As I stood at the door of the tavern, I saw a remarkable looking person coming up the street. He had a ruddy face, garnished with the stumps of a bristly red beard and mus- tache ; on one side of his head was a round cap with a knob at the top, such as Scottish laborers sometimes wear ; his coat was of a nondescript form, and made of a gray Scotch plaid, with the fringes hanging all about it ; he wore pantaloons of coarse homespun, and hob-nailed shoes ; and to complete his 10 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. equipment, a little black pipe was stuck in one corner of his mouth. In this curious attire, I recognized Captain C. of the British army, wlio, with his brother, and Mr. R., an Englisli gentleman, was bound on a hunting expedition across the con- tinent. I had seen the captain and his companions at St. Louis. They had now been for some time at Westport, mak- ing preparations for their departure, and waiting for a re-en- forcement, since they were too few in number to attempt it alone. They might, it is true, have joined some of the parties of emigrants who were on the point of setting out for Oregon and California ; but they professed great disinclination to have any connection with the " Kentucky fellows." The captain now urged it upon us, that we should join forces and proceed to the mountains in company. Feeling no greater partiality for the society of the emigrants than they did, we thouglit the arrangement an advantageous one, and consented to it. Our future fellow-travelers had iitf tailed themselves in a little log-house, where we found them all surrounded by sad- dles, harness, guns, pistols, telescopes, knives, and in short their complete appointments for the prairie. R., who professed a taste for natural history, sat at a table stuffing a woodpecker ; the brother of the captain, who was an Irishman, was splicing a trail rope on the floor, as he had been an amateur sailor. The captain pointed out, with much complacencj^, the different articles of their outfit. " You see," said he, *' that we are all old travelers. I am convinced that no party ever went upon the prairie better provided." The hunter whom they had employed, a surly looking Canadian, named Sorel, and their muleteer, an American from St Louis, were lounging about the building. In a little log stable close at hand ^vere their horses and mules, selected by the captain, who was an excellent judge. The alliance entered into, we left them to complete their arrangements, while we pushed our own to all convenient speed. The emigrants for whom our friends professed such contempt were encamped on the prairie about eight or ten miles distant, to tlie yumber of a thousand or more, and new parties were constantly passing out from Independence to join tiiem. They were in great confusion, holding meetings, passing resolutions, and drawing up regulations, but unable to unite in the choice of leaders to conduct them across the prairie. Being at leisure one day, I rode over to Independence. The town was crowded. A multitude of shops had sprung up to furnish the emigrants and Santa Fe traders with necessaries for their journey ; and there was an incessant hammering and banging from a dozen THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. 11 blacksmiths' sheds, wliere the heavy wagons were being repaired, and the horses and oxen shod. The streets were thronged with men, horses, and mules. While I was in the town, a train of emigrant wagons from Illinois passed through, to join the camp on the prairie, and stopped in the principal street. A multitude of healthy children's faces were peeping out from under the covers of the wagons. Here and there a buxom damsel was seated on horseback, holding over her sun- burnt face an old umbrella or a parasol, once gaudy enough, but now miserably faded. The men, very sober-looking coun- trymen, stood about their oxen ; and as I passed I noticed three old fellows, who, with their long whips in their hands, were zealously discussing the doctrine of regeneration. The emi- grants, however, are not all of this stamp. Among them are some of the vilest outcasts in the country. I have often per- plexed myself to divine the various motives that give impulse to this strange niigration ; but whatever they may be, whether an insane hope of a better condition in life, or a desire of shak- ing off restraints of law and society, or mere restlessness, cer- tain it is that multitudes bitterly repent the journey, and after they have reached the land of promise are happy enough to escape from it. In the course of seven or eight days we had brought our preparations near to a close. Meanwhile our friends had com- pleted theirs, and becoming tired of Westport, they told us that they would set out in advance and wait at the crossing of the Kansas till we should come up. Accordingly R. and tlie muleteer went forward with the wagon and tent, while the captain and his brother, together with Sorel, and a trapper named Boisverd, who had joined them, followed with the band of horses. The commencement of the journey was ominous, for the captain was scarcely a mile from VVestport, riding along in state at the head of his party, leading his intended buffalo horse by a rope, when a tremendous thunderston:i came on, and drenched them all to the skin. They hurried on to reach the place, about seven miles off, where R^was to have had the camp in readiness to receive them. Hut this prudent person, when he saw the storm approaching, had selected a sheltered glade in the woods, where he pitclied his tent, and was sipping a comfortable cup of coffee while the captain galloped for miles beyond through the rain to look for him. At length the storm cleared away, and the sharp- eyed trapper succeeded in discovering his tent : R. had by this time finished his coffee, and was seated on a buffalo robe 12 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL, smoking his pipe. The captain was one of the most easy-tem- pered men in existence, so he bore his ill luck with great com- posure, shared the dregs of the cojffee with his brother, aiid laid down to sleep in his wet clothes. We ourselves had our share of the deluge. We were lead- ing a pair of mules to Kansas when the storm broke. Such sharp and incessant flashes of lightning, such stunning and continuous thunder, I had never known before. The woods were completely obscured by the diagonal sheets of rain that fell with a heavy roar, and rose in spray from the ground ; and the streams rose so rapidl}' that we could hardly ford them. At length, looming through the rain, we saw the log-house of Colonel Chick, who received us with his usual bland hospi- tality ; while his wife, who, though a little soured and stiff- ened by too frequent attendance on camp-raectings, was not behind him in hospitable feeling, supplied us with the means of repairing our drenched and bedraggled condition. The storm, clearing away at about sunset, opened a noble prospect from the porch of the colonel's house, which stands upon a high hill. The fiun streamed from the breaking clouds upon the swift and angry Missouri, and on the immense expanse of luxuriant forest that stretched from its banks back to the dis- tant bluffs. Returning on the next day to Westport, we received a mes- sage from the captain, who had ridden back to deliver it in person, but finding that we were in Kansas, had intrusted it with an acquaintance of his named Yogel, who kept a small grocery and liquor shop. Whisky by the w^ay circulates more freely in Westport than is altogether safe in a place where every man carries a loaded pistol in his pocket. As we passed this establishment, we saw Vogel's broad German face and knavish looking eyes thrust from his door. He said he had something to tell us, and invited us to take a dram. Neither his liquor nor his message was ver}^ palatable. The captain had returned to give us notice that R., who assumed the direction of his part}'-, had determined upon another route from tffat agreed upon between us ; and instead of taking the course of the traders, to pass northward by Fort Leaven- worth, and follow the path marked out by the dragoons in their expedition of last summer. To adopt such a plan with- out consulting us, we looked upon as a very high-handed pro- ceeding ; but suppressing our dissatisfaction as well as we could, we made up our minds to join them at Fort Leaven- worth, where they were to wait for us. THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. 13 Accordingly, our preparation being now complete, we at- tempted one fine morning to commence our journey. The fir^ step was an unfortunate one. No sooner were our ani- mals put in harness, than the shaft mule reared and plunged, burst ropes and straps, and nearly flung the cart into the Missouri. Finding her wholly uncontrollable, we exchanged her for another, with which we were furnished by our friend Mr. Boone of Westport, a grandson of Daniel Boone, the pioneer. This foretaste of prairie experience was very soon followed by another. Westport was scarcely out of sight, when we encountered a deep muddy gully, of a species that afterward became but too familiar to us ; and here for the space of an hour or more the cart stuck fast. CHAPTER II. BREAKING THE ICE. Though sluggards deem it but a foolish chase, And marvel men should quit their easy-chair, The weary way and long, long league to trace; — Oh, there is sweetness in the praiHe air, And life that bloated ease can never hope to share. Childe Harold. Both Shaw and myself were tolerably inured to the vicissi- tudes of traveling. We had experienced them under various forms, and a birch canoe was as familiar to us as a steamboat. The restlesness, the love of wilds and hatred of cities, natural perhaps in early years to every unperverted son of Adam, was not our only motive for undertaking the present journey. My companion hoped to shake off the effects of a disorder that liad impaired a constitution originally hardy and robust ; and I was anxious to pursue some inquiries relative to the character and usages of the remote Indian nations, being already familiar with many of the border tribes. Emerging from the mud-hole where we last took leave of the reader, we pursued our way for some time along the nar- row track, in the checkered sunshine and shadow of the ^oods, till