Soon after the writing of my last Letter, which was dated at the Mouth
of Yellow Stone, I embarked on the river for this place, where I landed
safely; and have resided for a couple of weeks, a guest in this almost
subterraneous city—the strangest place in the world; where one sees
in the most rapid succession, scenes which force him to mirth—to pity
and compassion—to admiration—disgust; to fear and astonishment. But
before I proceed to reveal them, I must give you a brief sketch of my
voyage down the river from the Mouth of the Yellow Stone river to this
place, a distance of 200 miles; and which my little note-book says, was
performed somewhat in the following manner:
When I had completed my rambles and my sketches in those regions, and
Ba’tiste and Bogard had taken their last spree, and fought their last
battles, and forgotten them in the final and affectionate embrace and
farewell (all of which are habitual with these game-fellows, when
settling up their long-standing accounts with their fellow-trappers
of the mountain streams); and after Mr. M‘Kenzie had procured for me
a snug little craft, that was to waft us down the mighty torrent; we
launched off one fine morning, taking our leave of the Fort, and the
friends within it; and also, for ever, of the beautiful green fields,
and hills, and dales, and prairie bluffs, that encompass the enchanting
shores of the Yellow Stone.
Our canoe, which was made of green timber, was heavy and awkward; but
our course being with the current, promised us a fair and successful
voyage. Ammunition was laid in in abundance—a good stock of dried
buffalo tongues—a dozen or two of beavers’ tails—and a good supply of
pemican. Bogard and Ba’tiste occupied the middle and bow, with their
paddles in their hands; and I took my seat in the stern of the boat,
at the steering oar. Our larder was as I have said; and added to that,
some few pounds of fresh buffalo meat.
Besides which, and ourselves, our little craft carried several
packs of Indian dresses and other articles, which I had purchased
of the Indians; and also my canvass and easel, and our culinary
articles, which were few and simple; consisting of three tin cups, a
coffee-pot—one plate—a frying-pan—and a tin kettle.
Thus fitted out and embarked, we swept off at a rapid rate under the
shouts of the savages, and the cheers of our friends, who lined the
banks as we gradually lost sight of them, and turned our eyes towards
St. Louis, which was 2000 miles below us, with nought intervening, save
the widespread and wild regions, inhabited by the roaming savage.
At the end of our first day’s journey, we found ourselves handily
encamping with several thousand Assinneboins, who had pitched their
tents upon the bank of the river, and received us with every mark of
esteem and friendship.
In the midst of this group, was my friend Wi-jun-jon (the pigeon’s
egg head), still lecturing on the manners and customs of the “pale
faces.” Continuing to relate without any appearance of exhaustion, the
marvellous scenes which he had witnessed amongst the white people, on
his tour to Washington City.
Many were the gazers who seemed to be the whole time crowding around
him, to hear his recitals; and the plight which he was in rendered his
appearance quite ridiculous. His beautiful military dress, of which I
before spoke, had been so shockingly tattered and metamorphosed, that
his appearance was truly laughable.
His keg of whiskey had dealt out to his friends all its charms—his
frock-coat, which his wife had thought was of no earthly use below
the waist, had been cut off at that place, and the nether half of it
supplied her with a beautiful pair of leggings; and his silver-laced
hat-band had been converted into a splendid pair of garters for the
same. His umbrella the poor fellow still affectionately held on to,
and kept spread at all times. As I before said, his theme seemed to
be exhaustless, and he, in the estimation of his tribe, to be an
unexampled liar.
Of the village of Assinneboins we took leave on the following morning,
and rapidly made our way down the river. The rate of the current
being four or five miles per hour, through one continued series of
picturesque grass-covered bluffs and knolls, which everywhere had the
appearance of an old and highly-cultivated country, with houses and
fences removed.
There is, much of the way, on one side or the other, a bold and abrupt
precipice of three or four hundred feet in elevation, presenting itself
in an exceedingly rough and picturesque form, to the shore of the
river; sloping down from the summit level of the prairies above, which
sweep off from the brink of the precipice, almost level, to an unknown
distance.
