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 CjElArCu«--j2-^
 
 MEN OF ACHIEVEMENT 
 
 EXPLORERS AND 
 TRAVELLERS 
 
 BY 
 
 GENERAL A. W. GREELY, U.S.A. 
 
 GOLD MEDALLIST OF ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY AND SOCIETfe DE 
 GEOGRAFHIE, PARIS 
 
 »:9iee&ss@ft 
 
 NCW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1894
 
 Copyright, 1893, by 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 .'. .* : •: :*: <■*- ••; : : .-. •*'. ••: .*. • ••.';. 
 ....'..'.•.> ..... , , , « •• • . . i I* I • • 
 
 *,."'*: ."'. •*.«:: • •• *: :■••••:.: •• •*. . . ••.♦ • 
 
 TROW DIRECTORY 
 
 PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK
 
 ca 
 
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 00 
 
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 S PREFACE 
 
 The compiler of a series of sketches of Ameri- 
 can Explorers and Travellers experiences at the 
 very outset a serious embarrassment from the 
 00 superabundant wealth of original material at his 
 22 command. The history of America for two 
 hundred years after the voyage of Joliet has 
 been the history of courageous, persistent, and 
 successful exploration, wherein the track of the 
 explorer, instantly serving as a trail for the pio- 
 neer, has speedily broadened into the wagon- 
 road of invading immigrants. 
 
 Explorations and journeys of such an extent 
 as in other and older lands would have excited 
 . praise and merited reward have been so fre- 
 ^ quent in this continent as to pass almost unno- 
 ticed. Hence the scope of this modest volume 
 is necessarily confined to explorations of great 
 importance or peculiar interest, and when made 
 by men of American birth who are no longer 
 living. 
 
 In deference to the author's advisers, two ex- 
 ceptions have been made — Du Chaillu and Stan- 
 ley, Americans by adoption — otherwise African 
 exploration, so wondrously successful in this 
 generation and so fruitful in its results, would 
 have been unrepresented. Again, the unparal- 
 
 304304
 
 4- PREFACE 
 
 leled growth and progress of our American re- 
 public owes no small debt to the wealth of phys- 
 ical vigor and strong intellectuality contributed 
 by its sturdy emigrants. These men, American 
 in idea, purpose, and action, whose manhood 
 outgrew the slow evolution of freedom in their 
 natal country, merit recognition. What thou- 
 sands of other naturalized citizens have indus- 
 trially wrought of the wonderful and great in 
 this country, these selected representatives have 
 equalled in African e;^ploration. 
 
 A chronological arrangement appeared best 
 suited to these sketches, which from Joliet to 
 Fremont exhibit the initiation, growth, and de- 
 velopment of geographic discovery in the in- 
 terior and western portions of the United States, 
 Since the sketches rest very largely on original 
 narratives some current errors at least have 
 been avoided. 
 
 Generalization and criticism have been made 
 always with reference to later exploration, which 
 necessarily enhances or diminishes the impor- 
 tance of any original work.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. Louis Joliet, Re-discoverer of the Mississippi, . 9 
 
 II. Peter le Moyne, Sieur d' Iberville, Founder of 
 
 Louisiana, ........ 41 
 
 III. Jonathan Carver, the Explorer of Minnesota, . 71 
 
 IV. Captain Robert Gray, the Discoverer of the Co- 
 
 lumbia River, ........ 88 
 
 V. Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieut. Will- 
 iam Clark, First Trans-Continental Explorers of 
 the United States, ....... 105 
 
 VI. Zebulon Montgomery Pike, Explorer of the Sources 
 
 of the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers, . . . 163 
 VII. Charles Wilkes, the Discoverer of the Antarctic 
 
 Continent, ........ 194 
 
 VIII. John Charles Fremont, the Pathfinder, . . . 212 
 
 IX. Elisha Kent Kane, Arctic Explorer, . . . 240 
 
 X. Isaac Israel Hayes, and the Open Polar Sea, . 272 
 
 XI. Charles Francis Hall, and the North Pole, . . 293 
 
 Xn. George Washington De Long, and the Siberian 
 
 Arctic Ocean, . . . . . -312 
 
 XIII. Paul Belloni Du Chaillu, Discoverer of the Dwarfs 
 
 and Gorillas, ........ 330 
 
 XIV. Stanley Africanus and the Congo Free State, 349
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FULL-PAGE 
 
 FACING 
 
 General A. W. Greely, U. S. A., . (Frontispiece.) page 
 
 On the Shores of the Pacific, 96 
 
 A Blackfoot Tepee, 112 
 
 Castle Rock, on the Columbia River, . . . 140 
 
 Charles Wilkes, . . 194 
 
 Paul Belloni du Chaillu, 330 
 
 Henry M. Stanley, 349 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Signature of Jolliet (Old Spelling), . . . .10 
 
 "Marquette's Map," 15 
 
 The Reception of Joliet and Marquette by the 
 
 Illinois, 25 
 
 De Soto, 34 
 
 Signature of le Moyne, 42 
 
 Bienville 57 
 
 Bienville's Army on the River, 63 
 
 New Orleans in 1719, 70 
 
 Indian Tomahawk, 74 
 
 The Falls of St. Anthony in the River Mississippi, 77 
 
 A Calumet, 80 
 
 Naudowessie Indians, 85 
 
 Indian Maul, 93 
 
 Captain Meriwether Lewis, 119 
 
 Buffalo Head, 125 
 
 Lieutenant William Clark, 132
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 7 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Buffalo Skull, 162 
 
 General Z. M. Pike, 165 
 
 Indian Snow-shoes, 172 
 
 The Ice-barrier, 199 
 
 The Vincennes in a Storm, 202 
 
 View of the Antarctic Continent, .... 205 
 
 In an Ice-field, 208 
 
 John Charles Fremont, 214 
 
 Jessie Benton Fremont, 215 
 
 Ascending Fremont's Peak, 218 
 
 Kit Carson, 226 
 
 Lake Klamath, 231 
 
 Elisha Kent Kane, 242 
 
 The Arctic Highway, 246 
 
 A Sleeping-bag for Three Men, 251 
 
 The Coming Arctic Night, 256 
 
 Esquimau Boys Fishing, 260 
 
 An Arctic Stream, 264 
 
 Isaac Israel Hayes, 273 
 
 Upernivik, 276 
 
 Hayes's Winter-quarters 280 
 
 Adrift on a Berg, 285 
 
 Charles Francis Hall, 294 
 
 Igloos, or Esquimau Huts, 299 
 
 In Winter-quarters, 302 
 
 An Arctic Fiord 305 
 
 A Woman of the Arctic Highlanders. Sketched 
 
 from Life, 308 
 
 Esquimau Woman. Sketched from Life, . . . 310 
 
 George Washington De Long, 313 
 
 Herald Island, 317 
 
 In the Pack, 321 
 
 Where the Bodies were Found, 323
 
 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 noros and nindemann, 326 
 
 Finding the Bodies, 328 
 
 The Gorilla (Troglodytes Gorilla), .... 334 
 
 A Village of Dwarfs, 339 
 
 A Pigmy Warrior, 342 
 
 A Dwarf Prisoner, 345 
 
 Arrows of the African Pigmies, 348 
 
 The Hut where Livingstone Died, .... 352 
 
 Map showing Position and Boundaries of the Congo 
 
 State, 355 
 
 Tippu Tib, 359 
 
 Emin Pasha, 363 
 
 Finding Nelson in Distress at Starvation Camp, . 366 
 
 A Stockaded Camp, 370 
 
 RuwENZORi (The Snowy Mountain), Identified by 
 
 Stanley with "The Mountains of the Moon," . 372
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 I. 
 
 LOUIS JOLIET, 
 
 Re-discoverer of the Mississippi. 
 
 ■ If one should ask which is the most important 
 river basin in the world, there is no doubt that 
 the Mississippi would be named, with its million 
 and a quarter square miles of area and its twenty- 
 five or more billions of aggregated wealth. Fa- 
 vored in climate, soil, and navigable streams, and 
 endowed with practically inexhaustible veins of 
 coal, copper, iron, and silver, feeding the world 
 with its hundreds of millions of bushels of corn and 
 wheat, and clothing it by other millions of bales 
 of cotton, it is hardly so astonishing that within 
 217 years from its discovery by Joliet this great- 
 est of river basins should be the abiding-place 
 of twenty-seven and a half millions of people. 
 
 Speaking of Joliet, Bancroft wrote that his 
 short voyage brought him immortality ; but in 
 the irony of fate his explorations have not even 
 given his name a place in the last edition of the 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica. In writing on Ameri- 
 can explorers, it seems most fitting that this se-
 
 10 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 ries of sketches should be headed by this Cana- 
 dian, whose name is scarcely known by one in a 
 thousand. That aught is obtainable concerning 
 the details of his life is due to the investigations 
 
 of Shea, which 
 later were admira- 
 bly summed up by 
 Parkman. 
 
 Louis Joliet, the 
 _ ^ ,. , son of John Joliet 
 
 Signature of Jolliet (Old Spelling). 
 
 and Mary d'Aban- 
 cour, was born at Quebec, September 21, 1645. 
 His father was a wagon-maker, in the service of 
 the Company of One Hundred Associates, then 
 owners of Canada. 
 
 The son in youth was imbued with devout 
 feelings, which, possibly fostered by the elder 
 Joliet as certain to bring station and influence in 
 manhood, led to his being educated in the Jesuit 
 College for the priesthood, in which indeed he 
 received the minor orders in 1662. Four years 
 later, in the debates on philosophy, which were 
 participated in by the Intendant and listened to 
 by the colonial dignitaries, Joliet showed such 
 skill as to elicit especial commendation from the 
 Fathers. 
 
 His future career shows that his studies with 
 the Fathers were not lost on him, and doubtless 
 they contributed largely to make Joliet that 
 intelligent, well-poised leader who filled with 
 credit all duties and positions incident to his 
 varied and adventurous life. 
 
 It is probable, however, that during all these
 
 LOUIS JOLIET 11 
 
 years he was at heart a true voyageur, and that 
 his thoughts turned continually from the cloister 
 and books to the forest and its attractive life. 
 Be this as it may, he practically abandoned all 
 ideas of the priesthood at the age of twenty-two, 
 and turned to the most certain, and indeed, in 
 Canada, the only path to wealth, that of a trader 
 in furs with the Indians. In this trade only the 
 hardy, shrewd, intelligent, and tireless subordi- 
 nate could hope to thrive and rise. Success 
 meant long and hazardous journeys into the very 
 heart of the Indian country, where were needed 
 great physical courage and strength, perfect skill 
 with gun, paddle, axe, sledge, or snow-shoe, a 
 thorough knowledge of wood-craft, indomitable 
 will or casuistry and tact according to the occa- 
 sion. To paddle a canoe from sunrise to sunset 
 of a summer day, to follow the sledge or break a 
 snow-shoe path before it as far as a dog can 
 travel in a march, to track a moose or deer for 
 leagues without rest, to carry canoes and heavy 
 packs over long portages through an untrav- 
 elled country, were the ordinary experiences of 
 a voyageur, which were accomplished for the 
 great part on a diet of smoked meat and boiled 
 Indian corn, with no shelter in fair weather and 
 the cover of an upturned canoe or bark hut in 
 stress of storm. 
 
 Joliet did not long remain in private adventure, 
 for in 1669 Talon, then Intendant of Canada, sent 
 him to discover and explore the copper-mines of 
 Lake Superior, in which quest he failed. It was 
 on his return trip that Joliet met with La Salle
 
 12 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 and the priests Dolier and Galinee, on Septem- 
 ber 24, 1669, near the present town of Hamilton, 
 in which direction Joliet's Indian guide had mis- 
 led him when returning from Lake Erie, through 
 fear of meeting enemies at the Niagara portage. 
 
 Joliet's facility for map-making in the field is 
 evident from the fact that at this time he showed 
 to the priests with La Salle a copy of the map 
 that he had made of such parts of the upper 
 lakes as he had visited, and gave them a copy of 
 it. He moreover evidenced continued interest 
 in religious matters by telling them that the 
 Pottowattamies and other Indian tribes of that 
 region were in serious need of spiritual succor. 
 La Salle later, in November, 1680, repaid this 
 frank tender of information of the little-known 
 west by intimating his belief that Joliet never 
 went but little south of the mouth of the Illinois, 
 and is also stated to have declared that Joliet 
 was an impostor. 
 
 In his account of La Salle's last journey. 
 Father Douay, referring to Joliet's discoveries as 
 related by Marquette, says : " I have brought 
 with me the printed book of this pretended dis- 
 covery, and I remarked all along my route that 
 there was not a word of truth in it." 
 
 The efforts to deprive Joliet of the credit of 
 the original discovery of the Mississippi falls be- 
 fore the despatch of Count Frontenac to Colbert, 
 then Minister, dated Quebec, November 14, 1674: 
 " VI. Sieur Joliet, whom Monsieur Talon advised 
 me, on my arrival from France, to despatch for 
 the discovery of the South Sea, has returned
 
 LOUIS JOLTET 13 
 
 three months ago, and discovered some very fine 
 country, and a navigation so easy through the 
 beautiful rivers he has found, that a person can 
 go from Lake Ontario and Fort Frontenac in a 
 bark to the Gulf of Mexico, there being only one 
 carrying-place, half a league in length, where 
 Lake Ontario communicates with Lake Erie. 
 . . , He has been within ten days of the Gulf 
 of Mexico. ... I send you by my secretary 
 the map he has made of it. . . . He has lost 
 all his. minutes and journals in the shipwreck he 
 suffered in sight of Montreal. . . . He left 
 with the Fathers at Sault St. Marie copies of his 
 journal." 
 
 But to return to the circumstances under 
 which Joliet made the voyage. Among other 
 orders of Louis XIV. regarding Canada was a 
 charge to discover the South Sea and Missis- 
 sippi, and Jean Talon, Intendant of Canada, lost 
 no chance of furthering this object. La Salle's 
 journey of 1670 had failed to reach the great 
 river, though he descended the Ohio to the falls 
 at Louisville, and at his recall in 1672 Talon had 
 the subject of further exploration in hand. Joliet 
 had lately returned from his unsuccessful efforts 
 to discover copper mines on Lake Superior, 
 during which he had probably been the first 
 white man to pass through the Straits of Detroit. 
 Despite his late failure he had impressed Talon 
 as the man best fitted to lead such an expedition, 
 and so before sailing for France the Intendant 
 recommended Joliet for the work to Count 
 Frontenac, the new Governor.
 
 14 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 In those days the Church and Government 
 went hand in hand, and but few French expedi- 
 tions went westward from Montreal without a 
 priest to carry the faith to such Indian tribes as 
 were allies of France or liable to be won over. 
 As Joliet's priest-associate, James Marquette, a 
 young Jesuit, then a missionary at St. Esprit, La 
 Pointe, Lake Superior, was chosen. 
 
 No better man could have been sent. Mar- 
 quette was in the prime of life, an expert linguist 
 — as he had learned in six years to speak fluently 
 six Indian languages — gentle, patient, and tactful 
 with the natives, devout in faith, singularly holy 
 in life, fearless, imaginative, nature-loving and 
 observant, as shown by his journal, which, owing 
 to Joliet's shipwreck, is the only original story 
 of the voyage. His enthusiasm is shown by the 
 opening sentences of his journal : " I have ob- 
 tained from God the favor of being enabled to 
 visit the nations on the Mississippi River, . . . 
 and find myself in the happy necessity of expos- 
 ing my life for the salvation of all these tribes, 
 especially the Illinois." 
 
 Joliet followed the St. Lawrence to Fort Fron- 
 tenac, at the entrance of Lake Ontario, and with 
 the exception of the portage at the Falls of 
 Niagara, skirted in his canoe the shores of the 
 Great Lakes until he reached the Straits of Mack- 
 inaw, on the north side of which, at Point St. 
 Ignace, he found the enthusiastic Marquette de- 
 votedly laboring for the spiritual welfare of the 
 Hurons and Ottawas there gathered. 
 
 The contemplated line of travel was that of
 
 OiontanCa, 
 
 
 ^00 caia 
 
 Tcrres JnKahitees ^^J^rtaje. 
 
 % Cackoacmlcsia. 
 Illinois 
 
 J^nvleTUac 
 
 chirbon die terre 
 
 ^Hifcns 
 
 •v 
 
 •s. 
 
 Mine 
 
 le cuiure 
 
 
 p<?i^; 
 
 e,aP 
 
 LJiac de Mtc^i^umt au I la fiats 
 
 40 41 4^ 
 
 mwimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimMiimiiiiiiymmiB 
 
 43 
 
 44 
 
 A Part of the Map Published in Paris by Thevenot as " Marquette's Map." It shows the route taken by 
 Joliet across Wisconsin from the Baie des Puans (now Green Bay) to the Mississippi River, also part 
 of the return journey, that is, from the present site of Chicago, northward along Lake Michigan.
 
 16 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Jean Nicollet, an interpreter who had spent many 
 years with the Indian tribes, who was sent in 
 1638 to bring about a peace between the Hurons 
 and Winnebagoes who lived near Green Bay. 
 After his negotiations he ascended the Fox River, 
 and making a portage to the Wisconsin, de- 
 scended that stream some distance, so that, as he 
 thought, from the designation of " the great 
 water " by the Indian guide to the Mississippi, he 
 was within three days of the South Sea. 
 
 Joliet, however, was too practical to trust 
 entirely to tradition or oral description. He had 
 already carefully charted all that was definitely 
 known of the western lake regions, and now at 
 St. Ignace, with Marquette's invaluable assist- 
 ance, gathered all possible information from such 
 Indians at the mission as had frequented the un- 
 known country. This information being duly 
 weighed and considered, Joliet extended his map 
 to cover all the new country, marking thereon 
 the navigable rivers, the names of nations and 
 villages along their proposed route, the course of 
 the great river, and other useful information. 
 
 Their means of subsistence and travel were the 
 simplest imaginable, two canoes and as large 
 quantities of smoked meat and Indian corn as 
 could be conveniently carried. Their canoes 
 were of the usual Canadian pattern, of birch-bark 
 covering, stayed with spruce-root ribs and cedar- 
 splint, with white-pine pitch smeared over the 
 birch-bark joints so as to render them water- 
 tight. Such canoes were of astonishing strength 
 and carrying capacity, and of such lightness that
 
 LOUIS JOLIET 17 
 
 four men could carry the largest across por- 
 tages. 
 
 On a bright spring morning, May 17th, Joliet 
 and Marquette, with five other men, left behind 
 them the palisaded post and chapel of St. Ignace. 
 Plying briskly their paddles from sunrise to sun- 
 set, they made rapid progress, coasting the lake 
 shore until they turned aside to visit the Menom- 
 inees, or Wild-rice Indians, whose village was on 
 the river of that same name. Here inquiries for 
 information of the "great river" brought from 
 the savage allies strenuous efforts to dissuade 
 them from visiting this Mississippi, where, they 
 said, the unsparing ferocity of the tribes brought 
 unfailing death by the tomahawk to even inoffen- 
 sive strangers, and that war now raged among 
 the intervening nations. They further recited 
 the dangers of navigating the rapids of the Great 
 River, the presence of frightful water monsters 
 who swallowed up men and canoes, the roaring 
 demon who engulfed all travellers, and lastly the 
 existence of such excessive heat as to ensure cer- 
 tain death. After religfious instruction and ser- 
 vice the explorers embarked in their canoes and 
 soon reached the southern extremity of Green 
 Bay, where, says Marquette, " our fathers labor 
 successfully in the conversion of these tribes, hav- 
 ing baptized more than 2,000." 
 
 Joliet from Green Bay entered Fox River, 
 finding it a gentle, beautiful stream, promising 
 easy and pleasant passage and abounding in wild- 
 fowl. Soon, however, these agreeable aspects 
 gave way to the sterner phases of exploration, 
 2
 
 18 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 for sharp rapids were fallen in with where the 
 strong and uncertain cross-currents often threat- 
 ened the total destruction of their frail canoes, 
 which would have proved fatal to their plans, by 
 dashing them against the sharp bowlders. 
 
 A serious but lesser evil to these enduring voy- 
 agers was the injury to their mocassin-shod feet, 
 which were cut and bruised by the sharp edges 
 of the rocky bed of the river over which they 
 slowly and painfully dragged their canoes for 
 long distances. 
 
 The many rapids were safely passed, and on the 
 7th of June, 1673, our explorers reached an Indian 
 town which marked the extreme western limits 
 of French discoveries, being the farthest point 
 reached by Nicollet in his adventurous journey. 
 
 In this town dwelt bands from three different 
 tribes, the Miamis, Maskoutens, or Fire Nation, 
 and Kickapoos. The latter two were inferior in 
 manners and appearance to the Miamis, who, more 
 civil, liberal, and well-made, wore two long ear- 
 locks that Marquette thought becoming ; besides 
 they were reputed warriors, who rarely failed in 
 their forays. They proved docile, attentive, and 
 interested in religious matters, as was shown not 
 only by their talk with Father Allouez, but also 
 by a cross standing in the centre of the town, 
 which was adorned with votive offerings of skins, 
 belts, bows and arrows to the Great Manitou for 
 an abundance of game during the dreaded famine 
 time of winter. 
 
 The Indians used for their beds mats, probably 
 made of rushes, which in default of bark also
 
 LOUIS JOLIET 19 
 
 served as material for the walls and roofs of their 
 unsubstantial shelters. Since Marquette refers 
 to the advantage of such building material as 
 capable of being rolled up and easily moved 
 during hunts, it is probable that this town was 
 of a temporary character. It appears to have 
 been well located, being on an eminence, whence 
 the approach of an enemy or the presence of 
 game could be readily observed in the open 
 country. Marquette says of it : " The view is 
 beautiful and very picturesque, for from the 
 eminence on which it is perched are seen 
 stretching out on every side, as far as eye can 
 reach, prairies broken by thickets or groves of 
 lofty trees." The Indians grew much corn, and 
 gathered wild plums and " grapes, from which," 
 his thoughts turning to home, he says, '' good 
 wine could be made if they chose." 
 
 Joliet lost no time, but immediately on arrival 
 assembled the sachems and told them that he 
 was sent by his Governor to discover new coun- 
 tries. He made them a present and asked that 
 two guides be sent to show him the way, which 
 resulted in the gift to Joliet of a mat to serve as 
 a bed, and the sending of two Miamis as guides. 
 
 The next day, June loth, they proceeded, two 
 Miamis and seven Frenchmen in two canoes, up 
 the river to the portage, through a net-work of 
 marshes, little lakes, and meandering channels 
 so hidden by the wild rice that their guides were 
 very useful. Conducting Joliet to a portage of 
 2,700 paces, and assisting in the transportation of 
 the canoes across it, the Miamis then returned.
 
 20 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 leaving the explorers " alone in an unknown 
 country, in the hands of Providence." 
 /Before launching their canoes into strange 
 waters, which were to bear them into unknown 
 lands, they knelt on the bank and offered up de- 
 4, vout aspirations to God for continued success. 
 The new river was the Weskousing (Wisconsin), 
 whose broad shallows and sandy bottom, while 
 rendering navigation slow and very laborious, 
 yet contrasted delightfully with the rocky rapids 
 of the Fqx^ 
 
 Father Marquette sets forth delightfully the 
 ideal voyage down this stream, past vine-clad 
 islets, along sloping banks, now bordered by the 
 lovely prairie, with its sweet odors of fresh 
 grasses and blooming flowers, and anon fringed 
 by the primeval forest, beautiful with its tangle 
 of shrubbery and in its June foliage. The gnarled 
 oak, the straight walnut, the elegant whitewood, 
 
 ^ and other stately trees of unknown species met 
 
 their vision at times, while again their eyes 
 
 / ^ scarcely separated from the heavens the distant 
 horizon of the green level plains, whose luxu- 
 riant vegetation afforded the richest pasturage 
 for numerous herds of deer and moose, and in 
 spots showed the fertility of its alluvial $oil by 
 the fields of Indian corn. 
 
 Each morning, before they relaunched their 
 canoes, they attuned their voices to the praise of 
 God, and, in their unique joy of successful dis- 
 covery, must have felt on those delightful June 
 days that their devotions had not been uplifted in 
 vain. From sunrise to sunset they labored un-
 
 LOUIS JOLIET 21 
 
 ceasiiii^ly, now paddling briskly along the deep 
 reaches, and then strugg-ling stoutly through 
 mazes of shallows and sand-bars, where tedious 
 and frequent portages were patiently made. 
 
 Each evening their hearts rejoiced and their 
 tired limbs found delightful repose at some spot 
 where Joliet's judgment directed the canoes to 
 be drawn out, inspected, and upturned by some, 
 while others started the camp-fire and prepared 
 the evening meal. This camp was always so 
 placed that the approach of an enemy could be 
 seen from afar, and where fuel for fire and 
 branches for bedding were at hand. The best 
 hunter was told off for game, and rarely did the 
 meal lack fresh meat or fruit and berries in 
 season. After supper the soothing pipe, prayers 
 and songs of praise, and then under the over- 
 arching trees such sound slumber as only comes 
 to men sleeping under the open sky. 
 
 As they advanced it was often possible to use 
 sail and relieve the men to some extent from the 
 fatigue of the paddle, and such rapid progress 
 was made that, on June 17th, they safely entered 
 the long-desired Mississippi, " with a joy," writes 
 Marquette, " which I cannot express." They 
 were then in latitude 43° 03' N., opposite the 
 site of the present city of Prairie du Chien. 
 
 Turning eagerly southward, their progress 
 facilitated by the gentle current of the Missis- 
 sippi, they journeyed more than a hundred 
 leagues without seeing on the land aught save 
 birds and beasts. The solitude of the great 
 river appalled them : a vast torrent of rolling
 
 22 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 water, bordered by forest and plain, so well fitted 
 for the happiness of man, and yet no human 
 being in all this land ! What could it mean, and 
 what would be the outcome ? Joliet, of long ex- 
 perience with savage tribes, and astute in forest 
 craft, distrusted the silence and soHtude, and 
 kept as keen guard as though on the war-path. 
 A tiny camp-fire was built only for meals, and 
 the nights were passed in the crowded canoes 
 as far from shore as it was possible to anchor 
 them in the deep river. Even then strict watch 
 was kept, and every strange or unusual noise 
 excited feelings of trepidation lest a hidden foe 
 be the cause. 
 
 Their journey by day was not entirely de- 
 void of incident and excitement, says Mar- 
 quette. " From time to time we met monstrous 
 fishes, one of which struck the canoe so violently 
 I took it for a large tree. Another time we 
 perceived on the water a monster [probably an 
 American tiger-cat] with a head like a tiger and 
 a pointed snout like the wild-cat, with beard and 
 ears erect, a grayish head, and entirely black 
 neck." They cast their nets successfully, and 
 once caught a spade-fish, whose appearance 
 caused much astonishment. In 41° 28' N. lati- 
 tude (near Rock Island), wild turkeys took the 
 place of wild fowl ; while as to animals, only 
 buffalo were seen, being so numerous and fear- 
 less as to be easily killed, and thus offering a wel- 
 come change of food. These new beasts presented 
 themselves to our explorers as hideous, especially 
 those with thick, long manes falling over their
 
 ^ 
 
 LOUIS JOLIET 23 
 
 eyes in such tangles as to prevent their seeing- 
 clearly. Marquette records that the Indians tan 
 buffalo-skins into beautiful robes, which they paint 
 into various colors; and further recites the fe- 
 rocity of the buffalo as yearly causing the death 
 of some Indian. When near the present city of 
 Keokuk, at the mouth of the Des Moines River, 
 on June 25th, they perceived the first signs of 
 man in all this solitude : foot-prints by the river- 
 side, and then a beaten path, which, entering a 
 beautiful prairie, impressed them as leading to 
 some Indian village. 
 
 They had journeyed seventeen days without 
 seeing the face of man, and so, after deliberation, 
 they resolved to visit the village ; this decision 
 doubtless being tirged by Marquette, who for 
 years had sought by prayer " to obtain of God 
 the grace to be able to visit the nations on the 
 river Mississippi," and who now would allow no 
 danger to deter him. Joliet was fully aware of 
 the great risk, and took most careful precautions 
 to ensure the safety of their canoes and people 
 by charging them strictly to beware of sur- 
 prise, while he and Marquette ventured to put 
 themselves at the discretion of an unknown 
 savage people. / Cautiously following the little 
 path in silence across the beautiful prairie and 
 through the thickets for a distance of two 
 leagues, they suddenly came in view of an Indian 
 village, picturesquely placed on a river bank, 
 and overlooked by two others on a neighboring 
 hill ; they pressed on with successful caution 
 and silence, but with much doubt and fear. 1
 
 24 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Having, as Marquette says, " recommended our- 
 selves to God with all our hearts," and " having 
 implored his help, we passed on undiscovered, 
 and came so near we even heard the Indians 
 talking." Stepping into the open, they halted 
 and announced themselves by a loud cry ; at 
 which the Indians rushed out of their cabins, and 
 recognizing them as French, and seeing a " Black- 
 gown " (the well-known Indian name for a Jesuit), 
 sent four of their chief warriors forward. Two 
 chiefs, carrying calumets, or tobacco-pipes, elab- 
 orately trimmed with various feathers, advanced 
 very slowly and in silence, lifting their calumets 
 as if offering them for the sun to smoke. Mar- 
 quette, encouraged by their friendly attitude, and 
 still more on seeing that they wore French cloth, 
 broke the silence ; to which the Indians answered 
 that they were Illinois, who, in token of peace, 
 presented their pipes to smoke and invited the 
 strangers to their village. 
 
 Joliet and Marquette were received at the door 
 of a wigwam, as was usual for strangers, by an 
 old chief, who stood perfectly naked, with out- 
 stretched hands raised toward the sun, as if to 
 screen himself from its rays, which nevertheless 
 passed through the open fingers to his face. As 
 they came near him, he said : " How beautiful is 
 the sun, O Frenchmen, when thou comest to visit 
 us. All our town awaits thee, and thou shalt 
 enter all our cabins in peace." After smoking the 
 calumet, they went by invitation to visit the Great 
 Sachem of all Illinois, at a near village. With 
 good nature and childish curiosity, a throng of
 
 ■h V f^n 
 
 
 ii»%*^
 
 26 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Indians went along, and says Marquette, " could 
 not tire looking at us ; they threw themselves on 
 the grass by the wayside ; they ran ahead, then 
 turned and walked back to see us again, all in si- 
 lence, with marks of great respect." They were 
 received by the Great Sachem and two old chiefs, 
 all naked and with their calumet turned to the 
 sun. After smoking the calumet, Marquette, 
 speaking in Algonquin, said that they marched in 
 peace to visit the nations on the river to the sea; 
 that God their Creator had pity, and had sent his 
 messenger to make him known as their Creator, 
 whom they should acknowledge and obey ; that 
 Frontenac had spread peace everywhere ; and 
 last asked for all the information they had of the 
 sea and the nations between them and it. 
 
 The Sachem answered in a beautiful speech 
 worthy of the occasion : 
 
 " I thank thee, Blackgown, and thee. French- 
 man," addressing M. Joliet, " for taking so much 
 pains to come and visit us ; never has the earth 
 been so beautiful, nor the sun so bright, as to-day ; 
 never has our river been so calm, nor so free from 
 rocks, which your canoes have removed as they 
 passed ; never has our tobacco had so fine a 
 flavor, nor our corn appeared so beautiful as we 
 behold it to day. Here is my son, that I give 
 thee, that thou mayst know my heart. I pray 
 thee to take pity on me and all my nation. Thou 
 knowest the Great Spirit, who has made us all ; 
 thou speakest to him and hearest his words : ask 
 him to give me life and health, and come and 
 dwell with us, that we may know him,"
 
 LOUIS JOLIET 27 
 
 It is interesting to note the condition of the 
 Illinois when first visited. Their chiefs wore 
 over the left shoulder a belt, ingeniously made 
 of the hair of bear and buffalo, which passed 
 around the waist and ended in a long fringe ; 
 arm, knee, and wrist bands of deer or buffalo- 
 skin, and the rattles of deer hoofs Avere also worn, 
 and the face was painted with red ochre. In ad- 
 dition to abundant game, they raised beans, mel- 
 ons, squashes, and Indian corn. Their dishes were 
 of wood, their spoons of the bones of buffalo, 
 their knives stone, their arms, bows and arrows 
 with an occasional gun bought from other tribes. 
 
 The word calumet is due to Father Marquette, 
 and his description of this interesting Indian 
 pipe and its uses among the Indians over two 
 hundred years ago is best given in his own words : 
 
 " It now remains for me to speak of the calu- 
 met, than which there is nothing among them 
 more mvsterious or more esteemed. Men do 
 not pay to the crowns and sceptres of kings the 
 honor they pay to it. It seems to be the god of 
 peace and war, the arbiter of life and death. 
 Carry it about you and show it, and you can 
 march fearlessly amid enemies, who even in the 
 heat of battle lay down their arms when it is 
 shown. Hence the Illinois gave me one, to serve 
 as my safeguard amid all the nations that I had 
 to pass on my voyage. There is a calumet for 
 peace and one for war, distinguished only by the 
 color of the feathers with which they are adorned, 
 red being the sign of war. They use them 
 also for settling disputes, strengthening alliances,
 
 28 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 and speaking- to strangers. It is made of a pol- 
 ished red stone, like marble, so pierced that one 
 end serves to hold the tobacco, while the other 
 is fastened on the stem, which is a stick two feet 
 long, as thick as a common cane, and pierced in 
 the middle ; it is ornamented with the head and 
 neck of different birds of beautiful plumage ; 
 they also add large feathers of red and green 
 and other colors, with which it is all covered. 
 They esteem it peculiarly, because they regard 
 it as the calumet, or pipe, of the sun ; and, in 
 fact, they present it to him to smoke when they 
 wish to obtain calm, or rain, or fair weather." 
 
 Leaving the Illinois one afternoon, about the 
 end of June, they embarked in sight of the whole 
 admiring tribe, and, following the river, reached 
 the mouth of the muddy Missouri. They were 
 the first white men who had ever gazed on the 
 turbulent waters of this mighty stream. Im- 
 pressed by the size and majesty of the Missouri 
 Marquette believed and hoped that later, by 
 making a prairie portage of twenty or thirty 
 leagues, he could reach a deep westerly running 
 river that would carr}^ him to the Red Sea (the 
 Gulf of California). 
 
 The Missouri, or Pekitanoui, as Marquette 
 called it, was evidently at the flood stage, for he 
 says : "A mass of large trees, entire with branches, 
 real floating islands, came rushing from the 
 mouth of the river so impetuously that we could 
 not pass across without exposing ourselves to 
 great danger. The agitation was so great that 
 the water was all muddy."
 
 LOUIS JOLIET 29 
 
 Immediately above the site of Alton, 111., they 
 came in sight of the famous Piasa pictograph, 
 which was totally destroyed about fifty years 
 ago. Of it Marquette wrote : " As we coasted 
 along rocks, frightful for their height and length, 
 we saw painted thereon two monsters, which 
 startled us at first, and on which the bold- 
 est Indian dare not gaze long. They have a 
 fearful look, are as large as a calf, have red eyes, 
 the horns of a deer, the beard of a tiger, and the 
 face of a man, while around the scale-covered 
 body was a fish's tail twice encircling it. The 
 two monsters were very well painted in green, 
 red, and black colors, and so high upon the 
 rocks that they were apparently inaccessible to 
 man." 
 
 Later they discovered a very rich iron-mine of 
 many veins, one a foot thick, and large masses of 
 metal combined with pebbles ; also purple, violet, 
 and red cla}^ which colored the water a blood 
 red. They now passed the dreaded home of the 
 Manitou, or demon, who devours all who pass ; 
 which proved to be a frightful rapid where large 
 detached rocks and a narrow channel caused a 
 furious commotion of the waters tumbling over 
 each other, and a tremendous roaring, which 
 struck terror to the Indian's heart. Passing 
 this, they reached the mouth of the Ohio, which 
 Marquette calls" Ouaboukidou," on which there 
 were no less than thirty-eight villages of the 
 Chaouanons (Shawnees). A little beyond, Mar- 
 quette's eye was delighted by the appearance of 
 breaks, wherein the canes were of an exquisite
 
 30 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 green, with knots crowned by long, narrow- 
 pointed leaves. At every landing the keen eyes 
 of the Canadian explorers searched out every- 
 thing that was new or that seemed suitable for 
 food; so we find the persimmon and the chicopin 
 and other fruits and nuts described in detail. 
 
 By this time, in early July, they found them- 
 selves suffering from the double annoyance of 
 mosquitoes and the excessive and insupportable 
 heat of the sun, from which they sheltered them- 
 selves as best they could by making a kind of 
 cabin with their sails, while their canoes were 
 borne on by the current. 
 
 Finally they perceived on the river-bank 
 Indians armed with guns, who awaited their 
 approach, Joliet, ready either for peace or war, 
 put Marquette forward with his feathered peace 
 calumet upraised, while the rest stood to arms, 
 ready to fire on the first volley of the savages. 
 Marquette hailed them in Huron, and the party 
 was not only peacefully received, but invited to 
 their village and presented with food of various 
 kinds. Joliet found among them guns, axes, 
 hoes, powder, etc., and was assured that they 
 bought cloth and other articles from Europeans 
 to the east, doubtless the Spaniards of Florida. 
 Marquette was troubled to find they had received 
 no instruction in the faith, which, as far as he 
 could, he gave them. 
 
 Being assured that the sea was not more than 
 ten days' journey distant, they were greatly 
 encouraged, and instead of drifting with the cur- 
 rent, took up their paddles with renewed ardor.
 
 LOUIS JOLIET 31 
 
 Passing beyond the prairie land, they found 
 both sides of the river lined with dense woods, 
 wherein the cotton-wood, elm, and white-wood 
 were of such height and size as to excite their 
 admiration. That the forests were not dense 
 seemed evident from the bellowing of cattle be- 
 hind the fringe of trees, which were enlivened for 
 our travellers by flocks of quail along the water's 
 edge and an occasional parrot with its brilliant 
 coloring of red, yellow, and green. 
 
 Nearing the mouth of the Arkansas, they saw 
 on the river-bank an Indian village called Mithi- 
 ganea, near which Joliet and his party had an 
 exciting and fearful experience, which Marquette 
 thus describes : 
 
 " We heard from afar the Indians exciting one 
 another to the combat by continual yells. They 
 were armed with bows, arrows, axes, war-clubs, 
 and bucklers, and prepared to attack us by land 
 and water. Some embarked in large wooden 
 canoes, a part to ascend, the rest to descend, the 
 river, so as to cut our way and surround us com- 
 pletely. Those on shore kept going and coming, 
 as if about to begin the attack. In fact, some 
 young men sprang into the water to come and 
 seize my canoe, but the current having compelled 
 them to return to the shore, one of them threw 
 his war club at us, but it passed over our heads 
 without doing us any harm. In vain I showed 
 the calumet, and made gestures to explain that 
 we had not come as enemies. The alarm con- 
 tinued, and they were about to pierce us from all 
 sides with their arrows, when God suddenly
 
 32 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 touched the hearts of the old men on the water 
 side, doubtless at the sight of our calumet, which 
 at the distance they had not distinguished ; but 
 as I showed it continually, they were touched, 
 restrained the ardor of their youth, and two of 
 the chiefs, having thrown their bows and quivers 
 into our canoe, and as it were at our feet, entered 
 and brought us to the shore, where we disem- 
 barked, not without fear on our part." 
 
 An old chief was at last found who spoke a 
 little Illinois, and through him they were told 
 that they could get full information regarding 
 the sea at another great village called Akamsea, 
 about ten leagues down the river. Presents were 
 exchanged and the night passed among them 
 with some uneasiness. The loving missionary 
 spirit of Marquette is shown here for, he says : 
 " I know not whether they understood what I 
 told them of God and the things which con- 
 cerned their salvation. It is a seed cast in the 
 earth which will bear its fruit in season." 
 
 At Akamsea (Arkansas) they were received by 
 the sachem holding up a peace calumet, after 
 which they had the customary smoke and a repast 
 of different dishes made of Indian corn. Presents 
 were interchanged and speeches made through 
 a young Indian who understood Illinois. The 
 whole day was spent in feasting, and the dishes 
 of Indian corn were continuously supplemented 
 by pieces of dog flesh 
 
 Joliet and Marquette learned from them that 
 the sea was only ten days' journey distant for the 
 Indians, which meant five days for our explorers
 
 LOUIS JOLIET 33 
 
 in their birch canoes. They further set forth the 
 very great danger of passing on, owing to the 
 continual war parties moving along the river. 
 A secret council of the sachems with a view to 
 killing the party for plunder was only broken 
 up through the influence of the chief, who, send- 
 ing for the explorers, danced a calumet dance as 
 a mark of perfect assurance, and then to remove 
 all fears, presented his peace calumet to Mar- 
 quette as a guarantee of safety. 
 
 The famous calumet dance is performed only 
 on important occasions — to strengthen peace, for 
 a war assembly, at public rejoicings, and in honor 
 of important personages or invited strangers. 
 The principal features are, first, a dance ; second, 
 a mock combat; third, a self-laudatory speech, 
 during all of which the pipe plays an important 
 part, being smoked and handled to the measured 
 cadence of voices and drums. 
 
 Joliet and Marquette now took counsel to- 
 gether as to whether they should continue their 
 voyage in face of such adverse conditions or 
 turn back. Finally, after long and careful con- 
 sideration it was decided to return. 
 
 They realized that in their present latitude, 
 33° 40' N., they could not be more than two 
 or three days from the sea, and that the Mis- 
 sissippi, by its general course, undoubtedly 
 flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and not into the 
 South Sea through California. 
 
 Neglecting the dangers from warlike Indians 
 along the lower river, they considered, more- 
 over, that they risked losing the fruit of this 
 3
 
 34 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 voyage if they should throw themselves into the 
 hands of the Spaniards, who would at least im- 
 prison them. 
 
 Joliet's farthest was on the east bank, opposite 
 a river, probably the Arkansas, and could not 
 have been far from the point where De Soto more 
 than a hundred years before, in April, 1541, 
 reached the Mississippi. What a contrast be- 
 
 De Soto. 
 
 tween the means and experiences of these two 
 explorers ! De Soto, a noble Spaniard, with an 
 armament of ten vessels equipped with all the 
 paraphernalia of war, having, with three hundred 
 and fifty horsemen, a thousand picked men in 
 mail who had been chosen from the flower of 
 the Spanish and Portuguese nobility. His fol- 
 lowers were animated by ambition, eager seekers 
 for wealth and power, their track marked by fire 
 and sword, their action often treacherous and
 
 LOUIS JOLIET 35 
 
 always characterized by the savageness of their 
 age. They reaped the natural harvest, and al- 
 though they reached the Mississippi, yet constant 
 warfare, continued privations, toil, and disasters 
 had sadly wasted their strength and numbers, 
 and finally not one man in four ever reached 
 again a Spanish settlement. Joliet, an American 
 of humble birth, with two frail canoes equipped 
 only with an ordinary hunting outfit, had six 
 followers who, inspired by neither hope of gold 
 nor desire of conquest other than that of a spir- 
 itual kind, came with peace and confidence, 
 were received by all tribes with hospitality, 
 and returned to their own w^ithout harm or con- 
 tumely. 
 
 The result of De Soto's work was an un- 
 profitable, soon - forgotten discovery, utterly 
 barren of results. Joliet reduced the fables of 
 the Indians to facts, discovered the muddy Mis- 
 souri, and what is more, gave definite knowledge 
 to the world of the fertile valleys of the Missis- 
 sippi basin, wherein he planted the first germs of 
 civilization, which speedily took the practical 
 form of missions and settlements. 
 
 After a day's rest, Joliet and his party left 
 Akamsea July 17th, and tediously retraced their 
 course against the strong currents of the Missis- 
 sippi. Through the advice of the Indians they 
 quitted the great river at the mouth of the Illi- 
 nois, which greatly shortened their way and 
 brought them with little trouble to the present 
 site of Chicago, they passing on the way through 
 an Illinois town, Kaskaskia, of seventy-four cab-
 
 36 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 ins, from which an escort of braves guided them 
 to Lake Michigan. 
 
 Marquette appears to have had a prophetic eye 
 for the great future of the present State of Illi- 
 nois, for he says, " We have seen nothing like 
 this river for the fertility of the land, its prai- 
 ries, woods, wild cattle, deer, wild-cats, bustards, 
 swans, ducks, parrots, and even beaver ; its many 
 little lakes and rivers." 
 
 Coa'sting the shores of Lake Michigan, the end 
 of September, 1673, brought them to Green Bay, 
 where the rude comforts of a frontier mission 
 and the solace of friendly intercourse were once 
 more theirs. They had been absent four months, 
 and in that time had paddled their frail canoes 
 more than twenty-five hundred miles. Here 
 Marquette remained to recruit his health, im- 
 paired by physical hardships, continued exposure, 
 and lack of suitable food. The hardy Joliet lost 
 no time, however, but pressed on, too eager to 
 report his grand discoveries to Frontenac. 
 
 As mentioned in Frontenac's dispatch, the mis- 
 fortunes of Joliet began when his long and peril- 
 ous voyage was practically ended. In the rapids 
 of La Chine, near Montreal, his canoe overset; 
 three of his party were drowned, all his papers 
 lost, and he himself narrowly escaped. In a let- 
 ter to Frontenac he says : " I had escaped every 
 peril from the Indians ; I had passed forty-two 
 rapids, and was on the point of disembarking, 
 full of joy at the success of so long and difficult 
 an enterprise, when my canoe capsized after all 
 danger seemed past. I lost two men, an Indian
 
 LOUIS JOLIET 37 
 
 boy and my box of papers within sight of the first 
 French settlements, which I had left almost two 
 years before. Nothing now remains to me but 
 my life and the ardent desire to employ it on any 
 service which you may be pleased to direct." 
 
 We have to rest content with the graphic ac- 
 count written by Marquette, as it was impossible 
 for Joliet to reproduce his lost journal. As re- 
 gards the map, his natural and acquired skill in 
 cartography was such that Joliet reproduced his 
 discoveries in the shape of a small map, which 
 he presented to Frontenac, by whom it was sent 
 to Colbert, with a despatch dated November 14, 
 1674, and now is in the famous Chart Office at 
 Paris. It is entitled, " Map of the Discovery of 
 Sieur Joliet," etc., and has a brief explanatory 
 letter thereon, from which I have quoted above. 
 
 Joliet's discoveries were most joyfully received 
 in France, Colbert especially appreciating their 
 value and importance both as regards the extent 
 and fertility of the countries traversed and also 
 as to the easy water communication therewith. 
 It afforded an opportunity of extending the lim- 
 its of French possessions in America, which was 
 not neglected. It did not fall, however, to Joliet 
 to play any part in this great work, which was 
 the lot of his great rival, the energetic, persistent, 
 and far-seeing La Salle, who received in 1678 a 
 royal patent with seignorial rights over all lands 
 which he might discover and colonize within 
 twenty years, and who gave Louisiana to the 
 French crown. 
 
 The natural despondency of Joliet over the 
 
 304304
 
 38 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 loss of his maps and journals soon gave way to 
 happier experiences ; for the following year, Oc- 
 tober 7, 1675, he married Clare Frances Bissot. 
 His father-in-law, a Canadian, was a wealthy In- 
 dian trader, so Joliet naturally resumed his for- 
 mer occupation, and in 1679 made a journey to 
 Hudson Bay by way of the Saguenay. He found 
 the English strongly intrenched in their success- 
 ful efforts to monopolize the Indian trade of 
 that quarter. The usual attempts to draw Cana- 
 dians into their service were made in Joliet's 
 case. He not only declined service, but on his 
 return to Quebec made such representations of 
 the inevitable effect of English rivalry, if unop- 
 posed, on the trade of Canada, that a competing 
 company was organized by French merchants. 
 
 Joliet in the meantime had only received fair 
 words, but after strenuous efforts he succeeded 
 in 1679 in obtaining a grant of the Islands of 
 Mignan, and in the following year the French 
 Government granted him the Island of Anticosti, 
 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Here he estab- 
 lished himself with his family, and with six ser- 
 vants engaged in fisheries. 
 
 In the course of time he added to his buildings 
 and extended his interests, but his peaceful pur- 
 suits were destined to interruption and devasta- 
 tion. In 1690 an English fleet, under command 
 of Sir William Phipps, sailed to attack Quebec, 
 and in course of time anchored at Anticosti. In 
 those days war was waged with utter disregard 
 of the rights of private property. Joliet was 
 then absent. A detachment from the English
 
 LOUIS JOLIET 39 
 
 fleet landed on the island, devastated Joliet's es- 
 tablishment, destroyed his buildings by fire, and 
 even carried away as prisoners his wife and 
 mother-in-law, who fortunately were soon ex- 
 changed. 
 
 Deprived in a day of the accumulation of years, 
 his future actions showed that age and adversity 
 made but small inroads on his manly spirit. 
 Obliged to exertion for the support of his family, 
 he turned again in his fiftieth year to a voyage 
 of exploration and adventure. A Canadian 
 company contemplated the extension of its seal 
 and whale fisheries to the rugged and danger- 
 ous coast of Labrador, then little known, and in 
 1694 Joliet explored the greater part of this ice- 
 covered and rock-bound coast under the auspices 
 and in the interest of this company. 
 
 Some years earlier Joliet had shown his merits 
 as a skilful surveyor and navigator by charting 
 the waters of the St. Lawrence, and when, on his 
 return from Labrador, occupation failed, Fron- 
 tenac recognized his deserving abilities by nam- 
 ing him for the post of royal pilot of the St. Law- 
 rence, still later appointing him hydrographer at 
 Quebec. 
 
 The emoluments of his royal offices were a 
 mere pittance, and in 1695 he is found on Mignan 
 Islands, where, with his wife, he contracted with 
 his brother-in-law Bissot and other parties with a 
 view of developing his interests both on land and 
 at sea. In 1697 he was granted by the Crown 
 the Seignory of Joliet. This honor he did not 
 long enjoy, for he died, apparently a poor man,
 
 40 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 in 1699 or 1700. He was fortunate in his burial 
 place, one of the Mignan Islands, which is for- 
 ever associated with his fame, having been 
 granted him by the French Crown for that great 
 and dangerous voyage which gave to the world 
 its first definite knowledge of the location, extent, 
 and fertility of the great valley of the Mississippi. 
 While Joliet followed the rugged and peaceful 
 pursuits of his island-home, ill fared it with his 
 vigorous Norman successor. The great La Salle 
 fell under the hand of a mutinous follower, while 
 his fated Texan colony perished totally by deser- 
 tion, betrayal, and massacre. So relapsed the 
 lower Mississippi into its primal savagery and 
 grandeur, until the domineering energy of the 
 great Canadian, Iberville, awakened it into a 
 vast dominion, to the glory, if not to the profit, 
 of France.
 
 II. 
 
 PETER LE MOYNE, SIEUR DIBERVILLE. 
 
 Founder of Louisiana. 
 
 Among the very earliest settlers of Hochelega, 
 now Montreal, was the son of a Norman innkeep- 
 er, a young French lad of fifteen, Charles le 
 Moyne, who came to this Indian village in 1641. 
 Apt, strong, daring, and zealous, he soon became 
 one of the most efficient aids to French power. 
 The language, the woodcraft, the arts of the sav- 
 age soon became his, and added to these such 
 suavity of manner, clearness of perception, and 
 native kindness as made him loved equally by 
 French and savage. As interpreter, soldier, ne- 
 gotiator, and captain of the guard, he rendered 
 such great service to the young and exposed 
 colony as caused him to be made captain of Mon- 
 treal, and later, in 1668, to be ennobled by Louis 
 XIV. under the title of Sieur of Longueuil. For 
 four years service in the country of the Hurons 
 he received for his entire pay the sum of twenty 
 crowns and his clothing, but he gained also such 
 a knowledge of the possibilities of the country, 
 such an insight into Indian character, and such a 
 wealth of vigorous manhood as enabled him to 
 acquire during his life an estate that was princely. 
 He did better than this, he married a woman
 
 42 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 worthy of him, whose family is scarcely known, 
 Catherine Tierry, an adopted daughter of An- 
 toine Primot. 
 
 In all the history of American families there is 
 none that has as distinguished and brilliant a his- 
 tory as the twelve sons and two daughters born 
 of this French peasant and the son of a Norman 
 innkeeper in the forests of Canada. The two 
 daughters married nobles, and of the twelve sons 
 nine live distinguished in history, three of them 
 were killed in the service of France, ten of them 
 were ennobled, and four, Iberville, Serigny, Cha- 
 teauguay, and Bienville the younger, played im- 
 portant parts in the founding of Louisiana. 
 
 There were many brilliant and picturesque 
 figures among the actors in the founding of a New 
 France in the wilds of North America, but among 
 them all there was scarcely one whose personality 
 and deeds excited more admiration among his 
 contemporaries, or whose services and career 
 are more deserving of recognition by posterity, 
 than Peter le Moyne, Sieur d'lberville, third son 
 
 Signature of le Moyne. 
 
 of Longueuil, who was born on the extreme fron- 
 tier, at the outpost of Montreal, July i6, 1661. 
 As a soldier he rose to be the leader and idol of 
 his fellow-Canadians ; as a sailor he became an ex- 
 tremely skilful navigator, who was acknowledged 
 as one of the greatest of French naval command-
 
 PETER LE MOYNE 43 
 
 ers ; and as an explorer and administrator he so 
 successfully accomplished his plans as to merit 
 and receive the title of the Founder of Louisiana. 
 
 The freedom, vigor, and wildness of Canadian 
 life developed men early, and Iberville entered 
 tha French Navy as midshipman at the age of 
 fourteen. His first service of note, however, was 
 as a soldier in the wilds of his native land, in the 
 Canadian overland campaign to recover posses- 
 sion of an Indian trading post on Hudson Bay, 
 which it was claimed the English had illegally 
 seized. Iberville volunteered for this campaign 
 under De Troye, and exhibited such judgment 
 and vigor as caused him to be put in command 
 of a small party of nine, some say twelve, men 
 with two canoes, wherewith he did not hesitate 
 to attack and compel the unconditional surrender 
 of an English ship manned by fourteen, including 
 the commander of Hudson Bay. St. Helene, his 
 brother, meantime captured another vessel, and 
 with the two as means of transport, the two 
 brothers pushed on to Fort Quitchitchouen, 
 which surrendered after withstanding a sharp 
 cannonade. 
 
 These victories not only insured to the French 
 the command of the entire southern part of Hud- 
 son Bay, but put them in possession of a vast 
 amount of stores. Indeed, so destructive to Eng- 
 lish interests were the campaigns of Iberville in 
 1687-88, that the Hudson Bay Company declared 
 that their actual losses amounted to 108,520 pounds 
 sterling, an enormous sum in the young colonies 
 of that day. The consequential losses must have
 
 4i EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 been very great, for we are told that the value of 
 furs obtained in the trade of one year amounted 
 to 400,000 livres (francs). 
 
 Iberville remained in charge of the country 
 which his valor had recaptured, and in 1688, 
 while the Iroquois were ravaging Canada, waged 
 successful war in _ Hudson Bay. One of his 
 lieutenants, capturing an English official, found 
 on him an order from the London Company 
 to proclaim English sovereignty over the whole 
 bay. Later two ships, with twenty-eight cannon 
 and eight swivels, appeared before St. Anne in 
 order to expel the French. Eventually Iberville 
 compelled the surrender of the English ships, and 
 releasing the smaller vessel for the safe transport 
 of such prisoners as he paroled, himself navigated 
 the larger ship, with eleven Hudson Bay pilots 
 held prisoners, to Quebec through Hudson Strait. 
 
 In 1690 Iberville volunteered, under his brother 
 St. Helene, for the retaliatory expedition in mid- 
 winter against Schenectady, wherein a large 
 number of the inhabitants of that unhappy town 
 were ruthlessly massacred by the French and 
 their Indian allies. Iberville seems to have exer- 
 ted his influence to restrain the savagery of the 
 Indians, and saved the life of at least one Eng- 
 lishman. 
 
 It seems that the successes of the young Cana- 
 dian had attracted attention in France, and when 
 in 1 69 1, through the efforts of the Northern 
 Company, Louis XIV. had decided to recover 
 Port Nelson, Hudson Bay, from the English, Du 
 Tast came to Quebec with fourteen sail, it was
 
 PETER LE MOTNE 45 
 
 with express orders that Iberville should be en- 
 trusted with a share of the work and glory. Du 
 Tast objected to such division of honor, and by 
 plausible objections as to the lateness of the 
 season, although it was only the i6th of July, 
 succeeded in delaying the departure of the ex- 
 pedition for that year. 
 
 Iberville seemed determined to show the 
 speciousness of the reasons, for he made a trip to 
 the bay and brought back in 1691 two ships 
 loaded with furs, much to the consolation of 
 Frontenac. He immediately went to France to 
 advance the expedition against Port Nelson, 
 which he knew was much favored at court. 
 Iberville found favor with the king, who gave 
 him two ships for the reduction of Port Nelson, 
 and orders to guard it after reduction. 
 
 Delays in France and contrary winds on the 
 Atlantic brought Iberville to Quebec only in 
 October, far too late for the safe navigation of 
 Hudson Bay. To fill in his time he set forth to 
 take Pemaquid, but did not make an attack, this 
 being the only instance in his long career where 
 he failed to show extreme daring, even against 
 desperate odds. The delay of the vessels was 
 unfortunate for France as far as Hudson Bay 
 was concerned, for in 1693 three English vessels 
 attacked and captured St. Anne, with fifty thou- 
 sand peltries, and again the control of the bay 
 passed from France. 
 
 In September, 1694, Iberville, with two ships, 
 la Poli and la Charante, the former commanded 
 by his brother, de Serigny, appeared before Port
 
 46 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Nelson, which he was six weeks in approaching 
 owing to the heavy moving ice, which nearly 
 destroyed his vessel. The fort had a double 
 palisade, thirty-two cannon and swivels in the 
 main body, and fourteen cannon in outer works, 
 the whole manned by fifty-three men. Iberville 
 landed without hesitation, invested the fort with 
 forty Canadians, worked with his usual energy 
 and skill, and in fourteen days he had his out- 
 works established, his batteries placed and mor- 
 tars in position. His final summons for sur- 
 render resulted in the capitulation of the fort, 
 on condition that personal propert}^ should be 
 spared and safe transport be given the garrison 
 to England the coming year. His success was 
 saddened for Iberville by the death of the elder 
 Chateauguay, the third of his brothers to fall in 
 the service of his king, who perished while gal- 
 lantly repelling a sortie of the beleaguered gar- 
 rison. The name of Port Nelson was changed 
 to Fort Bourbon, and the river was re-christened 
 St. Therese, because, says Jeremie, in his Relation 
 de la Bale de Hudson, the capitulation was made 
 on October 14th, the day of that holy saint. 
 
 The victory did not prove to be cheap, for 
 scurvy, then the dreaded scourge of the sailor, 
 broke out during the long, dark, excessively cold 
 winter, and caused the death of twenty men. 
 Late the next summer, after waiting to the last 
 moment for the English ships he counted on 
 capturing, and leaving a garrison of sixty-seven 
 at Fort Bourbon, Iberville sailed for Quebec ; 
 but the winds were so contrary and his crew so
 
 PETER LE MOYNE 47 
 
 debilitated by scurvy, that he turned his prows 
 to France and fortunately arrived at Rochelle, 
 October 9, 1695. 
 
 His victories in Hudson Bay so commended 
 him to the king that Iberville was charged with 
 the reduction and destruction of the strong fort 
 which James H. of England had erected at Pem- 
 aquid, Maine. While on this cruise our Cana- 
 dian fell in with three English ships near the 
 mouth of the St. John. He unhesitatingl)- at- 
 tacked them, dismasted, fired, and captured the 
 flag-ship of the squadron, the Newport, a ship of 
 eighty men and twenty-four guns. 
 
 Reinforced by several hundred Indians, as a 
 land and besieging force, Iberville arrived at 
 Pemaquid, August 13, 1696, and invested the 
 fort the next day. He summoned the com- 
 mander, Colonel Chubb, to capitulate, but that 
 officer replied that, " if the sea was covered with 
 French vessels and the land with Indians, he 
 would not surrender until compelled to do so." 
 Iberville promptly landed, and used such ex- 
 pedition that within the short space of thirteen 
 hours he established his batteries in position 
 and opened fire, when the garrison surrendered 
 on honorable terms. Iberville, doubtless mind- 
 ful of his experiences at Schenectady, took the 
 wise and humane precaution of quartering his 
 prisoners under the guns of the royal ships, so 
 as to secure them from the fury of his blood- 
 thirsty allies, the Indians, who desired to supple- 
 ment the entire destruction of the fort by the 
 slaughter of the garrison.
 
