In A
Little While, They Made Signals From A Distance That All Was
Friendly.
By this time the cloud of dust had swept on as if
hurried along by a blast, and a band of wild horsemen came
dashing at full leap into the camp, yelling and whooping like so
many maniacs.
Their dresses, their accoutrements, their mode of
riding, and their uncouth clamor, made them seem a party of
savages arrayed for war; but they proved to be principally
half-breeds, and white men grown savage in the wilderness, who
were employed as trappers and hunters in the service of the
Hudson's Bay Company.
Here was again "high jinks" in the camp. Captain Bonneville's men
hailed these wild scamperers as congenial spirits, or rather as
the very game birds of their class. They entertained them with
the hospitality of mountaineers, feasting them at every fire. At
first, there were mutual details of adventures and exploits, and
broad joking mingled with peals of laughter. Then came on
boasting of the comparative merits of horses and rifles, which
soon engrossed every tongue. This naturally led to racing, and
shooting at a mark; one trial of speed and skill succeeded
another, shouts and acclamations rose from the victorious
parties, fierce altercations succeeded, and a general melee was
about to take place, when suddenly the attention of the
quarrellers was arrested by a strange kind of Indian chant or
chorus, that seemed to operate upon them as a charm. Their fury
was at an end; a tacit reconciliation succeeded and the ideas of
the whole mongrel crowd whites, half-breeds and squaws were
turned in a new direction. They all formed into groups and taking
their places at the several fires, prepared for one of the most
exciting amusements of the Nez Perces and the other tribes of the
Far West.
The choral chant, in fact, which had thus acted as a charm, was a
kind of wild accompaniment to the favorite Indian game of "Hand."
This is played by two parties drawn out in opposite platoons
before a blazing fire. It is in some respects like the old game
of passing the ring or the button, and detecting the hand which
holds it. In the present game, the object hidden, or the cache as
it is called by the trappers, is a small splint of wood, or other
diminutive article that may be concealed in the closed hand. This
is passed backward and forward among the party "in hand," while
the party "out of hand" guess where it is concealed. To heighten
the excitement and confuse the guessers, a number of dry poles
are laid before each platoon, upon which the members of the party
"in hand" beat furiously with short staves, keeping time to the
choral chant already mentioned, which waxes fast and furious as
the game proceeds. As large bets are staked upon the game, the
excitement is prodigious. Each party in turn bursts out in full
chorus, beating, and yelling, and working themselves up into such
a heat that the perspiration rolls down their naked shoulders,
even in the cold of a winter night. The bets are doubled and
trebled as the game advances, the mental excitement increases
almost to madness, and all the worldly effects of the gamblers
are often hazarded upon the position of a straw.
These gambling games were kept up throughout the night; every
fire glared upon a group that looked like a crew of maniacs at
their frantic orgies, and the scene would have been kept up
throughout the succeeding day, had not Captain Bonneville
interposed his authority, and, at the usual hour, issued his
marching orders.
Proceeding down the course of Snake River, the hunters regularly
returned to camp in the evening laden with wild geese, which were
yet scarcely able to fly, and were easily caught in great
numbers. It was now the season of the annual fish-feast, with
which the Indians in these parts celebrate the first appearance
of the salmon in this river. These fish are taken in great
numbers at the numerous falls of about four feet pitch. The
Indians flank the shallow water just below, and spear them as
they attempt to pass. In wide parts of the river, also, they
place a sort of chevaux-de-frize, or fence, of poles interwoven
with withes, and forming an angle in the middle of the current,
where a small opening is left for the salmon to pass. Around this
opening the Indians station themselves on small rafts, and ply
their spears with great success.
The table lands so common in this region have a sandy soil,
inconsiderable in depth, and covered with sage, or more properly
speaking, wormwood. Below this is a level stratum of rock, riven
occasionally by frightful chasms. The whole plain rises as it
approaches the river, and terminates with high and broken cliffs,
difficult to pass, and in many places so precipitous that it is
impossible, for days together, to get down to the water's edge,
to give drink to the horses. This obliges the traveller
occasionally to abandon the vicinity of the river, and make a
wide sweep into the interior.
It was now far in the month of July, and the party suffered
extremely from sultry weather and dusty travelling. The flies and
gnats, too, were extremely troublesome to the horses; especially
when keeping along the edge of the river where it runs between
low sand-banks. Whenever the travellers encamped in the
afternoon, the horses retired to the gravelly shores and remained
there, without attempting to feed until the cool of the evening.
As to the travellers, they plunged into the clear and cool
current, to wash away the dust of the road and refresh themselves
after the heat of the day. The nights were always cool and
pleasant.
At one place where they encamped for some time, the river was
nearly five hundred yards wide, and studded with grassy islands,
adorned with groves of willow and cotton-wood.
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