It is along the rugged and wild fronts of these cliffs, whose sides are
generally formed of hard clay, that the mountain-sheep dwell, and are
often discovered in great numbers. Their habits are much like those
of the goat; and in every respect they are like that animal, except
in the horns, which resemble those of the ram; sometimes making two
entire circles in their coil; and at the roots, each horn is, in some
instances, from five to six inches in breadth.
On the second day of our voyage we discovered a number of these
animals skipping along the sides of the precipice, always keeping
about equi-distant between the top and bottom of the ledge; leaping
and vaulting in the most extraordinary manner from point to point, and
seeming to cling actually, to the sides of the wall, where neither man
nor beast could possibly follow them.
We landed our canoe, and endeavoured to shoot one of these sagacious
animals; and after he had led us a long and fruitless chase, amongst
the cliffs, we thought we had fairly entrapped him in such a way as to
be sure to bring him, at last, within the command of our rifles; when
he suddenly bounded from his narrow foot-hold in the ledge, and tumbled
down a distance of more than a hundred feet, amongst the fragments of
rocks and clay, where I thought we must certainly find his carcass
without further trouble; when, to my great surprise, I saw him bounding
off, and he was almost instantly out of my sight.
Bogard, who was an old hunter, and well acquainted with these
creatures, shouldered his rifle, and said to me—“the game is up; and
you now see the use of those big horns; when they fall by accident, or
find it necessary to quit their foot-hold in the crevice, they fall
upon their head at a great distance unharmed, even though it should be
on the solid rock.”
Being on shore, and our canoe landed secure, we whiled away the greater
part of this day amongst the wild and ragged cliffs, into which we had
entered; and a part of our labours were vainly spent in the pursuit
of a war-eagle. This noble bird is the one which the Indians in these
regions, value so highly for their tail feathers, which are used as
the most valued plumes for decorating the heads and dresses of their
warriors. It is a beautiful bird, and, the Indians tell me, conquers
all other varieties of eagles in the country; from which circumstance,
the Indians respect the bird, and hold it in the highest esteem, and
value its quills. I am unable so say to what variety it belongs; but
I am sure it is not to be seen in any of our museums; nor is it to be
found in America (I think), until one gets near to the base of the
Rocky Mountains. This bird has often been called the calumet eagle and
war-eagle; the last of which appellations I have already accounted
for; and the other has arisen from the fact, that the Indians almost
invariably ornament their calumets or pipes of peace with its quills.
Our day’s loitering brought us through many a wild scene; occasionally
across the tracks of the grizzly bear, and, in sight merely of a band
of buffaloes; “which got the wind of us,” and were out of the way,
leaving us to return to our canoe at night, with a mere speck of good
luck. Just before we reached the river, I heard the crack of a rifle,
and in a few moments Bogard came in sight, and threw down from his
shoulders a fine antelope; which added to our larder, and we were
ready to proceed. We embarked and travelled until nightfall, when
we encamped on a beautiful little prairie at the base of a series of
grass-covered bluffs; and the next morning cooked our breakfast and
ate it, and rowed on until late in the afternoon; when we stopped at
the base of some huge clay bluffs, forming one of the most curious
and romantic scenes imaginable. At this spot the river expands itself
into the appearance somewhat of a beautiful lake; and in the midst of
it, and on and about its sand-bars, floated and stood, hundreds and
thousands of white swans and pelicans.
Though the scene in front of our encampment at this place was placid
and beautiful; with its flowing water—its wild fowl—and its almost
endless variety of gracefully sloping hills and green prairies in the
distance; yet it was not less wild and picturesque in our rear, where
the rugged and various coloured bluffs were grouped in all the wildest
fancies and rudeness of Nature’s accidental varieties.
The whole country behind us seemed to have been dug and thrown up into
huge piles, as if some giant mason had been there mixing his mortar
and paints, and throwing together his rude models for some sublime
structure of a colossal city;—with its walls—its domes—its ramparts—its
huge porticos and galleries—its castles—its fosses and ditches;—and in
the midst of his progress, he had abandoned his works to the destroying
hand of time, which had already done much to tumble them down, and
deface their noble structure; by jostling them together, with all their
vivid colours, into an unsystematic and unintelligible mass of sublime
ruins.
To this group of clay bluffs, which line the river for many miles in
distance, the voyageurs have very appropriately given the name of “the
Brick-kilns;” owing to their red appearance, which may be discovered in
a clear day at the distance of many leagues.
