After Prayers And Pious
Ceremonies Are Over, There Is Scarce An Hour In The Day, Says
Captain Bonneville, That You Do Not See Several Horses Racing At
Full Speed; And In Every Corner Of The Camp Are Groups Of
Gamblers, Ready To Stake Everything Upon The All-Absorbing Game
Of Hand.
The Indians, says Wyeth, appear to enjoy their
amusements with more zest than the whites.
They are great
gamblers; and in proportion to their means, play bolder and bet
higher than white men.
The cultivation of the religious feeling, above noted, among the
savages, has been at times a convenient policy with some of the
more knowing traders; who have derived great credit and influence
among them by being considered "medicine men;" that is, men
gifted with mysterious knowledge. This feeling is also at times
played upon by religious charlatans, who are to be found in
savage as well as civilized life. One of these was noted by
Wyeth, during his sojourn among the Flat-heads. A new great man,
says he, is rising in the camp, who aims at power and sway. He
covers his designs under the ample cloak of religion; inculcating
some new doctrines and ceremonials among those who are more
simple than himself. He has already made proselytes of one-fifth
of the camp; beginning by working on the women, the children, and
the weak-minded. His followers are all dancing on the plain, to
their own vocal music. The more knowing ones of the tribe look on
and laugh; thinking it all too foolish to do harm; but they will
soon find that women, children, and fools, form a large majority
of every community, and they will have, eventually, to follow the
new light, or be considered among the profane. As soon as a
preacher or pseudo prophet of the kind gets followers enough, he
either takes command of the tribe, or branches off and sets up an
independent chief and "medicine man."
46.
Scarcity in the camp Refusal of supplies by the Hudson's Bay
Company Conduct of the Indians A hungry retreat John Day's
River The Blue Mountains Salmon fishing on Snake River
Messengers from the Crow country Bear River Valley immense
migration of buffalo Danger of buffalo hunting A wounded
Indian Eutaw Indians A "surround" of antelopes.
PROVISIONS were now growing scanty in the camp, and Captain
Bonneville found it necessary to seek a new neighborhood. Taking
leave, therefore, of his friends, the Skynses, he set off to the
westward, and, crossing a low range of mountains, encamped on the
head-waters of the Ottolais. Being now within thirty miles of
Fort Wallah-Wallah, the trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company,
he sent a small detachment of men thither to purchase corn for
the subsistence of his party. The men were well received at the
fort; but all supplies for their camp were peremptorily refused.
Tempting offers were made them, however, if they would leave
their present employ, and enter into the service of the company;
but they were not to be seduced.
When Captain Bonneville saw his messengers return empty-handed,
he ordered an instant move, for there was imminent danger of
famine. He pushed forward down the course of the Ottolais, which
runs diagonal to the Columbia, and falls into it about fifty
miles below the Wallah-Wallah. His route lay through a beautiful
undulating country, covered with horses belonging to the Skynses,
who sent them there for pasturage.
On reaching the Columbia, Captain Bonneville hoped to open a
trade with the natives, for fish and other provisions, but to his
surprise they kept aloof, and even hid themselves on his
approach. He soon discovered that they were under the influence
of the Hudson's Bay Company, who had forbidden them to trade, or
hold any communion with him. He proceeded along the Columbia,
but it was everywhere the same; not an article of provisions was
to be obtained from the natives, and he was at length obliged to
kill a couple of his horses to sustain his famishing people. He
now came to a halt, and consulted what was to be done. The broad
and beautiful Columbia lay before them, smooth and unruffled as a
mirror; a little more journeying would take them to its lower
region; to the noble valley of the Wallamut, their projected
winter quarters. To advance under present circumstances would be
to court starvation. The resources of the country were locked
against them, by the influence of a jealous and powerful
monopoly. If they reached the Wallamut, they could scarcely hope
to obtain sufficient supplies for the winter; if they lingered
any longer in the country the snows would gather upon the
mountains and cut off their retreat. By hastening their return,
they would be able to reach the Blue Mountains just in time to
find the elk, the deer, and the bighorn; and after they had
supplied themselves with provisions, they might push through the
mountains before they were entirely blocked by snow. Influenced
by these considerations, Captain Bonneville reluctantly turned
his back a second time on the Columbia, and set off for the Blue
Mountains. He took his course up John Day's River, so called from
one of the hunters in the original Astorian enterprise. As famine
was at his heels, he travelled fast, and reached the mountains by
the 1st of October. He entered by the opening made by John Day's
River; it was a rugged and difficult defile, but he and his men
had become accustomed to hard scrambles of the kind. Fortunately,
the September rains had extinguished the fires which recently
spread over these regions; and the mountains, no longer wrapped
in smoke, now revealed all their grandeur and sublimity to the
eye.
They were disappointed in their expectation of finding abundant
game in the mountains; large bands of the natives had passed
through, returning from their fishing expeditions, and had driven
all the game before them. It was only now and then that the
hunters could bring in sufficient to keep the party from
starvation.
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