OCR Text |
Show ~ 1.6 JOUH~AL OF A VOYAGE of your escort is now waiting for you, under the command· of the officer who commanded the expedition to the Pawnees. Pike. I would not wish to be impertinent in my observations to your excellency, but pray sir! do you not think it was a greater infringement of our territory to send 600 n1ilas in the Pawnees, than for me with our small party to come on the frontiers of yours with an intent to descend Red river? Governor. I do not understand yo'u. Pike. No Sir! any further explanation is unnecessary. I then returned to the house of my friend Bartholemew and wrote tny letter to his excellency, which I had not fini hed before we were hurried to dinner·. In the morning I hau received from the governor by the hands of his private secretary twenty one dollars, notifying to me that it was the amount of the king's allowance for my party to Chihuahua and that it would be charged ~o me on account of my subsistence ; from this I clearly understood that it was calculated that the cxpcnces of the party to Chihuahua would be defrayed by the United States. I also received by the same hands from his excellency a shirt and neck cloth, with his complimrnts, wishing me to accept of them " as they were made in " Spain by his sister and never had been worn by any per" son;" for which I returned him tny sincere acknowleJg· ments, and it n1ay not be deemed irrelevant if I explain lt this period the miserable appearance we made and situation we were in ; with the causes of it. \\Then we left our interpreter and one 1nan on the Arkansaw, we were obliged to carry all our baggage on our backs, consequently that which was the most useful was preferred to the few ornamental parts of dress we possessed. The ammuni~ tion claimed our first care, tools secondary, leather, leg- THROUGH TilE INTERIOR PROVINCES, &c. 217 gins, boots and mockinsons were the next in consideration ; cons1'quently, I left all my uniform, clothing, trunks, &c. as did rhe men, except what they had on their backs ; conceiving that which would secure the feet and legs from the cold, as preferable to any less inJispensable portion of our dress. Thus, when we presented ourselves at Santa l~'e ; I was dress~d in a pair of blue trowscrs, n1ockinsons, blanket coat and a cap made of scarlet doth, lined with fox skins and my poor fell owE' in leggings, breech cloths and leather coats and not a hat in the whole party. This appearance was extremely mortifying to us all, especially as soldiers, and although son1e of the officers used frequently to observe to rne, that" worth made the 1nan," &c. with a variety of adages to the same amount. Yet the first impression n1ade on the ignorant is hard to eradicate ; and a greater proof cannot be given of the ignorance of the common people, than their asking if we lived in houses or camps like the indians, or if we wore hats in our country ; those observations arc sufficient to shew the impression our uncouth appearance made amongst them. The dinner at the governor's was rather splendid, having a variety of dishes and wines of the southern provinces, and when his excellency was a little warmed with the inftuencr:! of cheering liquor, he became very sociable. Ile informed me that there existed a serious dif1icnlty between the commandant general of the internal provinces and the marquis Caso Calvo, who had giv n permission to Mr. Dunbar, to explore the Ouchata contrary to the general principles of their government; and in consequence of which, the former had made representations against the latter to the court of Madrid. After dinnc1 his excellency ordered his coach; captain D' Almansa .. Bartholemew and n1ysdf ~ntereu with him, and he drove out 3 mile . lie was drawn hy six n1nle'i and attended bv r:e |