at length, issuing forth into the broad light, we left behind us the farthest outskirts of that great forest, that once spread unbroken from the western plains to the shore of the Atlantic. Looking over an intervening belt of shrubbery, we saw the green, oceanlike expanse of prairie, stretching swell over swell to the horizon. It was a mild, calm spring day ; a day when one is more 14 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. disposed to musing and reverie than to action, and tlie softest part of his nature is apt to gain the ascendency. I rode in advance of the party, as we passed through the shrubbery, and as a nook of green grass oflFered a strong temptation, I dis- mounted and lay down there. , All the trees and saplings were in flower, or budding into fresh leaf ; the red clusters of the maple-blossoms and the rich flowers of the Indian apple were there in profusion ; and I was half inclined to regret leaving behind the land of gardens for the rude and stern scenes of the prairie and the mountains. Meanwhile the party came in sight from out of the bushes. Foremost rode Henry Chatillon, our guide and hunter, a fine athletic figure, mounted on a hardy gray Wyandotte pony. He wore a white blanket-coat, a broad hat of felt, moccasins, and pantaloons of deerskin, ornamented along the seams with rows of long fringes. His knife was stuck in his belt ; his bullet-pouch and powder-horn hung at his side, and his rifle lay before him, resting against the high pommel of his saddle, which, like all his equipments, had seen hard service, and was much the worse for wear. Shaw followed close, mounted on a little sorrel horse, and leading a larger animal by a rope. His outfit, which resembled mine, had been provided with a view to use rather than ornament. It consisted of a plain, black Spanish saddle, with holsters of heavy pistols, a blanket rolled up behind it, and the trail-rope attached to his horse's neck hanging coiled in front. He carried a double-barreled smooth-bore, while I boasted a rifle of some fifteen pounds weight. At that time our attire, though far from elegant, bore some marks of civilization, and offered a very favorable contrast to the inimitable shabbiness of our appearance on the return journey. A red flannel shirt, belted around the waist like a frock, then constituted our upper garment ; moccasins had supplanted our failing boots ; and the remaining essential portion of our attire consisted of an extraordinary article, manufactured by a squaw out of smoked buckskin. Our muleteer, Delorier, brought up the rear with his cart, w^ad- ding ankle-deep in the mud, alternately puffing at his pipe, and ejaculating in his prairie patois : " Sacre enfant de garce ! " as one of the mules would seem to recoil before some abyss of unusual profundity. The cart was of the kind that one may see by scores around the market-place in Montreal, and had a w^hite covering to protect the articles within. These were our provisions and a tent, with ammunition, blankets, and presents for the Indians. THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. 15 We were in all four men with eight animals ; for besides the spare horses led by Shaw and myself, an additional mule was driven along with us as a reserve in case of accident. After this summing up of our forces, it may not be amiss to glance at the characters of the two men who accompanied us. Delorier was a Canadian, with all the characteristics of the true Jean Baptiste. Neither fatigue, exposure, nor hard labor could ever impair his cheerfulness and gayety, or his obsequious politeness to his bourgeois ; and when night came he would sit down by the fire, smoke his pipe, and tell stories with the utmost contentment. In fact the prairie was his con- genial element. Henry Chatillon was of a different stamp. When we were at St. Louis, several of the gentlemen of the Fur Company had kindly offered to procure for us a hunter and guide suited for our purposes, and on coming one after- noon to the office, w^e found there a tall and exceedingly well dressed man, with a face so open and frank that it attracted our notice at once. We were surprised at being told that it was he who wished to guide us to the mountains. He was born in a little French town near St. Louis, and from the age of fifteen j^ears had been constantly in the neighborhood of the Rocky Mountains, employed for the most part by the Company to supply their forts with buffalo meat. As a hunter he had but one rival in the whole region, a man named Cimoneau, with whom, to the honor of both of thcni, he was on terms of the closest friendship. He had arrived at St. Louis the day before, from the mountains, where he had remained for four years ; and he now only asked to go and spend a day with his mother before setting out on another expedition. His age was about thirty ; he was six feet high, and very powerfully and gracefully molded. The prairies had been his school ; lie could neither read nor write, but he had a natural refinement and delicacy of mind such as is very rarely found, even in women. His manly face was a per- fect mirror of uprightness, simplicity, and kindness of heart ; he had, moreover, a keen perce])tion of character, and a tact that would preserve him from fiagrant error in any society. Henry had not the restless energy of an Anglo-American. He was content to take things as he found them ; and his chief fault arose from an excess of easy generosity, impelling him to give away too profuse!}^ ever to thrive in the world. Yet it was commonly remarked of him, that whatever he might choose to do with what bel<»nged to himself, the ])ro]>- erty of others was always safe in his hands. His bravery was 16 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. as much celebrated in the mouutains as his skill in hunting ; but it is characteristic of him that in a country where the rifle is the chief arbiter between man and man, Henry was very seldom involved in quarrels. Once or twice, indeed, his quiet good nature had been mistaken and presumed upon, but the consequences of the error were so formidable that no one was ever known to repeat it. No better evidence of the intrepidity of his temper could be wished than- tlie common report that he had killed more than thirty grizzly bears. He was a proof of what unaided nature will sometimes do. I have never, in the city or in the wilderness, met a better man than my noble and true hearted friend, Henry Chatillon. We were soon free of the woods and bushes, and fairly upon the broad prairie. Now and then a Shawanoe passed us, riding his little shaggy pony at a " lope " ; his calico shirt, his gaudy sash, and the gay liandkerchief bound around his snaky hair fluttering in the wind. At noon we stopped to rest not far from & little creek replete with frogs and young turtles. There had been an Indian encampment at the place, and the framework of their lodges still remained, enabling us very easily to gain a shelter from the sun, by merely spreading one or two blankets over them. Thus shaded, we sat upon our saddles, and Shaw for the first time lighted his favorite Indian pipe ; while Delorier was squatted over a hot bed of coals, shading his eyes with one hand, and holding a little stick in the other, with which he regulated the hissing contents of the fry- ing pan. The horses were turned to feed among the scattered bushes of a low oozy meadow. A drows}^ springlike sultri- ness pervaded the air, and the voices of ten thousand young frogs and insects, just awakened into life, rose in varied chorus from the creek and the meadows. Scarcely were we seated when a visitor approached. This was an old Kansas Indian ; a man of distinction, if one might judge from his dress. His head was shaved and painted red, and from the tuft of hair remaining on the crown dangled sev- eral eagle's feathers, and the tails of two or three rattlesnakes. His cheeks, too, were daubed with vermilion ; his ears were adorned with green glass pendants ; a collar of grizzly bears' claws surrounded his neck, and several large necklaces of wampura hung on his breast. Having shaken us by the hand with a cordial grunt of salutation, the old man, dropping his red blanket from his shoulders, sat down cross-legged on the ground. In the absence of liquor we offered him a cup of sweetened water, at which he ejaculated " Good ! " and was be- THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. 17 Spinning to tell us liow great a man he was, and liovv many- Pawnees be had killed, when suddenly a motley concourse ap- peared wading across the creek toward us. They filed past in rapid succession, men, women, and children ; some were on horseback, some on foot, but all were alike squalid and wretched. Old squaws, mounted astride of shaggy, meager little ponies, with perhaps one or two snake-eyed children seated behind them, clinging to their tattered blankets ; tall lank young men on foot, with bows and arrows in their hands ; and girls whose native ugliness not all the charms of glass beads and scarlet cloth could disguise made up the procession ; although here and there was a man who, like our visitor, seemed to hold some rank in this respectable community. They were the dregs of the Kansas nation, who, while their betters were gone to hunt the buffalo, had left the village on a begging expedition to Westport. When this ragamuffin horde had passed, we caught our horses, saddled, harnessed, and resumed our journey. Fording the creek, the low roofs of a number of rude buildings appeared, rising from a cluster of groves and woods on the left ; and rid- ing up through a long lane, amid a profusion of wild roses and early spring flowers, we found the log-church and school- houses belonging to the Methodist Shawanoe Mission. The Indians were on the point of gathering to a religious meeting. Some scores of them, tall men in half-civilized dress, were seated on wooden benches under the trees ; while their horses were tied to the sheds and fences. Their chief, Parks, a remarkably large and athletic man, was just arrived from Westport, where he owns a trading establishment. Beside this, he has a fine farm and a considerable number of slaves. Indeed the Shawanoes have made greater progress in agricul- ture than any other tribe on the Missouri frontier ; and both in appearance and in character