 48 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 In withdrawing from the demolished post, 
 while doubling the island at the mouth of the 
 Penobscot, he had an opportunity of justifying 
 his reputation as the most skilful officer in the 
 French service ; for, falling in with an English 
 squadron of seven sail, he successfully evaded 
 them by bold seamanship along the very coast 
 line of that dangerous and rock-bound shore. 
 
 His capacity as a military commander was now 
 to be tested. Charged by the king to co-oper- 
 ate in the reduction of Newfoundland to French 
 power, Iberville found himself viewed with jeal- 
 ousy by his colleague, Brouillian, governor of 
 Placentia, who assumed entire command, inter- 
 fered with Iberville's contemplated movements, 
 and declared that his own troops, the Canadians, 
 should not accompany him on the opening cam- 
 paign. 
 
 Iberville realizing the necessity of zealous and 
 concerted action in an enterprise of such impor- 
 tance, decided to leave the field free to Brouillan, 
 and so announced his intention of returning to 
 France. Immediately the Canadians declared to 
 a man that they were bound to him alone, that 
 Frontenac's orders recognized Iberville as com- 
 mander, and finally, that they would return to 
 Quebec sooner than accept another. Brouillan 
 recognizing that Iberville was the idol of his 
 Canadian countrymen, and unable to deny that 
 the king had confided all the enterprises to be 
 undertaken during the winter to Iberville, made 
 such concessions as brought about reconciliation ; 
 nevertheless the campaign undertaken against
 
 PETER LE MOYNE 49 
 
 St. John's was marked by dissension. Iberville 
 displayed his usual energy and gallantry in the 
 advance and subsequent skirmishes which ulti- 
 mately resulted in the surrender of St. John's, 
 which was abandoned and destroyed by fire. 
 The campaign was pursued with such energy 
 and success that at the end of two months the 
 English had nothing left in Newfoundland ex- 
 cept Bona Vista and Carbonniere Island. Dur- 
 ing these operations Iberville displayed marked 
 ability in handling troops, both in the field and 
 during siege operations. His eagerness to share 
 every danger, and willingness to undergo every 
 hardship in common with his troops, endeared 
 him to all and contributed much to the enthusi- 
 asm with which his men followed him or obeyed 
 his orders. 
 
 In Ma}', 1697, his brother Serigny arrived at 
 Placentia with four vessels, destined for the 
 command of Iberville in a proposed attempt to 
 again reduce Hudson Bay. With these ships — le 
 Pelican, fifty guns ; le Palmier, forty guns ; le 
 Profond, le Vespe, and a brigantine — Iberville 
 entered the mouth of Hudson Strait on August 
 3d, and was immediately beset with heavy ice. 
 The floes were driven hither and thither with such 
 violence by the currents that Iberville directed, 
 as the best means of safety, that each vessel 
 should moor itself to the largest attainable iceberg. 
 This expedient saved four of the ships, but an un- 
 expected movement of two large bergs crushed 
 so com{)letely the brigantine that she sank in- 
 stantly, the crew barely escaping with their lives. 
 4
 
 50 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 After a besetment of twenty-four days, Iber- 
 ville succeeded in extricating his vessel from 
 the ice and passed into the bay. He was alone 
 and in utter ignorance of the fate of his con- 
 sorts, which had been hidden from view by the 
 ice for the past seventeen days. Iberville was 
 not the man to turn back, nor indeed to delay in 
 an expedition which demanded haste, so he 
 pushed on alone and reached Port Nelson on 
 September 4th. 
 
 The next morning he discovered three ships 
 several leagues to the leeward, tacking to enter 
 the harbor. He hoped that they were his con- 
 sorts, and he at once made signals, which being 
 unanswered showed that the ships were English. 
 It was indeed an English squadron, consisting of 
 the Hampshire, fifty-two guns and two hundred 
 and thirty men; the Hudson Bay, thirty-two 
 guns, and the Deringue, also of thirty-two guns, 
 against which force Iberville had but one ship 
 of fifty guns. It was with reason that, as Jeremie 
 says, " they flattered themselves with the idea of 
 capturing Iberville, seeing that they were three 
 to one, and they were amazed at the boldness 
 with which he attacked them." 
 
 Indeed, almost any other officer in the French 
 navy would have considered an attack as simply 
 madness, but such desperate odds only served to 
 stimulate to the highest degree the known cour- 
 age and skill of Iberville. He cleared his decks 
 for action, and instantly quitting the shelter and 
 supposed advantage of the harbor, attacked the 
 English squadron in the open sea, where Iberville
 
 PETER LE MOYNE 51 
 
 doubtless counted that his skill in handling ship 
 would inure to his benefit. 
 
 Charlevoix thus describes this desperate fight: 
 
 " The cannonade opened about half-past nine 
 in the morning and was kept up incessantly till 
 one with great vigor on both sides. Meanwhile 
 the Pelican had only one man killed and seven- 
 teen wounded. Then Iberville, who had kept the 
 weather-gauge, bore down straight on the two 
 frigates, pouring in several broadsides at close 
 quarters in order to disable them. At that mo- 
 ment he perceived the third, the Hampshire, 
 coming on with twenty-six guns in battery on each 
 side, with a crew of two hundred and thirty men. 
 
 " He at once proceeded to meet her, all his guns 
 pointed to sink her, ran under her lee, yard-arm 
 to yard-arm, and having brought his ship to, 
 poured in his broadside. This was done so effec- 
 tively that the Hampshire, after keeping on 
 about her own length, went down. Iberville at 
 once wore and turned on the Hudson Bay, the 
 ship of the remaining two that could most easily 
 enter St. Teresa River; but as he was on the 
 point of boarding her, the commandant struck 
 his flag and surrendered. 
 
 " Iberville then gave chase to the Deringue, the 
 third, which was escaping to the northeast, and 
 which was only a good cannon-shot off ; but as 
 that vessel was as good a sailor as his own ship 
 he soon gave up the chase, not daring to crowd 
 sail, having had much of his rigging cut, two 
 pumps burst, his shrouds considerably injured, 
 hull cut up by seven cannon-balls and pierced at
 
 52 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 the water's edge, with no way of stopping the 
 leak. He accordingly veered and sent the Sieur 
 de la Sale in his boat with twenty-five men to 
 man the prize. He then proceeded to repair 
 damage, and having done so with great expedi- 
 tion, he renewed the chase of the enemy, who 
 was now three leagues off. 
 
 " He began to gain on him when, in the evening, 
 the wind changed to the north, and a thick fog 
 suddenly rising, he lost sight of the Deringue. 
 This accident compelled him to rejoin the Hud- 
 son Bay, and he anchored near the Hampshire, 
 now almost out of sight, and from which not a 
 soul had been saved." 
 
 In this fight with an enemy more than twice 
 his superior in guns and men Iberville had sunk 
 one ship, captured another, and put the third to 
 flight ; but this was followed by other experi- 
 ences, which at the outset presented conditions 
 apparently not less desperate and discouraging. 
 Two days later, pending his siege operations 
 against Port Nelson, a violent gale arose, in 
 which, says Charlevoix, " In spite of all d'lber- 
 ville's efforts to ride it out — and there was not, 
 perhaps, in the French navy one more skilful in 
 handling a ship — he was driven ashore with his 
 vessel, the Pelican, and his prize, the Hudson Bay. 
 The misfortune happened at night, the darkness 
 increasing the horrors of the storm and prevent- 
 ing them from beaching the vessels at a favor- 
 able place and so saving them, and before the 
 break of day they broke up and filled." 
 
 Both vessels were crowded with wounded
 
 PETER LE MOYNE 63 
 
 men and prisoners, who endeavored as best they 
 could to reach the shore in the storm and dark- 
 ness. Twenty-three perished in the attempt, but 
 fortunately the receding tide left such shallows 
 that the rest reached shore, and most of the 
 prisoners successfully sought the friendly shelter 
 of Fort Nelson. 
 
 Iberville now found himself in most desperate 
 plight — shipwrecked on a barren coast, with a 
 hostile garrison on land, the return of the Eng- 
 lish ship at sea possible, and destitute of provis- 
 ions. He turned to the wrecked vessels and 
 found that it was possible to obtain from them 
 cannon and other munitions of war, and, undis- 
 mayed, he set his cold, wet, and hungry crew at 
 this task, resolved to obtain food by carrying 
 the English fort by assault. At this juncture 
 his missing vessels, having extricated themselves 
 from the ice of Hudson Strait, appeared, and 
 the fort surrendered without putting Iberville 
 to the last proof of his courage. 
 
 As might be expected, Iberville became the 
 hero of the day on his return to France in 1697; 
 but true to himself and his career, he sought the 
 influence of friends at court only to obtain other 
 difficult and dangerous service that might add to 
 the glory of France. He was now to enter on a 
 new career as an explorer, colonizer, and adminis- 
 trator, where, if he was to perform less brilliant 
 deeds than in earlier life, he was destined to open 
 up to settlement by his countrymen the fertile 
 lands of Louisiana, and thus lay the foundations 
 of its future greatness.
 
 64 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 It was now twelve years since the tragic fate 
 of La Salle's colony on the coast of Texas had 
 spread dismay and terror among all who had 
 been especially interested in the scheme of French 
 colonization on the Mississippi River. The senti- 
 ment seemed to be that the mouth of the great 
 river could never be found and that further effort 
 would only result in useless sacrifice of life and 
 vessels. With the march of time, however, these 
 impressions of doubt and disaster had faded out 
 of mind, and as now the attention of the ministry 
 was especially turned to that part of Louisiana 
 which could be reached from the St. Lawrence, 
 it appeared to Iberville to be a suitable season to 
 revive the project of discovering the mouth of 
 the Mississippi and of planting a colony. 
 
 A plan for the colonization of Louisiana was 
 formally submitted to the French Government 
 by M. de Remonville, while Iberville for his 
 part pledged his reputation as a navigator both 
 to find the mouth of the Mississippi and to suc- 
 cessfully plant there a colony. The ministry 
 were easily persuaded that the scheme was prac- 
 ticable and advantageous, their decision being 
 doubtless affected by the knowledge that both 
 Spain and England contemplated the early settle- 
 ment of the northern coasts of the Gulf of Mexico. 
 It was even reported, as afterward transpired to 
 be the truth, that colonizing expeditions were al- 
 ready en route, and in order to insure protection 
 should Iberville first reach the ground, Count 
 Pontchartrain projected and arranged for the con- 
 struction of a fort at the mouth of the Mississippi.
 
 PETER LE MOYNE 55 
 
 As was always the case, schemes ol trade were 
 interwoven with the poHcy of cohjnization and 
 extension of the royal domain. The principal 
 objects of the trade proved fanciful or chimerical, 
 being, first, the idea of making bison wool an 
 article of trade, a scheme fostered in France by 
 La Salle, and, second, in the hope that valuable 
 pearl fisheries might be found. In Iberville's in- 
 structions we find that " one of the great objects 
 proposed to the king, when he was urged to dis- 
 cover the mouth of the Mississippi, was to obtain 
 wool from the cattle (buffalo) of that country, 
 and for this purpose these animals must be 
 tamed and parked and the calves sent to France." 
 
 Iberville worked with his usual energy, and the 
 expedition, consisting of two small frigates, the 
 Badine, the Marin, and two Norman fishing- 
 boats, sailed from Brest, October 4, 1698. It w^as 
 Friday, but Iberville no more than Columbus 
 minded the day, and in the reluctance of the 
 other vessels, himself led in the Badine. 
 
 A storm off Madeira caused the disappearance 
 of one of the fishing-boats, but after a short search 
 Iberville tarried no more than he did in the Hud- 
 son Straits for his missing consort, but pushed 
 on and reached San Domingo early in December. 
 Here the governor, Ducasse, was so impressed 
 with Iberville's elucidation of his projects that 
 he expressed to the home government his opinion 
 that the views and genius of Iberville seemed to 
 equal his valor in war. 
 
 English vessels had been cruising in the neigh- 
 borhood of San Domingo, which led Iberville to
 
 56 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 believe that it was a colonizing expedition, so he 
 worked day and night in completing his prepara- 
 tions, and on January i, 1699, sailed for the Gulf 
 of Mexico. On the afternoon of the twenty-third 
 day, Iberville as usual leading, land was sighted 
 in the northeast. It proved to be the harbor of 
 Pensacola, where Iberville was chagrined to find 
 himself preceded by a Spanish colony under 
 command of Don Andres de la Riola. There were 
 two frigates yet in the harbor, which four months 
 before had brought up three hundred colonists 
 from Vera Cruz. The half-finished fort, the dis- 
 satisfied garrison, and the uncertainty of the 
 future explorations to the westward were so 
 many inducements for Iberville to drive out the 
 Spaniards and secure the harbor. Iberville made 
 arrangements to enter the harbor, but was notified 
 by the Spanish governor that he had formal 
 orders from Spain to permit no foreign ships to 
 enter the harbor. Under pretence that he feared 
 heavy weather the French fleet sounded the 
 entrance to the harbor and prepared to enter. 
 The Spanish commander, however, begged that 
 they would retire, and fortunately having been 
 given information by the Spanish pilot, Iberville 
 decided to sail to the west. Iberville, exploring 
 the coast, anchored at the eastern point of the 
 entrance to Mobile Bay, where violent gales 
 nearly destroyed the squadron. 
 
 Reconnoitring boats giving such unsatisfac- 
 tory reports of the depth of the channel, Iberville 
 determined, with his usual energy, to survey it 
 himself. Taking his younger brother Bienville
 
 PETER LE MOYNE 
 
 57 
 
 and a crew of his faithful Canadians he started, 
 despite approaching darkness, so as to begin 
 work at day-light; the storm breaking with 
 great violence, Iberville's efforts to make head- 
 
 way over the billows were in vain. Finally, his 
 rowers exhausted, the boat was turned to the 
 nearest land, but the sea was so high and the 
 wind so violent that unceasing efforts were need- 
 ful to prevent the boat from swamping. It was 
 due to Iberville's great skill that the boat was
 
 58 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 finally beached in a favorable spot on the sandy 
 beach, which the crew reached with difficulty, so 
 exhausted were they with their struggles. Here 
 they were weather-bound three days, and so had 
 an opportunity to explore the island. It was 
 with horror that they discovered in one place 
 ghastly piles of human bones and skulls, mute 
 witnesses of a scene of slaughter, which terrified 
 many of the crew until they found the island to 
 be uninhabited. The island, now known as 
 Dauphin, was called Massacre by Iberville, who, 
 undisturbed by the sight, visited the mainland 
 with a few of his men and made every effort to 
 discover the inhabitants, of whom he found re- 
 cent traces. 
 
 Finally came good weather, and with it the 
 continued voyage to the west brought the fleet 
 to safe anchorage on a bright February morn off 
 Ship Island. The live-stock landed, Iberville 
 gave his freight consorts permission to return to 
 France, while he explored the mainland that now 
 lay fair and bright before him. The Indians 
 were communicated with, after many failures, 
 but, beyond the discovery of the Pascagoula and 
 reports of a larger river to the west, which the 
 Bayagoula Indians called Malbouchia, no valu- 
 able information was obtained. Iberville planned 
 to reach the great river by one of its reported 
 outlets, and, following the main channel down, 
 thus learn the way for his vessel ; but, the Indians 
 giving him the slip, it only remained to search 
 every foot of the coast until the river was gained. 
 He was thus thrown on his own resources, which
 
 PETER LE MOYNE 59 
 
 had never failed and were not to do so now. 
 Iberville, with his brother Bienville and fifty 
 picked men, largely Canadians, and twenty days' 
 provisions,, started February 27th, on two Bis- 
 cayennes or barges, for his difficult task, the 
 discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi. 
 
 It is useless to detail this journey of Iberville 
 through an apparently endless maze of islets, 
 mud-banks, sand-banks, reefs, and marshy shoals, 
 which go to make up the great level delta of the 
 Mississippi. It would, even to-day, be a difficult 
 search for most mariners without a chart, but 
 then well-nigh impossible. Iberville's skill and 
 patience were tasked to the utmost, and, when he 
 did find the mouth of the great river, it almost 
 seemed to be by the intervention of Providence. 
 On the eve of March 3, 1699, while struggling 
 along the mainland, to which they persistently 
 clung, the violence of an increasing gale threat- 
 ened to swamp their barges, despite every effort, 
 if they kept off shore, while every approach to 
 watch the shore-line, and thus make certain of 
 the river-mouth, incurred danger of beaching 
 and destruction. Darkness came on and the gale 
 increased, making certain, as it seemed to them, 
 that they must choose death at sea or death on 
 land. Suddenly Iberville put his barge before 
 the wind, and into the face of death as his fol- 
 lowers thought, but it shot between huge piles 
 of interlaced drift-wood into a turbid stream of 
 whitish water. Iberville put out his hand and 
 tasted. The water was fresh, and the Mississippi 
 was rediscovered.
 
 60 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 The Spaniards had spoken of the river as La 
 Palisada, which Iberville thought most appropri- 
 ate when he saw the bristling barricades of huge 
 jagged trees with outstretched limbs and con- 
 torted roots borne incessantly onward by the 
 strong current. 
 
 Iberville camped that night at the edge of the 
 dense rank sedge-growth, saying : " Stretched 
 on the sedges and sheltered from the gale, our 
 pleasure is so much the greater that we feel our 
 escape from a great peril. It is a very lively 
 business, this exploring the unknown shores of a 
 sea in shallops too small to carry sail in the open 
 sea, too tiny to anchor, and yet so large that they 
 strand and ground half a league from land." 
 
 The next morn was that of Mardi-Gras, when 
 our devout explorers celebrated mass, sang joy- 
 fully the Te Deum and raised a commemorative 
 cross before voyaging further. 
 
 Never in their wildest dreams could the hardy 
 Canadian explorers from their marshy camp in 
 the delta of the Mississippi ever have presaged, 
 that in the coming time, from the many millions 
 of future inhabitants in the Valley of the Missis- 
 sippi should be gathered tens of thousands to cel- 
 ebrate the merry day of carnival in the metro- 
 politan city that was to spring up from their 
 memorable voyage. 
 
 The Mississippi was near its high stage, so that 
 travel was tediously slow, mostly by oar. The 
 land rose somewhat, the sedge gave way first to 
 cane and willows, and later to richly foliaged 
 trees with graceful festoons pleasing to the eye
 
 PETER LE ^^OYNE 61 
 
 and fruitful of promise in the comin^^ autumn. 
 The country, largely flooded, would have seemed 
 uninhabited save for the Indian ferry-boats, bun- 
 dles of cane pointed at both ends and fastened 
 together by crossbars of wood, and an occasional 
 column of smoke rising in the distant blue. The 
 rapid current obliged the oarsmen to hug the 
 bank closely, while diminishing food and increas- 
 ing piles of drift-wood discouraged them ; but the 
 indomitable Iberville cheered on his Canadians, 
 and on the fifth day, some thirty-five leagues from 
 the river's mouth, six pirogues, or canoes, full 
 of Indians were seen. The savages fled, but one 
 was captured, and through him communication 
 and friendly overtures were established with the 
 Annochys. Through these Indians Iberville was 
 taken to the present site of New Orleans and was 
 shown the portage over which the Indians trav- 
 elled to Lake Pontchartrain, and thence to the 
 bay where the ship was at anchor. Farther up 
 the stream Iberville visited the village of the 
 Bayougoulas, which consisted of about two hun- 
 dred souls. The men, well made, with short hair 
 and painted faces, stalked around most uncon- 
 cernedly in a naked state. The women blackened 
 their teeth, tied up their hair in a top-knot, tat- 
 tooed their faces and breasts, and wore girdles 
 woven of bark fibre, dyed red or bleached white, 
 with pendulous fringes reaching to the knee. 
 The ornaments of the women were metal brace 
 lets and bangles and fancy articles made of 
 feathers, while the young braves wore sashes of 
 feathers, which, weighted with bits of metal,
 
 62 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 made merry sound as they danced. In short, 
 they were an inoffensive folk, content with the 
 simple fruits of the earth, which largely served 
 as their sustenance. 
 
 Iberville visited one of their temples, a struc- 
 ture some thirty feet in diameter, which Charle- 
 voix describes as follows: "In the centre were 
 slowly burning logs (keeping up a perpetual 
 fire), and at the end a platform on which lay 
 skins of deer, buffalo, and bear, offerings to the 
 Chouchouacha (the opossum), the god of the 
 Bayougoulas, which animal was painted in red 
 and black at various points in the temple. The 
 roof was decorated with the figures of various 
 animals, among which a red fox was conspicuous. 
 On either side of the entrance were other ani- 
 mal figures, such as bears and wolves and also 
 various birds, but above all the Chouchouacha 
 (the opossum), an animal about the size and 
 having the head of the sucking pig, the white 
 and gray fur of the badger, the tail of the rat, 
 the paws of an ape, and a sack under its 
 stomach." 
 
 The great discrepancies between the topogra- 
 phy of the river and the descriptions given in 
 the accounts of the journeys of La Salle and 
 Tonti so impressed Iberville that he was really 
 doubtful if he was on the Mississippi, and so his 
 journey was pursued up the river to the Oumas, 
 a short distance below the mouth of the Red 
 River. Fortunately his brother, Bienville, ob- 
 tained from an Indian chief a letter, which the 
 savage had carried for thirteen years, given him
 
 PET EH LE MOYNE 
 
 63 
 
 by Tonti, who descended the river from Illinois 
 in 1686 and left this letter addressed to La Salle, 
 whose active and loyal assistant Tonti was. 
 
 Iberville was now over seven hundred miles 
 distant from his ship, and his original stock of 
 
 Bienville's Army on the River. 
 
 provisions was exhausted, so that the men were 
 obliged to live on the corn of the Indians and 
 such meat or game as could be bought or killed. 
 Sending his men back by the delta with the 
 barges, Iberville decided to try himself the 
 route of portages to the Gulf. With an Indian 
 guide he entered the Ascantia, a narrow, winding 
 bayou, where with his four Canadians and two
 
 64 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 pirogues fifty portages over fallen trees and drift 
 were made the first day in a distance of seven 
 leagues. It is not surprising that the Indian 
 guide, unaccustomed to such tremendous labor 
 and fatigue, deserted the second day. Iberville 
 none the less pushed on undauntedly, confident 
 that he could reach his ship through this un- 
 known country, guide or no guide. Next, one 
 of his hardy Canadians fell sick, and Iberville 
 took his place and oar, and in the portages car- 
 ried his end of a pirogue. After eighty por- 
 tages they passed into Lake Maurepas and next 
 into Lake Pontchartrain, whence the way was 
 easy to the ship, which was reached eight hours 
 in advance of the barges from the delta. 
 
 In his absence of six weeks Iberville had found 
 again the Mississippi, explored its shores almost 
 to the Red River, made friends with all its native 
 tribes, discovered the short route to the sea, trav- 
 elled about fifteen hundred miles, and had returned 
 to his ship with every man of his party. What vol- 
 umes these few facts speak for the energy, tact, 
 skill, and foresight of this wonderful Canadian! 
 
 Casting about for a convenient spot Iberville 
 decided to build his fort at the head of Biloxi 
 Bay, and in this unfortunate location, under the 
 spurring supervision of the chief, Fort Biloxi soon 
 rose, and there on Easter Sunday mass was cele- 
 brated, vespers sung, and a sermon preached. 
 On May 2, 1700, Iberville sailed for France, leav- 
 ing his lieutenant, Sauvole, as the first governor 
 of the province of Louisiana and Bienville second 
 in command.
 
 PETER LE MOTNE 65 
 
 The action of France and the desperate haste 
 of Iberville in occupying the mouth of the Mis- 
 sissippi were most timely. The very month in 
 which our Canadian sailed from Brest an expedi- 
 tion left England under the auspices of Mr. Cox, 
 who sent out three vessels loaded with emigf rants. 
 They wintered in the Carolinas, where many 
 settled, but in 1700 two ships continued their 
 voyage to the Mississippi. One of these vessels * 
 was commanded by a Captain Banks, who once 
 captured by Iberville in Hudson Bay now found 
 himself worsted by his rival in the peaceful work 
 of colonization. One of the English ships ap- 
 peared in the lower Mississippi, into which Banks 
 had found entrance, in September, 1700. Bien- 
 ville, with five men and two pirogues, met the 
 English vessel, and setting forth to the captain 
 that France was in possession of all the surround- 
 ing country, succeeded either by argument or 
 cajolery in persuading the captain to withdraw 
 from the Mississippi. 
 
 Iberville was not long delayed by the delights 
 and pleasures of the French court, but speedily 
 returned to Biloxi, where he arrived on the eve 
 of Twelfth Night with supplies, and more im- 
 portant of all, with sixty hardy and energetic 
 Canadians, with whom he established a fort a short 
 distance below the present site of New Orleans. 
 The winter proved a very cold one, the drinking- 
 water freezing in the cups, but it did not delay the 
 rapid progress of flic new fort. In the midst of 
 this work Chevalier de Tonti arrived with twenty 
 Canadians from their former settlement in Illinois, 
 5
 
 66 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Thus for the first time, with intercommunica- 
 tion established between the permanent settle- 
 ment in lUinois, Tonti's fort on the Arkansas, and 
 the new colony at the mouth of the Mississippi, 
 Iberville felt that France had indeed entered into 
 actual possession of its great province of Lou- 
 isiana. He realized, however, the necessity of 
 permanently connecting these settlements, many 
 hundred miles apart, and of facilitating intercom- 
 munication through the establishment of inter- 
 mediate posts. 
 
 Iberville contemplated an exploration of the 
 Red River, thinking it might afford access to the 
 gold and silver mines of New Spain, but aban- 
 doned the project owing to the representations 
 of the Indians that the river was unnavigable 
 from the interlaced drift-wood, later known as 
 rafts. He turned his attention to the main river, 
 the Mississippi, and visited the Natchez, a brave 
 and powerful tribe of Indians, whose country 
 delighted his heart as resembling France, and 
 where he planned a city to be called Rosalie 
 (now Natchez), which, however, it was not his 
 fate to ever see take definite form, as it was only 
 built long after his death, in 1714, by his brother 
 Bienville. It was at this time that Le Sueur, 
 sent up the Mississippi by Iberville, discovered 
 the St. Peter River, in Minnesota, and attempt- 
 ing mining operations, later brought back a 
 worthless cargo of green earth. To Iberville's 
 credit, it may be said, he viewed this and many 
 other similar schemes of development with a 
 sceptical and practical eye.
 
 PETER LE MOYNE 67 
 
 Later he sent his brother Bienville across 
 country to explore the Red River, which was 
 done with good success. His priest Montigny 
 was also active in extending the faith, both 
 amoner the Natchez Indians and in the basin of 
 the Tensas River. Indeed, every effort was 
 made under Iberville's sagacious direction to 
 obtain a knowledge of the possibilities of the 
 country, so that its resources might be properly 
 developed. 
 
 Iberville returned to France ill with fever, but 
 despite his disease, he displayed extraordinary 
 energy in personally advancing the practical 
 affairs of his new colony. Moreover, he prepared 
 a memoir urging the cession of Pensacola by 
 Spain to France, which nation was to establish 
 forts and arm the Indians along the Mississippi 
 River, whereby the interior of America from 
 the Gulf of Mexico to Canada would be under 
 French domination, save the narrow strip along 
 the Atlantic coast already occupied by England. 
 It was a sagacious scheme which if it had been 
 properly supported by France would have en- 
 tirely changed the future of America. It re- 
 ceived, however, but a perfunctory support, and 
 only resulted in exciting the jealousy of Spain. 
 
 Iberville's last voyage to Louisiana was made 
 in 1 701, when his health, undermined by the 
 climate, was impaired by the formation of an 
 abscess which confined him to his bed for two 
 months. His mind worked incessantly, and his 
 activity through other hands was wonderful. 
 He planned the royal magazines on Dauphine
 
 68 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Island, located the new post on Mobile River, 
 told off the relief of workmen for the various en- 
 terprises, planned fiat-boats for lighters, extended 
 relief to the Spaniards at Vera Cruz, and sent 
 Tonti as an agent to make peace with the Choc- 
 taws and Chickasaws and secure them as allies. 
 His sailor's eye was particularly pleased with 
 the magnificent forests of Mobile Bay, where the 
 oaks and pines presented the finest timber for 
 ship-building he had ever seen. 
 
 With Mobile commenced, the royal storehouses 
 erected, and the alliance of the Choctaws and 
 Chickasaws secured, Iberville felt that the colony 
 of Louisiana was on a secure foundation, and on 
 March 31st he sailed from Dauphine Island, then 
 the headquarters of that colony for which he 
 had done so much, and which he was destined 
 never again to see. 
 
 The domain of Louisiana, obtained by so much 
 heroic endeavor and individual suffering on the 
 part of Joliet, Marquette, La Salle, Tonti, Iber- 
 ville, and their associates, passed at once, by an 
 edict of Louis XIV., into a monopoly and under 
 the control of a courtier, Anton Crozat, for trad- 
 ing purposes, by the decree of September 14, 
 1 71 2. In this decree the limits of Louisiana were 
 for the first time defined, including " all the 
 territories by us (Fi-ance) possessed, and bounded 
 by New Mexico and by those of the English in 
 Carolina. . , . The river St. Louis, formerly 
 called the Mississippi, from the sea-shore to the 
 Illinois, together with the rivers St. Phillipe, for- 
 merly called the Missouries, and the St. Jerome,
 
 PETER LE MOTNE 69 
 
 formerly called the Wabash (the Ohio), with all 
 the countries, territories, lakes in the land, and 
 the rivers emptying directly or indirectly into 
 that part of the river St. Louis. All the said 
 territories, countries, rivers, streams, and islands 
 we will to be and remain comprised under the 
 name of the government of Louisiana." 
 
 There was another and blacker page to the 
 decree, whereby Crozat was further authorized 
 to introduce African slavery : " If the aforesaid 
 Sieur Crozat considers it advisable to have 
 negroes in the said country of Louisiana, for 
 agriculture or other use on plantations, he can 
 send a ship each year to trade directly with 
 the Guinea coast, . . . and is further author- 
 ized to sell negroes to the settlers of Louisiana." 
 
 But prior to this condition of affairs the great 
 Canadian naval commander had passed to his 
 final reward, having died of yellow fever at 
 Havana, July 9, 1706. The last leaf in his his- 
 tory was, however, an effort, through his per- 
 sonal bravery and skill, to secure French domi- 
 nation in America by driving out of the Antilles 
 the determined English seamen whose success- 
 ful raids so often militated against the interests 
 of France. Despite his health, undermined by 
 fevers, Iberville left France with a fleet with 
 which he hoped to carry out this great plan. 
 Intending to make a descent upon Barbadoes, he 
 learned that the English, warned of his plans, 
 were prepared for him. He therefore seized on 
 the islands of Nevis and St. Christopher, where 
 his fleet captured an enormous amount of b(3oty
 
 70 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 of all kinds. He decided next to ravage the 
 English colonies in the Carolinas, but stopping 
 at Havana for reinforcements he lost his own 
 life by the epidemic which destroyed eight hun- 
 dred others of his fleet. 
 
 Among the qualities of this great Canadian all 
 must admire his intrepidity in war, his skill as a 
 navigator, and his capacity as an explorer ; but 
 beyond these were the astonishing administra- 
 tive ability and political sagacity which he dis- 
 played in such an eminent degree in the planning, 
 founding, and fostering of the great province of 
 Louisiana. 
 
 New Orleans in 1719.
 
 III. 
 
 JONATHAN CARVER, 
 
 The Explorer of Minnesota. 
 
 Throughout the bloody series of French and 
 Indian wars which ravaged the frontier settle- 
 ments of America during the first half of the 
 eighteenth century, France maintained secure 
 possession of the regions of the great lakes and 
 the basin of the upper Mississippi. The success- 
 ful campaign of the gallant Wolfe against the no 
 less gallant Montcalm ultimately resulted in the 
 termination of French supremacy in these sec- 
 tions, and under the treaty of Paris, in 1763, 
 Canada with all other dominions of France east 
 of the Mississippi passed under the control of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 To this time the English colonists had con- 
 fined their operations almost entirely to the re- 
 gion of the Atlantic Coast, so when Great 
 Britain acquired her immense war-inheritance 
 the country^to the west of the Appalachian 
 Mountain range was practically an unknown re- 
 gion to its new masters. The extension of Eng- 
 lish settlements toward the interior of the con- 
 tinent was determined on by the English Gov- 
 ernment, and the more accessible of the French 
 trading-posts in the northwest were immediately
 
 72 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 occupied. Maps were few and inaccurate, in- 
 formation as to the Indians vague and exag- 
 gerated, while nothing was known as to the 
 resources of the country except that furs were 
 obtainable in large numbers. 
 
 Scarcely were the terms of the treaty pro- 
 mulgated than the enterprising pioneers moved 
 westward and gradually pressed back the In- 
 dians nearest the English settlements. A few 
 other men, however, undertook to penetrate the 
 valley of the Mississippi to the very frontier of 
 Louisiana, which remained a French possession. 
 
 Among these hardy and adventurous Amer- 
 icans the most enterprising was Captain Jona- 
 than Carver, who was born in Stillwater, N. Y., 
 in 1732. He was the grandson of William Joseph 
 Carver, one of the earliest of the royal appoint- 
 ments in Connecticut, and his first public service 
 was at the age of eighteen, when he secured an 
 ensigncy in a Connecticut regiment. In 1757, 
 when Colonel Oliver Partridge raised a battalion 
 of infantry in Massachusetts to serve against 
 Canada, Carver was made a lieutenant therein. 
 Later he served as captain under Colonel Whit- 
 comb, in 1760, and under Colonel Saltonstall, in 
 1762, and participated in the taking of Crown 
 Point and other operations in northern New 
 York. 
 
 Doubtless his association with scouts and 
 camp-followers, largely consisting of fur-traders 
 and frontiersmen, induced a lively interest in 
 their accounts of the western country held by 
 their enemies, the Indian and the Frenchman.
 
 JONATHAN CARVER 73 
 
 Certain it is that Carver acquired such ideas of 
 the extent, fertility, natural wealth, and possi- 
 bilities of the great and unknown West as fired 
 his adventurous spirit with a firm determination 
 to solve the important geographical problems 
 connected therewith. 
 
 His objects, he states, were to gain knowledge 
 concerning the Indian tribes to the west of the 
 Mississippi, to ascertain the natural resources of 
 the country, and to cross the American continent 
 between the forty-third and forty-sixth degrees 
 of north latitude. Ultimately he contemplated 
 the establishment of a trading-post at some suit- 
 able point on the Pacific Coast. 
 
 Carver was not ignorant of the great danger 
 involved in such an undertaking, where he was 
 obliged to intrust his life to the mercy of un- 
 known Indians for a prolonged time. Indeed, 
 considering his experiences at the massacre of 
 Englishmen and provincials at Fort Henry, it 
 seems surprising that he would ever trust a savage 
 or a Frenchman. In the campaign of 1757, Carver 
 volunteered to accompany the detachment of fif- 
 teen hundred men which General Webb sent 
 forward to reinforce the garrison at Fort Henry, 
 then anticipating an attack from Montcalm. The 
 garrison, commanded by the gallant Monro, who 
 resisted until his guns burst and his ammunition 
 was nearly exhausted, surrendered to the com- 
 bined force of Indians and French nnder Mont- 
 calm, who promised safe conduct and private 
 property. As the English force moved out the 
 next morning the Indians, inflamed by liquor.
 
 74 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 song-, and dance, butchered the sick and wound- 
 ed and then fell upon the helpless captives, of 
 whom there were, according to French accounts, 
 about sixty killed and four hundred robbed and 
 maltreated. Montcalm and Levi, to their credit, 
 though too late, made heroic personal efforts 
 which mitigated the horrors of the situation. 
 
 Among the unfortunates was Carver, who, 
 robbed and stripped by the savages, appealed to 
 a French sentry for protection only to be re- 
 pelled with abuse. Realizing finally that to re- 
 
 Indian Tomahawk. 
 (From Carver's Book.) 
 
 main quiet was to meet certain death. Carver 
 and a few others attempted to escape by break- 
 ing unarmed through the surrounding lines of 
 Indian fiends. In this desperate effort for life 
 Carver was twice wounded, badly beaten, seized 
 by two Indians, and led away to death, which 
 he escaped by the appearance of a British officer 
 in full uniform, who was such a prize that his 
 captors left Carver to secure a more valuable 
 victim. Profiting by the respite Carver fled to 
 the nearest woods, where, exhausted and nearly 
 naked, he concealed himself in a thicket until 
 night. For three days he wandered through the
 
 JONATHAN CARVER 75 
 
 densest part of the forest, suffering tortures from 
 travel under such conditions, often in danger of 
 recapture, and without food until he reached, in 
 a nearly exhausted condition, the English settle- 
 ments. 
 
 An attempt at transcontinental exploration 
 was then looked on as foolhardy and visionary 
 in the extreme, even to those friends of Carver 
 who never deserted him. One of these, Dr. 
 Lettsom, wrote in the third edition of Carver's 
 travels, fifteen years after the journey, as follows : 
 " He suggested an attempt by land across the 
 northwest parts of America, and actually drew a 
 chart of his proposed route for effecting his pro- 
 ject, which, however visionary it may now be 
 deemed, affords at least a proof of the enterpris- 
 ing spirit of Carver." 
 
 Unmoved by the sneers of his critics, and un- 
 deterred by recollections of Indian cruelty and 
 perfidy, Carver arranged the details of his jour- 
 ney at his private expense, and in June, 1766, 
 he quitted Boston, and travelling by the way 
 of Albany and Niagara reached his headquar- 
 ters, Michillimackinac, now known as Mackinac. 
 Here he made definite arrangements for his seri- 
 ous work of exploration. At this time English 
 traders extended their journeys to Prairie-du- 
 Chien for the purj)ose of purchasing furs from 
 Indians rendezvousing there, and with one of 
 these parties Carver was to travel, relying on the 
 Governor of Mackinaw to forward supplies to 
 St. Anthony. Leaving the Fort, September 3d, 
 and travelling by canoe, he reached the islands
 
 76 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 of the Grand Traverse, and there spent one night. 
 One of the chiefs, to whom a present was given, 
 made, on Carver's departure, the following prayer, 
 which is worthy of reproduction as a specimen 
 of Indian eloquence : " May the Great Spirit 
 favor you with a prosperous voyage ; may He 
 give you an unclouded sky and smooth waters 
 by day, and may you lay down by night on a 
 beaver blanket to uninterrupted sleep and pleas- 
 ant dreams, and may you find continual protec- 
 tion under the calumet of peace." 
 
 Carver followed the route of Joliet and Mar- 
 quette through Green Bay and up Fox River 
 to the great town of the Winnebagoes, where he 
 found the Indians presided over by a queen in- 
 stead of a sachem. Carver speaks of the extreme 
 richness of soil and abundance of cultivated prod- 
 ucts and wild game, mentioning grapes, plums, 
 Indian corn, beans, pumpkins, squashes, water- 
 melons, and tobacco from cultivation ; fish from 
 the lake ; wild fowl so abundant that frequently 
 the sun would be obscured by them for some 
 minutes together, while deer, bears, and beavers 
 were very numerous. The usual portage was 
 made by him from the Fox to the Wisconsin 
 River, into which his canoes were launched on 
 the 8th of October. Seven days carried him to 
 Prairie-du-Chien, at the junction of the Wiscon- 
 sin and Mississippi, which was at that time a 
 town of some three hundred families and had 
 become a great trading mart for the adjacent 
 tribes, who assembled in great numbers annually 
 in the latter part of May.
 
 78 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 At Prairie-dii-Chien Carver parted with the 
 traders, who were to winter at that point, and ob- 
 taining a Canadian as interpreter and a Mohawk 
 Indian as a servant, he purchased a canoe, and 
 on October 19th, proceeding up the Mississippi, 
 he fell in with a straggling band of Indians which 
 barely failed of plundering him. November ist 
 brought him to Lake Pepin, near which he dis- 
 covered what appeared to be the remains of 
 extended intrenchments, centuries old, as he 
 thought, but which are now known to be Indian 
 mounds, probably erected as sites for their wig- 
 wams, so as to keep them above the annual over- 
 flow and inundation. 
 
 The coming of winter and the forming of river 
 ice obliged him to quit his canoe opposite the 
 mouth of the St. Peter, or Minnesota River, 
 whence by land he reached the Falls of St. An- 
 thony on November 17, 1766, probably the first 
 white American to visit them. 
 
 The noise and appearance of the Falls of St. 
 Anthony impressed Carver very strongly, and 
 his account of them is worthy of reproduction in 
 view of the changes that have taken place within 
 the past one hundred and thirty years : 
 
 " This amazing body of waters, which are 
 above 250 yards over, form a most pleasing cata- 
 ract ; they fall perpendicularly about thirty feet, 
 and the rapids below, in the space of 300 yards 
 more, render the descent considerably greater ; 
 so that when viewed at a distance, they appear 
 to be much higher than they really are. 
 
 " In the middle of the Falls stands a small island
 
 JONATHAN CARVER 79 
 
 about forty feet broad and somewhat longer, on 
 which grow a few cragged hemlock and spruce 
 trees ; and about half way between this island 
 and the eastern shore is a rock lying at the very 
 edge of the Fall, in an oblique position, that ap- 
 pears to be about five or six feet broad and thirty 
 or forty long," 
 
 Leaving the falls. Carver proceeded up the 
 Mississippi to the mouth of the St. Francis, the 
 farthest of Hennepin in 1680, discovering on the 
 way Rum and Goose Rivers. Warned by the 
 severity of the cold that winter was fast coming 
 on, Carver returned to his canoe at the mouth of 
 the Minnesota River and decided to explore that 
 stream, of which only the lower portion had ever 
 been visited — by Le Sueur in 1700. 
 
 Following the Minnesota about two hundred 
 miles he reached, on December 7th, the winter 
 camp of a large tribe of Indians, about one thou- 
 sand in number, who were designated by Carver 
 as the Naudowessie (Santees). Advancing boldly, 
 with his calumet of peace fastened to the prow of 
 his canoe, he was received in a friendly manner. 
 After the usual smoking of the pipe of peace, 
 during which he says the tent was nearly broken 
 down by the crowd of savages, who, as a rule, 
 had never seen a white man, he was treated with 
 great respect. 
 
 Among these Indians Carver passed the win- 
 ter, filling in his five months' stay by hunting and 
 other Indian amusements. From the Indians he 
 learned that the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, and 
 the Bourbon (the Red River of the North) had
 
 80 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 their sources within thirty miles of each other. 
 This led to the natural but erroneous opinion 
 that Carver had reached the highest land of 
 North America, when in reality he was at an ele- 
 vation of only twelve hundred feet. 
 
 Carver also spoke of " the Oregon, or the River 
 of the West," as having its sources somewhat 
 farther to the west. This is the first time that 
 
 '"" i.»»..>':n7,il;^:vjl;iiii.i,>t.m,:,.i,,.i»«M.h.i,i,J.,liiuau,l,>jim.iAlli,»i.fl.ili..1iiiiin[Jt^;i,^ i,.il,.'iuiilili,luli«i,ui,.i». 
 
 i n i< i iiiiMiiiiii mmi i i i 't' ^ ' i nw 
 
 A Calumet. 
 (From Carver's Book.) 
 
 the word Oregon appears in literature, and Car- 
 ver gives no account of its meaning. 
 
 The Indians had traditions as to the extreme 
 plentifulness of gold to the west of the " Shining 
 Mountains," of which our explorer says, on the 
 strength of Indian reports : 
 
 " The mountains that lie to the west of St. 
 Peter are called the Shining Mountains, from an 
 infinite number of crystal stones of an amazing 
 size with which they are covered and which,
 
 JONATHAN CARVER 81 
 
 when the sun shines full upon them, sparkle so 
 as to be seen at a very great distance." 
 
 Carver's enthusiasm and interest in the West 
 led him to make the following striking predic- 
 tion, which time has fully justified. He says : 
 
 " This extraordinary range of mountains is 
 calculated to be more than three thousand miles 
 in length, without any very considerable inter- 
 vals, which, I believe, surpasses anything of the 
 kind in the other quarters of the globe. Prob- 
 ably, in future ages, they may be found to con- 
 tain more riches in their bowels than those of 
 Hindostan and Malabar, or than are produced 
 on the golden coast of Guinea, nor will I except 
 even the Peruvian mines. To the west of these 
 mountains, when explored by future Columbuses 
 or Raleighs, may be found other lakes, rivers, 
 and countries, full fraught with all the neces- 
 saries or luxuries of life, and where future 
 generations may find an asylum, whether driven 
 from their country by the ravages of lawless 
 tyrants, or by religious persecutions, or reluc- 
 tantly leaving it to remedy the inconveniences 
 arising from a superabundant increase of in- 
 habitants ; whether, I say, impelled by these or 
 allured by hopes of commercial advantages, 
 there is little doubt but their expectations will 
 be fully gratified in these rich and unexhausted 
 climes." 
 
 Carver described the valley of the Minnesota 
 
 as a most delightful country, abounding with all 
 
 the necessities of life, which grow spontaneously. 
 
 Fruit, vegetables, and nuts were represented as 
 
 6
 
 82 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 being- particularly abundant, and the sugar-maple 
 grew in amazing numbers. 
 
 In April, 1767, the Santees descended the 
 Minnesota in order, among other things, to bury 
 their dead near a remarkable cave on Lake Pepin, 
 known to the Indians as the '' dwelling of the 
 Great Spirit." 
 
 Finding that supplies had not been sent to the 
 Falls of St. Anthony, Carver returned to Prairie- 
 du-Chien in order to get sufficient stores to 
 enable him to reach Lake Superior, whence he 
 hoped to be able to cross the continent from 
 Grand Portage. Obtaining such supplies, he 
 proceeded up the Mississippi to the Chippeway 
 River, and, after ascending to its head, made 
 portages to the St. Croix, and reached Lake 
 Superior, possibly by the river now known as 
 the Bois Brule. 
 
 From this point Carver, in his canoe, skirted 
 the coast of Lake Superior to the Grand Por- 
 tage, where he awaited the arrival of the Hudson 
 Bay or northern traders, from whom he anxiously 
 hoped to obtain supplies that would enable him 
 to journey west ; but he was destined to dis- 
 appointment, as nothing could be obtained from 
 them. Carver coasted around the north and east 
 borders of Lake Superior, and arrived at the Falls 
 of Ste. Marie the beginning of October, having 
 skirted nearly twelve hundred miles of the shores 
 of Lake Superior in a birch canoe. 
 
 The Sault Ste. Marie was then the resort of the 
 Algonquin Indians, who frequented the falls on 
 account of the great numbers of whitefish that
 
 JONATHAN CARVER 83 
 
 filled the waters, particularly in the autumn, 
 when that fish leaves the lakes in order to spawn 
 in shallow running waters. 
 
 In November, 1767, Carver arrived at Mack- 
 inac, having-, as he says, " been sixteen months 
 on this extensive tour, travelled nearly four 
 thousand miles, and visited twelve nations ot 
 Indians living to the west and north. His pict- 
 ure of Detroit on his return, in 1768, is of re- 
 trospective interest. 
 
 " The town of Detroit contains upward of one 
 hundred houses. The streets are somewhat 
 regular, and have a range of very convenient 
 and handsome barracks with a spacious parade 
 at the south end. On the west side lies the 
 King's Garden, belonging to the Governor, 
 which is very well laid out, and kept in good 
 order. The fortifications of the town consist of 
 a strong stockade, made of round piles, fixed 
 firmly in the ground, and lined with palisades. 
 These are defended by some small bastions, on 
 which are mounted a few indifferent cannon of an 
 inconsiderable size, just sufficient for its defence 
 against the Indians or an enemy not provided 
 with artillery. The garrison in time of peace 
 consists of two hundred men, commanded by 
 a field-ofificer, who acts as chief magistrate under 
 the Governor of Canada. 
 
 "In the year 1762, in the month of July, it 
 rained on this town and the parts adjacent a 
 sulphurous water of the color and consistency ot 
 ink, some of which being collected in bottles, 
 and wrote with, appeared perfectly intelligible
 
 84 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 on the paper, and answered every purpose for 
 that useful liquid. Soon after, the Indian wars 
 already spoken of broke out in these parts. I 
 mean not to say that this incident was ominous 
 of them, notwithstanding it is well known that 
 innumerable well-attested instances of extraor- 
 dinary phenomena, happening before extraor- 
 dinary events, have been recorded in almost every 
 age by historians of veracity ; I only relate the 
 circumstance as a fact, of which I was informed 
 by many persons of undoubted probity, and 
 leave my readers, as I have heretofore done, to 
 draw their own conclusions from it." 
 
 It is beyond question that certain chapters of 
 Carver's work, supplementary to his account of 
 his personal explorations, and especially devoted 
 to Indians and to the natural history of the 
 Northwest, are practically translations of the ac- 
 counts of Charlevoix, Hennepin, and particular- 
 ly of Lahontan. It does not appear from the 
 first part of the work that Carver was a man 
 endowed with those powers of observation and 
 assimilation which are essential traits for the 
 successful traveller and author. 
 
 When the brief recital of his personal travels is 
 examined, it seems difficult to determine on what 
 grounds his truthfulness has been questioned by 
 a few hostile critics. His story is simple and 
 straightforward, devoid of boastfulness, free 
 from any exaggeration as to his personal prowess, 
 and the statement that he passed a winter of five 
 months in the valley of the Upper Minnesota is, 
 in my opinion, worthy of entire credence.
 
 JONATHAN CARVER 
 
 85 
 
 Fortunately, however, evidence of the most 
 convincing character exists as to Carver's resi- 
 dence among the Naudowessies or Santees. The 
 exhaustive bibliography of the Siouan languages, 
 by Mr. James C. Pilling, indicates that Carver 
 is the first author who ever published a vocabu- 
 lary of the Santee tongue, and its length, eight 
 pages, renders it evident that it was an original 
 
 Naudowessie Indians. 
 
 Car\'er's drawing of " A man and woman of the Naudowessie," herewith re- 
 produced, if somewhat fanciful in its details, must be considered of historical value 
 as indicating in the main the costumes of the Santees when first visited by the whites, 
 
 compilation which must have required consid- 
 erable time and patience. 
 
 The importance of Carver's charts and jour- 
 nals at that time was evident to the Lords Com- 
 missioners of Trade and Plantations in England 
 to whom Carver was referred when praying 
 for reimbursement of liis expenses. Carver ap- 
 peared before the Board and, after an examina- 
 tion, was granted authority to publish his papers.
 
 86 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Later, after Carver had, as he says, disposed of 
 them and they were nearly ready for the press, 
 an order was issued from the Council Board re- 
 quiring him to immediately turn in all the orig- 
 inals of his charts, journals, and other papers 
 relative to his discoveries. 
 
 Meanwhile interest in the extension of Eng- 
 lish influence into the interior of North America 
 was waning steadily with the growing convic- 
 tion that the colonies would establish their in- 
 dependence, and the Government had no mind 
 to reimburse an enterprising American, even 
 though he remained loyal. Carver was reduced 
 gradually to the greatest straits, was compelled 
 to sell his book for a pittance, and finall}^, his 
 end hastened by lack of proper food and suitable 
 attendance, died in the direst poverty in Lon- 
 don, January 13, 1780. 
 
 His own generation could best judge as to the 
 timeliness and importance of Carver's explora- 
 tion, and as to the value of the information set 
 forth in his book of travels. Suffice it to say 
 that no less than twenty-three editions of this 
 book have appeared, in four languages. This, 
 too, at a time when the war of independence 
 naturally destroyed current interest in the ex- 
 tension of English settlements in the interior of 
 North America. 
 
 Explorations, however, are wisel)'^ esteemed 
 by posterity according to the results which flow 
 therefrom in the shape of definite additions to the 
 knowledge of the world or in the more impor- 
 tant direction of disclosing lands suitable for
 
 JONATHAN CARVER 87 
 
 colonization. In this latter manner the explora- 
 tion of Jonathan Carver and the accounts of his 
 travels had an important influence. They first 
 brought into popular and accessible form in- 
 formation and ideas concerning the interior 
 parts of North America which before had been 
 practically inaccessible to the general public of 
 England and America. 
 
 Twenty-five years after this journey toward 
 the " Shining Mountains " and " Oregon, the 
 River of the West," the ultimate scheme of 
 Carver found its justification in the success of 
 Alexander Mackenzie, a young Scotchman, who 
 was the first white man to cross the continent of 
 America to the north of Mexico ; and yet ten 
 years later Lewis and Clark were despatched on 
 their famous expedition which explored the val- 
 ley of the Columbia, where in 1810, under the 
 energetic management of John Jacob Astor, 
 arose the trading-post of Astoria, thus turning 
 into reality the dreams and aspirations of Jona- 
 than Carver, the soldier and explorer.
 
 IV. 
 
 CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY, 
 
 The Discoverer of the Columbia River. 
 
 Within the past century no American ex- 
 plorer has contributed more materially to the 
 welfare of the United States and to its maritime 
 glory than Captain Robert Gray, the discoverer 
 of the Columbia River and the first circumnavi- 
 gator who carried the flag of the United States 
 around the world. 
 
 Robert Gray was born at Tiverton, R. I., in 
 May, 1757, and in early youth, inspired with 
 the spirit of independence which dominated the 
 American Colonies, entered the naval service 
 during the war of the Revolution, wherein he 
 served with credit as an officer. 
 
 At the termination of the war it is probable 
 that he continued his natural or acquired voca- 
 tion as a seaman. At all events, we find him first 
 and foremost among that band of American citi- 
 zens whose courage, energy, and nautical skill 
 enabled them to attain unsurpassed success as 
 whalers and sealers in the Antarctic Ocean, as 
 traders dealing direct with China, or as explorers 
 and fur dealers on the unsurveyed and danger- 
 ous coast of northwest America.
 
 CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY 89 
 
 In 1787, J. Barrell, S. Brown, C. Bulfinch, J. 
 Darby, C. Hatch, and J. M. Pintard, merchants 
 of Boston, associated for the purpose of combin- 
 ing the fur traffic of the northwest coast of 
 America with the silk and tea trade of China. 
 For this purpose they sent, under the command 
 of Captain John Kendrick, in 1787, the ship 
 Columbia and the sloop Washington with car- 
 goes of blankets, knives, iron bars, and other 
 articles suitable for the northwest trade. They 
 were provided with sea letters issued according 
 to a resolution of Congress, with passports from 
 the State of Massachusetts, and with commenda- 
 tory letters from the Spanish minister plenipo- 
 tentiary to the United States. 
 
 Captain Kendrick, who commanded the Co- 
 lumbia, was a man of marked ability and great 
 energy, who withal had most enthusiastic opin- 
 ions as to the future of the Pacific Coast re- 
 gion, which he believed would in a few years 
 utterly dwarf the growing importance of the 
 Atlantic seaboard. Gray was the master of the 
 Washington, and his professional standing in 
 the eyes of the merchants of Boston was shown 
 by his designation as the most desirable officer 
 to assume command in case of death or injury to 
 Captain Kendrick. 
 
 Many aspersions have been cast by English 
 writers on the policy pursued and methods fol- 
 lowed by Americans engaged in trading with 
 the Indians of the northwest coast of America. 
 Doubtless such reflections were justified in indi- 
 vidual cases of Americans, as of traders of other
 
 90 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 nationality ; but the instructions given by the mer- 
 chants of Boston to Kendrick and Gray show 
 that fair, honest, and peaceful methods were 
 regarded as the true means of establishing a per- 
 manent and profitable trade. Among other in- 
 junctions were the following : 
 
 " If you make any fort or any improvement of 
 land on the coast, be sure you purchase the soil 
 of the natives. . . . Let the instrument of 
 conveyance bear every authentic mark that cir- 
 cumstances will admit. . . . We cannot for- 
 bear to impress on your mind our will and ex- 
 pectation that the most inviolable harmony and 
 friendship may subsist between you and the 
 natives, and that no advantage may be taken of 
 them in trading, but that you endeavor by 
 honest conduct to impress on their minds a friend- 
 ship for Americans." While enjoining peace, it 
 was not to be a peace on any terms, for thus runs 
 the instructions : " The sea letters from Con- 
 gress and this State you will show on every 
 proper occasion, and although we expect you 
 will treat all nations with respect and civility, 
 yet we depend you will suffer insult and injury 
 from none without showing that spirit which 
 becomes a free and independent American." 
 
 The vessels sailed from Boston September 30, 
 1787, via the Cape Verde and Faulkland Islands, 
 and in January doubled Cape Horn, when they 
 thought the perils of storm were past. In lati- 
 tude 59° S., however, a violent gale arose, which 
 not only separated them, but also seriously dam- 
 aged the Columbia. The storm over, Kendrick
 
 CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY 91 
 
 found himself in a sad plight, his consort gone, 
 perhaps lost, his ship in an unseaworthy con- 
 dition, and the nearest spot for repairs a thou- 
 sand miles distant. This port, that of the island 
 of Juan Fernandez, if now famous and delight- 
 ful to the adventurous mind through its asso- 
 ciations with the fascinating tale of Robinson 
 Crusoe, was then most objectionable from the 
 fact that it was under Spanish rule and so was 
 to be avoided by Kendrick, whose instructions 
 ran as follows : 
 
 " You are strictly enjoined not to touch at any 
 port of the Spanish dominion on the western 
 continent of America, unless driven there by 
 unavoidable accident, in which case you are to 
 give no offence to any of the subjects of his 
 Catholic Majesty." 
 
 Kendrick, to his surprise, was received with 
 great kindness and aided in repairing his in- 
 jured vessel by Don Bias Gonzales, the humane 
 commandant of the Spanish garrison of Juan 
 Fernandez. 
 
 Spain at this time claimed the right of exclu- 
 sive jurisdiction over the entire western continent 
 of America by virtue of the papal concession, 
 1493, and by right of discovery. It had failed to 
 colonize the northwest coast of America, but it 
 prohibited other nations from entering in posses- 
 sion. It now illustrated its narrow and jealous 
 policy in its treatment of a subordinate who had 
 ventured to assist a vessel in distress and pro- 
 vided with letters from the accredited minister 
 of Spain to the United States. Ambrose O'Hig-
 
 92 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 gins, then captain-general of Chili, under whom 
 Gonzales was serving, on hearing of this act re- 
 called him and put him in arrest, pending definite 
 orders from his own superior, Teodor Lacroix, 
 viceroy of Peru. After due consideration of 
 the case the unfortunate commandant, Gonzales, 
 was cashiered for his remissness in allowing a 
 strange ship to leave Juan Fernandez instead of 
 seizing her and her crew. The viceroy set forth 
 to the captain-general of Chili the legal opinion 
 that by the royal ordinance of November, 1692, 
 every foreign vessel found in those seas without 
 a license from the court of Spain was to be 
 treated as an enemy, even though belonging to a 
 friend or ally of the king, " seeing that no other 
 nation had, or ought to have, any territories, to 
 reach which its vessels should pass around Cape 
 Horn or through Magellan's Straits." The vice- 
 roy therefore sent a ship from Callao to track or 
 intercept the Columbia ; the authorities on the 
 coasts of Peru and Chili were especially enjoined 
 to be vigilant, and in case any foreign vessel 
 should appear in the country to seize her. 
 
 Under Gray's skilful handling the Washing- 
 ton escaped unharmed from the hurricane, and 
 continuing his course toward King George 
 Sound, the concerted rendezvous, he made the 
 American coast, about 46° N., in August, 1788. 
 Here he barely escaped loss of his vessel in try- 
 ing to cross the bar of an unknown river, prob- 
 ably the Columbia, when his ship grounded. He, 
 however, visited shore, and found that the sea 
 was perchance the less inhospitable of the two,
 
 CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY 
 
 93 
 
 for he was so savagely and violently attacked by 
 swarms of Indians that he was very glad to 
 escape therefrom with one seaman dead and the 
 mate wounded. 
 
