The Adventures of Captain Bonneville

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




15.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




16.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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