form a marked contrast to our late acquaintance, the Kansas. A few hours' ride brought us to tlie banks of the river Kansas. Traversing the woods that lined it, and plowing through the deep sand, we encamped not far from the bank, at the Lower Delaware crossing. Our tent was erected for the first time on a meadow close to the woods, and the camp prep- arations being complete we began to think of supper. An old Delaware Moman, of some three hundred pounds' weight, sat in the porch of a little log-house close to the water, and a very pretty half-breed girl was engaged, under her superin- tendence, in feeding a lar^e flock of turkeys that were flutter- 18 THE CALIFOBNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. ing and gobbling about the door. But no offers of money, or even of tobacco, could induce her to part with one of her favorites ; so I took my rifle, to see if the woods or the river could furnish us anything. A multitude of quails were plain- tively whistling in the woods and meadows ; but nothing- appropriate to the rifle was to be seen, except three buzzards, seated on the spectral limbs of an old dead sycamore, that thrust itself out over the river from the dense sunny wall of fresh foliage. Their ugly heads were drawn down between their shoulders, and they seemed to luxuriate in the soft sun- shine that was pouring from the west. As they oiiered no epicurean temptations, I refrained from disturbing their enjoy- ment ; but contented myself with admiring the calm beauty of the sunset, for the river, eddying swiftly in deep purple shadows between the impending woods, formed a wild but tranquillizing scene. When I returned to the camp I found Shaw and an old Indian seated on the ground in close conference, passing the pipe between them. The old man was explaining that he loved the whites, and had an especial partiality for tobacco. Delorier was arranging upon the ground our service of tin cups and plates ; and as other viands were not to be had, he set before us a repast of biscuit and bacon, and a large pot of coffee. Unsheathing our knives, we attacked it, disposed of the greater part, and tossed the residue to the Indian. Meanwhile our horses, now hobbled for the first time, stood among the trees, with their fore-legs tied together, in great disgust and astonishment. They seemed by no means to relish this fore- taste of what was before them. Mine, in particular, had con- ceived a mortal aversion to the prairie life. One of them, christened Hendrick, an animal whose strength and hardihood were his only merits, and who yielded to nothing but the cogent arguments of the whip, looked toward us with an indignant countenance, as if he meditated avenging his wrongs with a kick. The other, Pontiac, a good horse, though of plebeian lineage, stood with his head drooping and his mane hanging about his eyes, with the grieved and sulky air of a lubberly boy sent off to school. Poor Pontiac ! his forebod- ings were but too just ; for when I last heard from him, he was under the lash of an Ogallalla brave, on a war party against the Crows. As it grew dark, and the voices of the whip-poor-wills suc- ceeded the whistle of the quails, we removed our saddles to the tent, to serve as pillows, spread our blankets upon the ground, THE CALIFORNIA AND OTiEQON TRAIL. 10 and prepared to bivouac for the first time that season. Each man selected the place in the tent which he was to occupy for the journe\'. To Delorier, however, was assigned the cart, into which lie could creep in wet weather, and find a much better shelter than his bourgeois enjoyed in the tent. The river Kansas at this point forms the boundary line between the country of the Shawanoes and that of the Dela- wares. We crossed it on the following day, rafting over our horses and equipage with much difficulty, and unlading our cart in order to make our way up the steep ascent on the farther bank. It was a Sunday morning ; warm, tranquil and bright, ; and a perfect stillness reigned over the rough in- closures and neglected fields of the Delawares, except the ceaseless hum and chirruping of myriads of insects. Now and then an Indian rode past on his way to the meeting house, or through the dilapidated entrance of some shattered log-house an old woman might be discerned, enjoying all the luxury of idleness. There was no village bell, for the Dela- wares have none ; and yet upon that forlorn and rude settle- ment was the same spirit of Sabbath repose and tranquillity as in some little New England village among the mountains of New Hampshire or the Vermont woods. Having at present no leisure for such reflections, we pursued our journey. A military road led from this point to Fort Leavenworth, and for many miles the farms and cabins of the Delawares were scattered at short intervals on either hand. The little rude structures of logs, erected usually on the borders of a tract of woods, made a picturesque feature in the landscape. But the scenery needed no foreign aid. Nature had done enough for it ; and the alternation of rich green prairies and groves that stood in clusters, or lined the banks of the numerous little streams, had all the softened and polished beauty of a region that has been for centuries under the hand of man. At that early season, too, it was in the height of its freshness and luxuriance. The woods were flushed with the red buds of the maple ; there were frequent flowering shrubs unknown in the east ; and the green swells of the prairie were thickly studded with blossoms. Encamping near a spring by the side of a hill, we resumed our journey in the morning, and early in the afternoon had arrived within a few miles of Fort Leavenworth. The road crossed a stream densely bordered with trees, and running in the bottom of a deep woody hollow. We were about to descend into it, when a wild and confused procession appeared^ 20 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. passing through the water below, and coming up the steep ascent toward us. We stopped to let them pass. They were Delawares, just returned from a hunting expedition. All, both men and women, were mounted on horseback, and drove along with them a considerable number of pack mules, laden with the furs they had taken, together with the buffalo robes, kettles, and other articles of their traveling equipment, which, as well as their clothing and their weapons, had a worn and dingy aspect, as if they had seen hard service of late. At the rear of the party was an old man, who, as he came up, stopped his horse to speak to us. He rode a little tough shaggy pony, with mane and tail well knotted with burrs, and a rusty Spanish bit in its mouth, to which, by way of reins, was attached a string of raw hide. His saddle, robbed prob- ably from a Mexican, had no covering, being merely a tree of the Spanish form, with a piece of grizzly bear's skin laid over it, a pair of rude wooden stirrups attached, and in the absence of girth, a thong of hide passing around the horse's bell3^ The rider's dark features and keen snaky eye were unequivo- cally Indian. He wore a buckskin frock, which, like his fringed leggings, was well polished and blackened by grease and long service : and an old handkerchief was tied around his head. Resting on the saddle before him lay his rifle ; a weapon in the use of which the Delawares are skillful, though, from its weight, the distant prairie Indians are too lazy to carry it. " Who's your chief?" he immediately inquired. Henry Chatillon pointed to us. The old Delaware fixed his eyes intently upon us for a moment, and then sententiously remarked : " No good ! Too young ! " With this flattering comment he left us, and rode after his people. This tribe, the Delawares, once the peaceful allies of Wil- liam Penn, the tributaries of the conquering Iroquois, are now the most adventurous and dreaded warriors upon the prairies. They make war upon remote tribes, the very names of which were unknown to their fathers in their ancient seats in Pennsylvania ; and they push these new quarrels with true Indian rancor, sending out their little war parties as far as the Rocky Mountains, and into the Mexican territories. Their neighbors and former confederates, the Shawanoes, who are tolerable farmers, are in a prosperous condition : but the Dela- wares dwindle every year, from the number of men lost in their wq-rlike expeditions. THE CALIFORNIA AND OREO ON TRAIL, 21 Soon after leaving this party, we saw, stretching on the right, the forests that follow the course of the Missouri, and the deep woody channel tlirough which at this point it runs. At a distance in front were the white barracks of Fort Leavenworth, just visible through the trees upon an eminence above a bend of the river. A wide green meadow, as level as a lake, lay between us and the Missouri, and upon this, close to a line of trees that bordered a little brook, stood the tent of the captain and his companions, with their horses feeding around it ; but they themselves were invisible. Wright, their muleteer, was there, seated on the tongue of the wagon, re- pairing his harness. Boisverd stood cleaning his rifle at the door of the tent, and Sorel lounged idly about. On closer examination, however, we discovered the captain's brother, Jack, sitting in the tent, at his old occupation of splicing trail- ropes. He welcomed us in his broad Irish brogue, and said that his brother was fishing in the river, and R. gone to the garrison. They returned before sunset. Meanwhile we erected our own tent not far off, and after supper a council was held, in which it was resolved to remain one day at Fort Leaven- worth, and on the next to bid a final adieu to the frontier : or in the phraseology of the region, to "jump off." Our de- liberations were conducted by the ruddy light from a distant swell of the prairie, where the long dry grass of last summer was on fire. CHAPTER in. FORT LEAVENWORTH. I've wandered wide and wandered far. But never have I met, In all tliis lovely western land, A spot more lovely yet. Bryant. On the next morning we rode to Fort Leavenworth. Colo- nel, now General Kearny, to whom I had had the honor of an introduction when at St. Louis, was just arrived, and received us at his quarters with the high-bred courtesy habitual to him. Fort Leavenworth is in fact no fort, being without defensive works, except