 Quitting this unfortunate place he sailed north 
 and entered Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, 
 September 17, 1788, where he found two English 
 vessels, the Felice and Iphigenia, sailing under 
 the Portuguese flag and commanded by Captains 
 Meares and Douglass. There were no signs of 
 
 ndian Maul. 
 
 the Columbia, but her arrival a few days later re- 
 lieved Gray from further anxiety in this respect. 
 Douglass's vessel, the Iphigenia, was in serious 
 need of supplies and assistance, which Gray gen- 
 erously furnished. Later he not only made to 
 the northward a successful trading trip, but in 
 the following year, in June, 1789, explored the 
 whole east coast of Queen Charlotte Islands, to 
 which he gave the name of Washington Islands, 
 in honor of General Washington, then President 
 of the United States. In another trading ex- 
 cursion from Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, 
 Gray entered the broad opening southeast of the 
 island and sailed to the east-southeast fifty miles,
 
 94 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 where he found the passage still five leagues 
 wide. This opening was the Straits of Fuca, 
 and the first authentic exploration of the strait is 
 the account of Gray. The credit of first passing 
 through the entire length of the Straits of Fuca 
 is due to Kendrick, who made the passage in the 
 sloop Washington, after the departure of Gray 
 to China on the Columbia. 
 
 The account of the passage of the Washing- 
 ton through the Straits of Fuca was especially 
 called to Vancouver's attention by the British 
 Admiralty on the occasion of his surveying 
 voyage of 1791, when he was particularly to 
 " examine the supposed Strait of Juan de Fuca, 
 said to be situated between the forty-eighth 
 and forty-ninth north latitude, and to lead to an 
 opening through which the sloop Washington 
 was reported to have passed in 1789, and to have 
 come out again to the northward of Nootka." 
 Vancouver later denied to Americans the credit 
 of first sailing entirely through the Straits of 
 Fuca, resting his opinion on Gra3''s statement 
 that he sailed only fifty miles within it, which 
 was true ; the credit belonging to Kendrick in 
 his voyage with the Washington after Gray's de- 
 parture from the coast in 1789. 
 
 The efforts of Kendrick and Gray resulted in 
 the obtaining of a full cargo of furs, which in 
 accordance with their instructions were to be 
 sold in China. Kendrick, fascinated with the 
 prospects of fortune and success, and perhaps 
 reluctant to face his owners owing to his lack 
 of caution which resulted in the unfortunate kill-
 
 CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY 95 
 
 ing of some thirty natives, decided to remain on 
 the northwest coast, his imaginary Eldorado. 
 
 Gray consequently transferred to the Colum- 
 bia and set sail for Canton, then the great fur 
 mart of the world. His voyage across the 
 Pacific was prosperous, his furs were readily 
 sold, and after taking a cargo of tea on board, 
 Gray sailed for the Cape of Good Hope, and on 
 the loth of August, 1790, the Columbia entered 
 the port of Boston, the first vessel to circum- 
 navigate the world under the flag of the United 
 States. 
 
 His success and conduct so impressed the 
 owners of the ship that they immediately de- 
 cided upon sending Gray back to the north- 
 west coast, and seven weeks later, September 
 28, 1790, he sailed in the Columbia, which was 
 described as a ship of two hundred and twelve 
 tons, manned by thirty men, and equipped with 
 an armament of ten guns. 
 
 Gray was also provided with a sea letter 
 signed by George Washington, then President, 
 which ran as follows : 
 
 "To all Emperors, Kings, Sovereign princes, 
 State and Regents and to their respective officers, 
 civil and military and to all others whom it may 
 concern. 
 
 " I, George Washington, President of the 
 United States of America do make known that 
 Robert Gray, Captain of a ship called the Co- 
 lumbia of the burden of about 230 tons, is a 
 citizen oi the United States and that the said
 
 96 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 ship which he commands belongs to the citizens 
 of the United States ; and as I wish that the said 
 Robert Gray may prosper in his lawful affairs, I 
 do request all the before mentioned, and of each 
 of them separately, when the said Robert Gray 
 shall arrive with his vessel and cargo, that they 
 will be pleased to receive him with kindness and 
 treat him in a becoming manner &c. and there- 
 by I shall consider myself obliged. 
 
 "September i6, 1790 — New York City 
 (Seal U. S.) 
 
 " Geo. Washington, 
 
 President. 
 "Thomas Jefferson, 
 
 " Secy of State. " 
 
 He further was provided with a similar letter 
 from John Hancock, the Governor of Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 His letter of instructions from the owners, 
 signed by Joseph Barrell, enjoins, in similar and 
 even stronger terms than those given Kendrick 
 three years before, friendly treatment, strict 
 honesty, honorable conduct, and the avoidance 
 of unjust advantage in trade with the natives, 
 the shunning of Spanish ports, tender treatment 
 of his crew, urgency of despatch in reaching the 
 northwest coast, and the refraining from all un- 
 necessary connections with foreigners or Amer- 
 icans. It further speaks of Gray's rising reputa- 
 tion, and expresses the belief that a regard for 
 his own honor, and a respect for the sea letter 
 with which the President had honored and in-
 
 On the Shores of the Pacific.
 
 CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY 97 
 
 dulged him, would cause Gray to doubly exert 
 himself for the success of the voyage. 
 
 Gray used such despatch and was so fortunate 
 that he reached Cape Flattery, at the mouth of 
 the Straits of Fuca, June 5, 1791, his voyage of 
 eight months having been devoid of any occur- 
 rence worthy of note. Proceeding northward 
 to Queen Charlotte Island for trade, he there 
 fell in with Ingraham, formerly mate of the 
 Columbia, but now, July 23, 1791, in command 
 of the Hope. The autumn was spent in trading 
 and exploring among the islands and along the 
 coast to the east and north of Queen Charlotte 
 Island. During one trip Gray penetrated an 
 inlet near 55° N. latitude, probably the northern 
 extension of Vancouver Strait, to a distance of 
 one hundred miles to the northeastward without 
 reaching the end of the passage, which he sup- 
 posed to be the Rio de Reyes of Admiral Fonte. 
 Gray's visit was most unfortunate, for a portion 
 of his crew landing at a port on the mainland in 
 55° N., on August 22d, a large band of savages 
 fell on the party and killed Joshua Caswell, his 
 second mate, and seamen Joseph Barns and Job 
 Folgicr. This fatal spot was therefore named 
 Massacre Cove. 
 
 The attitude of the Indians was a matter of 
 constant anxiety, so that Gray and his crew 
 were obliged to exercise the greatest caution in 
 all their intercourse with such tribes as they fell 
 in with. In Pintard Sound, 51° 30' N., near the 
 entrance, an attack was attempted on the Co- 
 lumbia, which obliged Gray to fire on the In- 
 7
 
 98 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 dians, whereby two of the chiefs were killed, 
 but it did not excite lasting resentment, as these 
 savages traded with him later as though nothing 
 had happened. 
 
 Returning to Clyoquot, Port Cox, Vancouver 
 Island, with the Columbia, Gray went into 
 winter quarters. The owners had sent out the 
 frames for a sloop of about thirty tons, with 
 three carpenters to build the vessel. A fortified 
 habitation, called Fort Defiance, was constructed 
 for occupancy by the working party, which fin- 
 ished and launched the sloop that winter, chris- 
 tening her as the Adventurer. 
 
 In the spring of 1792, while the crews of the 
 Columbia and Adventurer were preparing for 
 sea they were visited by many Indians, who, 
 through their chiefs, established such relations 
 with a Sandwich Islander, who was one of the 
 crew of the 'Columbia, as to excite Gray's sus- 
 picions. The Islander on being closely ques- 
 tioned by Gray confessed that the Indians had 
 formed a plan to murder the whole party and 
 seize the vessels, the Hawaiian to aid them by 
 wetting the priming of all the guns, and in re- 
 turn be made a chief among the Indians. Gray 
 took immediate steps to keep his crew on their 
 guard during their remaining stay, and thus 
 completely baffled the design of the savages 
 without bloodshed. 
 
 In April, 1792, Gray, sending the Adventurer 
 northward under command of Haswell, his first 
 mate, turned himself southward, and on the 29th 
 fell in with Vancouver, who was approaching
 
 CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY 99 
 
 the northwest coast on a voyage of explora- 
 tion in the English ship Discovery, with the 
 Rambler under Broughton as a consort. 
 
 Vancouver eagerly sought information from 
 Gray as to his knowledge of the coast, which the 
 American gave fully and cheerfully. Gray set 
 forth his voyages in the Straits of Fuca, around 
 Queen Charlotte Island, and further, that in 1788 
 he had " been off the mouth of a river, in the 
 latitude of 46° 10', where the outset or reflux 
 was so strong as to prevent his entering for nine 
 days." This latter information Avas most sur- 
 prising and distasteful to Vancouver, who, fitted 
 out at great expense with tw^o vessels for 'explo- 
 ration alone, found the accuracy of his own ob- 
 servations of the coast, as recorded in his journal 
 two days earlier, thrown in doubt by the state- 
 ments of this American trader. 
 
 Vancouver had written before meeting Gray : 
 " The several large rivers and capacious inlets that 
 have been described as discharging their contents 
 into the Pacific, between the fortieth and forty- 
 eighth degrees of north latitude, were reduced to 
 brooks insufficient for our vessels to navigate, or 
 to bays inaccessible as harbors. Under the most 
 fortunate and favorable circumstances of wind 
 and weather, so minutely has this extensive coast 
 been inspected, that the surf has been constantly 
 seen to break on its shores from the mast-head." 
 After hearing Gray's relation Vancouver wrote: 
 " If any inlet shcjuld be found, it must be a very 
 intricate one, and inaccessible to vessels of our 
 burden. ... I was thoroughly convinced,
 
 100 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 as were also most persons of observation on 
 board, that we could not possibly have passed 
 any safe navigable opening harbor or place of 
 security for shipping on this coast." Later 
 Broughton by Vancouver's orders entered and 
 surveyed a part of the Columbia in the latter 
 part of October, 1792, when very much to his 
 surprise he found himself preceded by another 
 American trader, Captain Baker, master of the 
 brig Jenny, of Bristol, R. I. Vancouver's re- 
 port of the Columbia is scarcely creditable to 
 that great navigator, for he attempted to prove 
 that the mouth of the Columbia is an inlet sepa- 
 rate from the main river, and that Gray is conse- 
 quently not entitled to the credit of discovering 
 the main river, a misstatement that cannot stand 
 either in light of Gray's journal or the hydrog- 
 raphy of the river. 
 
 Doubtless Gray was sufficiently irritated by 
 Vancouver's doubts and criticisms as to the ex- 
 istence and navigability of the unknown river, to 
 cause him to again venture the dangers which 
 had so nearly caused the loss of his vessel on his 
 previous visit. Of it Wilkes wrote : " Mere de- 
 scription can give little idea of the terrors of the 
 bar of the Columbia. All who have seen it have 
 spoken of the wildness of the scene, the incessant 
 war of the waters, representing it as one of the 
 most fearful sights that can possibly meet the 
 eye of the sailor." 
 
 Gray pursued the even tenor of his way to the 
 southward, and within two weeks justified his 
 previous statements by not only entering and
 
 CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY 101 
 
 navigating the Columbia, but also discovered a 
 haven (Bulfinch or Gray Harbor) affording safe 
 anchoraofe and shelter for small vessels. 
 
 The following extracts from the log-book of 
 the ship Columbia give the account of Gray's 
 discoveries in his own words : 
 
 " 1792, May 7. 10 A.M. Being within six 
 miles of the land, saw an entrance in land which 
 had a very good appearance of an harbour. 
 . . . At half-past three bore away and ran in 
 N. E. by E. sounding from 4 to 5 fathoms, sandy 
 bottom, and as we drew nearer in between the 
 bars had from 10 to 12 fathoms. Having a very 
 strong tide of ebb to stem, many canoes came 
 alongside, and at 5 p.m. came to in 5 fathoms 
 of water, sandy bottom, in a safe harbour well 
 sheltered from the sea by long sand-bars and 
 spits. Our latitude observed this day 46° 58' N." 
 This harbor, called Bulfinch by Gray, now prop- 
 erly bears the name of its discoverer. 
 
 " 10 (May). Fresh breezes and pleasant 
 weather. Many natives alongside, at noon all 
 the canoes left. At i r.M. began to unmoor, took 
 up the best bower anchor and hove short on the 
 small anchor; at half-past four being high water 
 hove up the anchor and came to sail and a beat- 
 ing down the harbour. 
 
 "II. At half-past 7 we were out clear of the 
 bar and directed our course to the southward 
 along shore. At 8 p.m. the entrance of Bul- 
 finch harbour bore N, distant 4 miles, the S. one 
 extreme of the land, bore SSE. ^ E. : the N. ditto, 
 NNNVV. Sent up the main top-gallant yard and
 
 102 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 set all sail. At 4 (?) p.m. saw the entrance of our 
 desired port, bearing ESE., distance 6 leagues, in 
 steering sails and hauled our wind in shore. At 
 8 A. (p. ?) M. being a little to the windward of the 
 entrance to the harbour, bore away and run in 
 ENE between the breakers having from 5 to 7 
 fathoms water. When we were over the bar we 
 found this to be a large river of fresh ivater' up 
 which we stood. Many canoes came alongside. 
 At I (11?) P.M. came to with the small bower in 
 10 fathoms, black and white sand; the entrance 
 between the bars bore WSW, distance 10 miles. 
 The north side of the river, a half mile distant 
 from the ship, the south side 2 J miles distance ; a 
 village (Chinook) on the north side of the river, 
 W. by N., distance f of a mile. Vast numbers 
 of natives came alongside. People employed in 
 pumping the salt water out of our water-casks in 
 order to fill with fresh water which the ship 
 floated in. So ends. 
 
 " (May) 14. Sailed upwards of 13 or 15 miles, 
 when the channel was so very narrow that it was 
 almost impossible to keep it. . . . Ship took 
 ground, but she did not lay long before she came 
 off without any assistance. 
 
 " The jolly-boat was sent to sound the channel 
 out but found it not navigable any farther up ; 
 so, of course, we must have taken the wrong 
 channel. 
 
 " 15 (May). ... In the afternoon Capt.
 
 CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY 103 
 
 Gray and Mr. Hoskins in the jolly-boat went on 
 shore to take a short view of the country. . . . 
 
 " 19 (May). . . . Capt. Gray gave this riv- 
 er the name of Columbia's river, and the north 
 side of the entrance Cape Hancock, the south 
 side of the entrance, Adams Point." 
 
 The day following (20th) Gray left the river, 
 crossino; the bar after several attempts, and sailed 
 northward to rejoin the Adventurer. 
 
 Completing his cargo of furs, Gray again vis- 
 ited Canton, and by his former route returned 
 to Boston. He married on the 4th of February, 
 1794, and died, while in command of a coasting 
 vessel, in the summer of 1806, at Charleston, S. C, 
 leaving a wife and four daughters. 
 
 On March 27, 1846, a committee of Congress 
 considered a petition of Martha Gray, his widow, 
 who applied for a pension for his services to the 
 United States in war and as an explorer. The 
 committee in question considered that the most 
 suitable return for Gray's valuable services would 
 be the grant of a township in Oregon, but as sur- 
 veys had not yet been made it ' deferred such 
 action as then inexpedient. It recommended, 
 however, that Congress should pass a bill giving 
 Mrs. Gray the sum of five hundred dollars per 
 annum. In its report the committee said that 
 Gray was the first discoverer of the country ; that 
 such discovery conferred on the United States 
 a title to the whole basin drained by the river, 
 known then as Oregon Territory; that the hazard 
 and labor of the journey were great, especially in 
 the unsurveyed bar of the Columbia.
 
 104 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Americans did not confine their title to the 
 valley of the Columbia to the mere right of dis- 
 covery without occupation and use, but they 
 proceeded to develop its capacities for trade and 
 settlement. From the year 1797 American ves- 
 sels regularly entered the Columbia and traded 
 with its natives. 
 
 When in 1826 the rights of the United States 
 in regard to Oregon were formulated and made 
 the subject of consideration by plenipotentiaries 
 on the parts of Great Britain and the United 
 States, the claims of the latter were urged on 
 three grounds, the most important or first being 
 from their own proper right, which was founded 
 on Gray's discovery of the Columbia River. 
 
 If Vancouver had discovered the Columbia 
 prior to Gray, it is impossible to say what com- 
 plications and results would have arisen in con- 
 nection with the extension and development of 
 the United States. It is therefore a source of 
 endless gratification that Captain Robert Gray, 
 by his courage, enterprise, and seamanship, in 
 discovering and entering the Columbia, ulti- 
 mately secured to the United States this fertile 
 territory, almost twice as extensive in area as 
 Great Britian. 
 
 With its six hundred and sixty thousand of in- 
 habitants, its great cities, its enormous accumula- 
 tions of wealth, the young empire added to the 
 United States through Robert Gray is fast shap- 
 ing into substance the golden visions of the en- 
 thusiastic Kendrick.
 
 V. 
 
 CAPTAIN MERIWETHER LEWIS AND 
 LIEUT. WILLIAM CLARK. 
 
 First Trans-Continental Explorers of the 
 United States. 
 
 The burning genius and intense patriotism 
 of Thomas Jefferson found their most brilliant 
 setting in his draft of the most famous paper 
 in the world, the Declaration of Independence. 
 If Jefferson thus struck the keynote of freedom 
 for America, he was not content with a free people 
 restricted in their habitat to the eastern half of 
 the continent, and in his ripest life gave no more 
 conspicuous evidence of his foresight and states- 
 manship than in the inauguration of a policy 
 which comprehended in its scope the explora- 
 tion and settlement of the entire trans-Missis- 
 sippi region. He not only urged and completed 
 the purchase of Louisiana, but sought the extent 
 of its natural resources, appreciated the unde- 
 veloped wealth of the great West, and drafted 
 a scheme of land divisions and settlement which 
 foreshadowed the beneficial homestead legisla- 
 tion of later years. 
 
 Jefferson was for years interested in the ex- 
 ploration of the western parts of North America,
 
 106 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 which were absolutely unknown save the coast- 
 line of the Pacific. In 1784, while in Paris, he 
 met John Ledyard, who had made an unsuccess- 
 ful effort to organize a compan}^ for the fur trade 
 on the western coast of America. Ledyard, by 
 Jefferson's advice and intercession, attempted to 
 cross by land to Kamschatka, and thence to the 
 west coast of America, and across country to 
 the Missouri River. Ledyard's arrest in Siberia 
 and expulsion from the country by the Russian 
 Government ended this plan. In 1802 Jefferson 
 initiated, through the American Philosophical 
 Society, a subscription for the exploration of 
 the western parts of North America, by ascend- 
 ing the Missouri River, crossing the Rocky 
 Mountains, and descending the nearest river to 
 the Pacific Ocean. Although only two persons 
 were to go, Meriwether Lewis urgently sought 
 the appointment, and with M. Andre Michaux 
 the voyage was commenced ; but his companion 
 being recalled by the French minister at Wash- 
 ington, the journey was abandoned. 
 
 On January 18, 1803, Jefferson, then President, 
 recommended in a confidential message to Con- 
 gress modifications of the act regarding trade 
 with Indians, and with the view of extendinsf its 
 provisions to the Indians on the Missouri, recom- 
 mended the exploration of the Missouri River to 
 its source, the crossing of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, and descent to the Pacific Ocean by the best 
 water communication. Congress approved the 
 plan and voted money for its accomplishment. 
 Captain Meriwether Lewis, of the United States
 
 CAPTAIX LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 107 
 
 Army, who had been for nearly two years private 
 secretary to the President, renewed his solicita- 
 tions for command, which was giyen him. 
 
 Jefferson showed his versatility in the instruc- 
 tions to Captain Lewis, which are a model of ful- 
 ness and clearness. The route to be followed, 
 natural products and possibilities — animal, vege- 
 table, and mineral — climatic conditions, commer- 
 cial routes, the soil and face of the country, were 
 all dwelt on. The character, customs, disposition, 
 territory occupied, tribal relations, means of 
 subsistence, language, clothing, disease, moral 
 attributes, laws, traditions, religion, intellectual- 
 ity, extent and means of trade, war methods, with 
 respect to the Indian tribes visited, were to 
 be studied and reported. The topography of 
 the country was to be accurately determined, 
 astronomically and otherwise, and the maps and 
 notes multiplied to avoid total loss. The good- 
 will of the chiefs was to be sought, peaceful 
 methods pursued, and the inflexible opposition 
 of any extensive force promising bloodshed was 
 to be met by withdrawal and retreat. The coun- 
 try then being outside the limits of the United 
 States, passports from the ministers of Great 
 Britain. Spain, and France were furnished. 
 
 Meriwether Lewis was born August 17, 1774, 
 near Charlottesville, Va., being the son of John 
 Lewis and Miss Meriwether, and grand-nephew 
 of Fielding Lewis, who married a sister of 
 George Washington. Volunteering, at the age 
 of twenty, in the militia called out by Washing- 
 ton to put down the Shay rising, he was made
 
 108 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 ensign of the Second Sub-Legion May i, 1795,' 
 and appointed in First Infantry November, 1796, 
 where he rose to be paymaster and captain in 1 800. 
 He was a considerate and efficient officer, an ex- 
 pert hunter, versed in natural history, familiar 
 with Indian character and customs. Appreciating 
 his deficiencies in certain branches of science im- 
 portant in this expeditionary duty, he at once 
 sought instruction from competent professors. 
 
 Jefferson describes Lewis as follows : " Of 
 courage undaunted, possessing a firmness and per- 
 severance of purpose which nothing but impos- 
 sibilities could divert from its direction, . . . 
 honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound under- 
 standing and a fidelity to truth so scrupulous 
 that whatever he should report would be as cer- 
 tain as seen ourselves." The management and 
 success of the expedition, it may here be said, 
 fully justified the selection by and encomiums of 
 Jefferson. 
 
 Lewis, given his choice of associate, selected 
 William Clark, who was appointed by Jefferson 
 second lieutenant of artillery. Clark was a 
 brother of George Rogers Clark, by whose valor 
 and sagacity the Illinois or Northwest Territory 
 was secured to the United States, and this con- 
 nection made his selection for further extension 
 of the country seem most fitting. Moreover 
 young Clark had qualifications and experiences 
 which strongly commended him to Lewis. Born 
 in Virginia, August i, 1770, William Clark had 
 a thorough knowledge of the privations and 
 conditions of frontier life. Skilful as a hunter,
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 109 
 
 a keen observer, familiar with military life from 
 four years of service as a lieutenant of infantry, 
 and developed from his ill health, which caused 
 him to leave the army in 1796, into a magnificent 
 specimen of manhood, he proved so efficient a 
 coadjutor that his name will ever be insepara- 
 bly associated with that of Lewis. 
 
 Lewis left Washington July 5, 1803, his mission 
 being enhanced in its importance by the formal 
 cession of Louisiana to the United States by 
 the treaty of Paris, April 30, 1803, which news 
 reached him July ist. The rendezvous was at 
 St. Louis, which was reached via Pittsburgh 
 and the Ohio, recruits being selected at various 
 posts, while Lieutenant Clark joined at Louis- 
 ville, though he was not commissioned in the 
 army till the following March. 
 
 When the party reached St. Louis, in Decem- 
 ber, 1803, formal notice of the transfer of Louisi- 
 ana had not reached the Spanish commandant, 
 who would not permit their passage westward. 
 They passed the winter in camp opposite the 
 mouth of the Missouri, where they built a barge 
 with sail-power and two smaller boats, with 
 which they started up the Missouri River on 
 May 14, 1804. 
 
 The expedition, commanded by Captain Lew- 
 is, with Lieutenant Clark as second, comprised 
 thirty-four selected men, eleven being watermen, 
 a negro servant, and a hunter, who was also an 
 interpreter. 
 
 The valley of the lower Missouri was well 
 known to the French Canadians, who, pushed
 
 110 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 westward by the irruption of English settlers in 
 the Illinois region, sought isolation and freedom 
 from foreign restraint in the country west of the 
 Mississippi. St. Louis was their head-quarters, 
 but the Missouri was their field of fortune. The 
 village of St. Charles, with its single street, had 
 about five hundred souls, who lived by hunting 
 and trade with the Indians, agriculture being 
 quite neglected ; and an outpost of seven pov- 
 erty-stricken families existed at La Charrette, the 
 advance guard of civilization. But the typical 
 French trader and trapper disdained the shelter 
 of a roof and the restraint of communities. His 
 adventurous spirit pushed his frail bark into the 
 quiet waters of the upper Kansas, through the 
 shallows of the Platte, under the overshading 
 trees of the beautiful James, along the precipi- 
 tous red-clay cliffs of the Big Sioux, and, in search 
 of the beaver, even penetrated the winding nar- 
 rows of the Cheyenne and Little Missouri. They 
 did not even stop at transient visits, but, fas- 
 cinated by the roving, aimless life of the savage, 
 took up abode with him, shared his tepee and 
 wanderings, adopted his customs, took his squaw 
 to wife, until longings strange and uncontrollable 
 drew them back in old age to the home and re- 
 ligion of their youth. One of these venturesome 
 wanderers named Durion, who had lived twenty 
 years among the Sioux, was picked up on the 
 river and accompanied Lewis to the mouth of 
 the James, as a much-needed interpreter. 
 
 The mouth of the Platte was passed on July 
 2ist, and on the next day Lewis camped on the
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. GLARE 111 
 
 site of the present city of Council Bluffs, thus 
 named by Lewis on account of his council with 
 the Ottoes and Missouri Indians at this point. 
 Here the first of a continuing series of presents 
 was given to the grand chief : an American flag, 
 a large medal, which was placed around his 
 neck as a mark of consideration, paint, garters, 
 cloth ornaments, a canister of powder, and the 
 indispensable bottle of whiskey. The subordi- 
 nate chiefs received inferior medals and presents 
 according to their importance. These presents 
 were made with much form and ceremony, 
 wherein an important part were speeches setting 
 forth the transfer of the territory to the United 
 States, the benefits of peace, and the advantages 
 of trade at the new post to be occupied by 
 Americans. 
 
 Both Lewis and Clark had been accustomed 
 to Indian life on the Eastern frontiers, but they 
 found much that was strange and striking among 
 the denizens of the great interior plains. Be- 
 yond the breech-cloth a loose buffalo robe usually 
 kept the savage from nudity. The necklace of 
 grizzly bear-claws, the ornaments of porcupine 
 and feathers, the scalp-poles, the conical teepes 
 covered with gayly-figured skins, the blue smoke 
 up-curling from the open tent-top, the hoop- 
 tambourine or half-drum, the queer whip-rattle 
 of the hoofs of goats and deer, the bladder-rattle 
 full of pebbles, the shaven heads of the men, the 
 white-dressed buffalo robe with its jingling rows 
 of porcupine quills and uncouth painted figures, 
 emblematic of the brave's war-history, the hawk-
 
 112 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 feather or eagle-plume head-dress worked with 
 porcupine quills, the polecat skin trailing from 
 the young brave's moccasins, the deer-paunch 
 tobacco-pouch, and a score of other novelties met 
 their observing eyes. Among the Rickarees the 
 octagonal earth-covered lodges, the picketed 
 villages, the cultivated patches of corn, beans, 
 and potatoes, the basket-like boats of interwoven 
 boughs covered with a single buffalo skin, in 
 which squaws paddled unconcernedly over high 
 waves, were unknown phases of savage life. 
 
 Even the earth gave up its treasure, and they 
 found the first of the famous petrifactions of the 
 trans-Missouri region in the back-bone of a fish 
 forty-five feet long, in a perfect state. 
 
 Game gradually grew plentiful as they as- 
 cended the river. Buffalo was not seen till the 
 Big Sioux was reached, but later fifteen herds 
 and three bands of elk were visible at one time, 
 and near Mandan large flocks of goats were seen 
 crossing from their summer grazing grounds to 
 find west of the Missouri winter shelter in the 
 hilly regions. As they passed the Indians drove 
 large flocks of migrating goats into the river, 
 where even boys killed the helpless animals by 
 scores with sticks. Indeed, the Missouri then 
 appears to have been a hunter's paradise, for 
 there are mentioned among the regular game 
 antelope, bear, beaver, buffalo, badger, deer, elk, 
 goats, and porcupine. Three thousand antelope 
 were seen at one time, and of this animal Lewis 
 accurately remarks : " The antelope possesses 
 most wonderful swiftness, the acuteness of their
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 113 
 
 sight distinguishes the most distant danger, the 
 delicate sensibility of their smell defeats the pre- 
 cautions of concealment, and when alarmed their 
 rapid career seems more like the flight of birds 
 than the movements of an earthly being." 
 
 The river furnished abundant supply of cat 
 and buffalo fish, and feathered game, such as 
 plover, grouse, geese, turkeys, ducks, and pelican, 
 also abounded ; among the vegetable products 
 are enumerated several kinds of grapes, currants 
 and plums, wild apples, billberries, cherries, 
 gooseberries, mulberries, raspberries, acorns, 
 and hazel-nuts. 
 
 As regards the voyage thus far, it was true 
 that the sail could rarely be used, that the labor 
 of propelling the boats by oar or pole was most 
 laborious, and that the shallows gave great 
 trouble ; but the Indians, save a single threaten- 
 ing occasion, were most friendl)^ and the only 
 death, that of Sergeant Floyd, was from acute 
 disease. Indeed, the journey had been most at- 
 tractive and free from special hazard, and when 
 rapidly advancing winter obliged them to go 
 into permanent quarters, on October 27th, it 
 seemed rather a long hunting excursion than a 
 dangerous voyage of discovery. 
 
 Their winter quarters, called Fort Mandan,were 
 on the eastern side of the Missouri, sixteen hun- 
 dred miles from St. Louis, and in latitude 47° 22' 
 N., a short distance above the present city of 
 Bismarck. The buildings were wooden huts, 
 which joined and formed two sides of a triangle, 
 while the third side was of pickets. As the huts 
 9
 
 114 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 opened inward, they had a stockaded place easy 
 of defence. 
 
 On his arrival at Fort Mandan, Lewis found a 
 Mr. McCracken, of the Hudson Bay Company, 
 engaged in trading for horses and buffalo robes. 
 During the winter ten or twelve different traders 
 of this company visited Mandan, and although 
 one bore a letter from the chief factor, Mr. Charles 
 Chabouilles, offering any service in his power, yet 
 it was evident to Lewis that these traders were 
 cultivating sentiments unfriendly to Americans 
 among the Indians, and Chaboneau, the inter- 
 preter was tampered with ; but the prompt and 
 judicious action of Lewis resulted in apologies 
 and promises to refrain from such conduct in 
 future. Laroche, one of the Hudson Bay traders, 
 desired to go west with the expedition, but it 
 was thought best to decline the offer. At this 
 time the nearest English trading-post was at the 
 forks of the Assiniboin, about one hundred and 
 fifty miles distant by the way of Mouse River. 
 
 The stay at Fort Mandan was marked by two 
 sad experiences for the Indians encamped near 
 the post : an autumnal prairie fire which burned 
 two Indians to death, and an attack of the Sioux, 
 wherein one Mandan was killed and two wounded. 
 A Frenchman, Jesseaume, living with the Indians, 
 served as interpreter, and they learned much of 
 the Mandans, Rickarees, and Minnetarees. The 
 Rickarees appeared in a very sensible light by re- 
 fusing spirits, with the remark that they did not 
 use it, and were surprised that their father should 
 present to them a liquor which would make them
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 115 
 
 fools. The sensibilities of these Indians in their 
 peculiar way appeared in a chief who cried bit- 
 terly at seeing- a court-martial sentence of flog- 
 ging carried out on a soldier. The chief ac- 
 knowledged the necessity of exemplary punish- 
 ment, and said that for the same offence he had 
 killed his braves, but that he never whipped any 
 one, not even children. 
 
 The Mandans, through intervention, made 
 peace with the Rickarees, and restored traps and 
 furs which they had taken from French hunters. 
 During the entire winter these Indian tribes were 
 most friendly, and their stores of corn, obtained 
 by the expeditionary force by trade or purchase, 
 were of material benefit to the party. The negro 
 was a constant source of wonder to the crowds 
 of Indians who visited them. The one-eyed 
 great chief of the Minnetarees said that some 
 foolish young men had told him there was a 
 person quite black. When York, the negro, ap- 
 peared, the one-eyed savage, much surprised, 
 examined the negro closely, and spitting on a 
 finger rubbed the skin in order to wash off the 
 paint, and it was not until the negro showed his 
 curly hair that the Indian could be persuaded he 
 was not a painted white man. 
 
 Game, though at some distance, was abundant, 
 and seventy head of large animals were obtained 
 in a hunt of ten days. With regard to the In- 
 dians Lewis says : "A camp of Mandans caught 
 within two days one hundred goats a short dis- 
 tance below us. Their mode of hunting them is 
 to form a large strong pen or fold, from which
 
 116 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 a fence is made of bushes gradually widening 
 on each side ; the animals are surrounded by the 
 hunters and gently driven toward this pen, in 
 which they imperceptibly find themselves en- 
 closed, and are then at the mercy of the hunters. 
 
 " When the Indians engage in killing buffalo, 
 the hunters mount on horseback and, armed with 
 bows and arrows, encircle the herd and gradu- 
 ally drive it into a plain or open place fit for the 
 movement of horse ; they then ride in among 
 them, and singling out a buffalo, a female being 
 preferred, go as close as possible and wound 
 her with arrows till they think they have given 
 the mortal stroke; when they pursue another 
 till the quiver is exhausted. If, which rarely 
 happens, the wounded buffalo attacks the hunter, 
 he evades the blow by the agility of his horse, 
 which is trained for the combat with great dex- 
 terity.*' 
 
 The winter proved to be of unusual severity, 
 and several times the temperature fell to forty 
 degrees below zero, and proof spirits froze into 
 hard ice. The fortitude with which the hardy 
 savages withstood such extreme cold, half naked 
 as they often were, impressed our explorers. 
 
 Spring opened early, and on April 7, 1805, 
 Fort Mandan was abandoned, one party of ten 
 with the barge going down the river with de- 
 spatches and specimens. Lewis and Clark with 
 their party of thirty started up the Missouri in 
 six canoes and two large open boats, which had 
 been constructed by them. They had three in- 
 terpreters — Drewyer, Chaboneau, and his wife.
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. GLARE 117 
 
 Drewyer was a Canadian half-breed who had 
 always lived in the woods, and while he had 
 inherited from his mother the intuitive sagacity 
 of the Indian in following the faintest trail, he 
 had also acquired to a wonderful degree that 
 knowledge of the shifts and expedients of camp 
 life which is the resource and pride of the 
 frontier huntsman. Chaboneau's life had been 
 largely spent among the Blackfeet, by whom 
 his wife, a Snake Indian, had been taken in war 
 and enslaved when a young girl. 
 
 At the mouth of the Little Missouri the three 
 French hunters, who had ventured to follow the 
 party, stopped for trapping, as they found beaver 
 very plentiful. Chaboneau Creek, the farthest 
 point on the Missouri yet visited by white men, 
 was passed, and on April 26th they arrived at 
 the mouth of the Yellowstone. Lewis was here 
 particularly pleased with the wide plains, inter- 
 spersed with forests of various trees, and ex- 
 pressed his opinion that the situation was most 
 suitable for a trading establishment. 
 
 Spring had now fairly opened, the trees were 
 in leaf, a flower was seen, and despite the scanty 
 verdure of the new grass, game was very abun- 
 dant. In many places, however, the barren banks 
 and sand-bars were covered with a white in- 
 crustation of alkali salts, looking like frost or 
 newly fallen snow, which were present in such 
 quantities that all the small tributaries of the 
 Missouri proved to be bitter and unhealthy 
 water. Signs of human life became rarer, but 
 now and then they passed an old Indian camp,
 
 118 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 and near one saw the burial place of an Indian 
 woman. The body, carefully wrapped in dressed 
 buffalo robes, rested on a high scaffold, with two 
 sleds and harness over it. Nearby lay the re- 
 mains of a dog sacrificed to the shades of his 
 dead mistress. In a bag were articles fitting for 
 women — moccasins, red and blue paint, beavers' 
 nails, scrapers for dressing hides, dried roots, 
 a little Mandan tobacco, and several plaits of 
 sweet-smelling grass. 
 
 The oar was plied unceasingly save when a 
 favoring wind filled their sails and facilitated 
 their progress. In early May they drew up 
 their canoes for the night at the mouth of a bold, 
 beautiful stream, and in the abundant timber 
 found feeding on the young willows so many 
 clumsy porcupines that they called it Porcupine 
 River. Game was present in vast quantities; 
 the elk were tame, and the male buffalo would 
 scarcely quit grazing at the approach of man. 
 As Lewis remarks : " It has become an amuse- 
 ment to supply the party with provisions." 
 
 On May 8th they dined at the mouth of a river 
 flowing from a level, well-watered, and beautiful 
 country. As the water had a peculiar whiteness 
 they were induced to call it Milk River. The 
 Missouri now turned to the southwest and south, 
 the country became more open, and timber, of 
 pine mostly, small and scanty. 
 
 Although the buffalo were so tame and harm- 
 less that the men drove them out of their way 
 with sticks, yet the grizzly bear never failed to 
 be a dangerous and vicious visitor. One day six
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 119 
 
 good hunters attacked a grizzly, and four firing 
 at forty paces, each lodged a ball in the body, 
 two going through the lungs. The animal ran 
 at them furiously, when the other hunters fired 
 
 Captain Meriwether Lewis. 
 
 two balls into him, breaking a shoulder. The 
 bear yet pursued them, driving two into a canoe 
 and the others into thickets, from which they 
 fired as fast as they could reload. Turning on 
 them, he drove two so closely that they dropped 
 their guns and sprang from a precipice twenty
 
 120 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 feet high into the river followed by the bear, 
 who finally succumbed to a shot through the 
 head after eight balls had passed completely 
 through his body. Another bear, shot through 
 the heart, ran a quarter of a mile with undimin- 
 ished speed before he fell dead. 
 
 On the 2oth, twenty-two hundred and seventy 
 miles from St. Louis, they came to the greenish- 
 yellow waters of the Musselshell, and a short 
 distance beyond Captain Lewis caught his first 
 glimpse of the Rocky Mountains, the object of 
 his hope and ambition. Beyond the Musselshell 
 their experiences were less pleasant : the country 
 became more barren, game and timber scarce, 
 mosquitoes annoying ; the high dry winds, full of 
 sand, made their eyes sore ; the sun of midday 
 burned, while almost every night ice or frost 
 chilled them. 
 
 The clear waters of the Judith River and its 
 woods beautiful with multitudinous mountain 
 roses, the fragrant honeysuckle, and the tiny 
 red willows delighted their eyes ; but the sight 
 of a hundred and twenty-six lately abandoned 
 lodge-fires caused some uneasiness, as indicating 
 a late camping-place of a war-party of vicious 
 northern Minnetarees or Blackfeet. 
 
 A few miles farther, as they passed a precipice 
 a hundred and twenty feet high, they saw evi- 
 dence of the cunning and wasteful methods of 
 hunting by Indians, for the remains of over a 
 hundred buffalo were scattered around, though 
 the stream must have washed many away. 
 Lewis adds: "These buffaloes had been chased
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 121 
 
 down the precipice in a way very common on 
 the Missouri, and by which vast herds are de- 
 stroyed in a moment. The mode of hunting is 
 to select one of the most active and fleet young 
 men, who is disguised in a buffalo skin round his 
 body. The skin of the head, with the ears and 
 horns, are fastened on his own head in such a 
 way as to deceive the buffalo. Thus dressed he 
 fixes himself at a convenient distance between a 
 herd of buffalo and any of the river precipices, 
 which sometimes extend for several miles. His 
 companions, in the meantime, get in the rear and 
 side of the herd, and at a given signal show them- 
 selves and advance toward the buffalo. They 
 instantly take the alarm, and finding the hunters 
 beside them they run toward the disguised Indian 
 or decoy, who leads them on at full speed toward 
 the river, when suddenly securing himself in 
 some crevice of the cliff, which he had previously 
 fixed on, the herd is left on the brink of the preci- 
 pice. It is then in vain for the foremost to re- 
 treat or even to stop ; they are pressed on by the 
 hindmost ranks, who, seeing no danger but from 
 the hunters, goad on those before them till the 
 whole are precipitated and the shore is strewed 
 with their dead bodies. Sometimes in this peril- 
 ous seduction the Indian himself is either trodden 
 under foot or, missing his footing in the cliff, is 
 urged down the precipice by the falling herd." 
 
 The river now took the form of frequent 
 rapids, which made the work of dragging the 
 heavy canoes very painful, and the narrative 
 runs : " The banks are so slippery in some places,
 
 122 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 and the mud so adhesive, that the men are un- 
 able to wear moccasins. One-fourth of the time 
 they are obliged to be up to their arm-pits in the 
 cold water, and sometimes walk for yards over 
 sharp fragments of rocks." 
 
 On June 3d they came to where the river di- 
 vided into two large streams, and it became of 
 vital importance to the expedition to determine 
 which was the Missouri or Ahmateahza, as the 
 Minnetarees called it, and which they said ap- 
 proached very near to the Columbia. The suc- 
 cess of the expedition depended on the right 
 decision, so Captain Lewis concluded to encamp 
 until reconnoitering columns could examine the 
 two forks. 
 
 Lewis following up the north branch, two days' 
 march, decided that it was not the Missouri, and 
 named it Maria's River. In returning he nar- 
 rowly escaped slipping over a precipice some 
 ninety feet high. Lewis had just reached a spot 
 of safety when, says the narrative, 
 
 " He heard a voice behind him cry out, ' Good 
 God, Captain, what shall I do?' He turned in- 
 stantly and found it was Windsor, who had lost 
 his foothold about the middle of the narrow pass 
 and had slipped down to the very verge of the 
 precipice, where he lay on his belly, with his 
 right arm and leg over the precipice, while with 
 the other leg and arm he was with difficulty 
 holding on to keep himself from being dashed to 
 pieces below. His dreadful situation was in- 
 stantly perceived by Captain Lewis, who, stifling 
 his alarm, calmly told him that he was in no
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 123 
 
 danger, that he should take his knife out of his 
 belt with the right hand and dig a hole in the 
 side of the bluff to receive his foot. With great 
 presence of mind he did this, and then raised 
 himself on his knees. Captain Lewis then told 
 him to take off his moccasins and come forward 
 on his hands and knees, holding the knife in one 
 hand and his rifle in the other. He immediate- 
 ly crawled in this way till he came to a secure 
 spot." 
 
 One of Lieutenant Clark's party, on the south 
 fork, at the same time, ran great danger from a 
 grizzly bear which attacked near camp a man 
 whose gun, being w^et, would not go off. The 
 man took to a tree, so closely followed by the 
 anmial that he struck the hunter's foot as he was 
 climbing. The bear showed his intention of 
 waiting until the man should be forced to de- 
 scend, but fortunately alarmed by the cries and 
 signal-shots of a searching-party decamped. 
 
 While Lewis and Clark concurred in believing 
 the south fork to be the true Missouri, the rest of 
 the party were unanimous in thinking the north 
 the right course. Finally caching their heaviest 
 boat and all the supplies which could well be 
 spared, the entire party followed the south fork. 
 
 Lewis, pushing on confidently with four men, 
 confirmed his opinion by reaching, on June 13th, 
 the great falls of the Missouri, which by their 
 sublime majesty and stupendous magnitude fas- 
 cinated him. The description of these falls at 
 the time of tlieir first view by civilized man is 
 worthy of reproduction. The river, three hun-
 
 124 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 dred yards wide, was shut in by precipitous 
 cliffs, and " for ninety yards from the left cliff 
 the water falls in one smooth sheet over a preci- 
 pice of eighty feet. The rest of the river precipi- 
 tates itself with a more rapid current, but received 
 as it falls by the irregular and projecting rocks 
 below, forms a splendid prospect of white foam 
 two hundred yards in length. . . . This spray 
 is dissipated in a thousand shapes. . . . As it 
 rises from the fall it beats with fury against a 
 ledge of rocks which extend across the river." 
 On examination Lewis found that " the river for 
 three miles below was one continued succession 
 of rapids and cascades, overhung with perpen- 
 dicular bluffs from one hundred and fifty to two 
 hundred feet high ; in short, it seems to have 
 worn itself a channel through the solid rock." 
 At the main falls, five miles above the first, " the 
 whole Missouri is suddenly stopped by one 
 shelving rock, which without a single niche and 
 with an edge as straight and regular as if formed 
 by art, stretches itself from one side of the river 
 to the other for at least a quarter of a mile. Over 
 this the river precipitates itself in an even, unin- 
 terrupted sheet to the perpendicular depth of 
 fifty feet, whence, dashing against the rocky bot- 
 tom, it rushes rapidly down, leaving behind it a 
 spray of the purest foam across the river. The 
 scene was singularly beautiful, without any of 
 the wild irregular sublimity of the lower falls." 
 In a Cottonwood tree, on a small island in the 
 middle of the rapids, an eagle had fixed its nest, 
 a solitary bird which had not escaped the ob-
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 125 
 
 servation of the Indians, who had previously de- 
 scribed it to Lewis. 
 
 On leaving the falls Lewis saw a herd of a 
 
 \j:NfM >:^!' 
 
 thousand buffalo, and killed one for supper. In 
 his eagerness he failed to reload his rifle, when 
 he beheld a grizzly bear stealing on him and not 
 over twenty paces distant. " He felt that there 
 was no safety but in flight. It was in the open,
 
 126 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 level plain, ... so that there was no possible 
 mode of concealment. ... As soon as he 
 turned the bear ran, open mouthed and at full 
 speed, upon him. Captain Lewis ran about eighty 
 yards, but finding that the animal gained on him 
 fast ... he turned short, plunged into the 
 river about waist deep, and facing about presented 
 the point of his spontoon. The bear arrived at 
 the water's edge within twenty feet of him, but as 
 soon as he put himself in this posture of defence, 
 the animal seemed frightened and retreated with 
 as much precipitation as he had pursued." 
 
 The means and route for portage presented 
 difficult problems for the exhausted party, as it 
 was clearly evident that the men could not carry 
 the boats on their shoulders such great distances. 
 Fortunately a creek was found at the foot of the 
 falls, where the banks afforded easy access to 
 the highlands. It was first necessary to cross 
 the Missouri, and here the party went into camp 
 while preparations were made for the portage. 
 
 Lieut. Clark with a few men carefully surveyed 
 the trail to be followed, others engaged in hunt- 
 ing in order to lay up a store of dried meat, 
 and the handy men of the party set to work on 
 a carriage for the transport of the boats. By 
 good fortune they found a large cottonwood- 
 tree, about twenty-two inches in diameter, large 
 enough to make the carriage-wheels, "perhaps 
 the only tree of that size within twenty miles." 
 As they had decided to cache a part of their 
 stores and leave their largest boat behind, its 
 mast supplied them with two axle-trees.
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 127 
 
 In the meantime the survey of Clark showed 
 that the series of cataracts had an aggregate 
 descent of three hundred and sixty-three feet 
 in seventeen miles, and that a very difficult 
 portage of thirteen miles was necessary. The 
 country was barely practicable for travel, and 
 was covered with frequent patches of prickly 
 pear, against the tiny penetrating needles of 
 which the moccasins of the dragging men af- 
 forded almost no protection. To add to their 
 misfortunes, when about five miles from their 
 destination the axle-trees, made of the old mast, 
 broke, and then the tongues of green cotton- 
 wood gave way. After diligent search sweet- 
 willow trees were found with which they man- 
 aged, by shifts and expedients familiar to front- 
 iersmen, to patch up the carriage so as to go 
 on. It broke down so completely about a half 
 mile from the new camp that it Avas easier to 
 carry boat and baggage on their shoulders than 
 to build a new conveyance. The condition of 
 the party is evident from the narrative : 
 
 " The men are loaded as heavily as their 
 strength will permit; the crossing is really pain- 
 ful ; some are limping with the soreness of 
 their feet, others are scarcely able to stand for 
 more than a few minutes from the heat and 
 fatigue ; they are all obliged to halt and rest 
 frequently, and at almost every stopping -place 
 they fall, and many of them are asleep in an 
 instant." 
 
 Later it was needful to repair the carriage and 
 to travel over and over the portage until, after
 
 128 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 ten days of weary labor, all the equipage was 
 above the falls. 
 
 In the meantime the hunters had accumulated 
 nearly half a ton of dried meat, buffalo being 
 plenty. The grizzly bear, however, was also pres- 
 ent, active, aggressive, and dangerous as usual. 
 They infested the camp at night, causing much 
 alarm, and once carried off buffalo-meat from 
 a pole within thirty yards of the men. A 
 hunter sent out to bring in meat was boldly at- 
 tacked by a bear and narrowly escaped death, 
 being pursued to within forty paces of the camp. 
 Another animal was killed when rushing up to 
 attack men who had to climb a tree, while making 
 sufficient noise to attract their rescuer, Drewyer, 
 the interpreter and hunter, who shot him through 
 the head. He proved to be the largest they had 
 seen, being eight feet seven and a half inches long, 
 while his fore feet measured nine inches and hind 
 feet seven inches across, and eleven and three- 
 quarters long exclusive of the talons. Another 
 hunter was attacked by a grizzly, fortunately 
 near the river, so that he was able to conceal 
 himself under a steep bank ; otherwise he would 
 probably have lost his life. 
 
 The perils of navigation and the chase were 
 not all, for a cloud-burst and hail-storm con- 
 tributed to their danger and suffering. The hail 
 was so large and driven so furiously by the high 
 wind that it knocked down several of the men, 
 one three times, bruising another very badly and 
 wounding some so that they bled freely. The 
 fallen hail lay in drifts, which in places complete-
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 129 
 
 Iv covered the ground, and some of the stones 
 weisfhed three ounces and measured seven inches 
 in circumference. Clark, Chaboneau and his 
 wife took shelter under shelving rocks in a 
 deep ravine, congratulating themselves on their 
 protected position. Suddenly, however, the 
 rain fell in a solid mass, and instantly collecting 
 in the ravine, came rolling down in a dreadful 
 torrent, carrying rocks and everything before it. 
 
 " But for Lieut. Clark, Chaboneau, his wife 
 and child would have been lost. So instantly 
 was the rise of the water, that as Lieut. Clark 
 had reached his gun and began to ascend the 
 bank, the water was up to his waist, and he could 
 scarce get up faster than it rose, till it reached 
 the height of fifteen feet, with a furious current 
 which, had they waited a moment longer, would 
 have swept them into the river just above the 
 Great Falls, down which they must have inevi- 
 tably been precipitated." 
 
 Though the phases of their daily life brought 
 much that was rough and hard, yet their priva- 
 tions were not unmixed with pleasures, rude 
 though they may seem to the city dweller. Long 
 tramps and exciting rides after game, side 
 marches to commanding hill-tops for grateful 
 views of an unknown country — barren to the eye, 
 perhaps, but grateful to the soul, for were they 
 not the first men of their race who ever looked 
 upon it? — or pleasant journeys through upland 
 forests or the undergrowth of the intervale, to 
 search and gather whatever was beautiful to the 
 eye, novel to the mind, or a welcome addition to
 
 130 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 their scanty larder ; such were their rare pleas- 
 ures. 
 
 Now they waded through waist-high patches 
 of wild rye, recalling with its fine soft beard the 
 waving fields of grain they had left in the far 
 East ; again they pushed on in dense copses of 
 the sinuous redwood, whose delicate inner bark 
 furnished pleasant Indian tobacco to the French- 
 man and half-breed. Sometimes the trail lay 
 through an open wood with smaller undergrowth, 
 where beds of odorous mint recalled his Virgin- 
 ian home to Lewis ; where the delicate mount- 
 ain-rose, in countless thousands, was born to blush 
 unseen ; where, if only one ripened berry to-day 
 invited the hunter, other kinds promised their 
 welcome fruit in due but later season. 
 
 Rarely did the dull gray of the sky dim the 
 glory of a whole day, and the short summer 
 showers, freshening the beauty of the landscape 
 and abating the fervid heat of mid-summer, 
 seemed only too infrequent. And above all, the 
 pure, free, upland air, that gives vigor and health 
 to the body, joy and lightness to the heart, almost 
 annihilates distance to the eye ; and in breathing 
 which, one drinks into the lungs the very wine 
 of life. Surely more than the heroes of Virgil's 
 song did they feel that sweet in their memory 
 would abide these days forever. 
 
 Of the mountains, now always in sight, and a 
 constant source of inspiration to the eager ex- 
 plorers, those to the north and northwest were 
 yet snow-capped, and Lewis says : " They glisten 
 with great beauty when the sun shines on them
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 131 
 
 in a particular direction, and most probably 
 from this glittering appearance have derived 
 the name of the Shining Mountains." 
 
 During his explorations of the country around 
 the falls Captain Lewis visited a remarkable and 
 beautiful spring, near the present city of Great 
 Falls. Montana. Of it he writes : 
 
 *' The fountain, which perhaps is the largest in 
 America, is situated in a pleasant level plain, 
 about twenty-five yards from the river, into 
 which it falls over some steep irregular rocks, 
 with a sudden descent of about six feet in one 
 part of its course. The water boils up from 
 among the rocks with such force near the centre, 
 that the surface seems higher than the earth on 
 the sides of the fountain, which is a handsome 
 turf of fine green grass." 
 
 While the main party was making the portage, 
 a detachment was " occupied in fitting up a boat 
 of skins, the iron frame of which, thirty-six feet 
 long, had been prepared for the purpose at Har- 
 per's Ferry. The iron frame is to be covered 
 with skins, and requires thin-shaved strips of 
 wood for lining. The skins necessary to cover 
 it have already been prepared — twenty-eight elk 
 and four buffalo skins." This experimental boat 
 proved to be a total failure, and it was not till 
 Lewis's long journey was nearly over that he 
 copied the skin boat of the Indian squaws, which 
 had excited his surprise, and found that the 
 methods of the locality could be followed with 
 advantage in navigation as well as otherwise. 
 
 As the six canoes were insufficient to carry
 
 132 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 all their men and supplies, Clark was sent ahead 
 to find suitable wood for two more, there being 
 no fit trees below the falls. With much difficulty 
 trees were found, and two canoes, three feet wide 
 
 Lieutenant William Clark. 
 
 and twenty-five and thirty-three feet long re- 
 spectively, were fashioned. Near here a de- 
 serted Indian lodge or council house was seen. 
 It was two hundred and sixteen feet in circum- 
 ference, made of sixteen cottonwood poles, fifty 
 feet long, converging toward the centre, where
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 133 
 
 they were united and secured by large withes of 
 sinewy willow. 
 
 Although the swivel and some other articles had 
 been cached at the head of the falls, their loads 
 were yet very heavy, and all walked except those 
 engaged in working the canoe. The windings 
 of the river became very tortuous, and frequent 
 rapids made their progress correspondingly slow 
 and laborious. 
 
 Game was less plentiful, and, as it was neces- 
 sary to save the dried and concentrated food for 
 the crossing of the mountains, it became some- 
 what of a task to provide food for a party of 
 thirty-two which consumed a quantity of meat 
 daily equal to an elk and deer, four deer or one 
 buffalo. Fortunately, the berries were now ri- 
 pening, and, as they grew in great quantities, 
 proved a not inconsiderable contribution to their 
 food-supply. Of currants there were red, pur- 
 ple, yellow, and black, all pleasant to the taste ; 
 the yellow being thought superior to any other 
 known variety. The purple service-berry and 
 pinkish gooseberry were also favorites. Besides, 
 they made use of the very abundant and almost 
 omnipresent sunflower. Of it Lewis says : " The 
 Indians of the Missouri, more especially those 
 who do not cultivate maize, make great use 
 of the seed of this plant for bread or in thick- 
 ening their soup. They first parch and then 
 pound it between two stones until it is reduced 
 to a fine meal. Sometimes they add a portion 
 of water, and drink it thus diluted ; at other 
 times they add a sufficient proportion of marrow
 
 134 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 grease to reduce it to the consistency of com- 
 mon dough and eat it in that manner. This last 
 composition we preferred to all the rest, and 
 thought it at that time a very palatable dish." 
 
 The Missouri now took in general a southerly 
 course, and on July i8th they reached a bold 
 clear stream, which was named Dearborn River 
 for the then Secretary of War. They had in- 
 tended to send back a small party in canoes with 
 despatches, but as they had not met the Snake 
 Indians, and so were uncertain as to their friend- 
 liness, it was thought best not to weaken their al- 
 ready small party for hostilities. Lewis decided, 
 however, to send Clark, with three men, in ad- 
 vance to open up communication with these Ind- 
 ians and, if possible, to negotiate for horses. 
 Clark's journey was a failure, for the Indians, 
 alarmed at the firing of a gun, fled into the 
 mountains. 
 
 The mountains now closed in on the explorers 
 and they camped one night at a place named the 
 Gates of the Rocky Mountains. " For five and 
 three-quarter miles these rocks rise perpendic- 
 ularly from the water's edge to the height of 
 nearly twelve hundred feet. They are composed 
 of black granite near the base, but . . . we 
 suppose the upper part to be flint of a yellow- 
 ish brown and cream color. Nothing can be 
 imagined more tremendous than the frowning 
 blackness of these rocks, which project over the 
 river and threaten us with destruction . . . 
 For the first three miles there is not a spot, ex- 
 cept one of a few yards, in which a man could
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 135 
 
 Stand between the water and the towering per- 
 pendicular of the mountains." 
 
 On July 25th Clark, who was in advance, 
 reached the three forks of the Missouri, where he 
 had to camp, his party worn out, their feet full 
 of prickly pear needles and Chaboneau unable to 
 go farther. The forks were all clear pebbly 
 streams, discharging large amounts of water. 
 The southeast fork was named Gallatin, the mid- 
 dle Madison, and the southwest Jefferson, the lat- 
 ter two, of equal size, being larger branches than 
 the Gallatin. 
 
 At the three forks Sacajawea, the wife of Cha- 
 boneau, was encamped five years before, when 
 the Minnetarees of Knife River attacked the 
 Snakes, killed about a dozen and made prisoners 
 of her and others of her tribe. Strangely enough 
 Chaboneau nearly lost his life crossing the Mad- 
 ison, where Clark saved him from drowning. 
 Lewis was struck with the seeming indifference 
 of the Snake woman on her return to the spot 
 and her own country. 
 
 The party followed Jefferson River, their jour- 
 ney being marked by the killing of a panther 
 seven and a half feet long, and the overturning 
 of a canoe, injuring one of the party, White- 
 house, losing some articles, and wetting others, 
 but the all-important powder was so well packed 
 that it remained dry. 
 
 " Persuaded," says the narrative, " of the neces- 
 sity of securing horses to cross the mountains, it 
 was determined that one of us should proceed 
 . . . till he found the Shoshones, . . . who could
 
 136 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 assist us in transporting our baggage." Captain 
 Lewis with three men preceded, and on August 1 1 , 
 saw " with the greatest delight a man on horse- 
 back, at the distance of two miles, coming down 
 the plain toward them. On examining him with 
 the glass. Captain Lewis saw that he was armed 
 with a bow and a quiver of arrows ; mounted on an 
 elegant horse without a saddle, and a small string 
 attached to the under jaw answered as a bridle. 
 Convinced that he was a Shoshonee, and knowing 
 how much of our success depended on the friendly 
 offices of that nation, Captain Lewis was full of 
 anxiety to approach without alarming him, and 
 endeavor to convince him that he was a white 
 man. He therefore proceeded on towards the 
 Indian at his usual pace; when they were within 
 a mile of each other the Indian suddenly stopped. 
 Captain Lewis immediately followed his example, 
 took his blanket from his knapsack, and holding 
 it with both hands at the four corners, threw it 
 above his head and unfolded it as he brought 
 it to the ground, as if in the act of spreading it. 
 This signal, which originates in the act of spread- 
 ing a robe or skin as a seat for guests to whom 
 they wish to show a distinguished kindness, is 
 the universal sign of friendship among the Indians 
 on the Missouri and Rocky Mountains." Un- 
 fortunately, the brave took alarm at the move- 
 ment of Lewis's companions and fled. The next 
 day brought them to the head-waters of the Jef- 
 ferson. Here, " from the foot of one of the lowest 
 of these mountains, which rises with a gentle as- 
 cent for about half a mile, issues the remotest
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 137 
 
 water of the Missouri. They had now reached 
 the hidden sources of that river, which had never 
 yet been seen by civilized man ; and as they 
 quenched their thirst at the chaste and icy fount- 
 ain — as they sat down by the brink of that little 
 rivulet, which yielded its distant and modest 
 tribute to the parent ocean, they felt themselves 
 rewarded for all their labors and all their diffi- 
 culties." 
 
