our recollections, and we congratulated ourselves on having been so
inquisitive as to obtain the now important information, that there were
Spanish settlements on the river below us. Driven from the resource of
our horses, we happily turned our thoughts to another. We had all the
requisite tools to build canoes, and directly around us was suitable
timber of which to make them. It was a pleasant scheme to soothe our
dejection, and prevent our lying down to the sleep of despair. But
this alternative determined upon, there remained another apprehension
sufficient to prevent our enjoying quiet repose. Our fears were, that
the unsheltered Indians, horse-stealers and all, would creep upon us
in the night, and massacre us all. But the night passed without any
disturbance from them.
On the morning of the 3d, the first business in which we engaged, was
to build ourselves a little fort, sufficient for defence against the
Indians. This finished, we cut down two trees suitable for canoes, and
accomplished these important objects in one day. During this day we
kept one man posted in the top of a tall tree, to descry if any Indians
were approaching us in the distance. On the morning of the fourth we
commenced digging out our canoes, and finished and launched two. These
were found insufficient to carry our furs. We continued to prepare,
and launch them, until we had eight in the water. By uniting them in
pairs by a platform, we were able to embark with all our furs and
traps, without any extra burden, except a man and the necessary traps
for each canoe. We hid our saddles, hoping to purchase horses at the
settlements, and return this way.
We started on the 9th, floating with the current, which bore us
downward at the rate of four miles an hour. In the evening we passed
the burnt town, the ruins of which still threw up {142} smouldering
smoke. We floated about 30 miles, and in the evening encamped in the
midst of signs of beavers. We set 40 traps, and in the morning of
the 10th caught 36 beavers, an excellent night's hunt. We concluded
from this encouraging commencement, to travel slowly, and in hunters'
phrase, trap the river clear; that is, take all that could be allured
to come to the bait. The river, below its junction with the Helay, is
from 2 to 300 yards wide, with high banks, that have dilapidated by
falling in. Its course is west, and its timber chiefly cotton-wood,
which in the bottoms is lofty and thick set. The bottoms are from six
to ten miles wide. The soil is black, and mixed with sand, though the
bottoms are subject to inundation in the flush waters of June. This
inundation is occasioned by the melting of the snow on the mountains
about its head waters.
We now floated pleasantly downward at our leisure, having abundance of
the meat of fat beavers. We began in this short prosperity, to forget
the loss of our horses, and to consider ourselves quite secure from the
Indians. But on the 12th, at mid-day, by mere accident, we happened,
some way below us, to discover two Indians perched in a tree near the
river bank, with their bows and arrows in readiness, waiting evidently
until we should float close by them, to take off some of us with their
arrows. We betrayed no signs of having seen them, but sat with our guns
ready for a fair shot. When we had floated within a little short of a
hundred yards, my father and another of the company gave them a salute,
and brought them both tumbling down the branches, reminding us exactly
of the fall of a bear or a turkey. They made the earth sound when they
struck it. Fearful that they might be part of an ambush, we pulled our
canoes to the opposite shore, and some of us climbed trees, from which
we could command a view of both shores. We became satisfied that these
two were alone, and we crossed over to their bodies. We discovered that
they were of the number that had stolen our horses, by the fact, that
they were bound round the waist with some of the hemp ropes with which
our horses had been tied. We hung the bodies of the thieves {143} from
a tree, with the product of their own thefts. Our thoughts were much
relieved by the discovery of this fact, for though none of us felt
any particular forbearance towards Indians under any circumstances,
it certainly would have pained us to have killed Indians that had
never disturbed us. But there could be no compunction for having slain
these two thieves, precisely at the moment that they were exulting in
the hope of getting a good shot at us. Beside they alarmed our false
security, and learned us a lesson to keep nearer the middle of the
river.