two block-houses. No rumors of war had as yet disturbed its tranquillity. In the square grassy area, sur- rounded by barracks and the quarters of the officers, the men were passing and repassing, or lounging among the trees ; although not many weeks afterward it presented a different ^2 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. scene ; for here the very offscourings of the frontier were con- gregated, to be marshaled for the expedition against Santa Fe. Passing tlirough the garrison, we rode toward the Kickapoo village, five or six miles beyond. The path, a rather dubious and uncertain one, led us along the ridge of high bluffs that border the Missouri ; and by looking to the right or to the left, we could enjoy a strange contrast of opposite scenery. On the left stretched the prairie, rising into swells and undula- tions, thickly sprinkled with groves, or gracefully expanding into wide grassy basins of miles in extent ; while its curva- tures, swelling against the horizon, were often surmounted by lines of sunny woods ; a scene to which the freshness of the season and tlie peculiar mellowness of the atmospliere gave additional softness. Below us, on the right, was a tract of ragged and broken woods. We could look down on the sum- mits of the trees, some living and some dead ; some erect, others leaning at every angle, and others still piled in masses together by the passage of a hurricane. Beyond their extreme verge, the turbid waters of the Missouri were discernible through the boughs, rolling powerfully along at the foot of the woody declivities on its farther bank. The path soon after led inland ; and as we crossed an open meadow we saw a cluster of buildings on a rising ground before us, with a crowd of people surrounding them. They were the storehouse, cottage, and stables of the Kickapoo trader's establishment. Just at that moment, as it chanced, he was beset with half the Indians of the settlement. They had tied their wretched, neglected little ponies by dozens along the fences and outhouses, and were either lounging about the place, or crowding into the trading house. Here were faces of various colors ; red, green, white, and black, curiously intermingled and disposed over the visage in a variety of patterns. Calico shirts^ red and blue blankets, brass ear-rings, wampum necklaces, appeared in profusion. The trader was a blue-eyed, open-faced man, who neither in his manners nor his appearance betrayed any of the roughness of the frontier ; though just at present he was obliged to keep a lynx eye on his suspicious customers, who, men and women, were climbing on his counter, and seating themselves among his boxes and bales. The village itself was not far off, and sufficiently illustrated the condition of its unfortunate and self-abandoned occupants. Fancy to yourself a little swift stream, working its devious way down a woody valley ; sometimes wholly hidden under THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. 2.3 logs and fallen trees, sometimes issuing forth and spreading into a broad, clear pool ; and on its banks in little nooks cleared awa}'' among the trees, miniature log-houses in utter ruin and neglect. A labyrinth of narrow, obstructed paths connected these habitations one with another. Sometimes we met a stray calf, a pig or a pony, belonging to some of the villagers, who usually lay in the sun in front of their dwellings, and looked on us with cold, suspicious eyes as we approached. Farther on, in place of the log-huts of the Kickapoos, we found the pukwi lodges of their neighbors, the Pottawattamies, whose condition seemed no better than theirs. Growing tired at last, and exhausted by the excessive heat and sultriness of the day, we returned to our friend, the trader. By this time the crowd around liim had dispersed, and left him at leisure. Ho invited us to his cottage, a little white-and- green building, in the style of the old French settlements ; and ushered us into a neat, well-furnished room. The blinds were closed, and the heat and glare of the sun excluded ; the room was as cool as a cavern. It was neatly carpeted too, and furnished in a manner that we hardly expected on the frontier. The sofas, chairs, tables, and a well-filled bookcase would not have disgraced an Eastern city ; thougli there were one or two little tokens that indicated the rather questionable civilization of the region. A pistol, loaded and capped, lay on the mantel- piece ; and through the glass of the bookcase, peej^ing above the works of John Milton, glittered the handle of a very mis- chievous-looking knife. Our host went out, and returned with iced water, glasses, and a bottle of excellent claret ; a refreshment most welcome in the extreme heat of the day ; and soon after appeared a merry, laughing woman, who must have been, a year or two before, a very rich and luxuriant specimen of Creole beauty. She came to say tliat lunch was ready in the next room. Our hostess evidently lived on the sunny side of life, and troubled herself with none of its cares. She sat down and entertained us while we were at table with anecdotes of fishing parties, frolics, and the officers at the fort. Taking leave at length of the hospitable trader and his friend, we rode back to the gar- rison. Shaw passed on to the camp, while I remained to call upon Colonel Kearny. I found him still at table. There sat our friend the captain, in the same remarkable habiliments in which we saw him at Westport ; the black pipe, however, being for the present laid aside. He dangled his little cap in 24 TEE CALIFOBNIA AND OtlEGON TRAIL. his hand and talked of steeple chases, touching occasionally upon his anticipated exploits in buffalo-hunting. There, too, was R., somewhat more elegantly attired. For the last time we tasted the luxuries of civilization, and drank adieus to it in wine good enough to make us almost regret the leave-taking. Then, mounting, we rode together to the camp, where every- thing was in readiness for departure on the morrow. CHAPTER IV. We forded the river and clomb the high hill, Never our steeds for a day stood still ; Whether we lay in the cave or the shed, Our sleep fell soft on the hardest bed ; Whether we couched in our rough capote. On the rougher plank of our gliding boat, Or stretched on the sand, or our saddles spread As a pillow beneath the resting head, Fresh we woke upon the morrow ; All our thoughts and words had scope. We had health and we had hope, Toil and travel, but no sorrow. Siege of Corinth. The reader need not be told that John Bull never leaves home without encumbering himself with the greatest possible load of luggage. Our companions were no exception to the rule. They had a wagon drawn by six mules and crammed with provisions for six months, besides ammunition enough for a regiment ; spare rifles and fowling-pieces, ropes and harness ; personal baggage, and a miscellaneous assortment of articles, which produced infinite embarrassment on the journey. They had also decorated their persons with telescopes and portable compasses, and carried English double-barreled rifles of six- teen to the pound caliber, slung to their saddles in dragoon fashion. By sunrise on the 23d of May we had breakfasted ; the tents were leveled, the animals saddled and harnessed, and all was prepared. ^ Avance done! get up!' cried Delorier from his seat in front of the cart. Wright, our friends' muleteer, after some swearing and lashing, got his insub- ordinate train in motion, and then the whole party filed from the ground. Thus we bade a long adieu to bed and board, and the principles of Blackstone's Commentaries. The day was a most auspicious one ; and yet Shaw and I felt certain THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. 25 misgivings, which in the sequel proved but too well founded. We had just learned that though R. had taken it upon him to adopt this course without consulting us, not a single man in the party was acquainted with it ; and tlie absurdity of our friend's liigh-handed measure very soon became manifest. His plan was to strike the trail of several companies of dragoons, who last summer had made an expedition under Colonel Kearny to Fort Laramie, and by this means to reach the grand trail of the Oregon emigrants up the Platte. We rode for an hour or two w^hen a familiar cluster of buildings appeared on a little hill. "Hallo !" shouted the Kickapoo trader from over his fence, " where are you going ?" A few rather emphatic exclamations might have been heard among us, when we found that we had gone miles out of our way, and were not advanced an inch toward the Rocky Moun- tains. So we turned in the direction the trader indicated ; and with the sun for a guide, began to trace a " bee line " across the prairies. We struggled through copses and lines of wood, we waded brooks and pools of water ; we traversed prairies as green as an emerald, expanding before us for mile after mile ; wider and more wild than the wastes Mazeppa rode over : Man nor brute, Nor dint of hoof, nor print of foot, Lay in the wild luxuriant soil ; No sign of travel ; none of toil ; The very air was mute. Riding in advance, we passed over one of these great plains ; we looked back and saw the line of scattered horsemen stretching for a mile or more ; and far in the rear against the horizon, the white wagons creeping slowly along. " Here we are at last ! " shouted the captain. And in truth we had struck upon the traces of a large bod}^ of horse. We turned joyfull}' and followed this new course, with tempers some- what improved ; and toward sunset encamped on a high swell of the prairie, at the foot of which a lazy stream soaked along through clumps of rank grass. It w^as getting dark. We turned the horses loose to feed. " Drive down the tent- pickets hard," said Henry Chatillon, " it is going to blow." We did so, and secured the tent as well as we could ; for the sky had changed totally, and a fresh damp smell in the wind warned us that a stormy night was likely to succeed the hot clear day. The prairie also wore a new aspect, and its vast swells had grown black and somber under the shadow of the 56 THE GALtFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. clouds. The thunder soon began to growl at a distance. Picketing and hobbling the horses among the rich grass at the foot of the slope, where