 Pushing on they soon saw, to the west, high, 
 snow-topped mountains. 
 
 " The ridge on which they stood formed the 
 dividing line between the waters of the Atlantic 
 and Pacific Oceans. They followed a descent 
 much steeper than that on the eastern side, and 
 at the distance of three quarters of a mile reached 
 a handsome, bold creek of cold, clear water run- 
 ning to the westward. They stopped to taste for 
 the first time the waters of the Columbia, and, 
 after a few minutes, followed the road across 
 steep hills and low hollows, till they reached a 
 spring on the side of a mountain. Here they 
 found a sufficient quantity of dry willow brush 
 for fuel, and therefore halted for the night, and, 
 having killed nothing in the course of the day, 
 supped on their last piece of pork, and trusted to 
 fortune for some other food to mix with a little 
 flour and parched meal, which was all that now 
 remained of their provisions." 
 
 In the early morn of August 13, Lewis hastened 
 impatiently forward without food, and after a few 
 hours of travel saw three Indians; but they fled. 
 A little later he surprised three women, and sue-
 
 13S EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 ceeded in reaching two, who covered their heads 
 and awaited in silence their expected death. 
 Showing them that he was a white man, and 
 giving them trinkets, they were reassured and 
 recalled their comrade, when he painted their 
 cheeks with vermilion, a Shoshone custom em- 
 blematic of peace. 
 
 The women pointed out the direction of camp, 
 and Lewis, marching on, soon saw a band of sixty 
 well-mounted Indian warriors riding full speed 
 toward him and his two companions. With 
 perfect composure and undaunted courage Lewis 
 laid down his rifle, and alone marched forward to 
 parley with this horde of unknown savages, re- 
 lying on the integrity and uprightness of his 
 mission. Received with the greatest cordiality, 
 Lewis at once smoked a pipe of peace with them, 
 and after giving them some blue beads and ver- 
 milion went to their camp. 
 
 On arrival he was inducted into a council lodge 
 and seated on a robe, when a fire was kindled. 
 " The chief then produced his pipe and tobacco, 
 the warriors pulled off their moccasins, and our 
 party were requested to take off their own. This 
 being done, the chief lighted his pipe at the fire 
 within the magic circle, and then retreating from 
 it, began a speech several minutes long, at the 
 end of which he pointed the stem toward the 
 four cardinal points of the heavens, beginning 
 with the east and concluding with the north." 
 
 By this time the day was well spent, and no 
 food of any kind had passed the lips of Lewis 
 and his men since the previous day. On learn-
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 139 
 
 ing this the chief told him that they only had 
 cakes made of sun-dried service- and choke- 
 berries, which served as a hearty meal to the 
 hungry men. Later an Indian gave Lewis a 
 piece of antelope and a bit of salmon, which sat- 
 isfied him that he was now on the waters of the 
 Columbia. 
 
 The next day they had an experience of the 
 Indian mode of hunting, which is thus described : 
 " The chief game of the Shoshonees is the an- 
 telope, which, when pursued, retreats to the 
 open plains, where the horses have full room 
 for the chase. But such is its extraordinary 
 fleetness and wind, that a single horse has 
 no chance of outrunning it or tiring it down, 
 and the hunters are therefore obliged to resort 
 to stratagem. About twenty Indians, mounted on 
 fine horses and armed with bows and arrows, 
 left camp. In a short time they descried a herd 
 of antelopes; they immediately separated into lit- 
 tle squads of two or three, and formed a scattered 
 circle round the herd for five or six miles, keeping 
 at a wary distance, so as not to alarm them till 
 they were perfectly enclosed, and usually select- 
 ing some commanding eminence as a stand. 
 Having gained their positions, a small party rode 
 toward the herd, and with wonderful dexterity 
 the huntsman preserved his seat, and the horse 
 his footing, as he ran at full speed over the hills 
 and down the steep ravines and along the bor- 
 ders of the precipices. They were soon out- 
 stripped by the antelopes, which, on gaining 
 the other extremity of the circle, were driven
 
 140 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 back and pursued by the fresh hunters. They 
 turned and flew, rather than ran, in another 
 direction ; but there, too, they found new ene- 
 mies. In this way they were alternately pur- 
 sued backward and forward, till at length, not- 
 withstanding the skill of the hunters, they all 
 escaped ; and the party, after running for two 
 hours, returned without having caught anything, 
 and their horses foaming with sweat. This chase, 
 the greater part of which was seen from the camp, 
 formed a beautiful scene ; but to the hunters 
 is exceedingly laborious, and so unproductive, 
 even when they are able to worry the animal 
 down and shoot him, that forty or fifty hunt- 
 ers will sometimes be engaged for half a day 
 without obtaining more than two or three ante- 
 lopes." 
 
 Captain Lewis succeeded with great difficulty 
 in persuading the band of Shoshones to pass 
 over the divide in order to assist in bringing 
 his impedimenta across. The presence of a 
 Shoshone woman, the monstrosity of a man en- 
 tirely black, favorable barter for their horses 
 were urged ; in short he played on their avarice, 
 curiosity, tribal pride, and by questioning their 
 courage succeeded in stimulating them to make 
 the journey. 
 
 It transpired that Cameahwait, the Shoshone 
 chief, was the brother of Sacajawea, and one of 
 the Shoshone women, now in camp, had been 
 for some time prisoner with her in the hands of 
 the Minnetarees. The meeting of these Indians 
 after long separation disclosed such emotion as
 
 Castle Rock, on the Columbia River.
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 141 
 
 proved their tender feelings and genuine inter- 
 est in each other. 
 
 A long and tedious council was held, with the 
 usual smoke and speeches. Lewis set forth in 
 lively terms the strength of the government, the 
 advantages of trade, and the importance of hasten- 
 ing the day of fire-arms and supplies by facilitat- 
 ing the journey. Meanwhile they were amused, 
 as the Indian must be, by the queer negro, the 
 sagacious and well-trained dog, the rifles, the air- 
 gun, clothing, canoes, etc. All game brought 
 in was divided; the Indians feasted on hulled 
 corn, and presents were liberally distributed. 
 
 The good-will of the Shoshones was finally 
 secured, and four horses purchased by barter ; 
 so that Lewis was to send Clark ahead to recon- 
 noitre the route along the Columbia, and build 
 canoes if possible, which the Indians declared to 
 be impracticable, as timber was wanting, and the 
 river and mountains impassable. They said that 
 for seven days the route lay over steep, rocky 
 mountains, with no game and only roots for food ; 
 then for ten days an arid sandy desert, where 
 men and horses would perish for want of food 
 and water. On inquiry, Clark learned that Nez 
 Perces came from the west by a very bad road 
 towards the north, where they suffered exces- 
 sively from hunger and travel. Believing that 
 difficulties surmountable to Indians with women 
 and children could not be formidable, Clark 
 pushed on with a guide, but soon found that the 
 Indian accounts had not been exaggerated, as he 
 fell in with the points of four mountains, which
 
 142 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 were rocky, and so high that it seemed almost 
 impossible to cross them with horses. The road 
 lay over sharp fragments of broken rock which 
 had fallen from the mountains and were strewed 
 in heaps for miles together. 
 
 Occasionally he met small parties of Indians, 
 who, in wretched plight themselves, yet acted 
 most generously, giving him, as he says, willing- 
 ly what little they possessed, which was usually 
 a few dried berries and a bit of salmon, never 
 enough to entirely appease the hunger of his 
 famished men. Clark says: 
 
 " Our men, who are used to hardships, but have 
 been accustomed to have the first wants of nat- 
 ure regularly supplied, feel very sensibly their 
 wretched situation ; their strength is wasting 
 away ; they begin to express an apprehension of 
 being without food in a country perfectly desti- 
 tute of any means of supporting life, except a 
 few fish." 
 
 Clark's explorations showed that it was impos- 
 sible to follow the river, to which he gave the 
 name of Lewis, as he was the first white man 
 to visit its waters, either by canoe or along its 
 banks on horses. The mountains were one bar- 
 ren surface of broken masses of rock which 
 crowded into the river, where the stream pre- 
 sented either continuous rapids or series of 
 shoals. 
 
 Meanwhile, Lewis moved his necessary bag- 
 gage to the Shoshone village, previously cach- 
 ing his surplus baggage and sinking his canoes 
 for safety. As a rule the Indians were most
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 143 
 
 friendly, but during a hunting expedition a young 
 brave snatched up his rifle and made off with it. 
 Drewyer pursued him ten miles, and overtaking 
 the women of the party, watched his opportunity, 
 and seeing the Indian off his guard, galloped up 
 to him and seized his rifle. The Indian struggled 
 for some time, but finding Drewyer getting too 
 strong for him, had the presence of mind to open 
 the pan and let the priming fall out ; he then let 
 go his hold, and giving his horse the whip, 
 escaped at full speed, leaving the women at the 
 mercy of the conqueror. 
 
 Considerable time was spent in making need- 
 ful preparations for crossing the mountains and 
 in negotiating for horses, of which they obtained 
 twenty-nine — young, vigorous animals, though in 
 poor flesh and with sore backs. 
 
 This necessary delay gave Lewis ample oppor- 
 tunity to observe the habits and modes of life of 
 the Shoshones, which are especially interesting as 
 the record of an Indian tribe before it had come 
 in contact with the white men. The Shoshones, 
 or Snakes, who here number four hundred souls, 
 lived a migratory, wretched existence, seeking 
 at one season the salmon of Lewis River, at an- 
 other the buffalo of the upper Missouri, and again 
 in the mountains barely maintaining life on roots. 
 They were, however, gay, frank, fair-dealing, hon- 
 est, fond of ornaments, amusements, and games 
 of chance, kind and obliging, and somewhat given 
 to boasting of their warlike exploits. The narra- 
 tive continues: "The mass of females are con- 
 demned, as finiong all savage nations, to the low-
 
 144 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS. 
 
 est and most laborious drudgery. When the 
 tribe is stationary they collect the roots and 
 cook ; they build the huts, dress the skins, and 
 make clothing, collect the wood, and assist in 
 taking care of the horses on the route ; they load 
 the horses, and have charge of all the baggage. 
 The only business of the man is to fight : he there- 
 fore takes on himself the care of his horse, the 
 companion of his warfare, but he will descend to 
 no other labor than to hunt and to fish." 
 
 Their inferior arms put them at the mercy of 
 the Minnetarees of Knife River, who mercilessly 
 stole their horses and killed their braves. They 
 seemed an adventurous and courageous people, 
 and Cameahwait's vehement declaration that, 
 with guns, they would never fear to meet their 
 enemies, did not seem boastful. 
 
 Their common arms are bow and arrow, 
 shield, lance, and a weapon called by the Chip- 
 peways, by whom it was formerly used, the pog- 
 gamoggon. 
 
 Their method of producing fire was by an 
 arrow and a dry prepared stick, which, being 
 rubbed together vigorously and dexterously for a 
 few minutes, first creates a fine dust, then bursts 
 speedily into flame. 
 
 The great wealth of the tribe consists in large 
 numbers of small, wiry, and hardy horses, capa- 
 ble of great endurance, sure footed and fleet. 
 They were second in value to the women alone, 
 who carried the baggage when horses failed. 
 
 The Shoshones were well dressed, with shirts, 
 leggings, and moccasins of dressed deer, antelope,
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 145 
 
 etc., skins. A robe with the hair on served as a 
 cloak or as a bed-covering ; the shirts were orna- 
 mented with porcupine quills of different colors 
 and sometimes by beads, also the moccasins. 
 Elaborate tippets of elegant pattern were also 
 worn, made of otter and fringed with many 
 ermine skins; also collars of various kinds of 
 sea-shells, of the sweet-scented grass, of tusks of 
 the elk, and of the claws of the grizzly bear. 
 
 " The names of the Indians vary in the course 
 of their life. Originally given in childhood from 
 the mere necessity of distinguishing objects, or 
 from some accidental resemblance to external 
 objects, the young warrior is impatient to change 
 it by something of his own achievement. Any 
 important event, the stealing of a horse, the 
 scalping of an enemy, or killing a brown bear, 
 entitles him at once to a new name, which he 
 then selects for himself, and it is confirmed by 
 the nation." 
 
 Everything ready, Lewis started on ^August 
 27, 1805, with twenty-nine pack-horses, to follow 
 Berry Creek and pass over the mountains to In- 
 dian establishments on another branch of the 
 Columbia. In many places a road had to be cut, 
 and even then was barely practicable. Sure footed 
 as is the Indian pony, yet all of the horses were 
 very much injured in passing over the steep 
 rocky ridges. The way was so rough that the 
 horses fell repeatedly down the hillsides, often 
 capsizing with their load, and occasionally one 
 was crippled and disabled. The journey was 
 made yet more disagreeable by a fall of snow 
 10
 
 146 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 and by severe freezing weather, but the spirit of 
 the party is shown by the mention of a " serious 
 misfortune, the last of our thermometers being 
 broken." On September 6th, however, they 
 were safely beyond the mountain in a wide val- 
 ley at the head of Clark's Fork of the Columbia, 
 where they met about four hundred Ootlashoots, 
 who received them kindly and gave to them of 
 their only food, berries and roots. Following the 
 river they reached Travellers' Rest Creek, where 
 they stopped for hunting, as they were told the 
 country before them had no game for a great 
 distance. Game proved to be so scanty that they 
 moved onward, crossing to the Kooskooskee, 
 where, being without animal food, they killed a 
 colt for supper. Snow fell again, which would 
 not have been so uncomfortable had not their 
 road fallen along steep hillsides, obstructed with 
 dead timber where not covered with living trees, 
 from which the snow fell on them as they passed, 
 keeping them continually wet while the weath- 
 er was freezing. The road continued difficult. 
 Game was wanting, and as they marched they 
 killed one after another of their colts for food. 
 Their horses were becoming rapidly disabled ; 
 the allowance of food scarcely sufficed to check 
 their hunger; while the extreme bodily fatigue 
 of the march, and the dreary prospects before 
 them, began to dispirit the men. 
 
 Lewis, appreciating the gravity of the situa- 
 tion, sent Clark ahead, with six hunters, who the 
 next day was fortunate enough to kill a horse, on 
 which his party breakfasted and left the rest for
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 147 
 
 the main expedition. The country continued 
 rugged, and in some places the only road was a 
 narrow rocky path at the edge of very high prec- 
 ipices. One of their horses, slipping, rolled a 
 hundred feet, over and over, down a nearly per- 
 pendicular hill strewed with large rocks. All 
 expected he was killed, but he proved to be little 
 injured. Their enforced fasting visibly affected 
 the health of the party ; all lost flesh, grew weak, 
 and were troubled with skin eruptions, while 
 several were more seriously ill. 
 
 On September 20th, Clark reached a village of 
 the Chopunish or Nez Perces, in a beautiful level 
 valley, where he was kindly received and well fed. 
 Fish, roots, and berries were also obtained, which, 
 sent to Lewis, reached him eight miles out of 
 the village at a time when his party had been 
 without food for more than a day. When the 
 village was reached, the party was in a deplorable 
 condition through long fasting and the exhausting 
 fatigue of the march. 
 
 Purchasing from the Indians as much provi- 
 sions as their weakened horses could carry, they 
 moved on to the forks of the Snake, where 
 the party slowly recruited its health and 
 strength. They killed a horse for the sick, while 
 the party in general lived on dried fish and roots, 
 the latter causing violent pains in the stomach. 
 Five canoes were made, and as the men were 
 weak they adopted the Indian method of burn- 
 ing them out. The twelfth day saw their canoes 
 finished and loaded for the final journey, which 
 was to lead them to the sea. Lewis cached his
 
 148 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 saddles, the extra powder and ball, and branding 
 his remaining horses, delivered them to three 
 Indians, the principal named Twisted-hair, who 
 agreed to take good care of them till the return 
 of the party, when additional presents were to be 
 given for this service. 
 
 Their troubles now seemed to be over and they 
 were congratulating themselves on their safe 
 progress, when they struck a series of fifteen 
 rapids. When passing the last Sergeant Gass's 
 " canoe struck, and a hole being made in her side 
 she immediately filled and sank. Several men 
 who could not swim clung to the boat until 
 one of our canoes could be unloaded, and with 
 the assistance of an Indian boat they were all 
 brought ashore. All the goods were so much 
 wetted that we were obliged to halt for the night 
 and spread them out to dry. While all this was 
 exhibited, it was necessary to place two senti- 
 nels over the merchandise, for we found that the 
 Indians, though kind and disposed to give us aid 
 during our distress, could not resist the tempta- 
 tion of pilfering small articles." The Snake River 
 was in general very beautiful, but it was filled 
 with rapids, most of them difficult, and one 
 strewed with rocks, most hazardous. 
 
 Food failing, except fish and roots, they con- 
 cluded, probably at the suggestion of their 
 Frenchmen, to change their diet, and being again 
 reduced to fish and roots, made an experiment to 
 vary their food by purchasing a few dogs, and 
 after having been accustomed to horseflesh, felt 
 no disrelish to this new dish. The Chopunish
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 149 
 
 have great numbers of dogs, which they employ 
 for domestic purposes but never eat, and the 
 practice of using the flesh of that animal soon 
 brought the explorers into ridicule as dog-eaters. 
 " Fortunately, however," says Clark, " the habit 
 of using this animal has completely overcome the 
 repugnance which we felt at first, and the dog, 
 if not a favorite dish, is always an acceptable 
 one." Elsewhere he adds, " having been so long 
 accustomed to live on the flesh of dogs, the 
 greater part of us had acquired a fondness for 
 it, and our original aversion for it is overcome 
 by reflecting that on that food we were stronger 
 and in better health than at any period since 
 leaving the buffalo country." 
 
 They were now in Lewis River, a broad 
 greenish-blue stream filled with islands and dan- 
 gerous rapids, which were passed in canoes, ex- 
 cept one near the mouth, where a land portage 
 of a mile was necessary. This brought them to 
 the junction of the Lewis and Columbia Rivers on 
 October 17th, where they parted from the Nez 
 Perces. These Indians lead a painful, laborious 
 life, brightened by but few amusements ; are 
 healthy, comely, and generally well dressed ; giv- 
 en to ornaments of beads, sea-shells, feathers, and 
 paints. In winter they collect roots and hunt the 
 deer on snow-shoes, toward spring cross the 
 mountains to buy buffalo robes, and in summer 
 and autumn catch salmon, usually by weirs at the 
 rapids, in the following manner: "About the cen- 
 tre of each was placed a basket formed of wil- 
 lows, eighteen or twenty feet in length, of a cy-
 
 150 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 lindrical form and terminating in a conic shape at 
 its lower extremity. This was situated with its 
 mouth upward opposite to an aperture in the 
 weir. The main channel of the water was con- 
 ducted to this weir, and as the fish entered it 
 they were so entangled with each other that they 
 could not move, and were taken out by untying 
 the small end of the willow basket." 
 
 Here Lewis began to lay in stores, and, fish be- 
 ing out of season, purchased forty dogs, which 
 for weeks had proved to be the best food availa- 
 ble. On October 20th they again launched their 
 canoes in the Columbia, and pushed on through 
 the frequent rapids, looking forward with inter- 
 est not unmixed with anxiety to the great falls 
 of which the Indians told them. Arrived at the 
 head of the rapids, they made a portage of nearly 
 a mile, availing themselves of the assistance and 
 guidance of the Indians. Owing to the great 
 labor of portages they kept to the river when 
 possible, and " reached a pitch of the river, which, 
 being divided by two large rocks, descended 
 with great rapidity down a fall eight feet in 
 height. As the boats could not be navigated 
 down this steep descent, we were obliged to land 
 and let them down as slowly as possible by strong 
 ropes of elk-skin." They all passed in safety ex- 
 cept one, which, being loosed by the breaking of 
 the rope, was driven down, but was recovered by 
 the Indians below. 
 
 Finally they came to an extremely dangerous 
 place where a tremendous rock projected into 
 the river, leaving a channel of only forty-five
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 151 
 
 yards, through which the Columbia passed, its 
 waters thrown into whirlpools and great waves 
 of the wildest and most dangerous character. 
 As the portage of boats over this high rock was 
 impossible in their situation, Lewis resolved on a 
 passage in boats, relying on dexterous steering, 
 which carried them through safely, much to the 
 astonishment of the Indians gathered to watch 
 them. Another rapid was so bad that all papers, 
 guns, ammunition, and such men as could not 
 swim made a land portage, while Lewis and 
 Clark took the canoes through safely, two at a 
 time. The 25th brought them to the most dan- 
 gerous part of the narrows, which they con- 
 cluded to hazard by canoe after using precau- 
 tions as to valuable articles and men. The first 
 three canoes escaped very well, the fourth nearly 
 filled, the fifth passed through with only a small 
 quantity of water. 
 
 On the 28th Lewis was very much gratified by 
 seeing an Indian with a round hat and sailor's 
 jacket, which had come up the river by tratific ; 
 and as he went on similar articles became com- 
 mon. They passed a number of different tribes 
 who behaved in a friendly manner, and among 
 others the Eneeshur, at the great falls, inter- 
 ested them by their cooking utensils, which were 
 baskets so skilfully made of bark and grass as to 
 serve as vessels for boiling their provisions. 
 Some of the party were horrified, however, by 
 " the chief, who directed his wife to hand him his 
 medicine bag, from which he brought out four- 
 teen fore-fingers, which he told us had once be-
 
 152 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 longed to the same number of his enemies whom 
 he had killed in fighting." 
 
 On the 31st the}' came to the lower falls, where 
 the river narrowed to one hundred and fifty yards 
 and fell twenty feet in a distance of four hundred 
 yards, while below was another exceedingly bad 
 rapid. The upper rapid was so filled with rocks 
 that Crusatte, the principal waterman, thought 
 it impracticable, so a portage of four miles was 
 made over the route followed by the Indians. 
 "After their example, we carried our small canoe 
 and all the baggage across the slippery rocks to 
 the foot of the shoot. The four large canoes 
 were then brought down by slipping them along 
 poles placed from one rock to another, and in 
 some places by using partially streams which es- 
 caped alongside of the river. We were not, how- 
 ever, able to bring them across without three of 
 them receiving injuries which obliged us to stop 
 at the end of the shoot to repair them." 
 
 On November 2d, Lewis was intensely grati- 
 fied by the first appearance of tide-water, and 
 pushed on with the greatest eagerness until he 
 reached Diamond Island, where " we met fifteen 
 Indians ascending the river in two canoes ; but 
 the only information we could procure from 
 them was that they had seen three vessels, which 
 we presumed to be European, at the mouth of 
 the Columbia." 
 
 As he went on, small parties of Indians in 
 canoes were seen and many small villages, prin- 
 cipally of the Skilloots, who were friendly, well 
 disposed, desirous of traffic, and visited so fre-
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 153 
 
 quently as to be troublesome. One Indian, speak- 
 ing a little English, said that he traded with a 
 Mr. Haley. The weather had become foggy 
 and rainy, but on November y, 1805, while push- 
 ing down the river below a village of the Wah- 
 kiacums, the " fog cleared off and we enjoyed 
 the delightful prospect of the ocean — that ocean, 
 the object of all our labors, the reward of all our 
 anxieties. This cheering view exhilarated the 
 spirits of all the party, who were still more de- 
 lighted on hearing the distant roar of the break- 
 ers, and went on with great cheerfulness." 
 
 Lewis, not content with a sight of the ocean, 
 went on, determined to winter on the coast. A 
 severe storm forced him to land under a high 
 rocky cliff, where the party had scarcely room to 
 lie level or secure their baggage. It " blew al- 
 most a gale directly from the sea. The immense 
 waves now broke over the place where we were 
 encamped, and the large trees, some of them five 
 or six feet thick, which had lodged at the point, 
 were drifted over our camp, and the utmost vigi- 
 lance of every man could scarcely save our ca- 
 noes from being crushed to pieces. We remained 
 in the water and drenched with rain during the 
 rest of the day, our only food being some dried 
 fish and some rain-water which we caught. Yet, 
 though wet and cold and some of them sick 
 from using salt water, the men are cheerful and 
 full of anxiety to see more of the ocean." Here 
 they were confined six days, and the rain 
 had lasted ten days, wetting their merchan- 
 dise through, spoiling their store of dried fish,
 
 154 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 destroying and rotting their robes and leather 
 dresses. 
 
 A series of gales and long-continued rain did 
 not prevent Lewis and Clark from exploring the 
 country for a suitable place for winter quarters. 
 Lewis finally discovered a point of high land on 
 the river Neutel, where a permanent encamp- 
 ment was established which was called Fort 
 Clatsop. It was situated in a thick grove of 
 lofty pines several miles from the sea and well 
 above the highest tide. 
 
 The fort consisted of seven wooden huts, which 
 were covered in by the 20th of November and 
 later picketed, so as to afford ample security. 
 The party subsisted principally on elk, of which 
 they killed one hundred and thirty-one. Fish 
 and berries were much used in the early spring. 
 Salt was made in considerable quantities on the 
 sea-shore, and some blubber was secured from a 
 stranded whale, 105 feet in length. In general, 
 the winter passed without serious results, except 
 that the health of some of the men was impaired 
 by the almost constant rains, there being but 
 four days without rain in the first two months. 
 
 The conduct of the many Indian tribes with 
 whom they had communication was almost al- 
 ways friendly, and in only one or two cases did 
 even strange Indians from a distance show signs 
 of hostility. The northwest coast had been 
 visited so often that little could be added to the 
 knowledge of their customs and mode of life. 
 One comment of Lewis, is, however, worthy of 
 reproduction. " We have not observed any
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 155 
 
 liquor of an intoxicating quality used among 
 these or any Indians west of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, the universal beverage being pure water. 
 They sometimes almost intoxicate themselves by 
 smoking tobacco, of which they are excessively 
 fond, and the pleasure of which they prolong as 
 much as possible by retaining vast quantities at 
 a time, till after circulating through the lungs 
 and stomach, it issues in volumes from the 
 mouth and nostrils." 
 
 It appears surprising that Lewis was ignorant 
 of the discovery of the Columbia River by Cap- 
 tain Robert Gray, for he says that the name 
 Point Adams was given by Vancouver. Further, 
 he was ignorant of the fact that the trade at the 
 mouth of the Columbia was conducted almost 
 entirely by vessels from New England. From 
 the English phrases of the Indian, he knew that 
 the traders must be " either English or American," 
 and presumed " that they do not belong at any 
 establishment at Nootka Sound." 
 
 The original plan contemplated remaining at 
 Fort Clatsop until April, when Lewis expected to 
 renew his stock of merchandise from the traders 
 who yearly visited the Columbia by ship. Con- 
 stant rains, however, increased sickness among 
 his men, while game failed to such an extent that 
 they only lived from hand to mouth ; and as mer- 
 chandise lacked wherewith to buy food from the 
 Indians, it became necessary to return. On 
 departing, he left among the Indians a number 
 of notices setting forth briefly the results of his 
 expedition ; one of these, through an American
 
 156 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 trader, reached Boston via China in February, 
 1807, about six months after Lewis's own re- 
 turn. 
 
 On March 24, 1806, the party commenced to 
 retrace their long and dangerous route of 4,144 
 miles to St. Louis. Their guns were in good 
 order and the stock of ammunition plentiful, but 
 their entire stock of trading goods could be tied 
 up in a single blanket. 
 
 Detained by scarcity of fish, they discovered 
 the Multonah (Willamette) River which, hidden 
 by an island, was not seen on their downward 
 voyage. Lieutenant Clark went up the valley 
 some distance to Nechecole village, where he saw 
 an Indian house, all under one roof, 226 feet long. 
 
 Of the valley of the Willamette, Lewis re- 
 marks that it was the only desirable place of set- 
 tlement west of the Rocky Mountains, and it 
 was sufficiently fertile to support 50,000 souls. 
 He mentions its rich prairies, its fish, fowl, and 
 game, its useful plants and shrubs, its abundant 
 and valuable timber. 
 
 The conditions of the rapids below The Dalles 
 was such that one boat, fortunately empty, was 
 lost, and the upper rapids being impracticable, 
 they broke up or traded all their boats and 
 canoes but two, which were carried to the upper 
 river. They proceeded with the horses, that had 
 been purchased with the greatest difficulty. Brat- 
 ton, too ill to walk, being on horseback, and on 
 April 27th reached a village of the Wallawallas, 
 near the mouth of Snake or Lewis River. Here 
 they were so well received that Lewis says : " Of
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 157 
 
 all the Indians whom we have met since leaving 
 the United States, the Wallawallas were the 
 most hospitable, honest, and sincere." 
 
 Their horses recruited to twenty-three head, 
 cheered by information of a new route which 
 would save eighty miles, and with Wallawalla 
 guides, they moved in early May up the valley 
 of Snake or Lewis River, and finding it too early 
 to cross the mountains, encamped in the forko 
 of the Kooskoosky, having meanwhile received 
 back from their savage friend Twisted-hair their 
 thirty-eight horses intrusted to his care the pre- 
 vious year. Their journey by land was marked 
 by great scarcity of food, which was roots or 
 dog, except when the officers, practicing medi- 
 cine for sick Indians, obtained horses for food. 
 The use of dog, which was now very palatable, 
 caused derision among the Indians. On one oc- 
 casion an Indian threw a half-starved puppy into 
 Lewis's plate, with laughter, which turned to 
 chagrin when Lewis flung the animal with great 
 force into the savage's face and threatened to 
 brain him with a tomahawk. The Indians lived 
 almost entirely on fish during the salmon season, 
 and on roots the rest of the year. Their houses 
 were collected under one roof, with many apart- 
 ments, and two were seen each about one hun- 
 dred and fifty feet long. The difficulties of 
 communicating with the Chopunnish were very 
 great, and if errors occurred it was not astonish- 
 ing. Lewis spoke in English, which was trans- 
 lated by one of the men in French to Chaboncau, 
 who repeated it in Minnetaree to his wife. She
 
 158 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 put it into Shoshonee to a prisoner, who trans- 
 lated it into Chopunnish dialect. 
 
 An attempt in earl)' June to cross the moun- 
 tains failed, the snow being ten feet deep on a 
 level. On June 24th they started again, and with 
 great privations succeeded in following their 
 trail of the previous September across the Bitter- 
 root Mountains to Traveller's-rest Creek, on 
 Clark Fork, which was reached June 30th. 
 
 Here the party divided in order to thoroughly 
 explore different portions of the country. Lewis 
 took the most direct route to the great falls of 
 the Missouri, whence he was to explore Maria's 
 River to 50° N. latitude. Clark proceeded to 
 the head of Jefferson River, down which Ser- 
 geant Ordway was to go in the canoes cached 
 there. Clark himself was to cross by the short- 
 est route to the Yellowstone, and building canoes, 
 descend to its mouth and rejoin the main party 
 at that point. 
 
 Lewis went into the Maria's River country, 
 but was unable to proceed far through lack 
 of game. He there fell in with a band of Minne- 
 tarees, who attempted to steal his arms and 
 horses, which resulted in a skirmish wherein two 
 Indians were killed, the only deaths by violence 
 during the expedition. Then turning to the 
 mouth of the Maria's River, they were rejoined 
 by Ordway 's party, and on August 7th reached 
 the mouth of the Yellowstone, where a note from 
 Clark informed them of his safe arrival and camp- 
 ing place a few miles below. 
 
 Clark had explored portions of the valleys of
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 159 
 
 the Jefferson, Gallatin, and Madison, and had 
 prescience of the wonders of the Yellowstone in 
 a boiling-hot spring discovered at the head of 
 Wisdom River. His journey to Clark's fork of 
 the Yellowstone was made with comfort and 
 safet}-, but there an accident to one of his men 
 obliged him to make canoes, during which delay 
 the Indians stole twenty-four of his horses. 
 
 As Lewis descended the Missouri he saw that 
 the tide of travel and adventure was already 
 following in his track, and two daring lUinoisans, 
 Dickson and Hancock, were at the mouth of the 
 Yellowstone on a hunting trip. Rapidly de- 
 scending the river the 23d of September saw the 
 party safe at St. Louis, the initial point of their 
 great and eventful expedition. 
 
 The great continental journey to and fro, from 
 ocean to ocean, across barren deserts, through 
 dangerous waterways, over snow-clad mountains, 
 among savage and unknown tribes, had been 
 accomplished with a success unparalleled in the 
 world of modern adventure and exploration. 
 
 This expedition was fraught with successful 
 results second to none other ever undertaken in 
 the United States. The extent, fertility, and 
 possibilities of the great trans-Mississippi were 
 made known, the possibility of crossing the 
 American continent was demonstrated, the loca- 
 tion of the great rivers and of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains determined, the general good-will of the in- 
 terior Indians proved, and the practicability of 
 trade and intercourse established. Furthermore, 
 conjoined with the discovery of the Columbia by
 
 160 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Gray, it laid the foundations of a claim which, con- 
 firmed by settlement and acknowledged by Great 
 Britain, gave the United States its first foothold 
 on the Pacific coast, and ultimately secured to 
 the American nation not only the magnificent 
 States of Oregon and Washington, but also the 
 golden vales and mountains of California. 
 
 Well might Jefferson declare that " never did 
 a similar event (their successful return) excite 
 more joy through the United States. The hum- 
 blest of its citizens had taken a lively interest in 
 the issue of this journey." 
 
 Clark was an able and faithful assistant to the 
 unfortunate Lewis, who did not live to write the 
 full story of the expedition. It seems, however, 
 that the disposition in some quarters to regard 
 Clark as the man to whom the success of the ex- 
 pedition was in greater part due, finds no justi- 
 fication in a careful perusal of the narratives. 
 So great a work was enough glory for the two 
 men, the commander and the assistant. 
 
 Clark's future career must be considered some- 
 what of a disappointment. During his absence 
 he was promoted to be a first lieutenant of ar- 
 tillery, and on his return was nominated by 
 Jefferson to be lieutenant-colonel of the Second 
 Infantry ; but the Senate, by a vote of twenty to 
 nine, declined to confirm him, and he resigned 
 his commission as lieutenant February 27, 1807. 
 Later he was an Indian agent and a brigadier- 
 general of the militia for the territory of upper 
 Louisiana, with station at St. Louis. In 1812 
 he declined an appointment as brigadier-gen-
 
 CAPTAIN LEWIS AND LIEUT. CLARK 161 
 
 eral, and the opportunity of having Hull's com- 
 mand — a declination which was an injury to his 
 country if he had the military ability attributed 
 to him. Madison appointed him Governor of 
 the Territory of Missouri, which office he filled 
 from 1813 to the admission of Missouri as a State 
 in 1 82 1. Contrary to his wishes, he was nomi- 
 nated for the first governor, but failed of election. 
 Monroe, in May, 1822, appointed him Superin- 
 tendent of Indian Affairs, with station at St. 
 Louis, which ofifice he filled until his death, Sep- 
 tember I, 1838. 
 
 Captain Lewis did not live to long enjoy 
 the honors that he had so bravely won. He 
 reached Washington the middle of February, 
 1807, when Congress, which was in session, made 
 to both leaders and men the donation of lands 
 which they had been encouraged to expect as 
 some reward for their toil and danger. 
 
 The President considered the discoveries of 
 sufficient importance to present them to Con- 
 gress in a special message, on Februar}- 19, 1806, 
 and in appreciation of Captain Lewis's valuable 
 services, immediately appointed him to be Gov- 
 ernor of Louisiana, which office Lewis accepted, 
 resigning for that purpose from the army on 
 March 4, 1807. 
 
 Of the civil services of Governor Lewis, Jeffer- 
 son says : " He found the Territory distracted 
 by feuds and contentions among the officers, and 
 the people divided into factions. . . . He 
 used every endeavor to conciliate and harmon- 
 ize. . . . The even-handed justice he admin- 
 II
 
 162 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 istered to all soon established a respect for his 
 person and authority." 
 
 While on the way to Washington, in Septem- 
 ber, 1 809, Governor Lewis, in a fit of derangement, 
 killed himself, thus, to quote again from Jeffer- 
 son, " depriving his country of one of her most 
 valued citizens," who endeared himself to his 
 countrymen by " his sufferings and successes, in 
 endeavoring to extend for them the bounds of 
 science, and to present to their knowledge that 
 vast and fertile country, which their sons are 
 destined to fill with arts, with science, with free- 
 dom, and happiness." Surely posterity will de- 
 clare that Meriwether Lewis lived not in vain. 
 
 Buffalo Skull
 
 VI. 
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE, 
 
 Explorer of the Sources of the Mississippi 
 AND Arkansas Rivers. 
 
 The trans-continental expedition of Captain 
 Lewis and Lieutenant Clark was only a part of the 
 comprehensive plan of Jefferson, which looked 
 to the acquiring of definite and precise informa- 
 tion concerning not only the extreme Northwest 
 Territory, but also of the entire trans-Mississippi 
 regions, whereon might be based intelligent ac- 
 tion, so as to insure to the citizens of the United 
 States the greatest benefits of internal trade and 
 commerce. It was surmised that the adventu- 
 rous and enterprising traders of the Hudson Bay, 
 or Northwest Company, had encroached on the 
 valuable hunting grounds near the sources of 
 the Missouri and Mississippi rivers ; while to 
 the southwest the secretive and jealous policy of 
 Spain had so well guarded its limited geograph- 
 ical knowledge, that the United States was in 
 such utter ignorance of its newly acquired ter- 
 ritory that it was impossible to even outline 
 a definite proposition for the determination of 
 exact boundary lines between Louisiana and the 
 province of New Spain. 
 
 The obtaining of information for the solution 
 of these problems was intrusted, in the order
 
 164 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 named, to a young and promising officer of the 
 regular army, Zebulon Montgomery Pike, then a 
 first lieutenant and paymaster in the First regi- 
 ment of Infantry. Pike was of military stock, as 
 his father, Zebulon Pike, had served as a captain 
 in the war of the Revolution, and even then a 
 major of his son's regiment was destined to live 
 to see that son fall as a general officer. The son, 
 born at Lamberton, N. J., aspired early to mil- 
 itary life, and from a cadet in the ranks rose 
 through the grades regularly. 
 
 I. The Sources of the Mississippi. 
 
 In 1805 the governor of Louisiana was James 
 Wilkinson, a brigadier-general in, and com- 
 mander-in-chief of, the army of the United States, 
 who was then stationed at St. Louis. Pike ap- 
 pears to have been considered by Wilkinson as 
 an officer well suited to obtain definite informa- 
 tion about this vast territory, and consequently 
 Lieutenant Pike, with twenty enlisted men, was 
 furnished provisions for four months, and, under 
 orders to visit the sources of the Mississippi, left 
 St. Louis in a large flat-boat, at about the worst 
 season of the year, on August 9, 1805. 
 
 The first experiences were not encouraging, 
 for the crew, through inexperience or ill-luck, 
 developed a faculty of picking up sawyers, or 
 submerged trees, which on one occasion stove 
 the boat so badly that, half-sinking, she was 
 dragged with difficulty on a shoal where the 
 baggage could be dried and the boat repaired.
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 165 
 
 Here and there along the river were seen small 
 bands of Indians, and in due time the village of 
 the Sacs was reached at the head of the Des 
 Moines rapids. The Sac chiefs, assembled in 
 
 General Z. M Pike. 
 
 council, were told that their great and new father 
 had sent one of his young warriors to their na- 
 tion, in the lately acquired territory of Louis- 
 iana, to inquire as to their wants, to give them 
 good advice, to make peace, and to locate, ac- 
 cording to their wishes and needs, trading estab-
 
 166 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 lishments and posts. The Indians answered 
 acceptably, but appeared to appreciate the pres- 
 ents of knives, whiskey, and tobacco more than 
 the speech. Vague rumors obtained as to the 
 value and importance of the lead mine near, be- 
 low Turkey River, but Mr. Dubuque, the pro- 
 prietor, was too shrewd for the young officer, and 
 to his inquiries said that information as to the 
 grant, etc., was in St. Louis, that he made from 
 ten to twenty tons of lead yearly, and gave 
 equally indefinite answers to other questions. 
 A journey of four weeks from St. Louis brought 
 Pike to Prairie-du-Chien, then the only place 
 settled by white men in the whole valley of the 
 Mississippi above St. Louis. Originally occupied 
 by three Frenchmen, Giard, Antaya, and Du- 
 buque, in 1783, it was now a scattered settlement 
 of thirty-seven houses, with about three hundred 
 and seventy whites. The Wisconsin River, 
 which here joins the Mississippi, was yet the 
 great line of communication between the great 
 lakes and the entire valley from St. Louis north- 
 ward, all goods and furs passing to and fro over 
 the route first traced by Joliet in his adventurous 
 voyage of discovery in 1673. At Prairie-du- 
 Chien the Indians assembled each autumn for 
 the annual trade or fair, and every spring the 
 Indian traders here paused in their western 
 journey before plunging into the savage wilder- 
 ness. Both these occasions, it is needless to say, 
 furnished frequent scenes of violence and dissi- 
 pation. 
 
 Unable to get his large barge above the rapids
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 167 
 
 at Prairie-dii-Chien, Pike hired other boats above 
 the falls and proceeded, his party augmented by 
 an interpreter, Pierre Roseau, and Mr. Fraser, a 
 trader who was going to the Falls of St. An- 
 thony on business. 
 
 A short distance above Prairie-du-Chien, Pike 
 had a council with the Sioux, who evidently 
 were recovering from a feast, and here he saw a 
 religious pufT dance, " the performance of which 
 was attended with many curious manoeuvres. 
 Men and women danced indiscriminately. They 
 were all dressed in the gayest manner ; all had 
 in their hands a small skin of some description, 
 and would frequently run up, point their skin, 
 and give a puff with their breath ; when the 
 person blown at, whether man or woman, would 
 fall and appear to be almost lifeless, or in great 
 agony; but would recover slowly, rise, and join 
 in the dance. This they called their great medi- 
 cine." 
 
 Tobacco, knives, vermilion, and whiskey ce- 
 mented the good feeling, the eight gallons of 
 whiskey being more show than reality ; for it ap- 
 pears from the context to have been three-fourths 
 water, and probably was of the kind which Pike 
 elsewhere called " made whiskey." 
 
 The uncertain weather of Lake Pepin nearly 
 shipwrecked the boats, which reached the Sioux 
 village at the junction of the Mississippi and St. 
 Peters, or Minnesota, on September nth. Here 
 a council was held with the Sioux, wherein two of 
 the chiefs formally signed away a square league 
 of land at the Falls of St. Anthony. The true
 
 168 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 value of their signatures may be estimated from 
 Pike's letter to General Wilkinson, wherein he 
 says : " I had to fee privately two (doubtless 
 the signers) of the chiefs, and besides that, to 
 make them presents at the council." In addition 
 to the transfer of land Pike pledged to have a 
 trading post established there, and urged that 
 the Sioux maintain peaceful relations with the 
 Chippeways. 
 
 It is somewhat amusing to read Pike's address, 
 where in one breath Jie states that rum "occa- 
 sions quarrels, murders, etc., among yourselves. 
 For this reason 3'our father has thought proper 
 to prohibit the traders from selling you any rum ;" 
 and then accepting the situation, adds, " before 
 my departure I will give you some liquor to clear 
 your throats." There were two hundred and 
 fifty warriors present, and it appears to have 
 taken sixty gallons of liquor to effect the clearing 
 operation, while peace with the Chippeways as- 
 sumed an indefinite phase. 
 
 The Falls of St. Anthony were passed by land 
 portage. These being the first boats to make the 
 portage, as Pike claims, it was with no small feel- 
 ing of relief that he saw his boats in the upper 
 river, loaded for the journey, on September 30th. 
 His condition was at the best discouraging, for as 
 he says, " I had not accomplished more than half 
 my route ; winter fast approaching ; war existing 
 between the most savage nations in the course of 
 my route ; my provisions greatly diminished, and 
 but a poor prospect of an additional supply. 
 Many of my men sick, and the others not a little
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 169 
 
 disheartened ; our success in this arduous under- 
 taking very doubtful, and about to launch into 
 an unknown wilderness." 
 
 Rapids and shoals impeded progress somewhat, 
 but the loth of October brought them to an 
 island where the interpreter had wintered %vith 
 another Frenchman in 1797. Pike made every 
 exertion to hasten, for he was very desirous of 
 reaching Crow-wing River, the highest point 
 ever attained by trappers in birch canoes. The 
 bad weather, snow, injury to his boats, and the 
 breaking down of several of his men, combined 
 to render further advance impossible, and on 
 October i6th he fixed his winter quarters at the 
 mouth of Pine River, 233 miles above the Falls 
 of St. Anthony. Pike's intentions were far from 
 passing the winter himself in a wretched canton- 
 ment, for his w^as a nature foreign to such isola- 
 tion and inactivity as the place promised. 
 
 Elsewhere he adds : " It appears to me that the 
 wealth of nations would not induce me to remain 
 secluded from the society of civilized mankind, 
 surrounded by a savage and unproductive wil- 
 derness, without books or other sources of intel- 
 lectual enjoyment, or being blessed with the cul- 
 tivated and feeling mind of the civilized fair." 
 
 Huts were built, canoes made, game obtained, 
 all with great difficulty and hardship, for every 
 burden fell on Pike, without the aid of a doctor 
 or assistant as his second in command. In a 
 game country, and under conditions where his 
 insufficient food-supply must be eked out by the 
 rifle, he was such an indifferent hunter that he
 
 170 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 did the maximum of work with the minimum of 
 result. Unskilled in canoe-making and manage- 
 ment, he succeeded in building three canoes, of 
 which one sank, wetting and injuring his supply 
 of ammunition, with the result that finally he blew 
 up his tent in drying out the powder. 
 
 Occasionally small hunting parties of Sioux or 
 of Menominees came to the camp, and on De- 
 cember 3d Mr. Dickson, who had a trading post 
 sixty miles to the south, visited Pike and cheered 
 him up. Dickson possessed much geographical 
 information about the western country, and in ad- 
 dition to useful directions as to the best route 
 for Pike to follow, expressed his confidence in 
 its fullest success. 
 
 It would seem doubtful if the men shared the 
 enthusiasm for a mid-winter trip through an un- 
 known country filled with savages and where 
 game must form a considerable part of their food. 
 At all events, they managed to split a canoe which 
 their commander relied on for the journey. Pike 
 was dissatisfied, but not discouraged, and on De- 
 cember loth started northward with eleven men, 
 a boat, and five sleds. 
 
 At the stockade there were nine men under 
 Sergeant Kennerman, who was given detailed 
 written instructions as to his duties. Mindful of 
 the possible dangers to his own party, Pike also 
 gave orders as to the course to be pursued if his 
 own party did not return to the cantonment by 
 a given date the following spring. 
 
 A boat was taken along, which the freezing 
 river soon obliged Pike to abandon and intrust
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 171 
 
 to a young Indian for the winter. The journey 
 was practically made b}' common sleds, dragged 
 by men harnessed up two abreast. Often the 
 sleds broke down, making necessar}- frequent 
 changes and portages of the baggage, but they 
 were greatly encouraged by camping at Crow- 
 wing River, the farthest point ever reached by 
 canoe. 
 
 In early January they ran across four Chippe- 
 way Indians, the tribe from which hostility was 
 possible. Their anxiety was speedily relieved by 
 finding that they were companions of Mr. Grant, 
 a trader from the post on Sandy Lake. Grant 
 turned back with them, and they reached the 
 trading-post on Red Cedar Lake on January 3, 
 1806. Pike's satisfaction at seeing a house once 
 more was tinctured with chagrin at finding it 
 surmounted by a British flag. Here he tarried 
 only a few hours and then pushed on to Sandy 
 Lake, where he was later joined by his men, who 
 were delayed by their heavy sleds. He was 
 much surprised at the air of comfort at Sandy 
 Lake, where potatoes were grown in great quan- 
 tities, fish and game abundant, while the Indians 
 furnished in trade maple-sugar, wild oats, and 
 rice. The Sandy Lake trading-post had been 
 established in 1794, and might be considered the 
 headquarters of the Fond-du-Lac department, in 
 which, in 1805, there were one hundred and nine 
 employees, with fifty children and twenty-nine 
 women, who were all Indian or half-breed, there 
 not being at that time a single white woman 
 northwest of Lake Superior.
 
 172 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Pike's discerning mind noted that his methods 
 of travel were inferior to those followed in the 
 country, so he built sleds after the Hudson Bay 
 pattern, adopted the racket or snow-shoe for the 
 
 Indian Snow-shoes. 
 
 winter march, and hired local Indian guides. 
 Grant, the trader, accompanied him to Leech 
 Lake, which Pike believed to be the main source 
 of the Mississippi, but he could not consider it as 
 an original discovery, as the ubiquitous North-
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 173 
 
 west Company had an establishment on this lake, 
 under Hugh McGillis, in 47° 16' N. latitude, 
 about twenty miles east of Lake Itasca, the true 
 source of the Mississippi. On February 14th 
 Pike visited Red Lake and passed to the north, 
 which carried him to the drainage-basin of the 
 Red River, in latitude 47° 43' N. Evidently fa- 
 miliar with Carver's travels, he fell into the not 
 unreasonable error of thinking this land " to be 
 the most elevated part of the northeast continent 
 of America," whereas the head of the Minnesota 
 is some four hundred feet higher. 
 
 Pike held a council with the Chippeways at 
 Leech Lake on February 14th, when he per- 
 suaded the chiefs to give up their British flags 
 and medals, to promise peace with the Sioux, 
 and to send two of their young chiefs with him 
 to St. Louis. 
 
 As to the trading establishments, he gener- 
 ously refrained from seizing the goods, but 
 hauled down the British flag ; required the 
 agents of the Northwest Company to promise to 
 issue no more flags or medals to Indians, to have 
 no political dealings with them, but to refer them 
 to agents of the United States ; to obtain licenses 
 for Indian trade from and pay duty to the 
 United States for all imported goods. 
 
 On February 14th he turned his face toward 
 home, his mind free from anxiety, though he 
 knew the hard marches, extreme cold, and many 
 hardships before him. He now wore snow-shoes, 
 but on one long march the pressure of his racket- 
 strings brought the blood through his socks and
 
 174 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 moccasins, yet he marched on, keeping pace with 
 his guide despite the excruciating pain. 
 
 March 5th found Pike back in his stockade at 
 Pine River, his adoption of local methods having 
 facihtated travel to such an extent that in his re- 
 turn he nearly tripled the length of his outward 
 marches. He found the garrison well and safe, 
 but was greatly disturbed to find that his trusted 
 sergeant, Kennerman, had indulged in riotous 
 and extravagant living, having drank up, eaten, 
 given away, or traded off the best of the food 
 and the greater part of the liquor. The natural 
 sequence of such conduct appeared in an esca- 
 pade where the sentinel made a Sioux Indian 
 drunk and then ordered him out of the tent, 
 when the intoxicated savage fired on the sentinel, 
 fortunately without harm. On his return he was 
 fortunate enough, in a Menominee camp near the 
 stockade, to see a dance, called the feast of the 
 dead, at which " every three were served with a 
 panful of meat, and when all were ready there 
 was a prayer, after which the eating commenced. 
 It was expected we would eat up our portion en- 
 tirely, being careful not to drop a bone. We 
 were then treated with soup. After the eating 
 was finished the chief again gave an exhortation, 
 which finished the ceremony. They gather up 
 the fragments and threw them in the water, lest 
 the dogs should get them. Burning them is con- 
 sidered sacreligious." 
 
 Leaving his cantonment at Pine River, by boat, 
 on April 7th he descended the Mississippi with 
 out any strikingly new experiences, and on the last
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 175 
 
 day of the month drew up his boat at St. Louis, 
 with undiminished numbers, after an absence of 
 nearly nine months. 
 
 Pike had more than carried out his orders to 
 explore the sources of the great river, and did 
 something more than give to the world the first 
 definite and detailed information as to the upper 
 river and its tributaries. He discovered the ex- 
 tent and importance of the British trade in that 
 country, brought the foreign traders under the 
 license and customs regulations of the United 
 States, and broke up for all time their political 
 influence over the Indians. He did much to re- 
 strain the unlawful sale of liquor to Indians by do- 
 mestic traders, and not only inspired the Indians 
 with respect for Americans, but also induced 
 them to at least a temporar}^ peace between them- 
 selves. He replaced a foreign flag by the ensign 
 of his own country, and for the first time brought 
 into this great territory the semblance of national 
 authority and government. 
 
 II. The Upper Arkansas River and New 
 
 Spain. 
 
 Pike returned to find his services in demand 
 for a second expedition to the head-waters of the 
 Arkansas and Red rivers. The original arrange- 
 ments contemplated the detail of another officer, 
 but Pike, at the solicitation of General Wilkinson, 
 consented to take command of the party, com- 
 menced his preparations at once, and received 
 his formal orders on June 24, 1806, less than two
 
 176 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 months after his return from the north. In 
 accepting this long and dangerous service, he 
 indicates clearly the soldierly sense of duty 
 which actuated him. " The late dangers and 
 hardships I had undergone, together with the 
 idea of again leaving my family in a strange 
 country, distant from their connections, made 
 me hesitate ; but the ambition of a soldier and 
 the spirit of enterprise which was inherent in 
 my breast induced me to agree." 
 
 The primary object of the expedition, accord- 
 ing to the letter of instructions, was to conduct 
 to Grand Osage a deputation of freed captives 
 of the Osage Nation, while the subordinate pur- 
 poses were the accomplishment of a permanent 
 peace between the Kaws and Osages and the 
 establishment of a good understanding with 
 the Comanches, which latter object, the letter 
 runs, " will probably lead you to the head 
 branches of the Arkansas and Red rivers, 
 approximated to the settlements of New 
 Mexico, and there you should move with great 
 circumspection, to keep clear of any reconnoi- 
 tring parties from that province, and to prevent 
 alarm or offence. The executive," it was added, 
 " is much interested in ascertaining the direction, 
 extent, and navigation of the Arkansas and Red 
 rivers," which Pike was charged to determine 
 by sending one party down the Arkansas, while 
 he should return by the Red. 
 
 The written instructions were doubtless sup- 
 plemented by verbal orders, for Pike says: " The 
 great objects in view (as I conceived) were to
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 177 
 
 attach the Indians to our Government and to ac- 
 quire such geographical knowledge of the south- 
 western boundary of Louisiana as to enable our 
 Government to enter into a definite arrangement 
 for a line of demarcation between that territory 
 and North Mexico." 
 
 Captain Pike's* force consisted of two officers, 
 an interpreter, and nineteen men of the army. 
 The officers were Lieutenant James B. Wilkinson, 
 son of and aide-de-camp to General Wilkinson, 
 and Doctor John H. Robinson, the latter a volun- 
 teer without pay. The party, with fifty-one Osage 
 Indians, left Belle Fontaine, July 15, 1806, and 
 travelling by boat up the Missouri and Osage 
 rivers reached Grand Osage, near the head of 
 the river, August i8th, thus accomplishing the 
 "primary object." 
 
 Pike found no difficulty in obtaining an audi- 
 ence for speeches, though he was somewhat dis- 
 mayed at the presence of one hundred and 
 eighty-six warriors at an assembly, to all of 
 whom he was obliged to give liquor. It was 
 quite different when men and horses were want- 
 ed, and it was with the utmost endeavor that 
 he was able to start westward on September ist, 
 with fifteen horses for his baggage, accompanied 
 by only three Pawnees and four Osages. 
 
 Crossing the Grand and Verdigris he passed 
 through a beautiful country with abundant game, 
 but the Indians became restless, and despite his 
 presents and persuasions, only three accompa- 
 
 * He obtained his captaincy in August, 1806. 
 12
 
 178 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 nied him to the Pawnee village on the Republican 
 fork of the Kansas. 
 
 The information here obtained and the stand 
 taken by the Pawnee chief would have deterred 
 a less courageous and determined man than Pike 
 from pushing beyond. A large Spanish force, 
 some six hundred men, had a few days before 
 visited the Pawnees, when they had turned back 
 on assurances from the chief that he would turn 
 back any American force. 
 
 It appears that foreign emissaries at St. 
 Louis had sent word to the authorities of New 
 Spain of Pike's contemplated expedition, and 
 steps were immediately taken to defeat its ob- 
 jects. The command of the Spanish force was 
 assigned to Lieutenant Don Facundo Malgares, 
 an officer of reputation in Indian warfare, who 
 collected one hundred dragoons and five hun- 
 dred mihtia at Santa Fe, N. M. Each man 
 was mounted, had three led animals and six 
 months' supply of ammunition. First they de- 
 scended the Red River about seven hundred 
 miles, with the expectation of meeting and turn- 
 ing back Pike, but learned that no force had 
 passed that way. The Spanish commander, after 
 holding a council with the Comanches for the 
 purpose of winning them over to the interests 
 of New Spain, then turned north to the Arkan- 
 sas. Here Malgares put in camp two hundred 
 and fort}^ of his men, with the worn-out and dis- 
 abled stock, and with the rest proceeded to the 
 Pawnee village, where he distributed medals," 
 Spanish flags, etc., and after prejudicing them
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 179 
 
 against Americans and drawing the Pawnee 
 chiefs as closely to Spain as possible returned 
 to Santa Fe, arriving there in October. This 
 armed invasion of the acknowledged territory 
 of the United States and deliberate tampering 
 with the Indian tribes probably arose from the 
 strained relations between the two countries, 
 which nearly resulted in hostilities on the fron- 
 tiers of Texas and Orleans territory in 1806, 
 when the local forces tacitly agreed to regard 
 the Sabine River as the temporary boundary. 
 
 Pike first made the Osage and Kaws smoke 
 the pipe of peace and then held a council with 
 the Pawnees. These latter Indians, strongly 
 impressed by the grand show made by the 
 Spanish cavalry, regarded with doubt the small 
 force of Americans. What Pike lacked in num- 
 bers and display, he made up in boldness of de- 
 mands and in display of self-confidence. He 
 obliged them to take down the Spanish flag and 
 hoist the American ensign, but gave them per- 
 mission to retain the foreign flag for protection 
 if the Spaniards should return. 
 
 The chief, however, insisted that the Ameri- 
 cans must turn back, and said that he would re- 
 sist any advance by force of arms. Captain 
 Pike, already indignant at the unauthorized raid 
 of the Spaniards into the territory of the United 
 States, listened with impatience to this threat, 
 and answered that so far he had not seen any 
 blood on his path, but the Pawnees must know 
 that the young warriors of their great American 
 father were not women, to be turned back by
 
 180 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 words ; that they were men, well armed and pre- 
 pared as braves to sell their lives dearly ; that 
 they should go on, and if the Pawness opposed, 
 the great American father would send other war- 
 riors to avenge the dead. This bold talk had 
 its effect, and the onward march met with no 
 active opposition. 
 
 Striking southwest, and following as well as he 
 could the broad trail left by the Spaniards, Pike 
 reached Arkansas, where he stopped long enough 
 to build canoes, in which Lieutenant Wilkinson 
 with five soldiers and two Osages descended 
 the river. This officer reached the post of Ar- 
 kansas on January 6, 1807, after a journey 
 marked by many hardships, but no great dan- 
 gers. 
 
 Captain Pike and Doctor Robinson pursued 
 their route up the Arkansas with the party, now 
 reduced to fourteen soldiers and the interpreter, 
 Vasquez. On the 2d of November, they fell in 
 with a large herd of Avild horses, beautiful bays, 
 blacks, and grays, whom they were unable to 
 capture even with their fleetest coursers. Here 
 also the buffalo were present in numbers beyond 
 imagination, as Pike thought. 
 
 The 15th of November was a marked day, for 
 Pike records that " at two o'clock in the after- 
 noon I thought I could distinguish a mountain 
 to our right, which appeared like a small blue 
 cloud. . . . In half an hour they appeared in 
 full view before us. When our small party ar- 
 rived on the hill they with one accord gave three 
 cheers to the Mexican mountains." The peak,
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 181 
 
 first seen by Pike, remained in view from that 
 day to the 27th of January, and in eternal com- 
 memoration of the hardships and dangers of the 
 discoverer in that journey fittingly bears in our 
 day the name of Pike's Peak. 
 