We continued to float slowly downwards, trapping beavers on our way
almost as fast as we could wish. We sometimes brought in 60 in a
morning. The river at this point is remarkably circuitous, and has a
great number of islands, on which we took beavers. Such was the rapid
increase of our furs, that our present crafts in a few days were
insufficient to carry them, and we were compelled to stop and make
another canoe. We have advanced between 60 and 70 miles from the point
where we built the other canoes. We find the timber larger, and not
so thick. There are but few wild animals that belong to the country
farther up, but some deer, panthers, foxes and wild-cats. Of birds
there are great numbers, and many varieties, most of which I have never
before seen. We killed some wild geese and pelicans, and likewise an
animal not unlike the African leopard,[95] which came into our camp,
while we were at work upon the canoe. It was the first we had ever seen.
We finished our canoe on the 17th, and started on the 20th. This day
we saw ten Indians on a sand bar, who fled into the woods at the sight
of us. We knew them to be different people from those who had stolen
our horses, both by their size and their different manner of wearing
their hair. The heads of these were shaved close, except a tuft, which
they wore on the top of their head, and which they raised erect, as
straight as an arrow. The Umeas are of gigantic stature from six to
seven feet high. These only average five feet and a half. They go
perfectly naked, and have dark complexions, which I imagine {144} is
caused by the burning heat of the sun. The weather is as hot here at
this time, as I ever experienced. We were all very desirous to have a
talk with these Indians, and enquire of them, how near we were to the
Spanish settlements; and whether they were immediately on the bank, for
we began to be fearful that we had passed them.
Three days passed without our having any opportunity of conversation
with them. But early on the morning of the 24th, we found some families
yet asleep in their wigwams, near the water's edge. Our approach to
them was so imperceptible and sudden, that they had no chance to
flee. They were apparently frightened to insanity. They surrendered
without making any further effort to escape. While they stared at us in
terrified astonishment; we made them comprehend that we had no design
to kill, or injure them. We offered them meat, and made signs that
we wished to smoke with them. They readily comprehended us, and the
ghastliness of terror began to pass from their countenances. The women
and children were yet screaming as if going into convulsions. We made
signs to the men to have them stop this annoying noise. This we did by
putting our hands to our mouths. They immediately uttered something to
the women and children which made them still. The pipe was then lit,
and smoking commenced. They puffed the smoke towards the sky, pointed
thither, and uttered some words, of course unintelligible to us. They
then struck themselves on the breast, and afterwards on the forehead.
We understood this to be a sort of religious appeal to the Supreme
Being, and it showed more like reverence to him, than any thing we had
yet seen among the Indians; though I have seen none but what admit that
there is a master of life, whom they call by a name to that import, or
that of Great Spirit.
When the smoking was finished, we began to enquire of them by signs,
how far we were from the Spanish settlement? This we effected by
drawing an image of a cow and sheep in the sand and then imitating the
noise of each kind of domestic animals, that we supposed the Spaniards
would have. They appeared {145} to understand us, for they pointed
west, and then at our clothes, and then at our naked skin. From this
we inferred that they wished to say that farther to the west lived
white people, as we were. And this was all we could draw from them on
that subject. We then asked them, if they had ever seen white people
before? This we effected by stretching open our eyes with our fingers,
and pointing to them, and then looking vehemently in that direction,
while we pointed west with our fingers. They shook their heads in the
negative. Then stretching their own ears, as we had our eyes, striking
themselves on the breast, and pointing down the river, they pronounced
the word _wechapa_. This we afterwards understood implied, that their
chief lived lower down the river, and that they had heard from him,
that he had seen these people.
We gave the women some old shirts, and intimated to them as well as we
could, that it was the fashion of the women to cover themselves in our
country, for these were in a state of the most entire nudity. But they
did not seem rightly to comprehend our wish. Many of the women were not
over sixteen, and the most perfect figures I have ever seen, perfectly
straight and symmetrical, and the hair of some hanging nearly to their
heels. The men are exceedingly active, and have bright countenances,
and quick apprehension. We gave them more meat, and then started. They
followed our course along the bank, until night. As soon as we landed,
they were very officious in gathering wood, and performing other
offices for us. They showed eager curiosity in examining our arms,
and appeared to understand their use. When my father struck fire with
his pistol, they gave a start, evidencing a mixture of astonishment
and terror, and then re-examined the pistol, apparently solicitous to
discover how the fire was made. My father bade me take my rifle, and
shoot a wild goose, that was sitting about in the middle of the river.