By the action of water, or other power, the country seems to have been
graded away; leaving occasionally a solitary mound or bluff, rising in
a conical form to the height of two or three hundred feet, generally
pointed or rounded at the top, and in some places grouped together
in great numbers; some of which having a tabular surface on the top,
and covered with a green turf. This fact (as all of those which are
horizontal on their tops, and corresponding exactly with the summit
level of the wide-spreading prairies in distance) clearly shows, that
their present isolated and rounded forms have been produced by the
action of waters: which have carried away the intervening earth, and
left them in the picturesque shapes in which they are now seen.
A similar formation (or _de_formation) may be seen in hundreds of
places on the shores of the Missouri river, and the actual progress
of the operation by which it is produced; leaving yet for the
singularity of this place, the peculiar feature, that nowhere else
(to my knowledge) occurs; that the superstratum, forming the tops of
these mounds (where they remain high enough to support anything of
the original surface) is composed, for the depth of fifteen feet, of
red pumice; terminating at its bottom, in a layer of several feet of
sedimentary deposite, which is formed into endless conglomerates of
basaltic crystals.
This strange feature in the country arrests the eye of a traveller
suddenly, and as instantly brings him to the conclusion, that he stands
in the midst of the ruins of an extinguished volcano.
As will be seen in the drawings (+plate+ 37, a near view, and +plate+
38, a distant view), the sides of these conical bluffs (which are
composed of strata of different coloured clays), are continually
washing down by the effect of the rains and melting of the frost; and
the superincumbent masses of pumice and basalt are crumbling off, and
falling down to their bases; and from thence, in vast quantities, by
the force of the gorges of water which are often cutting their channels
between them—carried into the river, which is close by; and wafted for
thousands of miles, floating as light as a cork upon its surface, and
lodging in every pile of drift-wood from this place to the ocean.
The upper part of this layer of pumice is of a brilliant red; and when
the sun is shining upon it, is as bright and vivid as vermilion. It is
porous and open, and its specific gravity but trifling. These curious
bluffs must be seen as they are in nature; or else in a painting, where
their colours are faithfully given, or they lose their picturesque
beauty, which consists in the variety of their vivid tints. The strata
of clay are alternating from red to yellow—white—brown and dark blue;
and so curiously arranged, as to form the most pleasing and singular
effects.
During the day that I loitered about this strange scene, I left my
men stretched upon the grass, by the canoe; and taking my rifle and
sketch-book in my hand, I wandered and clambered through the rugged
defiles between the bluffs; passing over and under the immense blocks
of the pumice, that had fallen to their bases; determined, if possible,
to find the crater, or source, from whence these strange phenomena
had sprung; but after clambering and squeezing about for some time,
I unfortunately came upon the enormous tracks of a grizzly bear,
which, apparently, was travelling in the same direction (probably for
a very different purpose) but a few moments before me; and my ardour
for exploring was instantly so cooled down, that I hastily retraced
my steps, and was satisfied with making my drawings, and collecting
specimens of the lava and other minerals in its vicinity.
After strolling about during the day, and contemplating the beauty of
the scenes that were around me, while I sat upon the pinnacles of these
pumice-capped mounds; most of which time, Bogard and Ba’tiste laid
enjoying the pleasure of a “mountaineer’s nap”—we met together—took
our coffee and dried buffalo tongues—spread our buffalo robes upon the
grass, and enjoyed during the night the luxury of sleep, that belongs
so peculiarly to the tired voyageur in these realms of pure air and
dead silence.
[Illustration: 37]
[Illustration: 38]
In the morning, and before sunrise, as usual, Bogard (who was a Yankee,
and a “wide-awake-fellow,” just retiring from a ten years’ siege of
hunting and trapping in the Rocky Mountains,) thrust his head out from
under the robe, rubbing his eyes open, and exclaiming as he grasped
for his gun, “By darn, look at old Cale! will you!” Ba’tiste, who was
more fond of his dreams, snored away, muttering something that I could
not understand, when Bogard seized him with a grip, that instantly
shook off his iron slumbers. I rose at the same time, and all eyes
were turned at once upon _Caleb_ (as the grizzly bear is familiarly
called by the trappers in the Rocky Mountains—or more often “Cale,” for
brevity’s sake), who was sitting up in the dignity and fury of her sex,
within a few rods, and gazing upon us, with her two little cubs at her
side! here was a “_fix_,” and a subject for the painter; but I had no
time to sketch it—I turned my eyes to the canoe which had been fastened
at the shore a few paces from us; and saw that everything had been
pawed out of it, and all eatables had been without ceremony devoured.
