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Show [ 174 J 286 attempt to reach it, which would have invnlveJ a greater lenn-th of . than uow remained at my disposaL b t11n lu about a quarter ot an hour, we descended from 1 he summit of th p i11to the creek below, onr road having be n very much cotHwlled au/ a, rnptcd by the pines aud springs on the monotain side. 1'nruino Jnter. sl re~m, we en?amped .01.1 ~ bottom o~ good grass ncar its head, whic~p a'~! ers 1ts waters m the d!VJdlllg crest of the Rocky mouJJtains a11d ace gd.tn. to the b?st information we could obf~iu, separated only bj the ~·ockor~nf of the ndge fron1 the head of the nu:tin Arkansas river. By tho obys al tw. u' o [ ,t Iw ~venm. g, t I1 e Ia ~1. tu d e o f our eucampmont was 3<Jo ~o· erva 24, a~ :onth of wl11cb, therefor , 1s the hratl of the Arkansas river. Tho 81 ' ou whicb we had cucamped is the bead of either the Ji'ontainc-qui.b~e:: a branc~1 .of tl~e Arka11s~s, ?r t~1e r:emote t head of tlte south fork of !n; ~latte; .ts wlnch, yuu_ will ft~H.l 1t latd down on the map. Bnt dcscendin' 1t ?nly tl~rough ~ po1 t1on of 1t course, we have not been able to seltletni~ po111t salJ~faetonly. In tlJc cveuing,o. band ofbufblo furnislted a little excitement,bycharoiu~ through the camp. o ~)n the following day, we descenJcd the strcam by an excellent buffalo tratl, along the open grassy bottom of tlw river. Ou o11r rio·ht the bayou was border~cl by a moun t~i rwus ra11.ge, ere I ed with rocky aJJd u~ked pea~1: and Lelow, Jt llad a beautiful park-like character of pretty level prairies in. tcr::;pen;~d among l?w spurs, wood.cd openly witll pine and quaking~~~ coHtra tmg well with the detlscr pmes which swept around on the moun. tain ~ides. Desceuding always tlte valley of the stream, towards noon we descned a mounted party do ·cendiug the point of a pHr, aud,jndgingthem to be Arapahoes-who, defeated or victorious, were equally dangerous 11 us, and with whon1 a fig~1t would be iuevitable-we lnrrrieu to post our· selves as trongly as poss1blc on some willow islands in the river. Wehaa scarcely halted when they arrived, proving to be a party of Utah women, W~lO told us that on the other ide of the ridge their v1llnge was fightin~ w Llh the A.rap~hoes.. As soon as they had given us this iu formation, !her filled the au· With cnes alld lameutatious which made us understand that some of their chiefs had been killed. ' E?'tending alon~ the river, directly ahead of us, was a low piney ridge, lcavmg b tween. 1~ a~H! the stre<un a tnall open bottom, on which l~e Utahs had very InJUdiCIOusly placed their village, whicl1, accordi11g to th~ '~omen, numbered about 300 warriors. Advancing in the cover of the pmes, tlle Arapahoes, about daylight, charged into the village, driving off a ~re~t nu~ber of thci~· horses, aud killing four men ; among the~n, t~e punc1pal cl?Ief of the village. They urove the horses perhaps a mrlebe· yonJ the VIllage, to .the end of a hollow, where they had previously fort~a at .the edge of th? pmes. Here the Utahs had instan'tly attacked themm ttuu, aud, accordmg to the report of the women, were getting rather !he best of the ?ay. ~'he women pressed us eagerly to join with their peopl.e, and would. 