He then showed them the goose, and pointed at me, as I was creeping to
a point where I might take a fair shot. They all gazed with intense
curiosity, first at me, and then at the goose, until I fired. At the
moment of the report, {146} some fell flat on the ground, and the rest
ran for the bushes, as though Satan was behind them. As soon as the
fallen had recovered from their amazement, they also fled. Some of our
company stopped them, by seizing some, and holding them, and showing
them that the goose was dead, and the manner in which it had been
killed. They gradually regained confidence and composure, and called to
their companions in the bushes. They also came forth, one by one, and
when the nature of the report of the gun had been explained to them,
they immediately swam into the river and brought out the goose. When
they carried it round and showed it to their companions, carefully
pointing out the ball hole in the goose, it is impossible to show more
expressive gestures, cries and movements of countenances indicative of
wonder and astonishment, than they exhibited. The night which we passed
with them, passed away pleasantly, and to the satisfaction of all
parties. In the morning their attention and curiosity were again highly
excited, when we brought in our beavers, which amounted in number to
thirty-six. After we had finished skinning them, we left the ample
supply of food furnished by the bodies of the beavers, in token of our
friendship, to these Indians, and floated on. On the 27th, we arrived
at the residence of the chief. We perceived that they had made ready
for our reception. They had prepared a feast for us by killing a number
of fatted dogs. As soon as we landed, the chief came to us, accompanied
by two subordinate chiefs. When arrived close to us, he exclaimed,
_wechapa_, striking himself on the breast, pointing to our company,
and repeating the same phrase. We understood from this, that he wished
to know who was our captain? We all pointed to my father, to whom the
chief immediately advanced, and affectionately embracing him, invited
us to enter his wigwam. We shouldered our rifles, and all followed
this venerable looking man to his abode. There he had prepared several
earthen dishes, in which the flesh of young and fat dogs was served up,
but without salt or bread. We all sat down. The pipe was lit, and we,
and the thirty Indians present began to smoke. While we were smoking,
they used many gesticulations and signs, the {147} purport of which we
could not make out, though, as they pointed often at us, we supposed we
were the subjects of their gestures. The pipe was then taken away, and
the chief arose, and stood in the centre of the circle which we formed
by the manner in which we all sat around the fire. He then made a long
harangue, and as we understood not a word, to us rather a tedious one.
We took care to make as many gestures indicative of understanding it,
as though we had comprehended every word.
The oration finished, a large dish of the choice dog's flesh was set
before us, and signs were made to us to eat. Having learned not to
be delicate or disobliging to our savage host, we fell to work upon
the ribs of the domestic barkers. When we had eaten to satisfaction,
the chief arose, and puffing out his naked belly, and striking it
with his hand, very significantly inquired by this sign, if we had
eaten enough? When we had answered in the affirmative, by our mode
of making signs, he then began to enquire of us, as we understood
it, who we were, and from whence we came, and what was our business
in that country? All this we interpreted, and replied to by signs as
significant as we could imagine. He continued to enquire of us by
signs, if we had met with no misfortunes on our journey, calling over
the names of several Indian tribes in that part of the country, among
which we distinctly recognized the name of the Umeas? When he mentioned
this name, it was with such a lowering brow and fierce countenance as
indicated clearly that he was at war with them. We responded to these
marks of dislike by an equal show of detestation by making the gesture
of seeming desirous to shoot at them, and with the bitterest look of
anger that we could assume; making him understand that they had stolen
our horses. He made signs of intelligence that he comprehended us, and
made us sensible of his deep hatred, by giving us to understand that
they had killed many of his people, and taken many more prisoners;
and that he had retaliated by killing and taking as many Umeas. He
pointed at the same time to two small children, and exclaimed Umea!