 Here they first strikingly realized the trans- 
 parency and purity of the mountain air, which 
 to the eye quite annihilates distance. He writes : 
 " Marched at our usual hour, pushed with an 
 idea of arriving at the mountains, but found at 
 night no visible difference in their appearance 
 from what we did yesterday." It may be added 
 that eight days' march brought the party only to 
 the base of the mountains. 
 
 On November 22d he fell in with an unsuccess- 
 ful war-party, composed of sixty Pawnees, re- 
 turning from a foray on the Comanches. The 
 savages at first acted in a friendly manner, but 
 receiving some small presents, demanded ammu- 
 nition, corn, blankets, kettles, and indeed every- 
 thing they saw. Being refused they threw away 
 in contempt the articles given. Pike ordered 
 the horses packed, when the Pawnees encircled 
 the small party and commenced stealing every- 
 thing they could, when Pike commanded his 
 men to stand to arms, and to separate themselves 
 from the savages. This done an order was given 
 to kill the first Indian who touched any piece of 
 baggage, when the Pawnees, realizing that fur- 
 ther misconduct meant fight, filed off and allowed 
 them to depart. 
 
 The party was now at the present city of Las 
 Animas, where the Arkansas forks, and as the
 
 182 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Spanish troops followed the main stream instead 
 of the Purgatory, Pike took the same route. At 
 the Herfuano he decided to put the main party in 
 camp while he explored the surrounding country, 
 so he threw up a small breastwork, opening on the 
 river, somewhat to the east of the present city of 
 Pueblo. Starting to ascend the north fork (the 
 main Arkansas) to the high point of a blue 
 mountain, which he conceived would be one 
 day's march, it took two days to reach the base 
 and more than another day to reach its summit. 
 He records that his men had no stockings, were 
 clad only in light summer overalls, in every way 
 unprovided for the inclement surroundings, the 
 snow to their hips, the temperature nine degrees 
 below freezing, while in forty-eight hours the 
 four men had for food only one partridge and 
 a piece of deer's rib, but adds that they were 
 amply compensated for their toil and hardships 
 by the sublimity of the view — an unbounded 
 prairie overhung with clouds. The summit of 
 Grand (Pike's) Peak, bare of vegetation, snow- 
 covered, and double the height of the peak 
 ascended, he thought no human being could then 
 have ascended, even had it been near instead of 
 a day's march to its base. 
 
 The December journey up the narrow, cliff- 
 bound valley of the Arkansas is a continuous rec- 
 ord of hardship and suffering. The horses with 
 difficulty found grazing in the snow-covered val- 
 ley, while the fearless ravens lighting on the men 
 seized meat from them, and, despite the kicking 
 and plunging of the horses swooped down on
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 183 
 
 them and picked their sore backs till they bled. 
 The thermometer fell to thirty-eight degrees be- 
 low freezing, while the badness of the trail obliged 
 the party to cross and recross the ice-filled river, 
 from which several froze their feet badly. Had 
 the weather continued so cold " some of the men," 
 says Pike, " must have perished, for they had no 
 winter clothing; I wore myself cotton overalls." 
 
 Here the returning Spanish expeditionary col- 
 umn under Malgares had turned south, skirting 
 the mountains until it reached a practicable pass 
 through the Cimarron range to Taos ; but the 
 main Spanish trail failing in the snow-covered 
 plain Pike pursued a side trail to the northwest, 
 and crossing a dividing ridge came on an ice- 
 covered stream, which, to his surprise, ran to the 
 northeast, and proved, as he thought, to be the 
 head-waters of the Platte, the south fork rising 
 in the South Park, where he then was. Here 
 he found evidences of the park having been 
 lately frequented by large parties of Indians. 
 Beyond this he doubtless crossed into the Mid- 
 dle Park, and saw the head-waters of the Colorado 
 Grande, and so was the second party to reach 
 from the Atlantic tide-water the sources of 
 streams draining into the Pacific. 
 
 Pike was now lost in the maze of snow-covered 
 mountains under most adverse circumstances, as 
 he recites : " Eight hundred miles from the fron- 
 tiers of our country ; not one person clothed for 
 the winter, many without blankets, having been 
 obliged to cut them up for socks, etc. ; laying 
 down at night on the snow or wet ground, one
 
 184 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 side burning, while the other was pierced with 
 cold ; endeavoring to make of raw buffalo-hide a 
 miserable substitute for shoes;" the men falling 
 sick, and, finally, the country so broken and pre- 
 cipitous, that even the Indian horse could not 
 carry a pack, and three animals were lost from 
 falls and bruises. 
 
 Pike was disconsolate, but not discouraged. 
 He sent ahead the interpreter and two soldiers 
 travelling light to find a way out, while, making 
 five small sleds to carry the baggage and be 
 dragged by the men, he followed. Struggling 
 on, nearly perishing from cold, and almost fam- 
 ished for food, the 5th of January found Pike, 
 greatly to his mortification, in the same old val- 
 ley of the Arkansas, in sight of his camp of De- 
 cember loth. Realizing that he could expect 
 nothing further from his few worn-out horses, 
 and burning with mortification at his egregious 
 error in considering the Arkansas as the Red, 
 Pike decided to try on foot that journey which 
 had failed on horseback. He at once strength- 
 ened the small fort, left therein heavy baggage, 
 horses, etc., with the interpreter and one man, 
 while with the rest he started to cross the moun- 
 tains with packs in search of the Red River, 
 where he intended to send back a party to guide 
 the pack-train to it. This in the belief that the 
 Red River had its sources to the southwest, in- 
 stead of in its true location hundreds of weary 
 miles to the southeast. 
 
 Humboldt's map of New Spain, compiled from 
 data in the City of Mexico in 1804, plainly indi-
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 185 
 
 cates that the Spanish labored under the same 
 error as Pike, they also thinking the sources of 
 the Red River to be some two or three hundred 
 miles northwest of their true position. This map 
 shows that although the main Red was well 
 known, yet the head-waters of the Canadian were 
 believed to be, and were charted as, the north- 
 west extension of the Red to within fifty miles of 
 the place where Pike was later arrested. It may 
 be added, as showing the extent of geographical 
 knowledge in New Spain at that time, that the 
 upper Arkansas was known under the name Rio 
 Napestle, although its connection with the lower 
 Arkansas was only suspected. The Pecos, Colo- 
 rado, Trinity, and Sabine Rivers were also known, 
 but the Llano Estacado, of Texas, and the plains of 
 Colorado, Indian Territory, and Kansas, though 
 they had been crossed here and there prior to 
 
 1805, were practically unknown lands, given over 
 to the buffalo and savages, who were popularly 
 and correctly associated with them. 
 
 Impressed with the belief that he finally was 
 on the right track, Captain Pike, on January 14, 
 
 1806, started on the eventful journey that was to 
 carry him into New Spain, and lead him into 
 the hands of the Spaniards he was charged to 
 avoid. They marched in heavy order, every one 
 — man, doctor, and commander — carrying forty- 
 five pounds of regular baggage, besides arms, 
 ammunition, and such food as he thought proper; 
 the average burden being seventy pounds per 
 man, to be carried over a snow-covered and 
 mountainous country.
 
 186 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 The general direction tollowed was to the 
 southwest, and fifty miles were made good in 
 three days. The fourth da}' all wet their feet 
 crossing a stream, and before fire could be had 
 no less than nine of the men, including the two 
 hunters, had their feet badly frozen ; the temper- 
 ature fell that night to forty-three degrees below 
 the freezing point, while the lack of game left 
 them without food. The next morning two men 
 went hunting in one direction, while Pike and 
 the doctor went in another. The latter two 
 wounded a buffalo three times, but he escaped, 
 when, says Pike : " We concluded it was useless 
 to go home to add to the general gloom, and 
 went among the rocks, where we encamped 
 and sat up all night ; from intense cold it was 
 impossible to sleep, hungry and without cover." 
 The next morning they struck a herd and 
 wounded several buffalo, all of which escaped. 
 " By this time," continues Pike, " I had become 
 extremely weak and faint, being the fourth day 
 since we had received sustenance. We were in- 
 clining our course to a point of woods, deter- 
 mined to remain absent and die by ourselves 
 rather than to return to our camp and behold 
 the misery of our poor lads, when we discovered 
 a gang of buffalo." Fortunately they killed one 
 and returned at once to camp with a heavy load 
 of meat. Pike arriving in such a state of exhaus- 
 tion that he almost fell fainting as he dropped 
 his burden. " The men," he adds, had " not a 
 frown, nor a desponding eye — yet not a mouth- 
 ful had they ate for four days." It was found
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 187 
 
 that two soldiers were so badly frozen that it 
 was impossible for them to proceed, and indeed 
 it was probable that one would lose his feet. To 
 remain was apparent death for all, so Pike de- 
 cided to march, and left the two men, John 
 Sparks and Thomas Dougherty, provided with 
 ammunition, and given all the buffalo meat ex- 
 cept one meal for the marching column. It was 
 like parting with the dying. Pike bade them 
 face their possible fate with soldierly fortitude, 
 assured them that relief would be sent as soon as 
 possible, and then they parted, as we may well 
 believe such comrades would, with tears — more, 
 doubtless, from those who marched than from 
 those who remained behind. 
 
 The main party under Pike struggled on over 
 the barren, snow-covered mountains, and after 
 nine days, two of which without food, a march of 
 ninety-five miles (from the vicinity of Saguache 
 to the neighborhood of Del Norte) brought them 
 quite exhausted to the banks of the Rio Grande, 
 which was, however, hailed as the long-expected 
 Red River. 
 
 Descending the stream some distance, Pike 
 established a picketed stockade, surrounded it 
 by a water ditch and made it quite impregnable 
 to any ordinary attack. On February 7th Cor- 
 poral Jackson and four men were sent back 
 across the mountain, to bring in the baggage 
 and see if the frozen men were yet able to travel. 
 The same day Dr. Robinson left the expedition 
 to visit Santa Fe, ostensibly carrying the papers 
 in a Spanish claim, but in reality to gain a knowl-
 
 188 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 edge of the country, the prospects of trade, the 
 military force, etc. — in short, as a secret agent. 
 
 While Pike was strengthening his position and 
 securing game, the party returned with word 
 that the frozen men could not yet travel, and 
 possibly might be crippled for life. Volunteers 
 were called for, as the only method now was to 
 send to the fort in the forks of the Arkansas, 
 (near Pueblo) where the recuperated horses and 
 the rear-guard were available to bring over the 
 snow-clad mountains the helpless soldiers. 
 
 Regarding this last journey Pike writes : " I 
 must here remark the effect of habit, discipline, 
 and example in two soldiers (Sergeant William E. 
 Meek and private Theodore Miller). Soliciting a 
 command of more than one hundred and eighty 
 miles over two great ridges of mountains covered 
 with snow, inhabited by bands of unknown sav- 
 ages, these men volunteered it, with others, and 
 were chosen ; for which they thought themselves 
 highly honored." 
 
 The steadfast endurance and unfailing forti- 
 tude which enabled Pike's men to withstand and 
 overcome the horrors and hardships of famine, 
 frost, and fatigue, form but a single page of the 
 annals of our army. Rarely has the American 
 soldier failed, in war or peace, for military or 
 civic ends, to give to the accomplishment of any 
 important trust his utmost endeavor, subordinat- 
 ing thereto comfort, health, and life, lavishing 
 thereon resources of helpfulness which have so 
 often crowned with success the most hopeless of 
 enterprises. If the American has individuality,
 
 ZEBULON MONTGOMERY PIKE 189 
 
 assertiveness, and self-reliance, he has also, in its 
 good time and place, a spirit of obedience, 
 subordination, and solidarity which make him 
 the typical soldier. 
 
 On February i6th. Pike was visited by a Spanish 
 dragoon and an Indian ; and some ten days later 
 by a Spanish officer and fifty dragoons, by whom 
 he was escorted to Santa Fe, where he was ex- 
 amined by the Spanish Governor, Don Allen- 
 caster, on March 3d. Pike had been informed by 
 the Spanish lieutenant that he would be con- 
 ducted to the head-waters of the Red River, but 
 at Santa Fe he learned that there was no inten- 
 tion of permitting a geographical exploration of 
 these unknown regions. Pike was astonished to 
 find in Santa Fe an American, a Kentuckian, 
 named James Pursley, from Bairdstown, who 
 had made a hunting trip to the head of the Osage 
 in 1802, and in 1803 made a journey up the Mis- 
 souri with a French trader. Sent on a trading 
 trip on the plains with a roving band of Kioways, 
 the hunting party was attacked and driven by 
 the Sioux into the parks of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, at the head of the Platte and Arkansas, 
 where Pike had seen traces of the band and their 
 stock. From this point the Indians sent Pursley 
 and two of their number to Santa Fe to trade. 
 Here they arrived in June, 1805, eight months 
 before Pike, and Pursley decided to remain. 
 
 Governor AUencaster decided to send Pike 
 and his party to Chihuahua. Accompanied by 
 Robinson, who rejoined him at Albuquerque, 
 Pike passed down the valley of the R\o Grande,
 
 190 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 through El Paso, under escort of the gallant and 
 courteous Malgares, and was taken before Sal- 
 cedo, the Commandant-General of Chihuahua, on 
 April 2d. Leaving here late that month, still 
 under escort, he crossed the Del Norte on June 
 ist, passed through San Antonio, and on July ist 
 was within the United States, at Natchitoches, 
 when he exclaimed " Language cannot express 
 the gayety of my heart, when I once more be- 
 held the standard of my country ! " 
 
 It is astonishing what an amount of valuable 
 and accurate information concerning New Spain 
 was collected by Captain Pike during his journey 
 through the country. If he had been permitted 
 to return by the way of Red River his stock 
 of knowledge would have been vastly inferior. 
 His journey was tedious, unpleasant, and humil- 
 iating, but Pike knew how to make the best of 
 the situation, and in so doing justified the con- 
 fidence of his superiors in sending him on so 
 dangerous and important a service. 
 
 His field notes in New Spain were made by 
 Pike with great difficulty, as the Governor gave 
 orders to Malgares not to permit the making of 
 astronomical observations nor the taking of notes. 
 Pike was determined, however, to make the best 
 of his opportunities, and so recorded his obser- 
 vations while making pretext to halt, and kept 
 his boy as a vedette while writing. Later he 
 feared the loss of such notes as he had already 
 made, when, he continues: "Finding that a new 
 species of discipline had taken place, and that the 
 suspicions of my friend Malgares were much
 
 ZEBITLON MONTGOMERY PIKE 191 
 
 more acute than ever, I conceived it necessary 
 to take some steps to secure the notes I had 
 taken, which were clandestinely acquired. In the 
 night I arose, and, after making all my men 
 clean their pieces well, I took my small books 
 and rolled them up in small rolls, and tore a fine 
 shirt to pieces, and wrapped it around the 
 papers and put them down in the barrels of the 
 guns, until we just left room for the tompions, 
 which were then carefully put in ; the remainder 
 we secured about our bodies under our shirts. 
 This was effected without discovery and with- 
 out suspicions." 
 
 Pike draws a lively and striking picture of the 
 manners, morals, customs, and politics of the 
 people of New Spain, whom he characterized as 
 surprisingly brave, and in hospitality, generosity, 
 and sobriety unsurpassed by any other people, 
 but as lacking in patriotism, enterprise, and in- 
 dependence of soul. 
 
 The subsequent career of Captain Pike was 
 short and brilliant. He received the thanks of the 
 Government, had his zeal, perseverance, and in- 
 telligence formally recognized by a committee of 
 the House of Representatives, rose to be major, 
 lieutenant-colonel, and deputy-quartermaster-gen- 
 eral in rapid succession ; in the reorganization of 
 the army in 1812 was made colonel, and in the fol- 
 lowing year was appointed brigadier-general a 
 few weeks before his death, at the capture of 
 York (Toronto), Canada. 
 
 The day before he left for the attack on York 
 (Toronto), General Pike wrote to his father: " I
 
 192 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 embark to-morrow in the fleet at Sackett's Har- 
 bor at the head of 1,500 choice troops, on a 
 secret expedition. Should I be the happy mor- 
 tal destined to turn the scale of war, will you 
 not rejoice, oh my father? May Heaven be propi- 
 tious, and smile on the cause of my country. But 
 if I am destined to fall, may my fall be like 
 Wolfe's — to sleep in the arms of victory." His 
 wish was prophetic. 
 
 The orders issued to his troops indicate the 
 high professional honor which ever character- 
 ized Pike's life. In part they ran thus : " It is 
 expected that every corps will be mindful of the 
 honor of American arms and the disgraces 
 which have recently tarnished our arms, and 
 endeavor, by a cool and determined discharge 
 of their duty, to support the one and wipe out 
 the other. The property of the unoffending citi- 
 zens of Canada," he continues, " must be held 
 sacred ; and any soldier who shall so far neglect 
 the honor of his profession as to be guilty of 
 plundering the inhabitants, shall, if convicted, 
 be punished with death. Courage and bravery 
 in the field do not more distinguish the soldier 
 than humanity after victory ; and whatever ex- 
 amples the savage allies of our enemies may 
 have given us, the general confidently hopes that 
 the blood of an unresisting enemy will never 
 stain the weapon of any soldier of his column." 
 
 Owing to the sickness of General Dearborn, 
 Pike took command of the land forces, and on 
 April 27, 181 3, carried the outer battery by as- 
 sault, and having silenced the fire of the main
 
 ZEBULOX MONTGOMERY PIKE 193 
 
 work was awaiting a white flag when the main 
 magazine was exploded. Pike, who had a minute 
 before assisted in making a wounded soldier 
 comfortable, was fatally injured, but his martial 
 spirit impelled him to yet encourage his troops. 
 A soldier to the last, he smiled as the standard 
 of the enemy w^as handed to him, and, putting 
 it under his head, died serenely. 
 
 Laboring under the disadvantage of insuffi- 
 cient instruction in youth. Pike supplemented his 
 deficiencies by assiduous application, and his 
 journal shows him studying French and other 
 languages in the interludes of his desperate jour- 
 neys in the Northwest and Southwest. Simple- 
 minded and warm-hearted, he won the devotion 
 of his men without relaxing soldierly habits or 
 impairing discipline. He w^as intelligent, inde- 
 fatigable, brave, capable of great endurance, fer- 
 tile in expedients and never distrustful of his 
 own capabilities or of the ultimate success of his 
 undertakings. His early death precluded judg- 
 ment as to his qualities as a general, but certain- 
 ly he had the power of origination, organization, 
 and administration which are essentials to mili- 
 tary success. 
 
 It should be recorded of his explorations that, 
 taking into consideration his small force, and al- 
 most inadequate means, no other man ever con- 
 tributed to the geographical knowledge of the 
 United States an amount comparable to that 
 which the world owes to the heroic efforts and 
 indomitable perseverance of Zebulon Mont- 
 gomery Pike. 
 13
 
 VII. 
 
 CHARLES WILKES, 
 
 The Discoverer of the Antarctic Con- 
 tinent. 
 
 On the colored and beautifully engraved map 
 of the world of Gulielmus Blaeuw (Amsterdam, 
 1642) are two side maps, one of the Arctic, the 
 other of the Antarctic, Circle. The latter repre- 
 sents not only the entire Antarctic Circle as 
 unbroken land, but also extends this great sup- 
 posititious continent some distance to the north- 
 ward of the sixtieth parallel and gives to it 
 the name Magallanica Terra Australis Incognita. 
 This mythical Magellanic continent held its 
 place, a subject of mystery and interest to every 
 geographer, until Captain James Cook, the 
 greatest of navigators, either ancient or mod- 
 ern, attempted its definition or solution. His 
 success here as elsewhere was marvellous, and 
 on January 17, 1773, in the Resolution, first of 
 all men, Cook penetrated the ice-bound wastes of 
 the Antarctic regions, reaching 67° 15' S., on the 
 fortieth meridian E. In the following summer 
 he completed his circumnavigation of Southern 
 seas in high latitudes, and penetrating the Ant- 
 arctic Circle at three widely separated points,
 
 .^:v-> 
 
 Charles Wilkes. 
 (From a portrait by T. Sully.)
 
 CHARLES WILKES 195 
 
 attained, in January, 1774, in 117° W., the ex- 
 traordinary high southern latitude of 71° 10'. 
 Cook thus " put an end to the search for a south- 
 ern continent, which had engrossed the attention 
 of maritime nations for two centuries." 
 
 Cook's discoveries led to erroneous conclu- 
 sions as to the physical constituents of the Ant- 
 arctic regions. Although he had reached the 
 Great Southern Circle at four different places, 
 and nearly attained it at the fifth, yet no land 
 therein, either island or continent, met his eager 
 gaze ; instead there everywhere met his view a 
 close pack of ice-floes of enormous height and 
 extent, with a few wind-caused breaks or chan- 
 nels. Hence many geographers concluded that 
 the Antarctic regions were ice-covered seas, 
 either totally or in greater part. To-day, in the 
 light of modern science and discovery, the opin- 
 ion prevails that there is an extensive ice-clad 
 Antarctic land, possibly rising to the dignity of 
 a continent; and toward this conclusion no ex- 
 plorations have more directly and largely con- 
 tributed than those of the American sailor and 
 explorer, Charles Wilkes, of the United States 
 Navy. 
 
 The first Antarctic land ever discovered was by 
 an American sealer. Captain Palmer, from Con- 
 necticut. Bellingshausen, of the Russian Impe- 
 rial Navy, in his voyage of 1821, that resulted in 
 the discovery of the islands of Peter and Alex- 
 ander, on the sixty-ninth parallel, fell in with the 
 Yankee skipper immediately after he had discov- 
 ered the land, to which Bellingshausen justly
 
 196 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 attached Palmer's name. Palmer's Land, ex- 
 tended into the Antarctic Circle by Biscoe's dis- 
 coveries of 1832, merges into Graham Land of 
 the latter explorer. 
 
 Probably incited by these discoveries, France 
 sent forth an Antarctic expedition, under Dumont 
 d'Irville, in 1837, and England, under Sir James 
 Clark Ross, the discoverer of the northern mag- 
 netic pole, in 1839. Simultaneously with these 
 expeditions was organized one by the United 
 States, for which the exceedingly liberal appro- 
 priation of $300,000 was made. 
 
 This last expedition was authorized by the act 
 of Congress of May 18, 1836, " for the purpose of 
 exploring and surveying in the Great Southern 
 Ocean in the important interests of our com- 
 merce embarked in the whale fisheries and other 
 adventures in that ocean, as well as to deter- 
 mine the existence of all doubtful islands and 
 shoals, and to discover and accurately fix the 
 position of those which lie in or near the track 
 pursued by our merchant vessels in that quar- 
 ter." This expedition, the first of its character 
 undertaken by the United States, grew out of 
 the vast capital employed in whaling and trade. 
 
 The expedition was first organized under 
 Commodore Thomas Ap Catesby Jones, United 
 State Navy, but finally the President of the 
 United States appointed Lieutenant Charles 
 Wilkes to command the squadron, and he was 
 formally assigned to this duty under instructions 
 of Secretary Paulding, dated August 11, 1838. 
 
 Charles Wilkes was born in New York City,
 
 CHARLES WILKES 197 
 
 April 3, 1798, and entering the United States 
 Navy as a midshipman at the age of nineteen 
 was promoted to be lieutenant in 1826, He had 
 long served in the department of charts and in- 
 struments and was especially qualified for the 
 proposed astronomical and surveying work con- 
 nected with the expedition. 
 
 An anomalous feature of the expedition was 
 the acceptance of appointment as second in 
 command by Lieutenant William L. Hudson, 
 whose naval rank was above that of Wilkes's. 
 The squadron, then consisting of the sloops of 
 war Vincennes and Peacock, the store-ship Re- 
 lief, the brig Porpoise, and tenders Sea Gull 
 and Flying Fish, left Norfolk, Va., August 13, 
 1838. Associated with Wilkes were a num- 
 ber of lieutenants destined to later distin- 
 guish themselves in their country's service, 
 among whom may be mentioned T. P. Craven, 
 James Alden, S. P. Lee, G. F. Emmons, and A. 
 L. Case, all of whom afterward rose to be rear 
 admirals, and H. J. Harstene, later associated 
 with the relief of Kane. Under its instructions 
 the expedition was to visit Rio de Janeiro, Cape 
 Frio, the Rio Negro, Terra del Fuego, the Ant- 
 arctic Ocean southward of Powell's group to 
 Cook's farthest, Valparaiso, the Navigators' 
 Group, the Feejee Islands, the Antarctic regions 
 south of Van Dieman's Land, whence it would 
 return home by way of the Sandwich Isl- 
 ands, San Francisco, Singapore, and the Cape 
 of Good Hope. No ship had steam-power, 
 nor was any vessel of the squadron fitted
 
 198 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 with appliances for protection in ice navi- 
 gation ; indeed, the squadron was a makeshift, 
 ill-suited for so long and dangerous a voyage. 
 Eventually the Sea Gull was lost in a gale off the 
 coast of Chili, the Flying Fish proved of little 
 use, and the extreme slowness of the Relief de- 
 layed the voyage. 
 
 Wilkes sailed for the Antarctic regions from 
 Orange Bay, near Cape Horn, on February 24, 
 1839, but owing to the lateness of the summer 
 accomplished little, and spent thirty-six days in 
 attempting to visit Palmer's Land, which was 
 only sighted. 
 
 A second attempt at Antarctic exploration was 
 made by Wilkes from Sidney, N. S. W., which 
 was left December 21, 1839. ^ compact barrier 
 of field ice, with frequent large bergs, was fallen 
 in with on January 11, 1840, and from this time 
 on the ships were often in imminent danger owing 
 to continuous ice, impenetrable fog, bad weather, 
 and occasional embayment of the vessels in the 
 ice-pack. It is scarcely needful to enter into the 
 details of Wilkes's perilous voyage from longitude 
 95° E. to 155° E. and in latitudes ranging from 
 th'e Antarctic Circle to the neighborhood of the 
 seventieth parallel. It may be mentioned, how- 
 ever, that the Peacock narrowly escaped entire 
 destruction by collision with a heavy iceberg, 
 which seriously injured the ship. Fortunately 
 she cleared the berg in time to escape crushing 
 by the falling of detached ice masses from the 
 overhanging floe berg. Heavy gales and the bad 
 sanitary condition of the ship caused the medical
 
 CHARLES WILKES 
 
 199 
 
 officers of the Vincennes to specially report to 
 Wilkes that such continued exposure would so 
 weaken the crew by sickness as to hazard the ship 
 and the lives of all on board. Wilkes, however, 
 had sighted the long-looked-for Antarctic land, 
 and, disregarding the warning, followed the coast- 
 line eastward, keeping his squadron as near it as 
 the conditions would permit. The land was a 
 
 The Ice-Barrier. 
 (From a sketch by Captain Wilkes.) 
 
 series of lofty mountain ranges, often snow- 
 capped, frequently broken by indentations, and, 
 worst of all, shut out from immediate approach 
 by an almost continuous ice-barrier, which in its 
 extent, height, and appearance struck every be- 
 holder with admiration not unmixed with appre- 
 hension. This barrier rose perpendicularly from 
 the deep sea to a height varying from one hun- 
 dred to two hundred feet above the level of the
 
 200 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 water, which gave no bottom in soundings rang- 
 ing from one hundred and fifty to two hundred 
 and fifty fathoms. Despite this great depth of 
 water, the perpendicular icy barrier was evident- 
 ly grounded, thus indicating ice of a thickness 
 of about one thousand feet. 
 
 Regarding the land discovered the first reliable 
 observations were those of January i6th, when 
 land was seen by Lieutenant Ringgold, of the Por- 
 poise, and by Midshipmen Eld and Reynolds, of 
 the Peacock, their statement running as follows : 
 " The mountains could be distinctly seen stretch- 
 ing over the ice to the southwest." On the 19th 
 land was again visible from the Vincennes, Alden 
 reporting it twice to Wilkes, and on the same day 
 high land was seen by all the crew of the Pea- 
 cock. The ships were then in longitude 154° E., 
 66° 20' S., practically on the Antarctic Circle. 
 On February 2d high bold land bordered by the 
 ice-barrier was visible to the Vincennes and Por- 
 poise in longitude 137° E., latitude 66° 12' S. 
 Five da3^s later the westerly trend of the land as 
 previously seen was confirmed by a well-defined 
 outline of high land rising above the perpendic- 
 ular ice-barrier, the Vincennes being in longi- 
 tude 132° E., latitude 66° 8' S. On February 
 9th, in longitude 123° E., latitude 65° 27' S., the 
 land is spoken of as being indistinct. At 8 a.m. 
 of the 1 2th land was reported again, in longitude 
 1 12° E., latitude 64° 57' S., the land being in about 
 65° 20' S. and trending nearly east and west. 
 
 Wilkes says of the land and of his efforts to 
 reach it : "The solid barrier prevented our further
 
 CHARLES WILKES 201 
 
 progress. Land was now distinctly seen from 
 eighteen to twenty miles distant, bearing from 
 S.S.E. to S.W., a lofty mountain range covered 
 with snow, though showing many ridges and in- 
 dentations." Two days later he writes: "The 
 14th was remarkably clear and the land very dis- 
 tinct. By measurement we made the extent of 
 coast of the Antarctic continent then in sight 
 seventy-five miles and by approximate measure- 
 ment three thousand feet high." 
 
 In longitude 97° E., Wilkes found the ice trend- 
 ing to the northward, well out of the Antarctic 
 Circle, and after following it near to where Cook 
 was stopped in February, 1773, Wilkes took his 
 course for Sydney, where he learned that an Eng- 
 lish sealer. Captain Balleny, had discovered land 
 in longitude 165° E., south of and near the point 
 where Wilkes found the ice-barrier, and had at- 
 tained a latitude of 69° S. in longitude 172° E. 
 Here Wilkes, hearing of the prospective arrival 
 of Sir James Clark Ross, forwarded for his benefit 
 a tracing of the chart prepared as the American 
 squadron had passed along the barrier, supple- 
 mented by the discoveries of Balleny. Ross 
 publishes a copy of this chart in his " Voyage to 
 the Southern Seas," together with Wilkes's letter, 
 giving information not only as to discoveries, but 
 also as to winds, currents, and the probable posi- 
 tion of the magnetic pole. 
 
 Most unfortunately, on the chart transmitted 
 to Ross by Wilkes, he entered, without distin- 
 guishing marks, land between longitudes 160° E. 
 and 165° E., near the sixty-sixth jjaralled, which
 
 202 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 should have been marked with the legend ot 
 "probable land," it being most probably the sup- 
 posed land of Lieutenant Ringgold, of the Vin- 
 cennes, who on January 13, 1840, in longitude, 
 163° E., latitude 65° 8' S., to use Ringgold's own 
 words, " thought he could discern to the south- 
 east something like distant mountains." As a 
 matter of fact, Ross found no bottom at six hun- 
 
 
 The Vincennes in a Storm. 
 (From a sketch by Captain Wilkes ) 
 
 • 
 
 dred fathoms over this charted land, and natural- 
 ly enough pointed out that he had sailed over a 
 clear ocean where Wilkes had laid down land. 
 This lack of caution on the part of Wilkes led to 
 an acrimonious controversy which had no good 
 end, but tended to discredit among the ill-in- 
 formed the discoveries of land actually made by 
 the expedition. Ross, evidently somewhat net- 
 tled, had the questionable taste to omit from his
 
 CHARLES WILKES 203 
 
 general South Polar Chart all of Wilkes's dis- 
 coveries. This course, it is hardly necessary to 
 say, has not commended itself to the best geog- 
 raphers, for in the standard atlas of Stieler, is- 
 sued by the famous publishing house of Justus 
 Purthes, the discoveries claimed by Wilkes are 
 entered, with the legend, " Wilkes Land," ex- 
 tending from longitude 95° E. to 160° E, It is 
 gratifying, moreover, to note as an evidence of 
 the impartial justice of the Royal Geographical 
 Society, that it acknowledged the accuracy and 
 extent of the discoveries of Wilkes and of the 
 value of his detailed narrative of the expedition, 
 and therefor that society awarded to him its 
 founders' medal. 
 
 Ross, it may be added, reached the highest 
 known latitude in the Antarctic Circle, 78° 1 1' S., 
 where he discovered Victoria Land, tracing its 
 coast from 70° to 79° S. latitude, along the me- 
 ridian of 161° W., which proved to be a bold, 
 mountainous country, practically inaccessible 
 and having within its limits an active volcano 
 about twelve thousand feet high — Mount Ere- 
 bus. 
 
 On the subject of an Antarctic continent Ross 
 says : " There do not appear to me sufficient 
 grounds to justify the assertion that the various 
 patches of land recently discovered by the Ameri- 
 can, French, and English navigators on the verge 
 of the Antarctic Circle unite to form a great 
 southern continent." 
 
 The investigations and deductions of a great 
 scientist, the late W. B. Carpenter, give the
 
 204 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 latest word on this subject. Carpenter says: 
 " The Antarctic ice-barrier is to be regarded 
 as the margin of a polar ice-cap whose thick- 
 ness at its edge is probably about two thousand 
 feet. . . . These vast masses have originally 
 formed part of a great ice-sheet formed by the 
 cumulative pressure of successive snow-falls 
 over a land area," etc. Elsewhere he adds : 
 " That the circumpolar area is chiefly land and 
 not water seems to be farther indicated," etc. 
 The periphery of the ice-cap is estimated to 
 be about ten thousand miles. 
 
 Thus the ordinary man may safely believe in 
 the existence of an Antarctic continent whose 
 outer margins were first skirted and recognized 
 as part of a great land by Charles Wilkes, of the 
 United States Navy. 
 
 After quitting the Southern seas, Wilkes voy- 
 asred throue^h the Pacific Ocean, in accordance 
 with his original orders. In the Feejee group, 
 however, his experiences were most unfortunate. 
 The pillaging of a grounded cutter by the na- 
 tives resulted in Wilkes destroying one of their 
 villages and capturing several of their chiefs, 
 causing ill-feeling which a few days later culmi- 
 nated in an attack on a boat's crew, whereby 
 Lieutenant Underwood and Midshipman Henry 
 were killed by the natives and others of the 
 party were severely wounded. An attack of a 
 retaliatory character was made by Wilkes, who 
 destroyed two native towns, laid waste planta- 
 tions, killed about sixty of the savages and 
 wounded many others.
 
 
 ^^Jl:i^:V^' 
 
 
 wmmkhi!^ 
 
 m 
 
 \^;' t 
 
 S?/^ 
 
 :.v:;li 
 
 
 
 
 ^ 4t'-t 
 
 \lv'lil 
 
 '^\WM\\i 
 
 
 
 ,v' ^^!.'*!!14^ ii/^ 
 
 
 
 
 ■■.„■'«':.■ '^.1!' ■ \' -? E 
 
 ■'c'^v.i': 
 
 
 s > 2 
 

 
 206 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 At every port Wilkes and his staff of officers 
 and scientific assistants were most assiduous 
 in making surveys and in acquiring knowledge 
 of the countries and their inhabitants. Even 
 the most prolonged voyage must end, and with 
 pleasure officers and men saw again the shores 
 of their country, where Wilkes landed, at New 
 York, June ib, 1842, after four years of absence. 
 
 As might be expected, there were officers of 
 the squadron who felt that their merits had not 
 been properly recognized by Lieutenant Wilkes 
 during this voyage of four years, and in conse- 
 quence charges of a voluminous character and 
 under a large number of heads were brought 
 against him. The court which considered them 
 acquitted Wilkes except as regards the punish- 
 ment of several of his men, which in some cases 
 appeared to have been more summary and se- 
 vere than the regulations of the navy justified, 
 for which action a reprimand was administered. 
 
 The collections made by the expedition, and the 
 scientific volumes published in connection there- 
 with, were very important additions to the scien- 
 tific knowledge of the world. Professor Henry, 
 in 1 87 1, says: '' The basis of the National Museum 
 is a collection of the specimens of the United 
 States Exploring Expedition under Captain, now 
 Admiral, Wilkes. . . . The collections made 
 by the naval expeditions — 1838 to 1842 — are sup- 
 posed greatly to exceed those of any other simi- 
 lar character fitted out by any government ; no 
 published series of results compare in magnitude 
 with that issued under the direction of the
 
 CHARLES WILKES 207 
 
 joint Library Committees of Congress." Six- 
 teen quarto volumes were issued, five of narra- 
 tive and eleven of a scientific character, while 
 other parts were unfortunately destroyed by fire. 
 
 The beginning of the great civil war again 
 brought Wilkes into striking and international 
 prominence. Sent to the coast of Africa for the 
 United States steamship San Jacinto, Wilkes 
 promptly brought her into West Indies waters. 
 Here he learned that the Confederate Commis- 
 sioners, John Slidell and J. M. Mason, had run 
 the blockade and landed in Cuba, and he decided, 
 without consultation or orders, to capture them. 
 The San Jacinto was then cruising for the Con- 
 federate privateer, the Sumter, but visited fre- 
 quently the Cuban ports. Wilkes apparently 
 accepted the prevailing opinion that Mason and 
 Slidell were safe from interference, but, keeping 
 his views to himself, he was frequently seen by 
 one of his subordinates to be deeply engaged in 
 perusing international law books, doubtless oc- 
 cupied in seeking for precedents in justification 
 of his contemplated action. 
 
 On November i, 1861, Lieutenant J. A. Greer, 
 navigating officer, brought word that Mason and 
 Slidell were booked for England by the steamer 
 Trent, which was to leave Havana on the 7th. 
 On November 4th Wilkes took station in the nar- 
 row channel of Old Bahama, through which the 
 Trent would naturally pass and where she could 
 not escape being seen by the lookout. Early on 
 the morning of the 8th Wilkes ordered the ship 
 cleared for action, and when the Trent was sight-
 
 208 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 ed at noon, Wilkes gave his executive officer, 
 Lieutenant D. M. Fairfax, written instructions to 
 board the steamer Trent, with two armed cutters, 
 when he was to make prisoners of Messrs. Mason, 
 SHdell, and their secretaries, and seize any de- 
 spatches which he might find. A round shot 
 
 "^^ ^':!^ 
 
 In an Ice-Field. 
 
 failed to stop the Trent, but a shell exploding in 
 front of her bows brought her to. After pro- 
 test. Mason and Slidell accepted the arrest, went 
 on board the San Jacinto, whence they were 
 taken to New York and later confined as pris- 
 oners at Fort Warren. 
 
 When Wilkes landed in New York he found
 
 CHARLES WILKES 209 
 
 himself again famous, the central figure toward 
 which, even in that time of war, the attention of 
 all was turned. He was lauded by almost every 
 citizen, praised by nearly every journal, and was 
 the recipient of most flattering attentions. Com- 
 plimentary banquets were given to him in New 
 York, Boston, and elsewhere. 
 
 The Secretary of the Navy, in a letter dated 
 November 30, 1861, wrote : " Especially do I 
 congratulate you on the great public service 
 you have rendered in the capture of the rebel 
 emissaries. . . . Your conduct in seizinsf 
 these public enemies was marked by intelli- 
 gence, ability, decision, and firmness, and has 
 the emphatic approval of this Department." 
 With reference to the omission of Wilkes to 
 capture the Trent, the Secretary says : " The for- 
 bearance exercised in this instance must not be 
 permitted to constitute a precedent hereafter for 
 infractions of neutral obligations." 
 
 Congress w^as not then in session, but it met a 
 few weeks later, when almost the first act of the 
 House of Representatives was to pass a joint 
 resolution which declared that " the thanks of 
 Congress are due, and are hereby tendered, to 
 Captain Wilkes, of the United States Navy, for 
 his brave, adroit, and patriotic conduct in the 
 arrest and detention of the traitors, James M. 
 Mason and John SlidcU." 
 
 The hostile attitude of Great Britain, which 
 
 country to many Americans appeared quite 
 
 ready on slight pretence to acknowledge the 
 
 Southern Confederacy, gave great anxiety to the 
 
 14
 
 210 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 administration. The astute Lincoln and the 
 diplomatic Seward, supported by the patriotic 
 Sumner in the Senate, and other conservative 
 men in the House of Representatives, after due 
 correspondence acceded to the demands of Great 
 Britain that the prisoners should be released. 
 Seward, however, justified Wilkes's action in the 
 main as legal, but said that he erred in releas- 
 ing the Trent ; and by constituting himself as a 
 court, and in not bringing the steamer before an 
 admiralty court as guilty of carrying articles 
 contraband of war, had acted irregularl3^ The 
 United States declined to apologize, as no offence 
 to Great Britain was intended, and forbore from 
 claiming against England the right of search 
 which that nation had so persistently exercised. 
 The Naval Committee of the Senate reported 
 without amendment the resolution of thanks to 
 Wilkes, but deemed it best to postpone it indefi- 
 nitely. The ordinary citizen did not share the 
 conservative, and it may be said the very wise, 
 course of the administration, and the sentiment 
 throughout the country was very generally one 
 of national pride that under doubtful circum- 
 stances an American sailor had dared rather too 
 much than too little for the dignity and safety of 
 his country. Wilkes, himself, when told that 
 possibly this act would cause him to lose his 
 commission, said that he deemed his seizure of 
 the commissioners simply a patriotic duty, and 
 if needs be was willing to be sacrificed for his 
 country. He continued to perform efficient ser- 
 vice during the war, despite his advancing years.
 
 CHARLES WILKES 211 
 
 In 1862, while in command of the Potomac flo- 
 tilla, he shelled and destroyed City Point, and in 
 command of a special squadron to maintain the 
 blockade, captured and destroyed many block- 
 ade-runners. 
 
 With the closing of the war, and his retirement 
 from active service, Wilkes returned to the scien- 
 tific pursuits which had always engrossed his 
 mind, and full of years and honor, died at Wash- 
 ington, February 8, 1877. 
 
 Of his earl}^ scientific labors it may be said 
 that they had contributed in no small degree to 
 the establishment of a national institution of in- 
 ternational repute, the Naval Observatory. 
 
 For his important additions to the knowledge 
 of the world, and especially for his ever-zealous 
 war services, the memory and life of Charles 
 Wilkes will ever abide fresh and honored in the 
 hearts of his countrymen.
 
 VIII. 
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT, 
 
 The Pathfinder. 
 
 The discovery and exploration of the trans- 
 Mississippi region had many phases, the outcome 
 of different conditions and varying individual 
 efforts to determine the extent, possibilities, and 
 resources of the undeveloped half of the Ameri- 
 can continent. The seamanship of Gray, the en- 
 thusiasm of Lewis, the courage of Clarke, the 
 assiduity of Pike, the enterprise of Ashley, 
 Wyeth, Sublette, Bonneville, and other trappers 
 and traders, had done much to make known to 
 the pioneer and settler the advantages and 
 promise of the great West, and had roughly 
 delineated the routes of travel best suited for 
 the emigrant in his westward march. 
 
 In time many urged that the government of 
 the United States, so long shamefully negligent 
 of its magnificent acquisitions by purchase, dis- 
 covery, and settlement, should enter in and pos- 
 sess its own. This, however, necessitated, first, 
 a systematic examination of the physical features 
 of the West to such an extent as to render pos- 
 sible its general and authoritative description ; 
 second, the granting of lands or homesteads to
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 213 
 
 such of its daring citizens as might be willing to 
 venture their lives as settlers in these remote re- 
 gions. 
 
 Among public men who urged most strongly 
 such action was one of the most distinguished of 
 our Western statesmen, Thomas H. Benton, first 
 Senator from the new and growing State of Mis- 
 souri. He persistently advocated the settlement 
 of the lower Columbia by Americans, the en- 
 forcement of the title of the United States to 
 the Pacific Coast region from California north- 
 ward to the forty-ninth parallel, and in 1825 he 
 presented in the Senate a bill authorizing the 
 use of the army and navy to protect American 
 interests in Oregon. 
 
 In season and out of season Benton opposed 
 the joint occupation of Oregon by England and 
 America, unfailingly supporting every measure 
 which promised to fill its fertile valleys with 
 American settlers. So dominant was this idea in 
 Benton's career that artistic skill has fittingly 
 shaped his statue in St. Louis with its bronze 
 hand pointing tucst, w'ith his prophetic w^ords 
 carved on the pedestal, " There is the east. 
 There is India." 
 
 In his efforts to put his ideas into practical 
 shape, Benton threw the great weight of his in- 
 fluence as a Senator toward the employment in 
 such explorations of a member of his family by 
 marriage, John Charles Fremont, whose ability 
 and inclinations specially suited him for the sci- 
 entific examination and exploration of the trans- 
 Mississippi region.
 
 214 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Born January 21, 181 3, at Savannah, Ga., Fre- 
 mont entered Charleston College, where his 
 disregard of discipline prevented his graduating, 
 although the faculty later honored him with the 
 degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts. Well 
 
 John Charles Fremont. 
 
 grounded in the classics and familiar with the 
 ordinary astronomical methods of determining 
 latitude and longitude, Fremont visited South 
 America on the United States ship Natchez, as a 
 teacher. Later, appointed a professor of mathe- 
 matics in the navy, he declined the position to 
 accept more congenial service as assistant en-
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 
 
 215 
 
 gineer of the United States Topographic Corps, 
 where he had experience in preliminary sur- 
 veys of railroads and also in a military reconnois- 
 sance among the Cherokees in Georgia. Commis- 
 sioned in the United States Army, in 1838, as 
 second lieutenant in the Topographic Corps, his 
 
 Jessie Benton Fremont. 
 
 initial service was fortunately as principal assist- 
 ant to L N. Nicolet, in the survey of the country 
 between the Mississippi and the Missouri. Nico- 
 let, an able and distinguished engineer, was the 
 first explorer in America who made general use 
 of the barometer for determining elevations of 
 the great interior country, and his map of this 
 region was one of the greatest contributions 
 ever made to American geography.
 
 216 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 In 1 841 Fremont married Jessie Benton, a 
 daughter of Senator Benton, through whose in- 
 fluence Fremont was assigned to the command of 
 the expedition ordered to explore the country be- 
 tween the Missouri River and the Rocky Moun- 
 tains on the line of the Kansas and Platte Rivers. 
 
 In May, 1842, while Fremont was on the fron- 
 tier making preparations for the journey, there 
 came, as Mrs. Fremont relates, an order recall- 
 ing him to Washington. Mrs. Fremont sent a 
 special messenger to her husband, advising him 
 to move immediately for good and sufficient 
 reasons, to be given later. Meanwhile, holding 
 the letter, she wrote the colonel who had given 
 the order for the recall that she had neither for- 
 warded the order nor informed Fremont of it, as 
 she knew that obedience thereto would ruin the 
 expedition. On such a small thread of circum- 
 stances hung the fate of his first separate com- 
 mand, which brought Fremont into such great 
 prominence in connection with the exploration 
 and development of the Pacific Coast region. 
 
 The journey of Fremont lay up the North 
 Fork of the Platte, through South Pass, into 
 Wind River Valley, his march being marked by 
 the usual experiences of hardship and suffering 
 inseparable from the time and region. The most 
 notable event of the journey was the ascent of the 
 main and highest peak of the Wind River range, 
 now known as Fremont's Peak. Their first at- 
 tempts were unsuccessful, the party suffering 
 from great cold, excessive fatigue, and mountain 
 fever resulting from the rarity of the air. Fr6-
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 217 
 
 mont, however, persevered and succeeded. He 
 describes the final ascent as follows : 
 
 " We reached a point where the buttress was 
 overhanging, and there was no other way of sur- 
 mounting the difificulty than by passing around 
 one side of it, which was the face of a vertical 
 precipice of several hundred feet. Putting 
 hands and feet in the crevices between the 
 blocks I succeeded in getting over it, and when 
 I reached the top found my companions in a 
 small valley below. Descending to them, we 
 continued climbing and in a short time reached 
 the crest. I sprang upon the summit and another 
 step would have precipitated me into an im- 
 mense snow-field five hundred feet below. At 
 the edge of this field was a sheer icy precipice, 
 and then, with a gradual fall, the field sloped off 
 for about a mile until it struck the foot of another 
 lower ridge. I stood on a narrow crest about 
 three feet in width. As soon as I had gratified 
 the first feelings of curiosity I descended, and 
 each man ascended in turn, for I would only al- 
 low one at a time to mount the unstable and pre- 
 carious slab, which it seemed a breath would 
 hurl into the abyss below. We mounted the 
 barometer in the snow at the summit, and fixing 
 a ramrod in the crevice, unfurled the national 
 flag to wave in the breeze where never flag 
 waved before." The elevation of this summit, 
 as determined by Fremont, was 13,570 feet. 
 
 His success on this expedition caused his most 
 favorable reception by the War Department on 
 his return to the States.
 
 218 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Fremont's second expedition contemplated the 
 connection of his first explorations with those 
 
 
 Ascending Fremont's Peak. 
 
 made by Captain Wilkes on the Pacific Coast, so 
 as to give a connected survey across the interior 
 of North America. The party, which left Kan-
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 219 
 
 sas City May 29, 1843, consisted of forty men, 
 equipped with twelve carts for transportation 
 and a light wagon for scientific instruments. The 
 route followed was up the valley of the Kansas 
 River, thence by the South Fork of the Platte to 
 the vicinity of the present city of Denver. Af- 
 ter considerable hesitation a northerly route was 
 taken, skirting the westerly limits of the great 
 Laramie plain, which brought Fremont to the 
 emigrant trail in the vicinity of the South Pass. 
 The volume of travel toward the Pacific Coast 
 even at that early date may be estimated from 
 his description of the Oregon trail as " a broad 
 smooth highway where the numerous heavy 
 wagons of the emigrants have entirely beaten and 
 crushed the mountain sage." 
 
 Crossing Green River and following up 
 Ham's Fork, Fremont reached the valley of 
 Bear River, the principal tributary of Great Salt 
 Lake, which was filled with emigrants travelling 
 to the lower Columbia River. Fremont ex- 
 pressed his surprise at the confidence and daring 
 of the emigrants as he met in one place "a fam- 
 ily of two men and women and several children 
 travelling alone through such a country so re- 
 mote from civilization." Turning south from 
 this point and quitting the travelled road Fremont 
 visited the Great Salt Lake, of which he says : 
 " Hitherto this lake had been seen only by trap- 
 pers, who were wandering through the country 
 in search of new beaver streams, caring very 
 little for geography ; its lands had never been 
 visited, and none were to be found who had
 
 220 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 entirely made the circuit of its shores, and no 
 instrumental observations or geographical survey 
 of any description had ever been made anywhere 
 in the neighboring region. It was generally sup- 
 posed that the lake had no visible outlet, but 
 among the trappers, including those in my own 
 camp, were many who believed that somewhere 
 on its surface was a terrible whirlpool, through 
 which its waters found their way to the ocean 
 by some subterranean communication." 
 
 The lake was eventually reached from the 
 lower part of Bear River in an india-rubber 
 canoe, by means of which Fremont also landed 
 on a mountainous island near the centre of the 
 lake, where from an elevation of eight hundred 
 feet he was able to determine with considerable 
 accuracy the contours and extent of this remark- 
 able body of water. Instead of a tangled wilder- 
 ness of shrubbery teeming with an abundance of 
 game, as the party expected, the island proved 
 to be broken, rocky land, some twelve miles in 
 circumference, on which there was neither water 
 nor trees ; a few saline shrubs and other hardy 
 plants formed the only vegetation. The lake 
 is described as being enclosed in a basin of 
 rocky mountains, which sometimes leave grassy 
 fields and extensive bottoms between them and 
 the shore, while in other places they come direct- 
 ly down to the water in bold and precipitous 
 bluffs. He speaks of the water of the lake being 
 at a low stage and the probabilities that the 
 marshes and low ground are overflowed in the 
 season of high water. Fremont says that "we
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 221 
 
 felt pleasure in knowing that we were the first 
 who in the traditional annals of the country had 
 visited the island and broke with joyful sounds 
 the long solitude." But in view of the dissipa- 
 tion of his dream of fertility he named it Disap- 
 pointment Island. 
 
 Turning northward Fremont reached, on Sep- 
 tember 1 8, 1843, Fort Hall, Idaho, then a post 
 under British control, whose original importance 
 as an Indian trading-post had been greatly en- 
 hanced by its location on the emigrant route to 
 Oregon, at a distance of over one thousand three 
 hundred miles from the then frontier settlement 
 of Westport, Mo. Following closely the emigrant 
 trail Fremont, on October 8th, passed Fort Boise, 
 then occupied by the Hudson Bay Company, and 
 on the 25th of the month arrived at another trad- 
 ing establishment of this company, at the junction 
 of the Walla Walla and Columbia Rivers. This 
 was considered by emigrants as the practical ter- 
 mination of their overland journey since naviga- 
 tion down the river was rapid and convenient. 
 
 Fremont found many American emigrants at 
 Fort Vancouver on his visit to that post and also 
 learned that others already occupied the adjacent 
 lowlands of the Willamette Valley. Moreover, 
 these pioneers were not confining their efforts to 
 Oregon, for while small parties were pushing 
 southward through that valley to settlements in 
 Northern California, still others, making detours 
 near Fort Hall, reached, by a more direct route 
 through passes in the Sierra Nevada, the banks 
 of the Sacramento.
 
 222 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 On November lo, 1843, Fremont left Vancou- 
 ver to return to the United States, having in view 
 an entirely new route whereby he might be able 
 to complete the exploration of the great interior 
 basin between the Rocky Mountains and the 
 Sierra Nevada. His party then consisted of twen- 
 ty-five. Leaving the Columbia at a point above 
 The Dalles, Fremont followed Des Chutes River 
 to its source, and passing over to Lake Klamath, 
 contemplated a journey to and a winter camp on 
 either Mary's Lake or the mythical Buenaven- 
 tura River. His trail brought him to Lake Kla- 
 math, and later to Goose Lake, the source of the 
 Sacramento. Winter, had now commenced ; the 
 weather in the mountains proved to be extreme- 
 ly cold, snow-storms became frequent, and his 
 search for Mary's Lake and Buenaventura River 
 proved fruitless and dangerous. 
 
 These mythical water-courses, which had been 
 eliminated from the domain of geography by 
 Bonneville's map of 1837, proved indeed to be 
 veritable waters of the desert, mere mirages that 
 nearly led Fremont to an untimely fate. Fre- 
 mont's frequent allusions in his field journal to 
 these imaginary streams show his then belief in 
 their existence, which appears extraordinary in 
 view of existing publications. In Bonneville's 
 maps are charted with general accuracy the great 
 interior basins of the Great Salt, Mud, and Sevier 
 Lakes, the Humboldt and Sevier Rivers. The gen- 
 eral extent and direction of the Willamette, Sac- 
 ramento, and San Joaquin Rivers are indicated, 
 and the non-existence of the Buenaventura and
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 223 
 
 Other hypothetical streams was conclusively de- 
 termined. The existence of these maps was gen- 
 erally known, and their absence from Fremont's 
 topographic outfit is remarkable ; a most unfortu- 
 nate omission, as Benton in his "■ Thirty Years' 
 View" describes Fremont's charts and geo- 
 graphic information as " disastrously erroneous." 
 
 Struggling along in the snow through a forest 
 of unknown extent, Fremont halted, on December 
 1 6th, on the verge of a rocky precipice, from 
 which the party looked down more than one 
 thousand feet upon a broad lake, the most west- 
 erly waters of the great interior basin, which, 
 from its pleasing contrast to the wintry weather 
 of the Sierra Nevada, they called Summer Lake. 
 Attempting to travel in an easterly direction 
 Fremont found himself beaten back by an impass- 
 able country, there being rocky, sterile moun- 
 tains on either side which obliged him to keep to 
 the south through a wild, barren, and uninhabited 
 region. Fremont, describing the country, says: 
 " On both sides the mountains showed often stu- 
 pendous and curious-looking rocks, which at sev- 
 eral places so narrowed the valley that scarcely 
 a pass was left for the camp. It was a singular 
 place to travel through — shut up in the earth, a 
 sort of chasm, the little strip of grass under our 
 feet, the rough walls of bare rock on either hand, 
 and the narrow strip of sky above." 
 
 The year 1844 opened with the party in a for- 
 lorn and dispirited condition, as they were prac- 
 tically lost in the tangle of the valleys and 
 mountains. The grass had become so scanty
 
 224 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 and unwholesome that the overtaxed animals fell 
 ill; some died and others were stolen by Indians, 
 so that the party lost fifteen head of stock by the 
 time they reached Pyramid Lake, where they 
 camped from the loth to the i6th of January. 
 Here they found grass abundant, firewood plen- 
 tiful, and from an Indian village they obtained 
 salmon trout, a feast to the famished men. The 
 Indians indicated the general direction of the 
 route out of the desolate country, but no one 
 would consent to accompany the party as guide. 
 The region traversed continued so rough and 
 lamed the animals so badly that on the i8th 
 Fremont determined to abandon the easterly 
 course, thinking it advisable to cross the Sierra 
 Nevada to the valley of the Sacramento by the 
 first practicable pass. Now and then a few Indians 
 were met, and finally a guide was obtained, who 
 led them to the southward, over a low range of 
 mountains through a snow-covered pass into 
 what proved to be Carson Valley. The snow 
 deepened and the country became so broken as 
 to make progress difficult, long, tedious detours 
 necessary, and soon travel was only possible 
 along high and exposed ridges, which were com- 
 paratively snow free. Finally it became neces- 
 sary to abandon their mountain howitzer at an 
 impracticable canon that led into a valley which 
 Fremont at first erroneously supposed to be to 
 the westward of the Sierra Nevada. Continuing 
 on without a guide they met other Indians, who 
 stated it was impossible to cross the mountains 
 on account of the deep snow, but after much per-
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 225 
 
 suasion, and by means of large presents, an Indian 
 guide was finally induced to undertake the jour- 
 ney. Fremont, fully conscious of the desperate 
 conditions, which entailed the possible death of 
 all, endeavored to encourage his men by remind- 
 ing them of the contrast between the fast falling 
 snow of the surrounding Sierra Nevada and the 
 flower-clad meadows in the adjacent valley of the 
 Sacramento, and informed them that his astronom- 
 ical observations showed that they were only sixty 
 miles distant from Sutter's great establishment. 
 
 Their provisions were now practically ex- 
 hausted ; neither tallow, grease, nor salt remained, 
 and even their hunting dogs were killed for food. 
 Making the best of the situation their clothing 
 and outfit were put in the best of order, and on 
 February 2d, crossing the frozen river on the ice, 
 the party commenced the ascent of the moun- 
 tain, the men, Fremont relates, being unusually 
 silent over the hazardous and doubtful enterprise. 
 Ten men, mounted on the strongest horses, 
 broke the road, each man in succession opening 
 the path, either on foot or on horseback, until 
 he and his horse became exhausted, when he 
 dropped to the rear. The very deep snow made 
 it impossible to follow the main valley, and they 
 necessarily worked along steep and difficult 
 mountain-sides. On the third day the snow had 
 become so deep that their best horses gave out 
 entirely, refusing to make further effort; the day 
 ended with the party ata stand-still and the camp 
 equipage strewed along the route. Too ex- 
 hausted to make huts, they camped that night 
 15
 
 226 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 without shelter and suffered bitterly from the un- 
 usual cold, as the temperature fell to twenty-two 
 degrees below freezing. Two Indians who had 
 
 Kit Carson. 
 
 joined the party expatiated on the impossibility 
 of crossing at this point, and the guide, influenced 
 by them, deserted the party the next morning. 
 Having obtained snow-shoes from the Indians,
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 227 
 
 on February 6th, Fremont, accompanied by Car- 
 son and Fitzpatrick, made a reconnoissance and 
 reached a high peak, from which Carson saw a 
 little mountain to the westward which he recog- 
 nized as one seen by him fifteen years before, so 
 that confidence was somewhat restored. On ex- 
 amining the general depth of the snow it was 
 found to be five feet, but in places it proved to 
 be twenty. As this snow was plainly impracti- 
 cable for the pack-train, sledges were made for 
 transporting the baggage, which was dragged 
 forward by the men with the expectation that the 
 horses without load could break a path for them- 
 selves. Unfortunately the weather turned bit- 
 terly cold, and the temperature falling thirty-five 
 degrees below the freezing-point, a number of 
 the men were frost-bitten. 
 
