OCR Text |
Show Lewis and Clarke's Expedition in about the same place with tbc M usclcshell and ncar the Yellowstone river. lis entrance is one hundJ•ed yards \lidc from one bank to the other, the water occupying about seventy-five yards, and in greater quantity than that of the Muscleshell river, and though more rapid equalJy navigable, there being no stones or rocks in the be(], which is composed entirely of gr·avcl and murl with some sand: the water too is clearer than any which we have yet seen; aml the low grounds, as far as we could discern , wider and more woody than those of the Missouri: along its banks we observed some box-alder intrrmixed with the cottonwood and the willow; the undcrgt·owth consisting of rosebushes, honeysuckles, and a little red willow. There was a great abundance of the argalea or bighorncd animals in the high coun~ try through which it passes, and a great number of the beaver in its waters: just above the cntr·ance of it we saw the fires of one hundred and twenty-six lodges, which appeared to have been deserted about twelve or fifteen days, and on tht> other side of the ~lissouri a large enrampment, apparently made by the same nation. On examining some moccasins which we found there, our Indian woman said that they did not belong to her own nation the Snake Indians, but she thought that they indicated a ts·ibe on this side of the Rocky mountain, ami to the north of the Missouri; indeed it is probable that these arc the Minnetarees of fort" de Pr·airie. At the distance of six and a half miles the hills again approach the brink of the river, and the stones and rocks washed do\\ n ft•om them form a very bad rapid, with rocks and ripples more numerous and difficult thau those we passed on the 27th and 28th: here the same scene was renewed, and we had again to struggle and lalwur te preserve our small erat't from being lost. Ncar this spot are a few trees of the ash, the fit•st we have seen for a gr·eat distance, and ft•om which we named the place Ash Rapids. On these hills there is but little timber, but the salts, coal, and other mineral appeal'anees continue. On the north we Up the Missouri. 2S5 passed a precipice about one hundred aml twenty feet high, under whieh lay scattered the f1·agmcnts of at least one hundred cat·cases of buffaloes, although the water which had washed a\\ ay tbe lower part of the hill must haYc carried off many of the drad. These buffaloes had been chased down the precipi<•e in a way very common on the Missouri, and by whid1 vast }ICrds are dcstt•oycd in a moment. The mode of hunting is to select one of the most active and :fleet young men, who is disguised by a buffaloe skin round his body; the skin of the head with the ears and horns fastened ou his own head in such a way as to deceive the buffaloe: thlls dressed, he fixt's himself at a convenient distance bet ween a herd of buifaloe and any of the •·iver precipict>St which sometimes extend for some miles. His companions in the meantime get in the rear and side of the herd, and :at a given signal show the mselves, and advance towards the buffaloe: they instantly take the alal'm, and finding the hunters brsidc them, they run towar(]s the disguised Indian ot decoy, who leads them on at full speed toward the river, when suddenly securing himself in !iOme crevice of the cliff which he had JWeviously fixed on, the l1c1'll is left on the brink of the l)['Ccipice: it is then in vain for the fo•·emoit to l'etreat or even to stop; they arc pressed on by the bindmost rank, who seeiug no dange1· hut from the huntet·s~ goad on those before them till the whole are precipitated and the shore is strewed with theit· dead bodies. Sometimes in this perilous seduction the Indian is himself either trodden under foot by the rapid movements of the butfaloe, or missing his footing in the cliff is ut·ged down the precipice by the falling herd. rl'he Indians then select as much meat as they wish, and the rest is abandoned to the wolves, and create a most dreadful stench. 'l"'he wolves who had been feasting on these carcases were very fat, and so gentle tl1at one of them was ldlled with an esponton. Above this place we came to for dinner at the distance of seventeen miles, opposite to a bold 1·unning l'iver Qi' twenty yards wide, and |