We {148} pointed at them with our guns, and gave him to understand,
that we had killed two of them. Some of our people had brought their
scalps along. We gave them to him, and he, looking first towards us,
and then fiercely at them, seemed to ask if these were the scalps of
his enemies? To which we replied, yes.--He then seized the hair of the
scalps with his teeth, and shook them, precisely as I have seen a dog
any small game that it had killed. He then gave such a yell of delight,
as collected all his people round him in a moment, and such rejoicing,
yelling, and dancing ensued from both men and women, as I shall forbear
to attempt to describe. Their deportment on this occasion was in fact
much nearer bestial than human. They would leave the dance round the
scalps in turn, to come and caress us, and then return and resume
their dance.
The remainder of this day and the ensuing night passed in being in some
sense compelled to witness this spectacle. In the morning of the 28th,
when we brought in the contents of our traps, we found we had taken
twenty-eight beavers. When my father enquired this morning anew for the
direction of the Spanish settlements, and how far they were distant, we
could make out from the signs of the chief no information more exact
than this. He still pointed to the west, and then back at us.--He then
made a very tolerable imitation of the rolling and breaking of the
surf on the sea shore. Below he drew a cow and a sheep. From this we
were satisfied that there were Spanish settlements west of us; and our
conclusion was, that they could not be very distant.
At mid-day we bade these friendly Indians farewell, and resumed our
slow progress of floating slowly down the stream, still setting our
traps, whenever we found any indications of beavers. We met with no
striking incident, and experienced no molestation until January 1st,
1828. On this day we once more received a shower of arrows from about
fifty Indians of a tribe called Pipi, of whom we were cautioned to
beware by the friendly Indians we had last left. I forgot at the time
to mention the name of that people, when speaking of them, and {149}
repeat it now. It is Cocopa.[96] When the Pipi fired upon us, we were
floating near the middle of the river. We immediately commenced pulling
for the opposite shore, and were soon out of the reach of their arrows,
without any individual having been wounded. As soon as our crafts
touched the shore, we sprang upon the bank, took fair aim, and showed
them the difference between their weapons and ours, by levelling six
of them. The remainder fell flat, and began to dodge and skulk on all
fours, as though the heavens had been loaded with thunder and mill
stones, which were about to rain on them from the clouds.
We re-loaded our guns, and rowed over to the opposite, and now deserted
shore. The fallen lay on the sand beach, some of them not yet dead.
We found twenty three bows and the complement of arrows, most of them
belonging to the fugitives. The bows are six feet in length, and made
of a very tough and elastic kind of wood, which the Spaniards call
_Tarnio_. They polish them down by rubbing them on a rough rock. The
arrows are formed of a reed grass, and of the same length with their
bows, with a foot of hard wood stuck in the end of the cavity of the
reed, and a flint spike fitted on the end of it.--They have very
large and erect forms, and black skins. Their long black hair floats
in tresses down their backs, and to the termination of each tress is
fastened a snail shell. In other respects their dress consists of their
birth-day suit; in other words, they are perfectly naked. The river
seems here to run upon a high ridge; for we can see from our crafts a
great distance back into the country, which is thickly covered with
musquito and other low and scrubby trees. The land is exceedingly
marshy, and is the resort of numerous flocks of swans, and blue cranes.
The rackoons are in such numbers, that they cause us to lose a great
many beavers, by getting into our traps and being taken instead of the
true game. They annoy us too by their squalling when they are taken.
From the junction of the two rivers to this place, I judge to be about
a hundred miles. We find the climate exceedingly warm, {150} and
the beaver fur, in accommodation to the climate, is becoming short.
We conclude, in consequence, that our trapping is becoming of less
importance, and that it is our interest to push on faster to reach
the settlements. A great many times every day we bring our crafts to
shore, and go out to see if we cannot discover the tracks of horses
and cattle. On the 18th, we first perceived that we had arrived on the
back water of the tide; or rather we first attributed the deadness of
the current to the entrance of some inundated river, swollen by the
melting of the snow on the mountains. We puzzled our brains with some
other theories, to account for the deadness of the current. This became
so entirely still, that we began to rig our oars, concluding that
instead of our hitherto easy progress of floating gently onward, we had
henceforward to make our head-way down stream by dint of the machinery
of our arms.
