Some Five-And-
Forty Miles From Our Starting-Place We Passed A Small Village
Called Savannah.
Between it and Vancouver there was not a
single white man's abode, with the exception of three trading
stations - mere mud buildings - Fort Laramie, Fort Hall, and
Fort Boise.
The vast prairies on this side of the Rocky Mountains were
grazed by herds of countless bison, wapiti, antelope, and
deer of various species. These were hunted by moving tribes
of Indians - Pawnees, Omahaws, Cheyennes, Ponkaws, Sioux, &c.
On the Pacific side of the great range, a due west course -
which ours was as near as we could keep it - lay across a
huge rocky desert of volcanic debris, where hardly any
vegetation was to be met with, save artemisia - a species of
wormwood - scanty blades of gramma grass, and occasional
osiers by river-banks. The rivers themselves often ran
through canons or gulches, so deep that one might travel for
days within a hundred feet of water yet perish (some of our
animals did so) for the want of a drop to drink. Game was
here very scarce - a few antelope, wolves, and abundance of
rattlesnakes, were nearly the only living things we saw. The
Indians were mainly fishers of the Shoshone - or Great Snake
River - tribe, feeding mostly on salmon, which they speared
with marvellous dexterity; and Root-diggers, who live upon
wild roots. When hard put to it, however, in winter, the
latter miserable creatures certainly, if not the former,
devoured their own children. There was no map of the
country. It was entirely unexplored; in fact, Bancroft the
American historian, in his description of the Indian tribes,
quotes my account of the Root-diggers; which shows how little
was known of this region up to this date. I carried a small
compass fastened round my neck. That and the stars (we
travelled by night when in the vicinity of Indians) were my
only guides for hundreds of dreary miles.
Such then was the task we had set ourselves to grapple with.
As with life itself, nothing but the magic powers of youth
and ignorance could have cajoled us to face it with heedless
confidence and eager zest. These conditions given, with
health - the one essential of all enjoyment - added, the
first escape from civilised restraint, the first survey of
primordial nature as seen in the boundless expanse of the
open prairie, the habitat of wild men and wild animals, -
exhilarate one with emotions akin to the schoolboy's rapture
in the playground, and the thoughtful man's contemplation of
the stars. Freedom and change, space and the possibilities
of the unknown, these are constant elements of our day-
dreams; now and then actual life dangles visions of them
before our eyes, alas! only to teach us that the aspirations
which they inspire are, for the most part, illusory.
Brief indeed, in our case, were the pleasures of novelty.
For the first few days the business was a continuous picnic
for all hands. It was a pleasure to be obliged to help to
set up the tents, to cut wood, to fetch water, to harness the
mules, and work exactly as the paid men worked. The equality
in this respect - that everything each wanted done had to be
done with his own hands - was perfect; and never, from first
to last, even when starvation left me bare strength to lift
the saddle on to my horse, did I regret the necessity, or
desire to be dependent on another man. But the bloom soon
wore off the plum; and the pleasure consisted not in doing
but in resting when the work was done.
For the reason already stated, a sample only of the daily
labour will be given. It may be as well first to bestow a
few words upon the men; for, in the long run, our fellow
beings are the powerful factors, for good or ill, in all our
worldly enterprises.
We had two ordinary mule-drivers - Potter and Morris, a
little acrobat out of a travelling circus, a METIF or half-
breed Indian named Jim, two French Canadians - Nelson and
Louis (the latter spoke French only); Jacob, a Pennsylvanian
auctioneer whose language was a mixture of Dutch, Yankee, and
German; and (after we reached Fort Laramie) another Nelson -
'William' as I shall call him - who offered his services
gratis if we would allow him to go with us to California.
Jacob the Dutch Yankee was the most intelligent and the most
useful of the lot, and was unanimously elected cook for the
party. The Canadian Nelson was a hard-working good young
fellow, with a passionate temper. Louis was a hunter by
profession, Gallic to the tip of his moustache - fond of
slapping his breast and telling of the mighty deeds of NOUS
AUTRES EN HAUT. Jim, the half-breed was Indian by nature -
idle, silent, treacherous, but a crafty hunter. William
deserves special mention, not from any idiosyncrasy of the
man, but because he was concerned soon after he joined us in
the most disastrous of my adventures throughout the
expedition.
To look at, William Nelson might have sat for the portrait of
Leatherstocking. He was a tall gaunt man who had spent his
youth bringing rafts of timber down the Wabash river, from
Fort Wayne to Maumee, in Ohio. For the last six years (he
was three-and-thirty) he had been trapping musk rats and
beaver, and dealing in pelts generally. At the time of our
meeting he was engaged to a Miss Mary something - the
daughter of an English immigrant, who would not consent to
the marriage until William was better off. He was now bound
for California, where he hoped to make the required fortune.
The poor fellow was very sentimental about his Mary; but,
despite his weatherbeaten face, hardy-looking frame, and his
'longue carabine,' he was scarcely the hero which, no doubt,
Miss Mary took him for.
Yes, the novelty soon wore off. We had necessaries enough to
last to California.
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