My packages of dresses and Indian curiosities had been drawn out upon
the bank, and deliberately opened and inspected. Every thing had been
scraped and pawed out, to the bottom of the boat; and even the rawhide
thong, with which it was tied to a stake, had been chewed, and no doubt
swallowed, as there was no trace of it remaining. Nor was this peep
into the secrets of our luggage enough for her insatiable curiosity—we
saw by the prints of her huge paws, that were left in the ground, that
she had been perambulating our humble mattresses, smelling at our toes
and our noses, without choosing to molest us; verifying a trite saying
of the country, “That man lying down is _medicine_ to the grizzly
bear;” though it is a well-known fact, that man and beast, upon their
feet, are sure to be attacked when they cross the path of this grizzly
and grim monster, which is the terror of all this country; often
growing to the enormous size of eight hundred or one thousand pounds.
Well—whilst we sat in the dilemma which I have just described, each
one was hastily preparing his weapons for defence, when I proposed the
mode of attack; by which means I was in hopes to destroy her—capture
her young ones, and bring her skin home as a trophy. My plans, however,
entirely failed, though we were well armed; for Bogard and Ba’tiste
both remonstrated with a vehemence that was irresistible; saying that
the standing rule in the mountains was “never to fight Caleb, except
in self-defence.” I was almost induced, however, to attack her alone,
with my rifle in hand, and a pair of heavy pistols; with a tomahawk
and scalping-knife in my belt; when Ba’tiste suddenly thrust his arm
over my shoulder and pointing in another direction, exclaimed in an
emphatic tone, “Voila! voila un corps de reserve—Monsr. Cataline—voila
sa mari! allons—allons! déscendons la riviére, toute de suite! toute
de suite! Monsr.” to which Bogard added, “these darned animals are too
much for us, and we had better be off;” at which my courage cooled, and
we packed up and re-embarked as fast as possible; giving each one of
them the contents of our rifles as we drifted off in the current; which
brought the she-monster, in all her rage and fury, to the spot where
we, a few moments before, had passed our most prudent resolve.
During the rest of this day, we passed on rapidly, gazing upon and
admiring the beautiful shores, which were continually changing, from
the high and ragged cliffs, to the graceful and green slopes of the
prairie bluffs; and then to the wide expanded meadows, with their long
waving grass, enamelled with myriads of wild flowers.
The scene was one of enchantment the whole way; our chief conversation
was about grizzly bears and hair’s-breadth escapes; of the histories
of which my companions had volumes in store.—Our breakfast was a late
one—cooked and eaten about five in the afternoon; at which time our
demolished larder was luckily replenished by the unerring rifle of
Bogard, which brought down a fine antelope, as it was innocently gazing
at us, from the bank of the river. We landed our boat, and took in
our prize; but there being no wood for our fire, we shoved off, and
soon ran upon the head of an island, that was covered with immense
quantities of raft and drift wood, where we easily kindled a huge fire
and ate our delicious meal from a clean peeled log, astride of which
we comfortably sat, making it answer admirably the double purpose of
chairs and a table. After our meal was finished, we plied the paddles,
and proceeded several miles further on our course; leaving our fire
burning, and dragging our canoe upon the shore, in the dark, in a wild
and unknown spot; and silently spreading our robes for our slumbers,
which it is not generally considered prudent to do by the side of our
fires, which might lead a war-party upon us, who often are prowling
about and seeking an advantage over their enemy.
