Geographical memoir upon upper California : in illustration of his map of Oregon and California

Page 100

I 23] 120 W marched a distance of 13 miles, and at ~ight were obliged' to enecamp in the open prairie. Our fires ~f "bois cie vache" serve(l ·well enough to boil our coffee.' bu.t very h ttle heat was to be ob-tained from the burning of this kmd of fuel. . . . February 9.-To-day we marched fifteen ~mles; a sltght ram that fell last night made our progre.ss more dif?cnlt than that_ of yesterday. Just as the ~un was settmg, anrl _whde I .was searchmg t a fit place for our httle camp to halt for the mght, 1 looked· ~~ck and saw a dense group of men suddenly rise up from behind­the river bank, where they had been secreted; they now sp~ead out to disply their numerical strength; .they had a httle flag d~splayed in token of amity, and they made stgns to us that they wished to· approach. vy e no~ permitted two of them to . come forward, and. I went out wrth Lamg to meet them. They offered us the hand, telling us that they were Pawnees, striking th eir breasts and crying out Pawnye! P awny e ! The one who styled himself the" captain"' asked why we were pulling the wag~n, and _wanted to know if .all our oxen had died· and added, that If we wished he would furmsh· us with mul es , for'he had a great number on the opp?site side of the river. He said that if I would encamp now, that In the morn­ing he would bring some of his _mules a cro~s the river: As ami­cable relations were now established, he signed for his party to approach, and we went on to the wagon. Fi1~din~ that the Indians were mingling amongst my men, I told the ch1ef In a loud tone to order them to keep away; they instantly obeyed him. We now encamped; all the Indians crossed the river except the chief and five others. I invited the chief to stay with me all night; he con­sented, but still retained his five attendants. I t old him that they must not stir about at nigh t , for my guards were always on the· watch for thievish Indians, and they might-be shot by mistake. At night they all crowded into my ten t , and slept coiled up in a little space scarce roomy enough for me alone. FebruaTy 10.-The morning was extremely cold and threatening,, clouds were flying rapidly across the sky. Our Indian friends, as. -soon as they looked out, raised their hands high above their head~, and, permitting them to hang loosely from the wrist, shook them as one shakes water from the tips of his fingers, and then they would touch some white object; by these signs they meant that "white rain" would fall when the sun was at such a position in his path, which position they indicated to us. They asked my permission to go to their ~wn lodge until the snow storm should b~ve passed, and they beg~ed me to accompany them. I deter­mm~ cl to .go, although the Ice was not strong enough to bear a mans we1ght; but I suspected that these very Indians had stolen -o.ur mules. Accompanied by the six Indians, I started across the nver. A strong north wind was blowing on our backs; this helped us ~l?ng, for we were obliged to keep our feet wide apart, in the position of those of a person who is sliding on the ice; but, never· theless, we a~l broke through constantly, and where the cur rent was -deep and rapid we were forced to wade. The air was freezmg e?ld, and as soon as we reached the southern bank of the river, we set 121 [ 23] off in a ~ard run to keep our wet clothing from freezing our limbs. The Indtans were not le~s wet than myself, for they had tied their leggins close ar~und theu ancles to protect their legs from being·in­jured when ~he 1ce broke ~hrough. After a run of a quarter of a mile, we arnved at the Inthan lodges. The chief called three of his party, who too~ my socks and leggins and moccasins· with little sticks they. beat off the ice; they wrung the water out 'or my clothes, and dned them by the fire. In the meanwhile I was obliged to sit with as little clothing on as ever any Indian wore. The Indians soon fixed a place for me to sit. In a short time they cooked some buffalo meat, and gave me the largest share of fat and of lean, which they placed on a flat stone in fault of a plate. Feigning after a while that I wanted to re-cross the river I steppe<l out to reconnoitre. The snow storm had caused the In­dians to collect their mules in the little gorges which abound among the sand hills that are found on this side of the Arkansas· the mules were also covered with skins of wolves and buffa1oes t; ·protect them. I coulo not see any thing of the mul es I had lost. The snow storm now raged fiercely, and I returned to the camo of the Indians, telling them that the storm raged too furiou ly for' me to cross the river. We laid down to sleep, which was now and then interr·upted by the entrance of some of the Indian sentine1s, who report ed every change in the weather, or any movement among the buffalo; although the latter were very numerons, still these Indians were almost without food; and while I was with them some of the subordinates came to dance the "beggar's dance" before the chief's lodge. I asked him what the dancers meant, an1l was told that they wanted something to eat. The chief then gave th em some buffalo meat. This confirmed rne in the suspicion that these fellows had stolen our mules. It was now evident that they were hne for some mischievous purpose, and would not fire at the buffalo for fear passers-by should hear their guns, and track them to their lair. I asked them why they did not kill buffalo. They answered, without hesitancy, that their guns might notify parties Qf ?heyennes, whiGh were continually making "war p aths" throu gh theu country. I asked the:n what they were doing here on the Arl:ansas. ThP.y said th~t there was no grass towards the ~orthern r<'g10n where they lived, and that they had brought. thetr m~.l~s here to graze; but, be it known that they were wtthout the1r women and children, and without lodges, not travelling like a peaceful grazing party, but prepared for war and robbery. !n the evening the storm cleared away; and, with the polite gutda~ce of the Indians, I managed to cross the river without break_Ing the ice, which was still weak, although much stronger than It was this morning. My men had lain abed all day, in order to keep war~, for th~re was no W')od to be had on this side of the river with whtch to budd fi_res .. I told them that they could get plenty of wood on th~ oppo­Site stde; but they broke through the ice, and were obliged to ret~rn; we were fain to use "buffalo chips." }ebruary 11.-This morning my men arose early and crossed the