 Fremont, and indeed the whole party, now 
 realized that the crossing of the mountains into 
 the valley of the Sacramento was a struggle for 
 life, but this in no wise disorganized the party. 
 This desperate march lasted during the whole of 
 February. Finally Fremont with the advance 
 party reached Sutter's ranch on March 6th in a 
 state of complete exhaustion ; help was imme- 
 diately sent to the main party, which arrived a 
 few days later. Fremont's route across the 
 mountains was practically through the pass now 
 crossed by the Central Pacific Railway, the de- 
 scent into the Sacramento being through the 
 valley of the American River. In crossing the 
 Sierras not less than thirty-four out of the sixty- 
 seven horses died of exhaustion or were killed
 
 228 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 for food, the meat of these animals being the 
 only resource against starvation. 
 
 One of the party, DeRossier, became insane on 
 March ist, and Fremont says : "■ Hunger and 
 fatigue joined to weakness of body and fear of 
 perishing in the mountains had crazed him. The 
 times were severe when stout men lost their 
 minds from extremity of suffering, when horses 
 died, when mules and horses ready to die of 
 starvation were killed for food, yet there was no 
 murmuring or hesitation." 
 
 Sutter's Fort, on the Sacramento, was then the 
 most important American establishment in Cali- 
 fornia ; the fort itself was an adobe structure de- 
 fended by twelve pieces of artillery. Sutter had 
 a large force in his employ engaged in farming 
 his extensive wheat-fields, in milling operations, 
 in blacksmith- and other work-shops. 
 
 One might have thought that Fremont would 
 have delayed long in the delightful climate and 
 conditions that obtained at Sutter's, but such 
 was not the nature of the man. The entire party 
 were reunited at Sutter's Fort on March 8th, and 
 under Fremont's well-directed efforts, in the short 
 space of fourteen days the starving band was re- 
 organized, remounted, and equipped fully for 
 instant march. The return journey was to be 
 through the pass at the head of the San Joaquin 
 River, discovered by Walker, whose name was 
 affixed to it by Fremont. Crossing the Sierra 
 Nevada the party struck the Spanish trail, which 
 was then followed by all wagon-trains or mount- 
 ed parties travelling to and fro between Los
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 229 
 
 Angeles and Santa Fe. The region over which 
 they passed was desolate in the extreme, the road 
 rough and rocky, grass scanty and poor, while 
 water was found only in holes and at long dis- 
 tances. In pointing to it, Fremont's Spanish 
 guide well states : " There are the great plains ; 
 there is found neither water nor grass — nothing; 
 every animal which goes upon them dies." 
 
 The party had to undergo not only terrible dis- 
 comforts arising from the physical conditions of 
 the country, but was also harassed by hostile Ind- 
 ians, who stole some of their stock. The expe- 
 dition fortunately escaped with the loss of only 
 one man, although parties in advance and in their 
 rear were plundered and slaughtered. Speaking 
 .of their travelling alone in twenty-seven days a 
 distance of five hundred and fifty miles through 
 this inhospitable region, Fremont comments, that 
 although their lonely journey gave them the ad- 
 vantage of more grass, yet they " had the disad- 
 vantage of finding also the marauding savages 
 who had gathered down upon the trail, waiting 
 the approach of their prey. This greatly in- 
 creased our labors, besides costing us the life of 
 an excellent man. Wc had to move all day in 
 a state of watch and prepare for combat, scouts 
 and flankers out, a front and rear division of 
 our men, and baggage animals in the centre. 
 At night camp duty was severe; those who had 
 toiled all day had to guard by turns the camp 
 and horses all night. Frequently one-third of 
 the whole party were on guard at once, and 
 nothing but this vigilance saved us from attack.
 
 230 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 We were constantly dogged by bands and even 
 whole tribes of the marauders." 
 
 Reaching, in Southern Utah, the head-waters 
 of the Virgin River, where Santa Fe trains 
 usually halt to recruit the strength of their ani- 
 mals in its grassy meadows, Fremont was joined 
 by the famous trapper, Joseph Walker, who con- 
 sented to serve as guide in the departure to the 
 northeastward, as they now quitted the Spanish 
 trail. Fremont then skirted the eastern edge of 
 the great interior basin and visiting Sevier and 
 Utah Lakes, thus completed practically the cir- 
 cuit of the basin. He then turned eastward 
 through the valleys of the DuChesne and Green 
 Rivers, tributaries to the Colorado, and push- 
 ing through the very heart of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, by the way of the pass near Leadville, 
 at an elevation of eleven thousand two hundred 
 feet, he reached the Arkansas Valley June 29, 
 1844. 
 
 His journey eastward across the great Kansas 
 plains was of an easy character, and the 31st 
 of July, 1844, saw his expedition safe at Inde- 
 pendence, Mo. He had been absent fourteen 
 months, during which time he had travelled some 
 six thousand five hundred miles, the greater part 
 of his journey being through the most barren and 
 inhospitable regions of North America. 
 
 The character and extent of Fremont's astro- 
 nomical and other physical observations on this 
 long, arduous, and dangerous journey constituted 
 the great value of his exploring work. In few 
 instances did it fall to Fremont's lot to first ex-
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 
 
 231 
 
 plore any section of the country, but it was his 
 good fortune, as it was his intent, to first con- 
 tribute systematic, extended, and reliable data as 
 to climate, elevation, physical conditions, and 
 geographical positions. The hypsometrical work 
 begun by Fremont culminated, indeed, in the un- 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 r ■ 1 11 i| i,,l|l 
 
 2_\l-L\A»iK!»tiiX' 
 
 Lake Klamath. 
 
 „ _ paralleled collation of ele- 
 *^" vations by Gannett; his 
 
 climatic observations have been perfected by the 
 Signal Corps; his astronomical and geological 
 data have been overwhelmed by the magnificent 
 collections and field work of the United States 
 Coast and Geodetic and Geological Surveys ; but 
 it is to be noted that Fremont's observations, 
 which he gave in detail, were so honest and 
 good that they have withstood successfully the 
 test of hostile examination. Fremont's scientific
 
 232 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 spirit was strikingly exemplified in this terrible 
 mid-winter journey through the mountains of 
 Nevada, when observations for time, latitude, 
 elevation, or temperature were daily and regu- 
 larly made despite snow, extreme cold, and phys- 
 ical weakness from semi-starvation. 
 
 On the recommendation of General Winfield 
 Scott, in a special report, the unprecedented 
 honor of double brevets — of first lieutenant and 
 captain — was conferred on Fremont for gallant 
 and highly meritorious services in connection 
 with these two expeditions. 
 
 Fremont's third expedition consisted of sixty 
 men. They left Bent's Fort, on the Arkansas, 
 August 1 6, 1845. Its object, as far as explora- 
 tion was concerned, included a survey of the 
 head-waters of the Arkansas, Rio Grande, and 
 Rio Colorado, the basin of the Great Salt Lake 
 and the practicable passes of the Cascade and 
 southern Sierra Nevada. 
 
 It was during this journey that Fremont quite 
 fully surveyed the southern shores of Salt Lake. 
 The water was then at an unusually low — possi- 
 bly at its lowest known — level, and having been 
 informed by the Indians that it was fordable to 
 Antelope Island, Fremont with Kit Carson rode 
 to the island, the water nowhere reaching above 
 the saddle-girths of their horses. 
 
 Dividing his party Fremont crossed the Utah 
 desert between the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth 
 parallels, while his subordinate, Walker, explored 
 the valley and sink of the Humboldt. Ren- 
 dezvousing at Lake Walker and again separat-
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 233 
 
 ing, Fremont reached Sutter's Fort through the 
 American River route, while Walker and the 
 main party crossed the Sierras into the extreme 
 southern part of the San Joaquin Valle}', oppo- 
 site Tulare Lake. Of the survey and explora- 
 tions made by the expedition it may be briefly 
 said that they added very greatly to a knowl- 
 edge of Upper California, and resulted in the 
 publication in 1848 of the most accurate map of 
 that region extant. 
 
 There was, however, another and more im- 
 portant phase to the third expedition than that 
 of mere exploration. Fremont before leaving 
 Washington was informed that war with Mexico 
 was possible, and received general unwritten in- 
 structions looking to such a contingency. The 
 forecast of trouble proved correct, and the pre- 
 liminary and extensive disturbances in California 
 interfered most materially with the progress of 
 his surveys. Fremont's explorations westward 
 of the Arkansas River had been through and 
 over Mexican territory. In order to place him- 
 self in proper position as a non-invader he pro- 
 ceeded to Monterey, Cal., at the earliest practi- 
 cable moment and applied to the commanding 
 general, Don Jose Castro, for permission to ex- 
 tend, in the interests of science and commerce, 
 the geographical survey of the nearest route 
 between the United States and the Pacific Ocean. 
 The request was granted promptly and courte- 
 ously. Scarcely had Fr6m(^nt commenced his 
 survey in Northern California than he was per- 
 emptorily ordered by General Castro, who later
 
 234 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 appears to have been acting under orders from 
 the Mexican Government, to quit the depart- 
 ment ; the message being coupled with an inti- 
 mation that non-compliance would result in ex- 
 pulsion by an armed force. The message was 
 delivered in such manner and language as in- 
 censed Fremont and caused him to peremptorily 
 refuse. Withdrawing a short distance he erected 
 a stockade and awaited expulsion by arms. The 
 Mexican force made several forward movements, 
 but carefully avoided an attack. Fremont final- 
 ly judged it advisable to quit Mexican territory, 
 as his remaining might be detrimental to the 
 United States. He consequently withdrew slow- 
 ly toward Oregon, surveying and exploring as 
 he moved northward. 
 
 On May 7, 1845, Fremont was overtaken in 
 the valley of the upper Sacramento by Lieu- 
 tenant Archibald H. Gillespie, of the marine 
 corps, who brought from Washington impor- 
 tant despatches which were destined to settle 
 the fate of California as a Mexican state. Fre- 
 mont was informed through Gillespie that war 
 with Mexico had been declared, that the govern- 
 ment counted upon him to ascertain and concil- 
 iate the disposition of the people of California 
 toward the United States, and especially to con- 
 serve American interests by ascertaining and 
 counteracting any scheme looking to the cession 
 of California to Great Britain. Fremont was 
 then surrounded by hostile Klamaths, who killed 
 several of his party and with whom he had 
 several engagements, which resulted in the de
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 235 
 
 struction of the principal village, fishing appli- 
 ances, etc., of the offending tribe. 
 
 Fremont, turning promptly southward, his 
 heart set on the important mission intrusted 
 to him, saved from ravage the American settle- 
 ments in the valle}^ of the Sacramento, which 
 were in imminent danger of destruction between 
 the proclamation of the Mexican authorities 
 ordering confiscation and expulsion and the 
 threatening attitude of the Indian allies, incited 
 by unscrupulous officials to activity. Aided by 
 volunteers from the American settlers Fremont 
 freed California permanently from Mexican dom- 
 ination, his actions receiving mention and ap- 
 proval from the President in his Annual Mes- 
 sage to Congress, in December, 1846. 
 
 Commodore Stockton, United States Navy, 
 charged with the control of affairs on the Pacific 
 Coast, appointed Fremont Governorand military 
 commander of California. When controversies 
 arose between Commodore Stockton, of the navy, 
 and General Kearney, of the army, each hav- 
 ing authority from Washington to conquer Cali- 
 fornia and organize its government, Fr6mont 
 adhered to Stockton, his first commander. In 
 consequence serious complications arose, which 
 finally resulted in the trial of Fremont, and, al- 
 though the findings of the court were partl}^ dis- 
 approved and the sentence remitted, he resigned 
 from the army. 
 
 His courage, persistency, and success in these 
 expeditions gained for Fr(^mont world-wide rep- 
 utation. At home he was named The Path-
 
 236 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 finder; abroad he received the Founders' Medal 
 from the Royal Geographical Society of Eng- 
 land and many other well-deserved marks of 
 appreciation from geographers. 
 
 Devoted to California and to its exploration 
 Fremont immediately fitted out, at his own 
 expense, another expedition, the fourth. In 
 October, 1848, with thirty - three men and a 
 large train he crossed the Rocky Mountains, 
 undeterred by his fearful experiences in 1844, 
 and again attempted the passage of the snow- 
 covered Sierras in mid-winter. The snow was 
 deep, the guide inefficient, and the winter un- 
 usually cold. One-third of his men and all his 
 animals perished after suffering cold, hunger, and 
 fatigue of the most appalling character, and the 
 remnant of the expedition returned to Santa Fe. 
 Unappalled by this overwhelming disaster Fre- 
 mont reorganized at Santa Fe a new party, and 
 after a long, perilous journey reached Sacra- 
 mento in the spring of 1849. 
 
 Fremont's experiences during his surveys of 
 the great valleys of the San Joaquin and Sacra- 
 mento caused him to fall under the fascinating 
 spell which California exercises over the greater 
 number of its Eastern settlers. The vast domain 
 of its virgin forests, the luxuriance of its vegeta- 
 tion, the extent and fertility of its valley lands, 
 and its incomparable climate were speedily rec- 
 ognized by Fremont as so many physical condi- 
 tions calculated to insure unparalleled prosperity 
 when once it should be occupied by Americans. 
 He saw this vast region practically a waste ; its
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT 237 
 
 magnificent harbors unvexed, unbroken by the 
 keels of commerce ; its unrivalled valleys await- 
 ing the hand of intelligent labor to transform 
 them from mere pastures for scattered herds of 
 cattle into fruitful granaries, orchards, and vine- 
 yards capable of feeding a continent. Imbued 
 with these ideas he cast in his lot with Califor- 
 nia, and was a potent power in making it a free 
 State, and was honored by election as its first 
 Senator, unfortunately, however, drawing the 
 short term in the United States Senate. 
 
 Failing, through the defeat of his party, of 
 re-election, Fremont visited Europe for a brief 
 and well - earned rest, which was broken by 
 the authorization of Congress for a survey of 
 a trans-continental railway, which awoke his 
 dormant exploring spirit. Returning promptly 
 to the United States he organized an expedition 
 under private auspices, which started westward 
 in September, 1853. He travelled by the cen- 
 tral route through the mountains of Colorado, 
 passing over the Sierra Blanca, through the 
 Sandy Hill Pass and the valley of the Grand 
 River. Turning southward into Utah and cross- 
 ing the Sawatch Mountains, Fremont's march 
 brought him to the Sierra Nevada near the 
 end of winter, and their passage was attempted 
 near the thirty-seventh parallel. Thereof he 
 writes : " I was prepared to find the Sierra here 
 broad, rugged, and blocked with snow, and was 
 not disappointed in my expectations." The 
 snow being impassable and food failing he made a 
 detour of some seventy miles to the southward
 
 238 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 and reached the Kern River Valley through 
 Walker Pass. The march entailed endless suf- 
 fering and extreme privations on the party, 
 which was pushed to the direst extremities to 
 preserve life. They were often without food 
 of any kind for an entire day and for many 
 weeks had only the flesh of their emaciated and 
 exhausted horses. The disastrous outcome of 
 this expedition impaired Fremont's reputation, 
 it appearing, then as now, surprising that, aware 
 by bitter experience of the impracticability of 
 such a journey, he should have so timed his 
 march as to be again overwhelmed by the dread- 
 ful winter snow of the Nevada range. 
 
 This sketch has in view the treatment neither 
 of Fremont's career as a soldier nor as a poli- 
 tician, which phases of his life, viewed by ordi- 
 nary circumstances, may be considered as unsuc- 
 cessful. It need not be here dwelt on that his name 
 became a watchword of the ever-growing spirit 
 of human freedom, and that as the standard- 
 bearer of an idea he astonished the country and 
 the world by obtaining the suffrages of nearly 
 one and a half millions of his countrymen for 
 the highest office in the gift of the people. His 
 unwavering, if impractical, devotion to freedom 
 was forcibly illustrated by his emancipation proc- 
 lamation in Missouri, which he declined to re- 
 call, even at the request of the President who 
 revoked it. 
 
 It is undoubted that Fremont's non-success in 
 business and political ventures has tended to 
 diminish his reputation as an explorer, a rep-
 
 JOHN CHARLES FREMONT. 239 
 
 utation which, it is safe to say, must continue to 
 grow steadily in the future with the develop- 
 ment of the great trans-Rocky Mountain region 
 to which he gave the enthusiasm of his youth, 
 the maturity of his manhood, and for which he 
 sacrificed his profession and his private fortune. 
 While Fremont loved all the great West, it was 
 to California especially that he gave the best he 
 had of mind, heart, and body, never sparing 
 himself in any effort for the upbuilding of her 
 future. So it is that in the scene of his activi- 
 ties on the shores of the golden Pacific, rather 
 than on the coast of the Atlantic, should be 
 more appreciated the labors and ever grow 
 brighter and brighter the name of John C. Fre- 
 mont, the Pathfinder.
 
 IX. 
 
 ELISHA KENT KANE, 
 Arctic Explorer. 
 
 Among the picturesque and striking figures 
 of Arctic explorers none abides more firmly 
 in the minds of Americans than that of Elisha 
 Kent Kane, whose career and fame largely relate 
 to the fate of the lost explorer, Sir John Franklin. 
 
 Kane was born in Philadelphia, February 3, 
 1820. In 1842 he graduated in medicine at the 
 University of Pennsylvania, and the following 
 year, while waiting for a vacancy in the medi- 
 cal corps of the navy, for which he had passed 
 an examination, sailed on the frigate Brandy wine, 
 as physician to the embassy, to China, under 
 Caleb Cushing, Minister Plenipotentiary. Later, 
 commissioned as an officer of the medical corps 
 of the United States Navy, he served on the 
 west coast of Africa, in Brazil, in the Mediter- 
 ranean, and on special duty with the army in 
 Mexico. This brief statement of his duties con- 
 veys, however, no idea of the intense energy and 
 restless activity of Kane in his eager efforts to 
 acquire personal knowledge of the very ends of 
 the earth. 
 
 Indeed, considering Kane's very short life (he
 
 ELISHA KENT KANE 241 
 
 died at thirty-seven), there is no man of modern 
 times to whom the words of Tennyson, in his 
 strong poem of Ulysses, more fittingly apply : 
 
 " I cannot rest from travel, . . . 
 For always roaming with a hungry heart 
 Much have I seen and known : cities of men 
 And manners, climates, councils, governments, 
 Myself not least but honored of them all." 
 
 Sufifice it here to say that before Kane was 
 thirty he had visited in America the greater part 
 of the eastern half of the United States, the city 
 of Mexico, Cuba, and Brazil from Rio de Janeiro 
 to the eastern Andes ; in Africa, along the Gold 
 and Slave Coasts, to Dahomey, Cape Colony, and 
 up the Nile to the Second Cataract ; in Europe, 
 the eastern, southern, and central countries ; in 
 Asia, the coast of China, Ceylon, India from 
 Bombay to the Himalayas, Persia, and Syria. 
 Elsewhere he had travelled in the islands of 
 Cape Verde, Singapore, Java, Sumatra, and Lu- 
 zon of the Philippines. This incessant travel is 
 the more remarkable as he was always sea-sick, 
 was a man of delicate physique, and nowhere 
 passed six months without being prostrated by 
 severe illness. As to personal experiences, he 
 had been wounded in Egypt by a Bedouin who 
 strove to rob him, narrowly escaped death in 
 saving captured Mexican officers from slaughter 
 at the hands of renegade irregulars, and barely 
 survived his unique experiences in the crater of 
 a volcano. 
 
 His descent into the volcano of Tael, in the 
 
 10
 
 242 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Philippines, illustrates Kane's utter disregard of 
 dangers whenever he desired to investigate any 
 phenomena. As related by Dr. Elder, Kane not 
 
 Elisha Kent Kane. 
 
 only was lowered two hundred feet below the 
 point usually visited, but descended to the very 
 surface of the burning lake and dipped his 
 specimen bottles into the steaming sulphur water. 
 This feat nearly cost him his life, for although
 
 ELISHA KENT KANE 243 
 
 he was able to crawl to and fasten the bamboo 
 ropes around his body, yet his boots were 
 charred in pieces on his feet, sulphurous air-cur- 
 rents stifled him into insensibility, and he would 
 have perished had it not been for the strenuous 
 exertions of Baron Loe, his companion. 
 
 The turning-point in Kane's life came in 1850, 
 when, induced by the persistent petition of 
 Lady Franklin, President Taylor recommended 
 to Congress an appropriation for an expedition 
 in search of Sir John Franklin and his missing 
 ships. Kane immediately volunteered for Arctic 
 service, pressing and urging his application by 
 every means at his command. Congress acted 
 tardily, so that the whole expedition was fitted 
 out in eighteen days, and Kane at the last mo- 
 ment, when his hopes had failed, received orders 
 as surgeon of the Advance, the flagship, which 
 he joined May 20, 1850. 
 
 The expedition owed its existence to the en- 
 terprise and generosity of Henry Grinnell, whose 
 philanthropic mind planned, practical energy 
 equipped, and munificence endowed it. Without 
 Grinnell's action Congress would have failed to 
 fit out the expedition, and the grateful chapter 
 of American co-operation with England in its 
 Franklin search would have been unwritten. 
 Such practical displays of sympathy in matters 
 of general and national interest, now considered 
 the most hopeful signs of international fellow- 
 ship, may be said to have been inaugurated by 
 the despatch of the first Grinnell expedition on 
 its errand of humanity.
 
 244 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Under a joint resolution of Congress, passed 
 May 2, 1850, the President was authorized "to 
 accept and attach to the navy two vessels offered 
 by Henry Grinnell, Esq., to be sent to the Arctic 
 seas in search of Sir John Franklin and his com- 
 panions." These vessels — two very small brigs, 
 the ffagship Advance and the Rescue — were 
 placed under command of Lieutenant Edwin J. 
 De Haven, an officer of Antarctic service under 
 Wilkes. The vessels had detachable rudders, 
 modern fittings, were admirably strengthened and 
 fully equipped ; in short, they were thoroughly 
 adapted to the difficult navigation in prospect. 
 Where Grinnell's forethought and liberality 
 ended there was, says Kane, another tale : the 
 strictly naval equipment could not be praised, 
 and the '' crews consisted of man-of-war's-men of 
 various climes and habitudes, with constitutions 
 most of them impaired by disease or temporarily 
 broken by the excesses of shore life ; " but he com- 
 mends them as ever brave, willing, and reliable. 
 
 The squadron touched at various Greenland 
 ports and then entered the dreaded ice-pack of 
 Melville Bay, in which the sailing vessels made 
 slow progress ; but in their besetment of three 
 weeks the only dangerous experience was a 
 "nip," which nearly destroyed the Advance. 
 The movement of the ice-floes is thus graphical- 
 ly told by Kane : " The momentum of the assail- 
 ing floe was so irresistible that as it impinged 
 against the solid margin of the land ice there 
 was no recoil, no interruption to its progress. 
 The elastic material corrugated before the enor-
 
 ELI SUA KENT KANE 245 
 
 mous pressure, then cracked, then crumbled, 
 and at last rose, the lesser over the greater, slid- 
 ing up in great inclined planes, and these again, 
 breaking by their weight and their continued 
 impulse, toppled over in long lines of fragment- 
 ary ice." 
 
 De Haven entered Lancaster Sound, near the 
 end of August, in company with half a dozen 
 English ships bound on the same humane er- 
 rand, and on the 24th Master Griffin, of the Res- 
 cue, participated in the search with Captain 
 Ommaney, which resulted in the discovery, on 
 Beechy Island, of vestiges of an encampment. 
 Two days later De Haven and Kane shared in 
 the joint search, wherein Captain Penny dis- 
 covered the graves of three of Franklin's crew. 
 These discoveries proved that Franklin's expe- 
 dition had wintered there during 1845-46, and 
 later innumerable traces of their stay were not- 
 ed, indicating the good condition and activity 
 of the expedition. On September loth DeHa- 
 ven's squadron was off Griffith Island in com- 
 pany with eight English search ships. Consult- 
 ing with Griffin, DcHaven concluded that they 
 had not attained such a position as promised ad- 
 vantageous operations in the season of 185 1, and 
 so decided to extricate the vessels from the ice 
 and return home. 
 
 Strong gales and an unusually earl}'' advance 
 of winter prevented such action and resulted in 
 the ships being frozen up in the pack, where 
 they drifted helplessly to and fro, a condition 
 they were destined to undergo for many months.
 
 F'"' 
 
 if
 
 ELISHA KENT KANE 247 
 
 Beset in the middle of Wellington Channel, the 
 American squadron, with varying movements 
 to and fro, first drifted under the influence of 
 southerly gales to the north-northwest, attain- 
 ing latitude 75° 25' N., longitude 93° 31' W. In 
 this northerly drift the expedition discovered 
 Murdaugh Island and quite extensive masses of 
 land to the northwest of North Devon, to which 
 the name of Grinnell was given. This land was 
 further extended the following year by the dis- 
 coveries of Captain Penny, and most unwarrant- 
 able efforts were made by ungenerous and un- 
 appreciating officials in England to take from 
 the American squadron its ewe lamb of 1850, an 
 attempt that, properly refuted, failed of its pur- 
 pose. 
 
 October 2, i860, the direction of the drift 
 changed to the south and later to the east. Their 
 involuntary course lay through Wellington 
 Channel, Barrow Strait, and Lancaster Sound 
 into Baffin Bay, where release came, near Cape 
 Walsingham, June 5, 1851. The drift covered 
 ten hundred and fifty miles and lasted eight and 
 a half months. The sun was absent twelve 
 weeks. It is impossible to adequately describe 
 the ph3'sical and mental sufferings of the party 
 during this protracted ice imprisonment. It was 
 a constant succession of harassing conditions, 
 each, if possible, seeming worse than the for- 
 mer. Now the ships were so firmly imbedded in 
 the cemented ice-pack that extrication appeared 
 impossible ; again the complete disruption of the 
 pack threatened, <ir the instant destruction of
 
 248 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 their vessels impended, with prospects of a win- 
 ter on the naked floe under such conditions of 
 darkness, sickness, lack of shelter, and suitable 
 nutrition as would render a lingering death un- 
 avoidable. No single week passed with a feel- 
 ing of security ; for days at a time there was no 
 hour free from terrible suspense as to what fate 
 might immediately befall, and four times in one 
 day the entire party prepared to abandon ship 
 at order. The cold became extreme, the mean 
 of one week in March being thirty-one degrees 
 below zero ; seal and other fresh meat could be 
 got only in small quantities, and scurvy, the bane 
 of Arctic explorers, affected all save six of the 
 crew, DeHaven being put off duty by this dis- 
 ease. In all these terrible experiences, which 
 were borne with a fortitude, courage, and pa- 
 tience most creditable, Kane was first and fore- 
 most in sustaining the heroic efforts of Griffin, 
 master of the Rescue, on whom the executive 
 duties devolved during De Haven's illness. It 
 may be said that not only Kane's medical skill, 
 but also his cheeriness, activity, and ingenious 
 devices contributed largely to conserve the 
 health, spirits, and morale of the crew in these 
 dark hours when despair seemed justified. 
 
 Released from the pack, DeHaven patched up 
 his injured ships and attempted to return and 
 prosecute further the Franklin search ; but, 
 stopped in his return journey by ice in the 
 upper part of Melville Bay, he judiciously de- 
 cided to return to the United States, which 
 was safely reached September 30, 1851.
 
 ELISHA KENT KANE 249 
 
 The following extracts from Kane's very vivid 
 account of the expedition illustrate some of the 
 most striking phases of their experiences as re- 
 corded in his journal. 
 
 Of the conditions and experience of the Ad- 
 vance in the moving ice-pack he says : 
 
 " We were yet to be familiarized with the strife 
 of the ice-tables, now broken into tumbling 
 masses and piling themselves in angry confusion 
 against our sides ; now fixed in chaotic disarray 
 by the fields of new ice that imbedded them in a 
 single night ; again, perhaps, opening in treach- 
 erous pools, only to close around us with a force 
 that threatened to grind our brig to powder." 
 
 " A level snow-covered surface was rising up 
 in inclined planes or rudely undulating curves. 
 These, breaking at their summits, fell off on each 
 side in masses of twenty tons' weight. Tables of 
 six feet in thickness by twenty of perpendicular 
 height, and some of them fifteen yards in length, 
 surging up into the misty air, heaving, rolling, 
 tottering, and falling with a majestic deliberation 
 worthy of the forces that impelled them." 
 
 The following descriptions indicate the narrow 
 escapes of the ships from destruction during dis- 
 ruptions of the ice-pack : 
 
 " The separated sides would come together 
 with an explosion like a mortar, craunching the 
 newly formed field and driving it headlong in 
 fragments for fifty feet upon the fioe till it piled 
 up against our bulwarks. Everything betokened 
 a crisis. Sledges, boats, packages of all sorts 
 were disposed in order ; contingencies were met
 
 250 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 as they approached by new delegations of duty ; 
 every man was at work, officers and seamen alike. 
 The Rescue, crippled and thrown away from us 
 to the further side of a chasm, was deserted, and 
 her company consolidated with ours. Our own 
 brig groaned and quivered under the pressure 
 against her sides." 
 
 " The ice came in with the momentum before 
 mentioned as irresistible, progressive, and grand. 
 All expected to betake ourselves sledgeless to the 
 ice, for the open space around the vessel barely 
 admits of a foot-board. The timbers and even 
 cross-beams protected by shores vibrated so as 
 to communicate to you the peculiar tremor of a 
 cotton-factory. Presently the stern of the brig, 
 by a succession of jerking leaps, began to rise, 
 while her bows dipped toward the last night's ice 
 ahead. Everybody looked to see her fall upon 
 her beam-ends and rushed out upon the ice." 
 
 " On the 13th the hummock ridge astern ad- 
 vanced with a steady march upon the vessel. 
 Twice it rested and advanced again — a dense wall 
 of ice, thirty feet broad at the base and twelve feet 
 high, tumbling huge fragments from its crest, yet 
 increasing in mass at every new effort. We had 
 ceased to hope, when a merciful interposition ar- 
 rested it, so close against our counter that there 
 was scarcely room for a man to pass between. 
 Half a minute of progress more and it would 
 have buried us all. As we drifted along five 
 months afterward this stupendous memento of 
 controlling power was still hanging over our 
 stern."
 
 ELISIIA KENT KANE 
 
 251 
 
 The discomfort of the prescribed out-of-door 
 exercise in extreme cold appears from the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 " Close the lips for the first minute or two and 
 
 A Sleeping-bag for Tnree Men. 
 
 admit the air suspiciously through nostril and 
 mustache. Presently you breathe in a dry, 
 pungent but gracious and agreeable atmosphere. 
 The beard, eyebrows, e3'elashes, and the downy 
 pubescence of the ears acquire a delicate white
 
 252 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 and perfectly enveloped cover of venerable hoar- 
 frost. The mustache and under lip form pendu- 
 lous beads of dangling ice. Put out your tongue 
 and it instantly freezes to this icy crusting, and a 
 rapid effort and some hand aid will be required 
 to liberate it. The less you talk the better. 
 Your chin has a trick of freezing to your upper 
 jaw by the luting aid of your beard ; even my 
 eyes have often been so glued as to show that 
 even a wink may be unsafe." 
 
 The unfortunate ph3'sical condition of the 
 party made Kane's duties most onerous and 
 wearing. In mid-winter he says : 
 
 " Scurvy advanced steadily. This fearful dis- 
 ease, so often warded off when in a direct attack, 
 now exhibited itself in a cachexy, a depraved con- 
 dition of system sad to encounter. Pains diffuse 
 and non-locatable were combined with an apathy 
 and lassitude which resisted all attempts at healthy 
 excitement. These, of course, were not confined 
 to the crew alone : out of twenty-four men but 
 five were without ulcerated gums and blotched 
 limbs. All the officers were assailed." 
 
 The expedition safe in port, the recollection of 
 the horrors and privations of his mid-winter 
 drift through the polar pack did not deter 
 Kane from again braving the danger of Arctic 
 exploration, and he was soon busily engaged in 
 stimulating public opinion to the support of 
 another expedition. To this end he especially 
 addressed the American Geographic Society, of 
 which Henry Grinnell was president, present-
 
 ELISHA KENT KANE 253 
 
 ing a well-intended but fallacious and illogical 
 plan for continuing the search for Franklin. 
 
 Kane was personally aware, from the experi- 
 ences of his previous voyage with DeHaven, 
 that Franklin had wintered at Beechy Island, in 
 74° 43' N., 91° 33' W., and that his positive orders 
 from the admiralty required him to push south- 
 ward from the vicinity of Cape Walker to Behr- 
 ing Strait. A search for him by the way of Smith 
 Sound, four degrees of latitude to the northivard 
 and seventeen des^rees of longitude to the east- 
 ward of his last known position, rested on the 
 violent assumption that Franklin had not only 
 directly disobeyed his positive orders to go 
 %vest and soiithzucst, but had done so after one- 
 third of the distance from Greenland to Behring 
 Strait had been accomplished. 
 
 Again there had lately been made public in 
 England the last direct report from the Franklin 
 expedition — a letter from Captain Fitzjames — 
 who relates that Franklin showed him part of 
 his instructions, expressed his disbelief in an 
 open sea to the north, and gave " a pleasant ac- 
 count of his expectations of being able to get 
 through the ice on the coast of America." Dr. 
 Rae had also reported finding drift material on the 
 north coast of America, which, having the broad 
 arrow and red thread of the government, could 
 come from the quarter where Franklin's orders 
 sent him, thus confirming the belief that he had 
 gone southwest from Cape Walker. Moreover, the 
 squadrons of Belcher and Collinson were actively 
 engaged in the search northward of America.
 
 254 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 It was finally decided that a second expedition 
 should be sent, the United States co-operating, 
 as before, with private enterprise ; and to the 
 command of this expedition Kane was assigned, 
 by orders from the Secretary of the Navy, in 
 November, 1852. The expedition was fitted out 
 through the liberality of two Americans, Henry 
 Grinnell, who again placed the brig Advance 
 at the disposal of the government, and George 
 Peabody, the American philanthropist, who con- 
 tributed $10,000, a sum that practically covered 
 all other expenses of the voyage. 
 
 Kane's faith in the existence of an open polar 
 sea and his intention of reaching it were clearly 
 asserted. Combined with the proposed search for 
 Franklin was a declared purpose to extend north- 
 ward the discoveries of Inglefield, in 185 1, on the 
 west coast of Greenland, where, as Kane says, 
 he contemplated reaching " its most northern at- 
 tainable point, and thence pressing on toward 
 the Pole as far as boats or sledges could carry 
 us, examine the coast lines for vestiges of the 
 lost party." 
 
 The expedition sailed from New York May 
 30, 1853, consisting of eighteen men, all volun- 
 teers, although ten belonged to the United 
 States Navy. Except as regards scientific in- 
 struments, the equipment of the expedition was 
 in most respects inadequate and unsuitable for 
 Arctic service, the bulk of the provisions, for in- 
 stance, being hard bread, salt beef, and pork, 
 with no canned meats or vegetables. 
 
 The Greenland ports were visited, where a
 
 ELISHA KENT KANE 255 
 
 moderate amount of fur clothing and fifty Es- 
 quimau dogs were purchased. On June 27th the 
 Advance entered Melville Bay, and standing 
 boldly to the westward, although hindered by 
 the loose drifting ice, was favored by an off- 
 shore gale, and in ten days passed into the 
 open sea west of Cape York, known to Arctic 
 voyagers as the " North Water," the only mis- 
 fortune being the loss of a whaleboat. In order 
 to secure retreat Kane, fortunately for himself as 
 it afterward proved, cached his metallic life-boat, 
 filled with boat stores, on Littleton Island. Fa- 
 vored by the conditions of the ice Kane rounded 
 Cape Hatherton, when the main pack setting 
 southward obliged him to seek shelter in Refuge 
 Harbor, a land-locked cove. Later the Advance 
 was able, as the ice opened, to make sail and pass 
 around Cairn Point, but a violent gale broke her 
 from her moorings and nearly wrecked her. The 
 ice conditions were now so adverse that seven of 
 his eight officers addressed to him written opin- 
 ions in favor of a return to a more southern har- 
 bor. Such retrograde movement would have re- 
 moved them from the contemplated field of 
 operations, and Kane declined. Every favorable 
 opportunity of warping the brig — she could be 
 moved in no other way — was availed of, and de- 
 spite most difficult conditions of ice and water, 
 the brig being on her beam-ends at low tide and 
 jammed by floes at high water, she was moved a 
 number of miles to the eastward, and on Septem- 
 ber 9th was put into winter-quarters in Rensse- 
 laer Harbor, 78^ 37' N., 71° 14' W., which, says
 
 256 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Kane, " we were fated never to leave together — 
 a long resting-place to her, for the same ice is 
 around her still." 
 
 Scarcely were they moored than signs of com- 
 ing winter crowded fast one after another ; the 
 flowers were blackened by frost; long lines of 
 flying water-fowl trended southward, leaving sol- 
 
 The Coming Arctic Night. 
 
 itary the hardy snow - bird ; the sun grew lower 
 from day to day with startling rapidity, and the 
 young ice cemented the separated old ffoes into 
 one solid roadway for the sledgemen. Kane 
 set about exploring the country and travelled 
 some fifty miles to Mary Minturn River, whence 
 from adjoining high land he had a view of 
 Washington land, the vicinity of Cape Consti- 
 tution. During this journey he first observed
 
 ELISIIA KENT KANE 257 
 
 the peculiar ice formation now known as the ice- 
 foot, but then novel. It is best described in his 
 words: "We were on a table or shelf of ice 
 which clung to the base of rocks overlooking 
 the sea, . . . with huge angular blocks, some 
 many tons in weight, scattered over its surface." 
 Hayes and Wilson travelled some fifty miles into 
 the interior till their further progress was 
 stopped by the edge of the inland ice. McGary 
 and Bonsall, with sledge party of seven, made 
 three caches to the northeast, the farthest being 
 in 79° 12' N., 65° 25' W., under the face of an 
 enormous glacier, to which the name of Hum- 
 boldt Avas given. 
 
 The winter passed quietly, the officers making 
 tidal, astronomical, magnetic, and meteorological 
 observations, while the men, engaged in ordinary 
 pursuits, kept in health. Unfortunately fifty- 
 seven, nearly all, of the dogs died, thus depriv^- 
 ing Kane of his main reliance for field operations. 
 The extreme cold — the mean temperature for De- 
 cember to March, inclusive, being thirty-two 
 decrees below zero — had reduced the fuel so 
 that the allowance was three buckets a day. 
 Other supplies commenced to show their need 
 or inadequacy ; oil for lamps failed, as did fresh 
 meat from game, and unfortunately there was 
 no canned meat, only salted. 
 
 Despite his loss of dogs Kane decided on lay- 
 ing out new depots, and with the advance of 
 March he watched eagerly the temperature. 
 From the loth to the 19th the cold averaged sev- 
 enty-six degrees below the freezing-point. He 
 17
 
 258 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 started his man-sledge on the 20th, under charge 
 of Brooks, first officer, with seven others at the 
 drag-ropes. Unfortunately the equipment was 
 either somewhat defective or some of the party 
 were inexperienced in the methods needful for 
 self-preservation in such extreme cold. Kane 
 gives no details of the causes of the calamity save 
 to say that " a heavy gale from the north-north- 
 east broke upon the party, and the temperature 
 fell to fifty-seven below zero." 
 
 The first news of the disaster came from Son- 
 tag, Ohlsen, and Petersen, who suddenly appeared 
 in the cabin, at midnight of March 31st, swollen, 
 haggard, and hardly able to speak. Kane con- 
 tinues : " They had left their companions in the 
 ice, risking their own lives to bring us the news ; 
 Brooks, Baker, Wilson, and Pierre, were all lying 
 frozen and disabled. Where ? They could not 
 tell ; somewhere among the hummocks to the 
 northeast ; it was drifting heavily around them. 
 Irish Tom had stayed to care for the others. It 
 was vain to question them, for they were sinking 
 with fatigue and hunger, and could hardly be 
 rallied enough to tell us the direction." 
 
 Kane instantly organized a relief party of ten 
 men, which, despite his delicate physique, he 
 headed himself. Taking Ohlsen, the most ration- 
 al of the sufferers, in a fur bag, and as lightly 
 equipped as was possible, the rescuers moved out 
 in a temperature seventy-eight degrees below 
 freezing. Ohlsen fell asleep, but on awakening 
 was of no use as guide owing to his delirious 
 condition. Reaching a large level floe Kane put
 
 ELISHA KENT KANE 259 
 
 up his tent and scattered his party to find traces 
 of the lost men. Eighteen hours had now elapsed 
 and Kane's own party was in a deplorable state, 
 partly owing to the extreme cold and partly to 
 extreme nervousness arising from anxiety and 
 sympathy. He says : " McGary and Bonsall, who 
 had stood out our severest marches, were seized 
 with trembling fits and short breath, and in spite 
 of all my efforts I fainted twice on the snow." 
 Fortunately Hans, the Esquimau, found a 
 sledge-track which led to the camp in a few 
 hours, where Kane found the four men on their 
 backs, whose welcome greeting, " We expected 
 you : we were sure you would come," proved 
 how great was their confidence in their com- 
 mander. The day was extremely cold and most 
 providentially clear and sunny, but even with 
 these favoring conditions it was almost a miracle 
 that they were able to drag the frozen men to 
 the brig. " The tendency to sleep," says Kane, 
 " could only be overcome by mechanical vio- 
 lence ; and when at last we got back to the brig, 
 still dragging the wounded men instinctively 
 behind us, there was not one whose mind was 
 found to be unimpaired." Baker and Schubert 
 died ; Wilson and Brooks finally recovered, los- 
 ing, however, part of their feet by amputation. 
 
 Kane determined to lead the next party him- 
 self, and near the end of April, 1854, with seven 
 men he attempted to lay down an india-rubber 
 boat high up on the Greenland coast. He had, 
 however, sadly overrated the strength of his 
 men and of himself. About eighty miles from
 
 260 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 the brig, near Dallas Bay, one man broke down 
 entirely and four others were partly disabled, and 
 their cache was made at that point with many 
 
 Esquimau Boys Fishing. 
 
 misgivings, as bears had destroyed the stores 
 laid down the previous autumn. The troubles 
 of the party now commenced, for Kane, fainting 
 while making an observation, had to be hauled 
 back by the disabled men. Despite the moder-
 
 ELISHA KENT KANE 261 
 
 ate temperature Kane's left foot froze, his limbs 
 became rigid and badly swollen, fainting spells 
 were more frequent, and he fell into alternate 
 spells of delirium and unconsciousness, in which 
 state his broken - down sledge crew conveyed 
 him by forced marches to the brig, where, says 
 Hayes, the surgeon, he arrived nearly insensi- 
 ble and so swollen by scurvy as to be hardly 
 recognizable, and in such a debilitated state 
 that an exposure of a few more hours would 
 have terminated his life, Kane's wonderful 
 recuperative powers speedily restored him from 
 his nearly helpless condition to a state of com- 
 parative good health, but he could not conceal 
 his evident inability to personally attempt further 
 sledge journeys that spring. 
 
 In this emergency he decided to send his sur- 
 geon. Dr. I. I. Hayes, to explore the western 
 shore of Smith's Strait, from Cape Sabine north- 
 ward, and for this purpose detailed Godfrey with 
 the seven best dogs available. 
 
 The ice over Smith's Sound was extremely 
 rough, so that progress was slow and tedious. 
 Finally, with his provisions nearly exhausted, 
 Hayes reached land in the vicinity of Dobbin 
 Bay and made his farthest at Cape Hayes, which, 
 according to his observations, was in about 79° 
 45' N. Hayes was stricken with snow-blindness ; 
 the journey was extremely exhausting ; Godfrey 
 broke down, and the dogs were so nearly worn 
 out that at the last camp they abandoned sleep- 
 ing-bags, extra clothing, and everything except 
 arms and instruments. Kane says that both men
 
 262 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 were snow-blind on arrival at the brig, and the 
 doctor, in a state of exhaustion, had to be led to 
 his bedside to make his report. 
 
 Impressed with Hayes's success on the west 
 shore of Smith's Sound, Kane decided to send 
 Morton northward on the Greenland side so 
 as to determine the extent of the frozen channel 
 seen by Hayes from his farthest. Morton was 
 supported by a sledge party of four men, who 
 reached Humboldt glacier after ten days' travel, 
 and were here joined by Esquimau Hans with a 
 dog-sledge. On the i8th the supporting party 
 turned homeward, while Morton and Hans, with 
 a dog-sledge, started northward, travelling about 
 five miles distant from and parallel with the 
 face of Humboldt glacier. 
 
 On June 24th Morton's northward progress 
 was stopped by very high, perpendicular cliffs 
 washed by open water and free from the cus- 
 tomary ice-foot. All efforts to pass around the 
 projecting cliff, to which the name of Cape Con- 
 stitution was given, proved unavailing. Morton 
 says : " The knob to which I climbed was over 
 five hundred feet in height, and from it not a 
 speck of ice was to be seen as far as I could 
 observe ; the sea was open, the swell came from 
 the northward, . . . and the surf broke in on 
 the rocks below in regular breakers." 
 
 Morton, in his report, described two islands 
 opposite Cape Constitution ; Kennedy Channel 
 as about thirty - five miles wide, running due 
 north and having an unbroken mountainous land 
 along its western limits. Twenty miles, esti-
 
 ELISUA KENT KANE 263 
 
 mated, due south of Cape Constitution, Morton 
 made the latitude, by meridian altitude of the 
 sun, 80° 41' N., which by dead reckoning made 
 the cape 81° 1'. Kane gives its latitude, cor- 
 rected by triangulation, as 81° 22' N. 
 
 These discoveries, strengthening Kane's belief 
 in an open polar sea, caused him to put forth on 
 his return such statements and generalizations as 
 drew forth sharp criticisms, wherein the correct- 
 ness and value of all the field work of his expe- 
 dition were impugned. 
 
 It would be most gratifying to Americans if 
 adverse criticisms as to distances travelled and 
 astronomical positions determined could be re- 
 futed. It is, however, a matter of fact, not of 
 opinion, that nearly all the given latitudes are 
 much too far to the north, while no considerable 
 distance was travelled which was not overesti- 
 mated from fifty to one hundred percent. These 
 blemishes on Kane's great work doubtless arose 
 from two causes : first, his implicit confidence in 
 the ability and accuracy of his subordinates, and, 
 second, to his poetic temperament, which trans- 
 formed into beauty the common things of life 
 and enhanced their interest by striking con- 
 trasts of high lights and deep shadows. 
 
 Subsequent expeditions have surveyed and 
 charted Kennedy Channel with an accuracy 
 leaving little to be desired, and as a result it is 
 now known that the open " sea " seen by Morton 
 was simply the ice-free water of the southern 
 half of Kennedy Channel, which condition ob- 
 tains during a great part of each year. The de-
 
 264 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 scriptions.of the region by Morton in his report, 
 though simple, are yet so accurate and free from 
 
 An Arctic Stream. 
 
 exaggeration as to prove conclusively his entire 
 honesty. When, however, his astronomical obser- 
 vations and estimates of distances are considered,
 
 ELISHA KENT KANE 265 
 
 Morton's incompetency is apparent, as they are, 
 in common with most of the other field work, 
 erroneous and misleading. The latitude of Cape 
 Constitution was overstated fifty-two geographic 
 miles by Kane and thirty-one miles by INIorton, 
 while Kennedy Channel, instead of being thirt)-- 
 five miles wide, ranges only from seventeen to 
 twenty-five. The farthest mountain seen was 
 Mount Ross, on the north side of Carl Ritter 
 Bay, about 80° 58' N., more than ninety miles to 
 the southward of its assumed position. Kane's 
 personal knowledge of Morton's honesty was 
 so complete that he placed equal confidence in 
 his ability and accuracy, an error of judgment 
 arising largely from Kane's great affection for 
 his subordinate. 
 
 In the meantime the Etah Esquimaux, most 
 fortunately for Kane, had discovered and visited 
 the Advance, and through their friendly offices 
 the expedition profited largely. 
 
 The summer of 1854 disclosed the error of 
 wintering in Rensselaer Harbor, for it passed 
 without freeing the brig from ice. The situation, 
 Kane relates, was most unpromising, and near 
 the middle of July he determined on a desperate 
 attempt to communicate with the English expe- 
 ditionary vessels supposed to be at Beechy Isl- 
 and, several hundred miles to the southwest. 
 Kane with five others started in a whaleboat, 
 but owing to the bad ice returned unsuccessful 
 after an absence of eighteen days. 
 
 On August 1 8th Kane regards it as an obvious 
 fact that they must look another winter in the
 
 266 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 face, and says : " It is horrible — 3^es, that is the 
 word — to look forward to another year of disease 
 and darkness to be met without fresh food or 
 fuel. The physical energies of the party have 
 sensibly declined ; resources are diminished ; 
 there are but fifty gallons of oil saved from the 
 summer seal hunt ; we are scant of fuel ; our food 
 consists now of ordinary marine stores and is by 
 no means suited to dispel scurvy ; our molasses is 
 reduced to forty gallons and our dried fruits 
 seem to have lost their efficiency." 
 
 Under these discouraging circumstances came 
 the most trying experiences of the expedition. 
 The majority of the party entertained the idea 
 that escape to the south by boats was still practi- 
 cable despite the lateness of the summer, although 
 Kane's own experience in the previous month 
 had shown the futility of such an effort. Con- 
 scious, however, that he could control only by 
 moral influence the majority who were of this 
 opinion, he decided to appeal to them. On Au- 
 gust 24th he assembled the entire crew, set forth 
 eloquently that such an effort must be exceed- 
 ingly hazardous, escape southward almost im- 
 probable, and strongly advised them to forego the 
 project. However, he ended by freely accord- 
 ing his permission to such as were desirous of 
 making the attempt, provided that they would or- 
 ganize under an officer before starting and re- 
 nounce in writing all claims upon the expedition. 
 Nine out of the seventeen, headed by Petersen, 
 the Danish interpreter, and Dr. Hayes, the sur- 
 geon, decided to attempt the boat journey and
 
 ELISIIA KENT KANE 267 
 
 left the vessel August 28th, Kane fitted them out 
 liberally, provided every possible appliance to 
 facilitate and promote their success, and gave 
 them a written assurance of a hearty welcome 
 should they be driven to return. One of the party, 
 Riley, rejoined Kane within a few days, and well 
 into the Arctic winter, on December 7th, Bon- 
 sall and Petersen returned through the aid of the 
 Esquimaux. The}* reported to Kane that their 
 associates were some two hundred miles distant, 
 their energies broken, provisions nearly gone, 
 divided in their counsel, and desirous of return- 
 ing to share again the fortunes of the Ad- 
 vance. Kane immediately sent supplies to the 
 suffering party by the natives, and took active 
 measures to facilitate their return, and on De- 
 cember 1 2th had the great joy of seeing the en- 
 tire expedition reunited. In this connection Kane 
 properly notes the humane actions of the Esqui- 
 maux, saying : " Whatever may have been their 
 motives, their conduct to our friends was cer- 
 tainly full of humanity. They drove at fliying 
 speed ; every hut gave its welcome as they halt- 
 ed ; the women were ready without invitation 
 to dry and chafe their worn-out guests." 
 
 Kane, it may be added, did not allude in his 
 ofificial report to the Secretary of the Navy to 
 this temporary division of his command, which, 
 however, is told, both in his own narrative and 
 in that of Dr. Hayes, in his " Arctic Boat Jour- 
 ney." 
 
 As winter went on they hunted unavailingly 
 for game, and the abundant supplies hitherto ob-
 
 268 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 tained from the Etah Esquimaux failed, owing 
 to the unfavorable ice conditions, which caused 
 a famine among the natives and reduced them 
 to the lowest stages of misery and emaciation. 
 Scurvy with its varying phases also sapped the 
 energies of the crew, while Hayes was disa- 
 bled from amputation of a portion of his frozen 
 foot. 
 
 When practically the entire crew must be said 
 to have been on the sick-list, Blake and Godfrey 
 decided to desert and take their chances with the 
 Esquimaux. The plan being detected by Kane, 
 Blake remained, but Godfrey deserted, and with 
 Hans, the Esquimau, remained absent nearly a 
 month. Godfrey, however, contributed to the 
 support of the expedition by sending supplies of 
 meat, and later returned under duress. 
 
 With the returning spring of 1855 the necessity 
 of abandoning the brig was apparent to all ; the 
 ship was practically little more than a shell, as 
 everything that could possibly be used without 
 making her completely unseaworthy had been 
 consumed for fire -wood. There remained in 
 April only a few^ weeks' supply of food and fuel, 
 while the solidity of the ice in the vicinity of 
 Rensselaer Harbor indicated the impossibility of 
 an escape by vessel. It was no slight task to 
 move the necessary stock of provisions and stores 
 to their boats and to the open water in the vicin- 
 ity of Cape Alexander. This was, however, safe- 
 ly accomplished by the middle of June, the ves- 
 sel having been formally abandoned on May 17th. 
 The final casualty in the party occurred near
 
 ELISHA KENT KANE 269 
 
 Littleton Island, when Ohlsen, in a tremendous 
 and successful effort to save a loaded sledge from 
 loss in broken ice, so injured himself internally 
 that he died within three days. During this re- 
 treating journey Kane records the invaluable as- 
 sistance of the Esquimaux, who "brought daily 
 supplies of birds, assisted in carrying boat-stores, 
 and invariably exhibited the kindliest feelings and 
 strictest honesty." Leaving Cape Alexander on 
 June 15, 1854, Cape York was passed on July 
 2 1 St, and, crossing Melville Bay along the margin 
 of its land ice in five days, Kane reached the 
 north coast of Greenland on August 3d, forty- 
 seven days from Cape Alexander. 
 
 At Disco the party met Lieutenant Hartstene, 
 whose squadron, sent to relieve Kane, had al- 
 ready visited Cape Alexander, and learning from 
 the natives of Kane's retreat by boat to the 
 south turned promptly back to the Greenland 
 ports. Surrounded by all the comforts and lux- 
 uries which the means or thoughtfulness of their 
 rescuing comrades of the navy could furnish, 
 Kane and his men made a happy journey south- 
 ward to meet the grand ovation that greeted 
 them from their appreciative countrymen in 
 New York, on October 11, 1855. 
 
 Neither the anxiety of countless friends nor 
 the skill of his professional brethren could long 
 preserve to his family, to the navy, and to the 
 country the ebbing life of the gallant Kane. The 
 disease which for twenty years had threatened 
 his life now progressed with rapidity, and on 
 February 16, 1857, he died at Havana, Cuba.
 
 270 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 No single Arctic expedition of his generation 
 added so greatly to the knowledge of the world 
 as did that of Kane's. In ethnology it contrib- 
 uted the first full account of the northernmost 
 inhabitants of the world, the Etah Esquimaux ; in 
 natural history it supplied extensive and inter- 
 esting information as to the flora and fauna of 
 extreme western Greenland, especially valuable 
 from its isolation by the surrounding inland ice ; 
 in physical sciences the magnetic, meteorologi- 
 cal, tidal, and glacier observations were extreme- 
 ly valuable contributions ; in geography it ex- 
 tended to a higher northerly point than ever 
 before a knowledge of polar lands, and it opened 
 up a practical and safe route for Arctic explora- 
 tion which has been more persistently and suc- 
 cessfully extended poleward than any other. 
 
 Of Kane's conduct under the exceptionally 
 prolonged and adverse circumstances attendant 
 on his second Arctic voyage, it is to be said that 
 he displayed the characteristics of a high and 
 noble character. Considerate of his subordinates, 
 assiduous in performing his multifarious duties 
 as commander, studying ever to alleviate the 
 mental and physical ailments of his crew, and al- 
 ways unsparing of himself whenever exposure to 
 danger, hardships, or privations promised definite 
 results. It is not astonishing that these qualities 
 won and charmed all his associates, equals or 
 subordinates, and that they followed him unhesi- 
 tatingly into the perils and dangers that Kane's 
 enthusiastic and optimistic nature led him to 
 brave, with the belief that to will was to do.
 
 ELISHA KENT KANE 271 
 
 The career of Kane cannot be more beautifully 
 and truthfully summarized than was done in the 
 funeral sermon over his bier : " He has traversed 
 the planet in its most inaccessible places; has 
 gathered here and there a laurel from every 
 walk of physical research in which he strayed ; 
 has gone into the thick of perilous adventure, 
 abstracting in the spirit of philosophy, yet seeing 
 in the spirit of poesy ; has returned to invest the 
 very story of his escape with the charms of litera- 
 ture and art, and dying at length in the morning 
 of his fame, is now lamented with mingled affec- 
 tion and pride by his country and the world."
 
 X. 
 
 ISAAC ISRAEL HAYES, 
 
 And The Open Polar Sea. 
 
 History affords many examples wherein 
 neither the originator nor the early advocate of 
 a striking- idea has reaped fame therefrom, and 
 their names give way to some persistent, tireless 
 worker who forces the subject on public atten- 
 tion by his ceaseless efforts. Among Arctic the- 
 ories none has more fully occupied and interested 
 the mind of the general public than that of an 
 open, navigable sea in the polar regions. In 
 connection with this theory the minds of Ameri- 
 cans turn naturally to Dr. I. I. Hayes, who, not 
 the originator, inherited his belief therein from 
 the well-known Professor Maury, through the 
 mediation of Kane, Hayes's Arctic commander. 
 DeHaven thought he saw signs of Maury's ice- 
 free sea to the northward of Wellington Strait, 
 Kane through Morton found it at Cape Consti- 
 tution, Hayes recognized it a few miles farther 
 up Kennedy Channel, but Markham turned it 
 into a frozen sea in 83° 20' N. latitude, and Lock- 
 wood, from Cape Kane, on the most northerly 
 land of all time, rolled the frozen waste yet to 
 the north, beyond the eighty-fourth parallel, to
 
 ISAAC ISRAEL HAVES 
 
 273 
 
 within some three hundred and fifty miles of the 
 geographical Pole. 
 
 Isaac Israel Hayes was born in Chester County, 
 Pa., March 5, 1832. He gained the title of doc- 
 
 , Isaac Israel Hayes. 
 
 tor by graduation in the University of Pennsyl- 
 vania, in 1853, in which year, at twenty-four 
 hours' notice, he accepted the appointment, pro- 
 cured his outfit, and sailed as surgeon of Kane's 
 Arctic expedition. An account of this voj^agc 
 appears in the sketch of Dr. Kane, but some fur- 
 18
 
 274 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 ther reference to it is now necessary. Hayes, it 
 will be remembered, was the surgeon, a position 
 which exempted him from field-work. How- 
 ever, when Kane and others broke down, Hayes 
 volunteered, and was sent with Godfrey, a sea- 
 man, and a team of seven dogs to explore the 
 west coast of Smith Sound. The journey lasted 
 from May 20 to June i, 1853, and, all things 
 considered, such as defective equipment, rough 
 ice, and attacks of snow-blindness, the results 
 were unusually creditable. 
 
 The rough ice travelled over is thus described 
 by Hayes : " We were brought to a halt by a 
 wall of broken ice ranging from five to thirty feet 
 in height. . . . We had not a foot of level 
 travelling. Huge masses of ice from twenty to 
 forty feet in height were heaped together; in 
 crossing these ridges our sledge would frequent- 
 ly capsize and roll over and over — dogs, cargo, 
 and all." Hayes finally reached land on May 
 27th, at a bluffy headland " to the north and east 
 of a little (Dobbin) bay, which seemed to termi- 
 nate about ten miles inland." This point, called 
 later Cape Hayes, was placed by him by obser- 
 vations in 79° 42' N., 71° 17' W. From his farthest 
 Hayes mentions the sea-floe as continuing in a 
 less rough condition to the northward, and cor- 
 rectly describes the interior of Grinnell Land as 
 a great mountain-chain following the trend of 
 the coast. 
 
 His broken sledge and nearly exhausted pro- 
 visions obliged Hayes to return, and in so doing 
 he crossed Dobbin Bay to, and passed under the
 
 ISAAC ISRAEL HAYES 275 
 
 shadow of, the noble headland of Cape Hawks, 
 where they gave their dogs the last scrap of 
 pemican. Hayes resolved to here abandon all 
 his extra clothing, sleeping-bags, etc., some forty 
 pounds, a rash act, as they must have been be- 
 tween sixty and seventy miles from the brig, and 
 in case of a storm would have perished. The 
 first day's return journey the dogs were fed with 
 seal-skin, from old boots, and a little lamp-lard, 
 and the day following with bread crumbs, lard 
 scrapings, and seal-skin off mittens and trousers. 
 The travellers got scanty rest, dozing in the sun 
 on the sledge, and finally reached Rensselaer 
 Harbor snow-blind and utterly exhausted. 
 
