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Show ( 12 ) day with some new songs, or pieces, in consequenc~ of whic~ we Ph:tlangarians anticipated great musical pleasure dunng our JOUrn y to California. We arrived at St. Louis on the 19th October, whNe we were arl ·viscd to complete our provisions, and to purrh~s ' mules, &c., rJOt at St. Louis, but at Fort Independencr, where we could get th~m nt lt>;l:;t a cheap as in the former place, saving the cxpcflsrs of transpo rt. :')·O we went on and up tbc Missouri river to Independence. ller~ t?c company held a o·rL'ai council, whet b ~r thry should travel exclu ·~,·~·: y on mules, or partly on mules and on wagons; at len~-T.fh the oplllwn prevailed, that it wn better on mules, and witho~t an:y wagon , h - r.ause of the difficulties to eros· rirers and mountams w1th the latter. Fifty mules were at one purchased, so thnt every member of the c~mpany had one for ridin ~, nnd one for ca:rying ~is bn~gage; a ~d afterwHrds, on consideration of pos.iule aceHicnts, m ca ses of losmg any mules, ten more were added, and a mounted dri\· r was appointed to watch them. So our whole party ronsi~t(·d of twcnt)·-six persons and sixty-two mules~ wll<'n we started from lnrl epenclcnce. . Every one was suJficicntly provided with many kinds of dry VlCtnn! s for seve ral months, be ides ten pounds of rice, which should not lJe touched but in the utmost necessity. Jldam had proposed this measnre of prudence, stating that :my person could live on two ounces of rice, boiled in water with a little salt, every day for several mon~hs succe~ sivcly: thus, ten pounds of rice, (at sixteen ounces each) w1th <l proportiont!d quantity of salt, would be sufficient to feed one person for Pighty days. 'h~ We were provide(! -vvith as mnny tents as our l11lmber reqllir~d. Among our stock of things \ve bnd some articles for trading with 1 he Indians-Mackinaw bhtnkets, red cloth, vermilion, &c.-according to TVaanatan's good nch·ice. Our rule of trav lling was, th at we should alwnys keep together a~ much as pos. ihk, ridin~ along by two and two. Any Joss of provision~, &c., was to be borne hy nll in common. Every one was armed with a riHe, a pair of pistols, six pounds of powder, twelve pounds of balls,. ; sword, a clagger, and a pncket-knife. w·e reached F ort Lc;nenwort h on Wednesday, the 22d of N ov<'mber, one year and two days after tl1e dcpartnrP of Lieutenant Beale's party for Bent's Fort <~nd San ta F'€!. Up to LPavenworth we might .'ll ill con"ider omsclvl'•' within the limits of civilization, but beyond that place commrn~ed the r{'::J 1 wilderness of the Great West, inhabit-ed only by savngcs and wild anirnnls. · On Friday, th'c 24th of N ovcmber, we started from Fort Leavcn ·worth, after we h<icl addf'd 1'ix oxen to our stock of provi!'ions. Nothing of conscq.uenre hap pened on 1he :fir~t day of onr journey wards Fort Laramte, except that Donalson, our Irish comrade, was . *This was pnwed dnring- the siPge of Gilmtltar, in 1782, whC'n Gem•ral Elliot, the gallant· corrHniln? e~ of th.c small British g-arrison, lived for SP.veral months upon .two on?(:('. :; of n:·e ~1atly, (and flO di~l the people nnder his command,) standmg· agamRt a besJegmg- army of 30,000 Frenchmen and Spaniards, until 1he peace of thf' ~Oth of January, 1 "YA3. ( 13 ) th r~rwn from his mule, just before cro~sing a ~ittle creek, which tht ~tubborn animal refused to pass, notw1thstandmg the repeated blows and pulls of its angry rider; the more he pulled for~ard, the m?re it retreated backwf\rd, until, at last, Pat out of patience, exclauned, ·'Faith! 1 sec what's to lJe done : every man will have his own way.'' He now took the mule by its tail and pulled backward, when, lo! the stubborn creature rushed forward, running through the water, while Donalson followed, holding its tail with one hand and the bridle with the other. "Donalson!" joked our Y nnkee upon him; "I calculate, before you're thrown down the next time we come to a stream, I'll give the refractory critter a good pull by its tail in your behalf; or, will you turn about nnd sit backwards, taking the tail for th~ bridle?" Pat was wise enough to join the general laugh, and promised to call for Jofuns whenever his ''baste" wanted its tail pulled again. At noon we made a halt for one hour. About two hours aft.cr we hacl moved on ao·ain, Maxie and Urban, who rode in the rear of our cavalcade, sudde~ly shouted, "Indians!" These, however, turned out merely to be a lame flock of crows, bu ily engaged and flying about our last stopping-J~Iaee. This false alarm gave us all an opportunity to show our still imperft:•c tly exercised readiness in lighting all on a sudden; but Johns took it for a good joke, iu explaini11g the difference bet wren these crows and the "Crows," (a trilw of Indians,) near the Rocky Mounta ins, whose war-whoop, he supposed , to be somewh(l t. louder than the unharmOilious crowi11g (If th l·St> feathered gentry, tha t had frightenerl Maxie and Urban' mu. ice:ll sensibility into ::;uch a lJlunder. "I reckon, our able singer, with his talt•ntcd companion on the darionet," railed Johns, "wo'n't get out of tbcir temper, or of thl'ir tune, nt seeing tbosc other' Crows' wielding tomahawks instead of v,;ings; but for this time they have both hit wrong notes, I presume." Towards cvrnino- ·we disco n:'red, not far from us westward, a smnll J g roup of real fndinns, without being, however, frightened at their ap-pearance, which was not at all warlike, as they w re men and women in equal numbers. Some of the sq11aws carritd thL'ir pappooses, bound fast upon boards, on their Lacks, the little one. ' f< ccs turned backward, which were the only visible parts of their bodies, their arms and feet being wrappod up and fastened upon thr .. hoards, large ribbons it~suing from these and going around the ~quo \\1S' f<:reheCids, which .they bend forward, while they carried 1heir little offspnngs Hlong. Neither men nor womPn were scared at onr company, but npproachecl us for the purpose of begging something from us. We gave. the poor cr~atures all the copper mont'y we had still in our pos ess1on, amountmg to a little OVt'r one dollar, which we distributed among them in equal shares, while they nodded their humble thanks in receiving them, whereupon the oldest one of them n said, in plain English:" Gentlemen Americans, beware oft he Sionx ! They are not all as good-looking as that fine warrior," poin1·in0' to Wnanataa, "who is the white people's friend, because they tre~t him like a brother." Waanataa said nothing, a.nd smiled ; but we thanked the poor Indian for his well-int•mtioned |
