they were about to hunt. “What!” exclaimed he, “without guns or arrows;
and with only one old spear? What do you expect to kill?” They smiled
among themselves, but made no answer. Preparatory to the chase, they
performed some religious rites, and offered up to the Great Spirit a
few short prayers for safety and success; then, having received the
blessings of their wives, they leaped upon their horses and departed,
leaving the whole party of Christian spectators amazed and rebuked by
this lesson of faith and dependence on a supreme and benevolent Being.
“Accustomed,” adds Captain Bonneville, “as I had heretofore been, to
find the wretched Indian revelling in blood, and stained by every vice
which can degrade human nature, I could scarcely realize the scene which
I had witnessed. Wonder at such unaffected tenderness and piety, where
it was least to have been sought, contended in all our bosoms with shame
and confusion, at receiving such pure and wholesome instructions from
creatures so far below us in the arts and comforts of life.” The simple
prayers of the poor Indians were not unheard. In the course of four or
five days they returned, laden with meat. Captain Bonneville was curious
to know how they had attained such success with such scanty means. They
gave him to understand that they had chased the buffalo at full speed,
until they tired them down, when they easily dispatched them with the
spear, and made use of the same weapon to flay the carcasses. To carry
through their lessons to their Christian friends, the poor savages were
as charitable as they had been pious, and generously shared with them
the spoils of their hunting, giving them food enough to last for several
days.
A further and more intimate intercourse with this tribe gave Captain
Bonneville still greater cause to admire their strong devotional
feeling. “Simply to call these people religious,” says he, “would convey
but a faint idea of the deep hue of piety and devotion which pervades
their whole conduct. Their honesty is immaculate, and their purity of
purpose, and their observance of the rites of their religion, are most
uniform and remarkable. They are, certainly, more like a nation of
saints than a horde of savages.”
In fact, the antibelligerent policy of this tribe may have sprung from
the doctrines of Christian charity, for it would appear that they had
imbibed some notions of the Christian faith from Catholic missionaries
and traders who had been among them. They even had a rude calendar of
the fasts and festivals of the Romish Church, and some traces of its
ceremonials. These have become blended with their own wild rites, and
present a strange medley; civilized and barbarous. On the Sabbath, men,
women, and children array themselves in their best style, and assemble
round a pole erected at the head of the camp. Here they go through a
wild fantastic ceremonial; strongly resembling the religious dance of
the Shaking Quakers; but from its enthusiasm, much more striking and
impressive. During the intervals of the ceremony, the principal chiefs,
who officiate as priests, instruct them in their duties, and exhort them
to virtue and good deeds.
“There is something antique and patriarchal,” observes Captain
Bonneville, “in this union of the offices of leader and priest; as there
is in many of their customs and manners, which are all strongly imbued
with religion.”
The worthy captain, indeed, appears to have been strongly interested by
this gleam of unlooked for light amidst the darkness of the wilderness.
He exerted himself, during his sojourn among this simple and
well-disposed people, to inculcate, as far as he was able, the gentle
and humanizing precepts of the Christian faith, and to make them
acquainted with the leading points of its history; and it speaks highly
for the purity and benignity of his heart, that he derived unmixed
happiness from the task.
“Many a time,” says he, “was my little lodge thronged, or rather piled
with hearers, for they lay on the ground, one leaning over the other,
until there was no further room, all listening with greedy ears to the
wonders which the Great Spirit had revealed to the white man. No
other subject gave them half the satisfaction, or commanded half the
attention; and but few scenes in my life remain so freshly on my memory,
or are so pleasurably recalled to my contemplation, as these hours
of intercourse with a distant and benighted race in the midst of the
desert.”
The only excesses indulged in by this temperate and exemplary people,
appear to be gambling and horseracing. In these they engage with an
eagerness that amounts to infatuation. Knots of gamblers will assemble
before one of their lodge fires, early in the evening, and remain
absorbed in the chances and changes of the game until long after dawn
of the following day. As the night advances, they wax warmer and warmer.
Bets increase in amount, one loss only serves to lead to a greater,
until in the course of a single night’s gambling, the richest chief may
become the poorest varlet in the camp.
10.