The scenery of this day’s travel, as I have before said, was
exceedingly beautiful; and our canoe was often run to the shore,
upon which we stepped to admire the endless variety of wild flowers,
“wasting their sweetness on the desert air,” and the abundance of
delicious fruits that were about us. Whilst wandering through the high
grass, the wild sun-flowers and voluptuous lilies were constantly
taunting us by striking our faces; whilst here and there, in every
direction, there were little copses and clusters of plum trees and
gooseberries, and wild currants, loaded down with their fruit; and
amongst these, to sweeten the atmosphere and add a charm to the
effect, the wild rose bushes seemed planted in beds and in hedges, and
everywhere were decked out in all the glory of their delicate tints,
and shedding sweet aroma to every breath of the air that passed over
them.
In addition to these, we had the luxury of service-berries, without
stint; and the buffalo bushes, which are peculiar to these northern
regions, lined the banks of the river and defiles in the bluffs,
sometimes for miles together; forming almost impassable hedges,
so loaded with the weight of their fruit, that their boughs were
everywhere gracefully bending down and resting on the ground.
This last shrub (_shepperdia_), which may be said to be the most
beautiful ornament that decks out the wild prairies, forms a striking
contrast to the rest of the foliage, from the blue appearance of its
leaves, by which it can be distinguished for miles in distance. The
fruit which it produces in such incredible profusion, hanging in
clusters to every limb and to every twig, is about the size of ordinary
currants, and not unlike them in colour and even in flavour; being
exceedingly acid, and almost unpalatable, until they are bitten by the
frost of autumn, when they are sweetened, and their flavour delicious;
having, to the taste, much the character of grapes, and I am inclined
to think, would produce excellent wine.
The shrub which bears them resembles some varieties of the thorn,
though (as I have said) differs entirely in the colour of its leaves.
It generally grows to the height of six or seven feet, and often to
ten or twelve; and in groves or hedges, in some places, for miles in
extent. While gathering the fruit, and contemplating it as capable of
producing good wine, I asked my men this question, “Suppose we three
had ascended the river to this point in the spring of the year, and in
a timbered bottom had pitched our little encampment; and one of you two
had been a boat-builder, and the other a cooper—the one to have got out
your staves and constructed the wine casks, and the other to have built
a mackinaw-boat, capable of carrying fifty or a hundred casks; and I
had been a good hunter, capable of supplying the little encampment with
meat; and we should have started off about this time, to float down
the current, stopping our boat wherever we saw the finest groves of
the buffalo bush, collecting the berries and expressing the juice, and
putting it into our casks for fermentation while on the water for two
thousand miles; how many bushels of these berries could you two gather
in a day, provided I watched the boat and cooked your meals? and how
many barrels of good wine do you think we could offer for sale in St.
Louis when we should arrive there?”
This idea startled my two men exceedingly, and Ba’tiste gabbled so
fast in French, that I could not translate; and I am almost willing
to believe, that but for the want of the requisite tools for the
enterprize, I should have lost the company of Bogard and Ba’tiste; or
that I should have been under the necessity of submitting to one of the
unpleasant alternatives which are often regulated by the _majority_, in
this strange and singular wilderness.
I at length, however, got their opinions on the subject; when they
mutually agreed that they could gather thirty bushels of this fruit
per day; and I gave it then, and I offer it now, as my own also,
that their estimate was not out of the way, and judged so from the
experiments which we made in the following manner:—We several times
took a large mackinaw blanket which I had in the canoe, and spreading
it on the ground under the bushes, where they were the most abundantly
loaded with fruit; and by striking the stalk of the tree with a club,
we received the whole contents of its branches in an instant on the
blanket, which was taken up by the corners, and not unfrequently would
produce us, from one blow, the eighth part of a bushel of this fruit;
when the boughs relieved of their burden, instantly flew up to their
native position.
Of this beautiful native, which I think would form one of the loveliest
ornamental shrubs for a gentleman’s park or pleasure grounds, I
procured a number of the roots; but which, from the many accidents and
incidents that our unlucky bark was subjected to on our rough passage,
I lost them (and almost the recollection of them) as well as many other
curiosities I had collected on our way down the river.