we encamped, we gained a shelter just as the rain began to fall ; and sat at the opening of the tent, watching the proceedings of the captain. In defiance of the rain he was stalking among 'the horses, wrapped in an old Scotch plaid. An extreme solicitude tormented him, lest some of his favorites should escape, or some accident should befall them ; and he cast an anxious eye toward three wolves Avho were sneaking along over the dreary surface of the plain, as if he dreaded some hostile demonstration on their part. On tlie next morning we had gone but a mile or two, when we came to an extensive belt of woods, through the midst of which ran a stream, wide, deep, and of an appearance particu- larly muddy and treacherous. Delorier was in advance witli his cart ; lie jerked his pipe from his mouth, lashed his mules, and poured forth a volleyof Canadian ejaculations. In plunged the cart, but midway it stuck fast. Delorier leaped out knee- deep in water, and by dint of sacres and a vigorous application of the whip, he urged the mules out of the slough. Then approached the long team and heavy wagon of our friends ; but it paused on the brink. " Now my advice is " began the captain, who had been anxiously contemplating the muddy gulf. " Drive on ! " cried R. But Wright, the muleteer, apparently had not as yet decided the point in his own mind ; and he sat still in his seat on one of the shaft-mules, whistling in a low contemplative strain to himself. " ]\[y advice is," resumed the captain, " that we unload ; for I'll bet any man five pounds that if we try to go through, we shall stick fast." " By the powers, we shall stick fast ! " echoed Jack, the captain's brother, shaking his large head with an air of firm conviction. " Drive on ! drive on ! " cried R. petulantly. " Well," observed the captain, turning to us as we sat look- ing on, much edified by this by-play among our confederates, "I can only give my advice, and if people won't be reasonable, why, they won't ; that's all ! ' Meanwhile Wright had apparently made up his mind ; for he suddenly began to shout forth a volley of oaths and curses, that, compared with the French imprecations of Delorier, sounded like tlie roaring of heavy cannon after the popping THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. 27 and sputtering of a bunch of Chinese crackers. At the same time he discharged a shower of blows upon his mules, who hastily dived into the mud and drew the wagon lumbering after them. For a moment the issue was dubious. Wright writhed about in his saddle, and swore and lashed like a mad- man ; but who can count on a team of half-broken mules ? At the most critical point, wlien all should have been harmon}^ and combined effort, the perverse brutes fell into lamentable disorder, and huddled together in confusion on the farther bank. There was the wagon up to the hub in mud, and vis- ibly settling every instant. There was nothing for it but to unload ; then to dig away the mud from before the wheels with a spade, and lay a causeway of bushes and branches. Tliis agreeable labor accomplished, the wagon at length emerged ; bnt if I mention that some interruption of this sort occurred at least four or hve times a day for a fortnight, the reader will understand that our progress toward the Platte was not without its obstacles. We traveled six or seven miles farther, and " nooned " near a brook. On the point of resuming our journey, when the horses were all driven down to water, m}^ homesick charger Pontiac made a sudden leap across, and set off at a round trot for the settlements. I mounted my remaining horse, and started in pursuit. Making a circuit, I headed the runaway, hoping to drive him back to camp ; but he instantly broke into a gallop, made a wide tour on the prairie, and got past me again. I tried this plan repeated)}^, with the same result ; Pontiac was evidently disgusted with the prairie ; so I aban- doned it, and tried another, trotting along gently behind him, in hopes that I might quietly get near enough to seize the trail- rope which was fastened to his neck, and dmgged about a dozen feet behind him. The chase grew interesting. For ujile after mile I followed the rascal, with the utmost care not to alarm him, and gradually got nearer, until at length old Ilendrick's nose was fairly brushed by the whisking tail of the unsuspecting Pontiac. Without drawing rein, I slid softly to the ground ; but my long heavy rifle encumbered mo, and the low sound it made in striking the horn of the saddle startled him ; he pricked up his ears, and sprang off at a run. " My friend," thought I, remounting, " do that again, and I will shoot you ! " Fort Leavenworth was about forty miles distant, and thither I determined to follow him. I made up my mind to spend a solitary and supperless night, and then set out again in the 28 THB GALIEOHNIA AND OREGON TBAIL. morning. One hope, however, remained. The creek where tlie wagon had stuck was just before us ; Pontiac might be thirsty with his run, and stop there to drink. I kept as near to him as possible, taking every precaution not to alarm him again ; and the result proved as I had hoped : for he walked deliberately among the trees, and stooped down to the water. I alighted, dragged old Hendrick through the mud, and with a feeling of infinite satisfaction picked up the slimy trail-rope, and twisted it three times round my hand. " Now let me see you get away again ! " I thought, as I remounted. But Pon- tiac was exceedingly reluctant to turn back ; Hendrick, too, who had evidently flattered himself with vain hopes, showed the utmost repugnance, and grumbled in a manner peculiar to himself at being compelled to face about. A smart cut of the whip restored his cheerfulness ; and dragging the recovered truant behind, I set out in search of the camp. An hour or two elapsed, when, near sunset, I saw the tents, standing on a rich swell of the prairie, beyond a line of woods, while the bands of horses were feeding in a low meadow close at hand. There sat Jack C, cross-legged, in the sun, splicing a trail- rope, and the rest were lying on the grass, smoking and telling stories. That night we enjoyed a serenade from the wolves, more lively than any with which they had yet favored us ; and in the morning one of the musicians appeared, not many rods from the tents, quietly seated among the horses, looking at us with a pair of large gray eyes ; but perceiving a rifle leveled at him, he leaped up and made off in hot haste. I pass by the following day or two of our journey, for nothing occurred worthy of record. Should anyone of my readers ever be impelled to visit the prairies, and should he clioose the route of the Platte (the best, perhaps, that can be adopted), I can assure him that he need not think to enter at once upon the paradise of his imagination. A dreary pre- liminary, protracted crossing of the threshold, awaits him before he finds himself fairly upon the verge of the "great American desert ; " those barren wastes, the haunts of the buffalo and the Indian, where the very shadow of civilization lies a hundred leagues behind him. The intervening country, the wide and fertile belt that extends for several hundred miles beyond the extreme frontier, will probably answer tolerably well to his preconceived ideas of the prairie ; for this it is from which picturesque tourists, painters, poets, and novelists, who have seldom penetrated farther, have derived their concep- tions of the whole region. If he has a painter's eye, he may THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. 29 find his period of probation not wholly void of interest. Tlie scenery, though tame, is graceful and pleasing. Here are level plains, too wide for the eye to measure ; green undula- tions, like motionless swells of the ocean ; abundance of streams, followed throucrh all their windings by lines of woods and scattered groves. But let him be as enthusiastic as he may, he will find enough to damp his ardor. His wagons will stick in the mud ; his horses will break loose ; harness will give way, and axle-trees prove unsound. His bed will be a soft one, consisting often of black mud, of the richest con- sistency. As for food, he must content himself with biscuit and salt provisions ; for strange as it may seem, this tract of country produces very little game. As he advances, indeed, he will see, moldering in the grass by his path, the vast antlers of the elk, and farther on, the whitened skulls of the buffalo, once swarming over this now deserted region. Per- haps, like us, he may journey for a fortnight, and see not so much as the hoof-print of a deer ; in the .opring, not even a prairie hen is to be had. Yet, to compensate him for this unlooked-for deficiency of game he will find himself beset with " varmints" innumerable. The wolves will entertain him with a concerto at night, and skulk around him by day, just beyond rifle-shot ; his horse will step into badger-holes ; from every marsh and mud puddle will arise the bellowing, croaking, and trilling of legions of frogs, infinitely various in color, shape, and dimensions. A profusion of snakes will glide away from under his horse's feet, or quietly visit him in his tent at night ; while the pertinacious humming of unnumbered mosquitoes will banish sleep from his eyelids. When thirsty with a long ride in the scorching sun over some boundless reach of prairie, he comes at length to a pool of water, and alights to drink, he discovers a troop of young tadpoles sporting in the bottom of his cup. Add to this, that all the morning tlie sun beats upon him with a sultry, penetrat- ing heat, and that, with provoking regularity, at about four o'clock in the afternoon, a thunderstorm rises and drenches him to the skin. Such being the charms of this favored region, the reader will easily conceive the extent of our gratification at learning that for a week we had been journeying on the wrong track ! How this agreeable discovery was made I will presently explain. One day, after a protracted morning's ride, we stopped to rest at noon upon the open prairie. No trees were in sight ; but close at hand, a little dribbling brook was twisting from THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. side to side tbrough a liollow ; now forming holes of stagnant water, and now gliding over the mnd in a