1mmed1ately have provided us with the best horse~ at the vtl· lage; but 1t was not for ns to interfere in such a conflict. Neither partr were our friends, or under our protection ; o.ud each was ready ~o prer upon. us th~t ~onld. But we could not help feeling an unusual exc1temeu~ at ~cmg wlthm a few hu1~dred yards of 3. fight, in which 500 men we~e closely er~g~ged, and h~anng the sharp cracks of their rifles. \Ve ~vere rn a bad posttJOn, and sub)ect to be attacked in it. Either party wh1ch we 287 [ 174 ] . ht meet, victorious or de[i atcd, was certai1~ to fall up01~ us; and,.gcar! 111g immediately, we kept close aloug the pmcs of the nJge, huvmo- it ~1~ u~en us and the villug<!, all(] keepillg the scouts on the summit, to give u~ ~voli~c of the approach of Indians. As we pas~cd hy the vill nge, which wns immediately below us, horsemen were gallopmg to and fro, and groups of coplo were gathered ~t ronlld ti JOSt, who were wo~mcled mHl dead, and t~ were being brought 111 fro1n the fteld. We contlllued to press ou, and, ~~~ssing anotller fork, \~hich caln.e in from the right, nftc.r having: 1nadc fifteen miles from the vii.Ingu, forllfted ourselves strongly 111 the ptues, a short dislancc from tlw n v ~~ r. . . . Durina the afternoou, PJlw':-; Peak hau been pla.mly 111 vtew before us, aud, fro~ Otlf euca~upmeu~ bore N. R7° E. by comp1.1 ss. This . was a fallliliar object, nud 1t had for n · the face of un old. frren(l: At 11s foo t were the springs, where we h.a~l .spcDt a pleasant ~ay Ill comtng out. Ncar it were the habitatiorts of crvtl1ze(l men ; and It overlook ed the broad smooth plains which promised us an cn sy jonrney to our ltOillC. The next day we left the ri vcr, wh ic~1 co!Hirn.ted its cotll·se t.owurds Pike's Peale· and tak ing a southeasterly dtrectwu, u1 ahout ten nnlcs w·c crossed a get~tle ridge, and, i~~ uiu~ from the ou.th Par.k, fonncl ourse lves involved among tile· brokcu spurs of the mouutnlllS wh1ch bord ' l' the great prairie plaius. A lt~ough broken and extreme! y rug~ecl the country was very interestiug, bcu~g well watered by ~1nmerous af1lu~!1ts to the Arlnu~sas river allCl covered wttll grass and a vancty of trees. 1 he streams, whtch, in th~ npper part of their com·s?, ran th roug.h grac::sy and OJ> en hollows, after a few miles all dcsc Jlllcu mto tleep and nnpractiCablc ca11ons, through which they found their way to tho Arkansas val~ey . Here the buf!'alo trails we had followed were eli. pcrscd atnong the bills, or eros ·ed over mto the more open valleys of other s~rc.am.s. . . . Durina the day our road ,.as fat1gnmg and dlfficnlt, rernllldtnn- us much, by its st~ep and rocl{y character, of our tra vel.l ing the year be fore among the Wiud river mountains; but always at mght we fonud s?mc 9rassy bottom, which afforded us a plcasautcan1p. In the deep eclnsw r ~ o( these little streams, we fountl always an abundant pasturage, and ~ .w1ld. luxuriance of plants and trees. Aspens and pines were the prevmhng timber; on the creeks~ oak was frequent; bnt the narrow-leaved cotlon.wood, (JJO?Julus angushjotia,) of nnustw.lly large si<w, and seven. or c1ght i?et 1n circumfereuce, was the princi p~ L t rcc. Wilh these were n~wgled a vanety of shrubby trees, which aided to make the ravines almost lmpc.netrabl.e. . After several days' laborious travelling, we ~n cceedcd rn cxtncatmg ourselves fro1n the mountains, ancl on the n1ornir1g of the 2 th cucat~ped immedia.u~ly at their foot, on a handsome tributary to the Arkansas nvcr. In the afternoon we descendctl tile stream, winding our way along the bottoms, which were densely wooded witl t oak, and in tile evening enoamped near the main river. Contiuning the next day our roa~ along the Arkansas, and 1neeting on the way a war party of Arapahoe Tn (~r~ns, (who had recently been committin n- some outrages at Bent's fort, lullmg stock and driving off horses,) we :rrivcd before sunset at the Pneblo, uear the • mouth of the Fontaine-qui-bouit river, where wo had the pleasure to _find a n.ul!lhcr of our old acf1naiutu.uces. The little settlement appeared Ill a tlmvtng condition· and iu the int erval of our absence another had been established on the 'river, some thirty tnilcs above. June 30.-0ur cavalcade tnoved rapid! y down the Arkansas. alo11g the . . |