On the morning of the next day, and not long after we had stopped and
taken our breakfast, and while our canoe was swiftly gliding along
under the shore of a beautiful prairie, I saw in the grass, on the
bank above me, what I supposed to be the back of a fine elk, busy at
his grazing. I let our craft float silently by for a little distance,
when I communicated the intelligence to my men, and slily ran in, to
the shore. I pricked the priming of my firelock, and taking a bullet
or two in my mouth, stepped ashore, and trailing my rifle in my hand,
went back under the bank, carefully crawling up in a little ravine,
quite sure of my game; when, to my utter surprise and violent alarm,
I found the elk to be no more nor less than an Indian pony, getting
his breakfast! and a little beyond him, a number of others grazing;
and nearer to me, on the left, a war-party reclining around a little
fire; and yet nearer, and within twenty paces of the muzzle of my gun,
the naked shoulders if a brawny Indian, who seemed busily engaged in
cleaning his gun. From this critical dilemma, the reader can easily
imagine that I vanished with all the suddenness and secrecy that was
possible, bending my course towards my canoe. Bogard and Ba’tiste
correctly construing the expression of my face, and the agitation of
my hurried retreat, prematurely unmoored from the shore; and the force
of the current carrying them around a huge pile of drift wood, threw
me back for some distance upon my own resources; though they finally
got in, near the shore, and I into the boat, with the steering oar in
my hand; when we plied our sinews with effect and in silence, till we
were wafted far from the ground which we deemed critical and dangerous
to our lives; for we had been daily in dread of meeting a war-party of
the revengeful Riccarees, which we had been told was on the river, in
search of the Mandans. From and after this exciting occurrence, the
entries in my journal for the rest of the voyage to the village of the
Mandans, were as follow:—
Saturday, fifth day of our voyage from the mouth of Yellow Stone, at
eleven o’clock.—Landed our canoe in the Grand Détour (or Big Bend) as
it is called, at the base of a stately clay mound, and ascended, all
hands, to the summit level, to take a glance at the picturesque and
magnificent works of Nature that were about us. Spent the remainder
of the day in painting a view of this grand scene; for which purpose
Ba’tiste and Bogard carried my easel and canvass to the top of a huge
mound, where they left me at my work; and I painted my picture (+plate+
39), whilst they amused themselves with their rifles, decoying a flock
of antelopes, of which they killed several, and abundantly added to the
stock of our provisions.
Scarcely anything in nature can be found, I am sure, more exceedingly
picturesque than the view from this place; exhibiting the wonderful
manner in which the gorges of the river have cut out its deep channel
through these walls of clay on either side, of two or three hundred
feet in elevation; and the imposing features of the high table-lands
in distance, standing as a perpetual anomaly in the country, and
producing the indisputable, though astounding evidence of the fact,
that there has been at some ancient period, a _super_ surface to this
country, corresponding with the elevation of these tabular hills, whose
surface, for half a mile or more, on their tops, is perfectly level;
being covered with a green turf, and yet one hundred and fifty or two
hundred feet elevated above what may now be properly termed the summit
level of all this section of country; as will be seen stretching off at
their base, without furnishing other instances in hundreds of miles,
of anything rising one foot above its surface, excepting the solitary
group which is shewn in the painting.
The fact, that _there_ was once the summit level of this great valley,
is a stubborn one, however difficult it may be to reconcile it with
reasonable causes and results; and the mind of feeble man is at once
almost paralyzed in endeavouring to comprehend the process by which the
adjacent country, from this to the base of the Rocky Mountains, as well
as in other directions, could have been swept away; and equally so, for
knowledge of the place where its mighty deposits have been carried.
I recollect to have seen on my way up the river, at the distance of
six or eight hundred miles below, a place called “the Square Hills,”
and another denominated “the Bijou Hills;” which are the only features
on the river, seeming to correspond with this strange _remain_, and
which, on my way down, I shall carefully examine; and not fail to
add their testimonies (if I am not mistaken in their character) to
further speculations on this interesting feature of the geology of the
great valley of the Missouri. Whilst my men were yet engaged in their
sporting excursions, I left my easel and travelled to the base and
summit of these tabular hills; which, to my great surprise, I found to
be several miles from the river, and a severe journey to accomplish
getting back to our encampment at nightfall. I found by their sides
that they were evidently of an alluvial deposite, composed of a great
variety of horizontal layers of clays of different colours—of granitic
sand and pebbles (many of which furnished me beautiful specimens of
agate, jasper and carnelians), and here and there large fragments of
pumice and cinders, which gave, as instances above-mentioned, evidences
of volcanic remains.