scarcely perceptible current, among a growth of sickly bushes, and great clumps of tall rank grass. Tbe day was excessively hot and oppres- sive. The horses and mules were rolling on the prairie to refresh tliemselves, or feeding among tlie bushes in the hollow. AYe had dined ; and Delorier, puffing at his pipe, knelt on tlie grass, scrubbing our service of tin plate. Shaw lay in the shade, under the cart, to rest for a wliile, before tlie word should be given to "catch up." Henry Chatillon, before lying down, Avas looking about for signs of snakes, the only liVing things that he feared, and uttering various ejaculations of dis- gust, at finding several suspicious-looking holes close to the cart. I sat leaning against the wheel in a scant}^ strip of shade, making a pair of hobbles to replace those which my contumacious steed Pontiac had broken the night before. The camp of our friends, a rod or two distant, presented the same scene of lazy tranquillity. '^ Hallo ! " cried Henry, looking up from his inspection of the snake-holes, "here comes the old captain ! " The captain approached, and stood for a moment contem- plating us in silence. " I say, Parkman," he began, " look at Shaw there, asleep under the cart, with the tar dripping off the hub of the wheel on his shoulder ! " At this Shaw got up, with his eyes half opened, and feeling the part indicated, he found his hand glued fast to his red flannel shirt. " He'll look well when he gets among the squaws, won't he ? " observed the captain, with a grin. He then crawled under the cart, and began to tell stories, of which his stock was inexhaustible. Yet every moment he would glance nervously at the liorses. At last he jumped up in great excitement. " See thnt horse ! There — that fellow just walking over the hill ! By Jove ! he's ofb It's your big horse, Shaw ; no it isn't, it's Jack's \ Jack ! Jack ! hallo, Jack ! " Jack, thus invoked, jumped up and stared vacantly at us. " Go and catch your horse, if you don't want to lose him ! " roared the captain. Jack instantly set off at a run through the grass, his broad pantaloons flapping about his feet. The captain gazed anx- iously till he saw that the horse was caught ; then he sat down, with a conntenanoo of thougfhtfulness and care. THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. 31 "I tell you what it is," he said, " this will never do at all. We shall lose every horse in the band some day or other, and then a pretty plight we should be in ! Now I am convinced that the only way for us is to have every man in the camp stand horse-guard in rotation whenever we stop. Supposing a hundred Pawnees should jump up out of that ravine, all yelling and flapping their buffalo robes, in the way they do ? VViiy, in two minutes not a hoof would be in sight." We reminded the captain that a hundred Pawnees would prob- ably demolish the horse-guard, if he were to resist their depredations. " At any rate," pursued the captain, evading the point, " our whole system is wrong ; Pm convinced of it ; it is totally unmilitary. Why, the way we travel, strung out over the prairie for a mile, an enemy might attack the foremost men, and cut them off before the rest could come up." " We are not in an enemy's country yet," said Shaw ; " when we are, we'll travel together." " Then," said the captain, " we might be attacked in camp. We've no sentinels ; we camp in disorder ; no precautions at all to guard against surprise. My own convictions are that we ought to camp in a hollow square, with the fires in the center ; and have sentinels, and a regular password appointed for every night. Besides, there should be vedettes, riding in advance, to find a place for the camp and give warning of an enemy. These are my convictions. I don't want to dictate to any man. I give advice to the best of my judgment, that's all ; and then let people do as they please." We intimated tiiat perhaps it would be as well to postpone such burdensome precautions until there should be some actual need of them ; but he shook his head dubiously. The captain's sense of military propriety had been severely shocked by what he considered the irregular proceedings of the party ; and this was not the first time he had expressed himself upon the subject, ^ut his convictions seldom produced an}^ practi- cal resiilts. In the present case, he contented himself, .as usual, with enlarging on the importance of his suggestions, and wondering that they were not adopted. But his plan of sending out vedettes seemed particularly dear to him ; and as no one else was disposed to second his views on this point, he took it into his head to ride forward that afternoon, himself. " Come, Parkinan," said he, " will you go with me ? " We set out together, and rode a mile or two in advance. 32 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. Tlie captain, in the course of twenty years' service in the British army, had seen something of life ; one extensive side of it, at least, he had enjoyed the best opportunities for study- ing ; and being naturall}^ a pleasant fellow, he was a very entertaining companion. He cracked jokes and told stories for an hour or two ; until, looking back, we saw the prairie behind us stretching away to the horizon, without a horseman or a wagon in sight. " Now," said the captain, " I think the vedettes had better stop till the m;iin body comes up." I was of the same opinion. There was a thick growth of woods just before us, with a stream running through them. Having crossed this, we found on the other side a fine level meadow, half encircled by the trees ; and fastening our horses to some bushes, we sat down on the grass ; while, with an old stump of a tree for a target, I began to display tlie superiority of the renowned rifle of the backwoods over the foreign inno- vation borne by the captain. At length voices could be heard in the distance behind the trees. " There they come ! " said the captain ; " let's go and see how they get through the creek." We mounted and rode to the bank of the stream, where the trail crossed it. It ran in a deep hollow, full of trees ; as we looked down, we saw a confused crowd of horsemen riding through the water ; and among the dingy habiliments of our party glittered the uniforms of four dragoons. Shaw came whipping his horse up the bank, in advance of the rest, with a somewhat indignant countenance. The first word he spoke was a blessing fervently invoked on tlie head of R., who was riding, with a crest-fallen air, in the rear. Thanks to the ingenious devices of this gentleman, we had missed the track entirely, and wandered, not toward the Platte, but to the village of the Iowa Indians. This we learned from the dragoons, who had lately deserted from Fort Leavenworth. They told us that our best plan now was to keep to the north- ward until we should strike the trail formed by several parties of Oregon emigrants, who had that season set out from St. Joseph's in Missouri. In extremely bad temper, we encamped on this ill-starred spot ; while the deserters, whose case admitted of no delay, rode rapidly forward. On the day following, strik- ing the St. Joseph's trail, we turned our horses' heads toward Fort Laramie, then about seven hundred miles to the westwax'd, THE i'ALI FORMA AMJ OHBdOS JliAJL. JJ3 CHAPTER V. THE " BIG BLUE." A mail so various that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome ; Stitf iu opinions, always in the wrong. Was everything by starts, and nothing long ; But, in the space of one revolving moon, Was gamester, chemist, tiddler, and buffoon. Dryden. The great medley of Oregon and California emigrants, at tlit'ir camps around Independence, bad lieard reports that sev- eral additional parties were on the point of setting out from St. Joseph's, farther to tlie northward. The prevailing imi)res- sion was that these were Mormons, twenty-tliree hundred in number ; and a great alarm was excited in consequence. The people of Illinois and Missouri, who composed by far the greater part of the emigrants, have never been on the best terms with the "Latter Day Saints"; and it is notorious throughout the country how mncli blood has been spilt in their feuds, even far within the limits of tiie settlements. No one could predict what would be the result, when large armed bodies of these fanatics should encounter the most impetuous and reckless of tiieir old enemies on the broad piairie, far be- yond the reacli of law or military force. The women and children at Independence raised a great outcry ; the men themselves were seriously alarmed ; and, as I learned, they sent to Colonel Kearnj^ requesting an escort of dragoons as far as the Platte. This was refused ; and as the sequel l)roved, tiiere was no occasion for it. The St. Joseph's emi- grants were as good Christians and as zealous Mormon -haters as the rest ; and the very few families of the "Saints" wlio passed out this season by the route of the Platte, remained behind until the great tide of emigration liad gone by ; stand- ing in quite as much awe of the " gentiles " as tlie latter did of tliem. We were now, as I before mentioned, upon this St.. Joseph's trail. It was evident, by tlie traces, tliat large j)art cs wimc a few days in advance of us ; an OREGON TRAIL. 