We soon were thoroughly enlightened in regard to the slackness of the
water. It began to run down again, and with the rapidity of six miles
an hour; that is, double the ordinary current of the stream. We were
all much surprised, for though I had seen the water of the Pacific at
Ymus, none of us had ever felt the influence of the tides, or been in a
craft on the ocean waters before. People of the same tribe, upon which
we had recently fired, stood upon the shore, and called loudly to us
as we passed, to come to land, making signs to us, that the motion of
the water would capsize our crafts. They showed a great desire that we
might come to shore, we had no doubt, that they might rob and murder
us. We preserved such a distance from them, as to be out of the reach
of their arrows, and had no intention to fire upon them. Had we wished
for a shot, they were quite within rifle distance. We floated on,
having had a beautiful evening's run, and did not come to land, until
late; we then pitched our camp on a low point of land, unconscious,
from our inexperience of the fact, that the water would return, and run
up stream again. We made our canoes fast to some small trees, and all
lay down to sleep, except my father, who took the first watch. He soon
aroused us, and called on us all {151} to prepare for a gust of wind,
and a heavy rain, which he thought betokened by a rushing noise he
heard. We realized in a few moments, that it was the returning tide.
Still, so strongly impressed were we, that a shower was approaching,
that we made all the customary arrangements of preparation, by
stretching our blankets to keep out the water from above. But our
enemy assailed us from another quarter. Our camp was inundated from
the river. We landsmen from the interior, and unaccustomed to such
movements of the water, stood contemplating with astonishment the rush
of the tide coming in from the sea, in conflict with the current of
the river. At the point of conflict rose a high ridge of water, over
which came the sea current, combing down like water over a mildam.
We all sprang to our canoes, which the rush of the water had almost
capsized, though we held the fasts with our hands. In twenty minutes
the place where we lay asleep, and even our fire place was three feet
under water, and our blankets were all afloat. We had some vague and
general ideas of the nature of the tide, but its particular operations
were as much unknown to us, as though we never had heard of it at all.
In the consternation of our ignorance, we paddled our crafts, as well
as we could, among the timber, not dreaming that in the course of a
few hours, the water would fall again. As it was, we gathered up our
floating blankets, got into our canoes, and held fast to the brushes,
until the water fell again, leaving us and our canoes high and dry. We
were now assailed by a new alarm, lest the Indians, taking advantage of
this new position in which we were placed, would attack and murder us.
In such apprehensions we passed the night, until the morning shone upon
us with a bright and beautiful sun, which enabled us to dry all our
wet things, and re-animated us with the confidence which springs from
the view of a bright firmament and a free and full survey of our case.
When the tide returned we got into our crafts, and descended with it,
still expecting to find Spanish settlements. We continued in this way
to descend, when the tide ran out, until the 28th, when the surf came
up the {152} river so strong that we saw in a moment, that our crafts
could not live, if we floated them into this tumultuous commotion of
the water.
Here we were placed in a new position, not the least disheartening or
trying, among the painful predicaments, in which fortune had placed
us. The fierce billows shut us in from below, the river current from
above, and murderous savages upon either hand on the shore. We had a
rich cargo of furs, a little independence for each one of us, could we
have disposed of them, as we had hoped, among the Spanish people, whom
we expected to have found here. There were no such settlements.--Every
side on which we looked offered an array of danger, famine and death.
In this predicament, what were furs to us? Our first thought was to
commit our furs to the waters, and attempt to escape with our lives.
Our second resolve was to ascend the river as far as we could, bury our
furs, and start on foot for some settlement. We saw that the chances
were greatly against us, that we should perish in the attempt; for the
country yielded little to subsist on, and was full of Indians who are
to the last degree savage and murderous, and whom nothing can subdue to
kindness and friendship. We had no idea of ever putting ourselves in
their power, as long as one of us could fire a pistol, or draw a knife.