Black feet in the Horse Prairie--Search after the hunters--
Difficulties and dangers--A card party in the wilderness--
The card party interrupted--“Old Sledge” a losing game--
Visitors to the camp--Iroquois hunters--Hanging-eared
Indians
ON the 12th of October, two young Indians of the Nez Perce tribe arrived
at Captain Bonneville’s encampment. They were on their way homeward,
but had been obliged to swerve from their ordinary route through the
mountains, by deep snows. Their new route took them though the Horse
Prairie. In traversing it, they had been attracted by the distant smoke
of a camp fire, and on stealing near to reconnoitre, had discovered a
war party of Blackfeet. They had several horses with them; and, as they
generally go on foot on warlike excursions, it was concluded that these
horses had been captured in the course of their maraudings.
This intelligence awakened solicitude on the mind of Captain Bonneville
for the party of hunters whom he had sent to that neighborhood; and the
Nez Perces, when informed of the circumstances, shook their heads, and
declared their belief that the horses they had seen had been stolen
from that very party. Anxious for information on the subject, Captain
Bonneville dispatched two hunters to beat up the country in that
direction. They searched in vain; not a trace of the men could be found;
but they got into a region destitute of game, where they were well-nigh
famished. At one time they were three entire days with-out a mouthful
of food; at length they beheld a buffalo grazing at the foot of the
mountain. After manoeuvring so as to get within shot, they fired, but
merely wounded him. He took to flight, and they followed him over hill
and dale, with the eagerness and per-severance of starving men. A more
lucky shot brought him to the ground. Stanfield sprang upon him, plunged
his knife into his throat, and allayed his raging hunger by drinking
his blood: A fire was instantly kindled beside the carcass, when the two
hunters cooked, and ate again and again, until, perfectly gorged, they
sank to sleep before their hunting fire. On the following morning they
rose early, made another hearty meal, then loading themselves with
buffalo meat, set out on their return to the camp, to report the
fruitlessness of their mission.
At length, after six weeks’ absence, the hunters made their appearance,
and were received with joy proportioned to the anxiety that had been
felt on their account. They had hunted with success on the prairie,
but, while busy drying buffalo meat, were joined by a few panic-stricken
Flatheads, who informed them that a powerful band of Blackfeet was at
hand. The hunters immediately abandoned the dangerous hunting ground,
and accompanied the Flatheads to their village. Here they found Mr.
Cerre, and the detachment of hunters sent with him to accompany the
hunting party of the Nez Perces.
After remaining some time at the village, until they supposed the
Blackfeet to have left the neighborhood, they set off with some of
Mr. Cerre’s men for the cantonment at Salmon River, where they arrived
without accident. They informed Captain Bonneville, however, that not
far from his quarters they had found a wallet of fresh meat and a cord,
which they supposed had been left by some prowling Blackfeet. A few days
afterward Mr. Cerre, with the remainder of his men, likewise arrived at
the cantonment.
Mr. Walker, one of his subleaders, who had gone with a band of twenty
hunters to range the country just beyond the Horse Prairie, had likewise
his share of adventures with the all-pervading Blackfeet. At one of his
encampments the guard stationed to keep watch round the camp grew weary
of their duty, and feeling a little too secure, and too much at home on
these prairies, retired to a small grove of willows to amuse themselves
with a social game of cards called “old sledge,” which is as popular
among these trampers of the prairies as whist or ecarte among the polite
circles of the cities. From the midst of their sport they were suddenly
roused by a discharge of firearms and a shrill war-whoop. Starting on
their feet, and snatching up their rifles, they beheld in dismay their
horses and mules already in possession of the enemy, who had stolen upon
the camp unperceived, while they were spell-bound by the magic of old
sledge. The Indians sprang upon the animals barebacked, and endeavored
to urge them off under a galling fire that did some execution. The
mules, however, confounded by the hurly-burly and disliking their new
riders kicked up their heels and dismounted half of them, in spite of
their horsemanship. This threw the rest into confusion; they endeavored
to protect their unhorsed comrades from the furious assaults of the
whites; but, after a scene of “confusion worse confounded,” horses and
mules were abandoned, and the Indians betook themselves to the bushes.
Here they quickly scratched holes in the earth about two feet deep, in
which they prostrated themselves, and while thus screened from the shots
of the white men, were enabled to make such use of their bows and arrows
and fusees, as to repulse their assailants and to effect their retreat.
This adventure threw a temporary stigma upon the game of “old sledge.”
In the course of the autumn, four Iroquois hunters, driven by the snow
from their hunting grounds, made their appearance at the cantonment.
