Advancing Upon Them, He
Levelled His Rifle, Shot One Upon The Spot, And Flung His
Bleeding Body Into The Stream.
The other Indian fled and was
suffered to escape.
Such is the indifference with which acts of
violence are regarded in the wilderness, and such the immunity an
armed ruffian enjoys beyond the barriers of the laws, that the
only punishment this desperado met with, was a rebuke from the
leader of the party. The trappers now left the scene of this
infamous tragedy, and kept on westward, down the course of the
river, which wound along with a range of mountains on the right
hand, and a sandy, but somewhat fertile plain, on the left. As
they proceeded, they beheld columns of smoke rising, as before,
in various directions, which their guilty consciences now
converted into alarm signals, to arouse the country and collect
the scattered bands for vengeance.
After a time, the natives began to make their appearance, and
sometimes in considerable numbers, but always pacific; the
trappers, however, suspected them of deep-laid plans to draw them
into ambuscades; to crowd into and get possession of their camp,
and various other crafty and daring conspiracies, which, it is
probable, never entered into the heads of the poor savages. In
fact, they are a simple, timid, inoffensive race, unpractised in
warfare, and scarce provided with any weapons, excepting for the
chase. Their lives are passed in the great sand plains and along
the adjacent rivers; they subsist sometimes on fish, at other
times on roots and the seeds of a plant, called the cat's-tail.
They are of the same kind of people that Captain Bonneville found
upon Snake River, and whom he found so mild and inoffensive.
The trappers, however, had persuaded themselves that they were
making their way through a hostile country, and that implacable
foes hung round their camp or beset their path, watching for an
opportunity to surprise them. At length, one day they came to the
banks of a stream emptying into Ogden's River, which they were
obliged to ford. Here a great number of Shoshokoes were posted on
the opposite bank. Persuaded they were there with hostile intent,
they advanced upon them, levelled their rifles, and killed twenty
five of them upon the spot. The rest fled to a short distance,
then halted and turned about, howling and whining like wolves,
and uttering the most piteous wailings. The trappers chased them
in every direction; the poor wretches made no defence, but fled
with terror; neither does it appear from the accounts of the
boasted victors, that a weapon had been wielded or a weapon
launched by the Indians throughout the affair. We feel perfectly
convinced that the poor savages had no hostile intention, but had
merely gathered together through motives of curiosity, as others
of their tribe had done when Captain Bonneville and his
companions passed along Snake River.
The trappers continued down Ogden's River, until they ascertained
that it lost itself in a great swampy lake, to which there was no
apparent discharge. They then struck directly westward, across
the great chain of California mountains intervening between these
interior plains and the shores of the Pacific.
For three and twenty days they were entangled among these
mountains, the peaks and ridges of which are in many places
covered with perpetual snow. Their passes and defiles present the
wildest scenery, partaking of the sublime rather than the
beautiful, and abounding with frightful precipices. The
sufferings of the travellers among these savage mountains were
extreme: for a part of the time they were nearly starved; at
length, they made their way through them, and came down upon the
plains of New California, a fertile region extending along the
coast, with magnificent forests, verdant savannas, and prairies
that looked like stately parks. Here they found deer and other
game in abundance, and indemnified themselves for past famine.
They now turned toward the south, and passing numerous small
bands of natives, posted upon various streams, arrived at the
Spanish village and post of Monterey.
This is a small place, containing about two hundred houses,
situated in latitude 37 north. It has a capacious bay, with
indifferent anchorage. The surrounding country is extremely
fertile, especially in the valleys; the soil is richer, the
further you penetrate into the interior, and the climate is
described as a perpetual spring. Indeed, all California,
extending along the Pacific Ocean from latitude 19 30' to 42
north, is represented as one of the most fertile and beautiful
regions in North America.
Lower California, in length about seven hundred miles, forms a
great peninsula, which crosses the tropics and terminates in the
torrid zone. It is separated from the mainland by the Gulf of
California, sometimes called the Vermilion Sea; into this gulf
empties the Colorado of the West, the Seeds-ke-dee, or Green
River, as it is also sometimes called. The peninsula is traversed
by stern and barren mountains, and has many sandy plains, where
the only sign of vegetation is the cylindrical cactus growing
among the clefts of the rocks. Wherever there is water, however,
and vegetable mould, the ardent nature of the climate quickens
everything into astonishing fertility. There are valleys
luxuriant with the rich and beautiful productions of the tropics.
There the sugar-cane and indigo plant attain a perfection
unequalled in any other part of North America. There flourish the
olive, the fig, the date, the orange, the citron, the
pomegranate, and other fruits belonging to the voluptuous
climates of the south; with grapes in abundance, that yield a
generous wine. In the interior are salt plains; silver mines and
scanty veins of gold are said, likewise, to exist; and pearls of
a beautiful water are to be fished upon the coast.
The peninsula of California was settled in 1698, by the Jesuits,
who, certainly, as far as the natives were concerned, have
generally proved the most beneficent of colonists. In the present
instance, they gained and maintained a footing in the country
without the aid of military force, but solely by religious
influence.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 89 of 117
Words from 89739 to 90757
of 118673