41 to rule the roast, and he'll set his face against any plan that he didn't tJjiiik of himself." Tlie captain puffed for a while at his pipe, as if meditating upon his grievances ; then he began again : " For twenty years I have been in the British army ; and in all that time I never had half so much dissension, and quarreling, and nonsense, as since I have been on this cursed prairie. He's the most uncomfortable man I ever met." " Yes," said Jack ; " and don't you know, Bill, how he drank up all the coffee last night, and put the rest by for himself till the morning ! " '' He })retends to know everything," resumed the captain ; " nobody must give orders but he ! It's, oh ! we must do this ; and, oh ! we must do that ; and the tent must be pitciied here, and the horses must be picketed there ; for no- body knows as well as he does." We were a little surprised at this disclosure of domestic disensions among our allies, for though we knew of their existence, we were not aware of their extent. The persecuted captain seeming wholly at a loss as to the course of conduct that he should pursue, we recommended him to adopt prom]»t and energetic measures ; but all his military experience had failed to teach him the indispensable lesson to be "hard," when the emergency requires it. " For twenty years," he repeated, " I have been in the British army, and in that time I have been intimately acquainted with some two hundred officers, young and old, and I never yet quarreled with any man. Oh, * anything for a quiet life ! ' that's my maxim." We intifnated that the prairie was hardly the place to enjoy a quiet life, but that, in the ]iresent circumstances, the best thing he could do toward securing his wished-for tranquillitj', was immediately to put a period to the nuisance that dis- turbed it. But again the captain's easy good-nature recoiled from the task. Tlie somewhat vigorous measures necessary to gain the desired result were utterly repugnant to him ; he preferred to pocket his grievances, still letaining the privilege of grumbling about them. " Oh, anything for a quiet lite !" he said again, circling back to his favorite maxim. But to glance at the previous history of our transatlantic confederates. The captain hnd sold his commission, and was living in bachelor ease and dignity in his paternal halls, near Dublin. He hunted, fished, rode steeple chases, ran races, and talked of his former exploits. He was surrounded with 42 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. the tropliies of his rod and gun ; the walls were plentifully garnished, he told us, witli moose-horns and deer-horns, bear- skins, and fox-tails ; for the captain's double-barreled rifle had seen service in Canada and Jamaica ; he had killed salmon in Nova Scotia, and trout, by his own account, in all the streams of the three kingdoms. But in an evil hour a seduc- tive stranger came from London ; no less a person than E,., who, among other multitudinous wanderings, had once been upon the western prairies, and naturally enough was anxious to visit them again. The caj)tain's imagination was inflamed by the pictures of a hunter's paradise that his guest held forth ; he conceived an ambition to add to his other trophies the horns of a buffalo, and the claws of a grizzly bear ; so he and R. struck a league to travel in compan3^ Jack followed his, brother, as a matter of course. Two weeks on board the Atlantic steamer brought them to Boston ; in two weeks more of hard traveling they reached St. Louis, from which a ride of six days carried them to the frontier ; and here we found them, in the full tide of preparation for their journey. We had been throughout on terms of intimacy with the captain, but R., tlie motive power of our companions' branch of the expedition, was scarcely known to us. His voice, indeed, might be heard incessantly ; but at camp he remained chiefly within the tent, and on the road he either rode by himself, or else remained in close conversation with liis friend Wright, the muleteer. As the captain left the tent that morn- ing, I observed R. standing b}^ the fire, and having nothing else to do, I determined to ascertain, if possible, what man- ner of man he was. He had a book under his arm, but just at present he was engrossed in actively superintending the operations of Sorel, the hunter, who was cooking some corn- bread over the coals for breakfast. R. was a well-formed and ratlier good-looking man, some thirty years old ; considerabl}^ j^ounger than the captain. He wore a beard and mustache of the oakum complexion, and his attire was altogether more elegant than one ordinarily sees on the prairie. He wore his cap on one side of his head ; his checked shirt, open in front, was in very neat order, considering the circumstances, and his blue pantaloons, of the John Bull cut, might once have figured in Bond Street. "Turn over that cake, man ! turn it over, quick ! Don't you see it burning? " "It aint half done," growled Sorel, in the amiable tone of a whipped bull-dog. THE CALIFOUmA AND OREGON TRAIL. 43 " It is. Turn it over, I tell you ! " Sorel, a strong, sullen-looking Canadian, who, from having spent his life among the wildest and most remote of the Indian tribes, had imbibed much of their dark, vindictive spirit, looked ferociously up, as if he longed to leap upon his bourgeois and throttle him ; but he obeyed the order, coming from so ex- perienced an artist. " It was a good idea of yours," said I, seating myself on the tongue of a wagon, "to bring Indian meal with you." " Yes, yes," said R., " it's good bread for the prairie — good bread for the prairie. I tell you that's burning again." Here he stooped down, and unsheathing the silver-mounted hunting-knife in liis belt, began to perform the part of cook himself ; at the same time requesting me to hold for a moment tlie book under his arm, which interfered with the exercise of these important functions. I opened it ; it was " Macaulay's Lays ; " and I made some remark, expressing my admiration of the work. " Yes, yes ; a pretty good thing. Macaulay can do better than that, though. I know him very well. I have traveled with him. Where was it we first met — at Damascus? No, no ; it was in Italy." " So," said I, " you have been over the same ground with your countryman, the author of * Eothen ' ? There has been some discussion in America as to who he is. I have heard Milne's name mentioned." " Milne's? Oh, no, no, no ; not at all. It was Kinglake ; Kinglake's the ma!i. I know him very well ; that is, I have seen him." Here Jack C, who stood by, interposed a remark (a thing not common with him), observing that lie thought the weather would become fair before twelve o'clock. " It's going to rain all day," said R., "and clear up in the middle of the night." Just then the clouds began to dissipate in a very unequivo- cal manner ; but Jack, not caring to defend his point against so authoritative a declaration, walked away whistling, and we resumed our conversation. " Borrow, the author of * The Bible in Spain,' I presume you know him, too? " " Oh, certainly ; I know all those men. By the way, they told me that one of your American writers. Judge Story, had died lately. I edited some of his works in London ; not with- out faults, though." 44 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. Here followed an erudite commentary on certain points of law, in which he particularly animadverted on the errors into which he considered that the judge had been betrayed. At length, having touched successively on an infinite variety of topics, I found that I had tlie happiness of discovering a man equally competent to enlighten me upon them all, equally an authority on matters of science or literature, philosophy or fashion. The part I bore in the conversation was b}' no means a prominent one ; it was only necessary to set him going, and when he had run long enough upon one topic, to divert him to another and lead him on to pour out his heaps of treasure in succession. " What has that fellow been saying to you ? " said Shaw, as I returned to the tent. " I have heard nothing but his talking for the last half-hour." R. had none of the peculiar traits of the ordinary "British snob "; his absurdities were all his own, belonging to no par- ticular nation or clime. He was possessed with an active devil that had driven him over land and sea, to no great purpose, as it seemed ; for although he had the usual complement of eyes and ears, the avenues between these organs and his brain appeared remarkably narrow and untrodden. His energy was much more conspicuous than his wisdom ; but his predom- inant characteristic was a magnanimous ambition to exercise on all occasions an awful rule and supremacy, and this propen- sity equally displayed itself, as the reader will have observed, whether the matter in question was the baking of a hoe-cake or a point of international law. When such diverse elements as he and the easy-tempered captain came in contact, no wonder some commotion ensued ; R. rode rough-shod, from morning till night, over his military ally. At noon tlie sky was clear and we set out, trailing through mud and slime six inches deep. That night we were spared the customary infliction of the shower bath. On tlie next afternoon we were moving slowly along, not far from a patch of woods which lay on the right. Jack C. rode a little in advance ; The livelong day he had not spoke ; when suddenly he faced about, pointed to the woods, and roared out to his brother : "O Bill! here's a cow !" The captain instantly galloped forward, and he and Jack made a vain attempt to capture the prize ; but the cow, with a THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. 45 well-grounded distrust of their intentions, took refuge anaong the trees. R. joined them, and they soon drove her out. We watched their evolutions as they galloped around her, trying in vain to noose her with their trail-ropes, which they had con- verted into lariettes for the occasion. At length they resorted to milder measures, and the cow was driven along with the party. Soon after the usual thunderstorm came up, the wind blowing with such fury that the streams of rain flew almost liorizontally along the prairie, roaring like a cataract. The horses turned tail to the storm, and stood hanging their heads, bearing the infliction with an air of meekness and resignation ; while we drew our heads between our shoulders, and crouched forward, so as to make our backs serve as a ])enthouse for the rest of our persons. Meanwhile the cow, taking advantage of the tumult, ran off, to the great discomfiture of the captain, who seemed to consider her as his own especial prize, since she liad been discovered by Jack. In defiance of the storm, he pulled his cap tight over his brows, jerked a huge buffalo ))istol from his holster, and set out at full speed after her. This was the last we saw of them for some time, the mist and rain making an impenetrable veil ; but at length we heard the captain's shout, and saw him Rooming through the tempest, the picture of a Hibernian cavalier, with his cocked pistol held aloft for safety's sake, and a countenance of anxiety and excitement. The cow trotted before him, but exhibited evi- dent signs of an intention to run off again, and the captahi was roaring to us to head her. But the rain had got in behind our coat collars, and was traveling over our necks in numerous little streamlets, and