They were kindly welcomed, and during their sojourn made themselves
useful in a variety of ways, being excellent trappers and first-rate
woodsmen. They were of the remnants of a party of Iroquois hunters that
came from Canada into these mountain regions many years previously,
in the employ of the Hudson’s Bay Company. They were led by a brave
chieftain, named Pierre, who fell by the hands of the Blackfeet, and
gave his name to the fated valley of Pierre’s Hole. This branch of the
Iroquois tribe has ever since remained among these mountains, at mortal
enmity with the Blackfeet, and have lost many of their prime hunters in
their feuds with that ferocious race. Some of them fell in with
General Ashley, in the course of one of his gallant excursions into the
wilderness, and have continued ever since in the employ of the company.
Among the motley Visitors to the winter quarters of Captain Bonneville
was a party of Pends Oreilles (or Hanging-ears) and their chief. These
Indians have a strong resemblance, in character and customs, to the Nez
Perces. They amount to about three hundred lodges, are well armed, and
possess great numbers of horses. During the spring, summer, and autumn,
they hunt the buffalo about the head-waters of the Missouri, Henry’s
Fork of the Snake River, and the northern branches of Salmon River.
Their winter quarters are upon the Racine Amere, where they subsist upon
roots and dried buffalo meat. Upon this river the Hudson’s Bay Company
have established a trading post, where the Pends Oreilles and the
Flatheads bring their peltries to exchange for arms, clothing and
trinkets.
This tribe, like the Nez Perces, evince strong and peculiar feelings
of natural piety. Their religion is not a mere superstitious fear, like
that of most savages; they evince abstract notions of morality; a deep
reverence for an overruling spirit, and a respect for the rights of
their fellow men. In one respect their religion partakes of the pacific
doctrines of the Quakers. They hold that the Great Spirit is displeased
with all nations who wantonly engage in war; they abstain, therefore,
from all aggressive hostilities. But though thus unoffending in their
policy, they are called upon continually to wage defensive warfare;
especially with the Blackfeet; with whom, in the course of their hunting
expeditions, they come in frequent collision and have desperate battles.
Their conduct as warriors is without fear or reproach, and they can
never be driven to abandon their hunting grounds.
Like most savages they are firm believers in dreams, and in the power
and efficacy of charms and amulets, or medicines as they term them. Some
of their braves, also, who have had numerous hairbreadth ‘scapes, like
the old Nez Perce chief in the battle of Pierre’s Hole, are believed
to wear a charmed life, and to be bullet-proof. Of these gifted beings
marvelous anecdotes are related, which are most potently believed
by their fellow savages, and sometimes almost credited by the white
hunters.
11.
Rival trapping parties--Manoeuvring--A desperate game--
Vanderburgh and the Blackfeet--Deserted camp fire--A dark
defile--An Indian ambush--A fierce melee--Fatal
consequences--Fitzpatrick and Bridger--Trappers precautions
--Meeting with the Blackfeet--More fighting--Anecdote of a
young--Mexican and an Indian girl.
WHILE Captain Bonneville and his men are sojourning among the Nez
Perces, on Salmon River, we will inquire after the fortunes of those
doughty rivals of the Rocky Mountains and American Fur Companies, who
started off for the trapping grounds to the north-northwest.
Fitzpatrick and Bridger, of the former company, as we have already
shown, having received their supplies, had taken the lead, and hoped
to have the first sweep of the hunting grounds. Vanderburgh and
Dripps, however, the two resident partners of the opposite company, by
extraordinary exertions were enabled soon to put themselves upon their
traces, and pressed forward with such speed as to overtake them just
as they had reached the heart of the beaver country. In fact, being
ignorant of the best trapping grounds, it was their object to follow on,
and profit by the superior knowledge of the other party.
Nothing could equal the chagrin of Fitzpatrick and Bridger at being
dogged by their inexperienced rivals, especially after their offer
to divide the country with them. They tried in every way to blind and
baffle them; to steal a march upon them, or lead them on a wrong scent;
but all in vain. Vanderburgh made up by activity and intelligence for
his ignorance of the country; was always wary, always on the alert;
discovered every movement of his rivals, however secret and was not to
be eluded or misled.