 Hayes was thus the first white man to put 
 foot on the new land, to which Kane affixed the 
 name of Grinnell. It is impossible to understand 
 Kane's failure to properly recognize this success- 
 ful and arduous journey of Hayes, and one looks 
 in vain for confirmation of Kane's claim that he 
 " renewed and confirmed," in April, 1854, the 
 work of Hayes and Godfrey, for his own ac- 
 count shows that Kane's April journey failed 
 completely to reach Grinnell Land. 
 
 Two months after his journey to Grinnell 
 Land, Hayes was called on to decide whether he 
 would remain with Kane at Rensselaer Harbor, 
 where the unbroken ice plainly claimed the brig 
 Advance as its own for another year, sharing 
 the hardships and dangers of a second Arctic 
 winter, or, fieeing south without his commander, 
 seek safety and shelter through a boat journey 
 down Smith Sound, and across Melville Bay, to
 
 276 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 the northern Danish settlement, Upernivik, in 
 Greenland. Hayes, unfortunately for his repu- 
 tation, yielded to the majority, and nine of the 
 party, headed by Petersen, Sontag, and Hayes, 
 decided to go, while only six white men and Es- 
 quimau Hans remained. It is true that Kane had 
 
 Upernivik. 
 
 only two weeks before returned from an unsuc- 
 cessful attempt to reach Beechy Island, as diffi- 
 cult a task as the voyage to Upernivik, which he 
 had quitted his brig to lead in person ; but such 
 action should not have been viewed as a justi- 
 fication for again separating the party. 
 
 Hayes alleges in extenuation that Kane had
 
 ISAAG ISRAEL HAYES 277 
 
 previously announced to the crew that their 
 labors would thereafter be directed homeward, 
 that the attempted journey to Beechy Island was 
 solely to procure aid, that the " boat journey " 
 simply changed the direction of their efforts, 
 save that it was led by Petersen and not by 
 Kane. Further, that the departure of the major- 
 ity of the crew would give augmented health- 
 conditions, space, and food to those who re- 
 mained. 
 
 Accepting Kane's permission, freely accorded, 
 as he sa3's, to make the boat journey, liberally 
 equipped with such supplies as the brig had, and 
 assured of a hearty welcome should they return, 
 the boat party left Rensselaer Harbor, August 
 28, 1853, confident of its ability to succeed. 
 
 Sudden cold, sledging accidents, and bad ice 
 soon caused Riley to return to the brig; but 
 despite sea-soaked bedding, injured limbs, and 
 exhausting labor, the rest of the boat party perse- 
 vered with sledge to the open water, and, launch- 
 ing their whaleboat, proceeded rapidly till a 
 closed ice-pack stopped them at Littleton Island. 
 
 It is unnecessary to detail despairing delays or 
 delusive hopes which changing conditions of ice 
 and weather alternately aroused, during their 
 southward journey, nor. to recite the hardships 
 and perils arising from violent gales, drifting 
 snow, the disruption and closing of the pack, the 
 severe cold of a rapidly advancing winter, their 
 lack of shelter and insufficiency of proper food. 
 Suffice it to say that, confronted by impassable 
 ice-floes, they were finally forced, with damaged
 
 278 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 boat, depleted supplies, and impaired strength, 
 to establish winter quarters south of Cape Par- 
 ry, midway between Whale and Wostenholme 
 Sounds. 
 
 The preservation of stores, construction of 
 shelter, and accumulation of means of subsist- 
 ence now engrossed their entire energies. The 
 construction of a hut, although facilitated by a 
 rocky cavern, proved to be exhausting in the ex- 
 treme from the difficulty of obtaining material 
 from the frozen soil. Their most skilful hunters 
 kept the field continually, but game failed, and 
 from day to day food supply diminished with, to 
 them, startling rapidity. Eventually reduced to 
 the verge of starvation, they would have perished 
 but for food obtained from the Esquimaux, which, 
 though scanty and irregular, yet sustained life. 
 
 Affairs went from bad to worse, and with the in- 
 creasing cold and diminishing light of December 
 it was decided that they must either perish or 
 return to the brig ; either alternative had its ad- 
 vocates. To decide was to act. Petersen ne- 
 gotiated with the Esquimaux, and by judicious 
 admixture of persuasion, command, and force, 
 succeeded in having the entire boat party trans- 
 ported by sledge to the Advance, where they 
 were received with fraternal kindness. Hayes 
 relates, " Dr. Kane met us at the gangway and 
 grasped me warmly by the hand. . . . Ohl- 
 sen folded me in his arms, and, kissing me, threw 
 me into his warm bed." 
 
 The boat journey to Upernivik, which proved 
 dangerous and impracticable to his small party
 
 ISAAC ISRAEL HAYES 279 
 
 in advancing winter, proved, with the returning 
 summer of 1855, not difficult to the reunited 
 party of Kane, and so ended the boat journey of 
 Hayes and his first Arctic service. 
 
 The loss of a portion of his foot, extreme suf- 
 ferings from exposure, and his great privations 
 in the Kane expedition failed to abate Hayes's 
 enthusiasm in Arctic exploration. Immediately 
 on his return to the United States, in October, 
 1855, he advocated a second expedition, with the 
 object of completing the survey of the north 
 coast of Greenland and Grinnell Land, and to 
 make explorations toward the North Pole. His 
 strenuous efforts to excite public interest failed 
 at first ; but Hayes devoted himself to lecturing 
 on Arctic subjects, and finally enlisted in his sup- 
 port most of the scientific societies of the coun- 
 try. The advocacy of Professors Bache and 
 Henry, and the support of Grinnell, gave an im- 
 pulse which finally resulted in the organization 
 of an expedition, under Hayes's command, and 
 on July 6, i860, he left Boston on the sailing 
 schooner United States, with a crew of fourteen. 
 
 It is not needful to dwell on his outward voy- 
 age farther than to say that, in addition to the 
 complement of dogs and stock of furs usually 
 obtained in Greenland, Hayes there recruited 
 dog-drivers, interpreters, and hunters. At Cape 
 York he also added Hans Hendrik, Kane's dog- 
 driver, who, smitten with the dusky charms of 
 the daughter of Shang-hu, had chosen to remain 
 with the Etah Esquimaux rather than return to
 
 280 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Danish Greenland with the Kane retreating 
 party in 1855. Now, five years later, he showed 
 an equal willingness to quit his adopted tribe for 
 expeditionary purposes. 
 
 Profiting by the experience of his predecessor, 
 Hayes was unwilling to push a sailing vessel 
 northward into Kane's Basin, beyond the seven- 
 ty-eighth parallel, and wisely decided to establish 
 
 Hayes's Winter-Quarters. 
 
 his winter-quarters in Foulke Fiord, near Little- 
 ton Island, twenty miles to the south, and about 
 forty miles west, of Kane's quarters. Game 
 proved abundant both at sea and on land, pleas- 
 ant relations were established with their neigh- 
 bors, the Etah Esquimaux, an observatory built, 
 and scientific observations inaugurated. Indeed 
 everything looked most promising for the future. 
 An autumnal journey of special interest was 
 Hayes's visit to " My Brother John Glacier,"
 
 ISAAC ISRAEL HAYES 281 
 
 near Port Foulke, which, up to that time, was the 
 most northerly and one of the most successful 
 attempts to penetrate the glacier-covering of 
 Greenland, known commonly as the " Inland 
 Ice." With seven men he penetrated some forty 
 miles or more on the ice, when the temperature, 
 sinking to thirty-four degrees below zero, with 
 wind, compelled their immediate return. The 
 ice changed gradually, as they went inland, from 
 rough to smooth, and the angle of rise decreased 
 from six to two degrees at their highest, over 
 five thousand feet. A snow-storm broke on them, 
 and, as Hayes describes, " fitful clouds swept 
 over the face of the full-orbed moon, which, 
 descending toward the horizon, glimmered 
 through the drifting snow that hurled out of 
 the illimitable distance, and scudded over the 
 icy plains — to the eye, in undulating lines of 
 downy softness ; to the flesh, in showers of pierc- 
 ing darts." 
 
 Suddenly misfortunes came on them. Peter, 
 an Esquimau dog-driver, brought from Uperni- 
 vik, deserted. Hans Hendrik, in his interesting 
 " Memoirs," sa)'s : " In the beginning of the win- 
 ter Peter turned a Kivigtok, that is, fled from 
 human society to live alone up the country. We 
 were unable to make out what might have in- 
 duced him to do so. Searching for him, at last 
 I found his footprints going to the hills." The 
 poor native was never seen alive, but it eventu- 
 ally transpired that he sought shelter in a re- 
 mote and rarely visited Esquimau hut, where 
 he died of starvation, his body being found in a
 
 282 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 very emaciated condition by an Etah native the 
 following spring. 
 
 Next the dogs began to die of distemper, 
 which led up to the death of Sontag, the astron- 
 omer. By the 21st of December only nine re- 
 mained of thirty fine dogs, and in this contin- 
 gency it was decided to open up communication 
 with the Esquimaux of Whale Sound, some one 
 hundred and fifty miles to the south, for the pur- 
 chase of dogs. For this journey Sontag volun- 
 teered, and with him went Hans as dog-driver. 
 Hayes waited week after week, but no news 
 came from either Sontag or Hans. Then feel- 
 ings of uneasiness gave place to alarm and fear ; 
 for a journey of Dodge, first mate, proved that 
 the travellers had gone outside Cape Alexander, 
 where the floe had broken, so that possibly they 
 had been lost on drifting ice. Hayes was pro- 
 jecting a personal search on January 29th, when 
 two Esquimaux visited the ship and reported that 
 Sontag was dead. They proved to be advance- 
 couriers of Hans, who arrived a few days later, 
 with only five of his nine dogs remaining. 
 
 In his " Memoirs " Hans relates as follows : " It 
 still blew a gale and the snow drifting dreadful- 
 ly, for which reason we resolved to return. . . . 
 The ice began breaking up, so we were forced to 
 go ashore and continue our drive over the ice- 
 foot. At one place the land became impassable, 
 and we were obliged to return to the ice again. 
 On descending here my companion (Sontag) fell 
 through the ice, which was nothing but a thick 
 sheet of snow and water. I stooped, but was un-
 
 ISAAC ISRAEL HATES 283 
 
 able to seize him, it being very low tide. As a 
 last resort I remembered a strap hanging on the 
 sledge-poles ; this I threw to him, and when he 
 had tied it around his body I pulled, but found 
 it very difficult. At length I succeeded in draw- 
 ing him up, but he was at the point of freezing 
 to death, and now in the storm and drifting 
 snow he took off his clothes and slipped into the 
 sleeping-bag, whereupon I placed him on the 
 sledge and repaired to our last resting-place. 
 Our road being very rough, I cried for despair 
 from want of help ; but I reached the snow-hut." 
 He recites that Sontag remained unconscious to 
 his death, and that the breaking up of the ice 
 around Cape Alexander, confirmed by Dodge's 
 journey, prevented his return to the ship at that 
 time. There was much talk about Sontag's 
 death, but Hans's account is doubtless correct. 
 
 Sontag was the only trained scientific observer 
 in the party ; and in addition, from his skill, ex- 
 perience, and enthusiasm in Arctic work, was 
 almost indispensable to Ha)'es. His death was 
 a great blow to the party, socially as well as 
 professionally. 
 
 In early spring Hayes succeeded in obtaining 
 the co-operation of the Etah Esquimaux in sledg- 
 ing, and in a preliminary journey visited his old 
 winter-quarters, where he had served with Kane 
 six years before. Where they had abandoned the 
 Advance, surrounded by the solid pack, he found 
 ice nearly as high as were her mastheads ; no 
 vestige of the vessel remained except a bit of 
 plank, and its fate was a matter of conjecture,
 
 284 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 though little doubt exists that she was ultimate- 
 ly crushed by the disruption of the pack during 
 some violent gale. It was during this journey 
 that Hayes experienced an intense degree of 
 cold. Stating that the thermometer which hung 
 inside the hut against the snow-wall indicated 
 thirty-one degrees below zero, Hayes says : " We 
 crawled out in the open air to try the sunshine. 
 * I will give you the best buffalo skin in the ship, 
 Jansen, if the air outside is not warmer than in 
 that den which you have left so full of holes.' 
 And it really seemed so. Human eye never lit 
 upon a more pure and glowing morning. The 
 sunlight was sparkling all over the landscape 
 and the great world of whiteness ; and the frozen 
 plain, the hummocks, the icebergs, and the tall 
 mountains made a picture inviting to the eye. 
 Not a breath of air was stirring. Jansen gave in 
 without a murmur. I brought out the thermom- 
 eter and set it up in the shadow of an iceberg 
 near by. I really expected to see it rise ; but no, 
 down sank the little red column of alcohol, down, 
 down almost to the bulb, until it touched sixty- 
 eight and a half degrees below zero, Fahrenheit, 
 equal to one hundred and a half degrees below 
 the freezing-point of water. It struck me as a 
 singular circumstance that this great depression 
 of temperature was not perceptible to the senses, 
 which utterly failed to give us even so much as 
 a hint that here in this blazing sunlight we were 
 experiencing about the coldest temperature ever 
 recorded." 
 
 After this preliminary journey Hayes laid
 
 ISAAC ISRAEL HAYES 
 
 285 
 
 down supplies at the nearest point on the Green- 
 land shore south of, and facing, Cape Hawks. 
 This place, called Cairn Point, was to be the base 
 of his summer's campaign to the north. Finally 
 everything was ready for the main journey, and 
 the party started on the night of April 3, 1861. 
 Twelve men, the entire available force, were put 
 
 Adrift on a Berg. 
 
 into the field : Jansen with an eight-dog sledge, 
 Knorr with a six-dog sledge, and a ten-man 
 sledge on which was mounted a twenty-foot me- 
 tallic life-boat, with which Hayes hoped to navi- 
 gate the Polar Sea. The journey lay directly to 
 the north over the frozen surface of Kane Sea, 
 where the difficulties of travel through the 
 broken hummocky ice were so great, and the 
 unfitness of some of the men for Arctic travel so
 
 286 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 speedily developed, that Hayes was forced to 
 abandon his efforts to get the boat across the 
 frozen sea, which, he says, " could not have been 
 done by one hundred men." On April 24th 
 Hayes records that he had been twenty-two 
 days from the schooner, and was now distant 
 only thirty miles from Cairn Point. Four days 
 later, still struggling across the rough ice of 
 Kane Sea, the party was practically broken 
 down, being, as Hayes chronicles, " barely capa- 
 ble of attending to their own immediate neces- 
 sities without harboring the thought of exerting 
 themselves to complete a journey to which they 
 can see no termination, and in the very outset of 
 which they feel that their lives are being sacri- 
 ficed." 
 
 In this critical condition Hayes changed his 
 plans, and sent back the entire party to the brig, 
 except Knorr, Jansen, and McDonald, whom he 
 selected as best fitted to make the northern 
 journey, which he had decided to make with 
 fourteen dogs and two sledges. Turning north- 
 ward with renewed confidence and vigor, though 
 yet struggling with various misfortunes through a 
 tangle of broken hummocks, Hayes reached Cape 
 Hawks on May nth. The condition of the ice 
 may be judged from the fact that he had been 
 thirty-one days in making a distance of eighty 
 miles, a little more than two miles a day. Three 
 days' farther march took him to Cape Frazier, 
 where the flagstaff erected by him in 1853 yet 
 stood erect. At the end of the next march, where 
 they were driven to the sea ice owing to the im-
 
 ISAAC ISRAEL HAYES 287 
 
 possibility of following the ice-foot, Hayes as- 
 cended the hillside, whence, he says, " No land 
 was visible to the eastward. As it would not 
 have been difficult through such an atmosphere 
 to see a distance of fifty or sixty miles, it would 
 appear therefore that Kennedy Channel is some- 
 what wider than heretofore supposed." 
 
 On jNIay 15th Jansen was disabled for travelling 
 by a sprained back and injured leg, and the next 
 morning was scarcely able to move. Hayes de- 
 cided to leave the disabled man in charge of 
 McDonald and proceed with Knorr, his purpose 
 being " to make the best push I could and travel 
 as far as my provisions warranted, reach the 
 highest attainable latitude and secure such a 
 point of observation as would enable me to form 
 a definite opinion respecting the sea before me." 
 
 Rough ice and deep snow so impeded his prog- 
 ress the first day that he only made nine miles 
 in as many hours. Ten hours' march compelled 
 them to again camp, and four hours of the third 
 day brought them to the southern cape of a bay 
 which he determined to cross. After travelling 
 four miles the rotten ice and frequent water- 
 channels proved that the bay was impassable, and 
 therefore they went into camp. The next day 
 Hayes climbed to the top of the cliff, some eight 
 hundred feet high, whence, he says, " the sea be- 
 neath me was a mottled sheet of white and dark 
 patches multiplied in size as they receded until 
 the belt of the water-sky blended them together. 
 . . . All the new evidence showed that I stood 
 upon the shores of the polar basin, and that the
 
 288 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 broad ocean lay at my feet. . . . There was 
 seen in dim outline the white sloping summit of a 
 noble head-land, the most northern known land 
 upon our globe. I judged it to be in latitude 82° 
 30' N., or four hundred and fifty miles from the 
 North Pole. . . . There was no land visible 
 except the coast on which I stood." 
 
 Hayes, before returning to his ship, deposited 
 in a cairn a record, dated May 19, 1861, setting 
 forth his trip, stating that his observations placed 
 him in 81° 35' N. latitude, and 70° 30' W. longi- 
 tude ; that his further progress was stopped by 
 rotten ice and cracks ; that he believed the polar 
 basin was navigable during the months of July, 
 August, and September, and that he would make 
 an attempt to get through Smith's Sound when 
 the ice broke that summer. 
 
 The extent and scope of Hayes's discoveries, 
 as set forth in his account of the expedition in 
 " The Open Polar Sea," gave rise to persistent 
 and adverse criticism both as to the soundness of 
 his judgment and also as to the accuracy of his 
 observations. Three expeditions, by their later 
 surveys, have demonstrated that the astronomi- 
 cal position assigned by Hayes to his " farthest " 
 on the east coast of Grinnell Land is impossible. 
 There is unmistakably an error either of latitude 
 or of longitude. Cape Joseph Goode, it is to be 
 remarked, is in the longitude assigned by Hayes, 
 while Cape Lieber is no less than six and a half 
 degrees to the eastward ; reversely, Lieber cor- 
 responds nearly to Hayes's latitude, while Cape 
 Joseph Goode is a degree and a half to the
 
 ISAAC ISRAEL HAVES 289 
 
 south. Grave and undisputable errors in other 
 latitudes, all being too far to the north, indicate 
 that the mistake in this instance is also of lati- 
 tude. In justice to Hayes it should be said that 
 the latitude of his " farthest " depended solely 
 on a single observation with a small field sex- 
 tant of the meridian altitude of the sun. While 
 this is the common method on shipboard it is 
 exceedingly objectionable in Arctic land deter- 
 minations. It depends not only on the honesty 
 of the observer, but on the condition of the sex- 
 tant and also on the manner in which it is 
 handled ; either of these three qualities being 
 faulty the observation is incorrect. The ten- 
 dency of the sextant to " slip," as it is turned 
 over for reading, and the almost invariably be- 
 numbed condition of the hands of the traveller, 
 indicate the extreme difficulty of making any 
 single reading with accuracy. Again, with haste 
 demanded so often by adverse circumstances, the 
 index of a very small sextant may be misread a 
 whole degree. It is unquestioned that one or 
 the other of these accidents happened to Hayes, 
 for the independent investigations of Bessels, 
 Schott, and others lead to the inevitable conclu- 
 sion, which any scientist may verify by exami- 
 nation of Hayes's widely separated data, that 
 his "farthest" is placed too far north. The con- 
 census of opinion in the Lady Franklin expedi- 
 tion pointed to Cape Joseph Goode, 80° 14' N., 
 as Hayes's " farthest," as it agreed better with 
 Hayes's description than any other point; it may 
 be added that from this cape Hayes could not 
 
 19
 
 290 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 see the Greenland coast above Cape Constitu- 
 tion, which he leaves blank on his chart, and 
 again, here the unusually heavy spring tides, 
 of nearly twenty-five-foot range, break up the 
 southern half of the floes of Kennedy Channel, 
 thus forming early in the year large water-spaces 
 — the Open Polar Sea of Hayes and Morton, 
 
 Even if Hayes's sight of the Open Polar 
 Sea proved visionary, and certain unskilled ob- 
 servations failed of verification, yet his adven- 
 turous voyage was not barren of geographical 
 results. He was the first civilized man to land 
 on the shores of Ellesmere Land, along the coasts 
 of which, between the seventy-seventh and sev- 
 enty-eighth parallels, he made important discov- 
 eries ; while farther to the northward, Hayes 
 Sound, Bache Island, and other unknown lands 
 and waters were added to our maps through his 
 strenuous exertions. 
 
 Breaking out his schooner on July lo, 1861, 
 an unprecedentedly early date for an Arctic ship, 
 he quickly decided that he could hope for no 
 further northing in a sailing vessel. However, 
 he crossed the strait to the unvisited shores of 
 Ellesmere Land, where he made such an exami- 
 nation of the coast as was practicable, and then 
 turned his face homeward. 
 
 Hayes was fully alive to the absolute necessity 
 of steam-power for complete Arctic success, but 
 strictly limited means obliged him to go in a 
 sailing vessel or not at all. He plainly foresaw 
 the magnificent success awaiting the first expe- 
 dition that should carry steam-power into Smith
 
 ISAAC ISRAEL HATES 291 
 
 Sound, and full of dreams of future Arctic work 
 he impatiently returned to the United States. 
 It was not to be. Civil war raged, and the coun- 
 try called its loyal sons to arms. Hayes was not 
 the man to falter at such a juncture. He at once 
 tendered his schooner to the government for 
 such use as was possible, and volunteered for 
 the war, where his activity as the head of a great 
 war hospital taxed to the utmost the mental and 
 physical powers which had so long been occu- 
 pied in arduous efforts to solve the riddle of the 
 ice-free sea. 
 
 Hayes visited Greenland a third time, in 1869, 
 with the Arctic artist, William Bradford, in the 
 steam-sealer Panther. Arctic scenery was their 
 quest, and so they visited the fiord of Sermitsi- 
 alik, where the inland ice, which covers the 
 greater part of Greenland, pushes down into the 
 sea as an enormous glacier, with a front two and 
 a half miles wide. 
 
 Here Hayes witnessed the birth of an iceberg, 
 of which he says : " It would be impossible for 
 mere words alone to convey an adequate idea of 
 the action of this new-born child of the Arctic 
 frosts. Think of a solid block of ice, a third of 
 a mile deep, and more than half a mile in lateral 
 diameter, hurled like a mere toy away into the 
 water, and set to rolling to and fro by the im- 
 petus of the act. Picture this and you will have 
 an image of power not to be seen by the action 
 of any other forces upon the earth. The dis- 
 turbance of the water was inconceivably fine. 
 Waves of enormous magnitude were rolled up
 
 292 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 with great violence against the glacier, covering 
 it with spray ; and billows came tearing down 
 the fiord, their progress marked by the crackling 
 and crumbling ice which was everywhere in a 
 state of the wildest agitation for the space of 
 several miles." 
 
 The famous mine of cryolite, the only valuable 
 mineral deposit in Greenland ; the Hope Sander- 
 son of John Davis's great voyage of 1587, with 
 its lofty crest and innumerable flocks of wild- 
 fowl ; Tessuissak, the most northerly settlement 
 of Greenland ; Duck Islands, the haunts of the 
 eider, and the chosen rendezvous of ice-stayed 
 whalers ; Devil's Thumb, the great, wonderful 
 pillar, to the base of which Hayes struggled up 
 thirteen hundred feet above the ice-covered sea, 
 and Sabine Island, all saw the Panther, in its 
 pleasure-seeking journey. If no geographical 
 results sprang from this voyage, it had a literary 
 outcome in Hayes's book, " The Land of Deso- 
 lation," and in a series of detached sketches, 
 which in beauty and interest are unsurpassed as 
 regards life in Danish Greenland. 
 
 Hayes died in New York City, December 17, 
 1 88 1. To the last he maintained a lively inter- 
 est in Arctic exploration, and ever and again he 
 favored polar research, always with an alterna- 
 tive scheme of his old harbor, Foulke fiord, as 
 the base of operations. He resented the appel- 
 lation " Great Frozen Sea " as properly character- 
 izing the Arctic Ocean to the north of Greenland, 
 and to the last held fast to the ideal of his youth, 
 the belief of his manhood, " The Open Polar Sea."
 
 XI. 
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS HALL, 
 
 And the North Pole. 
 
 Among the many exploring expeditions that 
 have crossed the Arctic Circle with the sole 
 view of reaching the North Pole, one only has 
 sailed entirely under the auspices of the United 
 States. This expedition was commanded neither 
 by an officer of one of the twin military services 
 nor by a sailor of the merchant marine, but its 
 control was intrusted to a born Arctic explorer, 
 Charles Francis Hall. Born in 1821, in Roches- 
 ter, N. H., Hall early quitted his native hills for 
 the freer fields of the West, as the Ohio Valley 
 was then called, and later settled in Cincinnati. 
 There was ever a spirit of change in him, and as 
 years rolled on he passed from blacksmith to 
 journalist, from stationer to engraver. Through 
 all these changes of trades he held fast to one 
 fancy, which in time became the dominating ele- 
 ment of his eventful career: in early youth, fas- 
 cinated with books of travel relating to explora- 
 tion in the icy zones, he eagerly improved every 
 opportunity to increase his Arctic library, which 
 steadily grew despite his very limited resources. 
 His interest in the fate of Franklin was so intense
 
 294 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 that he followed with impatience the slow and 
 uncertain efforts for the relief of the lost ex- 
 plorer. Not content with mere sympathy he also 
 planned an American search, to be conducted in 
 
 V 7 
 
 Charles Francis Hall. 
 
 Her Majesty's ship Resolute. Learning in 1859 
 that this Arctic ship was laid up and dismantled 
 he originated a petition asking that it be loaned 
 for such purpose. The return of McClintock 
 with definite news of the death of Franklin, and 
 the retreat and loss of his expeditionary force,
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS HALL 295 
 
 put an end to the petition. Hall, however, de- 
 spite the admirable and convincing report of 
 McClintock, persisted in the belief that some 
 members of Franklin's crew were yet alive, and 
 he determined to solve the problem by visiting 
 King William Land, the scene of the final dis- 
 aster. He issued circulars asking public aid, 
 diligently sought out whalers and explorers who 
 could give him their personal experiences, and 
 finally determined that he must go and live with 
 the Esquimaux, and, conforming to their modes 
 of travel and existence, work out his Arctic prob- 
 lem on new lines. 
 
 The inauguration of the plan presented diffi- 
 culties, for Hall was without means ; but his per- 
 sistent action created confidence, and the modest 
 outfit for the voyage was procured through 
 friendly contributions, while passage on a whaler 
 for himself and baggage was tendered. 
 
 On July 30, i860, with a whale-boat and scanty 
 supplies, Hall landed alone on the west coast of 
 Davis Strait, in Frobisher Bay. His base of oper- 
 ations was Rescue Harbor, 63° N., 65° W., whence 
 he made a series of sledge journeys during the 
 two years passed in this region. He re-examined 
 the coasts visited by Frobisher in his eventful 
 vo3'ages of 1575 to 1579, and found the famous 
 gold mine on Meta Incognita, whence 1,300 tons 
 of ore were carried to England, where, as the 
 chronicles relate, " in the melting and refining 16 
 tonnes whereof, proceeded 210 ounces of fine 
 silver mixed with gold." 
 
 An extensive collection of relics of Frobisher's
 
 296 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 expedition was made, which later was given to 
 the Royal Geographical Society. The expedi- 
 tion of Hall was mainly fruitful in training him 
 for other Arctic work, for though his knowledge 
 was self-acquired and instruments imperfect, yet 
 his indefatigable industry and practice in scien- 
 tific observations made him a reliable observer 
 by the time of his return. It may be added that 
 his careful and detailed description of the habits 
 and life of the Esquimaux of the west coast of 
 Davis Strait are of decided value from his rigid 
 truthfulness, which caused him to record what 
 he saw without exaggeration. 
 
 Hall's success in obtaining so many relics of 
 Frobisher's voyage of three centuries previous, 
 and the fact that the Esquimaux yet had tradition- 
 ary knowledge of that voyage, encouraged Hall 
 and his friends to a confident belief that a vo}- age 
 to the shores of King William Land would result 
 in the discovery of records, relics, possibly sur- 
 vivors, and in any event rescue the story of the 
 retreat of Crozier from oblivion by hearing it 
 from Esquimau eye-witnesses. 
 
 Future search operations were to be promot- 
 ed through his Esquimau followers, commonl)' 
 known as Joe and Hannah, who returned with 
 him to the United States, and further, Hall re- 
 lied upon his knowledge of the Esquimau lan- 
 guage, in which he had acquired considerable 
 facility during his long sojourn with them. 
 
 Hall's return was in 1862, and in 1864 he was 
 ready for his second voyage. On August 20th he 
 was landed, with his two natives, a whale-boat,
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS HALL 297 
 
 tent, and a moderate amount of provisions, on 
 Dci)ot Island, in the extreme northern part of 
 Hudson Bay, in 63° 47' N., 90° W., where Hall 
 began his life and quest that were to last five 
 weary years. 
 
 Preliminary autumnal journeys extended his 
 knowledge, but they were marked by no definite 
 progress, and the summer of 1864 was spent by the 
 natives in securing game for the coming winter, 
 thus postponing Hall's chances of a westward 
 sledge-trip to King William Land yet another 
 year. Despairing of assistance from natives near 
 the whaling rendezvous, Hall decided to make 
 his winter-quarters in Repulse Bay, at Fort 
 Hope, 60° 32' N., 87° W., occupied, 1846-47, by 
 the famous explorer, Dr. Rae. Here he hoped 
 to secure the friendship of the neighboring Esqui- 
 maux and lay up stores of game for the final ex- 
 pedition, and there he wintered in 1865-66, during 
 which he secured about one hundred and fifty 
 reindeer, some salmon, and ptarmigan. With re- 
 turning spring the Esquimaux promised to make 
 the journey, and with quite a party and several 
 dog-sledges Hall's heart was full of joy and ex- 
 pectation as they moved northward across Rae 
 Peninsula, on March 30, 1866. His discourage- 
 ments commenced with the long halts and fre- 
 (pient detours for hunts, and his disappointment 
 was complete when the natives decided to turn 
 back from Cape Weynton, 68° N., 89° W., after 
 having, in twenty-eight days, only travelled as 
 far with dogs as Rae had gone on foot in five 
 days. Hall simply records: "My King William
 
 298 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 party is ended for the present ; disappointed but 
 not discouraged." 
 
 The journey and time were not fruitless, for 
 near Cape Weynton he fell in with four strange 
 Esquimaux, who gave him most valuable informa- 
 tion as to the subject nearest his heart. They 
 related that some of their people had visited the 
 search ships and had seen Franklin. What was 
 more to the point, they produced a considerable 
 number of articles that had once belonofed to 
 members of Franklin's party. The most impor- 
 tant were silver articles, such as spoons, forks, 
 etc., which bore the crest of Franklin and other 
 officers of the lost expedition. These veritable 
 evidences of the passage of Crozier and others 
 of Franklin's expedition through this region 
 were fortunately secured by Hall, and were 
 later supplemented by many others. 
 
 Unable to obtain Esquimau assistance the fol- 
 lowing year, Hall made journeys here and there 
 wherever it was possible ; one, in February, 1867, 
 to Igloolik, the winter-quarters of Parry in 1822, 
 on Boothia Felix Land, and a second, in 1868, to 
 the Strait of Fury and Hekla, discovered by 
 Parry in 1825 ;. furthermore, he surveyed the 
 northwest coast of Melville Peninsula, and filled 
 in the broken line of the Admiralty chart for the 
 northwest of that peninsula. 
 
 Visiting whalers urged on Hall the impossibil- 
 ity of succeeding in reaching King William Land 
 by aid of natives, and more than one captain 
 offered to carry him and his party back to the 
 United States. Never despairing of final sue-
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS HALL 
 
 299 
 
 cess, Hall determined to pass another winter at 
 Fort Hope, Repulse Bay. Here, learning by 
 experience, and acquiring food supplies during 
 the winter, he succeeded, in March, 1869, in 
 again starting westward with ten Esquimaux — 
 men, women, and children — with well-loaded 
 
 Igloos, or Esquimau Huts. 
 
 dog-sledges. Progress was slow and delays fre- 
 quent, but still the journey was continued. 
 
 Their course from Repulse Bay lay overland, 
 by nearly connecting lakes and rivers, across 
 Rae Peninsula to Committee Bay, thence by 
 another similar overland route over the south 
 end of Boothia Felix Land, to James Ross Strait, 
 where King William Land lies some sixty miles 
 to the west.
 
 300 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Hall, singularly enough, was never able to ap- 
 preciate the attitude of the natives in making 
 such a long, dangerous journey merely to please 
 him, for he quaintly complains that the Esqui- 
 maux had no appreciation of his mission and 
 continually lost valuable time by stopping to 
 smoke and talk. They now objected to go west 
 of Pelly Bay, but by persuasion proceeded to 
 Simpson Island, 68° 30' N., 91° 30' W., where a 
 successful hunt for musk-oxen so restored their 
 spirits that they went on. 
 
 At Point Ackland, on the eastern shore of 
 James Ross Strait, Hall fortunately fell in with 
 natives, with whom he remained nine days, and 
 from whom he obtained important information. 
 In-nook-poo-zhee-jook proved to be the chief 
 man of the party, and from him and others 
 were purchased relics, such as silver spoons, 
 plain and with the crest of Franklin. Hall was 
 told that these articles came from a larsre island 
 where a great many white men died, and that 
 five white men were buried on an island known 
 to the chief. This Esquimau finally agreed to 
 accompany Hall and guided him direct across 
 James Ross Strait to a group of small islets to 
 the east of King William Land, where, on Todd 
 Island, part of a human thigh-bone was found ; 
 snow covering the ground to such a depth as 
 to make thorough search impossible without 
 long delay. 
 
 On May 12, 1869, Hall had the supreme pleas- 
 ure of putting foot on King William Land, the 
 object and end of his five years' life among the
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS HALL 301 
 
 Esquimaux. The only tangible result of the 
 search thereon was the discovery of a human 
 skeleton, and he reluctantly set out on his re- 
 turn. Esquimaux were fallen in with in Pelly 
 Bay, 68° 30' N., 90° 30' \V., and an old man, Tung- 
 nuk, on inquiry regarding Franklin relics in their 
 possession, told Hall that the natives had found 
 a ship beset near Ki-ki-tuk, King William Land, 
 and that in getting wood out of it they made a 
 hole in the ship, which soon after sank. Ko-big, 
 another native, said that all the white men per- 
 ished, except two at Ki-ki-tuk, wdiose fate was 
 unknown. 
 
 Hall felt satisfied, from the stories of the Es- 
 quimaux and other evidences, that he was able 
 to determine the fate of seventy-nine out of the 
 one hundred and five men of Crozier's party, 
 which retreated in 1848 from the abandoned 
 ships. The Esquimaux told him that Crozier, 
 Franklin's second in command, had passed near 
 their huts ; that he had a gun in his hand and a 
 telescope around his neck, and that his men were 
 dragging two boats. Crozier told the natives 
 that they were going to Repulse Bay. The Es- 
 quimaux admitted that they had deserted Cro- 
 zier owing to the fact that his party was in a 
 starving condition and their food was scarce. 
 
 As far as Hall could make out, Crozier, late in 
 July, 1848, passed down the west coast of King 
 William Land with forty men dragging two 
 sledges, and near Cape Hcrschel fell in with four 
 Escpiimaux families, who, after communicating 
 with Crozier, fled from the starving party during
 
 302 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 the night. From native accounts Hall was also 
 able to enumerate in detail the points at which 
 the retreating party had died and been buried. 
 
 Among other relics collected by Hall were 
 portions of one of the boats, an oak sledge-run- 
 ner, a chronometer box with the Queen's broad 
 arrow engraved thereon, Franklin's mahogany 
 
 In Winter-Quarters. 
 
 writing-desk, and many pieces of silver, forks, 
 spoons, knives, and parts of watches. It was 
 claimed by the natives that one of Franklin's 
 ships made the northwest passage with five men 
 on board, and in the spring of 1849 was found 
 by them near O'Reilly Island (68° 30' N., 99° W.). 
 Hall had now passed five years among the Es- 
 quimaux, in which time he had made sledge 
 journeys aggregating more than three thousand 
 miles ; acquired a thorough knowledge of the
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS HALL 303 
 
 language and methods of life of the natives, 
 and proved the possibility of a white man living 
 the same life and making the same sledge jour- 
 neys as the natives ; but at the same time he be- 
 came conscious that no very extended sledge- 
 work could be done by Esquimau aid alone. 
 His five years of arduous Arctic life ended in 
 1869 by his returning home on an American 
 whaler, bringing with him his faithful Esquimaux, 
 Joe and Hannah. 
 
 Hall's return to the United States was simply, 
 however, to pursue another and greater voyage, 
 in which he believed he would be able to reach 
 the North Pole. 
 
 After strenuous efforts he succeeded in interest- 
 ing the President, the Cabinet, and a large num- 
 ber of Congressmen in his project, and on July 
 12, 1870, Congress appropriated $50,000 for the 
 purpose of the expedition ; authorized the em- 
 ployment of any suitable vessel in the navy, and 
 provided that the National Academy of Sciences 
 should prescribe the scope of the scientific ob- 
 servations. An old tug of nearly four hundred 
 tons burden, rcchristened under the name of Po- 
 laris, was selected, overhauled, and strengthened. 
 
 Hall sailed from New York June 29th, the 
 party consisting of Captain Buddington, sailing- 
 master; Dr. Emil Bessel, chief of the scientific 
 staff; R. W. D. Bryan, astronomer; Sergeant 
 Frederick Meyer, Signal Corps, meteorologist; 
 seven petty officers, and a crew of fourteen, to- 
 gether with his faithful servants, Joe and Hannah. 
 
 The Polaris was provisioned and equipped for
 
 304 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 an absence of two and a half years, and her voy- 
 age was destined to be over the route made fa- 
 mous by the expeditions of Kane and Hayes, 
 through Davis Strait and northward along the 
 west coast of Greenland, although Hall was at 
 first uncertain whether he would not enter 
 Jones's Sound, instead of Smith's Strait. The 
 usual visits to the Greenland ports were made, 
 with resulting stores of furs, dogs, sledges, and 
 other paraphernalia for exploration in the far 
 North. To this point the expedition was con- 
 voyed by the man-of-war Congress, which bade 
 the Polaris Godspeed as she left Godhaven on 
 her lonely journey. 
 
 Hans Hendrick, the Esquimau dog traveller, 
 whose services with Kane and Hayes commended 
 him to Hall, accompanied the expedition with 
 his wife and children. It was a strange meet- 
 ing between Morton, the second mate, and Hans, 
 the Esquimau, who, twenty years before, as 
 subordinates of Kane, had made together the 
 memorable sledge journey from Rensselaer Har- 
 bor, along the Humboldt Glacier, to Cape Con- 
 stitution. 
 
 The Polaris was favored by an unusually open 
 sea ; Melville Bay was crossed in forty-eight 
 hours and the " North Water " beyond was so 
 free of ice that the Polaris kept her way un- 
 checked until she reached Hakluyt Island ; even 
 here the ice-pack was so open that the Polaris 
 easily forced her way. Littleton Island was 
 passed on the evening of August 27, 1870, and 
 later, crossing the parallel of Rensselaer Harbor,
 
 An Arctic Fiord. 
 
 80
 
 306 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 the Polaris attained a higher latitude than any 
 former vessel on this route. Kane Sea and 
 Kennedy Channel proved equally free of ice, so 
 that the Polaris, steaming uninterruptedly north- 
 ward, entered the Arctic Ocean, hitherto inaces- 
 sible, where she was finally stopped by an im- 
 penetrable pack, in 82° 26' N. This point was 
 more than two hundred miles directly north of 
 the farthest reached by Kane's vessel, the Ad- 
 vance. From this vantage-ground it was seen 
 that the eastern coast-line of Grinnell Land ex- 
 tended somewhat farther to the north before 
 turning to the west, and that, on the other hand, 
 the coast of Northern Greenland trended very 
 nearly eastward. Strenuous, though unavailing, 
 efforts were made to push the Polaris further 
 northward ; failing this, attempts were then 
 made to find a safe harbor to the eastAvard, 
 but none was accessible. In the meantime the 
 main ice-pack of the Arctic Ocean, setting 
 southward to its normal position, carried the 
 Polaris steadily to the south, through Robinson 
 Channel, a distance of nearly fifty miles, and 
 nearly caused her destruction by forcing her 
 on the Greenland coast. Fortunately the pack 
 opened somewhat, so that the vessel was en- 
 abled to change her position and secure safe 
 anchorage. This place, later named Thank God 
 Harbor, in 81° 37' N., 61° 44' W., was shel- 
 tered by a bold cape to the north, while the 
 Polaris was protected from the polar pack by an 
 immense ice-floe, called Providence Berg. This 
 enormous floe-berg, grounded in a hundred
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS HALL 307 
 
 fathoms of water, was by direct measurement 
 four hundred and fifty feet long, three hundred 
 feet broad, and towered sixty feet above the level 
 of the sea. 
 
 Preparations were at once made to put the 
 crew in winter-quarters, and on shore an observ- 
 atory was built for scientific purposes. To the 
 surprise and delight of the party, seals proved to 
 be quite abundant, and a small herd of musk- 
 oxen was found, the first of these animals ever 
 seen on the west coast of Greenland. 
 
 Leaving his chief of the scientific staff and his 
 sailing-master to their respective duties, Hall 
 decided on a preliminary sledge journey in or- 
 der to determine the best route for his contem- 
 plated journey of the next spring toward the 
 pole. A heavy fall of snow insured good 
 sledging and enabled him to leave Thank God 
 Harbor on October loth, he being accompanied 
 by the first mate, Chester, the Esquimaux, Joe and 
 Hans Hendrick, with two dog-sledges and four- 
 teen dogs. In a journey of six days he attained 
 Cape Brevoort, in 82° N., on the north side of 
 Newman Ba}-, a considerable distance to the 
 southward, however, of the point reached by the 
 Polaris in the Arctic Ocean. In a despatch 
 written at this point. Hall says, " From Cape 
 Brevoort we can see land extending on the 
 west side of the strait to the north, a distance 
 of about seventy miles, thus making land, as far 
 as we can discover, about 83° 5' N." To illus- 
 trate the accuracy of Hall's judgment and his 
 freedom from making extravagant claims, it may
 
 308 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 be stated that the detailed surveys of the British 
 Arctic expedition of 1876 show the most north- 
 erly point on the east coast of Grinnell Land, 
 Cape Joseph Henry, which possibly could be 
 seen by Hall, was in 82° 55', or within ten miles 
 of the position assigned it from a distance of 
 seventy miles. 
 
 Hall returned to the Polaris on October 24th, 
 
 A Woman of the Arctic Highlanders. Sketched fronn life. 
 
 speaking most encouragingly of his prospects 
 and planning another sledge journey for the au- 
 tumn. Within an hour, however, he was taken 
 violently ill, and upon examination, Dr. Bessels 
 announced that he had been stricken with apo- 
 plexy, that his left side was paralyzed, and that 
 his sickness might prove fatal. After an illness, 
 with delirium, for several days, he improved ma- 
 terially, and was even able, through his clerk, to 
 arrange the records of his late sledge journey, but
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS HALL 309 
 
 a recurrence of the attack caused his death, on 
 November 8, 1871. 
 
 The death of Hall left the expedition without 
 a head. However, Captain Buddington, the sail- 
 ing-master, and Dr. Bessels, the chief of the sci- 
 entific staff, signed an agreement to do all in 
 their power to fulfil the ultimate object of Hall's 
 ambition. Desultory efforts to go northward by 
 boat were made without success the following 
 year, and the only expedition which had definite 
 result was one on foot by Sergeant Meyer, of 
 the Signal Corps of the United States Army, 
 during which he reached Repulse Harbor, 82° 
 9' N., on the shores of the frozen Polar Sea, at 
 that time the most northerly land ever attained. 
 
 The future of the Polaris expedition does not 
 strictly pertain to Hall. However, the winter 
 was marked by a series of valuable physical ob- 
 servations, made by Dr. Bessels and Mr. Bryan, 
 the astronomer. In August, 1872, it was decided 
 to return to the United States. Pushed into an 
 impenetrable pack, anchored to a floe, the Po- 
 laris drifted with the main ice-pack down Ken- 
 nedy Channel, through Kane Sea, and into Smith 
 Sound, where, on October 15, 1872, off Northum- 
 berland Island, the pack was disrupted by a 
 violent gale, which freed the Polaris. Part of 
 her crew, left upon the ice-pack, experienced the 
 horrors of a mid-winter drift southward of thir- 
 teen hundred miles, and were picked up off the 
 coast of Labrador by the sealer Tigress, in 
 the spring of 1872. The Polaris drifted to land 
 in Lifeboat Cove, near Littleton Island, where
 
 310 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 the party built winter-quarters on shore, known 
 as Polaris House. In the succeeding summer 
 the}' built boats from the remains of their ship, 
 by means of which they reached Cape York, 
 where their contemplated journey across Mel- 
 ville Bay was rendered unnecessar}' by falling 
 
 Esquimau Woman. Sketched from life. 
 
 in with the whaler Ravenscraig, which took 
 them to England. 
 
 The geographical results of Hall's last expedi- 
 tion were extensive and valuable. Not only was 
 the Polaris navigated to the highest point then 
 ever attained by a vessel, but the very shores of 
 the Polar Sea were visited and explored. Hall 
 carried northward and completed the explora- 
 tion of Kennedy Channel ; outlined the coast of 
 Hall Basin and Robinson Channel; extended
 
 CHARLES FRANCIS HALL 311 
 
 Grinnell Land northward nearly two degrees of 
 latitude to practically its extreme limit ; added 
 materially to the northern limits of Greenland, 
 and charted a very extensive portion of its 
 northern coast. Unfortunately for the general 
 credit of the expedition, the accurate observa- 
 tions and conservative estimates of Hall were 
 not adhered to, and in their stead were published, 
 under government auspices, a chart of Hall's 
 discoveries which proved misleading in many of 
 its details, extravagant and unreliable in its 
 claims of new northern lands. 
 
 The fidelity, accuracy, and importance of Hall's 
 Arctic work is recognized, especially by his 
 American and British successors in Smith Sound. 
 Nares, in his official report to Parliament, states 
 that the east coast-line of Grinnell Land agreed 
 " so well with Hall's description that it was im- 
 possible to mistake their identity. Their bear- 
 ing also, although differing upward of thirty de- 
 grees from those of the published chart, agreed 
 precisely with his published report." Thus Hall 
 merited the commemorative inscription on the 
 brass tablet which the British polar expedition 
 of 1875, with a generous appreciativeness cred- 
 itable to its own brave men, erected to Hall's 
 memory over his lonely northern grave. It 
 recognizes Hall as one " who sacrificed his life 
 in the advancement of science," and further 
 recites that they, " following in his footsteps, 
 have profited by his experience."
 
 XII. 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON DE LONG, 
 
 And the Siberian Arctic Ocean. 
 
 Of all the routes followed by explorers at- 
 tempting to extend northward our knowledge of 
 unknown lands, there is one which, more than 
 all others, seems to have been closed by nature to 
 the daring enterprise of man. While successful 
 voyages to the northward of America, and along 
 the meridian of Spitzbergen, have been of fre- 
 quent occurrence, yet it has been the fortune of 
 one expedition only to penetrate the vast ice- 
 pack that covers the Arctic Ocean to the north 
 of Siberia, and give an account thereof. 
 
 This expedition, organized through the munif- 
 icence of James Gordon Bennett, Jr., and known 
 to the world as the Jeannette Expedition, was 
 commanded by De Long, then a lieutenant-com- 
 mander of the United States Navy. 
 
 George Washington De Long was born in New 
 York City, March 22, 1844, and entered the Unit- 
 ed States Navy, by graduation from the Naval 
 Academy, in 1865. He rose to be a lieutenant- 
 commander and rendered ordinary naval service 
 until 1873, when special duty fell to his lot which 
 turned his thoughts to Arctic research.
 
 George Washington De Long. 
 
 iX.^
 
 314 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 The rescue of the drift party of the Polaris 
 naturally caused great alarm as to the safety of 
 the remainder of her crew, and with the de- 
 spatch of the Tigress into the waters of Smith 
 Sound, came orders for the Juniata, to which De 
 Long was attached, to visit the coasts of western 
 Greenland for additional search for the missing 
 explorers. The Juniata proceeded to Upernivik, 
 as far as it was deemed safe for the man-of-war 
 to venture, but its brave and sagacious com- 
 mander, Captain D. L. Braine, of the Navy, 
 thought it most necessary to search the fast in- 
 shore ice of Melville Bay, along which he cor- 
 rectly surmised they would conduct a retreat by 
 boats. For this duty — novel, hazardous, and dif- 
 ficult — De Long promptly volunteered. For 
 this dangerous trip the steam-launch Little Juni- 
 ata, some 32 feet long and 8 wide, was selected. 
 Her crew consisted of Lieutenant Chipp, Ensign 
 May, ice -pilot Dodge, who had served with 
 Hayes, and four others, while she was equipped 
 and provisioned for sixty days. In this small 
 craft De Long, following the fast ice, reached a 
 point immediately off Cape York, when he was 
 struck by a violent gale. The sea was so heavy 
 that his only chance of safety lay in carrying sail, 
 steam being useless, to keep the boat under con- 
 trol. The violence of the wind disrupted the in- 
 shore ice, threatening the launch continually ; 
 owing to fog the presence of immense icebergs 
 made navigation more dangerous than ever ; 
 high seas constantly broke over her, soaking 
 everything on board and harassing the crew
 
 OEOROE WASHINGTON BE LONG 315 
 
 with the imminent danger of swamping. Thirty 
 hours the gale lasted, leaving the party in the 
 last stages of exhaustion, wet to the skin and be- 
 numbed with cold, with closed floes to the north 
 and east and the dangerous " middle pack " to 
 the west. Under these conditions De Lono^ re- 
 luctantly abandoned the search and returned. 
 
 This brief experience created an interest in 
 northern work which never abated, and as a re- 
 sult, De Long, the voyage ended, approached 
 James Gordon Bennett, Jr., who was favorable 
 to his projects. Nothing, however, was done 
 until November, 1876, after the return of the 
 Nares's expedition, when the exploration was 
 decided on ; but no vessel could be procured. 
 Eventually Sir Allen Young, an Arctic explorer 
 of note, was persuaded to sell the Pandora, in 
 which he had twice made polar voyages. 
 
 The ship was, by Act of Congress, given an 
 American register under the name of Jeannette, 
 strengthened under naval supervision, and put in 
 commission under the orders and instructions of 
 the Secretary of the Navy, with full discipline in 
 force ; but the expense of the expedition — re- 
 pairs, equipment, and pa}^ — was met by Bennett. 
 
 On July 8, 1879, the Jeannette sailed from San 
 Francisco, commanded by De Long, and ofifi- 
 cered by Lieutenant Chipp, Master Danenhower, 
 Chief Engineer Melville, Doctor Ambler, an ice- 
 pilot, two scientists, twenty-four petty officers 
 and men. The route selected by De Long was 
 via Bchring Strait, apj)arently under the im- 
 pression that Wrangel Land was continental in
 
 316 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 extent, an idea supported by the German geog- 
 rapher Petermann, whose advice De Long had 
 sought, and along the shores of which coursed 
 the northern current that swept forever out of 
 the vision of man such whalers as were fully 
 beset by the ice-pack north of Asia. 
 
 Before pursuing his own exploration De Long, 
 in compliance with instructions from the Navy 
 Department, made search for the Vega, in which 
 ship Nordenskiold, circumnavigating Europe 
 and Asia, had wintered at Cape Serdze Kamen, in 
 6j° \2' N. latitude, on the northwestern coast of 
 Asia. On reaching this point he learned that 
 the Vega had comfortably wintered and had 
 passed south, thus confirming the report he had 
 gained from the natives at St. Lawrence Bay. 
 
 They at once steamed northward, thankful, as 
 De Long records, '* that Nordenskiold was safe, 
 and we might proceed on our way toward Wran- 
 gel Land." Ice was soon fallen in with, and, 
 after preliminary efforts to proceed directly to 
 the north, which impenetrable floes prevented, 
 De Long, on September 5, 1879, "got up a full 
 head of steam and entered the pack through the 
 best -looking lead in the general direction of 
 Herald Island," which was plainly visible at a 
 distance of forty miles. 
 
 It was De Long's intention on leaving San 
 Francisco to explore this land the first winter, 
 but completely beset by heavy floes, in 71° 35' 
 N. latitude, 175° W. longitude, his ship never 
 escaped. In hopes that information of value 
 might be had from a visit to Herald Island, an
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON BE LONG 
 
 317 
 
 unsuccessful attempt was made to reach it by 
 dog-sledge over the fast-cementing pack, but 
 the party was turned back by impassable leads. 
 
 It soon became evident that the Jeannette was 
 drifting steadily with the entire pack. First, the 
 
 Herald Island. 
 
 direction was to the north, taking the ship out 
 of sight of Herald Island, but next it changed 
 to the southwest, bringing that land again in 
 view. While the drift was by a devious and 
 very irregular course, yet it was in the general 
 direction of northwest, from 71° 35' N., and 175° 
 W., at besetment, to 'j'j° 15' N., and 155° E., when 
 the ship was finally crushed by the pack. In 
 investigating the cause of the drift, De Long
 
 318 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 says : " As to the currents in this part of the 
 Arctic Ocean, I think our drift is demonstrating 
 that they are the local creation of the wind for 
 the time being. As our drift in resulting direc- 
 tion has been northwest since our besetment, so 
 the greater amount of wind has been from the 
 southeast ; our short and irregular side-drift east 
 and west, and occasionally to south, being due 
 to correspondingly short and irregular winds 
 from northwest or east." 
 
 The party settled down to their regular life, 
 which though very monotonous soon had an ele- 
 ment of excitement and danger introduced that 
 never passed away in entirety. This was the 
 threatened disruption of the pack, which, seem- 
 ingl)'- without cause, would change its form and 
 position with such suddenness and violence as 
 to endanger the safety of the ship. On Novem- 
 ber 13, 1879, without warning, the pack sepa- 
 rated on a line with the ship's keel, the port 
 snow-wall being carried with the pack one hun- 
 dred and fifty feet away, leaving open water, 
 that fortunately froze over before other violent 
 changes took place. 
 
 De Long writes : " This steady strain is fear- 
 ful ; seemingly we are not secure for a moment. 
 . . . Living over a powder-mill, waiting for 
 an explosion, would be a similar mode of exist- 
 ence. ... I sleep with my clothes on, and 
 start up anxiously at every crack ... of the 
 ship's frame." 
 
 Almost by intervention of Providence, as it 
 seemed, the Jeannette escaped destruction from
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON DE LONG 319 
 
 these violent disruptions, which, except that of 
 January 19, 1880, left her, during the first winter, 
 comparatively unharmed. On that day, with ter- 
 rible groaning and grinding, the main pack was 
 fearfully agitated ; no large openings were seen 
 and the ice acted as though its entire periphery 
 was subjected to steady and irresistible pressure, 
 which being toward the centre caused the whole 
 surface to buckle up irregularly. Enormous 
 pieces of ice piling up under the stern of the 
 Jeannette brought a tremendous longitudinal 
 pressure on the ship and broke her fore-foot, 
 which caused a serious leak. It was only 
 through the indomitable energy and great pro- 
 fessional skill of Melville that the leak was got 
 under control, and later cared for, without taxing 
 greatly their precious stock of fuel. 
 
 The winter passed with all in health save 
 Danenhower, whose eyes becoming diseased 
 necessitated several operations and permanently 
 placed him off duty for the voyage. The sum- 
 mer of 1880 came, found them fast embedded in 
 the ice, and went without release. Autumn 
 passed, winter came, and even the opening year 
 of 1 88 1 found them with conditions unchanged, 
 as De Long recites : " A disabled and leaking 
 ship, a seriously sick officer, an uneasy and ter- 
 rible pack, constantly diminishing coal-pile and 
 provisions, and far from the Siberian coast." A 
 break came, however, with the discovery of new 
 land in May, along the north coast of which the 
 Jeannette drifted slowly. On May 31st a party 
 was sent to examine the island, for such it proved
 
 320 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 to be, Melville being in command, as Chipp was 
 then on the sick-list. Melville, despite the open 
 condition of the ice, succeeded in landing on 
 June 3, 1 88 1, his third day out. He was obliged 
 to carry his instruments and provisions, at the 
 risk of his life, through the moving pack. It 
 proved to be a desolate, ice-capped, rocky islet, 
 almost destitute of vegetation and inhabited only 
 by dovekies, who nested in the inaccessible 
 cliffs adjoining the discharging glaciers. An- 
 other island appearing, De Long named the two; 
 Jeannette, in y6° 47' N., 159° E., and Henrietta, 
 in 77° 08' N., 158° E. 
 
 The end of the besetment came at last. On 
 June 12, 1881, in 77° 15' N., 155° E., the pack 
 showed signs of great pressure, the immense floes' 
 seeming to be alive in their motion, and despite 
 all efforts the Jeannette was terribly nipped, her 
 bows being thrown high in air. It was evident 
 that escape was hardly possible. Steps were im- 
 mediately taken to abandon ship, and everything 
 of value or use was speedily withdrawn, with 
 boats, sledges, etc., to a safe distance. Early the 
 next morning the ice opened a little, and the 
 Jeannette immediately sank, with colors flying, 
 in thirty-eight fathoms of water. 
 
 De Long and his party thus found themselves 
 adrift in the Polar Sea, more than three hundred 
 miles from the nearest point of the mainland of 
 Asia, and about one hundred and fifty miles from 
 the New Siberian Islands. While the condition 
 of affairs seemed desperate, De Long never de- 
 spaired. Lieutenant Danenhower being disabled.
 
 GEORGE M'ASUINGTON BE LONG 
 
 321 
 
 and Chipp sick, De Long's main dependence was 
 in his chief engineer, Melville, who was well, 
 strong, energetic, and fertile in expedients. 
 They had five boats (two very small), nine sleds, 
 
 In the Pack. 
 
 provisions for sixty days, ammunition, instru- 
 ments and records ; a terrible load for the party, 
 as five men were off duty, and several others 
 too weak to do their share in the drag-ropes. 
 There remained, however, twenty dogs, whose 
 utility was questionable, as they soon consumed 
 21
 
 322 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 more in weight than they ever hauled. The ice 
 was very rough, large openings were frequent, 
 snow often impeded progress, roads had to be 
 made, and on occasion all the stores and men 
 had to be ferried across wide water-lanes. At 
 the beginning there was so much baggage 
 that seven separate loads were hauled, causing 
 the men to travel thirteen times over the same 
 road, but this was soon unnecessary, as weights 
 were gradually reduced. 
 
 To add to De Long's discouragement he dis- 
 covered that they were under the influence of a 
 northwest drift, and after six days' travel due 
 south were twentv-eight miles further north than 
 when the ship sunk. He refrained from discour- 
 aging the men by this information, but changing 
 his course to the southwest, got out of the drift. 
 
 On July nth land was discovered, and turning 
 toward it the shipwrecked and exhausted men 
 reached it July 28, 1881 ; it was in 76° 38' N., 148° 
 E., and was called Bennett Island. Landing was 
 effected by ferrying and crossing heavy, fast-mov- 
 ing floes, and the danger was greatly enhanced 
 by the low water, which made it extremely dan- 
 gerous work to attain the surface of the over- 
 hanging ice-foot. The cliffs were alive with 
 birds, which was a welcome change of diet, to 
 the sick men especially. The island was quite 
 mountainous, with several grass-covered valleys ; 
 a seam of coal was found and signs of consider- 
 able animal life. 
 
 Recuperated by their nine days' rest, the par- 
 ty started south on August 8th, and landed on
 
 324 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Thaddeus Island, of the New Siberian group, 
 August 20, 1 88 1. It is unnecessary to dwell on 
 the dangers and hardships which this unprece- 
 dented journey entailed on the members of this 
 party, which were met with fortitude, courage, 
 and energy that made its successful issue one of 
 the most notable efforts in the history of man, 
 overcoming obstacles almost insurmountable. 
 
