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Show [ 23] 112 · 1 d here there was plenty of fine timber. crossed over to an lS an ' r I dian wigwams, which had been made We also found here ~ev~;~ rnass that had be£>n cut in the summer. of brush and co~ere ~ t w~ could have wished for our mules, and This grass was JUSt w. at · h ve ~ufficed them for a week. In the there was enough ~f It"~ 1I-headed eagle." It lit upon a neighevening we saw a . ne ~d not be approached without wading boring island, winch .co~h river or else I should have sacrificed through an op~n ~pace; m e ' its life to obtam Its sk.~. our mules got off of the is~and during the . Janua'Ty 25.-Sorr~~ ~hem a ain without much difficulty. Soon mght, but. we caug an lncliagn travelling along the road on foot. aI ftaesrk esdt ahri~mmg .I wf ehem ewt as a Chyenne·' he answered with a nod, and went on. ' lock after a hard drive of 16 miles through ~now, we encAatm tpweod ou nc J er t 'h e s h e Iter of some cotton wood trees whiCh grew ncar a dry cree1k . f h d been latel v• occupi·e c1 b y I nc1 t' ans. 0 n Our !?resent oca ~~nsee~ circular sp~ces, which had been covered beyve trhye ~uId leo t' l:gveerse, taon d the pieces of bark that they had placed under theOirn eb eldnscl ..1 an cam e to our camp · As he said, the vi1· 1agc was ne· ar, . f en to it who purchased some wmter mocasms. I sent~~: ~at:.Yo;n buffalo ;obe, with the hair side in; by invel.op- ~he~~e feet wi~h slips of blanket, and putting on these moccasms, g ·e able to keep comfortably warm. . weJweJ 26 -We had a bad start this morning. In passing anuary · b · bl t x throu h a rleep snow-drift, one of our mules, not eing a e o e - t icat~ its fe•t, was thrown across the tongue of the wagon. T::~• r sa hard crust on the snow, which, breaking through beneat e ~~eels of our wagons, impeded us very much. .The. air was ex- - l' ly cold and the wagon wheels made a noise In the frosty sl'tn-'ot' C1.v m g·l ike th'e screallling of a large floc k o f bl ac kb'I r d s. Our mu!es harl a terrible time of it; where the crust on. the sn?w .bore them up, their feet were slipping about and wrenchmg t?etr hm~: violently, and when it broke .through, ~hey were plungmg uphe their knees, and scraping theu legs agat?st the sharp. crust.. T th~ were soon smoking with sweat, and puffing and blowmg w~th violence of their exertions; every little while we were obhged to stop. But our difficulties decreased some~hat towards the latt:~ part of the day, and we succeeded in makmg a maTch of f~urte d miles, when we found a good camping place, with plenty of woou; and on the islands in the Arkansas, as there was good grass for 0 animals. ave January 27.-As the day was very cold, and the deep s~ow gore us a great deal of trouble, we were not able to accomphsh ID t than nine miles of our journey. We encamped near the bspo where one C. P. Gibs0n had been buried. A piece of boar~, e::; ing the name of the deceased, and dated January 1, 1847, pomts th · to the traveller the resting place of this poor man, whose d~ies adds one more to the many which haYe occurred upon the pra1r 113 [ 23 J rwitbin the last eight months. The ravenous wolves had already -been at work on the grave, but the frozen ground had proved to() much for them. Near sundo~n an Ar~pahoe ch~ef arrive?, named by the whites "Long Beard. J!e patd m~ a VISit, and m the evening I went to return the compliment. Hts. lodge was the most luxurious habitation I had seeu for a 1ong t1me; there was no place where the cold winds could find ent:ance, and a few pieces of bark in the middle of the lodge kept It perfectly. warm. "Long Beard," finding out that I belonged to the "soldiers," produced a gilded ~paulette which had been presented to him at Bent's Fort· he .als-o .showed me a scrip of paper, signed by Mr. Wm. Bent, which p·aper mentioned "Long Beard" in the highest terms of commendation. This chief spoke a great many Spanish words, which enabled him to make himself understood. He told us the snow was so deep .that our mules could only nip the hearls of the ta1lest grass, and begged us no.t to atte.mpt .to proceed, as . ther.e was no grass and no buffaloes m. the dtr.ectwn we were ~otng, and that the scarcity of the necessanes of ltfe had forced l11m to leave that portion of the country, where his children and his ~orses had been starving .for some time past, and that he was now m search of meat for his .people and grass tor his animals. While we were here we saw the .squaws kill a fat puppy, and having singed the hair, they put it into the pot for supper. Dogs are considered a "bon bouche," only to be served on festal occasions, but rather than starve, poor "Long Beard" was obliged to be thus extravagant. It was well he kept his fat dogs under his eye, or some of my party might have been tempted to commit similar extravagances. .This evening we had some target shooting; although it was very wmdy, there were some excellent shots made. Janua1·y 28 .-The sun now burst forth with some power, and, assisted by a western wind, caused the snow to thaw rapidly. We made a march of twelve miles and encamped near a grove of cot.ton wood trees, and not far from a village of Cheyennes. The Indians immediately flocked round us in great numbers; they said that they had had nothing to eat for three days, as the snow that ·covered the country had driven the buffalo off to find pasture .grounds. · . ~fany. of them offered me presents, hoping that I would give preTistons In return, but I could not receive their presents, as I had .no provisions to spare. They then begged me to give them whiskey, .and annoyed us with their pertinacity, so that I would have driven · O~It of camp, had I not been obliged to let my mules run loose all '!11 ght, which circumstance they would have profited by to retaliate 1f we had given these people any offence. January 29.-As we were preparing to depart, the Cheyennes :gathered around us in great numbers. One of the principal men brought his whole family, which consisted of his wife, four or fi.-~e so;'ls and as many rlaughters, and desired me to give them somethmg to eat. He said that they had been without any meat for the last three days. A! all our provisions were packed away, I refused.. 8 |