Fitzpatrick and his colleague now lost all patience; since the
others persisted in following them, they determined to give them an
unprofitable chase, and to sacrifice the hunting season rather than
share the products with their rivals. They accordingly took up their
line of march down the course of the Missouri, keeping the main
Blackfoot trail, and tramping doggedly forward, without stopping to set
a single trap. The others beat the hoof after them for some time, but
by degrees began to perceive that they were on a wild-goose chase, and
getting into a country perfectly barren to the trapper. They now came
to a halt, and be-thought themselves how to make up for lost time, and
improve the remainder of the season. It was thought best to divide their
forces and try different trapping grounds. While Dripps went in one
direction, Vanderburgh, with about fifty men, proceeded in another.
The latter, in his headlong march had got into the very heart of the
Blackfoot country, yet seems to have been unconscious of his danger. As
his scouts were out one day, they came upon the traces of a recent band
of savages. There were the deserted fires still smoking, surrounded
by the carcasses of buffaloes just killed. It was evident a party
of Blackfeet had been frightened from their hunting camp, and had
retreated, probably to seek reinforcements. The scouts hastened back to
the camp, and told Vanderburgh what they had seen. He made light of the
alarm, and, taking nine men with him, galloped off to reconnoitre for
himself. He found the deserted hunting camp just as they had represented
it; there lay the carcasses of buffaloes, partly dismembered; there
were the smouldering fires, still sending up their wreaths of smoke;
everything bore traces of recent and hasty retreat; and gave reason to
believe that the savages were still lurking in the neighborhood. With
heedless daring, Vanderburgh put himself upon their trail, to trace them
to their place of concealment: It led him over prairies, and through
skirts of woodland, until it entered a dark and dangerous ravine.
Vanderburgh pushed in, without hesitation, followed by his little
band. They soon found themselves in a gloomy dell, between steep banks
overhung with trees, where the profound silence was only broken by the
tramp of their own horses.
Suddenly the horrid war-whoop burst on their ears, mingled with the
sharp report of rifles, and a legion of savages sprang from their
concealments, yelling, and shaking their buffalo robes to frighten
the horses. Vanderburgh’s horse fell, mortally wounded by the first
discharge. In his fall he pinned his rider to the ground, who called
in vain upon his men to assist in extricating him. One was shot down
scalped a few paces distant; most of the others were severely wounded,
and sought their safety in flight. The savages approached to dispatch
the unfortunate leader, as he lay struggling beneath his horse.. He
had still his rifle in his hand and his pistols in his belt. The first
savage that advanced received the contents of the rifle in his breast,
and fell dead upon the spot; but before Vanderburgh could draw a pistol,
a blow from a tomahawk laid him prostrate, and he was dispatched by
repeated wounds.
Such was the fate of Major Henry Vanderburgh, one of the best and
worthiest leaders of the American Fur Company, who by his manly bearing
and dauntless courage is said to have made himself universally popular
among the bold-hearted rovers of the wilderness.
Those of the little band who escaped fled in consternation to the camp,
and spread direful reports of the force and ferocity of the enemy. The
party, being without a head, were in complete confusion and dismay, and
made a precipitate retreat, without attempting to recover the remains
of their butchered leader. They made no halt until they reached the
encampment of the Pends Oreilles, or Hanging-ears, where they offered a
reward for the recovery of the body, but without success; it never could
be found.
In the meantime Fitzpatrick and Bridger, of the Rocky Mountain Company,
fared but little better than their rivals. In their eagerness to
mislead them they betrayed themselves into danger, and got into a region
infested with the Blackfeet. They soon found that foes were on the watch
for them; but they were experienced in Indian warfare, and not to be
surprised at night, nor drawn into an ambush in the daytime. As the
evening advanced, the horses were all brought in and picketed, and a
guard was stationed round the camp. At the earliest streak of day one of
the leaders would mount his horse, and gallop off full speed for about
half a mile; then look round for Indian trails, to ascertain whether
there had been any lurkers round the camp; returning slowly, he would
reconnoitre every ravine and thicket where there might be an ambush.
This done, he would gallop off in an opposite direction and repeat the
same scrutiny. Finding all things safe, the horses would be turned loose
to graze, but always under the eye of a guard.
A caution equally vigilant was observed in the march, on approaching any
defile or place where an enemy might lie in wait; and scouts were always
kept in the advance, or along the ridges and rising grounds on the
flanks.
