The Adventures of Captain Bonneville

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




9.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




10.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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