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Show 2 THE CALIFORNIA AND OREGON TRAIL. crroup of Indians, belonging to a remote Mexican t~ibc. O~e ~r two French hunters from the mountains, with then long hau· and buckskin dresses, were looking at the boat ; and seated on a log close at hand were three men, with rifles lying acr~ss their knees. The foremost of these, a tall, strong figur , With a clear blue eye and an open, intelligent face, might very well represent that race of restless and intrepid pioneers whose axes and rifles have opened a path from the Alleghanies to the western pra1nes. He was on his way to Oregon, probably a more congenial field to him than any that now remained on this side the great plains. Early on the next morning we reached Kanzas, about five hundred miles from the mouth of the Missouri. IIere we landed, and leaving our equjp1nents in charge of 1ny good friend Colonel Chick, whose log-house was the substitute for a tavern, we set out in a wagon for Westport, where we hoped to procure mules and horses for the journey. It was a remarkably fresh and beautiful May morning. The rich and luxuriant woods through which the miserable road conducted us, were lighted by the bright sunshine and enlivened by a multitude of birds. We overtook on the way our late fellow-travellers, the Kanzas Indians, who, adorned with all their finery, were proceeding homeward at a round pace; and whatever they might have seemed on board the boat, they made a very striking and picturesque feature in the forest landscape. Westport was full of Indians, whose little shaggy ponies were tied by dozens along the houses and fences. Sacs and Foxes, with shaved heads and painted faces, Shawanoes and Delawares, fluttering in calico frocks and turbans, Wyandots ' THE FRONTIER. 13 dressed like white men, and a few wretched Kanzas wrapped in old blankets, were strolling about the streets, or lounging in and out of the shops and houses. As I stood at the door of the tavern, I saw a remarkablelooking person coming up the street. He had a ruddy face, garnished with the stumps of a bristly red beard and moustache ; on one side of his head was a round cap with a knob at the top, such as Scottish laborers sometimes wear : his coat was of a nondescript forrn, and made of a gray Scotch plaid, with the fringes hanging all about it ; he wore pantaloons of coarse homespun, and hob-nailed shoes ; and to complete his equipment, a little black pipe was stuck in one corner of his mouth. In this curious attire, I recognized Captain C. of the / British army, who, with his brother, and Mr. R. an English gentlen1an, was bound on a hunting expedition across the continent. I had seen the captain and his companions at St. Louis. They had now been for some time at Westport, making preparations for their departure, and waiting for a reinforcement, since they were too few in number to attempt it alone. They might, it is true, have joined some of the parties of emigrants who were on the point of setting out for Oregon and California ; but they professed great disinclination to have any connection with the ' Kentucky fellows.' The captain now urged it upon us, that we should join forces and proceed to the mountains in company. Feeling no greater partiality for the society of the emigrants than they did, we thought the arrangement an advantageous one, and consented to it. Our future fellow-travellers had installed themselves in a little log-house, where we found them all surrounded by saddles, harness, guns, pistols, telescopes, knives, and in ~, |