being afraid to move our heads, for fear of admitting more, we sat stiff and immovable, looking at the captain askance, and laugliing at his frantic movements. At last the cow made a sudden plunge and ran off ; the captain grasped his pistol firmly, s|)urred his horse, and galloped after, with evident designs of mischief. In a moment we lieard the faint report, deadened by the rain, and then the conqueror and his victim reappeared, the latter shot through the body, and quite helpless. Not long after the storm moderated, and we advanced again. The cow walked painfulI}'^ along under the charge of Jack, to wliom the captain had committed her, while he himself rode forward in his old capacity of vedette. We were approaching a long line of trees, that followed a stream stretching across our path, far in front, when we beheld the vedette galloping toward us, apparently much excited, but with a broad grin on his face. 46 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. " Let that cow drop behind ! " he shouted to us ; *' here's her owners ! " And in fact, as we approached tlie line of trees, a large white object, like a tent, was visible behind them. On approaching, however, we found, instead of the expected Mormon camp, nothing but the lonely prairie, and a large white rock standing by the path. The cow therefore re- sumed her place in our procession. She walked on until we encamped, when R., firmly approaching with his enormous English doubled-barreled rifle, calmly and deliberately took aim at her heart, and discharged into it first one bullet and then the other. She was then butchered on the most approved principles of woodcraft, and furnished a very welcome item to our somewhat limited bill of fare. In a day or two more we reached the river called the " Big Blue." By titles equally elegant, almost all the streams of this region are designated. We had struggled through ditches and little brooks all that morning ; but on traversing the dense woods that lined the banks of the Blue, we found that more formidable difficulties awaited us, for the stream, swollen by the rains, was wide, deep, and rapid. No sooner were we on the spot than R. had flung off his clothes, and was swimming across, or splashing through the shallows, with the end of a rope between his teeth. We all looked on in admiration, wondering what might be the design of this energetic preparation ; but soon we heard him shout- ing : " Give that rope a turn round that stump ! You, Sorel : do you hear ? Look sharp now, Boisverd ! Come over to this side, some of you, and help me ! " The men to whom these orders were directed paid not the least attention to them, though they were poured out without pause or inter- mission. Henry Chatillon directed the work, and it pro- ceeded quietly and rapidl}^ R.'s sharp brattling voice might have been heard incessantly ; and he was leaping about witli the utmost activity, multiplying himself, after the manner of great commanders, as if his universal presence and super- vision were of the last necessity. His commands were rather amusingly inconsistent ; for when he saw that the men would not do as he told them, he wisely accommodated himself to circumstances, and with the utmost vehemence ordered them to do precisely that which they were at the time engaged upon, no doubt recollecting the story of Mahomet and the refractory mountain. Shaw smiled significantly ; R. observed it, and, approaching with a countenance of lofty indig- THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. 47 nation began to vapor a little, but was instantly reduced to silence. The raft was at length complete. We piled our goods upon it, with the exception of our guns, which each man chose to retain in his own keeping. Sorel, Boisverd, Wright, and Delorier took their stations at the four corners, to hold it together, and swim across witii it ; and in a moment more, all our earthly possessions were floating on the turbid waters of the Big Blue. We sat on the bank, anxiously watching the result, until we saw the raft safe landed in a little cove far down on the opposite bank. The empty wagons were easily passed across ; and then, each man mounting a horse, we rode through the stream, the stray animals following of their own accord. CHAPTER VI. THE PLATTE AND THE DESERT. Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild, The seat of desolation ? Paradise Lost. Here have wc war for war, and blood for blood. King John. We were now arrived at the close of our solitary journey- ings along the St. Joseph's trail. On the evening of the 23d of May we encamped near its junction with the old legitimate trail of the Oregon emigrants. We had ridden long that afternoon, trying in vain to find wood and w^ater, until at length we saw the sunset sky reflected from a pool encircled by bushes and a rock or two. The water lay in the bottom of a hollow, the smooth prairie gracefully rising in oceanlike swells on every side. We pitched our tents by it ; not how- ever before the keen eye of Ileniy Chatillon had discerned some unusual object upon tlic faintly defined outline of the vere all that had consciousness for many a league around, THE CALIFORyTA AND OREGON TRAIL. 53 Some days elapsed, and brought us near the Platte. Two men on horseback approached us one morning, and we watched them with tlie curiosity and interest that, upon the solitude of the plains, such an encounter always excites. They were evidently whites, from their mode of riding, though, contrary to the usage of that region, neither of them carried a rifle. " Fools ! " remarked Henry Chatillon, " to ride that way on tlie prairie ; Pawnee find them — then they catch it ! ' Pawnee had found them, and they had come very near " catching it ; " indeed, nothing saved them from trouble but the approach of our party. Shaw and I knew one of them ; a man named Turner, whom we had seen at Westport. He and his companion belonged to an emigrant party encamped a few miles in advance, and had returned to look for some stray oxen, leaving their rifles, with characteristic rashness or ignorance, behind them. Their neglect had nearly cost them dear ; for just before we came up, half a dozen Indians approached, and seeing them apparently defenseless, one of the rascals seized the bridle of Turner's fine horse, and ordered him to dismount. Turner was wholly unarmed ; but the other jerked a little revolving pistol out of his pocket, at which the Pawnee recoiled ; and just then some of our men appearing in the distance, the whole party whipped their rugged little horses, and made off. In no way daunted. Turner foolishly persisted in going forward. Long after leaving him, and late this afternoon, in the midst of a gloomy and barren prairie, we came suddenly upon the great Pawnee trail, leading from their villages on the Platte to their war and hunting grounds to the southward. Here every summer pass the motley concourse ; thousands of savages, men, women, and children, horses and mules, laden with their weapons and implements, and an innumerable multitude of unruly woliish dogs, who have not acquired tlie civilized accomi)lishment of barking, but howl like their wild cousins of the prairie. The permanent winter villages of the Pawnees stand on tlie lower Platte, but throughout the summer the greater part of the inhabitants are wandering over the plains, a treacherous, cowardly banditti, who by a thousand acts of pillage and murder have deserved summary chnstisement at the hands of government. Last year a Dakota warrior jierformed r* signal exploit at one of these villages. He approached it alone in the middle of a dark night, and clam- bering up the outside of one of the lodges which are in the 54 THE CALTFOnNIA AND OJREGOy TRAIL. form of a half -sphere, he looked in at the round hole made at tlie top for the escape of smoke. Tlie dusky liglit from the smoldering embers showed him the forms of the sleeping inmates ; and dropping lightly through the opening, he unsheathed his knife, and stirring the fire coolly selected his victims. One by one he stabbed and scalped them, when a child suddenl}^ awoke and screamed. He rushed from the lodge, yelled a Sioux war-cry, shouted his name in triumph and defiance, and in a moment had darted out upon the dark prairie, leaving the whole village behind him in a tumult, with the howling and baying of dogs, the screams of women, and the yells of tlie enraged warriors. Our friend Kearsley, as we learned on rejoining him, sig- nalized himself by a less bloody achievement. He and his men were good woodsmen, and well skilled in the use of the rifie, but found themselves wholly out of their element on the prairie. None of them liad ever seen a buffalo, and they had ver}'- vague conceptions of his nature and appearance. On the day after tliey reached the Platte, looking toward a distant swell, they beiield a multitude of little black specks in motion upon its surface. "Take your rifles, boys," said Kearsley, "and we'll have fresh meat for supper." This inducement was quite sufticient. The ten men left their wagons and set out in hot haste, some on horseback and some on foot, in pursuit of tlie supposed buffalo. Meanwhile a high grassy ridge shut the game from view ; but mounting it after half an hour's running and riding, they found themselves suddenl}^ confronted by about thirty mounted Pawnees ! The amazement and consternation were mutual. Having nothing but their bows and arrows, the Indians thought their hour was come, and the fate that they were no doubt conscious of richly deserving about to over- take them. So they began, one and all, to shout forth the most cordial salutations of friendship, running up with extreme- earnestness to shake hands with the Missourians, who were as much rejoiced as the}^ Avere to escape the expected conflict. A low undulating line of sand-hills bounded the horizon before us. That day we rode ten consecutive hours, and it was dusk before we entered the hollows and gorges of these gloomy little hills. At length we gained the summit, and the long expected valley of the Platte lay before us. We all drew rein, and, gathering in a knot on the crest of the hill, sat joyfully looking down upon the prospect. It was right THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. 55 welcome ; strange too, and striking to the imagination, an