The mode by which Bogard and Ba’tiste had been entrapping the timid
and sagacious antelopes was one which is frequently and successfully
practised in this country; and on this day had afforded them fine
sport.
The antelope of this country, I believe to be different from all
other known varieties, and forms one of the most pleasing, living
ornaments to this western world. They are seen in some places in great
numbers sporting and playing about the hills and dales; and often, in
flocks of fifty or a hundred, will follow the boat of the descending
voyageur, or the travelling caravan, for hours together; keeping off
at a safe distance, on the right or left, galloping up and down the
hills, snuffing their noses and stamping their feet; as if they were
endeavouring to remind the traveller of the wicked trespass he was
making on their own hallowed ground.
This little animal seems to be endowed, like many other gentle and
sweet-breathing creatures, with an undue share of curiosity, which
often leads them to destruction; and the hunter who wishes to entrap
them, saves himself the trouble of travelling after them. When he has
been discovered, he has only to elevate above the tops of the grass,
his red or yellow handkerchief on the end of his gun-rod (+plate+ 40),
which he sticks in the ground, and to which they are sure to advance,
though with great coyness and caution; whilst he lies close, at a
little distance, with his rifle in hand; when it is quite an easy
matter to make sure of two or three at a shot, which he gets in range
of his eye, to be pierced with one bullet.
On Sunday, departed from our encampment in the Grand Détour; and having
passed for many miles, through a series of winding and ever-varying
bluffs and fancied ruins, like such as have already been described, our
attention was more than usually excited by the stupendous scene (+plate+
41), called by the voyageurs “the Grand Dome,” which was lying in full
view before us.
Our canoe was here hauled ashore, and a day whiled away again, amongst
these clay built ruins.
We clambered to their summits and enjoyed the distant view of the
Missouri for many miles below, wending its way through the countless
groups of clay and grass-covered hills; and we wandered back on the
plains, in a toilsome and unsuccessful pursuit of a herd of buffaloes,
which we discovered at some distance. Though we were disappointed
in the results of the chase; yet we were in a measure repaid in
amusements, which we found in paying a visit to an extensive village of
prairie dogs, and of which I should render some account.
I have subjoined a sketch (+plate+ 42) of one of these _sub-terra_
communities; though it was taken in a former excursion, when my party
was on horseback, and near the mouth of the Yellow Stone River; yet
it answers for this place as well as any other, for their habits are
one and the same wherever they are found; their houses or burrows
are all alike, and as their location is uniformly on a level and
desolate prairie, without timber, there is little room for variety or
dissimilarity.
The prairie dog of the American Prairies is undoubtedly a variety
of the marmot; and probably not unlike those which inhabit the vast
Steppes of Asia. It bears no resemblance to any variety of dogs,
except in the sound of its voice, when excited by the approach of
danger, which is something like that of a very small dog, and still
much more resembling the barking of a grey squirrel.
[Illustration: 39]
[Illustration: 40]
The size of these curious little animals is not far from that of a
very large rat, and they are not unlike in their appearance. As I have
said, their burrows, are uniformly built in a lonely desert; and away,
both from the proximity of timber and water. Each individual, or each
family, dig their hole in the prairie to the depth of eight or ten
feet, throwing up the dirt from each excavation, in a little pile, in
the form of a cone, which forms the only elevation for them to ascend;
where they sit, to bark and chatter when an enemy is approaching their
village. These villages are sometimes of several miles in extent;
containing (I would almost say) myriads of their excavations and little
dirt hillocks, and to the ears of their visitors, the din of their
barkings is too confused and too peculiar to be described.
In the present instance, we made many endeavours to shoot them, but
finding our efforts to be entirely in vain. As we were approaching them
at a distance, each one seemed to be perched up, on his hind feet,
on his appropriate domicil, with a significant jerk of his tail at
every bark, positively disputing our right of approach. I made several
attempts to get near enough to “draw a bead” upon one of them; and
just before I was ready to fire (and as if they knew the utmost limits
of their safety), they sprang down into their holes, and instantly
turning their bodies, shewed their ears and the ends of their noses, as
they were peeping out at me; which position they would hold, until the
shortness of the distance subjected their scalps to danger again, from
the aim of a rifle; when they instantly disappeared from our sight,
and all was silence thereafter, about their premises, as I passed them
over; until I had so far advanced by them, that their ears were again
discovered, and at length themselves, at full length, perched on the
tops of their little hillocks and threatening as before; thus gradually
sinking and rising like a wave before and behind me.
