They launched their canoe again into deep
water, and getting in, had the delight of seeing the camp fires
of the savages soon fading in the distance.
They continued under way the greater part of the night, until far
beyond all danger from this band, when they pulled to shore, and
encamped.
The following day was windy, and they came near upsetting their
boat in carrying sail. Toward evening, the wind subsided and a
beautiful calm night succeeded. They floated along with the
current throughout the night, taking turns to watch and steer.
The deep stillness of the night was occasionally interrupted by
the neighing of the elk, the hoarse lowing of the buffalo, the
hooting of large owls, and the screeching of the small ones, now
and then the splash of a beaver, or the gonglike sound of the
swan.
Part of their voyage was extremely tempestuous; with high winds,
tremendous thunder, and soaking rain; and they were repeatedly in
extreme danger from drift-wood and sunken trees. On one occasion,
having continued to float at night, after the moon was down, they
ran under a great snag, or sunken tree, with dry branches above
the water. These caught the mast, while the boat swung round,
broadside to the stream, and began to fill with water. Nothing
saved her from total wreck, but cutting away the mast. She then
drove down the stream, but left one of the unlucky half-breeds
clinging to the snag, like a monkey to a pole. It was necessary
to run in shore, toil up, laboriously, along the eddies and to
attain some distance above the snag, when they launched forth
again into the stream and floated down with it to his rescue.
We forbear to detail all the circumstances and adventures of
upward of a months voyage, down the windings and doublings of
this vast river; in the course of which they stopped occasionally
at a post of one of the rival fur companies, or at a government
agency for an Indian tribe. Neither shall we dwell upon the
changes of climate and productions, as the voyagers swept down
from north to south, across several degrees of latitude; arriving
at the regions of oaks and sycamores; of mulberry and basswood
trees; of paroquets and wild turkeys. This is one of the
characteristics of the middle and lower part of the Missouri; but
still more so of the Mississippi, whose rapid current traverses a
succession of latitudes so as in a few days to float the voyager
almost from the frozen regions to the tropics.
The voyage of Wyeth shows the regular and unobstructed flow of
the rivers, on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, in contrast
to those of the western side; where rocks and rapids continually
menace and obstruct the voyager. We find him in a frail bark of
skins, launching himself in a stream at the foot of the Rocky
Mountains, and floating down from river to river, as they empty
themselves into each other; and so he might have kept on upward
of two thousand miles, until his little bark should drift into
the ocean.
