Should One Of Them, However, Fall Into The Hands Of A
War Party, He Is Sure To Be Made A Sacrifice, For The Sake Of
That Savage Trophy, A Scalp, And That Barbarous Ceremony, A Scalp
Dance.
These forlorn beings, forming a mere link between human
nature and the brute, have been looked down upon with
Pity and
contempt by the creole trappers, who have given them the
appellation of "les dignes de pitie," or "the objects of pity.";
They appear more worthy to be called the wild men of the
mountains.
26.
A retrogade move Channel of a mountain torrent Alpine
scenery Cascades Beaver valleys Beavers at work Their
architecture Their modes of felling trees Mode of trapping
beaver Contests of skill A beaver "up to trap" Arrival at the
Green River caches
THE VIEW from the snowy peak of the Wind River Mountains, while
it had excited Captain Bonneville's enthusiasm, had satisfied him
that it would be useless to force a passage westward, through
multiplying barriers of cliffs and precipices. Turning his face
eastward, therefore, he endeavored to regain the plains,
intending to make the circuit round the southern point of the
mountain. To descend, and to extricate himself from the heart of
this rock-piled wilderness, was almost as difficult as to
penetrate it. Taking his course down the ravine of a tumbling
stream, the commencement of some future river, he descended from
rock to rock, and shelf to shelf, between stupendous cliffs and
beetling crags that sprang up to the sky. Often he had to cross
and recross the rushing torrent, as it wound foaming and roaring
down its broken channel, or was walled by perpendicular
precipices; and imminent was the hazard of breaking the legs of
the horses in the clefts and fissures of slippery rocks. The
whole scenery of this deep ravine was of Alpine wildness and
sublimity. Sometimes the travellers passed beneath cascades which
pitched from such lofty heights that the water fell into the
stream like heavy rain. In other places, torrents came tumbling
from crag to crag, dashing into foam and spray, and making
tremendous din and uproar.
On the second day of their descent, the travellers, having got
beyond the steepest pitch of the mountains, came to where the
deep and rugged ravine began occasionally to expand into small
levels or valleys, and the stream to assume for short intervals a
more peaceful character. Here, not merely the river itself, but
every rivulet flowing into it, was dammed up by communities of
industrious beavers, so as to inundate the neighborhood, and make
continual swamps.
During a mid-day halt in one of these beaver valleys, Captain
Bonneville left his companions, and strolled down the course of
the stream to reconnoitre. He had not proceeded far when he came
to a beaver pond, and caught a glimpse of one of its painstaking
inhabitants busily at work upon the dam. The curiosity of the
captain was aroused, to behold the mode of operating of this
far-famed architect; he moved forward, therefore, with the utmost
caution, parting the branches of the water willows without making
any noise, until having attained a position commanding a view of
the whole pond, he stretched himself flat on the ground, and
watched the solitary workman. In a little while, three others
appeared at the head of the dam, bringing sticks and bushes. With
these they proceeded directly to the barrier, which Captain
Bonneville perceived was in need of repair. Having deposited
their loads upon the broken part, they dived into the water, and
shortly reappeared at the surface. Each now brought a quantity of
mud, with which he would plaster the sticks and bushes just
deposited. This kind of masonry was continued for some time,
repeated supplies of wood and mud being brought, and treated in
the same manner. This done, the industrious beavers indulged in a
little recreation, chasing each other about the pond, dodging and
whisking about on the surface, or diving to the bottom; and in
their frolic, often slapping their tails on the water with a loud
clacking sound. While they were thus amusing themselves, another
of the fraternity made his appearance, and looked gravely on
their sports for some time, without offering to join in them. He
then climbed the bank close to where the captain was concealed,
and, rearing himself on his hind quarters, in a sitting position,
put his forepaws against a young pine tree, and began to cut the
bark with his teeth. At times he would tear off a small piece,
and holding it between his paws, and retaining his sedentary
position, would feed himself with it, after the fashion of a
monkey. The object of the beaver, however, was evidently to cut
down the tree; and he was proceeding with his work, when he was
alarmed by the approach of Captain Bonneville's men, who, feeling
anxious at the protracted absence of their leader, were coming in
search of him. At the sound of their voices, all the beavers,
busy as well as idle, dived at once beneath the surface, and were
no more to be seen. Captain Bonneville regretted this
interruption. He had heard much of the sagacity of the beaver in
cutting down trees, in which, it is said, they manage to make
them fall into the water, and in such a position and direction as
may be most favorable for conveyance to the desired point. In the
present instance, the tree was a tall straight pine, and as it
grew perpendicularly, and there was not a breath of air stirring
the beaver could have felled it in any direction he pleased, if
really capable of exercising a discretion in the matter. He was
evidently engaged in "belting" the tree, and his first incision
had been on the side nearest to the water.
Captain Bonneville, however, discredits, on the whole, the
alleged sagacity of the beaver in this particular, and thinks the
animal has no other aim than to get the tree down, without any of
the subtle calculation as to its mode or direction of falling.
This attribute, he thinks, has been ascribed to them from the
circumstance that most trees growing near water-courses, either
lean bodily toward the stream, or stretch their largest limbs in
that direction, to benefit by the space, the light, and the air
to be found there.
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