The Captain, Therefore, Continued To Maintain The Most
Vigilant Precautions; Throwing Out Scouts In The Advance, And On
Every Rising Ground.
In the course of the day he arrived at the plain of white clay,
already mentioned, surrounded by the mineral springs, called Beer
Springs, by the trappers.
Here the men all halted to have a
regale. In a few moments every spring had its jovial knot of
hard drinkers, with tin cup in hand, indulging in a mock carouse;
quaffing, pledging, toasting, bandying jokes, singing drinking
songs, and uttering peals of laughter, until it seemed as if
their imaginations had given potency to the beverage, and cheated
them into a fit of intoxication. Indeed, in the excitement of the
moment, they were loud and extravagant in their commendations of
"the mountain tap"; elevating it above every beverage produced
from hops or malt. It was a singular and fantastic scene; suited
to a region where everything is strange and peculiar: - These
groups of trappers, and hunters, and Indians, with their wild
costumes, and wilder countenances; their boisterous gayety, and
reckless air; quaffing, and making merry round these sparkling
fountains; while beside them lay their weep ons, ready to be
snatched up for instant service. Painters are fond of
representing banditti at their rude and picturesque carousels;
but here were groups, still more rude and picturesque; and it
needed but a sudden onset of Blackfeet, and a quick transition
from a fantastic revel to a furious melee, to have rendered this
picture of a trapper's life complete.
The beer frolic, however, passed off without any untoward
circumstance; and, unlike most drinking bouts, left neither
headache nor heartache behind. Captain Bonneville now directed
his course up along Bear River; amusing himself, occasionally,
with hunting the buffalo, with which the country was covered.
Sometimes, when he saw a huge bull taking his repose in a
prairie, he would steal along a ravine, until close upon him;
then rouse him from his meditations with a pebble, and take a
shot at him as he started up. Such is the quickness with which
this animal springs upon his legs, that it is not easy to
discover the muscular process by which it is effected. The horse
rises first upon his fore legs; and the domestic cow, upon her
hinder limbs; but the buffalo bounds at once from a couchant to
an erect position, with a celerity that baffles the eye. Though
from his bulk, and rolling gait, he does not appear to run with
much swiftness; yet, it takes a stanch horse to overtake him,
when at full speed on level ground; and a buffalo cow is still
fleeter in her motion.
Among the Indians and half-breeds of the party, were several
admirable horsemen and bold hunters; who amused themselves with a
grotesque kind of buffalo bait. Whenever they found a huge bull
in the plains, they prepared for their teasing and barbarous
sport. Surrounding him on horseback, they would discharge their
arrows at him in quick succession, goading him to make an attack;
which, with a dexterous movement of the horse, they would easily
avoid.
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