The holes leading down to their burrows, are four or five inches in
diameter, and run down nearly perpendicular; where they undoubtedly
communicate into something like a subterraneous city (as I have
formerly learned from fruitless endeavours to dig them out), undermined
and vaulted; by which means, they can travel for a great distance under
the ground, without danger from pursuit.
Their food is simply the grass in the immediate vicinity of their
burrows, which is cut close to the ground by their flat, shovel teeth;
and, as they sometimes live twenty miles from any water, it is to be
supposed that they get moisture enough from the dew on the grass, on
which they feed chiefly at night; or that (as is generally supposed)
they sink wells from their under-ground habitations, by which they
descend low enough to get their supply. In the winter, they are for
several months invisible; existing, undoubtedly, in a torpid state,
as they certainly lay by no food for that season—nor can they procure
any. These curious little animals belong to almost every latitude in
the vast plains of prairie in North America; and their villages, which
I have sometimes encountered in my travels, have compelled my party to
ride several miles out of our way to get by them; for their burrows are
generally within a few feet of each other, and dangerous to the feet
and the limbs of our horses.
The sketch of the bluffs denominated “the Grand Dome,” of which I spoke
but a few moments since, is a faithful delineation of the lines and
character of that wonderful scene; and the reader has here a just and
striking illustration of the ruin-like appearances, as I have formerly
described, that are so often met with on the banks of this mighty river.
This is, perhaps, one of the most grand and beautiful scenes of the
kind to be met with in this country, owing to the perfect appearance
of its several huge domes, turrets, and towers, which were everywhere
as precise and as perfect in their forms as they are represented in
the illustration. These stupendous works are produced by the continual
washing down of the sides of these clay-formed hills; and although, in
many instances, their sides, by exposure, have become so hardened, that
their change is very slow; yet they are mostly subjected to continual
phases, more or less, until ultimately their decomposition ceases,
and their sides becoming seeded and covered with a green turf, which
protects and holds them (and will hold them) unalterable: with carpets
of green, and enamelled with flowers, to be gazed upon with admiration,
by the hardy voyageur and the tourist, for ages and centuries to come.
On Monday, the seventh day from the mouth of the Yellow Stone River,
we floated away from this noble scene; looking back again and again
upon it, wondering at its curious and endless changes, as the swift
current of the river, hurried us by, and gradually out of sight of
it. We took a sort of melancholy leave of it—but at every bend and
turn in the stream, we were introduced to others—and others—and yet
others, almost as strange and curious. At the base of one of these,
although we had passed it, we with difficulty landed our canoe, and I
ascended to its top, with some hours’ labour; having to cut a foot-hold
in the clay with my hatchet for each step, a great part of the way up
its sides. So curious was this solitary bluff, standing alone as it
did, to the height of 250 feet (+plate+ 43), with its sides washed
down into hundreds of variegated forms—with large blocks of indurated
clay, remaining upon pedestals and columns as it were, and with such
a variety of tints; that I looked upon it as a beautiful picture, and
devoted an hour or two with my brush, in transferring it to my canvass.
In the after part of this day we passed another extraordinary scene,
which is denominated “the Three Domes” (+plate+ 44), forming an
exceedingly pleasing group, though requiring no further description for
the reader, who is now sufficiently acquainted with these scenes to
understand them.
[Illustration: 41]
[Illustration: 42]
[Illustration: 43]
[Illustration: 44]
On this day, just before night, we landed our little boat in front of
the Mandan village; and amongst the hundreds and thousands who flocked
towards the river to meet and to greet us, was Mr. Kipp, the agent of
the American Fur Company, who has charge of their Establishment at this
place. He kindly ordered my canoe to be taken care of, and my things to
be carried to his quarters, which was at once done; and I am at this
time reaping the benefits of his genuine politeness, and gathering the
pleasures of his amusing and interesting society.
LETTER—No. 11.