At length, one day, a large band of Blackfeet appeared in the open
field, but in the vicinity of rocks and cliffs. They kept at a wary
distance, but made friendly signs. The trappers replied in the same way,
but likewise kept aloof. A small party of Indians now advanced, bearing
the pipe of peace; they were met by an equal number of white men, and
they formed a group midway between the two bands, where the pipe was
circulated from hand to hand, and smoked with all due ceremony. An
instance of natural affection took place at this pacific meeting.
Among the free trappers in the Rocky Mountain band was a spirited
young Mexican named Loretto, who, in the course of his wanderings, had
ransomed a beautiful Blackfoot girl from a band of Crows by whom she had
been captured. He made her his wife, after the Indian style, and she had
followed his fortunes ever since, with the most devoted affection.
Among the Blackfeet warriors who advanced with the calumet of peace she
recognized a brother. Leaving her infant with Loretto she rushed forward
and threw herself upon her brother’s neck, who clasped his long-lost
sister to his heart with a warmth of affection but little compatible
with the reputed stoicism of the savage.
While this scene was taking place, Bridger left the main body of
trappers and rode slowly toward the group of smokers, with his rifle
resting across the pommel of his saddle. The chief of the Blackfeet
stepped forward to meet him. From some unfortunate feeling of distrust
Bridger cocked his rifle just as the chief was extending his hand in
friendship. The quick ear of the savage caught the click of the lock; in
a twinkling he grasped the barrel, forced the muzzle downward, and the
contents were discharged into the earth at his feet. His next movement
was to wrest the weapon from the hand of Bridger and fell him with it to
the earth. He might have found this no easy task had not the unfortunate
leader received two arrows in his back during the struggle.
The chief now sprang into the vacant saddle and galloped off to his
band. A wild hurry-skurry scene ensued; each party took to the banks,
the rocks and trees, to gain favorable positions, and an irregular
firing was kept up on either side, without much effect. The Indian girl
had been hurried off by her people at the outbreak of the affray. She
would have returned, through the dangers of the fight, to her husband
and her child, but was prevented by her brother. The young Mexican
saw her struggles and her agony, and heard her piercing cries. With a
generous impulse he caught up the child in his arms, rushed forward,
regardless of Indian shaft or rifle, and placed it in safety upon her
bosom. Even the savage heart of the Blackfoot chief was reached by this
noble deed. He pronounced Loretto a madman for his temerity, but bade
him depart in peace. The young Mexican hesitated; he urged to have his
wife restored to him, but her brother interfered, and the countenance of
the chief grew dark. The girl, he said, belonged to his tribe-she must
remain with her people. Loretto would still have lingered, but his wife
implored him to depart, lest his life should be endangered. It was with
the greatest reluctance that he returned to his companions.
The approach of night put an end to the skirmishing fire of the adverse
parties, and the savages drew off without renewing their hostilities. We
cannot but remark that both in this affair and that of Pierre’s Hole the
affray commenced by a hostile act on the part of white men at the moment
when the Indian warrior was extending the hand of amity. In neither
instance, as far as circumstances have been stated to us by different
persons, do we see any reason to suspect the savage chiefs of perfidy in
their overtures of friendship. They advanced in the confiding way usual
among Indians when they bear the pipe of peace, and consider themselves
sacred from attack. If we violate the sanctity of this ceremonial,
by any hostile movement on our part, it is we who incur the charge of
faithlessness; and we doubt not that in both these instances the white
men have been considered by the Blackfeet as the aggressors, and have,
in consequence, been held up as men not to be trusted.
A word to conclude the romantic incident of Loretto and his Indian
bride. A few months subsequent to the event just related, the young
Mexican settled his accounts with the Rocky Mountain Company, and
obtained his discharge. He then left his comrades and set off to rejoin
his wife and child among her people; and we understand that, at the time
we are writing these pages, he resides at a trading-house established of
late by the American Fur Company in the Blackfoot country, where he acts
as an interpreter, and has his Indian girl with him.
12.
A winter camp in the wilderness--Medley of trappers,
hunters, and Indians--Scarcity of game--New arrangements in
the camp--Detachments sent to a distance--Carelessness of
the Indians when encamped--Sickness among the Indians--
Excellent character of the Nez-Perces--The Captain’s effort
as a pacificator--A Nez-Perce’s argument in favor of war--
Robberies, by the Black feet--Long suffering of the Nez-
Perces--A hunter’s Elysium among the mountains--More
robberies--The Captain preaches up a crusade--The effect
upon his hearers.