 This remarkable journey had been so far made 
 alternately by sledge and boat, owing to the 
 broken condition of the Polar pack ; from Thad- 
 deus Island, however, an open sea enabled them 
 to proceed in boats, which were respectively 
 commanded by De Long, Chipp, and Melville. 
 On September 12th a severe storm separated the 
 boats off the Lena Delta ; Chipp with eight men 
 were lost, while Melville, with nine others, 
 reached a small village through one of the east- 
 ern mouths of the Lena. 
 
 De Long landed, in yf 15' N., 155° E., Sep- 
 tember 17th, with Dr. Ambler and twelve men, 
 having been obliged to abandon his boat, ow- 
 ing to the shallowness of the river. He took 
 with him the ship's records, arms, ammunition, 
 medicines, necessary camp equipments, and four 
 days' provisions, which were carried on the 
 men's shoulders. Fuel proved abundant, and 
 Alexey, their interpreter, killed two deer, thus 
 improving the situation. Retarded by the pres- 
 ence of sick men and by the weight of cumber- 
 some records, they followed slowly southward 
 the barren shores of the Lena, travelling through 
 snow and over ice which broke readily. Their
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON DE LONG 325 
 
 feet were soon in terrible condition, and eventu- 
 ally an ulcer on Ericksen's foot rendered partial 
 amputation necessary on September 29th. De 
 Long then records the terrible situation : They 
 were confronted by a tributary of the Lena 
 which must freeze before they could cross, and 
 as to Ericksen, if forced along, he could not re- 
 cover, and " if I remained here and kept ever}-- 
 body with me, Ericksen's days would be length- 
 ened a little at the risk of our all dying from 
 starvation." Ice formed in a couple of da^^s, 
 and they proceeded, dragging Ericksen on a sled. 
 
 October 3d, food entirely failing, their dog 
 was killed and cooked, giving them strength the 
 following day to reach a deserted hut large 
 enough to hold the party. Here they were 
 storm-stayed two days; Ericksen dving, Alexey 
 hunting unsuccessful!}", the drifting snow and 
 piercing cold — all these served to plunge the 
 party into despair. De Long writes: " What, in 
 God's name, is going to become of us? — fourteen 
 pounds of dog meat left and twenty-five miles to 
 a possible settlement. . . . Read the burial 
 service and carried our departed shipmate's 
 body to the river, where he was buried." Their 
 last food was eaten October 7th, and nothing 
 remained except old tea-leaves and two quarts of 
 alc(jhol ; but Alexey shot a ptarmigan, of which 
 a thin soup was made. 
 
 On October 9th the exhausted condition of 
 some of the men and an open, unfordable creek 
 debarred further progress of the party as a 
 whole. In this contingency De Long sent Nin-
 
 326 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 dermann and Noros ahead for relief, with orders 
 to keep the west bank of the Lena until they 
 reached a settlement. Later De Long advanced 
 
 Noros and Nindermann. 
 
 a mile and camped in a hole in the bank ; Alexey 
 killed four ptarmigans and the party resorted 
 to their deer-skin clothing for subsistence, but 
 without avail. The last entry in De Long's 
 diary, October 30, 1881, records all dead except
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON BE LONG 327 
 
 Collins, who was dying, Ah Sam and Dr. Am- 
 bler, of whom no mention was made. 
 
 Noros and Nindermann, after a march of one 
 hundred and twenty miles, reached Bulcoiir, 
 which they found deserted. Seeking shelter in 
 one of the vacant huts, they were discovered by 
 a native, who took them to an adjacent encamp- 
 ment. The natives either did not understand Nin- 
 dermann or were unwilling to go northward, for 
 despite his incessant and urgent entreaties they 
 carried the two seamen southward to Bulun, 
 where they arrived on October 29th, and met 
 Melville and his party. 
 
 This energetic officer, exhausting all practica- 
 ble means, pushed his -relief parties northward 
 to the extremity of the Lena Delta, but without 
 success. He reached the Arctic Ocean, re- 
 covered the log-books, chronometer, and other 
 articles on November 14th, when a severe storm 
 obliged him to abandon the search. Renewing 
 his efforts, in March, 1882, he discovered, on 
 the 23d of that month, the bodies of his com- 
 panions. 
 
 An official inquiry as to the general conduct of 
 the expedition caused the board of officers to ex- 
 press their opinion that the general personnel 
 were entitled to great praise for their solidarity 
 and cheerfulness, their constancy and endurance. 
 The zeal, energy, and professional aptitude of 
 Melville were noticed, and special commendation 
 given to De Long for the high qualities displayed 
 by him in the conduct of the expedition. 
 
 The scientific observations of the Jeannette
 
 328 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 expedition must be of considerable value, involv- 
 ing as they do hydrographic, magnetic, and 
 meteorological observations over an extended 
 portion of the earth's surface previously un- 
 
 Finding tiie Bodies. 
 
 known, and it appears surprising that after all 
 these years they remain undiscussed. 
 
 In addition may be noted the importance of 
 De Long's hydrographic contributions, covering 
 some fifty thousand square miles of polar ocean, 
 which indicate with equal clearness the character 
 of fifty thousand other square miles of area to
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON BE LONG 329 
 
 the south, and thus prove the Siberian Arctic 
 Ocean to be a shallow sea, dotted with islands. 
 
 The geographic results are represented in part 
 by the attainment of the highest latitude ever 
 reached in Asiatic seas, and in the discovery of 
 Jeannette, Henrietta, and Bennett Islands. Dis- 
 coveries, however, are both direct and indirect, 
 and to positive results should be added success- 
 es of an inferential though negative character. 
 Through De Long's northwest drift the long- 
 sought-for Wrangel Land shrank from its as- 
 sumed dimensions as a continent, connecting, 
 under the Petermann hypothesis, Asia with 
 Greenland, to its reality — a small island. 
 
 It is to be said that this reduction of Wrangel 
 Land into a little island doomed De Long's ex- 
 pedition to certain failure and closed Behring 
 Strait as a promising route to high latitudes ; for 
 the arctic canon of Parry yet obtains, that with- 
 out a sheltering coast no vessel can hope to 
 navigate safely the Polar Ocean. 
 
 With the march of time it is not to be expected 
 that geographic problems connected with the 
 vast ice-covered ocean to the north of Siberia 
 will be left unsolved. These coming explorers 
 may be more fortunate than was De Long, and 
 while profiting by his experiences they will 
 surpass his efforts, yet their successes cannot 
 make greater demands on the courage and con- 
 stancy of them and their subordinates than were 
 shown by the gallant De Long and his associates 
 in the fateful voyage of the Jeannette.
 
 XIII. 
 
 PAUL BELLONl DU CHAILLU, 
 
 Discoverer of the Dwarfs and Gorillas. 
 
 Among the thousands of vigorous and adven- 
 turous men whom chance brought to light in 
 foreign climes, but who by choice have cast 
 their lot with America, by becoming citizens of 
 the United States, there are few whose explora- 
 tions and discoveries have excited more popular 
 interest and discussion than have those of Du 
 Chaillu, the discoverer, in modern times, of the 
 dwarfs and the capturer of the gorilla. 
 
 Born in Paris, July 31, 1835, the early environ- 
 ments of Paul Belloni Du Chaillu fostered and 
 forecast his taste for African exploration, for his 
 father was one of the adventurous Frenchmen 
 whose consular appointment and commercial en- 
 terprises led him to settle at the mouth of the 
 Gaboon, on the west coast of Africa, where his 
 distinguished son passed his boyhood. While 
 young Du Chaillu was, doubtless, well ground- 
 ed in ordinary sciences by his instructors, the 
 learned Jesuit fathers, of Gaboon, yet apart from 
 regular educational institutions he imbibed other 
 wealth of learning by observation of the rich 
 tropical world around him, and also through
 
 Paul Belloni Du Chaillu.
 
 PAUL BELLONI DU CIIAILLU 331 
 
 familiar intercourse with neiijhborini^: tribes ac- 
 quired a knowledge of native tongues and craft, 
 of savage habits and character, which insured 
 his after-success in African exploration. 
 
 Commercial pursuits brought Du Chaillu to 
 the United States, in 1852, when he was so 
 strongly impressed by American institutions 
 that he became a naturalized citizen of the 
 United States. 
 
 Du Chaillu was brought prominently before 
 the American public by a series of striking and 
 interesting articles on the Gaboon country, which 
 from their favorable reception strengthened his 
 belief in the importance of thoroughly explor- 
 ing certain portions of the west coast of Africa. 
 The region selected for his investigations was 
 under the burning sun of the equator, somewhat 
 to the north of the Congo country, in the basins 
 drained by the Muni, Ogowe, and Rembo Rivers, 
 which, owing to difficulty of access, extreme heat, 
 prevailing fevers, and deadly climate, were prac- 
 tically unknown. Between 1856 and 1859 Du 
 Chaillu journeyed upward of eight thousand 
 miles through this country, travelling on foot, 
 with no white companion, and, with the aid of 
 natives, cursorily explored nearl}^ one hundred 
 thousand square miles of virgin territory. Work- 
 ing with the ardent zeal of a naturalist, his enor- 
 mous ornithological collection aggregated thou- 
 sands of specimens, and in this collection alone 
 he added some sixty new species of birds to the 
 domain of science. Among the quadrupeds, he 
 discovered no less than twenty new species, and
 
 332 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 among the most important animals brought to 
 light were the very remarkable nest -building 
 ape, with its unknown and its almost equally ex- 
 traordinary brother the koo-loo-lamba, and his 
 observations of the almost unknown gorilla were 
 most interesting and valuable. 
 
 In ethnology he accumulated a number of in- 
 valuable native arms and implements, which 
 now adorn the British Museum, Space fails in 
 which to recite his intense sufferings, during 
 these explorations, from semi-starvation, the wild 
 beasts of the dense forests, the venomous reptiles 
 of the river valleys, the attacks of ferocious ants, 
 and other intolerable poisonous insects which 
 infest the interior. 
 
 There are many interesting accounts of curi- 
 ous quadrupeds in Du Chaillu's book, "Advent- 
 ures in Equatorial Africa," but none appeals 
 more strongly to most readers than that of the 
 gorilla. Traditions from antiquity, the relation 
 of Hanno, the Carthaginian navigator of 350 
 B.C., set forth the existence of such an animal, 
 but no white man had ever seen a gorilla, ex- 
 cept Andrew Battell, early in the seventeenth 
 century. Nearly ten years before the explora- 
 tions of Du Chaillu the gorilla had been, how- 
 ever, brought to the notice of naturalists by Dr. 
 Savage, of Boston, who had received a skull from 
 the Rev. J. L. Wilson, an American missionary 
 on the Gaboon. 
 
 From boyhood up Du Chaillu had heard from 
 the natives of Gaboon fearful stories of the cun- 
 ning, strength, and ferocity of this ape, which is
 
 PAUL BELLONI DU CIIAILLU 333 
 
 the most dreaded animal on the west coast of 
 Africa. For years he had longed for an oppor- 
 tunity to hunt the gorilla, and when he first saw 
 its tracks, which threw his native hunters into 
 alarm, he relates that his sensations were inde- 
 scribable, his feelings so intense as to be painful, 
 and his heart-throbs so violent that he actually 
 feared the animal would be alarmed by them. 
 
 Du Chaillu chronicles the end of his first suc- 
 cessful hunt as follows : 
 
 " Before us stood an immense male gorilla. 
 He had gone through the jungle on his all-fours; 
 but when he saw our party he erected himself 
 and looked us boldly in the face. He stood 
 about a dozen yards from us, and was a sight, I 
 think, never to forget. Nearly six feet high (he 
 proved two inches shorter), with immense body, 
 huge chest, and great muscular arms ; with 
 fiercely glaring, large, deep-gray eyes, and a hell- 
 ish expression of face, which seemed to me like 
 some nightmare vision, thus stood before us 
 this king of the African forests. He was not 
 afraid of us. He stood there and beat his breast 
 with his huge fists till it resounded like an im- 
 mense bass-drum — which is their mode of offer- 
 ing defiance — meantime giving vent to roar after 
 roar. The roar of the gorilla is the most singu- 
 lar and awful noise heard in these African woods. 
 It begins with a sharp bark, like an angry dog, 
 then glides into a deep bass roll, which literally 
 and closely resembles the roll of distant thunder 
 along the sky, for which I have sometimes been 
 tempted to take it where I did not see the ani-
 
 334: 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 The Gorilla. {Troglodytes Gorilla.) 
 
 mal. So deep is it that it seems to proceed less 
 from the mouth and throat than from the deep 
 chest and vast paunch. He again sent forth a 
 thunderous roar, and now truly he reminded me 
 of nothing but some hellish dream-creature — a 
 being of that hideous order, half-man half-beast, 
 which we find pictured by old artists in some 
 representations of the infernal regions."
 
 PAUL BELLONI DU CHAILLU 335 
 
 The explorer relates that flying gorillas so re- 
 sembled men running for their liv^es, and their 
 discordant cries seemed so human, that he felt 
 almost like a murderer as he shot them. 
 
 Having obtained a number of specimens, he 
 now used his utmost endeavors to obtain an 
 ape alive, and speaks of his success as " one of 
 the greatest pleasures of my life ; " to his great 
 grief, however, the intractable and savage brute 
 soon died. Regarding it, Du Chaillu writes : 
 
 " Some hunters who had been out on my ac- 
 count brought in a young gorilla alive. I can- 
 not describe the emotions with which I saw the 
 struggling little brute dragged into the village. 
 All the hardships 1 had endured in Africa were 
 rewarded in that moment. It was a little fellow 
 of between two and tliree years old, two feet six 
 inches in height, and as fierce and stubborn as a 
 grown animal could have been." 
 
 Several were captured from time to time, but 
 all died after short confinement. Every effort to 
 subdue their ferocity, whether by force or by per- 
 sistent kindness, utterly failed ; they were never 
 other than morose, bellicose, and treacherous. 
 
 Another very interesting animal is the nest- 
 building ape, a before unknown species, which 
 was discovered by our explorer almost by acci- 
 dent. Du Chaillu says : 
 
 " As I was trudging along, rather tired of the 
 sport, I happened to look up at a high tree which 
 we were passing, and saw a most singular-looking 
 shelter built in its branches. I asked Aboko 
 whether the hunters here had this way to sleep
 
 336 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 in the woods, but was told, to my surprise, that 
 this very ingenious nest was built by the nsJiicgo 
 mbouve, an ape. The material is leafy branches 
 with which to make the roof, and vines to tie 
 these branches to the tree. The tying is done 
 so neatly, and the roof is so well constructed 
 that, until I saw the nshiego actually occupying 
 his habitation I could scarce persuade myself 
 that human hands had not built all. It sheds 
 rain perfectly, being neatly rounded on top for 
 this purpose. The material being collected, the 
 male goes up and builds the nest, while the fe- 
 male brings him the branches and vines." 
 
 Yet another member of the ape family, discov- 
 ered by our explorer, deserves passing notice in 
 his own words : 
 
 " The koo-loo-lamba has for distinctive marks 
 a very round head ; whiskers running quite 
 around the face and below the chin ; the face is 
 round ; the cheek-bones prominent ; the cheeks 
 sunken ; the jaws are not very prominent — less 
 so than in any of the apes ; the hair is black, long 
 on the arm, which was, however, partly bare. 
 This ape, whose singular cry distinguishes it at 
 once from all its congeners in these wilds, is re- 
 markable as bearing a closer general resemblance 
 to man than any other ape yet known. It was 
 very rare, and I was able to obtain but one speci- 
 men of it. This is smaller than the adult male 
 gorilla, and stouter than the female gorilla. The 
 head is its most remarkable point. This struck 
 me at once as having an expression curiously 
 like an Esquimau or Chinaman."
 
 PAUL BELLONI DU CEAILLU 337 
 
 Among the worst pests of Africa are ants, 
 especially the bashikouay, which travel in a line 
 about two inches wide and often miles in lensrth. 
 Du Chaillu says : " They devour and attack all 
 with irresistible fury. The elephant and gorilla 
 ^y, the black men run for their lives. In an 
 incredibly short time a leopard or deer is over- 
 whelmed, killed, and eaten. They seem to travel 
 day and night. Often have I been awakened 
 out of sleep and obliged to rush from my hut and 
 into the water to save my life. A bashikouay 
 army makes a clean sweep, even ascending to 
 the tops of the highest trees in pursuit of their 
 prey." 
 
 The results of his four years of research in the 
 interests of ethnography, geography, and natural 
 history, were placed before the public in a valu- 
 able work entitled " Explorations and Advent- 
 ures in Equatorial Africa." The book gave rise 
 to bitter, harsh, unjust criticisms, and engen- 
 dered endless discussions. Du Chaillu's journey 
 to the interior was entirely discredited, and his 
 accounts of the animals and natives were charac- 
 terized as mere fabrications. Discoveries neces- 
 sarily develop discrepancies between the realities 
 brought to light and existing beliefs produced 
 through inference or imagination ; then, as has 
 many another discover in science or geography, 
 Du Chaillu learned how slow is the willinirness 
 of a jealous mind to relin(iuish its favorite error 
 for a conflicting truth. 
 
 Justification came speedily, for the explora- 
 tions of Serval and Bcllay, of the very next year, 
 22
 
 338 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 proved the accuracy of Du Chaillu's account of 
 the great Ogowe River, and indicated the gen- 
 eral correctness of his map of the Ashira country. 
 Burton confirmed his reports regarding the can- 
 nibahstic habits of the Fans, and other statements 
 were speedily corroborated. 
 
 Stung to the quick by the adverse criticisms 
 Du Chaillu, although suffering from the effects 
 of fevers contracted in his long residence in 
 Western Africa, determined to repeat the jour- 
 ney with such precautions regarding his ob- 
 servations as would be absolutely convincing 
 as to their truthfulness ; especially he deter- 
 mined to capture and bring to Europe a living 
 gorilla. To ensure accuracy he went through a 
 course of instruction in the use of instruments, 
 learning to make, test, and reduce astronomical 
 and hypsometrical observations, and acquired 
 proficiency in the then difficult art of photog- 
 raphy. As regards geographical explorations 
 he had a vague hope that he might reach from 
 the west coast of Africa some unknown tributary 
 of the Nile, down which he might be able to 
 reach the main river and the Mediterranean Sea. 
 
 Leaving England in August, 1863, Du Chaillu's 
 first destination was the mouth of Fernand Vaz 
 River, about one hundred and ten miles south of 
 the Gaboon, this point being selected both be- 
 cause he knew the natives and also because that 
 river valley being unknown afforded him virgin 
 ground from the beginning of his journey. 
 
 In landing through the terrible surf that makes 
 entrance into the Fernand Vaz so dangerous, Du
 
 PAUL BELLOHil DU CHAILLU 
 
 339 
 
 Chaillu was nearly drowned and all his astro- 
 nomical instruments and medicines were lost or 
 damaged. This necessitated his delay in that 
 region until other instruments could be had 
 from England ; but the time was not lost, for he 
 had ample opportunity of further studying the 
 
 A Viiidgt; <.»f Uwan^. 
 
 habits of the gorillas, which abound there ; fort- 
 unately he captured four, an adult and three 
 young, one of which he shipped alive to Lon- 
 don, but it died during the voyage. 
 
 Du Chaillu started on his journey with ten 
 Commi negroes, previous servitors, as his body- 
 guard, and fifty porters in place of the hundred
 
 340 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 needed, thus making double trips necessary for 
 a while. Following up the Fernand Vaz River 
 to its tributary, the Rembo, he left this latter 
 stream at Obindshi and travelled southeasterly 
 to Olenda. Here a council was held by the local 
 chief, who forbade him to enter the Apingi 
 country, but allowed him to proceed to the Ashi- 
 ra region, where he was long delayed and robbed 
 by the natives. In crossing the Ngunie River, 
 on his way eastward to the Ishogo country, he 
 was surprised to obtain ferriage in a large, flat- 
 bottomed canoe, which carried baggage and 
 party across in seven journeys. 
 
 Near the end of June, while traversing a tract 
 of wild forest near Yangue, Du Chaillu came 
 suddenly upon a cluster of most extraordinar}- 
 and diminutive huts, which he was told were oc- 
 cupied by a tribe of dwarf negroes. In his pre- 
 vious journey in the Apingi country he had 
 given no credence to exaggerated descriptions 
 and reports that had often come to his ears con- 
 cerning dwarf tribes, assuming the stories to be 
 fables. Now, however, with these ourious huts 
 before him he pressed on eager to obtain per- 
 sonal information concerning these little folks, 
 whose existence had been vouched for centuries 
 before by Pomponius Mela, Herodotus, and 
 Strabo, and who were described in a fairly ac- 
 curate way, by Andrew Battell, in 1625. In an- 
 swer to Du Chaillu's inquiries the natives said 
 that there were many such villages in the adja- 
 cent forests, and that the tiny men were called 
 the Obongos.
 
 PAUL BELLONI DU CIIAILLU 341 
 
 He found the huts entirely deserted, but from 
 scattered traces of recent household effects, it was 
 quite evident that the Obongos, alarmed at the 
 approach of strangers, had fled for safety to the 
 dense jungle of the neighboring forest. He thus 
 describes their habitations : " The huts were of 
 a low, oval shape, like a gypsy tent; the highest 
 part, that near the entrance, was about four feet 
 from the ground ; the greatest breadth was about 
 four feet also. On each side were three or four 
 sticks for the man and woman to sleep on. The 
 huts were made of flexible branches of trees, 
 arched over and fixed into the ground at each 
 end, the longest branches being in the middle, 
 and the others successively shorter, the whole 
 being covered with heavy leaves." 
 
 On June 26, 1864, Du Chaillu entered Niem- 
 bouai, a large village in Ashango Land, in the 
 vicinity of which, he learned with great joy, was 
 situated an inhabited encampment of the Obon- 
 gos, or hairy dwarfs, as he terms them. The 
 Ashango natives offered to accompany him, at 
 the same time intimating that it was likely the 
 village would be found deserted ; for, said they, 
 the Obongos (the dwarfs) are shy and timid as 
 the gazelle, and as wild as the antelope. To see 
 them, you must take them by surprise. They 
 are like to the beasts of the field. They feed on 
 the serpents, rats, and mice, and on the berries 
 and nuts of the forest. 
 
 Du Chaillu made his first visit to an Obongo 
 encampment with three Ashango guides, and 
 with great precaution they silently entered a
 
 342 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 village of twelve huts to find it long since de- 
 serted. Fortune was more favorable at the sec- 
 ond village, where, however, no one was to be 
 seen on entrance. The curling smoke, calabashes 
 
 ^r^*»/' 
 
 A Pigmy Warrior. 
 
 of fresh water, and a half-cooked snake on living 
 coals indicated that the alarmed inhabitants had 
 fled on their approach. A search of the huts 
 resulted in disclosing the presence of three old 
 women, a young man, and several children, who 
 were almost paralyzed with fear at the sight of
 
 PAUL BELLONI DU CHAILLU 343 
 
 an unknown monster — a white man. By judi- 
 cious distribution of bananas, and especially of 
 beads, Du Chaillu succeeded in allaying their 
 fears, and later made several visits, but confi- 
 dence was never firmly established, and it was 
 impossible to see the men except as they fied at 
 his approach, or at a distance when they visited 
 the Ashango village for purposes of barter. 
 
 During his several visits he carefully measured 
 six dwarf women, whose average height proved 
 to be four feet six and one-eighth inches ; the 
 shortest was four feet four and one-half inches, 
 and the tallest five feet and one-quarter of an 
 inch ; the young man, possibly not full grown, 
 measured four feet six inches in height. 
 
 Du Chaillu says : " The color of these people 
 was a dirty yellow, and their eyes had an untam- 
 able wildness that struck me as very remarkable. 
 In appearance, physique, and color they are to- 
 tally unlike the Ashangos, who are very anxious 
 to disown kinship with them. They declare that 
 the Obongos intermarry among themselves, sis- 
 ters with brothers. The smallness and isolation 
 of their communities must necessitate close in- 
 terbreeding ; and I think it very possible this 
 may cause the physical deterioration of their 
 race." 
 
 Their foreheads were very low and narrow, 
 cheek-bones prominent, legs proportionately 
 short, palms of hands quite white, and their hair 
 short, curly tufts, resembling little balls of wool, 
 which, according to the young man seen by 
 Du Chaillu, grew also, in plentiful, short, curly
 
 344 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 tufts on his legs and breast, a peculiarity which 
 the Ashangos declared was common to the Obon- 
 go men. 
 
 These dwarfs feed partly on roots, berries, and 
 nuts gathered in the forest, and partly on flesh 
 and fish. They are very expert in capturing 
 wild animals by traps and pitfalls, and in obtain- 
 ing fish from the streams ; and the surplus of 
 flesh is exchanged for plantains and such simple 
 manufactured articles as they stand in need of. 
 
 Concerning their settlements and range of mi- 
 gration Du Chaillu adds : " The Obongos never 
 remain long in one place. They are eminently 
 a migratory people, moving whenever game be- 
 comes scarce, but they do not wander very far. 
 These Obongos are called the Obongos of the 
 Ashangos ; those who live among the Njavi are 
 called Obongo-Njavi, and the same with other 
 tribes. Obongos are said to exist very far to 
 the east, as far as the Ashangos have any knowl- 
 edge." 
 
 In his " Journey to Ashango Land " Du Chaillu 
 gives quite a number of words of the Obongo 
 language ; he considers their dialect to be a mixt- 
 ure of their original language with that of the 
 tribe among whom they reside. It appeared 
 that none of the dwarf women could count more 
 than ten, probably the limit of their numerals. 
 Their weapons of offence and defence were usu- 
 ally small bows and arrows, the latter at times 
 poisoned. 
 
 Leaving Mobano, i° 53' S. latitude, and about 
 12° 27' E. longitude, by dead reckoning, Du
 
 PAUL BELLONI DU CHAILLU 
 
 345 
 
 Chaillu passed due east to the village of Mou- 
 aou Kombo, where, by accident, while firing- 
 a salute, one of his body-guard unfortunately 
 
 ^• 
 
 f^ 
 
 N^ 
 
 A Dwarf Prisoner. 
 
 killed a villager. An effort to atone for the ac- 
 cident by presents would doubtless have been 
 successful, but, most unfortunately, and despite 
 Du Chaillu's strict orders, his body-guards and
 
 346 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 porters had already irritated the Ashangos by 
 offensive conduct. Overtures for " blood-money " 
 were interrupted by an offended chief denounc- 
 ing the exploring- party. Almost instantly the 
 natives commenced beating their war-drums, and 
 Du Chaillu, realizing the danger and loading his 
 men with his most valuable articles, retreated 
 westward toward the coast. Before they reached 
 the forest he and one of his men were wounded 
 by poisoned arrows. Pursued by the infuriated 
 savages Du Chaillu restrained his men from 
 shooting, when, demoralized by the situation, 
 many of his porters threw away their loads, 
 which consisted of note -books, maps, instru- 
 ments, photographs, and natural history collec- 
 tions. Curiously enough the instruments and 
 goods thus abandoned by Du Chaillu in 1864, 
 were found in 1891, by an African trader, in the 
 jungle where they had been thrown down by the 
 retreating carriers, having remained all these 
 years untouched by the Ashangos, who believed 
 they were fetich and so regarded them with 
 superstitious dread. 
 
 After retreating a few miles and finding that 
 inactivity and self-restraint meant self-destruc- 
 tion, Du Chaillu took the offensive, and drawing 
 up his men in a favorable position, repelled his 
 pursuers with considerable loss. The wounds 
 from poisoned arrows being external, if subjected 
 to immediate treatment, healed in a few weeks. 
 
 Further explorations under these circum- 
 stances were impossible, for Du Chaillu depend- 
 ed entirely for his success on friendly relations
 
 PAUL BELLONI DU CHAILLU 347 
 
 with the natives ; in consequence he returned to 
 the sea-coast, and on September 27, 1865, quitted 
 the shores of Western Equatorial Africa. 
 
 Although the second voyage of Du Chaillu 
 into the unknown regions of Western Equatorial 
 Africa rehabilitated his reputation as a reliable 
 observer, as far as related to geography and nat- 
 ural history, yet his description of the O bongo 
 dwarfs gave rise to further discussion and asper- 
 sions. It is needless to say that the discoveries 
 of Stanley in his last African expedition have defi- 
 nitely settled this question in Du Chaillu's favor, 
 and that the studies of Lenz, INIarche, and Bas- 
 tian, in and near the region visited by Du Chaillu, 
 confirm the accuracy of his descriptions. In- 
 deed the Obongos of Ashango Land rise in pro- 
 portion to undersized negroes when compared 
 with the dwarf queen found by Stanley on the 
 eastern edge of the great equatorial forest, who 
 measures onlv two feet nine inches in height. 
 
 Thus in time has come complete vindication 
 of all of Du Chaillu's statements as to the won- 
 ders of the Ashira and Ashango Lands, which 
 portions of Western Equatorial Africa he was the 
 first to explore. If the geographical extent of 
 his explorations give way to that of other Afri- 
 can travellers, yet it must be admitted that he 
 stands scarcely second to any in the number, im- 
 portance, and interest of his contributions and 
 collections in connection with ethnography and 
 natural history of Equatorial Africa. 
 
 In later years Du Chaillu has devoted his 
 attention to the northern parts of Sweden, Nor-
 
 348 
 
 EXPLORE B8 AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 way, Lapland, and Finland, and although his 
 travels in these regions had no important geo- 
 graphical outcome, yet they resulted in lately 
 placing the general public in possession of many 
 interesting details of these countries, as given in 
 his book called " The Land of the Midnight 
 Sun," His important work, " The Viking Age," 
 is an elaborate presentation of his theory that 
 the ancestors of the English-speaking races were 
 Vikings and not Anglo-Saxons, and has awa- 
 kened much comment in the scientific world. 
 " Ivar the Viking," his latest book, is a popular 
 account of Viking life and manners in the third 
 and fourth centuries. 
 
 J I'ncAxM 
 
 Arrows of the African Pigmies.
 
 ^ ^, '/Ml, '/'/,'■ A 
 
 ' I 1/ il '/lll///li/Htii-ilm .11
 
 XIV. 
 
 STANLEY AFRICANUS AND THE 
 CONGO FREE STATE. 
 
 The largest, the richest, and the least known 
 of the great continents is Africa. Despite its 
 vast area, numerous tribes, and complicated in- 
 terests it may be said that its potential influences 
 as regards the rest of the world have been alter- 
 nately retarded and advanced through the ef- 
 forts of four individuals. The jealousy of Rome, 
 excited to its highest pitch by the eloquence of 
 the elder Cato,. resulted, 146 B.C., in the annihi- 
 lation of Carthage, an industrial centre whence 
 for five centuries had radiated toward the in- 
 terior of Africa peaceful and commercial influ- 
 ences. Eisrht centuries later the hordes of the 
 Arabian Caliph Omar in turn overwhelmed the 
 Roman colony at Alexandria, destroying forever 
 its literary influence by the burning of its great 
 librar3^ 
 
 Conversely the missionary labors of David 
 Livingstone, from 1849 to 1873, inculcated peace- 
 ful methods and cultivated moral tendencies 
 destined to introduce Christianity and develop 
 civilization. Not only did Livingstone, in the 
 eloquent words of Stanley, "weave by his jour- 
 neys the figure of his Redeemer's cross on the
 
 350 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 map of Africa, but, scattering- ever his Master's 
 words and patterning his life after the Master 
 stamped the story of the cross on the hearts of 
 every African tribe he visited." 
 
 Initiating routes of travel, suggesting new 
 commercial fields, and organizing stable forms 
 of government, came a man of harder metal, of 
 indomitable will and courage, Henry M. Stanley, 
 who merits the title of Stanley Africanus. 
 
 A Welshman by nativity, born near Denbigh, 
 in 1840, he came to the United States at the age 
 of sixteen and thenceforth cast his lot with 
 America, and as a citizen of this country made 
 his explorations under its fiag. It is reputed 
 that he exchanged his natal name of Rowlands 
 for that of Henry M. Stanley, for a merchant 
 of New Orleans who adopted him ; but in any 
 event his early life was passed without the lov- 
 ing and modifying influences of a home, his 
 youth almost equally destitute of those adventi- 
 tious surroundings that properly mould the char- 
 acter and insure opportunities for success to 
 young men. Thus he stands forth a self-made 
 man to whom strength has been accorded to 
 develop the manhood that God implanted in his 
 soul. 
 
 Stern experiences in the American civil war, 
 brief life in the far West, and special service in 
 Turkey had shaped Stanley into a reliant, self- 
 contained man when his first African journey 
 came to him, in 1868, through assignment as 
 newspaper correspondent to accompany the 
 British army in its invasion of Abyssinia. He
 
 STANLEY AFRICANUS 351 
 
 participated in this wonderful campaign, which 
 led him four hundred miles through a country 
 of indescribable wildness and grandeur, across 
 rugged mountains, along deep valleys, up to the 
 fortress-crowned crest of Magdala, ten thousand 
 feet above the sea. 
 
 Difficult as were the mountains of Abyssinia, 
 they were less dangerous than the African region 
 later to be traversed by him ; a journey unsought, 
 but which came to him as the fittest man for the 
 time and service. 
 
 A telegram and five hours' preparation carried 
 Stanley from the blood-red fields of revolutionary 
 Spain into the famous search journey that gave 
 to an anxious world news of the lonor-lost Liv- 
 ingstone. For twenty years this great Scotch 
 missionary had carried the gospel of Christ and 
 its civilizing influences from one end of Africa to 
 the other ; once he had crossed the continent in 
 its greatest breadth, and now, vanished from the 
 sight of the civilized world in his renewed mis- 
 sionary labors, for two years his very existence 
 had been problematical. 
 
 The search expedition owed its inception and 
 maintenance to James Gordon Bennett, Jr., whose 
 brief orders to Stanley were: " Find Livingstone 
 and bring news of his discoveries or proofs of 
 his death, regardless of expense." The personnel, 
 methods, and arrangements devolved entirely on 
 vStanlcy, but his preliminary route was to lie 
 through certain countries. It thus occurred 
 that between Madrid, his starting point, and 
 Ujiji, on Lake Tanganyika, the camp of Living-
 
 352 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 stone, he saw the gay ties of Paris ; was present at 
 the eventful opening of the Suez Canal that revo- 
 lutionized Eastern commerce ; ascended the Low- 
 er Nile to scrutinize with interested eye Baker's 
 prospective expedition to the Soudan; divined 
 under the mosques of the Bosphorus the political 
 
 The Hut where Livingstone Died, 
 
 riddles of Sultan and Khedive ; examined the 
 uncovered foundations of Solomon's Temple in 
 the Holy City ; meditated over the historic 
 battle-grounds of the Crimea ; penetrated the 
 Caucasus to Tiflis for news of the Russian expe- 
 dition to Khiva; and, traversing Persia through 
 the Euphratan cradle of the human race, entered 
 India, whence his route lay to Zanzibar and the
 
 STANLEY AFRICANUS 353 
 
 dark beyond. What a contrast those preliminary 
 journeys afforded, across effete countries whose 
 var^-ing and recorded phases of civilization are 
 contemporaneous with the history of the human 
 race, to the threshold of a vast region whose 
 barbaric freshness is such that its entire history 
 lies within the memory of living man. 
 
 Stanley landed at Zanzibar, January lo, 1871, 
 and, fortunately, was at once impressed with his 
 ignorance of outfitting, which he thought he had 
 learned from books. Resorting to the Arab 
 traders he proved such an apt pupil and skilful 
 organizer that he enlisted tw^enty-seven soldiers, 
 gathered one hundred and fifty-seven carriers 
 and five special employees, which, with two 
 white assistants, Fai-quhar and Shaw, made his 
 aggregate force one hundred and ninety-two. 
 He had his African money — beads as copper 
 coins, cloth as silver, and brass rods as gold ; 
 canvas-covered boats for navigation ; asses and 
 horses for special work ; fine cloth for tribute to 
 local chiefs, which, with tentage, medicine, etc., 
 made some six tons of freight. 
 
 March 21, 1 871, the rear guard marched out of 
 Bagamoyo, the town on the mainland opposite 
 Zanzibar, and taking a route never before trav- 
 elled by a white man, Stanley reached Simbam- 
 vvenni in fourteen marches, the journey of one 
 hundred and nineteen miles having occupied 
 twenty-nine days, during which the commander 
 came to fully realize the difficulty of his undertak- 
 ing, the inefficiency of unpractised subordinates, 
 and the uncertain loyalty of carriers. 
 23
 
 354 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 The onward march resembled all in Africa : 
 thorns and jungle to wound the naked carriers, 
 rivers to be forded or crossed on almost imprac- 
 ticable bridges, swamps man}- miles in length 
 and so miry as to tax the utmost strength and 
 energy of man and ass, insolence and exactions 
 of local potentates, thefts by natives, desertions 
 of carriers, the oft-recurring fever, and occasion- 
 ally a death. 
 
 The 20th of May, Stanley was at Mpwapwa 
 (Mbambwa), delighted physically at its fair as- 
 pect and upland picturesqueness, but mentally 
 anxious over Farquhar, whom he left here sick, 
 and the loss of his asses, which he fortunately 
 was able to replace by twelve carriers. He 
 reached, on June 22d, Unyanyembe, after a de- 
 vious journey of five hundred and twenty miles 
 to cover an air-line distance of one hundred and 
 fifty. Here had just arrived a relief caravan 
 for Livingstone, which had left Zanzibar four 
 months prior to Stanley's. Near by, at Tabora, 
 the chief Arabian town of central Africa, Stanley 
 was surprised to find the Arabs at war with a 
 savage chief, Mirambo, thus barring the usually 
 travelled road to Ujiji. 
 
 Here Stanley lost three months, and partici- 
 pated in an unsuccessful campaign with the 
 Arabs against Mirambo, vainly hoping that thus 
 his road would be opened. Five of his men were 
 killed in the war, others deserted, so that only 
 eleven carriers remained, and altogether his 
 prospects of success steadily diminished. 
 
 Despairing of the old route, Stanley, having
 
 STANLEY AFRIGANUS 
 
 355 
 
 with great difficulty recruited his force of car- 
 riers, decided to try a circuitous trail to the 
 south in order to reach Ujiji, which lay to the 
 northwest. Failure and destruction were pre- 
 dicted, but with confidence in himself Stanley, 
 on September 20th, marched on with Shaw and 
 
 Map showing Position and Boundaries of the Congo State. 
 
 fifty-six others. Illness caused him to soon send 
 back Shaw, his only white companion ; frequent 
 desertions weakened his force ; an incipient mu- 
 tiny of his panic-stricken men on the Gombe 
 River threatened complete destruction to the 
 party ; insolent chiefs exacted extortionate trib- 
 ute ; desert marches without water and scant food
 
 356 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 discouraged and weakened the men; but the 
 leader pushed on with unflagging energy despite 
 every obstacle. His route lay through Igonda, 
 Itende, the beautiful country of Uvinsa, across 
 rocky Uhha to the Malagarazi River, where his 
 heart was gladdened by rumors from the natives 
 that a white man had lately arrived at Ujiji 
 from Manyuema. 
 
 Pushing on with feverish haste, on November 
 9, 1 87 1, he had the indescribable joy of looking 
 down on magnificent Lake Tangan3'ika, and on 
 the following day, with his gigantic guide, As- 
 mani, proudly striding in advance with the Stars 
 and Stripes as his standard, Stanley marched into 
 Ujiji, and there accomplished his mission by 
 meeting Livingstone and ascertaining the results 
 of his late labors. Livingstone's primary mission 
 — the suppression of the slave trade by means of 
 civilizing influences — had not materially pro- 
 gressed, but he had strong hopes of the future. 
 Geographically, however, he had been most suc- 
 cessful, having made important discoveries in 
 the water-sheds of Lakes Tanganyika and the Ny- 
 anzas, and found an unknown river, the Lualaba, 
 which in a later exploration Stanley proved to 
 be the Upper Congo. 
 
 Stanley found Livingstone with only five car- 
 riers and without means of trade. Supplying all 
 deficiencies from his own stores, he assisted Liv- 
 ingstone in his exploration of Lake Tanganyika, 
 and the twain returned together to Unyanyembe. 
 In the meantime both Farquhar and Shaw died, 
 and Stanley, turning over his surplus stores to
 
 STANLEY AFRICANUS 357 
 
 Livingstone, bade him farewell and God-speed, 
 and started for Zanzibar. On March 14, 1872, 
 eight weeks later, Stanley was again enjo3'ing 
 civilization at Bagamoyo, while Livingstone was 
 awaiting means of returning to his life-task, soon 
 to be ended by his death among the tribes he 
 loved, for " Greater love hath no man than this, 
 that a man lay down his life for his friends." 
 
 Over four months of intercourse with Living- 
 stone steadily increased Stanley's admiration for 
 this great man. He describes him as a high- 
 spirited, brave, impetuous, and enthusiastic man, 
 with these qualities so tempered by his deep, 
 abiding spirit of religion as to make him a most 
 extraordinary character. In all his relations with 
 his servants, with the natives, and with Mo- 
 hammedans, Christianity appeared in its loveliest 
 and most potent forms, constant, sincere, chari- 
 table, loving, modest, and always practical. It 
 was this abiding faith in God which made Liv- 
 ingstone a man of unfailing devotion to his sense 
 of present duty, of wondrous patience, unvarying 
 gentleness, constant hopefulness, and unwearied 
 fidelity — qualities which made his missionary 
 work in Africa unprecedentedly successful. 
 
 Abuse, misrepresentation, and incredulity 
 from geographic societies, critics, and press 
 greeted Stanley's account of his discovery of 
 Livingstone, and only gradually did his tradu- 
 cers yield to the convincing evidences of his 
 astonishing success. 
 
 Turning to his old work, Stanley, in the winter 
 of 1873-74, again entered Africa, accompanying
 
 358 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 as newspaper correspondent the British army, 
 which invaded to a distance of one hundred and 
 forty miles the deadly marshes of the Ashantee 
 Kingdom, and destroyed its capital city, Coo- 
 massie. 
 
 When the death of Livingstone brought Af- 
 rica into prominence again, Stanley, believing 
 he could complete so much of the missionary's 
 work as concerned exploration, turned thither at 
 the head of an expedition under the auspices of 
 the London Telegraph and the New York Herald, 
 the object being the survey of the lacustrine 
 system at the head of the White Nile and a 
 journey thence westward across the continent. 
 
 Leaving Bagamoyo, November 17, 1874, Stan- 
 ley reached Lake Victoria Nyanza in March, 
 1875, his journey of seven hundred and twenty 
 miles being marked by pestilential fevers, strug- 
 gles through thorny jungles, and scant food and 
 water. Circumnavigating the lake, he found it 
 to be over four thousand feet above the ocean, 
 while its proportions — nearly twent3'-two thou- 
 sand miles in area and in places over five hun- 
 dred feet deep — assumed those of an inland sea. 
 Here Mtesa, a powerful and able negro king, of 
 Mohammedan faith, proved most friendly and 
 greatly aided him, furnishing an escort, which 
 enabled Stanley to explore a part of the adjacent 
 mountain region. From Ujiji he then explored 
 Lake Tanganyika, finding it to be about half the 
 size of Victoria, with an elevation of about twen- 
 ty-seven hundred feet. 
 
 Important as were these discoveries they paled
 
 STANLEY AFRICANUS 
 
 359 
 
 before others, made in following the Lualaba 
 River of Livingstone, which changed the map 
 of Central Africa and altered the destiny of 
 
 Tippvi Tib. 
 
 that vast and untraversed region. The journey 
 to Nyangwe, Livingstone's " farthest," entailed 
 horrible hardships on the carriers. This Arab 
 village was reached via the Luama, which, of
 
 360 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 hitherto unknown course, was found by Stanley 
 to be an affluent of the Lualaba. At N)^angwe 
 Stanley felt that his accomplished journe}^ of 
 over eight hundred miles from the east coast 
 promised well for his coming voyage to a known 
 point on the other coast, nine hundred miles 
 due west. He made an agreement with an Arab, 
 Tippu-Tib, trader in human flesh or ivory as 
 chance offered, to escort the expedition about 
 six hundred miles west through the vmknown 
 regions. The country proved to be primeval 
 forest, almost trackless, its tropical undergrowth 
 a veritable jungle of thorns and vines. Game 
 was scanty and other food equally so. Finally, 
 progress was so slow and the path so devious 
 that Stanley, yielding to his appeals, discharged 
 Tippu-Tib and decided to descend the river 
 by canoes and his frame boat. He embarked 
 at Vinya Njara, with one hundred and fifty 
 in his party, on December 28, 1876, intrust- 
 ing himself with sublime audacity to a river 
 flowing no one knew whither, save it was away 
 from civilization, and with the knowledge that 
 the country they were entering was peopled by 
 tribes entirely hostile and intractable, as the 
 slave-traders said. Day after day they drifted 
 steadily to the north. Was it or was it not the 
 Nile of Livingstone's prediction ? Then day by 
 day the course trended to the east. Yes, it could 
 only be the Nfle. After two hundred and forty 
 miles the trend was to the northwest, whither, 
 week after week, for about three hundred miles it 
 kept its puzzling flow toward a point of the com-
 
 STANLEY AFRICANU8 361 
 
 pass where it could join no river known to man. 
 It had, too, assumed proportions and volume truly 
 Amazonic, filled with islands and swollen from 
 one to seven miles in width. All efforts to gain 
 a knowledge of its final course were then fruit- 
 less, for the few barbarous natives they could 
 win to speech answered in uncouth jargon, 
 scarcely intelligible to the interpreters : " It is 
 the river — the river!" The terrors of the si- 
 lent stream in its majestic solitude were almost 
 preferable to the presence of populous villages, 
 which here and there lined its banks, for the in- 
 habitants, ferociously hostile for the greater 
 part, refused trade and boldly assaulted them. 
 Skilful canoemen and good archers, the savages 
 slaughtered unwary stragglers, harassed the 
 rear and attacked the front, while their horrible 
 threats that the bodies of the slain should serve 
 as food at their cannibalistic repasts instilled 
 terror in the minds of many of Stanley's follow- 
 ers. Skirmishes were frequent, and now and 
 then a severe fight which taxed Stanley's forces 
 to the utmost. Again the river had here and 
 there series of cataracts which caused no end of 
 trouble, delay, and danger to the party, nine men 
 being drowned in one day. 
 
 Fortunately the river had turned to the south, 
 and then to southwest, where, after another 
 thousand miles, it flowed through a narrow 
 gorge, one hundred and fifty miles from the sea, 
 so that no doubt longer obtained as to it being 
 the Congo. The terrible falls near the gorge 
 entailed enormous labor to pass them, and barely
 
 362 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 failed of destroying tlie party. In all twenty- 
 eight cataracts were passed, and finally the river 
 became so precipitous, the falls so high, that they 
 had to abandon their boats and march overland 
 to Boma, an English trading - post, five days' 
 journey distant. Fatigue, famine, and exposure 
 further enfeebled them and now made daily in- 
 roads among the ranks of those who had so far 
 survived, and the entire party would have per- 
 ished on the very threshold of civilization and 
 plenty had not Stanley's messengers, sent on 
 with urgent appeals, obtained help at Boma, 
 where the expeditionary force arrived August 
 12, 1877. They had made a river journey of 
 seven thousand miles, proved the Congo to be 
 second only to the Nile, and crossed Africa. 
 
 When Stanley, in 1877, intrusting his life and 
 fortunes to a might}^ and unknown stream, voy- 
 aged toward the very heart of the Dark Con- 
 tinent, even his wildest dreams could not have 
 foreshadowed results equal to the reality of a 
 near future. His voyage in its potentiality was 
 second only to that of Columbus, as the outcome 
 of the succeeding five years plainly indicates. 
 All Europe, alive to the commercial importance 
 of the Congo Basin, hastened to reach its borders 
 or encroach on its limits by means of enlarged 
 dependent colonies; commerce and religion, 
 hand in hand, traversed its rivers by steam and 
 lined its banks with beneficent settlements, while 
 the merciless Arab devastated its villages and 
 dragged its decimated natives into slavery. 
 Then came a political wonder — the peaceful
 
 STANLEY AFRICANUS 
 
 363 
 
 creation of a vast tropical empire more than a 
 million square miles in area, the Congo Free 
 
 ^^W3^ffii^fM:#^l?r?L-r^i^i^'^l 
 
 Emin Pasha. 
 
 State, erected and admitted into the community 
 of nations by act of an international conference, 
 in which participated fourteen European powers 
 and the United States, (jur own country being
 
 364 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 fittingly the first to officially acknowledge the 
 existence of the new state its adventurous citizen 
 had given to the world. 
 
 The voyage through the Dark Continent was 
 obviously potent of future results, and Gam- 
 betta, in 1878, clearly forecast the effects of 
 Stanley's journey. The great French statesman 
 said : " Not only have you opened up a new con- 
 tinent to our view, but you have given influence 
 to scientific and philanthropic enterprises which 
 will have its effect on the progress of the world. 
 What you have done has interested governments 
 —proverbially so difficult to move — and the im- 
 pulse you have imparted, I am convinced, will 
 go on year after year." 
 
 Slowly recovering from the effects of famine 
 and fatigue incident to this arduous journey, 
 Stanley returned to Europe in January, 1878, 
 and was met, as he stepped out of the express 
 train at Marseilles, by two commissioners of 
 King Leopold of Belgium, who informed him 
 that his Majesty contemplated a new enterprise 
 in Africa and desired his assistance. While 
 heartily indorsing the proposed work of Leo- 
 pold his physical condition was such that active 
 co-operation was impossible, and he was even 
 unable to visit his Majesty. Five months later, 
 with physical energies renewed, after a visit 
 to Leopold, Stanley eventually agreed to the 
 proposition which contemplated the establish- 
 ment of a grand commercial enterprise for con- 
 trolling the trade of the valley of the Congo. It 
 involved the erection of commercial and mili-
 
 STANLEY AFRIGANU8 365 
 
 tary stations along the overland route and the 
 establishment of steam communication wherever 
 available. In short, a colony of Europeans was 
 to be founded in the Congo Basin, whose great 
 fertility, healthy climate, and enormous popu- 
 lation seemed to especially favor the develop- 
 ment of African civilization. The action of 
 Leopold evidently grew out of Stanley's decla- 
 rations that " the question of this mighty water- 
 way (the Congo) will become a political one 
 in time," and his conviction that any power 
 possessing the Congo would absorb the whole 
 enormous trade behind, as this river was and 
 must continue to be, the grand commercial high- 
 way of West and Central Africa. 
 
 Stanley accepted the mission, visited Zanzi- 
 bar, where he enlisted sixty-eight Zanzibari, 
 mostly his old soldiers, and by sea reached 
 Banana Point, on the west coast, August 14, 
 1879. Two years previous he had reached this 
 place after descending the newly discovered 
 Congo ; now he was re-entering its fertile basin 
 in order to establish civilized settlements, with 
 the intention of subduing Central Africa by 
 peaceful ways and to remould it into harmony 
 with modern ideas, so that justice and order 
 should ever obtain, violence and the slave trade 
 forever cease. 
 
 He returned to Europe in 1882, his success far 
 exceeding the expectations of the committee. 
 In this time, with the aid of sixty-eight Zanzibari 
 and a few Europeans, he had constructed three 
 trading-stations, launched a steamer on the Up-
 
 366 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Finding Nelson in Distress at Starvation Camp. 
 
 per Congo, established steam communication be- 
 tween Leopoldville and Stanley Pool, and also 
 constructed wagon-roads between Vivi and Isan- 
 gila, Manyanga and Stanley Pool. He pointed 
 out to the committee the imperative necessity of 
 a railroad between the Lower and Upper Congo 
 in order to preserve uninterrupted communica-
 
 STANLEY AFRICANUS 367 
 
 tion, which scheme was approved by the com- 
 mittee provided Stanley would take charge of 
 the work. Although his health was impaired, 
 he agreed to return to the Congo and complete 
 the establishment of stations as far as Stanley 
 Falls, which he duly accomplished, not leaving 
 Africa until there wjre five promising trading- 
 posts — Vivi, Leopoldville, Kinshassa (Stanley 
 Pool), Equator, and Stanley Falls, the last about 
 two thousand miles inland from the west coast. 
 
 On Stanley's return to Europe the question of 
 organizing the basin of the Congo into an inde- 
 pendent state was agitated. As a result fourteen 
 of the European powers and the United States 
 united in a conference at Berlin and formally 
 agreed, on February 26, 1885, that the entire 
 Congo Basin should be erected into a nation to 
 be known as the Congo Free State. Thus less 
 than eight years after Stanley's famous journey 
 he beheld the country that his genius had res- 
 cued from oblivious darkness erected into a 
 new state and admitted into the community of 
 nations. 
 
 The last journey of Stanley into Africa was 
 for the rescue of the Egyptian governor of 
 Equatoria, Edward Schnitzer, a German by 
 birth, better known as Emin Pasha. On the 
 death of General Gordon, by whom he was ap- 
 pointed governor, Emin had been left to his fate 
 at Wadelai by the Egyptian authorities, from 
 which point he wrote on December 31, 1885, say- 
 ing that for nineteen months he had been for- 
 gotten and abandoned. On July 6, 1886, he
 
 3G8 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 wrote beseeching help. In this contingency the 
 sum of ^21,500 was raised — ;^ 10,000 from the 
 Egyptian Government, the rest subscribed in 
 England — for the expenses of a relief party, and 
 all eyes turned to Stanley as the natural leader. 
 He was engaged in a very profitable lecturing 
 tour in the United States when the expedition 
 was finally decided on. Three days after the 
 receipt of a cablegram that his plans were ac- 
 cepted, Stanley sailed for Africa via England, 
 using such despatch that he had his expedition 
 of 680 men, 61 being Soudanese soldiers, ready 
 to leave Zanzibar on February 25, 1887, 
 
 Stanley decided to make the journey by ves- 
 sel around the Cape of Good Hope to the Congo, 
 by which river he expected to get within 200 
 miles of Lake Albert. The co-operation of the 
 infamous Arab trader, Tippu Tib, the most pow- 
 erful trader in Africa, was obtained by making 
 him governor of Stanley Falls, in the Congo 
 Free State. 
 
 Following the Congo to the Aruwimi, Stanley 
 turned up that stream and camped at Yambuya, 
 about sixty miles above the mouth and over 
 one thousand three hundred miles from the sea. 
 To this point he had lost 57 men, and now di- 
 vided his forces as follows : Advance guard, 
 under himself, 389; Yambuya garrison, 129, 
 under Major Barttelot; other supporting guards 
 in rear, 131 ; original force, 706. 
 
 On January 28, 1887, Stanley started for Lake 
 Albert, 330 miles distant in an air line, through 
 an entirely unknown country. It proved to be
 
 STANLEY AFRICANUS 369 
 
 a virgin forest, the greatest of the world, 
 through which a path had to be cut almost the 
 entire distance. For one hundred and sixty days 
 they marched through an almost unbroken forest- 
 bush, jungle, marsh, and creek. The scattered 
 villages, filled with barbarous and hostile tribes, 
 were abandoned at their approach ; poisoned 
 skewers, covered with green leaves, were planted 
 in the paths, and twice the party was attacked. 
 
 On October 6th affairs came to a crisis, as pro- 
 visions had failed, save scanty wild plants ; many, 
 stricken with disease, including Stairs, one of the 
 officers, could go no farther. No less than one 
 hundred and twenty-six men had been lost by 
 death and desertion, about half from each cause, 
 and all must perish unless the party divided. 
 Stanley left Nelson and 52 men in camp on Ituri 
 River, about 1° 5' N., 28° 30' E., and started 
 ahead for relief. After terrible privation, and 
 nearly perishing of starvation on the way, they 
 reached Ipoto, October 17th, where food was 
 purchased from the natives. As soon as possible 
 Jephson, Stanley's able and loyal assistant, re- 
 turned to Nelson's relief and brought him and 
 three men to Ipoto, nine carriers having died 
 and forty deserted. December 4th, Stanley with 
 175 men emerged from the forest and nine days 
 later reached Lake Albert, whence Wadelai, 
 Emin's station, was distant four days' journey 
 by water, or twenty-five by land. 
 
 Finding no boats on Lake Albert, Stanley was 
 oblig-ed to retreat from its desolate shores west- 
 ward to a fertile region, where he built Fort 
 24
 
 370 
 
 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 Bodo and planted crops, while a detachment 
 brought up his steel boat, in which Jephson 
 reached M'swa and was met, on April 26, 1888, 
 by Emin, who had been notified by Stanley's na- 
 tive courier. Two days later Emin and Stanley 
 met at Lake Albert, when propositions and plans 
 
 A Stockaded Camp. 
 (From a photograph.) 
 
 as to Emin's movements were made and dis- 
 cussed with no definite results. 
 
 The equation of Emin's character seems to 
 have been best stated by Vita Hassan, his friend- 
 ly subordinate for twenty years, who considers 
 Emin's many virtues as those of a missionary
 
 STANLEY AFRICAXUS 371 
 
 rather than of a governor or commander, and at- 
 tributes his infirmity of indecision to innate good- 
 ness of heart. It was nine months before Emin, 
 his army mutinous, himself and Jephson impris- 
 oned, with death as an alternative, decided to re- 
 turn with Stanley to Zanzibar. 
 
 In the meanwhile Stanley, anxious as to his 
 rear guard, returned through the dreaded forest 
 hoping from day to day to meet it, but saw no 
 signs until he reached Banalya, on the Aruwimi, 
 a few miles from where he had left it. Here he 
 found it in a state of inactivity and disorganiza- 
 tion, its chief, Major Barttelot, murdered by a na- 
 tive, Jameson and one hundred and two out of the 
 original two hundred and seventy-six dead, and 
 twenty-six deserted. x*\gain the journey through 
 the forest and its hostile tribes to Lake Albert, 
 where Stanley with the hesitating Emin Pasha and 
 his followers started for Zanzibar on April i, 1889. 
 
 The return journey, made as far as Lake Vic- 
 toria Nyanza over unknown ground, resulted 
 in the discovery of Mount Ruwenzori, a snow- 
 clad peak under the Equator, estimated to be 
 seventeen thousand feet high. Moreover, of 
 vastly more importance, Stanley ascertained that 
 Lake Albert Nyanza through the Semliki River, 
 drained a large lake, named Albert Edward, thus 
 determining the secret of the long-sought and 
 ever retreating source of the White Nile. Small 
 streams feed Lake Albert Edward from the south, 
 whose extreme limit is placed by Stanley in 1° 
 10' S. latitude. 
 
 December 4, 1889, found the party arrived at
 
 372 EXPLORERS AND TRAVELLERS 
 
 y ^^ ^ *, 
 
 Ruwenzori (The Snowy Mountain) identified by Stanley with " the Mountains of 
 
 the Moon." 
 
 Ascended lofi-j-j feet above sea-level by Lieutenant Stairs. Total height about 
 
 16,600 feet. 
 
 (From a drawing by Mr. Stanley, made at the time of the discovery.) 
 
 Bagamoyo, the coast town opposite Zanzibar. 
 The work which Stanley was sent to do, as all 
 other tasks assumed by this great explorer, was 
 ended, and Emin Pasha once more looked on the 
 faces of his countrymen.
 
 STANLEY AFRIVANUS 373 
 
 Crowned with highest honors from all the 
 powers of Europe, no tribute, as Stanley has 
 said, gave such gratification as that from the 
 United States, which, proud of the achievements 
 of its great citizen, extended to him the unprece- 
 dented honors of its official, well-considered, and 
 merited commendation, wherein, under date of 
 Februar}' 7, 1878, it was " Resolved, by the Senate 
 and House of Representatives in Congress as- 
 sembled. That, regarding with just pride the 
 achievements of their countryman, Henry M. 
 Stanley, the distinguished explorer of Central 
 Africa, the thanks of the people of the United 
 States are eminently due and are hereby tendered 
 him as a tribute to his extraordinary patience, 
 prudence, fortitude, enterprise, courage, and 
 capacity in solving by his researches many of 
 the most important geographical problems of 
 our age and globe, problems of a continental 
 scope, involving the progress of our kind in com- 
 merce, science, and civilization." 
 
 THE END.
 
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