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Show 304 VISIT TO THE NEW SETTLEMENT, FORT WILLIAM. the meat, arrived soon after. A bleak, disagreeable wind had prevailed the whole day, the temperature, at noon, being only 61°. We, therefore, enjoyed the evening in conversation with Mr. Hamilton, by the fireside, over a glass of punch, which beverage was our daily refreshment during our four weeks' stay at Fort Union. I obtained from Mr. Hamilton much information relative to the country in which we now were ; and he read to us an interesting MS. which he had composed, respecting the life of Glass, the beaver hunter, written down from his own words a short time before he was shot, with two of his companions, by the Arikkaras. A man of the name of Gardner, who afterwards happened to meet with these Indians, killed two of them with his own hand, and I received the scalp of one of them, as a present, during my stay in the fort. Mr. Hamilton intended to have this life printed. As early as the 16th of October a truly wintry wind blew in the prairie; the temperature was only 46° at noon. On the following day the ground was thickly covered with snow; and, at eight o'clock in the morning, the mercury had fallen to 39°. We paid several visits to Fort William, a new settlement, founded by Messrs. Soublette and Campbell, opposite the mouth of the Yellow Stone, which was not yet entirely surrounded with palisades. Mr. Campbell, who resided there, gave us a very friendly reception, and afterwards visited us at Fort Union. I often walked along the banks of the Missouri to Fort William, in agreeable conversation with Mr. Hamilton, and received, from Mr. Campbell, much information respecting his residence and travels in the Rocky Mountains. The remainder of our time we employed in excursions in the prairies. The appearance of the country differed, in many respects, from what we had found it on our preceding visit. The forests were tinged with yellow, or other varied hues ; large flights of blackbirds, and numbers of ravens, crows, and magpies, were flying along the skirts of the woods; thrushes were departing in small companies, and some species of finches still animated the thorny bushes ; the yellow goldfinch had already put on its winter dress. In the bleak prairie we found the prairie hens singly, or in small flocks, whose crops were full of the red berries of the low rose bushes. The cactus was still green, but the fruit was withered. These plants bear the winter of this climate, which is often severe, extremely well; but their joints generally become wrinkled, and are often frozen, but the roots always produce new shoots. Flocks of ducks and wild geese were in the river, and on the lakes, for instance, one near the mouth of the Yellow Stone, there were always great numbers of water fowl. Our hunters often resorted thither, and returned heavily laden with wild geese, ducks, and musk-rats. The cranes and pelicans passed in large flocks, and Antoine, the negro, killed many of them. The little squirrels were no longer seen in the prairies, having retired for their winter sleep ; but we perceived, at the mouth of their burrows, that they had taken in a quantity of prairie grass. The wolves now came very near to the fort, and prowled round it, even in the daytime, so that, while I was there, one of |
